Arizona Seven-Year-Old Celebrates First Anniversary of His Toy Business

Seven-year-old Nicholas Bubeck of Scottsdale, Arizona has been running a successful toy business for a whole year.

In early 2020, Nicholas Bubeck started a business that made headlines across the country. Bubeck, abruptly robbed of school attendance and the ability to travel, started “Creations by Nicholas” to comfort others feeling the same frustration. “Last year during this time he was in kindergarten, six years old, and all of a sudden he wasn’t going back to school and he’s the oldest of my three boys,” mother Nadine Bubeck told the Arizona Republic on Wednesday.

“I really wanted to take advantage of the time being at home to teach my kids, particularly my oldest, something that they wouldn’t otherwise learn in the classroom,” she continued. “Entrepreneurial skills, innovation skills, and also public speaking skills has always been very important to me.”

Bubeck’s “kits” have all of the necessary components for a popsicle stick airplane, and a link to a video in which Nicholas himself teaches customers how to put it together. “I love traveling. Some people can’t travel right now so we wanted them to imagine where they want to travel in that plane,” Bubeck, now seven, said. “So my mom told me to start a business during the coronavirus and I made this cool craft plane and I wanted to turn it like into a kit. So I thought of a business named Creations by Nicholas and they sell all kinds of kits.”

Bubeck spent time in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) as a child, and now his business donates a portion of its profits to the Triple Heart Foundation — a charity providing books to NICUs across the U.S. He also provides free kits to children of essential medical workers.

“He’s really seeing what it’s like to pay it forward,” Nadine explained. “I teach him, you don’t monetize success it’s really how you feel. That’s really important for me as a mom to see my child really feeling more confident in himself. That is the most rewarding for me.”