enterpriseforkids.com

Inspiring kids to be entrepreneurial.

Children Earning Pocket Money… the Candy Man!

August 12th, 2012

We thought it was time that we revisited our little Candy Man Chayse! When we last followed his enterprising adventure he had bought his lollies and bagged them up ready to sell.

If you missed that article, then click here.

Now he has to find a market for his product and learn to be a salesman. Before we share Chayse’s exciting adventure we thought that it would be interesting to consider the benefits of children earning pocket money through enterprise as opposed to children receiving a weekly allowance.

Children earning pocket money through enterprise will develop the mindset and skills of an entrepreneur! Giving children a weekly allowance conditions them to be “workers”. Robert Kiyosaki describes a worker as someone prepared to give their time for money, whilst an entrepreneur builds systems and businesses that produce a cash flow. Workers are more often than not time poor and cash poor, whilst entrepreneurs are generally time rich and cash rich.

Why is it then that the vast majority of us leave school and become workers?

A child receiving a weekly pocket money allowance is equivalent to a worker receiving a weekly salary. Relying upon a weekly allowance won’t encourage children to look for opportunities for enterprise. Their pocket money may or may not be aligned with doing household chores, just as a worker receives payment for doing work. Many kids leave school and slot into jobs for the rest of their lives because they have not been able to explore the entrepreneur within themselves!

Chayse with his box of candy!

Children earning pocket money through enterprise develop a whole different mindset. Parents of these children will encourage their children to look around to find opportunities. These kids learn to identify problems that they can solve and they’ll learn the art of negotiation. Enterprising children understand assets, liabilities, cash flow and profit. They will understand markets and customer service and they will develop the confidence to promote themselves.

Children earning pocket money though enterprise are more likely to value their profits and spend their money wisely. Weekly allowances are easily received and easily spent (knowing that more money will follow). This conditions kids to be reliant on a salary.

Enterprising children become self motivated to make money, and as they celebrate their successes, they quickly come to understand that they can in fact make a lot more money than their friends receiving weekly allowances.

According to entrepreneur, Cameron Herold (ted.com), parents wanting to raise entrepreneurial children won’t give pocket money to their kids. They will encourage their kids to go around their home or community and identify opportunities. These kids then make a plan and negotiate with either their parents or people in the community to provide the service or product for payment.

Getting prepared with his helpers.

Selling to customers.

Kids may not be motivated to do this at first, especially if they have been used to receiving a weekly allowance. The trick here is to make sure they have a big “Why!” They need to want something badly enough. This then becomes their goal and reason.

So back let’s get back to Chayse’s enterprising story! Was he able to earn his pocket money through his Lolly Bag business?

He had his first opportunity to sell his lolly bags at his big brothers’ soccer games. During the game the spectators (his potential customers) mill around on the sidelines. So we primed him on what to say to customers. We also enlisted the help of his brothers, Amber and friends. It was all great fun and soon enough the customers came rolling in!

Now who could knock back buying lollies from a cute smiling four year old!

His lolly bags sold like hot cakes for two dollars each. Chayse couldn’t hold up the box because it was too heavy, so he managed the money jar, whilst his helpers held the box. He had to take his customers money and give change.

As word spread that there were lollies for sale, kids came racing in from all directions to buy Chayse’s product. The box became lighter and the money jar heavier… but despite the weight, he wasn’t going to relinquish it!

Chayse looked after his helpers by giving them each a lolly bag. Hopefully they will be willing helpers the next time he sells something.

Chayse also paid back the money his Dad lent him as capital to buy the lollies and plastic bags from the supermarket.

All up he was delighted with his fifty dollars net profit! He is now well on his way to reaching his goal to buy toy Nerf Guns. In fact his business was so successful, that Kit has recently decided to partner with him for his next endeavour! And under their mother’s guidance, they will research and decide on a charity that could benefit from some of their profits. So, stay tuned for that one!

Chayse is one of those children earning pocket money through enterprise. It would have taken him five weeks, with a weekly allowance of $5 a week to save the equivalent to what he profited at the soccer grounds during a soccer game.

In our next Enterprise For Kids blog we’ll introduce you to a self made millionaire who has some excellent tips for parents wanting to raise entrepreneurial kids. Don’t miss this article!

The Dog Whisperer!

June 9th, 2012

Our kids are becoming Enterprising Children!

In this post we revisit Kit and his enterprising Dog Walking business. He was now ready implement his carefully thought out plan.

It was the school holidays and we were all staying with Kit’s Gran and Grandad in Geraldton.

His first client was a family friend, Pam, who owned a small scruffy dog called Elly. Pam had been prepped with a phone call that Kit would be arriving with his Grandad to ask if she would be interested in hiring his services. She was delighted to support Kit with his new enterprise and awaited their arrival.

Kit with Pam's dog, Elly.

Kit preparing for his walk with Elly.

Kit explained to Pam what his business entailed and the benefits that she and her dog would get if she hired his services. Pam agreed that his service looked to be very good and then she asked what his rate was. Kit said five dollars. Pam negotiated with him and they agreed on four dollars for the half hour walk.

A beautiful afternoon for a walk.

All dogs need a pit stop

Kit was pleased, but not sure how he was going to handle Pam’s little energetic dog. Grandad was an excellent coach and helped him with attaching the lead, offering the dog a treat and instructed on giving commands to the dog.

The walk went very well with no dramas and Kit arrived back at his Gran and Grandad’s house after returning Pam’s dog very keen to tell his family all about his business.

Ending the walk.

Kit being paid for a job well done.

Kit continued his dog walking enterprise for the next two days whilst we were on holidays in Geraldton. He managed to make twelve dollars! Kit is now on his way to attaining his goal.

We, as parents, felt that more important than attaining his goal was the fact that Kit got “started” on his idea. What holds many people back from achieving their dreams is the inability to actually start! And of course, there will always be a myriad of reasons why not to – the time isn’t right, there isn’t enough money, there isn’t enough time, my family won’t approve, not ALL conditions are right yet…..the list goes on. These are the BUTS that stop people attaining their goals all the time, so it was refreshing to see one so young as Kit just “do it!”

Our enterprising children are now all busy with their individual kid’s enterprises. It will be time to check in with Jai and see whether his enterprise plan eventuated.

Until then……….

Flynn’s Honey Investment Continued……

June 1st, 2012

You may remember from a previous blog that Flynn’s Enterprise for Kids plan was to buy honey at wholesale and sell at retail. All he needed was a good source of cheap quality honey that he could buy in bulk.

Flynn’s Grandad has kept bees for over twenty years and had a number of hives which he regularly harvested honey from. The honey produced from his bees is very light in colour and tasty as the bees forage over the Mid West fields of Paterson’s Curse and coastal gums. Flynn knew that he had a good quality product.

His plan was to pay a visit and strike up a deal with his Grandad!

Flynn’s Grandad saw that Flynn had thought through his plan. He was more than willing to support Flynn with his new honey enterprise. Flynn negotiated a good price per kg, however, the deal included Flynn having to help his Grandad rob the honey from the hives. Listen to Flynn explaining the deal he has made with his Grandad by clicking this link!

Flynn donning his gear.

Flynn with Grandad

Flynn was up for the challenge! He donned a pair of overalls, gloves, boots and bee veil. Then he and his Grandad disappeared for the morning, returning later in the day with a heavy load of honey supers in the back of the ute. They were carted around to the rear of the house and quickly stacked in the garage. Already the local bees were honing in on the honey, hoping to pinch it for their own hives. The garage door was closed to keep the bees out.

Flynn slotting the honey combs into the honey extractor.

Extracting the honey from the honey combs.

Grandad sliced the caps off the honey combs with a hot special purpose electric knife and Flynn slotted them into a honey extractor. The extractor uses centrifugal force to extract the honey from the combs. It was Flynn’s job to spin the extractor, which proved to be a lot of fun. Although everything nearby became sticky with escaping honey, including Flynn!

Checking the temperature of the honey

Yummy raw honey - a great enterprise venture

Flynn’s brother Jai, and a family friend Jack, stopped by to lend a hand. Many hands made light work and before long, after warming and sieving the honey, it was sealed into 10kg buckets.

Angry bees don’t take too kindly to people robbing their hives. It was pretty amazing that Flynn managed to do all this work without getting stung! His Grandad and Dad weren’t so fortunate though!

Enterprising Flynn paid cash for 80kgs of honey from his Grandad. He loaded it all up in our car to take it back to his home. It was a large investment for a twelve year old and Flynn, knowing its value, took great care to ensure that the honey was well sealed and cushioned for the long trip home. He didn’t want it spilling, nor did he want any ants finding their way into his containers.

Pouring the honey into tubs.

Filling tubs with Grandad

Flynn wanted to sell his honey at retail. He had done his research and found that honey generally sold in shops for around $12 or $13 a kg. He had a unique product. It was tasty, raw and full of enzymes, which are generally destroyed during commercial pasteurization processes.

He had also searched online for plastic honey pots. We discussed with him that people would pay a premium for his product if it looked professionally bottled and not sold in recycled jam jars. New plastic honey pots weren’t cheap! The larger the order, the better the price.

Flynn made his order over the phone and bought five hundred 500ml pots. These were delivered by mail within a few days, arriving in a massive cardboard box.

Flynn ordered honey jars and lids...

....ready to be filled

So now he was all set to go with his enterprise for kids project. He had his honey and honey pots and had spent every cent that he had. It was a huge investment and Flynn had no choice, but to make it work. He had overcome fear and had taken a calculated risk with his business. All he had to do now was bottle, market and sell his honey. … and this will all be revealed in a later blog!

In our next Enterprise for Kids blog we check back with Candy Man Chayse and see how his enterprise has been progressing.