When Max Singer asked his father, Ricardo, for money to buy the things every 10-year old wants, Ricardo decided that Max was old enough to start earning money on their own. While most 10-year olds might look to mow their neighbor's lawn for pocket money, Max had other ideas. Seeing the things that his friends and the older kids in school had, he decided to get into the electronics business. Ricardo was impressed enough in his son's vision that he offered to help get everything started up financially, but the business – Singtech - was Max’s to run.

The family is largely made up of self-starters, so it may not be surprising that Max also has taken an entrepreneurial route. Max's father is a successful self-employed businessman who started his own first business at age 19 and the rest of the extended family is similarly entrepreneurial. For example, Max's uncle Aaron successfully built a pet products business whose clients include Wal-Mart. That entrepreneurial tradition is part of why Ricardo decided to let Max try his hand at the business in the first place. He wanted Max to understand the value of hard work, something he thought Max would not properly understand if he simply gave him the things he wanted. Plus, he joked that while the wants of a 10-year old are limitless, “my wallet is not.”

Using eBay and Amazon storefronts (Max is in the process of building his own e-commerce site as well), Singtech primarily offers cases for smartphones and tablets. Initially, Max priced his items only a bit above cost, and while that undoubtedly helped buyers recognize his brand, it also meant many late nights for Max and his "employees" (his family). "We were shipping about 300 units a day. We were all up quite late every night – past midnight, sometimes - making sure that everything was shipped the next day," said Ricardo. Since then, Max learned to raise his prices a bit, earning quite a bit more money and probably the goodwill of his family as well.

Sourcing from China isn't always the easiest thing for an experienced adult, and Max's first time sourcing was no different from other first-time buyers. Initially sourcing cellphone cases with batteries inside, Max only found out after delivery that the items were knockoffs of the product he thought he had. That was a costly situation, and Max lost over US$6000 on the deal. Despite the initial setback, things have gone more smoothly as Max has gotten more experienced.

So what advice does Max have to offer? First, he says that you can get a sense of what kind of company you are dealing with just by talking to the owner and asking good questions. "You need to talk with them, toinvestigate the company. Talk with the owner of the factory. What conditions are there on the factory floor? Does the company communicate honestly and clearly with you?" Second, learning to measure demand has been very helpful in finding which products to source and sell. Selling anything cheaply was easier than he thought – he was very surprised in the early days – but selling at a good margin takes more planning. In particular, he checks top-selling lists on eBay to see what accessories and features are selling well. In addition, build a database of customers who may come back next time they are in the market. Finally, anyone starting their own business should be prepared to invest themselves into it. "They should be prepared for a lot of hard work, and they should try their best," he said.

That's now, but where does Max want to go? In addition to his online storefront, he has placed products in a few gas stations in the San Diego area, but he wants to expand Singtech's reach into other retailers as well. "I'd like to get into (Airport retailer) Hudson News, perhaps even Wal-Mart," he said. Building his brand in such a way as to get access to those retailers is his next step. He also said that the sky is the limit when it comes to this market – as his father noted, "OtterBox is expected to have a valuation of around US$2.5 billion! Who knows what can happen if you build a valuable brand?"

For now, Max has all the pocket money he could have wanted, a dream of an even more successful business, and a growing fund to pay for college as well. Not bad for a boy who just turned 11.