PHOTOS BY DONNA CAMPBELL Eleven-year-old entrepreneur Ella Young prepares her inventory of earrings and bracelets for Saturday’s annual Kids’ Market at Vendor’s Emporium.

Stringing tiny beads onto even tinier elastic thread may be good practice for a young entrepreneur who wants to be a doctor someday.

It’s a talent that could serve 11-year-old Ella Young well when she’s stitching up a patient, but for now it’s best used to make beautiful earrings and bracelets.

Ella, the daughter of Matthew and Tarah Young of East Lincoln, will be one of several youngsters to participate in the annual Kid’s Mini Market on Saturday in front of Vendor’s Emporium.

The market will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Lincoln Plaza at 210 Hwy. 51.

Rhonda Deer started the kid’s market for children age 15 and younger to give them an opportunity to sell merchandise they’ve either collected, grown, prepared or created and to learn how to interact with shoppers.

Deer requires that participants complete an application, with assistance from their parents if needed, so they’ll learn how the vendor process works. There is also a $5 booth fee, which is given to Brookhaven Animal Rescue League. She hopes that charging a minimal fee to the young vendors shows them that it costs money to make money and also the value of donating to charitable organizations.

She also wants to teach the kids the value of working for what they want.

“I think it’s important for kids to learn to work,” she said. “I have found, if they work for the money to buy something, they take pride in it, better care of it, and it builds their self confidence.”

That’s exactly what convinced Tarah Young to pick up an application for Ella. She said that since she started her business a year ago she’s learned how to manage her profits to re-invest into the business. Ella has to shop for beads that she’ll be able to turn into jewelry that will sell for a profit.

She’s also learned about packaging, marketing and customer relations. She even has her own Facebook page — set up by her mother — called Ella Belle’s Accessories. Her business name comes from her father’s nickname for his oldest of three daughters.

Tarah Young expects that this first market might be difficult for Ella, but she’s excited for what she’ll get out of it.

“She’s shy. This makes her put herself out there more,” her mom said. “The more you do it, the better you’re going to get at it and that’s how this is helping kids like Ella who are shy and kind of in their shell.”

Ella gets ideas for her jewelry from Pinterest but a lot of her designs come from her own imagination, stringing beads in a pattern of her own choosing and starting over if she doesn’t like the look. She makes bracelets for adults and children in school colors and takes custom orders, too.

She also makes key chains from small plastic fusible beads called melty, or Perler, beads. She creates designs by arranging the beads on a plastic pegboard then ironing over them to melt them into place.

Ella will be available Saturday with plenty of inventory to sell. Last year’s market attracted more than two dozen young entrepreneurs.