5/1/03 - While his peers were spending their senior year of high school thinking about the prom, Michael Simmons was making thousands of dollars. Now, while his fellow college juniors are thinking about what to do over the summer, Simmons is thinking about his book.

On April 1, Simmons launched his e-book, "The Student Success Manifesto," on successmanifesto.com. The book is a collection of ideas that he has been scribbling in his journal for years.

After reading numerous books on entrepreneurship and self-development, the 21-year-old Stern School of Business student felt there were a lack of books in this area targeted toward youths. So, he decided to write his own.

Simmons' ambitious attitude developed early. After losing his father to lung cancer, someone told him, "You have to take care of your mom now." The tragedy forced him to take charge of his own life.

In his hometown of Hopewell, N.J., Simmons was an athletic student who ran track and played tennis. Then, during the dot-com boom, he became interested in business when his best friend, Calvin Newport, began doing Web development work for several companies. Armed with some advice from Newport and his own research, Simmons taught himself how to create Web sites, and the two 16-year-olds decided to use their talents to make a profit.

The pair started off by offering themselves as individual contractors for already-established companies. After making connections, they formed their own company, Princeton Web Solutions. By then, they did less of the actual Web design and more project management, out-sourcing their work to a Web development team in India.

At first, Newport and Simmons found even the simple parts of the business world confusing.

"When someone wanted our services, we had to get Cal's dad to drive us and he'd park a few blocks away so he wouldn't be seen," Simmons said. "We couldn't even sign the contracts because we were minors, but for some reason companies just went with us."

Princeton WebSolutions earned the duo $40,000 in their senior year of high school and was named the No. 1 youth-run Web development company in the nation by YoungBiz magazine the same year. Simmons also won three entrepreneur of the year awards from the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (where he is now a certified entrepreneurship teacher), Fleet Bank and the National Coalition for Empowering Youth Entrepreneurship.

Growing up, Simmons said he and his mother argued about schoolwork, prospective colleges and his business. But now, he names his mother as one of the people whom he admires most.

"We haven't always gotten along, but she really believes in herself and she transferred that to me, probably through osmosis," Simmons said.

When Newport and Simmons decided to go to different colleges, Newport to Dartmouth College and Simmons to NYU, they wanted to enjoy their experiences without having to spend all their time focusing on their business. They hired an executive recruiting firm to find a new chief executive officer, but the relationship with the firm soured, and they hired someone on their own. But problems soon arose, and the CEO left after less than two months.

Simmons now believes the trouble they faced taught them important business lessons.

"I'm still trusting," he said, "but I don't care as much about hurting people's feelings to get a good contract."

Meanwhile, Simmons used the transition to college as an opportunity to develop the qualities he felt were lacking in his personality.

"People didn't understand how I could do business, and I didn't like being perceived like that," he said. "So in college I got more serious. I'm between both worlds now, I guess."

Simmons continued the activities he enjoyed in high school by playing tennis for the varsity team at NYU, and becoming president of the Entrepreneurial Exchange Group. He met his girlfriend, Sheena Lindahl, during his first week of college, and the two moved in together at the end of their freshman year.

"I think my relationship with Sheena has helped me a lot," Simmons said. "I'm forced to deal with problems instead of avoid them. Before, if I didn't want to talk, I wouldn't. Now I have to."

Not content to rest on his laurels, Simmons is still planning for the future.

"I like writing right now and I think I'd like to do seminars," Simmons said. "I'm just constantly trying to find out how I can grow the most and make the most difference. I know it's corny, but that's how I feel."

Simmons' book is available online at www.successmanifesto.com

-Shanta Tewarie