Ben Weissenstein was born an entrepreneur. At the ripe old age of four, he was featured on the cover of the Houston Chronicle manning a lemonade stand. Truth be told, Ben was drinking the lemonade while his big brother Josh did all the work, but he was so cute that the features photographer, who had been cruising the neighborhood for a cover photo, couldn't resist!
From there it was on to bigger and better things. By nine, Ben had his own business cards.
Ben would pull weeds out of his godmother's garden or clean his grandparents' pool. He also had a business called Ben's Pet Co. where he would look over people's pets. He used his steady little income to buy many baseball cards for his growing collection. But, like every budding entrepreneur, Ben was always on the lookout for that "BIG IDEA." When he was 15, that idea fell into his lap, and Ben was smart enough to recognize it.
His mother was selling their home and needed help with a garage sale. Since Ben and his sister were away at camp, she enlisted the help of some friends of the family. As she watched Ben's buddy Matt "work" the sale, she had a light- bulb moment. When Ben returned from camp, she told him that the he should start a company to run garage sales. She said that Ben and his friends were perfectly suited for the job: they liked talking to people, they liked making money, they could carry heavy stuff, they had a lot of excess energy and they were personable. Ben created Garage Sale Relief now known as Grand Slam Garage Sales and worked really hard getting local publicity which then brought in a lot of jobs. "We didn't really know much at the beginning "admits Weissenstein. "There was a whole lot of on-the-job training!"
Two years later, after several name changes and staffing shifts, Grand Slam Garage Sales came into existence. Ben, then a high school senior, was a regular face in local news spots in print, and on television and radio. The summer after his senior year in high school, Ben was featured in an article about young entrepreneurs in ENTREPRENEUR Magazine and not long after on Dr. Phil!
As the business grew, so did Ben's dreams! Now, a freshman at the University of Arizona, Ben has delegated the day-to-day responsibility for the Houston operation to two of his top assistants (both still in high school). Ben spent the first semester of college working closely with a franchise expert from a top franchise consulting firm to grow the business beyond Houston. He also worked with many other people to set up the franchise system including attorneys, web developer, and marketing designer, and more. While studying for classes and pledging a fraternity, Ben continued to plan the franchising of Grand Slam Garage Sales. Grand Slam Garage Sales is very close to being ready to begin selling franchises and expanding all over the country. He's now focusing most of his time and energy on Grand Slam Garage Sales but also has three other businesses..The Entitled Group (www.entitledgroup.com), Bold Entrepreneur (www.boldentrepreneur.com) and Camp 4 Charity (www.camp4charity.org) This is one busy young man!
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