“I had stumbled across articles on the internet, and quickly developed a keen interest in all kinds of bees,” the Year 9 St Aloysius’ College pupil said. “I had a teacher at school that lent me bee books and chatted with me about bees, and eventually I managed to save up enough money to buy a stingless beehive of my own.

“I sat next to them for hours watching the foragers flying in and out of their hive with ‘shopping baskets’ full of pollen — I still do!

“One hive turned into two, two into three, and I now keep around 200,000 native bees in 20 hives.

“I started Bush Bees last year as a way to share my passion with others.”

Most of the money Isaac makes through Bush Bees is put back into looking after his bees.

“Bush Bees has taught me a lot — learning to run a business, tax returns, communicating with customers, website design, running market stalls, teaching little kids, and more,” he said.

“I love being able to spend so much time with bees and with amazing people, and of course spreading awareness of our little known stingless bees.

“My advice for other young people who have a dream or idea and don’t know how to begin is to start small, become active in the community of your field, find a mentor, and finally, persist.”

Isaac is one of a number of north shore youngsters turning good business ideas into thousands of dollars, with entrepreneurial spirit and a drive to succeed.

Roseville’s Charlie Mattison, 12, went to a Kids Business Workshop in October last year — an event that changed the young dog lover’s life. Soon after he founded Charlie’s Barkery, making and selling healthy dog treats.

“It was over a weekend and we met children who had started small businesses and were doing really well,” the Year 7 SHORE pupil said. “There were lots of different ideas and they said that no idea was too silly, and we were told to look out for opportunities in our local area.

“I have two dogs and we live opposite a big dog park in Roseville — the idea of selling healthy homemade dog treats was a simple one but worked for me as the dog park was right there.

“I came up with the name ‘Charlie’s Barkery’ and designed the simple logo — my Mum and I started playing around with biscuit recipes and decided to test out three different types — peanut butter, banana, and vegetable.

“I took the biscuit samples to a number of dog parks and gave them out to over 120 dogs.”

Since starting his business, Charlie has sold more than 450 packets of dog bickies at $5.50 a bag, and has large regular orders from dog walking companies.

“There have been a few challenges — Charlie’s Barkery biscuits have no preservatives in them and the hot weather meant the biscuits didn’t always last long if they weren’t kept in the fridge, so I am now waiting on new heat sealer machine that will make the packets airtight,” he said.

“Also, people don’t often carry money to the dog parks, and I have to bake each weekend.

“But Charlie’s Barkery has taught me that even if you are young, you can still start a business and have fun earning some money.”

Local business owner Vincent Capozzi, who owns and runs Willoughby café Dose and Forestville café Preview, said you were never too young to be an entrepreneur.

He started his businesses at the age of 25. At the age of 32, he now has 25 staff.

“These kids are showing great initiative, they are showing an interest in our community, they are showing they have minds for business,” he said.

“This inspired younger generation will grow up to do amazing things, I have no doubt.

“Who knows — one may be the next Richard Branson or in my industry, Justin Hemmes.

“This is how it starts — and nothing is out of reach.”

While bees and biscuits are a little left field, there is always some extra cash to be made from more traditional tasks.

Willoughby 15-year-old Xavier Hughes started raising money for a St Pius X rugby trip — and when the area turned orange after a dust storm in November, Xavier knew just how to do it.

“I washed over 30 cars in two days, there were so many that I worked through them with some help from my brother and sisters,” he said.

“I started charging $15 per car and I was just doing the outside but then people started asking if I could do the inside too.

“Now I am getting pretty good, so I charge $20 for the inside and $15 for the outside, as the inside is actually more work than outside.”

In just a few months Xavier has raised almost $2000, and plans to keep going after he’s reached his goal of funding his rugby trip.

“I want to continue to do this as I enjoy it and it fits in with school and my weekend sport,” he said.

“It feels really good to have the satisfaction of my work and enjoy seeing their reactions when they come to pick up their clean cars.

“I have learned that making money isn’t easy and it requires effort and a drive to succeed — it’s taught me that I have to split my money to achieve all my goals and that I can’t have all that I want straight away.”

Artarmon eight-year-old Dax Cooley started scrubbing people’s bins this year, charging $10 per bin, or $15 for two.

“It takes about 25 minutes to clean two bins but it’s quicker if they aren’t too dirty,” he said. “It’s not really hard work but some of them are smelly.

“Working hard and saving money is important so that when I’m an adult I can afford to buy a house. It’s good to have a job because it’s teaching me to be on time and keep things clean.”