Our Full Story | A Family Entrepreneurial Journey

Our Full Story | A Family Entrepreneurial Journey

How Our Family Entrepreneurial Journey Began

Our family entrepreneurial journey began in the far north of Western Australia, in the tiny remote community of Kalumburu, where we were both teaching and beginning family life. From there, our journey took us through farm life in Burekup, island life in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and six months travelling the United States in a motorhome with seven children.

All of these places and experiences fostered a real sense of community. Some of the places we lived, like Kalumburu and the Cocos Islands, were isolated, and the people there became like family. Our love of culture was also nurtured, and this has played out in our children’s lives ever since.

Farming taught us about health, sustainability, and an appreciation for what land provides for family and community. Travelling and experiencing life together built strong foundations of relationship, self-awareness, and a deep love for each other and for life itself.

The years of learning about money, mindset, leadership, freedom, and love still play out today, as our children have become each other’s best friends, confidantes, and mentors both personally and in business. You would definitely want to be a fly on the wall when we all get together.

Enterprise for Kids grew out of that journey. It became a place to record what we were learning, what we were trying as a family, and what we hoped to pass on to our children.

Where It All Began

Our story began in the remote far north of Western Australia, in the tiny town of Kalumburu, where we were both teaching. It was there that our first child, Kaitlin, arrived early and very quickly in the local clinic, with no birthing kit and only a relief nurse in town on holiday. A Flying Doctor trip to Derby followed, and from the very beginning, family life for us was an adventure.

From Kalumburu, and now towing two young children, we moved to Burekup, where we purchased a farm. During those years Flynn and Amber were born, joining Kaitlin and Jai. We worked hard as school teachers and farm business owners, while Cathy also built a Gymbaroo franchise with her sister in Bunbury. Life was full, busy, and rich with experience.

“From the very beginning, our family life was built around adventure, hard work, and a willingness to say yes to new possibilities.”

The Questions That Changed Everything

The Enterprise For Kids team during our family entrepreneurial journeyAs teachers, we began asking bigger questions about education and whether it truly delivered in the areas of money, mindset, and entrepreneurship. Was it laying out a pathway to freedom and a meaningful future for our children? We could see that the school system in Australia did well in areas such as literacy and numeracy, but in our view, it was not doing enough to teach young people about money, investing, business, initiative, leadership, or entrepreneurial thinking.

Around this time, we immersed ourselves in personal development, which opened the door to deeper learning about ourselves, leadership, belief systems, and the way people interact with each other and the world around them. It became a catalyst for the journey that would later become Enterprise for Kids.

We started to see how many beliefs about money, work, and possibility are formed early in life. We also recognised many limiting beliefs in ourselves that we felt would not serve our children. Developing a healthier money mindset and a more entrepreneurial way of thinking became an important part of our journey.

“We didn’t want our children to inherit the same limiting beliefs we had absorbed. We wanted them to know there were other ways to live, earn, create, and build freedom.”

Why We Started Enterprise for Kids

As our thinking expanded, so did the way we raised our children.

We began diving into everything we could learn about money, business, investing, leadership, raising children, and personal growth. We explored affiliate marketing, online business, blogging, inner work, and reshaping our value systems. Enterprise for Kids became one of our very first blogs and a place to record what we were learning as a family.

This website grew out of a desire to do two things:

capture our family’s journey
help other families and educators who were also looking for a different path

In many ways, Enterprise for Kids became the home of our family entrepreneurial journey — a place where family life, enterprise, money lessons, and raising entrepreneurial kids all came together.

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A Family Life Full of Enterprise and Adventure

Trevor and Cathy Howitt, authors of Enterprise For Kids, during their family entrepreneurial journeyLater, we moved to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, a tiny, very remote tropical atoll in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It was a beautiful and adventurous chapter of life, full of outdoor pursuits, connected community, and rich cultural experiences. During this time Kit and then Chayse were born.

When we returned to mainland Australia and sold the farm, we entered a season where Enterprise for Kids gained real traction. Cathy and I were immersed in programs and training around money, investing, entrepreneurship, leadership, and personal growth. As we learned, we brought those lessons home to our children.

We encouraged them to create, sell, invest, lead, dream, and step outside their comfort zones. The dinner table conversations changed. The questions got bigger. The possibilities expanded. Raising entrepreneurial kids became something we were living every day, not just thinking about in theory.

“As we changed, our family culture changed. What we were learning became part of everyday life.”

Learning by Doing

Our children did not just hear ideas about enterprise — they lived them.

They created tiny businesses, sold products they made, attended workshops, explored investing, learned about money, and grew in confidence through real-life enterprise experiences. We played financial board games, set bold goals, created vision boards, bought silver, later explored crypto, and encouraged creative problem-solving and initiative.

As teachers, we also brought many of these ideas into the classroom. One of the most powerful examples was a classroom economy that allowed students to experience wages, jobs, investing, loans, taxes, business ownership, and opportunity in a hands-on, practical, and purposeful way.

We wanted our children to understand that life could be approached like a game that can be played in so many different ways. We wanted them to see money as an energy and a tool that can help create freedom, adventure, health, and ease. We wanted them to understand that business and investing can create value and offer alternatives to simply being an employee. And we wanted them to know that entrepreneurship begins with belief.

[Button: Raise Entrepreneurial Kids]

Big Adventures Shaped Our Family Too

Adventure became part of our family culture.

At one point, we took six months of long service leave, flew our whole family to the United States, bought a 10-berth motorhome, and travelled the country together. Akaisha was only six months old at the time, and Kaitlin was 15. This adventure taught our children about the world, and it bonded us deeply as a family. They experienced volcanoes, snowboarding, underground railroads, Disneyland, bears, and coyotes.

Looking back now, we can see how much those experiences shaped our children. Their independence, creativity, courage, and love of travel did not appear out of nowhere. Those seeds were planted early. Adventure and enterprise became deeply woven into the way they saw life and possibility.

Where Life Has Led Today

Enterprise for Kids began more than 15 years ago. Today, our children are no longer little.

Some have built businesses. Some are writing, travelling, creating, investing, teaching, and working online — forging their own unique paths. Each has carried something forward from those early years: confidence, initiative, independence, creativity, and the courage to think differently. Our children surround themselves with good people, are not afraid to question, and want to have a say over their own destinies.

Today, we live in the small coastal town of Augusta in Western Australia, with our youngest, Akaisha, still at high school. Chayse is at home, and our other children are living in various places, building lives and ventures of their own. Kaitlin is married to Tully, and together they have given us two beautiful grandsons.

We are immensely proud of each of our children, of the paths they are taking, and of the life we have built together as a family. Looking back over our family entrepreneurial journey, we can see that the seeds planted in childhood have continued to grow in ways that are both meaningful and inspiring.

[Button: Meet Our Enterprising Kids Today]

Why This Site Matters to Us Now

Cathy and I are now more focused than ever on building our own enterprises, investments, and next chapter of life. We are still on the journey toward greater freedom. We are in a season where we can be more creative, and we are excited about the projects we are working on and the adventures still ahead. Revamping Enterprise for Kids is part of that journey.

This site matters to us because it is:

  • a record of our family’s journey
  • a place for our children and grandchildren to revisit their story
  • a resource for parents and educators
  • a way to honour the mentors and experiences that shaped us
  • a platform for the next chapter still unfolding

“This is not just a story about what happened years ago. It is a living story, and we are still writing it.”

What We Believe

Over the years, we have come to believe that children are deeply shaped by the people, beliefs, and environments around them. We believe entrepreneurial thinking is about far more than business — it is about creativity, confidence, initiative, resilience, leadership, courage, and learning how to create value in the world.

We believe children benefit from healthy, practical money conversations, and that families and educators can play a powerful role in helping young people think differently about their future.

Most of all, we believe that when children are given encouragement, experience, and belief, amazing things can grow. Doors open that may never otherwise have seemed possible.

[Button: Read Our Family Enterprise Stories]

Thank You for Being Here

Whether you are a parent, educator, grandparent, student, or simply someone who believes children deserve a broader vision for their future, we are glad you are here.

We hope our story gives you ideas, encouragement, and a sense of possibility for the young people in your own life.

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About Us | Raising Entrepreneurial Kids Through a Real Family Journey

About Us | Raising Entrepreneurial Kids Through a Real Family Journey

Our Journey Raising Entrepreneurial Kids

Enterprise for Kids is the story of our family’s journey raising entrepreneurial kids through teaching, adventure, enterprise, mindset, and real-world experiences.

What began as a personal search for something more has grown into a place where we share our lessons, family stories, and the ideas that helped shape our children into creative, enterprising young adults.

For nearly 30 years, Cathy and I have explored education, money, mindset, leadership, business, investing, and family life with one big question in mind: how can we help our children grow up with more freedom, possibility, confidence, and vision than we ourselves were taught to expect?

[Button: Read Our Full Story]

Where It All Began

The Howitt family behind Enterprise for Kids

Our story began in the remote far north of Western Australia, in the tiny town of Kalumburu, where we were both teaching. From there, our family journey took us to farm life in Burekup, to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, across the United States in a motorhome with seven children, and eventually to Augusta, where we live today.

Along the way, our family grew, life stayed full, and adventure became part of who we were. Looking back now, we can see that those early chapters shaped not only our family life, but also how we approached raising entrepreneurial kids and helping them see freedom, creativity, and possibility.

[Optional text link: Learn more in Our Full Story]

Why We Started Enterprise for Kids

As school teachers, we began asking bigger questions about education, money, freedom, and the beliefs children absorb from the world around them. We could see that while the school system serves some important purposes, it often does not do enough to help young people understand money, business, investing, leadership, or entrepreneurial thinking.

That realisation changed the way we approached raising entrepreneurial kids within our own family.

We began learning all we could about personal growth, money, investing, leadership, and entrepreneurship. We did not want our children to inherit the same limiting beliefs that had held us back. We wanted them to know there were other ways to live, create value, earn income, build assets, and pursue freedom.

“We didn’t want our children to inherit the same limiting beliefs we had absorbed. We wanted them to know there were other ways to live, earn, create, and build freedom.”

[Button: Explore Our Family Story]

Learning by Doing

Our family on a beach on the Cocos Keeling Islands during an important chapter of our journeyEnterprise for Kids became one of our first blogs and a place to capture what we were learning as a family.

These ideas were not just things we talked about. We brought them into everyday life through dinner table conversations, vision boards, small businesses, market stalls, investing simulations, and real-world enterprise experiences. Our children were encouraged to create, sell, invest, lead, dream big, and step outside their comfort zones — all part of raising entrepreneurial kids in a real and practical way.

As teachers, we also brought many of these ideas into the classroom, creating hands-on ways for students to experience money, wages, taxes, loans, business, investing, and opportunity in practical and memorable ways.

[Link: Raise Entrepreneurial Kids]
[Link: Family Enterprise Stories]

Where Life Has Led Today

Today, our children are no longer little. Some are building businesses, some are writing, travelling, creating, investing, teaching, or forging their own unique paths. Each has carried something forward from those early years — confidence, initiative, creativity, independence, and the courage to think differently.

We now live in Augusta in Western Australia, with our youngest still at high school. Our other children are living in various places, building lives and ventures of their own, and our family story is continuing to unfold into a new season.

Enterprise for Kids matters to us now more than ever because it is both a record of our family’s journey, both THEN and NOW. It is also a place to share ideas, encouragement, and inspiration with others who are raising entrepreneurial kids and want their children to think outside the box and see the many possible paths in life.

[Button: Meet Our Enterprising Kids Today]

What We Believe

We believe children are shaped early by the beliefs, examples, and environment that surrounds them.

We believe entrepreneurial thinking is about far more than business. It is about creativity, initiative, resilience, leadership, confidence, courage, and learning how to create value in the world.

We believe children benefit from healthy, practical money conversations.

We believe families and educators can play a powerful role in raising entrepreneurial kids who think differently about their future.

And we believe that when children are given belief, encouragement, experience, and opportunity, amazing things can grow.

[Link: Raise Entrepreneurial Kids]
[Link: Read Our Family Enterprise Stories]

Thank You for Being Here

Whether you are a parent, educator, grandparent, student, or simply someone who believes children deserve a broader vision for their future, we are glad you are here.

We hope our story gives you ideas, encouragement, and a sense of possibility for the young people in your own life.

 

[Button: Start Here]
[Button: Read the Blog]
[Button: Get in Touch]

Layout notes for the short version

Use:

  • one family photo near the top
  • one pull quote only
  • short sections with plenty of space
  • a Read Our Full Story button near the top and, if you like, again near the bottom

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  • Raise Entrepreneurial Kids
  • Family Enterprise Stories
  • Our Enterprising Kids Today
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Enterprise for Kids | Raising Entrepreneurial Kids

Enterprise for Kids | Raising Entrepreneurial Kids

Inspiring families to raise entrepreneurial kids

Enterprise for Kids is a family journey of raising entrepreneurial kids to think creatively, take initiative, build confidence, and explore enterprise in the real world. Through real stories, practical ideas, and lessons learned over many years, we share what helped our children grow into capable, enterprising young adults.

Discover family enterprise stories, practical ways to build entrepreneurial thinking at home and in the classroom, and where those early childhood ventures have led today.

[Button: Start Here]
[Button: Explore Our Stories]
[Optional button: See What They’re Doing Today]

Welcome to Enterprise for Kids 

Enterprise for Kids began while we were raising our seven young children and asking bigger questions about education, money, mindset, freedom, and the future. As school teachers, we could see that the school system did not do enough to help young people understand money, business, investing, or entrepreneurial thinking. We wanted something more for our children — and for ourselves.

So we began our journey: learning, growing, questioning the system, and building new beliefs as a family, all with the goal of raising entrepreneurial kids who could think differently about money, opportunity, and their future. Along the way, we encouraged our children to create, sell, invest, lead, dream big, think differently, and step outside their comfort zones. This site is a record of that journey, the lessons we learned, and the paths our children are now taking as adults.

Why Raising Entrepreneurial Kids Matters

Kit as a young child with a dog during his early dog walking business, building confidence through real life experience
At just six years old, Kit was running his own dog walking business — building confidence, responsibility, and a love for animals.

Our journey began with a growing realisation: children are shaped early by the beliefs, systems, and examples around them. Cathy and I were on our own personal development journey, learning about money, business, and investing — and about our own limiting beliefs, value systems, and what makes us light up.

We began to see how much of traditional education prepares children to be workers rather than thinkers, creators, leaders, or entrepreneurs. We did not want our children to inherit the same limiting beliefs that had held us back. We wanted them to know that there were other ways to live, create value, earn income, build assets, and pursue freedom. Enterprise for Kids became a place to capture that journey and to share what we were learning with other families and educators looking for a different path to raising entrepreneurial kids.

Start with a Real Family Story

The heart of this site is not theory alone. It is the real things our kids tried, created, sold, learned, and experienced. From Flynn’s honey venture to Amber’s market stall, Jai’s app ideas, lessons from investing in silver coins, and family enterprise challenges such as our curb painting business, these stories show what entrepreneurial learning looks like in real life.

Featured story: Honey Pot of Gold
A story about one of our family’s early ventures and the lessons it taught about initiative, money, creativity, and enterprise.

[Button: Read the Story]

What We Learned Along the Way

Flynn at Green SuperCamp Bali participating in a mud wrestling activity focused on confidence, teamwork, and personal growth
Flynn building confidence, resilience, and teamwork at Green SuperCamp in Bali through hands-on challenges like mud wrestling.

Over the years, our family explored personal growth programs, money education, investment strategies, leadership training, and hands-on enterprise experiences. We played financial board games, set goals, created vision boards, built real kids’ businesses, attended workshops and seminars, hired mentors, invested in silver and crypto, studied the subconscious mind, and learned how belief shapes behaviour.

We also brought these ideas into everyday family life — through wild dinner table conversations, market days selling our wares, practical money systems, and enterprise projects. As school-teachers, we also brought these ideas into the classroom by creating a classroom economy that helped children experience business, investing, taxes, wages, loans, and opportunity in a real and memorable way.

Over time, these experiences became part of how we approached raising entrepreneurial kids with confidence, initiative, creativity, and real-world understanding.

[Optional button: Learn What Helped Most]

From Childhood Ventures to Today

Enterprise for Kids began more than 16 years ago. Today, our children are no longer little. Some are building significant businesses, while others are writing, travelling, creating, marketing, investing, teaching, or forging their own entrepreneurial paths in different ways.

Amber as a child working on a rabbit cage project as part of raising entrepreneurial kids through real life learning
Amber learning initiative and creativity by fixing up a rabbit cage to sell — one of many real family enterprise experiences.

This next chapter matters deeply to us, because it shows that the seeds planted in childhood can shape confidence, creativity, initiative, and direction long into adult life. This part of the site follows where those early lessons led, what our children are building today, and how Cathy and I continue to reflect on our own personal journeys and the lessons we have learned along the way.

[Button: Follow Their Journey]

For Families Raising Entrepreneurial Kids

This website is for parents who are raising entrepreneurial kids with confidence, creativity, initiative, leadership, entrepreneurial thinking, and a healthy money mindset. It is for children looking for ideas and inspiration to start a kid business of their own. It is for teachers who know the current system does not fully prepare young people for a fast-changing world. It is for our own children and their families, as a diary of entrepreneurial memories and lessons they can revisit with the next generation. And it is for anyone who wants to help children build the mindset, skills, and vision to create meaningful lives with greater freedom and possibility.

Latest from the Blog

Explore stories, reflections, practical ideas, money lessons, family experiments, and updates on what our children are doing now.

Explore Ideas, Stories and Resources

Whether you are looking for inspiration, practical ideas to try with your own children, or a deeper understanding of the mindset behind entrepreneurial living, we hope this site gives you both encouragement and direction.

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Raise Entrepreneurial Kids | Mindset, Money & Initiative

Raise Entrepreneurial Kids | Mindset, Money & Initiative

Raise Entrepreneurial Kids

Raise Entrepreneurial Kids with Mindset, Money and Initiative

Raise entrepreneurial kids by helping them build confidence, creativity, initiative, resilience, leadership, and the ability to see opportunities in the world around them. This is about far more than teaching business. Through practical ideas, real family experiences, mentor insights, and lessons learned over many years, this section shares ways to help children think differently about money, possibility, and their future.

Why Raising Entrepreneurial Kids Matters

Entrepreneurial thinking gives children practical tools for life. It helps them solve problems, take initiative, think creatively, and back themselves. In a world that is changing rapidly, these qualities matter more than ever.

When children are exposed to entrepreneurship from a young age, and it is modelled well through real experiences, it opens doors later in life. It gives them choices beyond simply following the path of being an employee. We believe entrepreneurship can offer young people a way to create value, earn income, make a difference, and pursue a life that feels rewarding, meaningful, and exciting.

It Starts with Mindset

Kids setting goals together as part of learning to raise entrepreneurial kids and build a strong mindset
A regular family practice — setting goals and intentions to help raise entrepreneurial kids with confidence and clarity.

Before children build anything in the world, they first build beliefs about what is possible. Many of the beliefs people hold about money, work, risk, and success are formed early in life. Helping children develop a healthy mindset around confidence, courage, responsibility, creativity, and possibility can shape the way they approach life for years to come.

This is one of the reasons we became so passionate about finding practical ways to raise entrepreneurial kids who could think differently, question the usual path, and believe in their ability to create value.

The Value of Mentors

One of the most powerful things we discovered as a family was the importance of learning from mentors. Along the way, we sought guidance from people who helped us develop a healthier money mindset, stronger leadership, greater self-belief, and the practical skills needed for entrepreneurship.

They challenged our thinking, held us accountable, and helped guide us step by step. In this section, we also share lessons from the mentors who influenced our journey and helped shape our family’s growth.

Teaching Kids About Money

Children benefit from practical money conversations. They can learn that money is a tool, that value matters, that assets can grow, and that wise choices can create freedom.

Money lessons do not need to be dry or complicated. They can be woven into family life through conversations, games, saving, simple investing ideas, and real experiences. Teaching kids about money is one of the most powerful foundations for helping them understand enterprise, choice, responsibility, and opportunity.

Learning by Doing

Teen participating in a workshop activity to raise entrepreneurial kids through learning by doing and stepping outside their comfort zone
Stepping outside the comfort zone — where confidence, self-expression, and real growth begin.

Some of the most powerful lessons come through action. Small businesses, market stalls, money projects, family challenges, investing experiments, and real-life problem solving can teach children confidence and responsibility in a way that theory alone never will.

Children need to experience success, but also setbacks. That is often where grit, resilience, and maturity are built. When you raise entrepreneurial kids, you are not trying to protect them from every challenge. You are helping them learn how to think, adapt, recover, and keep going.

Raising Entrepreneurial Kids at Home and in the Classroom

Entrepreneurial thinking can be encouraged both at home and in school. Parents can create opportunities through conversation, encouragement, practical challenges, and freedom to try.

Teachers can build experiences that help young people understand value, money, initiative, enterprise, and leadership in real and memorable ways. Whether at home or in the classroom, children benefit from experiences that let them create, problem-solve, take responsibility, and see themselves as capable.

Start Here

This section brings together practical ideas, family lessons, mentor insights, and articles to help you raise entrepreneurial kids who are confident, capable, creative, and ready to think for themselves.

Suggested buttons/links:

  • Read Money Lessons for Kids
  • Explore Family Enterprise Stories
  • See What Our Kids Are Doing Today

Family Enterprise Stories | Real Kids Business Lessons

Family Enterprise Stories | Real Kids Business Lessons

Family Enterprise Stories

Family Enterprise Stories That Shape Real Learning

Family enterprise stories are at the heart of our journey. This is where real-life experiences come to life through the ventures our children tried, the ideas they explored, the risks they took, the lessons they learned, and the ways our family grew through enterprise together.

Real Stories, Real Lessons

These family enterprise stories are not about theory. They are about the actual things our children created, sold, tested, tried, and learned from. Some ideas worked well. Some did not. All of them taught something valuable.

This is where real kids business stories become powerful — because they show what learning looks like in action.

Small Ventures, Big Growth

From honey ventures to market stalls, from money games to creative business ideas, these family enterprise stories show that even small childhood experiences can build confidence, initiative, responsibility, resilience, and belief.

What may seem like a small idea at the time often becomes a powerful stepping stone in developing entrepreneurial thinking.

What Enterprise Looked Like in Our Family

Kids selling fish in a bottle at a market stall as part of real family enterprise stories and a creative business idea
A simple idea turned into a real business — Flynn and Amber breeding fish and selling “Fish in a Bottle” at a local market stall.

Enterprise in our family was rarely formal. These family enterprise stories reflect a wide range of experiences.

Sometimes it looked like:

  • selling products
  • testing business ideas
  • serving a real need

Other times it looked like:

  • family challenges
  • conversations around money
  • experiments
  • games
  • market days

These stories show that entrepreneurial learning is not limited to one path — it can happen in many different ways.

Lessons That Lasted

Looking back now, many of these early experiences mattered far more than we realised at the time. These family enterprise stories planted seeds of independence, money awareness, creativity, courage, and personal leadership that continued to shape our children as they grew older.

Even when the ventures themselves were small, the lessons behind them were often much bigger than they first appeared. You only have to look at where our children are now, and what they are doing with their lives, to see those childhood lessons come to life.

Start with These Family Enterprise Stories

This section brings together some of the defining family enterprise stories that shaped our journey and sparked bigger thinking for the years that followed.

Suggested buttons/links:

  • Read Honey Pot of Gold
  • Read Enterprising Dinner Table Conversations
  • See Our Enterprising Kids Today

 

Our Enterprising Kids Today | From Then to Now

Our Enterprising Kids Today | From Then to Now

Our Enterprising Kids Today