Fairhaven Kid Business Owner Learns the Most Valuable Lesson of All

FAIRHAVEN (WBSM) — A young Fairhaven entrepreneur has always taken the lessons his parents have taught him about business – and life – to heart, but a total stranger’s random act of kindness really brought it home for him.

Eleven-year-old Jonathan Lagoa goes by the name “Jonny Ice” in the business world, and his business is called The Snow Cone Shack. He’s also in the process of starting a second “company,” creating and selling his own t-shirt designs.

It was that new venture that led him to Dollar Tree in Fairhaven recently, where he crossed paths with a man who helped reinforce to him a lesson his parents have been telling him his whole life: when you do good things, good things will come back to you.

Get our free mobile app

Recently, Jonathan set up The Snow Cone Shack at his baseball league’s weekend tournament, and he earned record profits. He then took a portion of the money he raised and donated it back to the league.

“It’s just a nice thing to do and it makes you feel good about yourself,” Jonathan said. “You helped out somebody without expecting something back, but it came back to me.”

That happened on Monday night, when he was out shopping for supplies for his new business. His mom, Vanessa Lagoa, brought him to Walmart, and allowed him to go into the store alone for the first time to purchase his items.

“He had his phone and I had my phone,” she assured, noting that she felt safe in allowing him this freedom because of how mature and responsible he is.

Jonathan then asked to stop at Dollar Tree for something he forgot, and she watched and waited for him to come out.

“I saw him come to the door and kind of say something to somebody. He talks to everybody, he’s always saying hi to people and they say how he has such good manners,” Vanessa said. “But then he came out and told me what happened.”

Jonathan said he encountered an older gentleman when he first walked into the store and he said hello to the man.

“I grabbed my things, the stuff I needed, and then he was standing in front of me in line,” Jonathan said. “He left $5 and I thought that was a tip for the (cashier), but she said, ‘That man wanted to pay for your stuff.’”

Jonathan went outside looking for the man to say thank you, but he was already gone.

Vanessa said they hope the man knows how much they want to thank him for his kindness, and that Jonathan will carry that with him as he goes forward with his businesses.

“We’re always telling him that when you do good, good will come to you, that it’s just how the world works,” she said. “It was really cool to see it come full circle for him.”

Vanessa said that’s why she allows him to run his own business at his age – for the life lessons, not the money.

“That’s how you run a business,” she said. “You’re 11, you don’t need to worry about money. You have your whole life to make money. This is about more than that. This is about teaching you to be a good person.”

The Snow Cone Shack Story

So how does an 11-year-old become a business owner? It started when Jonathan got a snow cone machine for Christmas.

“One summer day, he took it out of the box and decided he wanted to sell snow cones,” Vanessa said. “He turned a ridiculous profit for just a couple of hours of work, and people asked if he would do it again.”

Being a young entrepreneur is no surprise; Vanessa herself is a business owner and she said she hopes her children have learned something from watching her.

At first, Jonathan just sold the snow cones outside of the family’s home on Fort Street in Fairhaven. Then, he was hired to do a couple of birthday parties, and then invited to take part in the Padanaram Festival in South Dartmouth last year along with a local business.

This year, his baseball league let him set up shop during its big weekend tournament, and his upgraded equipment helped him have one of his best weekends yet.

“The first little machine he used for the first two years was great, but we upgraded when he graduated elementary school,” Vanessa said. “So now he has a nice little machine, and we’ve talked with him a lot about budgeting and ordering and how to really effectively run a business. He really puts a lot of time into it.”

Jonathan said he likes learning about how to run a business because then he can be his own boss.

“I like it, it’s fun,” he said. “Obviously, I’m too young to go work at places, but by doing this I don’t have to worry about the hours, I just choose randomly when I want to do it.”

“Jonny Ice” offers up four flavors at The Snow Cone Shack – grape, blue raspberry, cherry and watermelon – and said he has no problem cutting into the profits by treating himself to some snow cones while hard at work.

“When I’m doing it, I have like 10 of them,” he said. “They’re really good.”

He said his favorite flavor is either watermelon, or a mix of the blue raspberry and the cherry. You can try them for yourself if you see him set up along Fort Street on a nice day, and follow along with his schedule on The Snow Cone Shack Facebook page.

Jonathan’s New Business Venture

Just as he used the snow cone machine to launch one business, he’s using a Cricut machine to launch another, yet-unnamed business – designing and printing his own t-shirts. He’s already been successful selling shirts to some of his friends, and is investing in a heat press to up his shirt game.

“Really, what I’m trying to do is have two businesses,” Jonathan said. “Snow cones are something I can do for just one season, but t-shirts are something I can do all year round, so now I’ll have something the rest of the year.”

Vanessa said Jonathan, the middle child, is the most industrious of her five boys. He’s already talking about maybe getting an ice cream struck in the future to expand his snow cone business, and when most kids are spending summer vacation days relaxing or playing, Jonathan is working on designs for his shirts.

“He’s a hustler,” she said. “He’s very independent, pretty responsible. He’s a hard worker and very creative. He’s going to be successful at whatever he does.”

And one thing he will always do is continue to pay it forward, just like the kind man did for him at Dollar Tree.