His Family Saved Money On Soda Refills. At 9, He Turned It Into A Business.

Some business ideas come from big dreams. Others come from watching your parents in the garage.

That is how it started for Atley Ma in Calgary, Canada. His family owned a soda maker, the kind of kitchen machine that adds fizz to tap water. The fizz comes from small canisters of a gas called carbon dioxide, or CO2. When a canister runs out, you usually buy a new one at the store.

Atley's family found a cheaper way. They bought one big tank of CO2 and refilled their own small canisters at home. Soon friends and family were asking for refills too.

"I kind of realized, 'why not do it as a business?'" Atley told CBC's Cost of Living in a story published September 20.

He was nine years old. He called the business SodaKid. Today Atley is 18, and CBC reports he has earned enough from it to cover university tuition for his engineering degree.

His story is a great example of a simple idea: sometimes the best business is something your family already does to save money.

When Atley started in 2018, the business was small and simple. CBC News covered it back then.

Here is how it worked:

• His dad handled the gas. In the family garage, his father moved CO2 from a large tank, about as tall as Atley's waist, into the small canisters.
• Atley handled the selling. He posted ads on Kijiji, a Canadian website where people buy and sell things locally, much like a classified ads site.
• Customers swapped canisters. They brought an empty one and left with a full one.

He was selling about two canisters a week for $10 each. CBC reported that was half the price of new ones in stores.

His goal was to grow from two customers a week to five. That is a great first goal. It is specific, it is small enough to reach, and it is easy to measure.

Pricing is one of the hardest parts of running a business. Atley's pricing had a clear, simple story: half the store price.

Customers understood it right away. They did not need to compare features or read reviews. They already knew what the store charged, so a price that was half as much felt like an easy choice.

Here is why he could charge less and still make money. Buying one big tank of CO2 costs less per fill than buying lots of small canisters. That difference is where his profit came from.

You can use the same thinking. Ask:

1. What does this cost at the store?
2. What does it cost me to make or provide?
3. Can I charge less than the store and still keep some money after my costs?

Here is a made-up example to practice with. These are not SodaKid's real numbers. Say a big bag of trail mix costs $20 and makes 10 small bags. That is $2 per bag. If a small bag costs $5 at the store and you charge $3, your customer saves $2 and you keep $1 for every bag you sell. That $1 is your profit before any other costs, like bags or labels.

If the answer to the third question is yes, you may have a business. If it is no, you might need a different idea or a way to lower your costs.

From the very beginning, Atley gave $1 from every canister to the Calgary Food Bank. His mom and grandma had volunteered at food bank drives for years.

"I also wanted to give back to the community because I'm in a position to," he told CBC in 2018.

SodaKid's website still says the business supports the Calgary Food Bank today.

Giving back does two things for a young business. First, it helps people who need it. Second, it gives customers another reason to choose you. When people know part of their money helps their neighbors, they often feel good about buying.

If you add a giving promise, keep it simple and clear, like "$1 from every sale goes to the local animal shelter." Then keep that promise every single time.

SodaKid did not stay a garage and a Kijiji ad. Today the business runs through its own website, sodakid.ca, where customers order online and swap canisters at a pickup spot during a time they choose.

That upgrade taught Atley something unexpected. He told CBC that building the website helped him discover his interest in computer engineering, the field he is now studying in university.

This happens a lot with young business owners. You start a business to make money, and along the way you learn what you love doing. Maybe you find out you love designing logos, talking to customers, or keeping the numbers organized.

Atley also has a plan for what happens next. He hopes another young entrepreneur will take over SodaKid one day and grow it further. Thinking about who could run your business after you is something many adult business owners forget to do.

If you want a simple way to write down your own business plan and goals, Foundra has resources for young founders and their parents. A notebook works well too.

Atley is not alone. CBC's story describes a wave of kid-run businesses across Canada.

Lemonade Day Calgary, a program that helps kids run their own lemonade stands, had a record 792 young participants this year. That is up from 164 when the program started in Calgary in 2023, according to organizer Chantelle Little. A new program called Kids Markets has averaged about 16 youth-run businesses at each market event since June.

Jodi Letkiewicz, a finance professor at California State University who studies how kids learn about money, told CBC that kid businesses have "sort of exploded." She thinks social media, easy video lessons, and AI tools make it easier for kids to see peers running businesses and learn how to start.

She also pointed out that kids hear a lot about the cost of living. When families talk about prices at dinner, kids start paying attention to what things cost and how they might earn money themselves.

Here is a fun activity to do with your family this week.

1. Make a list of ways your family saves money. Maybe you buy in bulk, make your own snacks, fix things instead of replacing them, or grow vegetables.
2. Ask: would neighbors pay for this? For example, if your family buys big bags of birdseed, could you sell small bags to neighbors for less than the store?
3. Figure out your costs. How much does the big version cost? How many small ones can you make from it?
4. Set a clear price. Try a simple story like "half the store price" or "a dollar less than the store."
5. Start with people you know. Atley began with family and friends before he posted any ads.
6. Set a small goal. Two customers a week is a great start.

Important safety rule: Some things, like pressurized gas, food, or chemicals, have safety rules and must be handled by adults. In Atley's business, his dad did the refilling. Always ask a grown-up before selling anything that could be unsafe.

SodaKid worked because Atley noticed something his family already did, saw that others wanted it too, and turned it into a simple business.

He priced it clearly at half the store price. He started small with friends and family. He gave back from day one. He upgraded as he grew. And he learned what he loved along the way.

Eight years and one tuition bill later, that is a lot of fizz from one garage.

Who started SodaKid? Atley Ma started SodaKid in Calgary, Canada, when he was nine years old. He is now 18 and studying engineering in university, according to CBC.

What does SodaKid sell? SodaKid offers an exchange service for the CO2 canisters used in home soda makers. Customers swap an empty canister for a full one.

How much did SodaKid charge? When it started, SodaKid charged $10 per canister, which CBC reported was about half the store price.

Does SodaKid donate money? Yes. Atley donated $1 from every canister to the Calgary Food Bank, and the business still supports it.

Can kids sell things that involve gas or chemicals? Only with adult supervision. Anything with safety risks should be handled by grown-ups, like Atley's dad did with the refilling.

1. Not just lemonade stands: How a new wave of 'kid-preneurs' are making their own money, CBC Radio Cost of Living, September 20, 2026
2. Nine-year-old 'Soda Kid' starts Calgary business cutting homemade soda costs, CBC News
3. SodaKid: CO2 Cylinder Exchange, About
4. The Lemonade Day Calgary Story, Lemonade Day