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….
