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Inspiring kids to be entrepreneurial.

A Kid’s Mindset For Success!! Teaching Kids to Be Successful: Part 4

July 29th, 2013

During my “career-path” conversation with my son Jai, he was able to visualize himself, his surroundings and companions in his adult future. A kid’s mindset for success! The final step was to solidify the pathway that would take him to his version of a successful life: A Plan, Natalie Cook’s fifth P.

Natalie Cook stood on a chair for this photo!

A Plan, Natalie Cook’s Fifth P

It’s always a good idea to sit down and plot out short term and long term goals, especially for entrepreneurial kids who are cultivating a kid’s mindset for success.

On an adult level, well-made plans should be a natural component of what you perceive is your life’s purpose, your “Why” in life. (Even kids that are entrepreneurial won’t have solidified their life purpose to this extent, however.)

Sean Rasmussen, our internet marketing mentor, taught me a trick that can be successful with kids, as well:

Write on small piece of paper an intention, but don’t use the future tense. For instance, you might write “I have attracted a healthy, motivated business person to my business this month,” instead of, “I will attract…” A child might write, “I have kicked two goals at this Saturday’s soccer match.”

Place the written intention under your pillow, in your wallet, or wherever you will view it regularly. The idea is to set a specific and realistic goal. The laws of the universe will then go into effect to bring your goal to fruition… that is, if you see it, believe it, and feel it.

People who practice this mindset for success technique go on to set bigger and grander intentions, over time.

Having a Defined Goal

My friend, Michael Clouse, says that not having a clearly defined plan is like an archer who aims at a target with a blindfold on. There’s no chance of hitting the bulls eye if you are unable to see it!

Vision Board Builds a Kid’s Mindset for Success

Another technique is visualizing goals using a vision board. Select the experiences and things that you would like to have in your life and make a poster board of these, using images and graphics. Place the vision board in a place that you will view daily. Visualize the items on the vision board and do so as if they were real and already present in your life.

Facing your fears! Walking on broken glass!

Positive Affirmations Leads to a Success Mindset in Kids

Speaking positive affirmations aloud two or three times a day is another way of setting your intention and belief. Again, these should be in the present tense.

Natalie Cook likes to declare her intentions and plans before a public audience, making herself accountable to a lot of people for achieving her aims.

So be bold! Change your way of thinking. Get rid of the negatives. Affirm the positives. Make sure that your plans are well-aligned with your life vision. Set grand goals, and follow your plan! This is a kid’s Mindset For Success!

Coming up in our Mindset for Success Series

Next up is the “P” I’ve added to Natalie’s other five. After reading this, can you guess what that might be? Leave your guess in the comments or on Facebook.

The winner will be announced in the next post (we have a small prize for them!!) Every success!

PS We are super excited! We’re heading overseas for an adventure of a lifetime! We will be meeting with and learning from some of the most successful people in the world and catching up with family (another blog post in the making!).

Our final Success P article in the series will have to wait until we get back. That may be three weeks time. Here is a sneak peek at where we are going and what we will be doing…

Entrepreneurial Kids… How to Teach Your Kids to Achieve Success: Part 1

June 29th, 2013

Now here’s someone entrepreneurial kids would love to meet: Natalie Cook. Natalie Cook is a five-times Olympian and winner of the Gold Medal during the Sydney 2000 Olympics games in beach volleyball. Currently, Natalie Cook is a successful businesswoman and owner of the sports franchise, Sandstorm.

Natalie Cook Gold Medalist 2000 Olympics Beach Volleyball

She recently gave an awesome talk in Perth, saying the similarities between professional athletes and successful business owners were many, as both have a self-motivating desire to win. Natalie’s message was captivating, humourous, and very useful in cultivating the mindset for success in entrepreneurial kids, as well as in their adult counterparts.

The Five Ps

Natalie’s talk was built around her Five Ps: principles for your kids and in the boardroom, alike.

I will share these with you in a series, over the coming weeks, the last part of which will contain a surprise: a P I’ll be adding, myself. After reviewing Natalie’s, let’s see if who can guess what my P will be.
Here goes:

Part 1: Purpose

A person who truly reaches for success has a mindset that carries with it a very strong “Why,” or purpose. Your “Why” must be stronger than your “Why not?” If not, you likely don’t have enough purpose to muster up the will to make your goals happen when you are faced with barriers.

Your “Why” has to be specific and something close to the heart. It needn’t be complicated. A friend of mine is driven to success because she desperately wants her Mum to be happy and not have to work anymore. Another wants to buy a villa in Tuscany so that it solidifies her Italian family roots with a sense of belonging. These “Whys” are far from saying “Why not?” They are set purposes, not poor explanations.

Your “Why” will often come from one of two emotions… pain or pleasure. Usually it will be pain as it is the stronger of the two. For example, consider all those rags to riches stories of many of our success mentors (JK Rowling, Colonel Sanders, Sylvester Stallone, Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Susan Boyle, Richard Branson). Their experiences with the emotion of “pain” lead them to having a strong “Why” and their “Why” ultimately brought them success.

Amy, Cathy, Natalie, Tracey, Kym and Trevor.

I recently carried out a “Why” exercise with my son, Jai. We’d just returned from a career path meeting for his upcoming senior class. Every pathway the school offered ended in landing a j-o-b (just-over-broke). Their end result was the same, whether the route was through university, technical school, or a straight shot into the average 40-year career hold. There was nothing for an enterprising teen to grab hold of. Worse, because the students were just about ending high school, the pressure was on to make a choice… a limited choice, one based on hastily presented ideas.

The result was confusion and “Why not?” to this and that idea. Jai seemed to be torn between going to Uni with his mates, for it sounded like fun, or leaving school with his cousin and going to make money in the mines. This inconsistency told me that Jai’s “Whys” on both of these career paths were just too vague.

So, we got to work. We discussed why these two ideas sounded interesting to him. We canvassed what it was about “Why not?” that wouldn’t likely carry him through the hardships of either choice.

Then I asked him to ponder a few questions:

How do you want to contribute to this world?
How do you want to grow as a person?
How do you want to be remembered when you pass?

It was a lot for him to think about. We’ll discuss what steps we took next in Part 2: People and Passion.

Always looking for feedback on our entrepreneurial kids articles so be sure to leave a comment. What is your “Why”?

If you are not already a subscriber, then I invite you to fill out the form on the side bar of this blog, that way you won’t miss Part 2 next week.

Enterprising Kids Succeed at the Burekup Fair!

January 29th, 2013

The day started with a mad rush!

Seven enterprising kids needed to be ready and set up down at the Burekup Country Club grounds by 8.30am. It required four trips with a trailer carrying tables, pram, signs, eskies, TV, banners and all the products that we planned on selling.

Amber and her succulents.

… and making a sale.

On arriving we discovered that someone else had set up in our designated spot. We milled around waiting until the problem was sorted and then once a new space was allocated we busied ourselves with setting up. A very strong easterly wind challenged us with erecting banners and keeping the table clothes on the tables. It obviously was going to be a hot day. Thankfully the Red Gum Trees overhead would keep us in shade all day.

Bargain hunters were quick to do the rounds of the stalls… well before we were ready! Trying to set things up, they would be there asking questions and making purchases (we’ll have to be better prepared for this next time round!)

All set ready for the customers!

The kids’ anticipation and the joyful growing crowd created an air of excitement. It was a real country fair without all the commercial jazz that you see at many fairs today.

Firstly visitors and locals joined in with the Australia Day BBQ breakfast. Following the brekky the crowd moved onto all the stalls and activities. There were old machinery displays, free bouncy castle and water slide, a dunk tank, fairy floss, pat the animals, thong throwing contests (flip flops for all you USA readers!), face painting, as well as people selling their wares from home made fudge, plants and toys to live pigs, chickens and crafts. Other enterprising kids were also selling their toys, bikes, clothes and things that they had made.

Amber and Flynn with their “Fish in a Bottle”

Products waiting to be sold.

Having a novelty product is the key to drawing interest… and we had the perfect product that really did create a lot of interest! Flynn and Amber’s “Fish in a Bottle” were an absolute hit! Kids came from everywhere dragging their parents to look at the fish. Once at our stall we were able to market our other items to them.

Chayse soon got the hang of it. Whenever a customer wandered past he would hold up a lolly bag and ask people if they would like to buy one. Many people would buy lollies from him simply because he had asked (how can you refuse a little five year old eh!). There was another little boy walking around selling his Mum’s home made fudge. He too wasn’t shy in coming forward asking customers if they would like to make a purchase. Talking to his Dad later in the day, he said that his son had sold more fudge walking around than they did at their stall! I guess there is a lesson in that!

Kaitlin’s EYE heART on display.

…customers admiring her work!

It wasn’t long before we had customers coming in their droves. Talking with customers, handling money and recording on a pad what was sold, all kept the kids on their toes!

Taking it in turns to man the stall allowed each of us time to catch up with friends and also spend some of the takings at the fair.

Our enterprising kids were very happy with their result! Each was able to sell their products and make a profit. Flynn’s “Howitt Honey” was very popular and sold very well. Kit and Chayse sold about half their lolly bags and due to the hot day, Jai’s Icy-poles also sold well. Jai made a profitable sale with his exercise equipment, Amber sold some succulents, Kaitlin received some commissions for her “Eye heART”… and of course the “Fish in a Bottle” sold well!

Jai manning the stall with his exercise equipment.

Flynn selling his unpasteurized honey.

Cath and I also had a terrific result! There was lots of interest in Isagenix with a number of people requesting a follow-up to learn more about how Isagenix can help them. This was the first time we had put ourselves out there with our new business and running an Isagenix stall allowed us to develop our own self efficacy, as well as build our Isagenix profile in this community. We spoke with many very interesting people and learned a lot about their lives and interests.

By the end of the day we were exhausted!

Akaisha enjoying one of Jai’s Icy-poles (mittens to stop her hands from getting cold!).

Cathy explaining the health benefits of Isagenix.

It was important to celebrate our success as this is vital in fostering self efficacy around being entrepreneurial kids. The kids counted the takings and divided it up. They then paid any debts to realize their profits. Each received a congratulations and a hug for being successful enterprising kids!

Many great lessons around getting a “Financial Education” were learnt on this day. It is our hope that our kids continue to develop their self efficacy around being entrepreneurial, as we believe this will give them greater opportunities when they become adults.

Cathy talking with an interested customer.

Kit and Chayse selling lolly bags>

Finally we would like to thank the Burekup Country Club, and in particular Sally and Jason Barnden and their team, for co-ordinating the fair.

Our next blog will be a lesson in Money Mastery as we review our year with mentor/teacher Paul Counsel. Once again we appreciate subscribers encouragements, views and comments.

Chayse selling lolly bags to a customer.

Just as an added note… the day after the fair five more “Fish in a Bottle” sold!!

Burekup Country Club Heats up! … a Lesson in Marketing!

January 23rd, 2013

Last week there was fear and excitement in the small township of Burekup! The Burekup Country Club was on FIRE!!… and the Burekup Australia Day Fair may be cancelled!

Once a year for “Australia Day” Burekup hosts a fun family fare. Everyone in town usually comes along, together with people from the surrounding areas.

Burekup Country Club Hall.

This year it has had a little more publicity than normal. The local Burekup Country Club, who are the organisers of the event, had a fire that threatened to burn down the old wooden club house and town hall.

Thankfully the fire crew were able to put it out before it caused too much damage or anyone was hurt!

The newspaper heard about the near disaster and ran a story in the local rag on the fire that almost sabotaged the Burekup Australia Day Fair! The story stimulated fear and interest, which in turn was excellent publicity for the Burekup Fair!

Marketing a product, service or brand can be very challenging, especially if you are not savvy with marketing (like me!). Having very good marketing will sell even a poor product, yet having a very good product won’t sell easily unless you have it well marketed.

Our enterprising kids have all been challenged with marketing their products and brands. Cathy and I have also been challenged with marketing when promoting events or selling our products.

Only last weekend during our Money Mastery Program, our mentor Paul Counsel, shared some excellent insights into how the human brain works and how to target marketing. Some of his suggestions are outlined a little later in this article.

But firstly I’ll share with you the lead up to the Burekup Australia Day Fair and how our family have been crazily preparing for it. We see it as a terrific opportunity to market our brand, as well as the products and services that we have for offer.

Flynn showing his honey pots.

All bottled awaiting labels!

The Howitt Family booked two stalls. One for all our enterprising kids to display and sell their products, and one for ourselves to provide people information about the awesome benefits of nutritional cleansing using the Isagenix system (our home business). Promoting our Enterprise For Kids brand and our Enterprise for Kids blog is also one of our aims!

Kit and Chayse sorting lollies.

Lolly bags all set to be sold!

Putting ourselves “out there” in our small community for the first time is a little confronting. Some people know what we’ve been up to, but for many it will be a surprise. Despite the challenge, we do see this as a chance to practice in readiness for bigger and better things to come!

So what products and services will our kids be promoting and selling?

Kit and Chayse will be running their Lolly Bag business. They have bought, sorted and bagged lollies to sell. Chayse also has a small fish tank to sell. He has bred colourful guppies which he will sell with the tank.

Amber watering her succulents ready to be sold.

Amber showing her product.

Amber has been busy all year collecting succulents (cacti like plants) from people’s gardens. She has artistically potted these up into all kinds of unusual pots such as large sea shells, kettles and ceramic plant pots.

She and Flynn also plan to sell aquarium fish that they have bred. They have salvaged and cleaned large glass wine flagons which make terrific fish bowls. They will market their brand “Fish in a Bottle”.

Fish in a Bottle.

Can you see the fish?

Amber will also sell selected items from her “New from Old” business and she is putting together a Lucky Dip!

Flynn will be selling raw unprocessed honey. His brand is “Howitt’s Honey” and he has a brand new fresh batch to sell! Flynn also bought an excellent set of golf clubs for a very good price, which he intends to sell at the fair.

Jai showing his Icey poles.

Jai will be promoting his “Hire a Teenager” service. He already has clients in Burekup who hire him to do work on their properties such as mowing and window cleaning. Jai has also prepared a batch of frozen juice ice-cups on a stick. He has come up with some creative ideas to add value to his product. Jai is also considering promoting “Rent Exercise Equipment”. This business idea is in its infancy and may not quite be ready to run.

Kaitlin's Eye heART.

Lastly Kaitlin (Akaisha is a little young to have an enterprise!) will be promoting her new brand “Eye heART”. Being the creative one in the family, she will sell her skills by painting the eye of clients from a photograph. Around the eye she will also paint three things dear to them.

This opportunity for us all to market our brands, services and products will help the Howitt Clan develop self efficacy around being entrepreneurial.

So what does our mentor, Paul Counsel, have to say about marketing?

Well he has a lot more to say than the few little suggestions I have outlined below!

Firstly, you need to show your prospective customer how he/she will go from “Pain Island” to “Pleasure Island” if they buy your product or service. That is, you need to stimulate pain and promise pleasure. The best way to do this is with a before and after picture that is in black and white contrast. For example showing a before and after photo of someone using a product for weight-loss, or a before and after picture of someone receiving treatment for hair loss.

Just need the right ship to get them there!

Paul explains that a woman’s brain differs from a man’s brain and what stimulates pain for a man is different to that for a woman. The pre cognitive driver for women is “fear of abandonment” whilst the pre-cognitive driver for men is “fear of servitude” (that is being lower on the totem pole where women won’t choose them).

95% of decisions are made pre-cognitively using the Primal Brain. As a marketer you need to stimulate it into paying attention and speak to it in its own language. Some other ways to stimulate the Primal Brain are…

Targeting the emotions of fear, pleasure and pain and then offer a solution that is real and tangible. Or offer a visual novelty such as Kaitlin’s “Eye heART”, Jai’s fancy icy-poles or Flynn and Amber’s “Fish in a Bottle”.

Now there is so much more that could be said about marketing. Paul will be running a weekend marketing course in Perth on the 23rd and 24th of February if you are interested in really delving into the world of marketing. What he teaches will certainly benefit anyone with something to market..

Luckily the Fire didn’t burn down the Club and spoil the Burekup Australia Day Fair. But boy was it an excellent way to wake up the Primal Brain by stimulating it with the pain of the fare being cancelled due to fire. This excellent marketing has created plenty of publicity for the event!

In our next blog we will likely have some photos and share our Burekup Australia Day Fair experiences. Hope to see some of you there!

We would love to hear from our readers, so please share your thoughts in the comment box below and if you like our Enterprise For Kids blog we would love for you to pass it around to your friends.

David Wood – The Master Trainer!

October 16th, 2012

David Wood is the Master of all trainers!!

David Wood

We were spellbound by David Wood and energy, inspiration and mastery when he presented his Break Through Training Program to us last weekend. Everything is possible for anyone despite circumstance. All we have to do is step out and go get what we want without allowing fear to pull us back. We must take 100% responsibility for what we have and what we don’t have, without laying blame or excuse. We are the only ones who can make the shift in mindset and create success for ourselves!

During the three day program we gained tremendous insights about ourselves and how we are with people and how we approach life. David emphasises the importance of connecting with people. His tip is very simple, say “hello” and do it as often as you can, with energy!

This testimonial by Allan Kerr was spot on…

“The content is heavy hitting and invaluable, the delivery by David is strong, sometimes confronting and punchy, but mostly fun. Many of us know what we should be doing, but David has a remarkable gift of being able to make every attendee realize their shortcomings and realize what they need to do if they truly want to achieve their goals and dream with this business model, in fact with life in general. So,…. face the fear, and do it anyway! Just have a go …have a who cares, so what attitude, have fun, and get out there and talk to people, make new friends, and you will be rewarded with whatever it is you seek!!”

Break Through Training Perth 2012

One of the things that stood out for us was that “No doesn’t always mean no forever.” David Wood reminded us in a fun game how to act when you do get a “no” – do the Happy Dance! And do it like you mean it.

Don’t let yourself go down that path of “I didn’t present well enough, or I didn’t know my stuff well enough, or I’m not qualified enough…. Whenever you hear a no… instead, think of it that you’re only one step closer to your next “yes” and then celebrate the no.

Many of the distinctions and lessons that David taught us were very much in line with what we’ve been learning with our Money Mastery course with mentor Paul Counsel. One of those is in respect to the importance of a reference group.

“I become the sum of the five people I spend the most time with.”

If we want amazing results in our lives we must aspire to associate and become connected with other people who are getting those results. One way to do that is to attend events and form mentor groups with people with similar aspirations. This allows new friendships with energetic, motivated and successful people.

We also recognise that this is just as important for our kids. That is why we encourage them to mix with positive peer groups and get them involved with sporting teams and enterprise. As David put it…

“Environment is stronger than will power!”

So rather than deal with your will power, just change your environment and reference group.

We learnt also that “success is not convenient”. It requires getting out of routine and comfort. During the training program David pushed all our boundaries to get us to practice being uncomfortable. He did this by having us talk to strangers on the street, miss our coffee breaks, hug each other, hold hands with people we didn’t know, stay on late way past the planned program times, speak publicly, become vulnerable, and dance and dance and dance! We love his favourite saying…

“Get so uncomfortable about being uncomfortable that you get comfortable!”

David Wood the Master trainer and Us!

This is something we definitely need to encourage in schools!

Here is a great little exercise that David says works… don’t blame, justify, complain for ninety days and your life will completely change.

David truly believes that no dreamer is ever too small, no dream is ever too big! He says that if you don’t know where you’re going, every road will get you there. All we have to do is make a start and follow a road. He also points out that…

“We will miss 100% of the shots we never take!”

So just believe in yourself and have-a-go.

David points out that everyone was once a disaster, including him! David’s life certainly didn’t start out on the right track. His Dad left the family when he was seven and he grew up angry with his mother. He dropped out of school and was in all kinds of trouble as a teenager living on the streets. David spent ten years travelling around the world, broke and living day to day. He worked as a chimney sweeper, window cleaner and barman. He discovered for himself that “who you were can completely change!” This realization led to a different thinking which brought him massive wealth, success and happiness way beyond all his expectations. His success is a direct result of a change in thinking and attitude.

Paul Counsel also supports the view that we are a product of our thinking. What we think and believe will become our reality.

David points out that your results are telling you what’s going on in your life. If you are unhappy and poor, then you need to consider that what you’ve been doing up until now doesn’t work. And if you don’t find a new way and make changes, then your results will only continue to be the same. His advice is to stop taking advice from broke, unhappy people, and seek out successful mentors and friends who can move you along in the right direction.

Lastly a couple of testimonials from friends who attended the break Through Training with us…

An amazing weekend with David in Perth along with an awesome group of people…all willing to feel the fear and do it anyway! Life is not a dress rehearsal…just do it! Stop justifying, blaming and complaining… Grab happiness with both hands…Thankyou so much!
If you ever have the opportunity to spend time with David – take it! Tracey

Thanks David for an awesome weekend! If someone had told me I could sit through 3 massive days of training and never once feel like I was falling asleep I would have said impossible. The way you share the information and teach is inspirational. So many laughs and take away lessons – none more so than how to connect and change the warmth in a room. Inspired to say “HELLO” more often. Melissa

David, this weekend in Perth has left a permanent imprint in my heart and mind. I will take 100% responsibility for what I have and what I don’t have! Your seminar was so well presented and motivational that I have already started applying the strategies to every aspect of my life and have been dancing my “no boogie” quite regularly!! Denise

To Listen to Jack Canfield interviewing David Wood CLICK this image

One of our favourite podcasts I’ve listened to recently from David Wood’s “The Kickass Life” series was his interview with Andrea Owen, Hellraiser (as she calls herself). She talks about becoming your own biggest fan and becoming a legend in your own mind. We love that. Get rid of disempowering thoughts. And if the thoughts won’t go away, learn to manage them. Take the power away from the gremlins inside your head! Take advantage of the tremendous inspiration David provides for free on “The Kickass Life” series. CLICK HERE to listen in.

David Wood gave excellent teachings about daily life, relationships and business, (especially about the network marketing or referral business). In this day and age, that is how most businesses operate (whether they think they are or not. Referrals are the number one way that businesses keep loyal customers). There are exciting times ahead for Generation Y as they are fantastic at networking and do so in every day life with all forms of multimedia!

In our next blog article we will talk about the tremendous opportunities for everyday people using this awesome wealth creation vehicle to create residual income and financial freedom. So if you’re curious about this opportunity for yourself or for your entrepreneurial kids, then don’t miss this article!

We will also revisit Chayse and Kit and see how they achieved their financial goal and managed to give some of their money to a worthwhile Charity, the Royal Flying Doctors Service.

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!

Dale Beaumont – The Next Generation

August 9th, 2012

Part of what we love about this blog is that we get to share the amazing success of young entrepreneurs with not only our readers, but our kids. As we’ve been learning on Paul Counsel’s course, and what Dale Beaumont has reiterated, is that who you “hang with” is who you become like. Now that can be a scary thought or it can be an inspiring thought, depending on your peers and the people you spend the most time with.

Luckily we have wonderful family and friends, but for us, it’s also important to include peers who have achieved success in the areas we are lacking. Some of our family and friends fulfil those needs, but a sure way of increasing self effacy in these areas for us and our kids is to mix with other successful entrepreneurs.

Dale Beaumont is one such inspiring young entrepreneur. He doesn’t see himself as that young anymore, but his success started at the tender age of 19. Prior to developing his entrepreneurial skills, Dale was an accomplished gymnast and probably what you would call an overachiever. When Dale was 19 he co-authored a book called “The World at Your Feet” which was the basis of his successful program “Tomorrow’s Youth”. Here, he taught young kids essential life skills.

Dale started his journey when he was only 19.

Dale Beaumont wrote Secrets Exposed Series.

In 12 short years he has published 15 books in the “Secrets Exposed” series, built amazing relationships with other young successful entrepreneurs, business owners and “thought” leaders and has recently developed the Business Blueprint model which has amazing systems to keep you ahead of your competition in business and free your valuable time where you can concentrate on things other than work 24/7.

Dale with one of his children

Inside the Sistine Chapel

Dale is married and has two gorgeous boys, so his focus is actually on travelling with his young family to all corners of the world. He is only able to do this because he is financially free and has set amazing systems in place within his business so everything ticks along with or without him! So you could imagine how appealing that is to Trev and I!

I won’t talk about the whole workshop that myself and my good friend Sally went to in Perth, but I thought I would share some highlights with you that really stuck with me as he spoke.

Presenting at Business Blueprint

“Empty bank accounts don’t feed the people.”

“The poor can’t help the poor.”

Just these two sayings alone say it all. Some people in this world want money for money’s sake – so they can have nice things and show off to others how well they are doing. Others want money so they can have nice things, enjoy wonderful experiences, but also do good things in this world and make a difference to the lives of others. We fall into that category.

Dale supports “Hands Across the Water” project in Thailand and it was inspiring to see him obviously making a difference to the lives of many boys and girls there. He even takes other entrepreneurs there with him, so they can have more purpose in their lives and help use their money in useful ways.

New Rules of Business Seminar

The internet has changed business forever and if you don’t embrace that change, your business will get left behind. A classic example of this was the Borders Bookstore. They were a wonderful “physical” resource, but chose not to keep up with how fast the internet was growing and actually sold their software of selling books online to their competitor, who did see the potential of the internet. That competitor was Amazon……..and I think most of you will agree that it has gone from strength to strength, whilst Borders, sadly, had to close their doors.

What I loved about Dale’s seminar is that you don’t have to do it all yourself, in fact, you would be crazy to. There are ways of making your business and your life easier and Dale spells these out with the amazing systems he has in place.

Dale shared with us something he learnt when he was just starting out in business.

The Coffin or the Hourglass.

The Coffin or the Hourglass

Basically many people starting in business spend more time on taking action than they do strategising or planning where they want their business to end up. Now taking action is important, but you don’t want your business to be like a coffin, where little time is spent strategizing, heaps of time is spent taking action (but sometimes not very fruitful) and the results then speak for themselves.

The hourglass on the other hand, is all about putting the time in with the planning, strategising, and “thinking” stage. With well thought out plans in place, the action you take is more focused and the results are more fruitful.

So what would you prefer? A business with the “coffin” model or one with the “hourglass” model?

I think what has made Dale so successful in such a short amount of time is his ability to let go of the things that could be done by someone else (outsourcing), and focus on the things he needs to do to be effective within his business. Dale uses particular software to help systemize his business, so his time is leveraged and far more productive.

Office Autopilot

Office Auto Pilot... an excellent automated system

One such program is called “Office Autopilot” and has an amazing array of uses and ways of streamlining the processes that you must go through to keep your businesses ticking along nicely. I’m sure there are others programs or software, but having just purchased this particular one myself and seeing first hand how Dale uses the software to enhance productivity within his business, I am more than happy to list a few of it’s features below.

“Office Autopilot” Software allows you to split test, track and automate emails through their Email Marketing function. Order forms, memberships, subscriptions, refunds and automated card handling are all made easy with it’s Web Payment Processing system.

The Contact Database is all in one place for the history, purchases, referrals, files and notes etc. The Software covers Market Automation, Affiliate tracking, and Direct Mail Postcards (where you can personalise your business).

I love the If-Then Rule System where you can easily write extremely flexible and powerful rules to automate what happens next in your business. So basically, the system will have your rules “if this happens, send this email, if that happens, sent that email. This is such a time saving feature of the Office Autopilot.

The Software has a WordPress Integration system where you can set up a Word Press site in seconds. You can build a totally integrated membership site in minutes and add smart forms or order forms with a click of the button.

The program builds leads with drag’n’drop landing page creator and can split test pages for marketing purposes. Event Management from events, webinars to teleseminars make follow up easy and with Task Management processes and great Customer Service and Training, what more could you need.

As mentioned earlier, there are many programs out there, but this one is a good email marketing system combined with a good CRM system. Many are just one or the other.

So, how does all of this relate to Entrepreneurial Kids, you may ask. Well, for any business that our kids choose to start, using the internet will be a given, especially when they are young adults. If we want our kids to be competitive in today’s markets, we need to show them the way by taking the time ourselves to invest in “cutting edge” programs. They in turn, will follow our lead and already have the mindset that says “Get savvy! Learn…learn…learn!”

Bed time reading!

Generation Y (anyone born after 1980) are already building and creating things that will improve efficiency in their lives. Why spend time on something that takes 6 hours if you can streamline it and do it in one hour! That’s what our children are going forth into when they build their businesses.

And we agree totally. Life is not meant to be all about work. We want to work to live, not live to work……and we want our kids to get this concept too.

But in the meantime, if you are looking for an inspiring mentor and stimulating bedtime reading why not get stuck into one of Dale Beaumont’s books. Each of his books are either authored or co-authored by Dale and cost less than $10 from Amazon. His Secrets Exposed Series of books are the perfect gift for someone to kick start their entrepreneurial journey.

Young Achievers

Male Entrepreneurs

Small Business Owners

Female Entrepreneurs

Great Success Coaches

Entrepreneurs Under 40

Property Millionaires

Great Public Speakers

The Candy Man Entrepreneur!

June 3rd, 2012

Enterprise for Children can be a lot of fun, especially if it involves a four year old and a mountain of lollies! After you read this blog you’ll understand why Hansel and Gretal gave in to temptation to eat the witch’s candy house.

The Candy Man with his $50

... outside the supermarket!

"Let's eat!"

Chayse and I headed off to the supermarket with his $50 just as he had planned. We walked the Candy aisle and Chayse picked out the lollies he thought would be the yummiest. He bought everything from snakes, milk bottles to musks, liquorish and lollipops. Next he added to the shopping trolley 50 plastic sandwich bags and some packets of brightly coloured balloons. His whole investment of $50 was spent in no time. The check out lady asked him if was his birthday! Chayse nodded.

The production line!

Chayse’s brothers and sisters were at the car ready and waiting to escort him into the house and feast their eyes on all his lollies. Chayse was really enjoying all the attention! He bossed his brothers and sisters around as they bugged him for a lolly and offered to carry his bags.

It was all hands on deck. Jaxon and Mitchy from next door came over to help out and a production line was organised around the kitchen table. The lollies and balloons were placed into fifty piles and bagged up.

Chayse’s intention was to sell each bag for $2. So if all goes to plan he should make a 100% on his investment.

The production line team!

Cathy and I helped him with a sturdy box to display his product. We attached a strap to the box to help him hold it up and then made up a sign.

Mitchy and Jackson ran off home and immediately returned with money to buy a bag each. Chayse’s first customers! 98 candy bags to go!

Chayse’s brothers and sisters also wanted to buy a bag each with their pocket money. We had to put a halt to that as it was going to create troubles, especially as Chayse wanted to buy his own lollies too! So the compromise was that they were able to polish off the left over lollies… and of course Chayse was in charge of sharing them out to his drooling family.

Chayse's first customer, Mitchy.

Chayse’s enterprise for children business was now all set to go. His next job is to market and sell his product. We will share that story in a later blog.

Next up we’ll tune in with Kit the Dog Whisperer and see whether his enterprising idea has evolved!

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.

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!