From running nail salons to a bakery to a law firm, these young entrepreneurs got an early start in making their way in the business world.

Tim Kim, 29

TrustyMax Tools, Chatsworth, a tool company that makes the Go-2 Socket, which fits bolts of different shapes and sizes

Employees: Outsources logistics, marketing, advertising, sales and manufacturing.

Financials: Raised $120,000

Tim Kim’s father is a construction worker who always loved to invent things. Unfortunately, he never followed through with his brainstorms.

While Kim was studying at Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Management, he saw that his family was having some financial difficulty. So he decided to help out by using his new skills to manufacture and sell his father’s inventions, starting with an adjustable socket tool that fits bolts of various types and sizes.

“I walked into my dad’s home office and said, ‘Hey, dad, you know that socket patent you have? I’m going to take it to market.’”

So Kim set aside his goal of becoming a music industry executive and instead drew up a business plan that he entered into a Pepperdine competition last year. He won the top prize of $15,000, which he used as seed money to launch TrustyMax Tools. News of his competition victory spread among his friends and relatives, some of whom put their money into the venture. He raised $120,000 last year.

But getting the business up and running wasn’t easy. It took longer than expected for Kim to get a factory in China to turn out the first batch of sockets. So, when it came time to market the socket with infomercials during holiday season, the product wasn’t ready and the marketing campaign had to be postponed. He then faced the difficult task of informing his investors of the setback.

“I had to break the hard news to the very people who believed in me,” he said. “I felt like I’d failed them. Thankfully, they took it well.”

The socket finally hit the market in March.

Kim said he learned an important lesson from this experience.

“Everyone wants to be good, fast and cheap when it comes to making products. But you must pick two, because you can’t have all three, especially when you’re manufacturing a new product overseas,” he said.

Kim said he may decide to launch another company. If so, it would probably be on a smaller scale than TrustyMax. Kim wants more time for family, especially as his son grows up.

“I think my son is going to be good at sports and I want to make sure I can go to all his games,” he said.

He also wants to make sure he has enough time for one of his more relaxing hobbies: playing drums with his church band.

“It forces my mind to relax since I can’t focus on anything else and stay in sync with the music,” he said.

As for his youth, Kim said it has proved a blessing so far.

“I have been overwhelmed with the kindness of seasoned industry veterans who have been more than happy to mentor a youngster like me,” he said.