KIRKWOOD, Mo. — Like many kids, 8-year-old Aubrey Carroll loves art.
She said, "You get to bring out your emotions and your imagination."
But unlike many kids, she has a business selling her art.
Her mom Lyndsay said about Aubrey, "She said, ‘I'll fund everything.’ She wanted to spend her life savings to buy all of these materials. I was like ok, how do I not nurture that as her mom?"
Her business is called Imperfect Paintings. Her paintings are available for purchase on Facebook.
Aubrey said, explaining the process, "We take a cup full of paint layering, basically just pour it on the painting, and then we tilt it."
The process is called Acrylic Pour, which Aubrey tried for the first time last year. Aubrey admits the first time didn’t go well.
Her mom said, “It was inspiring, and it set off the whole thing."
So, she spent a lot of time perfecting the imperfect process.
But Aubrey didn't give up.
It took dozens of tries to get it right.
And once she nailed it, Aubrey was all in.
Lyndsay reflected on her daughter’s persistence and said, "Very convincingly for weeks, said, ‘Mom, please let me start a painting business, please let me start a painting business.’"
The young entrepreneur learned some tough business lessons right away.
Lyndsay, said, "We started off at $30 and sold 10 of them and we lost money. And since it was her money, she put all the upfront money into all the supplies, we figured we had to up the price a little bit and now they are $45 for the ones we make, the normal sized ones."
Aubrey gives a portion of her profits to an animal shelter.
She said, "We actually just donated $300. Because the dogs were really cold. They were cold."
The response from the community has made all her hard work worth it.
Lyndsay said, "It's like another full time job for me but I love it, I love seeing her be inspired and creative and successful and the love and compassion we've gotten, I feel like people who follow us, I would have never thought. Kind of out of this world."
Aubrey loves making her paintings and selling them, which makes for good conversation on the playground.
She said, "Each day, I've got exciting news for my best friends at school."