Author: Enterprise For KidsTeam

Ways to Earn Money for Students: Chayse Plans a Candy Business

Enterprise For KidsTeam Chayse's Stories, Family Enterprise Stories, Kids Business Ideas , , , , , , , , , 9 Comments
Ways to earn money for students shown through Chayse preparing lolly bags for his Candy Man business

Ways to earn money for students can start with a very simple idea. For Chayse, that idea was lollies — or candy for our American readers — and a plan to turn fifty dollars into his very own Candy Man business.

This is Part 1 of Chayse’s Candy Man story. Before the selling, the soccer grounds and the very heavy money jar, there had to be a plan.

Ways to earn money for students shown through Chayse preparing lolly bags after planning his Candy Man business
After planning his Candy Man business, Chayse soon moved into action.

Ways to Earn Money for Students: Chayse Plans a Candy Business

All kids love lollies. Chayse too really loves lollies! So it came as no surprise to see Chayse planning an enterprise that revolved around lollies.

Now Chayse is only four years old, so he needed a little help formulating his plan. Initially, he liked the idea of buying a heap of lollies, but I think he was thinking that he was going to be the one eating them!

Eventually, after much explaining, it became clear to him that he would be selling them, not eating them himself. His brothers and sisters all thought his enterprise idea was pretty cool and I’m sure were thinking, “Why didn’t I think of that!”

A Simple Business Plan for a Four-Year-Old

We don’t have a video of Chayse explaining his business plan. In fact, there isn’t much to it, so I’ll just explain it for you here.

We lent Chayse $50 to run his business. He planned to buy large bags of lollies from the supermarket, bag them up into small mixed bags, then sell them for twice what he paid.

His market would be all the hungry kids who play and watch soccer games on Saturday mornings at the local soccer fields.

For a four-year-old, that was a pretty good business plan. Product, start-up capital, packaging, pricing, customers and a selling location. Not bad for a little Candy Man!

Why This Is One of the Simplest Ways to Earn Money for Students

When families think about kids business ideas, it is easy to overcomplicate things. But children often learn best when the idea is simple enough for them to understand and exciting enough for them to care about.

Chayse understood lollies. He understood that kids liked lollies. He understood that soccer grounds were full of kids. With a little help from us, he could begin to understand buying, selling, profit and customers.

That is why simple projects can become powerful money lessons for kids. Children do not just hear words like “profit” and “investment”; they get to experience what those words mean.

From Pocket Money to Enterprise

Many children earn or receive pocket money each week, and there is nothing wrong with that. But when children create a small enterprise, they begin to see money differently.

Instead of waiting for money to arrive, they start looking for opportunities. They begin asking questions like:

  • What could I sell?
  • Who would buy it?
  • How much will it cost me?
  • How much could I sell it for?
  • What will I do if it works?

These are the sorts of questions that help children develop confidence, initiative and responsibility.

Entrepreneur Cameron Herold makes a similar point in his TED talk, Let’s raise kids to be entrepreneurs. Children can learn entrepreneurial thinking when they are encouraged to look for opportunities and create value.

Chayse’s Goal: Double His Money

If Chayse’s enterprise went to plan, he would double his money or get a 100% return. That would put a smile on any young four-year-old’s face.

Of course, before he could make any money, he still had to buy the lollies, package them, carry them around and sell them to real customers. That is where the real learning would begin.

The image above actually shows the next stage of Chayse’s Candy Man journey, when his plan moved from an idea into action. First came the goal, the $50 start-up capital and the discussion about what he could sell. Then came the exciting part — buying the lollies, sorting them into bags and getting ready to find his first customers.

The Candy Man Business Series

This post is Part 1 of Chayse’s Candy Man journey. You can follow the full series here:

Key Takeaway: Ways to Earn Money for Students Can Start Small

Key takeaway: Ways to earn money for students do not need to be complicated. Chayse’s Candy Man idea started with something he loved, a clear market, a simple product and a small amount of start-up money.

Where to Next?

If you enjoyed Chayse’s Candy Man planning story, you may also like:


The Candy Man Entrepreneur
See how Chayse bought the lollies and prepared his product for sale.


Business Ideas for Students: Chayse the Candy Man
Follow Chayse to the soccer grounds where he sells his lolly bags.


Kids Business Ideas
Explore more practical business ideas children can try through real-world learning.

We will keep you updated with how his money-making enterprise goes.

Next up is Kit planning an enterprise. Kit is so excited that he reminds me of our late over-zealous Jack Russell Terrier when she used to go out for a walk!

We would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment.

Family Business Ideas: Honey Pot of Gold!

Enterprise For KidsTeam Family Enterprise Stories, Flynn's Stories, Kids Business Ideas , , , , , , , , , , , 0 Comment
Flynn as a budding young entrepreneur with one of our family business ideas

Family business ideas can start with something simple, practical and close to home. For Flynn, that opportunity came through raw honey, a family connection and a very enterprising plan that helped him learn real money lessons.

This is the beginning of Flynn’s honey business story — a family enterprise project where he learnt about opportunity, product value, buying wholesale, selling retail, confidence and taking action.

Flynn as a budding young entrepreneur with one of our family business ideas
Flynn — a budding young entrepreneur with a family business idea.

Family Business Ideas: Flynn’s Honey Enterprise Begins

Flynn is a natural budding young entrepreneur and he is never afraid to chase an opportunity. He often comes up with brilliant enterprising ideas, and the idea he planned to take on with Enterprise for Kids was a definite money spinner.

Before I tell you all about Flynn’s awesome enterprising idea, I want to introduce some food for thought.

Why Family Business Ideas Need a Different Money Mindset

Prior to us starting Enterprise for Kids, our children were following the same conditioning around money that we had: earn money, spend money, borrow money. Society encourages this greatly.

Whilst many people may not see anything wrong with this, many of us actually spend far more than we have coming in. The cycle never gets broken, and by the time we reach retirement age, we have very little to show for the many years of hard work we have put in.

That is why building an entrepreneurial mindset is so important. Breaking old conditioned habits is even more important. The younger you are, the less conditioning you have.

So while we want to develop in our children a great work ethos — working hard and with integrity — we also want to help them move beyond that. We want them to learn how to spot an opportunity, take action and then help others achieve success as well.

This system moves a person from being the worker, to seeing an enterprising opportunity, to switching on their entrepreneurial self, to finally becoming the expert in their field.

This is exactly why we care so much about raising entrepreneurial kids and helping them learn through real-life projects. Family business ideas give children a safe, practical way to begin that learning at home.

Entrepreneurial Thinking Behind Family Business Ideas

An entrepreneur’s focus is in the development of a great system and finding great people to run it. They use other people’s time and other people’s money to do the work for them.

Their systems can continue even after they pass from this world. A classic example is Thomas Edison’s formula for General Electric. He is no longer with us, but his empire continues.

That is one of the powerful lessons behind family business ideas. Children can begin to see that a business is not just a product. It is also a system, a process and a way of creating value for other people.

A Queen Bee Is Entrepreneurial

Akaisha dressed as an enterprising queen bee showing how systems support family business ideas
Enterprising Queen Bee.

A Queen Bee most definitely comes under the bracket of entrepreneur. She controls her entire empire from within her hive.

Thousands of honey bees — the workers — head out of her hive each morning collecting nectar, pollen and other resources for the hive, such as water. The worker bees will risk life and limb and literally work themselves to death. A worker bee only lives a few weeks.

The Queen Bee will have employees whose main job is to guard the hive from danger. Others clean the hive and many fan the hive to keep the temperature controlled. The queen will have workers who care for the nursery and for her own needs.

All she has to do is eat and lay eggs!

A beehive is a unique system consisting of many specialised individuals that each have a job to do. The system performs like it is one large living organism. If the Queen dies, then she will be replaced by another Queen Bee, the workers keep working and the hive goes on.

Not a lot different to General Electric, Apple or Ford Motor Company!

Flynn’s Honey Family Business Idea

Flynn negotiating a honey deal with his Grandad for a family business idea
Flynn negotiating a honey deal with his Grandad.

So what has Flynn’s idea got to do with a Queen Bee?

Flynn’s enterprising idea has everything to do with our Queen Bee and her empire.

In fact, his plan was to use her company’s product: honey.

Flynn intended to buy raw, unprocessed honey at wholesale in bulk and sell it in smaller jars at retail. He worked out his figures and could see excellent profit potential.

Once his business got underway, he could also see the potential for it to grow quite substantially.

I won’t tell you any more about his plans here, but if you missed the link above, you can listen to Flynn himself in this short video of Flynn explaining his awesome enterprise idea and business plan.

This is one of those kids business ideas that starts small, but teaches a lot: product value, buying wholesale, selling retail, confidence, negotiation and understanding profit.

Why Raw Honey Was a Clever Family Business Product

Seeing as we are on the topic of honey, I thought I would share a few facts about honey, and in particular raw, unprocessed honey.

Raw, unprocessed honey is pure, natural, unpasteurised and unadulterated. It is extracted from the beehive in its natural form and bottled. It is not filtered or heated.

Unlike many processed honeys, raw honey can retain more of its natural qualities from the hive, including pollen, propolis, minerals and flavour.

Mmmm… appears to be a fantastic product!

For Flynn, the clever part was not just that honey was useful and delicious. The clever part was that he could understand the product, buy it in bulk, bottle it in smaller jars and sell it in a way that made sense to customers.

That is why this became such a useful example of family business ideas in action. It was simple enough for a child to understand, but rich enough to teach real lessons about value, pricing, supply, confidence and profit.

Flynn’s honey business also led to a deeper money lesson about assets and liabilities, which we explore in Financial Education for Kids.

Flynn’s Honey Business Series

This article is Part 1 in Flynn’s honey business series, a family enterprise story about family business ideas, product value, money lessons and learning by doing.

These family enterprise stories show how children can learn by doing, rather than just being told about business, money and opportunity.

Key Takeaway: Family Business Ideas Can Start Small

Key takeaway: Family business ideas do not need to be complicated. A simple product, a real opportunity and a child willing to take action can become a powerful lesson in entrepreneurship, confidence and money.

Where to Next?

If you enjoyed Flynn’s honey business story, you may also like:

So, what do you think? Is Flynn onto a real Enterprise for Kids success story? Follow along with the blog to see how he goes.

In our next blog, you’ll be inspired by another budding entrepreneur, four-year-old Chayse, as he showcases his business idea. It is as sweet as Flynn’s enterprising ideas!

Resale Business Ideas: Amber’s New From Old Enterprise

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Resale business ideas with Amber’s New From Old enterprise

Resale business ideas can begin with something as simple as learning how to spot a bargain. For Amber, that lesson began with her Gran, who knew how to find value in second-hand items long before “upcycling” became a popular word.

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This short post begins Amber’s New From Old series. It is the starting point for her resale enterprise, where she learns to find old or unwanted items, improve them and sell them for profit.

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Gran helping Amber discover resale business ideas through bargain hunting
Gran is a great bargain hunter.

Resale Business Ideas: Amber’s New From Old Enterprise

My family immigrated here to Australia from Kenya back when I was just a kid in 1970.

They came out with little qualifications, money or possessions and were supporting a young family. In order to make ends meet, my mother became very good at hunting down a bargain at a variety of places, including op shops, lawn sales, second-hand shops and markets.

Years later, she opened her own second-hand goods shop and did exceptionally well out of it as a small business.

So, when Amber was looking for an enterprise idea, she knew exactly who to speak to.

Learning Resale Business Ideas from Gran

Amber knew her Grandmother was an expert at finding bargains and then on-selling them for a profit.

Her Gran suggested that Amber start her search at the local tip’s recycling centre, a place where thrown-away items are put aside, then sold to the public for next to nothing.

Here was a wonderful opportunity to buy something, fix it up and resell it.

For families in the area today, the Shire of Dardanup Waste Transfer Station and Recycling Centre is a useful reminder that recycling, reuse and waste recovery can create opportunities for families to think differently about what gets thrown away.

One Man’s Trash Is Another Man’s Treasure

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

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

To create something new from something old.

That is why resale business ideas can be so powerful for kids. A child does not always need a huge amount of money, a shopfront or a complicated business plan.

Sometimes they simply need:

  • someone who can teach them how to spot value,
  • a place to search for bargains,
  • a small amount of starting money,
  • a practical eye for what can be cleaned, repaired or improved,
  • and the confidence to try.

Amber’s New From Old Business Plan

Amber’s business plan was simple and sound.

Find something old.

Look for the hidden value.

Buy it for a low price.

Clean it, repair it or improve it.

Then resell it for a profit.

She was definitely onto a winner.

More importantly, she was proud of what she had come up with.

That pride matters. When children own their enterprise idea, they are much more likely to take action and follow it through.

Why Resale Business Ideas Are Great for Kids

Resale business ideas are wonderful for kids because they teach practical business skills in a very hands-on way.

Children can learn how to:

  • notice opportunities,
  • compare prices,
  • think about what other people might want,
  • clean or improve an item,
  • take a good photo,
  • advertise clearly,
  • talk with buyers,
  • and understand profit.

They also learn that value is not always obvious.

Some people see rubbish.

Others see opportunity.

Amber was beginning to learn how to see opportunity.

Amber’s New From Old Series

Follow Amber’s New From Old journey: This article begins the series. The next posts show Amber putting the idea into action and learning how to buy, improve and sell for profit.

Next we will share Flynn’s business plan for his new enterprise.

It is really a honey pot of gold!

Key Takeaway: Resale Business Ideas Can Start Small

Key takeaway: resale business ideas can help children learn how to spot value, buy carefully, improve second-hand items and sell for profit. Amber’s New From Old enterprise began with Gran’s bargain-hunting wisdom and a simple idea: create something new from something old.

Where to Next?

What old item could your child turn into a new opportunity?

Business Ideas for Kids: Finding Enterprise Ideas

Enterprise For KidsTeam Amber's Stories, Kids Business Ideas, Raising Entrepreneurial Kids , , , , , , , , 4 Comments
kids entrepreneur ideas inspired by real family enterprise experiences

Business ideas for kids often begin with everyday problems, useful skills and a little creative thinking.

Coming up with an enterprise idea that makes money, solves a real problem and keeps a child motivated is a tall order for an adult, let alone a kid.

Children do not need a perfect idea to get started. In fact, many of the best ideas come from noticing what people need, thinking creatively and using the skills children already have.

business ideas for kids through real family enterprise experiences
Looking for enterprise ideas as a family.

Business Ideas for Kids: Finding Enterprise Ideas

Business ideas for kids are often found by looking closely at everyday life. Coming up with an enterprise idea that makes money, solves a real problem and keeps a child motivated can be a tall order for an adult, let alone a kid.

The trick is to spend time brainstorming ideas together and helping children notice the small problems around them.

What I explained to my entrepreneurial kids was that they needed to think about the problems in our small community town, then look for possible solutions.

By solving people’s problems, children begin to create real opportunities for enterprise.

Business Ideas for Kids Start with Solving Problems

In the original video for this post, I gave the kids a simple example. Winter was drawing near and people were chopping wood ready to fuel their fires.

Problem: No one likes scrambling around outside on a cold and rainy day gathering kindling to get their fire started.

Solution: Collect bundles of gum tree sticks, tie them up and sell them to people who need kindling ready to go.

Step one was finding the problem. Step two was finding the solution. Putting the idea into action would be step three.

What a great and simple enterprise idea.

After hearing this example, the kids had no trouble finding enterprise ideas of their own.

Using Skills to Create Kids Entrepreneur Ideas

Our mentor, Paul Counsel, often shares a great educational basis behind what it means to be entrepreneurial.

He encourages us to consider how we are an asset to others. What skills and knowledge do we have that could be of service to others? What are we good at?

For example, Kaitlin and Amber are very good with toddlers and babies. Every day they were helping with their baby sister Akaisha. They fed her, changed her nappy, bathed her and took her for walks.

Both girls were very skilled and had a natural ease with babies. Knowing when Akaisha was tired and how to soothe her when she was upset became second nature. These abilities could easily lead to real enterprise opportunities.

Everyday skills can become enterprise ideas:

kids helping younger siblings read as part of business ideas for kids
Reading with siblings
kids caring for younger siblings and developing enterprise skills
Looking after Akaisha

Turning Everyday Skills into Enterprise Ideas

The obvious enterprise would be babysitting, but other ideas include:

  • Homework Support — busy parents may need someone to listen to younger children read, practise spelling words or help with writing.
  • Toddler Playmate — after school, some parents may appreciate an older child entertaining and playing with their toddler or baby.
  • Walking Younger Children Home from School — busy parents may appreciate a responsible older child helping with the school run.
  • Sports, Dance, Music or Art Coaching — Amber and Kaitlin could teach other kids how to throw, catch, draw, dance or play music.
child who enjoys helping younger kids as a business idea for kids
Kaitlin loves kids.

These are not complicated ideas, but they are valuable and practical. Children can easily miss this point. Often, they do not realise that skills they use every day may be helpful to someone else.

Finding Business Ideas for Kids Through Imagination

All it requires, when finding enterprise ideas for kids, is a little imagination.

Take the time to identify problems and look at what assets you have that could help people. Helping people is the key to enterprise.

Many ideas are not new. However, children often need guidance to look at their existing skills and realise how valuable they already are.

young musician developing skills that could become business ideas for kids
Budding young musician

A tip for everyone: you can increase your value by up-skilling and becoming an expert in an area.

As your skill increases, your value increases too. Over time, people are more likely to seek your help and pay for your time and knowledge.

How Kids Can Start a Business by Increasing Their Value

For example, being a whiz at sorting computer glitches would make you valuable to people who have computer problems. Being an expert pianist could create opportunities to teach others how to play piano.

Many of these ideas are simple. The real lesson is helping children notice what they are already good at, then think about how those skills could help others.

For older children who are ready to take an idea further, Business.gov.au has helpful information for young people starting a business.

Business Ideas for Kids Are Everywhere

Finding enterprise ideas can be fun, and it isn’t that hard if you do a little thinking and brainstorming first.

Amber will reveal her enterprise idea in the next blog as she begins her quest to reach her goals, so stay tuned.

Key takeaway: Business ideas for kids often begin with simple problem-solving. When children learn to notice problems, use their skills and think about how they can help others, they begin to see enterprise opportunities everywhere.

Where to Next?

If you enjoyed this post about finding business ideas for kids, you may also like:

We would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment.

Vision Board Goals for Kids: Enterprise, Money and Action

Enterprise For KidsTeam Mindset, Confidence & Leadership, Raising Entrepreneurial Kids , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0 Comment
Kids writing down goals for a vision board about enterprise money and action

A vision board can help children turn a goal into something they can see, feel and act on. Visualising a goal, evoking the emotional response within, and then taking the necessary action are all important ingredients in achieving something meaningful.

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Whether the action involves acquiring knowledge, building skills, doing something physical or creating a small enterprise, children need a goal they can believe in before they are likely to follow through.

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Family writing goals in a notebook before creating a vision board
A vision board begins with clear goals, written down and connected to action.

Vision Board Goals for Kids: Enterprise, Money and Action

In fact, many leading sports men and women use visualisation as part of their preparation.

I remember reading about one of Australia’s very best runners, Cathy Freeman, who won gold in the 1994 Canadian Commonwealth Games in both the 200m and 400m races.

Cathy began her preparation for the 200m race two years earlier.

Every day she trained and visualised the race in her mind. Her visualisation included every detail of the race, from what she was wearing, to the lane she was in, and how she would run the race from start to finish.

She even pictured the time she would get and how much it would take to beat the second-place getter.

She was so mentally prepared that she had no doubts at all that she had the gold in the bag.

Cathy Freeman showing the power of visualising a goal
Cathy Freeman showed the power of visualising a goal and preparing with belief.
Cathy Freeman winning gold as an example of goal setting and visualisation
Cathy Freeman winning gold.

She had already won in her mind.

As it turned out, she ran the race beautifully. She is a living legend.

Why a Vision Board Can Help Kids Believe in a Goal

Imagine if our kids were able to muster up that sort of determination and self-belief.

It would make anything possible for them.

So our kids needed to see a real purpose in the kids enterprise project they were embarking on. Without a real purpose they could believe in, they would not have the steam to see it through.

Before we even considered kids enterprise ideas, I asked them to think of something they would like to buy with the profits they were going to make from their enterprise businesses.

It had to be something they really wanted.

It also had to be something they realistically believed they would be able to achieve.

From Dream to Dollar Amount

Coming up with ways to spend the money was easy, even though at this stage they still had no idea what enterprise project they would be doing.

But that didn’t matter.

The important part was that the kids established a realistic goal they could believe in with certainty.

If the kids wanted their goal badly enough, and focused on what they needed to do to get that money, then the enterprise had a much better chance of becoming fruitful.

Once the kids had a visual picture of what they wanted, the next stage was to convert it into a dollar amount.

I made a stipulation that their first enterprise idea may not completely reach the whole monetary target they had set for themselves, but it had to at least be able to pay my $100 back, plus $1.

This we called ROI, or Return On Investment.

Future enterprise ideas could contribute to the children realising the rest of their financial goal.

Finally, they needed to set an end date for the completion of their enterprise.

Vision Boards for Kids and Enterprise Goals

The kids jumped onto the computer to find images of the things they wanted to buy when they had made the money.

These images were printed, and each of the kids constructed a vision board.

I laminated the vision boards to make them special and long-lasting.

The vision boards were then stuck on their bedroom walls, where our little enterprising team could look, dream, think and evoke the visual pictures into their subconscious.

Amber's vision board showing goal setting and enterprise goals for kids
Amber’s vision board helped her picture what she wanted to achieve.
Flynn's vision board showing money goals and enterprise ideas for kids
Flynn’s vision board helped him connect his enterprise idea with a goal he cared about.
Chayse and Kit using a vision board for enterprise goals
Chayse and Kit used their vision boards to focus on what they wanted to achieve.

Why This Goal-Setting Activity Worked

This simple vision board activity helped our children connect their enterprise ideas to something personal.

It was no longer just about “starting a business”.

It was about creating money for a goal they could see.

That made the project more meaningful.

The process gave the kids:

  • a clear picture of what they wanted,
  • a reason to stay motivated,
  • a dollar amount to work towards,
  • an end date,
  • and a practical reason to create an enterprise idea.

For children, this is powerful.

They can begin to understand that goals are not achieved by wishing alone. They are achieved by combining belief, focus, planning and action.

Vision Boards Need Action

A vision board is not magic on its own.

It works best when it is connected to action.

That is why we linked the children’s vision boards to their enterprise projects.

They could look at the pictures on their walls, but they also had to ask:

  • How much money do I need?
  • What can I do to earn it?
  • What skills do I need to learn?
  • Who can help me?
  • What is my deadline?
  • How will I know if my enterprise idea worked?

This moved the activity from dreaming into doing.

For a broader reflection on vision boards, visualisation and action, you can also read our article on Vision Board Ideas for Students.

Enterprise Goals for Kids

In the next blog, we’ll take you through the process of how the kids came up with each of their kids’ enterprise ideas.

See you then!

Key Takeaway: A Vision Board Helps Kids Focus

Key takeaway: A vision board can help children picture a goal, believe it is possible and connect that goal to action. When children turn a dream into a dollar amount, an end date and an enterprise idea, goal setting becomes real-world learning.

Where to Next?

What goal would your child be excited enough to picture, plan and work towards?

Learning by Doing: The $100 Family Enterprise Project

Enterprise For KidsTeam Family Enterprise Stories, Family Projects, Money Lessons for Kids , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0 Comment
Chayse holding a fifty dollar note for the $100 Family Enterprise Project

Learning by doing is one of the best ways for children to develop enterprise skills. At some point, they need to stop only talking about ideas and begin testing them in the real world.

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For our family, that beginning became the $100 Family Enterprise Project. We gave each of the kids start-up capital, asked them to choose an enterprise idea, and decided we would refine the process as we went.

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Goal setting for the $100 Family Enterprise Project and learning by doing
Goal setting for Enterprise for Kids.

Learning by Doing: The $100 Family Enterprise Project

For our kids to develop the skills and habits of an entrepreneur, they needed to begin somewhere.

But where?

The beauty of Cathy and I having a wealth creation mentor at our disposal was that we could take the invaluable information we had been learning and apply it in small pieces to developing the mindset of our kids.

This process also involved us having a good, hard look at how we operate in our own lives in regards to planning, organising and taking action.

Cathy loves to plan things out in her head and on paper before starting a task. Once satisfied, she will start when all structures are in place.

I, on the other hand, like to dive in and see where it leads.

So a happy compromise was met.

We decided that the kids just needed to come up with an enterprise idea and get started. We could refine the process later.

Learning by Doing Instead of Waiting for Perfect Conditions

Getting the kids to kick off with an enterprise project, when they had little idea where to even start, was easier said than done.

But I knew that one of the things that had held us back over the years was waiting until all conditions were right.

Waiting had seen us miss many great opportunities that were out there.

So we just started.

Admittedly, it was a bit like the blind leading the blind, but we went in with an open mind and decided to see what would happen and where it would lead.

That is the heart of learning by doing. You do not need to know every step before you begin. You need enough of a plan to start, and then the courage to learn from what happens next.

Chayse and Kit drawing their goals as part of learning by doing
Chayse and Kit drawing their goals.

The First Step in Our Kids Enterprise Project

Check out our very first videos.

The filming is pretty rough, as we had our 15-year-old daughter using her creative licence while filming, but you’ll get the gist of what our project is all about if you watch them.

For those of you who would prefer to read, I’ll give you the rundown.

I presented each of the kids with $100 each, except the baby… as all she would do is try and eat it!

Kids receiving start-up capital for learning by doing through enterprise
The $100 Family Enterprise Project begins.
Kids catching fifty dollar notes as part of the $100 Family Enterprise Project
Raining $50 notes.
Children receiving start-up money for learning by doing through enterprise projects
And more start-up money for the family enterprise project.

“Wow!” was their first response.

An early Christmas present!

“Ohhhh,” was the next response. They were more sedate now that there seemed to be a catch.

But they listened to my proposal.

$100 Start-Up Capital for Kids

The kids were to use the money as start-up capital for an enterprise.

Much to their disappointment, they were not to spend it on themselves.

In fact, they were to pay me back once they had attained their business goal.

I was a bit soft on them though.

I also said that I would take the risk. If they were unsuccessful and were not able to pay back the $100, then I would accept that and absorb the loss.

I did this because I wanted them to give their enterprise a go.

I was conscious that if they were too hung up about having to pay me back, then they might worry about their loss and, as a consequence, not find the courage to even start to play the game.

Loaning the $100 was the first step in our elaborate plan to give our kids a shot at being entrepreneurial with their kids enterprise project.

Why Learning by Doing Matters for Kids

Giving the children $100 did not magically make them entrepreneurs.

What it did was make the project real.

Suddenly they had money in their hands, a challenge in front of them and a reason to think differently.

They needed to ask:

  • What could I do with this money?
  • What could I buy, make or sell?
  • Who might want what I offer?
  • How could I pay the money back?
  • What would make the project worthwhile?
  • What would I learn if it did not work?

These are real business questions.

The Australian Government’s MoneySmart guide to teaching kids about money is a useful reminder that parents can start early and make money part of everyday life.

For us, the $100 Family Enterprise Project became exactly that — an everyday, real-world way to teach money, initiative, risk, responsibility and action.

From Goal Setting to Enterprise Action

This article sits at the beginning of our early Enterprise for Kids journey.

First, the children needed goals they cared about.

Then they needed a reason to act.

Then they needed the courage to try.

The goal-setting process helped them imagine what they wanted. The $100 start-up money helped them move into action.

That is why learning by doing became such an important part of the family project.

Follow the $100 Family Enterprise Project

Follow the early Enterprise for Kids journey: This article shows how the $100 Family Enterprise Project began. The next posts show how the children set goals, chose ideas and started learning through real enterprise projects.

The Biggest Lesson: Just Start

Check out our next blog for the subsequent steps in our entrepreneurial quest.

At this stage, we did not know exactly where it would all lead.

But that was the point.

The children were going to learn by doing.

And so were we.

Key Takeaway: Learning by Doing Builds Enterprise Skills

Key takeaway: learning by doing helped our kids begin their first enterprise projects. The $100 Family Enterprise Project gave them start-up capital, a real challenge, and the chance to develop money skills, confidence and entrepreneurial thinking through action. This is a great project to give kids a financial education.

Where to Next?

What could your child learn by doing if they were given a small enterprise challenge?