Setting up her table at the local farmers market, senior Elena Weeks prepares for another day of greeting customers and sharing her love for specialized cards. Weeks’ business, “Elena’s Handmade Crafts,” has developed as a culmination of her artistic talent and business acumen.

“In third grade, I started out [by] making paper dresses with little paper clip hangers, and I wanted to be able to sell them to make money,” Weeks said. “My mom and I came up with the idea of making them into cards because that’s something that people use that’s universal, and it’s always in need.”

As Weeks navigates the business world, she pursues techniques to optimize her results.

“I’ve learned not only time management skills and organization, but also networking, which can get you very far,” she said. “Being able to start building my own network now is the biggest thing that I’ve gained.”

Weeks discovers festivals and venues through conversations with other vendors. This networking enables her to find festivals in more profitable areas.

“I know the locations that I do better in,” she said. “I do really well in Viera and Rockledge. A good day at the farmer’s market in Viera is $175 or $200 in profit. For the bigger festivals that are several days long, like the Greek Festival and the Seafood Festival, I make upwards of $1,000.”

For Weeks, making cards is not just a source of income, but a way to impact the lives of others.

“I had a lady that would come see me every time that I would sell my cards and she would buy a hundred cards, a ton,” she said. “She was very elderly and she was in a wheelchair. She and her husband would come all the way from Orlando to buy cards from me; they were the sweetest couple. She said that all she does all day is write cards for people, so having a card like that was very special to her because it showed her appreciation to all the people she was sending them to.”

With the practical skills her business has helped her cultivate, Weeks said she is setting herself up for future success.

“I want to go into business management, and my end goal is to have my own business,” Weeks said. “I think that by having a small business for as long as I have, I will have the experience that I need to understand things that sometimes you need real-life experience to understand – things that can’t be taught in a classroom.”

She also sells cards outside The Burger Place restaurant in Downtown Melbourne, owned by family friend Karine Paturel-Reis.

“We support her as much as we can,” Paturel-Reis said. “We try to tell her when we have events so she can come over and sell cards. She’s proving that she’s dedicated as she doesn’t just stay there for two hours; she stays there all day. For [those of] us who have a business, we like to see people who work hard and I think it’s good to see that at an early age.”

Paturel-Reis said Weeks will have an advantage in the future because of the dedication she displays now as a young entrepreneur.

“The earlier you start, the more experience you get,” Paturel-Reis said. “She wants to learn. The more you do, the better you’re going to learn. When she’s 30, she’s going to have the experience of somebody who’s 50 in another business because they started later.”

Weeks said her grandmother, Fannie Ruhl, was her main inspiration for becoming involved in business at a young age.

“My grandmother moved here when she was nineteen, from Athens,” Weeks said. “She had to restart her life and learn a whole new language, so it was really difficult on her, but she was able to find her place when she started in real estate. She was able to use her passions for business and pursue her goals in that aspect and has always encouraged me to do the same.”

Along with motivating Weeks to become an entrepreneur, Ruhl taught her strategies to succeed in business.

“She guided me through the different aspects of becoming a business owner: making connections with people that are important to the community, finding different areas where you might have a target audience, how to manage money and price items,” Weeks said. “She helped me understand and develop my own passion for business.”

According to Glezen, Ruhl’s story and Weeks’ economic involvement mirror the principles of the American dream.

“Our country was founded on everyone becoming entrepreneurs and making their own way,” Glezen said. “From an economic standpoint, I love to see that it hasn’t died. There’s still the idea that someone could come to America, or be in America already, and make their own way through without going to the corporate world.”

Weeks said she hopes to serve as a role model for aspiring entrepreneurs.

“I hope that seeing my success can inspire other small business owners, especially young women, to pursue something that they have a passion for and maybe even turn that into a career,” she said.