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BLAKESBURG, IOWA -- She’s not your typical teenager. 18-year-old Brooklyn Burrell owns her own restaurant.

Opened in April of 2012, Brooklyn’s Steakhouse in Blakesburg, Iowa has become one of the town’s hotspots.

Burrell was a senior in high school when she first opened the restaurant.

“I was 17 and still in high school and I had a job at Cargill so I was trying to balance between school, Cargill and running here. I’d get off of school and run to Cargill and get all of my stuff done and run back here and get all of the stuff done here. It was crazy. It takes a lot of discipline actually. You can't go out every Friday and Saturday night like everybody else is. And you can't do what normal people do. It's worth it. It’s really worth it,” said Burrell.

Burrell has a lot of help from her family with her restaurant. Her brother Carson’s job is to wash the dishes and both of her parents help with the cooking and whatever else their daughter needs. And at the restaurant, their daughter is boss.

“Sometimes they are like ‘no, no we're not doing that’ but they know best so I actually listen to them more than they listen to me,” said Burrell.

This young lady has a positive outlook on the future of Brooklyn’s Restaurant.

“I want it to excel more than it already is. We're doing great right now but there's always room for improvement,” said Burrell.

And she has this advice for young people:

“Just go for it and follow your dreams and jump right into it because if you think about it then you won't want to do it and you'll get scared,” said Burrell.