Cameron Johnson

Let me tell you some quick facts about him:

• He's 24 years old
• He started his first business when he was 9 y.o.
• He earned $50,000 when he was 12 y.o.
• His company earned $15,000/day when he was 15 y.o.
• He became millionaire before he even finished his high school
• His first book "15-year-old CEO" became the best-seller in Japan
• His second book "You Call the Shots: Succeed Your Way - and Live the Life You Want - with the 19 Essential Secrets of Entrepreneurship" is now the best-seller in many countries.
• He was the finalist of the reality show Oprah's Big Give
• His life motto is: "True prosperity isn't something you take from the world: it's something you share with the world."

His biography according to his official website:

While entrepreneurship has run in Cameron's family, his parents never tried to persuade him or even interest him, for that matter, in business. "It was just something I did after I got my first computer," said Cameron. While he may have waited until the age of nine to start his first computer business, his career really began even sooner than that. It's said that even as a toddler, Cameron had been interested in becoming a businessman and he was always able to sell any product put in front of him. At the age of 7, he would sell vegetables from his red wagon door-to-door to neighbors. When he was nine years old and in the fourth grade, he was the top-seller for raffle ticket in his K-12 school, selling several hundred in only a matter of weeks. When he was in the fifth grade, it was wrapping paper the students were selling and yet again, Cameron was the top-seller and he sold more than twice as much as the runner-up.

He received his first computer as a Christmas present from his parents at the age of nine. Only a few months later, he started his first business printing greeting cards, stationery, and invitations for family and friends using his computer and printer. Just before he turned ten, his parents allowed him to open his own checking account. This allowed Cameron to be in complete control of all of his finances and to learn to manage his money. From depositing his weekly allowance to writing checks for office supplies, he learned how to manage his money and how to keep track of his expenses. Cameron was raised on the principles of giving back to his community and at the same age (just 10 years old), he began giving an annual gift to his local church.

For Christmas, when he was eleven years old, he received several shares of stock in various companies including Disney and CSX Railroad. After receiving this gift, he became very interested in the stock market and learned all he could about how it worked. He soon sold the few shares his parents had given him and also invested several thousand dollars of his own money into companies of his choice. In just a few years time, he had multiplied his investment seven times.

At the age of fifteen and as a freshman in high school, his internet company had grown to sales in excess of $15,000 per day. It was also while he was a freshman when he was asked to become an Advisory Board Member to FutureKids, a Tokyo-based company and Sega of America who at the time, built the Sega Dreamcast Console. He consulted both companies for a number of years. In August, 2000, he was approached by a best-selling Japanese author who asked if he could "ghostwrite" Cameron's autobiography. He agreed and the book was published several months later, and was an instant bestseller in Japan.

Cameron realized early that while he is very fortunate his businesses have grown quickly, his business-life was something that needed to be kept separate from his social life. In fact, most of his friends never even knew of any of his businesses until he was fifteen, when he was making news headlines worldwide. Cameron attended college at Virginia Tech for a brief period but decided to put his college plans on hold. Today, Cameron is 23-years-old and primarily spends his time traveling to different speaking engagements around the world. He is also very involved with several non-profit organizations. Moving forward, he plans to take his platform and use it to promote financial literacy among young people. His current book was published in January, 2007 by Free Press/Simon & Schuster. Look for You Call the Shots: Succeed Your Way - And Live the Life You Want - With the 19 Essential Secrets of Entrepreneurship which is in stores nationwide, as well as available for audio download on iTunes.

* Image is taken from http://www.cameronjohnson.com/pop_photo.htm?JS_photo=pic17big.jpg