Starter guide

Custom Stickers

Design fun stickers and sell them. Your design is the value.

Around $40
Easy

Kids and teens put stickers on everything. Water bottles, laptops, phone cases, notebooks. What they're buying isn't vinyl, it's the design, which means this business runs on your ideas more than your money. Come up with something people want on their stuff and you can print it for pennies and sell it for a couple of dollars.

Start for free

Take pre-orders on paper

Design four or five stickers using a free app on a phone or laptop. Print them on regular paper, just to show them.

Then walk around with them and ask:

"I'm printing these next week. They're [your price] each, or three for [bundle price]. Which ones do you want?"

Write down names and orders. Once you've got fifteen or twenty stickers pre-sold, place your print order. Now you're printing what's already sold.

The plan

Your simple plan

  1. Design for a specific group. Your school, your team, your sport, a joke only your grade gets. Specific sells. Generic doesn't.
  2. Pre-sell before you print. Take orders on your paper mockups first, always.
  3. Order a small batch. Print the winners, plus a few extra of the most popular one.
  4. Sell in bundles. One sticker is a dollar or two. Three for five dollars moves way more product for the same conversation.
The gear

What you need, and what you can skip

Your design work is free. Your only real cost is the printing.

Get these
  • Printable vinyl sticker paper if you're printing at home. Shop this
  • A paper trimmer for clean straight cuts. Shop this
  • Clear laminate sheets so stickers survive water bottles. Shop this
  • Small envelopes if you're mailing any. Shop this
Skip these for now
  • A cutting machine. Nice someday, not needed to make your first hundred dollars.
  • A huge print order. Small runs let you find out what sells before you commit.
  • A website. Sell to people in front of you first.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We only list gear the guide actually calls for, and the skip list is there because most of it you do not need yet.

The lesson from the book

Sophie's whole edge was noticing what other people wanted before they said it out loud. That's exactly this business. Anyone can print a sticker. The money is in seeing the joke, the phrase, or the design your school will actually want on their laptops. Pay attention to what people laugh at and repeat, and design that.

The full program

Ready to build the whole thing?

The full Young Founder kit walks you through everything Andre and Sophie learned: how to turn an idea people want into orders, pricing, and repeat customers. The book, the workbook, the videos, and more.

See what is inside the kit

Questions about this idea

What should a kid charge to walk a dog?

A kid walking dogs in their own neighborhood usually starts between $10 and $18 for a thirty minute walk. Professional walkers average about $21 for the same walk.

Read the answer

How much money does a kid need to start a business?

Less than almost anyone expects, and for a lot of these ideas the honest answer is nothing until somebody has already said yes to a price.

Read the answer

How does a kid find their first customer?

Ten people who already know them, one prepared sentence, and an easy way for each of them to say no.

Read the answer

What do I do when my kid wants to quit?

Find out whether this is not working or just not fun right now. Those look identical from outside and they need opposite responses.

Read the answer

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Young Founder

A program from Founder's Best Friend. Built for kids 8 to 18 who want something of their own.

Young Founder, 2026