By Tibby Plasse // Photography by Luke Gentry
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When Isabella Mayberry, age 16, takes orders in her traveling crepe trailer, she often thinks customers don’t realize they’re talking to the actual proprietor of The French Crepe. The trailer, where she prepares sweet and savory crepes, isn’t Bella’s first foray into business. A true self-starter, she began selling churros at the Rexburg Farmers Market during middle school. She then went on to add a few side events and is now a regular at the rodeo in Driggs and Music on Main. When she purchased her crepe trailer, she did so with the revenue from her original booth.
Harnessing Motivation
Kevin Mayberry, Bella’s father, says his daughter first showed her tenacity for business when he and his wife made her find a way to pay for the ingredients to support her baking habit — a passion she credits to living in France. The family also lived in Singapore and Israel, before finally settling in Alta, Wyoming, full time in 2019.
“We chose Teton Valley because it was close to how we lived in the Alps,” says Kevin Mayberry (originally from Idaho Falls). But France differs from the U.S. in that children enter the workforce much earlier, typically at age 14.
Bella’s teenage motivation for business isn’t unheard of — there’s babysitting, shoveling sidewalks, and dog walking — but onboarding your kids for their first entrepreneurial experience takes some prep work. And unless they’ve worked on farms or done their fair share of volunteer work, understanding schedules, team responsibilities, and communicating to the public might be brand new.
Navigating a First Job
Beau Jacoby at Barrels and Bins Market in Driggs says the store is a great place for kids to develop a sense of responsibility outside of their homes and classrooms as they navigate restocking, kitchen cleaning, and customer interactions. Jacoby explains that workers can’t really avoid customers at Barrels and Bins, regardless of the job.
“When it’s their first job, it’s hard because a lot of kids don’t really communicate well at that age,” says Jacoby. “I’ve watched so many kids start off terrified to be in a space where adults are directing them, but then find out pretty quickly where they fit best.
“There’s a lot of kids that are just excited to be here because their parents shop here, and they already have a desire to be in this space,” he adds. “Some have worked here for years.”
Kathryn Ferris, owner of the Victor Emporium, meets her demand for milkshakes — which totaled 65,000 in 2024 — with a crew of 20 teens every summer.
“This has always been a safe place for kids to get their footing, no matter where they’re coming from,” she says. “But this is a really busy workplace, and they have to be a team player — that’s an expectation we put out there in the interview process.”
And the busy chaos pays off. Ferris says she’s had employees stick around for up to eight years or tell her they were hired somewhere else because they were told, “If you can handle the Emporium, you’ll be fine here.”
Todd Johnson of All Star Window Cleaning in Jackson has a bit more of a coach’s mentality when it comes to his employees.
Johnson owns a successful 20-plus-year-old business and says he’s continuously trained employees who fly the coop once they can land higher pay. What started out as a conversation among family friends trying to get their kids off the couch, while also trying to solve a workforce shortage, has become a camaraderie for raising the bar, or in the case of window cleaning, the ladder.
Johnson’s crew started with a group of friends, and he says now they hold each other more accountable than he does. No one is cutting corners, or they know they’ll get chirped by each other. No phones on the job; no headphones.
“[Kids] progress with this discipline,” says Johnson. He began giving his crew autonomy by their third year in. “They got really good because they cared. They were speaking to the clients, they were following up on invoices, and now they’re starting to gain perspective from where they began, especially when a new team member joins.”
After three years, his returning kid force workers were earning $36 an hour.
“They learn how to have real confidence about who they want to become. In this valley, there are so many kids that need a chance,” he says.
This summer Johnson is incubating another business for his crew, a garage and driveway sweeping service for their clients. “We just learned how to run a business, and now I am going to teach them how to start a business.”
The Payoff
You can ask Wyatt Gentry of Victor when he started working, but he can’t really give you an age.
“I was always on my father’s job sites helping with properties,” he says. Wyatt quickly realized, as an ambitious skier balancing homeschooling and training, he not only needed more social time, but he wanted cash in his pocket too.
“I really wanted to buy my own toys,” he admits.
Wyatt says he first joined the official workforce at Teton Village Sports in the bike rental department. That job, coupled with the following summer up at the Jenny Lake boat ramp, and then others spent as a waffle barista at Corbet’s Cabin, gave him ample training working with lots of people in many different roles. As he eyes what comes next, it sounds like he wants to start his own excavation business.
“I think it’s the fact that I love big machines and being able to control something like that,” Wyatt says of his plans to pursue his own excavation business. “It’s also creative. When I put in a driveway, and the customer thinks it looks amazing — I love that part.”.
Bella, who just spent her sophomore year of high school with a host family in Normandy so she could learn French, says she intends to pay for college with her crepe business, and then maybe sell it as a turnkey business, not just a trailer. So far, she’s eyeing BYU-Provo or BYU-Hawaii.
“All of this is possible because my parents helped me a lot; this was not something I could have done alone,” she says. “It got me down a bit at the beginning, doing the research for the public health requirements and making sure my trailer was running properly … there’s a lot that goes on that people don’t see.” For Bella that includes human resources, menu planning, and accounting.
She credits her father for her industrial spirit, but according to him, everything started because he had his daughter participate in 4-H.
“To her credit, even though she didn’t love it, she still worked hard at it,” he says. “It taught her how to deal with problems, and now we’re having all our kids do 4 H.”
Bella’s biggest piece of advice when it comes to ambition — just stay positive. “And don’t care what others think,” she says. “If you have a dream, just go for it and stay true to yourself.”
How To Land a Summer Job as A Kid
You’ve got to start somewhere, right? Here is a list of tasks that will give you a one-up on your peers. Get started building your resume at age 14. Then by age 18, you’ll have money in the bank and — who knows — maybe even a solid career path ahead of you.
- Build Your Skills. Start with odd jobs, like babysitting, mowing lawns, and dog walking. Volunteer when you can to gain experience outside of your (wheel)house.
- Craft Your Resume. Research a template on Google Docs and write a simple-to-read list of your job experiences (however small they may be), volunteer work, and relevant skillset. This shows potential employers you’re serious about finding work.
- Practice Your Interview Skills. Rehearse practice questions with your friends and family members and come up with some questions of your own.
- Apply Before the School Year Is Over. Start networking early in May by talking to friends, family and neighbors; check the paper’s classified ads; look for summer job postings on community Facebook pages. And then reach out.
