Texas 15-year-old's slime business brings in six figures a year

Welcome to the "slime house" of Garland, Texas.

Jessica Burks' home is oozing with opportunities to get your hands on — and into — the playful, gooey substance that set off an internet craze.

Packaged slime in an array of colors and scents lines one wall of the living room, and, in the designated "slime room" workspace in the back, bottles of fragrance oil are arranged in rows, next to glue by the gallon and an industrial-size kitchen mixer.

But it's not the amount of product in Burks' house that shocks people, she said. It's that her 15-year-old daughter, Samantha Zumwalt, is at the helm of their enterprise, Slime Shop, which they say pulls in six figures a year.

Samantha's slime, offered in a rainbow of colors and a range of textures, is in high demand. Since she launched her business in February 2017, she has racked up more than 24,000 sales on Etsy and 10,000 on Amazon.

The customers skew younger — generally between 9 and 12 years old, Burks said, and they strive to keep slime affordable: A 2-ounce container of slime is $3, 4 ounces is $6 and 8 ounces is $9. The biggest size is 16 ounces, and it's $17.

Some customers buy Samantha's slimes, most of which also contain charms and trinkets, because they say playing with it is calming.

The Burks receive anywhere from 20 to 50 orders a day — and during the holidays, it's closer to 100, they said.

People have encouraged Samantha to go on Shark Tank to try to secure an investor, but she's happy where she is.

"I get to control what happens," she said. "I get to make sure there's no hair in the slime — there's nothing that isn't supposed to be there. I get to make sure I know what the product looks like before it goes out."

Burks said she will be happy with whatever direction her daughter wants to take the business.