Like most children her age, Taylor Starling likes candy, but she doesn’t just eat it, she sells it. At the age of 10 ½, she is the CEO of Taylor’s Candy Café.

Her candy empire includes a mobile candy cart that she sets up at various businesses and events in Charlotte and surrounding towns. She also maintains bubblegum vending machines and operates a website that allows users to play games and order candy gift baskets.

The frugal youngster keeps a tight reign on her purse strings. She has her own business account, out of which she pays her bills, often in advance, and takes care of any business expenses, such as equipment and supplies.

Taylor said she donates 25 percent of her proceeds to the Make a Wish Foundation, which grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions.

“I thought that it was a great foundation to give money to,” she said. “I felt really sad that they don’t have the opportunities that I have, and I wanted to help.”

Taylor said she got her start in business out of sheer boredom. At the time, she was only 7 years old.

“It was summer. My mom was in her office working. My dad was outside mowing the lawn, and I was wondering what I was going to do,” she recalled. “I decided maybe I should get a job and came up with the idea to have my own business.”

She put a plan together and shared it with her parents, who were surprised but supportive.

“To see that she was interested in business was one thing, but to see her actually implement a business is just an amazing thing to watch as a parent,” said her mother, Mikaela Starling. “She definitely has a CEO mind. She is very innovative.”

Like many business owners, Taylor has suffered setbacks caused by the recession. A furniture store in the Monroe Mall where she once rented spaced shut down two months after her grand opening. Taylor had spent money to buy business cards and promote the location.

Starling said it was hard watching her daughter go through such disappointment, but she said she was glad that Taylor was learning the realities of business at an early age.

One of Taylor’s favorite selling spots now is Ms. Dee Dee’s After School Program in Indian Trail. Taylor pays $10 a month to set up her candy cart in the school's lobby.

Sterling estimates that her daughter turns an annual profit of more than $1,000. To find new sources of revenue, she said, Taylor is considering adding cookies and lemonade to her business line.

Although Taylor’s beginnings in business have been modest, her aspirations are anything but modest. She dreams of one day taking her company global, and she has an eye especially for Paris. She is even learning to speak French.

“I’m intrigued by France,” she said. “My dad was born in France. I always think about the Eiffel Tower. I want my own restaurant there.”

Taylor’s strong drive and business acumen make even some adults stop and take notice. She inspired her mother to start her own consulting business after her mom was laid off. After nearly two months of watching her mom frantically search for work, Taylor questioned why her mother wanted to work long hours to make other people rich and suggested that she go into business for herself.

Today Mikaela Starling travels the country freelancing as a clinical research consultant.

Taylor said she is constantly looking for new ways to expand her business because, some day in the future, she wants to help families and animals in communities near and far. Education, she said, is also important to her.

“I’m not just all business,” she said. “I am very focused on school. I want to make sure that I get very good grades. If I get very good grades, that will lead to a scholarship. Then I will go to a good college, which will hopefully lead to a very good life.”

Taylor said she sets aside a portion of her earnings for her college. She plans to attend UNC and study to become a chemist.

“I really love Science. I never make below an A-,” she said.

Mikaela Starling said her daughter has always been mature beyond her years. And like most entrepreneurs, Taylor believes in investing time and energy into what she loves.

“I always heard that if you wish upon a star then your wish will come true,” she said. “I actually did that one time. After watching the movie “The Princess and the Frog,” I understood that you really have to do something (more than wishing) to help that dream come true. You have to do hard work.”

To visit Taylor's website, go to www.taylorscandycafe.com.

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Editor's Note: Do you or someone you know operate an interesting business? Email Michaela L. Duckett at mduckett@qcitymetro.com. You might just see it featured as our next Monday Business.

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