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Major hurdle for Aussie 16-year-old earning $12,000 a month: 'Shocked'

Sam Kadel was running rings around kids his age and he's now been able to set up two successful businesses.

Stewart Perrie
·Senior Journalist
·5-min read
Sam Kadel next to another shot of him on the phone
Sam left high school after getting into his first university. He's now onto his second and has already started two businesses. (Source: Supplied)

An Aussie teenager has opened up about the struggles of running a business and being taken seriously by prospective clients. Sam Kadel isn't like many 16-year-olds.

Not only is he running a startup SEO company, but he's left high school, finished a diploma and is at his second university trying to get some much-needed credibility in an industry that demands it. But he told Yahoo Finance it can be difficult to convince someone to invest in his services when he hasn't even got his P-plates yet.

"I really do try to leverage the fact that I'm in university at such a young age," he said. "I tell people my age and I tell them how I went to university and my past clients because I feel like that sort of helps."

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Kadel said he was unofficially pushed up several grades at school because he was running rings around kids his age. He discovered Open Universities when he was just 14 and applied for a diploma in information services at the University of New England.

To get into the course, he had to complete three subjects to show he was capable of handling the workload. Not only did the 16-year-old do well, but he managed to get high distinctions in each subject, and was allowed the rest of the diploma.

He graduated in October 2023 and was then accepted to a bachelor of commerce at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) at the tender age of 16.

Just as an FYI, the minimum ATAR required to do this degree is 93 (out of 99.95). Not a walk in the park for most, let alone someone this young.

But many of his uni colleagues aren't aware they're learning alongside someone who should be in Year 10.

"It's very interesting, I don't even tell people how old I am," he explained to Yahoo Finance. "Unless it comes down to it and then everyone just kind of gets shocked. Most people think I'm joking.

"They're like, 'Oh, yeah, sure, you're 16'. Some people just straight up ask me to show my ID."

Kadel said getting into university not only pushed his mind but also allowed him to do what was almost impossible at high school.

"I wanted to work a little bit more towards my business," he told Yahoo Finance. "Obviously with school, that just didn't allow me the flexibility to then go in and start a business like the one I did."

If you thought juggling a diploma and high school was hard enough, Kadel discovered an interest in search engine optimisation (SEO) while trying to get his guitar tutoring venture off the ground when he was 14.

People who work in SEO try to get websites at the top of search engines and be featured as much as possible to boost traffic. He built up his knowledge in this field while finding ways to promote his tutoring in his local area.

He's now set up his SEO business, called KBA Web, and he's already established several clients.

He was earning about $1,000 a week tutoring guitar for up to 12 hours, but he shut that down after moving homes. But now with KBA Web, he's pulling in roughly $10,000 to $12,000 a month.

Sam Kadel
Sam is hoping his degree from UNSW will give him the credibility he needs to further his business. (Source: Supplied)

Imagine you're a business wanting to improve your online presence and you find KBA Web. You set up a meeting and then discover it's run by a teenager.

Kadel said it's hard to be taken seriously when he's still so young and people have "made little comments" about his age here and there.

"How many people are willing to trust your age especially when you don't have like crazy profile?" he said.

He referenced one person who wanted to enlist his services, but when the prospective client rocked up, they spent the whole meeting on their phone, seemingly uninterested in the musings of a 16-year-old.

But he's hoping finishing his university degree by the time he's 19 will give him the credibility to expand his business.

"I feel like that should hopefully separate me out a little bit more," he told Yahoo Finance.

"When it comes to the SEO industry, everything just comes down to credibility and degrees."

You might be reading this and thinking Kadel is doing a lot for his age. And you're not wrong.

But when asked how he viewed himself, he admitted he's doing "nothing crazy", and his outlook is partly due to who he's surrounded by.

"People five to six years older ... they're doing really well, like some are doing like $200,000 a month in revenue," he said.

Launching himself into the business world has meant he's gained new types of friends, the ones who aren't confined by the 8:45am to 3pm high school schedule.

"I'm in a totally different friend group. Just people that are also trying to do businesses and we're gaining things like wisdom ... the new friend group is just more focused," he added.

His biggest goal is to be the youngest Forbes 30 under 30 entrant, and he reckons he'll have to be pulling in about $1 million per year to achieve that.

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