Lakewood Ranch 8-year-old starts his own business

LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. — How did your elementary school student spend their summer? Going to the beach? Summer camps? Vacation?

One Lakewood Ranch 8-year-old spent his summer preparing to launch a business.

Creativity goes beyond the classroom.

“These are like all the designs we have. These are for youth — youth, grown people now — and then we have this one, the whole page,” Dominic Faramarzifar said.

Eight-year-old Dominic Faramarzifar is learning in real time what it’s like to own and operate a business, with the help of his dad.

Dominic first had visions of owning a business a year ago.

“It’s fun. I feel like a businessman,” he said.

Two weeks ago, he and his family launched “Dom’s Surf Shop.”

“Because I see Mom and Dad having businesses, and I’m just like, ‘I want to have a business.’ Then, (my dad) saved the ‘Dom’s Surf Shop.com,” he said.

Dominic sells most of the products through dropshipping, where third-party suppliers fulfill the website’s orders. But some products are sold from their home.

They have made several local sales already.

“After the first few days of sales, when he had a bunch of sales, he thought all the money was his. But then we had to educate this young man over here on, there’s a cost associated with producing the product,” Dominic’s father, Ramin Faramarzifar, said.

Aside from owning and operating the business, he also helps with the design process.

He’s heading into third grade this year and is already thinking of backpacks tailored to his age group.

Dominic’s also helping his community. Some of the proceeds will be donated to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

“Because they help us,” he said.

And when he gets older, Dominic hopes to transfer what he’s learned as a kid into a bigger business.

“So I really want to sell a flying car. I want to have the first flying car. So I want to learn from Dom’s Surf Shop,” he said. “And I really wish I can meet Elon Musk because he owns SpaceX.”

You might think it’s unrealistic to think you can meet the world’s richest man, but for this 8-year-old entrepreneur, maybe the sky really is the limit.