CEO, Brandon Frere: Entrepreneurial 7-Year-Old Persists Even After Lemonade Stand is Shut Down

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Sep 07, 2018, 05:00 ET

PETALUMA, Calif., Sept. 7, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A seven-year-old entrepreneur ran into permit trouble with his lemonade stand, until the governor offered to help. Brendan Mulvaney had sold lemonade for the last two years off the side porch of his house in Ballston Spa, New York, which is near the Saratoga County Fairgrounds. Brendan was so successful the first two years that he added some menu items this year. This caught the attention of fair vendors who called the Department of Health. An inspector shut the stand down. Governor Andrew Cuomo heard about the dilemma, stepped in, and Brendan switched from raising money for himself to raising money for an ailing neighbor. Brandon Frere, CEO of Frere Enterprises and other ventures, encourages entrepreneurs of all ages to persist in the face of well-meaning but misguided regulatory oversight, especially when the venture is helping people.

"I love that this boy started his stand when he was 5 years old and is still working it two years later. That's a lot of grit for someone so young," said Frere. "And I also really appreciate how his community rallied around him. In the long run, when you're making lives better, you will always succeed."

In July, Brendan set up his stand just as he had the last two years, adding water and snow cones to his specialty - lemonade. He was raising money for a Disney trip and even hung new signs, printed by family friends. But after complaints from multiple fair vendors who saw the boy not as a kid working hard to make some extra summer cash but as competition, an inspector agreed with the vendors that the stand was too similar to those of permitted vendors and shut the stand down.

Brendan's father Sean Mulvaney posted about the closing on Facebook and gained enough traction to catch the attention of Governor Cuomo, who introduced legislation in the boy's name and offered to pay for any permitting fees. A health department spokesman said that existing rules allow for the sale of lemonade, or a similar beverage, and that he would not need a permit to sell just a single beverage. Brendan did this and decided to raise money, not for his vacation, but for a 12-year-old neighbor battling Blount's Disease. Brendan, hosting his regular customers and a parade of local politicians, raised $946 to help cover transportation costs to a hospital in Massachusetts.

Brendan is determined to open again next year, but will only offer lemonade. "It is important to have something that is delicious," he said.

"I'm so excited to see this kid going for it," said Frere. "It is exactly what an entrepreneur is all about. Adding value to the lives of others and persisting with grit and determination through every daunting challenge that presents itself."

About Brandon Frere

Brandon Frere is an entrepreneur and businessman who lives in Sonoma County, California. He has designed and created multiple companies to meet the ever-demanding needs of businesses and consumers alike. His website, www.BrandonFrere.com, is used as a means of communicating many of the lessons, fundamentals and information that he has learned throughout his extensive business and personal endeavors, most recently in advocating on behalf of student loan borrowers nationwide.

As experienced during his own student loan repayment, Mr. Frere found out how difficult it can be to work with federally contracted student loan servicers and the repayment programs designed to help borrowers. Through those efforts, he gained an insider's look into the repayment process and the motivations behind the inflating student loan debt bubble. His knowledge of the often confusing landscape of student loan repayment became a vital theme in his future endeavors, and he now uses those experiences to help guide others through the daunting process of applying for available federal repayment and loan forgiveness programs.

BrandonFrere.com

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Boy Selling Lemonade
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SOURCE Brandon Frere