Interview with Patrick Eidemiller About His Niece Dani: Animator, Entrepreneur and Founder of Powerlight Studios

Sarah:  When did you notice that Dani was interested in making money/being a kid in business?

Patrick:  Dani asked at age 11 about the steps necessary to start a business. We told her that she needed to put together a 5 year plan. She came back a week later with a 5 year plan encompassing media, animation, entertainment and games, which is not unusual for a kid with autism-they tend to obsess about things that they are interested in and work on them until they are completed.

Sarah:  Wow! That is AMAZING! Did you know everything you needed to know to create business success for kids and if not how did you find mentors or go about introducing her to mentors?

Patrick:  My background was in small entrepreneurial business, having worked 19 years in an engineering firm company that went public. Starting and promoting a business is similar to my previous experience, but Powerlight Studios is also a different animal producing animation and film and we are still learning the process and what makes great compelling entertainment day by day.

Sarah:  Are you or your spouse in business now and if so – do you think that has given you an edge in helping Dani in business?

Patrick:  After going public, I retired from my previous firm and had the time to work with Dani in launching Powerlight Studios. My previous experience did help, but I’ve always had an entrepreneurial slant in life. My wife also started a landscaping business during this period as well so we have an entrepreneurial family!

Sarah:  What do you think is the best way to support kids in starting a business – what did you do to support Dani along the way?

Patrick:  There are many facets to supporting a kid starting a business. Powerlight Studios has a very conservative capital structure, and we have bootstrapped the company along by investing out of earnings after the small initial investment. Dani is constantly evaluating investments against cost/benefit and I find myself pushing her to invest more in tools and technology than she wants too, yet she has quickly leveraged every tool that she’s purchased to do better and better things. Teaching, learning, and mentoring is important as well, providing the tools, materials and reference materials to succeed technically. Finding like minds is also important to support the endeavor, we have Joey Travolta as a production partner, and Joey has experience in both film and the special needs community.

Sarah:  How do you/did you help Dani stay balanced in all the other things they are doing in life?

Patrick:  School, of course comes first, and Dani has a 3.8 GPA. Dani isn’t interested in having a typical teen social life and has more in common with adults in their 20s, or others that have a similar interests in art, animation, and business. Instead of play dates, Dani works in the autism community teaching animation to others with autism, and is directing and executive producing a short by one of her animation students.

Sarah:  What role besides did you play in her business?

Patrick:  I hold the title of CEO in Powerlight Studios, while Dani is Chief Creative Officer. I make the final financial and contractual decisions for Powerlight as well as set the overall strategy of the organization in terms of taking outside projects, developing Powerlight Intellectual Properties, and promotional efforts such as Festival Films, and appearances. I plan on moving to Chairman within the next couple of years depending upon Dani’s development as an executive and reduce my day to day involvement.

Sarah:  What are some of the challenges that you see in helping kids start a business or what were some of the challenges you faced in helping her become the success she is today?

Patrick:  The single biggest challenge is being taken seriously, but that comes with building a track record of achievement and a resume of completed works, which, at the end of the day, isn’t much different than working in the adult world. In the early stages we took jobs where the fee was completely at risk and believed that we would have a happy client that would pay in the end, and we’ve never yet lost a job on this basis, or failed to get paid.

Sarah:  Is there anything you would have done differently that you would be willing to share with parents of CEO Kids or kids who want to start businesses? 

Patrick:  We really didn’t understand the ins and outs of the entertainment industry and wasted two years on development deals for Powerlight properties that never materialized. My biggest suggestion is to really get to know your market, be confident on your abilities, but also be objective on where best to put your efforts. We changed our strategy 9 months ago to focus more on commercial and industrial work and that’s paid off handsomely.

Sarah:  Share your TOP 3 – 5 tips that every parent of a CEO Kid should implement.

Patrick: 

1. Network, network, network! Find people that are willing to mentor and help in the chosen field.
2. Set goals and evaluate progress against those goals, if you aren’t meeting your objects, change the goal, or change the process, we spent far too long engaging about development deals and not taking changing our focus to commercial work. Development is still a goal, but more of a longer term goal.
3. Take the time to learn the ropes of organizations that can help. We approached a non-profit when we started to help promote Powerlight Studios and where completely ignored. We have since invested the time and effort to know how they work and what they are about. We now can get coverage for about anything that we want, provided that it aligns with their mission, and what they are about.

Sarah:  If you could have had resources available to helping kids starting a business or in helping you raise a CEO Kid, what would you have wanted?

Patrick: The biggest thing would be to have access to other businesses doing the same thing to learn the in’s and out’s of the field. We have since found a couple of great resources with a local university, a software vendor, and an animation studio.