Twelve-year-old Lucie Wise couldn't wait to open her own business. On three separate occasions, she had accompanied her mother to the Children's Entrepreneur Market—an expo of child-run businesses hosted annually by the Utah nonprofit Libertas Institute—dreaming of the day she could set up her own booth and sell her wares to curious passersby.

Lucie's experience as a spectator at prior markets had given her time to think long and hard about what kind of company she wanted to start. Getting a jumpstart on the summer, when she would make her debut at the Children's Entrepreneur Market, she planted 500 flower seeds in the months leading up to her first event. Once the flowers bloomed, she arranged them into beautiful bouquets to sell to her customers.

Lucie's enthusiasm for running her own business is exactly the kind of mindset the Children's Entrepreneur Market has been trying to cultivate in the three years since it began.