TECUMSEH, Mich. — May is graduation season, and many young adults get their first full-time jobs after four years of college. But WTOL 11 talked with two high schoolers who don't just run their own businesses, they're also thriving.
If you're in southeast Michigan looking for Hawaiian shaved ice, there's a 17-year-old who has just what you need. Hannah Stepp is the founder and owner of Hannah's Hawaiian Shaved Ice, a cart and truck that offers frozen treats sourced directly from Hawaii.
"We went to Maui, Hawaii [on vacation], and there's shaved ice on every single corner of the street," Stepp said. I was like 'that's super cool'. We learned how to make it and the culture behind it. We came back here and nobody had shaved ice. I was like 'let's do it'."
Stepp, with a loan from her father, bought the cart and trailer when she was 16 years old in order to make and sell her own shaved ice. Stepp started bringing it to events in January 2023.
"We mostly did wrestling tournaments in the winter," Stepp said. "Kids are all over it. It's hot in the gym. They're stuck there for 10-plus hours. Everybody gets shaved ice. Everybody loves it."
Stepp quickly paid back her father in full, and with the weather only getting warmer, Hannah expects sales to get even better.
Meanwhile, in Defiance, Ohio, another teenager is running a business not out of a trailer, but out of a car. Logan Piasecki is just 17 years old but runs his own mobile detailing business: Northwest Mobile Detailing LLC.
"I did a few of my friend's cars and put out some before and after pictures, made a Facebook ad and just started raking in clients ever since," Piasecki said.
Piasecki plans on majoring in aviation technologies at Bowling Green State University in order to become a commercial airline pilot but said that might not be the end of the road for the business.
"A venture I think would be really cool would be mobile detailing out of an aircraft, which is probably super far-fetched but then again, starting the business at 16 years old was also far-fetched," Piasecki said. "A big dream would be to go airport to airport instead of driveway to driveway."
Stepp said she plans to take a gap year traveling before getting her real estate license. Piasecki plans to enroll at BGSU in the fall.