In the course of two years, Cecilie Villadsen, a 17-year-old Danish business school student in Aalborg, has turned her business – which sells imported clothes through an online shop, Americandreams.dk – into a multi-million kroner enterprise, Børsen reports.
“A lot of people didn’t believe in me and underestimated me a lot. Just because I’m 17 years old doesn’t mean I’m stupid,” she told the newspaper.
”I started buying second-hand shorts and designed them myself with American flags. Then I sold them on Facebook and Trendsales. They were so popular. Some days I’d sell 1,200 kroner's worth of shorts, other days 3,000 kroner.”
Business booming
Today her turnover is 3 million kroner a year. As well as multiplying her sales figures, the teenager is increasing her company’s social capital. Since last year she has gone from having 10,000 to 62,000 likes on Facebook.
”Over the past year I’ve spent an unbelievable amount of time on social media,” she said.
”I made co-operation agreements with bloggers and used my marketing money on Facebook. It seems to be working.”
Sky's the limit … after studies
Villadsen plans to finish the last year of her studies before concentrating on taking her business to the next level.
"I already get orders from Norway, Sweden, Spain and the UK," she said.
"I’ve even had orders all the way from Canada. My next goal is to go international."
