enterpriseforkids.com

Inspiring kids to be entrepreneurial.

Kit and Chayse and a Lesson on Self Efficacy!

November 1st, 2012

Kit has decided to form a partnership with Chayse with his Lolly Bag Enterprise for Kids Business! He figured that his Dog Walking business was moving too slowly, and he saw how easily Chayse was making an excellent profit. So they joined forces and together visited the local supermarket to spend their capital on buying large bags of confectionary. This time they were very serious and bought $230 worth of lollies!

The Production Line

Once again the family pitched in around the dining table to sort and bag all the lollies. Before long Kit and Chayse, in partnership, were ready to go out to the sporting grounds and sell their product. Click here to view a video of Kit and Chayse’s production line!

This time round was a little different though! Our kids had been taught and now understood the value of gifting (An Entrepreneur’s Conscience). Taking a small portion of their profits and giving it towards a worthy cause, teaches the kids about generosity and about appreciating their own good fortune. We also believe that by giving, the universe in turn will give back in some way or form. Flynn, for example, is putting money to one side to give to our African sponsor child Cheroko. Amber has chosen to give to the Cerebral Palsy Association because she has a school friend with this disability. Kit and Chayse have chosen The Flying Doctor Service as their charity because the Flying Doctor really helped us out when Kaitlin was born in a very remote Kimberley town. (Kalumburu).

Designing the For Sale Sign with RFDS as the beneficiary....

All the soccer lads checking out their lollies.

Watching Jai in action at the soccer fields!.........

.....whilst the boys sold their wares

So armed with renewed confidence, the two boys did the rounds of the sporting grounds and sold box after box of lollies. They were magnetic – attracting people from all over the place. Just like the Mr Whippy Van!

The boys were very good at counting money and giving the correct change. They did at first need prompting to approach groups, and to say thank you. However, after a while their confidence grew and they happily spoke with customers. There were lots of questions about what they were doing and why they were selling lollies. Kit and Chayse would tell people that it was their business and that they were also giving a little money towards the Flying Doctor’s Service. People were all very happy to support their business and some even bought lollies just to have a chat with them!

On a later trip to the sporting fields I was super surprised to find that young Chayse had taken it upon himself to gather up his heavy box of lollies and head off down the lines of spectators. I had no idea that he had gone as I had been focused on watching Flynn playing his soccer game. I was suddenly alarmed to notice that the lolly box had gone from under my feet and that Chayse was no where to be seen! Looking around I could see some commotion about fifty metres away. It was Chayse with a crowd of people buying his lollies.

I was very proud of the little “fella” as he had proven that he was developing his self efficacy with being an entrepreneur. Through many weeks of shyly putting himself out there with his customers selling lollies, he had finally built the confidence to go it alone!

If he keeps this up he will be an awesome young entrepreneur when he grows up!

Cathy and I have been learning the importance of self efficacy at our Money Mastery Course from our mentor Paul Counsel. He explains that it is very difficult to just switch and be an entrepreneur. What we need to do is to build up to being one by pushing our upper limit continuously. That is done by doing things that take us out of our comfort zone. Take on new challenges and then celebrate the success, then repeat it over and over again. Eventually you become comfortable with being uncomfortable, which in turn open up new possibilities and attracts opportunities. This is exactly what has been happening with our four year old son Chayse… in fact it has been happening to all of us!

Kit also demonstrated his growing confidence only a few days ago. He said that he wanted to take his Enterprise for Kids lolly business down to the local skate park all by himself. We agreed to his request and let him go. His big brother Flynn was instructed to follow behind at a distance to make sure he was OK.

Self Efficacy!

Well Kit sold a bunch of lolly bags and on returning he announced, “A Granny gave me a big cuddle and kiss!” Not sure what he was going on about we asked him to explain. Kit said, “She was really happy to see me doing my business. She bought some lollies and then gave me a cuddle.”

Two young Entrepreneurs....

....share their rewards.....

......with the RFDS.

You can donate directly to: www.flyingdoctor.net

We believe that our enterprising children are experiencing mindset shifts to think more and more like entrepreneurs. It will be interesting to see how this changing mind set effects the way they approach their enterprise for kids ventures. It all takes a lot of practice and confidence. In later blogs we will talk more about self efficacy and how our other children are moving along with it and we we also share our own enterprising endeavours!

Youth Enterprise…. Kaitlin and Jai

September 6th, 2012

So far we have seen Flynn building a great Honey enterprise and actually achieve his goal. Kit had a go at “dog walking”, but quickly cottoned onto the fact that Chayse was making more money than him selling lollies or candy at the local Soccer fields, so has been pursuing that with his brother. They have made quite a team, and we will revisit them in an upcoming blog post. Amber has actually reached her goal with her “New from Old” endeavours and we will celebrate her achievement in another post also.

So that leaves our creative Artist, Kaitlin, and our budding App Developer Jai.

It has been interesting to note on the kids’ journeys, that it is actually easier to introduce a different mindset around money to children who are younger than it is to teenagers or older children. Why would teaching youth enterprise be so challenging? Well, the answer is simple really. In our case, Kaitlin and Jai have been a lot more conditioned around money than the younger siblings. They have been around longer with us as their major source of education. Our thoughts/objections/subconscious beliefs have been ingrained into these two and it is now quite a process to change those beliefs.

Kaitlin and Jai

Luckily for us, Kaitlin and Jai are both quick learners and understand the concepts we have been trying to teach. The main obstacle has been providing the “time” to put this newfound knowledge into action. Being teenagers, their lives are full of homework/study, sporting commitments, social life and social media. All of these are things we want to encourage in our children, so our challenge has been finding the time to also include a Financial Education.

But in the end, as with everything, “life” has been the best teacher of all.

Jai hasn’t had an urgency to pursue his App Developing as there was no time line on when his goal needed to be reached. But since then, his goal has changed. Jai has been accepted into the Country Week Soccer team and will be competing in Perth during the holidays. He has to pay for a good portion of this trip. He suddenly has a renewed vision and goal to aim for, and he has spent countless hours researching a variety of ways to make the money in a short amount of time, kicking his youth enterprise into action!

Jai's focus or goal has changed.....

Jai loves being active and he now has a new goal.

He has come up with different ways to make the money, some of them he wasn’t interested in before. The sorts of opportunities Jai has been looking at are mowing lawns in our neighborhood, finding items to sell and hiring out exercise equipment. Together, he and Trevor worked out he needed to find $10 a day to be able to afford his portion. He has been negotiating with us over particular jobs that need doing around the house (above and beyond household chores) and been getting on and doing them. He has gone through many of his good quality items that were a “must have” when he bought them, then realised that perhaps he didn’t need them as much as he first thought. These, he has posted on Facebook to sell.

So, whilst Jai’s App developing has taken a backseat, it hasn’t been forgotten, it is just something he has recognised as a longer term project and pursuing it now wouldn’t give him the instant money needed to go on this trip. We are proud of his efforts and are sure he will reach his goal in time.

Jai reflected on his Entrepreneurial Journey a few weeks back. Click here to view!

Kaitlin doing what she loves!

Kaitlin, our artist in residence, is finally learning to manage her energy around study, social life, sport and her youth enterprise ventures. She has put a time line in place and is having more requests for art, so has to now take the time to start each piece so it can be finished in time for Christmas (for some) and earlier for others. Having a boyfriend has actually increased her self effacy as she needs to complete certain things before socialising.

Kaitlin and Lachlan

Luckily, lachlan encourages Kaitlin to do that, because he actually wants to have a social life too!

Kaitlin and her friend Georgia are also realising the power of leveraging their time. They have come up with some great ideas around Enterprise and have put steps in place to pursue these ideas. They are longer term goals, but in the end will reap more rewards than working a job. However, they still see the need to pursue their “job” in the meantime, to give them the money to put towards their enterprise when it is up and running. We will keep you posted with their endeavours.

Kaitlin & Georgia

So the journey towards Financial freedom is always a rocky one, but one worth following regardless of what else is going on in your life. Our kids are teaching us so much along the way, and whilst all of their efforts aren’t successful, they are learning from that and moving forward……..and we couldn’t be prouder.

Money… We All want it, but at what Cost?

June 25th, 2012

In the last blog we spoke about “who it is that teaches our kids about money”. We’d like to delve a little deeper with this topic in this blog. Our intention is to build an understanding of why most of us have settled into the role of being a “worker” rather than following the “entrepreneurial” path. You will also learn a little more about what we are endeavoring to achieve as a family.

Our kids, like all kids, want to have their own money so that they can have a little independence and buy the things that they want. In our family our children sometimes receive money when it is their birthday and they also get a little pocket money.

Kaitlin, our eldest, has a part time job working at a local Brewery serving lunches and doing the kitchen work. She works hard and it pays pretty well. However, to take on a job, she loses some of her weekends and time to do her school work and have a social life. She also commits time to regular baby sitting work for some of the families in the area.

At present the money mindset of my children is much the same as ours, which is likely to be the same as most other people, and that is to earn money, spend and borrow money!

Generally most of us either have a job where we give time for a salary or we have a business where we give our time for a monetary return. Whatever the case, we are tied down and limited with what money we earn and we sacrifice our time for it. Sound familiar?

The funny thing is, that right from an early age we are conditioned to accept this to be the norm and often our minds are generally closed off to entrepreneurial ideas and opportunities. Our schools train us and prepare us for the workforce. Our parents will do the same by pointing us towards a vocation.

Adding to this, media advertising, TV, politicians, universities and our peers all guide us towards getting a job. It is all around us, well intentioned people and institutions all keeping us on the “straight and narrow” pathway of getting a job (earn!), then spending our money on things (spend!) and then borrowing money to spend on more things (borrow!).

Finance companies advertising loans

Look at the people around you and you will see this pattern repeated everywhere. People with expensive things like houses, TVs, holidays, cars, boats and caravans. Most are servicing mortgages to pay for it all. The more things they acquire during their lives the harder and longer they have to work to pay for the things. Most people can see no way out of their situation and accept that this is what is supposed to happen. The average Australian spends about $1.15 out of every dollar they earn!

The Rat Race!

In fact most of us have been conditioned to accept this money mindset which locks us into the“Rat Race!”

Now you may challenge us by saying, what’s wrong with our kids entering the workforce, what’s wrong with spending what they earn and borrowing some more! Honestly, there is nothing wrong or right about it at all. It is just what it is.

For us though, we’re looking for a new direction where we have the time to follow our passions and to be able to give freely to our family, community and world without worrying how to pay for it. Our goal is to break out of the “worker” mindset.

We seek to know how the relatively few, “financially and time free” people managed to rise above the Rat Race. We want to know what they do that is different. How do they think and what is their conditioning around money mindset!

What’s more, we wish for our kids to grow up with the mindset of an entrepreneur! It is important to us that they get a “financial education”.

A Financial Education won't come from the teacher.

From what we’ve discovered so far, is that kids need to start very early to develop their entrepreneur mindset and the skills needed to manage money and build enterprise. They need role models who can foster a different thinking and parents who encourage and look for opportunities that foster enterprise. Open discussions about money and business will help to develop a financial education for kids.

We desire for our seven children to grow up having choices. We want their pathways to be wide with opportunity! We encourage them to follow their passion and not be conditioned into the “earn, spend and borrow” mindset. We hope that they will think differently, have belief in themselves and develop the habits of people who have achieved personal and financial freedom.

We know we have a challenge ahead of us, as our kids have already been conditioned from an early age. Using Kaitlin as an example; she earns money, spends freely and already has a debt. She is studying hard to go to university with all her friends and then ultimately to get a good paying job. Once again I’ll point out that there is no right or wrong about this, only that we would like her to see that there are other ways.

It is always going to be a challenge whilst we have that same conditioning and mindset. Although striving to change our thinking, we recognise that it will take time and persistence to learn new habits and shift old belief systems. However, we are very confident that this year, is the year that we will have a break through. We have enlisted the help of a Money Mindset personal mentor, who is helping us develop a new thinking. He is there to help us transform in our thinking through our actions…. and as we do so, so will our children.

With our up coming blogs we will share his education with you.

Pulling the Money Bunny Out of the Hat!

May 26th, 2012

Amber contemplating her enterprise.

Amber didn’t waste any time jumping into her New From Old money making enterprise. She bugged me to take her to the Dardanup Tip to see what she could find. So after her Saturday soccer game we paid a visit.

At the tip there is a salvage area where anything that could be recycled is put aside and sold.

Almost immediately Amber spotted an opportunity! She saw a damaged rabbit hutch. We looked over it and could see that it was generally in good structural condition and could easily be repaired. However, it did need a paint job. So Amber went up to the Tip man and struck up a deal. She bought the cage for $10.

Ten Dollars was a real bargain! We looked up the exact same cage sold online in kit form and saw that people were paying $180 for them.

Chayse helping Amber repair the rabbit hutch.

Amber fixing the door latch.

Arriving home there was a buzz of interest as the neighbouring kids headed around to see Amber’s rabbit hutch. They were really curious to see what she was up to. Amber bought a couple of paint brushes for $5, then using some old house paint she found in the shed, she and her friends, Darcy and Lauren, set to work painting. She also employed her brother Flynn and his mate Dan for $2 each to fix the broken part of the cage. They thought that would be awesome! Enterprise for Kids was now becoming infectious in the neighbourhood.

Amber employing Flynn to help her fix her rabbit hutch.

Darcy lends a helping hand.

It was all great fun and in no time at all the cage was ready to be sold. Amber continued her research into what to sell the cage for. She spoke with Darcy’s Mum about cages and also to Nicolette from next door. Both had owned rabbit cages and understood their value. Finally Amber decided that she would ask $90 for the bunny hutch.

Her next job was to put a free advert on the local Buy and Sell Bunbury Facebook page. She put her ad up with a photo and waited for a response.

You wouldn’t believe it! Within ten minutes the cage was sold for the full $90. In fact two other people had their hand up to buy the cage if the first deal fell through. Amber met and thanked the man who came round to pick the cage up and eagerly took the cash payment. She really did pull the money bunny out of the hat!

Now for the picture for Amber's Face Book advert

Amber's finished enterprise idea

All up, an outstanding result! In only a few days, Amber’s profit was $71 after costs. She is well on the way to attaining her goal. With her money jar now looking very full, she was rearing to go for another visit to the tip! She has already begun developing an enterprise mindset around business and money and her financial IQ is growing!

We will let you know how Amber goes with her next “New From Old Project”.

Next up we will pay a visit to Flynn and see how his buzzing honey enterprise is going!

An Apple a Day Keeps the “Fremantle Doctor” in the Bay!

May 23rd, 2012

Jai, like many teenage kids, is fascinated by the internet, social media and gaming. If you allowed him, he would spend day and night on his computer, iPod or cell phone chatting to his friends, playing games or searching the net. We are careful that he is well rounded with a balance of activities such as kicking the footy and playing with his family, whilst at the same time allowing him the opportunity to immerse himself into his passion.

Jai leads a balanced life.

Jai loves technology

When we introduced the Family Project to Jai he knew exactly what he wanted to do. In fact his very grand idea was spawned by a family friend who has been able to develop a hugely successful company based around building Apple Apps for iPhones. Let me tell you in a nutshell his inspiring rags to riches story.

A friend of ours was originally from Switzerland and had worked most of his life in a newsagent. He also had a passion for windsurfing and would take every opportunity to visit the West Coast of Australia in pursuit of the consistent strong summer winds that make the WA coastline a windsurfer’s heaven!

In Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, the wind is named the Fremantle Doctor because it appears to come from the nearby coastal city of Fremantle, and it brings welcome relief from the summertime high temperatures.

Our friend then decided to leave his Switzerland home to follow his passion (and the Fremantle Doctor!) and set up home permanently in Geraldton (a small coastal city 500km north of Perth). He literally became a beach bum who spent his afternoons windsurfing and kite surfing and in his ample spare time he would play around on his computer.

He taught himself how to program apps for Apple iPhones and was able to make a few simple applications which he tried to sell online.

This is where his enterprise kicked off!

From the comfort of his backyard hammock, one of his Apps began selling. Sales exploded, and millions of people from all around the world downloaded it, and for each download he received a payment. He became an over night millionaire!

This entrepreneur has since built a multi million dollar company with three other partners, all from Switzerland, who incidentally, have also followed the Fremantle Doctor to Geraldton!

What this amazing man, with no formal qualifications, has managed to do in only a few years is mind blowing.

His story inspired my fourteen year old son. Jai’s enterprise plan is to build an Apple App and sell it online. How he will manage to do that is not known yet. All he has to do is have a goal and a rough plan, then focus on and tackle each of the steps one by one. Maybe Jai too will become an overnight success like our friend!

Jai often has "hair raising" ideas...

...but he always settles for what he's good at!

In our next blog we revisit Amber and see how she is going with her New From Old enterprise.

Kit’s Pocket Money Idea

May 16th, 2012

Plenty of kids receive pocket money from their parents. The kids then either save it or spent it. When we used to give pocket money to our kids, they would spend it straight away. Usually they spent their money on “junky” things that didn’t last long. This was very frustrating as a parent, so we looked for ways to teach our children to use their money wisely and to build a money mastery mindset for them. From these early days we have come up with some fantastic ideas which we’ll share with you in a later blog. You may also be interested in our views on kids and pocket money.

Welcoming Kit and his Entrepreneurial Idea.

This particular blog is about Kit’s pocket money idea and how he plans to run his enterprise.

Looking for a need…

Kit saw that there was a need in his neighbourhood for dog walkers. Whilst many people in our community walk their own dogs, there were also many elderly or busy people who own dogs and either didn’t have the energy or time to take their pet for a walk. Kit figured that he could offer a service where he could take their pet for a walk on a lead.

At first, when he shared his idea, we thought that he had gone bananas! Firstly Kit has always been afraid of dogs and secondly, he’s only six years old. Allowing a six year old to walk the streets with other people’s dogs was certainly not looking like a good idea!

However; one thing we have learnt is to never stifle a child’s enthusiasm and condition him to think that his ideas are not good enough, so we decided to play along with his pocket money idea.

Road Blocks…

We talked through a business plan with Kit and investigated the road blocks that he may be faced with. Then we investigated the solutions.

The main issue was that he was too young to walk other people’s dogs, so we discussed that he needed an older person to go along with him. This would also provide reassurance to the pet owners that their dog would be looked after. So luckily his grandad offered to help out (he reckons he needed the exercise anyway!).

The other issue was that Kit wasn’t confident with dogs. So the plan was to carry a pocket of doggy treats to keep the dog happy and obedient. In addition Kit would provide his own dog lead. By offering doggy treats and a lead Kit was “adding value” to his service.

Dog Walking was Kit's Enterprise idea

Could this be the next "Dog Whisperer?"

The Fee…

Kit decided that he would negotiate a walking fee of $5 for a half hour walk and if he had one customer a day then he could pocket $35 a week.

So it was on. Kit was now officially a professional Dog Walker!

And who knows…..from these humble beginnings, he may even become the next famous Dog Whisperer!

In our next “Enterprise for Kids” blog we will introduce Kaitlin’s very creative, enterprising idea and her well thought out business plan. Stay tuned for that one….

New From Old!

May 9th, 2012

My family immigrated here to Australia from Kenya back when I was just a kid in 1970. They came out with little qualifications, money or possessions and were supporting a young family. In order to make ends meet, my mother became very good at hunting down a bargain at a variety of places, including thrifty stores, lawn sales, second hand shops and markets. Years later she opened her own second hand goods shop and did exceptionally well out of it as a small business.

Amber was looking for an enterprise idea. She knew her Grandmother was an expert at finding bargains and then on-selling them for a profit. Her Gran suggested that Amber start her search at the local tip’s recycling centre, a place where thrown-away items are put aside, then sold to the public for next to nothing. Here was a wonderful opportunity to buy something, fix it up and resell it.

Gran is a great bargain hunter.

Fossicking for "treasure"

The old saying…“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!” was to ring very true here.

So that is the basis of Amber’s new business.

To create something new from something old.

Her business plan is very sound and she’s definitely onto a winner! She is very proud of what she has come up with and shares it below in this short video. Just click the picture of Amber to view her new enterprise idea!

Amber

Next we will share Flynn’s business plan for his new enterprise. It is really a honey pot of gold!