The story of a 14 year old artist and
entrepreneur from the northwestern
tip of Minnesota was one of
our most viewed videos of 2022,
and all those views fueled even
more growth for Willow Larson.
Tonight a look back at her
story and an update.
Teenagers looking for work in fertile
MN have a few options. Coffee shops.
The grocery store, babysitting.
But you'll find Willow Larsen's
mug at a business all her own.
You're looking at Will's product line,
now available at 35 stores in Minnesota
and North Dakota. First skin.
There's a lot of fishing.
And then the Erskin Water carnival,
a budding enterprise built on an observation.
Care to drink your coffee
from a Minneapolis mug?
And you'll find dozens. But nobody
really had anything for small towns.
So I decided to do these,
and people love them. Really love them.
Thousands, thousands. Sold.
And two more. These are orders.
Equally impressive numbers.
I'm 14. I'm going into ninth grade.
None of which comes as a surprise.
Yeah, to willows mom, she's
probably four or five.
I had a garage sale, and instead
of setting up a lemonade stand,
Willow decided to set up an art stand.
Got a little sign that says art sale,
and I think she was selling her
drawings for a dollar each. I drew that
one, Willow continued drawing.
I think this was the first
portrait I did, and by age 12.
Made it even more clear she has
no plans to be a starving artist.
The first one. That I made a cup in
the golf course for Willows hometown.
Come on in, guys. Jamie Paulk,
owner of Fertile Coffee and Flower shop.
Wishes she could sell you.
I'm actually sold out of
our fertile mugs right now.
While back across the street and
Willow's parents photo studio,
Fertile's youngest entrepreneur is
designing a mug for another town.
I'm working on Bird Island right now,
more than fifty complete.
They all contact me with 15
more cities on a waiting list.
They're selling like crazy and
all these little gift shops and
boutiques and stuff like that.
Most of the stores that are
selling them are 22 to $26.
I have to keep this up.
When her contractor failed to
meet her expectations, yes,
Willow spent $2000.00 of her
profits to buy her own heat press.
That one is a Polk County fair.
That's a zipper.
I have to spend money to make money.
She now has a financial advisor
when she's done with high school.
If she chooses to go to college,
she should easily be able to pay
for a good part of it herself,
if not all of it. Yeah,
she also has her eye on a car.
A sage green convertible bug.
Yeah, she could buy one
right now if she wanted to.
Not that she could drive it at 14.
I'll do my signature at the bottom.
Remember her name
because she's going somewhere.
I want to have them everywhere
to know Willow Larson.
Is to picture success. Boyd Hooper,
Carol Levin News fertile.
Since that story was widely shared
last summer, Willow has sold more
than 10,000 additional mugs.
She now offers more than 150 town designs
available in more than 100 stores.
Willows, dad, Mom and Grandmother are on her
payroll as she works to keep up with demand.
She's also taking delivery of two new heat
presses that each print 5 mugs at a time,
and is preparing to order a
brand new SUV more practical for
deliveries than that VW bug.
Of course. The 9th grader still
needs a driver's license.
The only recently turned 15.
Love it and check this out.
Willow even designed these special
land of 10,000 story mugs with
drawings of some of Boyd's most
memorable stories from over the years,
and you can find them for
sale on her website.
We have a link to that at care11.com.
I know that there is Emmett
and Erling on here. Bell,
one of the famous land of 10,000 stories,
isn't that cool?
And there's the the **** with the duck.
Yeah, I remember that story.
Look at all those.
That's just wonderful.
Cash,
so talented.
I love it.