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 advertAmber'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!
Jai, like many teenage kids, is fascinated by the internet, social media and gaming. If you allowed him, he would spend day and night on his computer, iPod or cell phone chatting to his friends, playing games or searching the net. We are careful that he is well rounded with a balance of activities such as kicking the footy and playing with his family, whilst at the same time allowing him the opportunity to immerse himself into his passion.
Jai leads a balanced life.Jai loves technology
When we introduced the Family Project to Jai he knew exactly what he wanted to do. In fact his very grand idea was spawned by a family friend who has been able to develop a hugely successful company based around building Apple Apps for iPhones. Let me tell you in a nutshell his inspiring rags to riches story.
A friend of ours was originally from Switzerland and had worked most of his life in a newsagent. He also had a passion for windsurfing and would take every opportunity to visit the West Coast of Australia in pursuit of the consistent strong summer winds that make the WA coastline a windsurfer’s heaven!
In Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, the wind is named the Fremantle Doctor because it appears to come from the nearby coastal city of Fremantle, and it brings welcome relief from the summertime high temperatures.
Our friend then decided to leave his Switzerland home to follow his passion (and the Fremantle Doctor!) and set up home permanently in Geraldton (a small coastal city 500km north of Perth). He literally became a beach bum who spent his afternoons windsurfing and kite surfing and in his ample spare time he would play around on his computer.
He taught himself how to program apps for Apple iPhones and was able to make a few simple applications which he tried to sell online.
This is where his enterprise kicked off!
From the comfort of his backyard hammock, one of his Apps began selling. Sales exploded, and millions of people from all around the world downloaded it, and for each download he received a payment. He became an over night millionaire!
This entrepreneur has since built a multi million dollar company with three other partners, all from Switzerland, who incidentally, have also followed the Fremantle Doctor to Geraldton!
What this amazing man, with no formal qualifications, has managed to do in only a few years is mind blowing.
His story inspired my fourteen year old son. Jai’s enterprise plan is to build an Apple App and sell it online. How he will manage to do that is not known yet. All he has to do is have a goal and a rough plan, then focus on and tackle each of the steps one by one. Maybe Jai too will become an overnight success like our friend!
Jai often has "hair raising" ideas......but he always settles for what he's good at!
In our next blog we revisit Amber and see how she is going with her New From Old enterprise.
Small business ideas for students often begin with a skill they already love using. For Kaitlin, that skill was drawing — especially pencil portrait sketches.
This is Kaitlin’s creative enterprise idea: using her artistic talent to draw portraits from photos and turn that skill into a simple student business.
Kaitlin loves drawing.
Small Business Ideas for Students: Kaitlin’s Portrait Drawing Enterprise
I admire those very creative people who can draw!
Sadly, I am not one of those people, although there are some very artistic people in my family.
My sister won first prize in one of Australia’s richest art prizes, a $250,000 prize for an artwork she entered into “The Signature of Sydney”, which really kicked off her painting career. Also, my grandparents and aunt on my Dad’s side were respected artists.
So it is not surprising that our eldest daughter Kaitlin has an exceptional skill with drawing, and in particular pencil portrait sketches. From when she was very little, she would draw for hours and, over the years, has honed her skill.
Her Mum, Cathy, also has exceptional drawing skills and has encouraged and taught Kaitlin many of the skills she has today.
Looking at Skills as Enterprise Opportunities
When looking for an enterprise opportunity, it makes sense to look at what someone is already skilled at, then see if there is a need or problem in the community where that skill could be put to use.
This is one of the best ways to find kids business ideas. Rather than starting with the question, “How can I make money?”, children can start by asking:
What am I good at?
What do I enjoy doing?
Who might need this skill?
How could I help someone with it?
Would someone be willing to pay for that help?
For Kaitlin, the answer was clear. She loved drawing, she was good at portrait sketches, and people often like having personal artwork created from family photos.
That made portrait drawing a natural enterprise idea for her.
Small Business Ideas for Students Can Grow from Creative Skills
Kaitlin’s mermaid drawing.
Up-skilling yourself in your area of interest and becoming the best there is in that field will likely increase the demand for your kind of talent and services.
As a result, customers may choose you over your competitors and may be more likely to pay a premium.
I wrote an Enterprise for Kids post on this very topic a number of blogs ago. If you would like to learn more about how up-skilling can create enterprise for kids opportunities, then visit Finding Enterprise Ideas.
Kaitlin’s talent with drawing became the basis of her enterprising idea, and she explains her business plan in this short video.
Kaitlin’s Portrait Drawing Business Plan
Kaitlin’s portrait drawing.
Kaitlin planned on spending $70 to buy the drawing and framing materials she required to run her business.
Her idea was to draw people’s portraits from a photo and sell the finished artwork either framed or unframed.
She planned to market her service on Facebook. In our local area, there was a classified Facebook Buy and Sell group for Bunbury, and this gave her a place to start showing people what she could offer.
Her aim was to complete one drawing a week with a sale value of about $30.
In her video, Kaitlin also considers the roadblocks with her business and looks at possible solutions. That is an important part of planning any student enterprise idea.
What Kaitlin’s Idea Teaches About Student Enterprise
This is a good example of how small business ideas for students do not always need stock, tools, complicated technology or large amounts of money to get started.
Sometimes the starting point is a skill.
For Kaitlin, the important business lessons included:
recognising a personal talent;
turning that talent into a service;
working out the cost of materials;
deciding whether to sell framed or unframed drawings;
thinking about how to find customers;
considering roadblocks before starting.
Those are valuable money lessons for kids, because they show that earning money is not only about doing chores or receiving pocket money. It can also come from creating value for someone else.
Creative Enterprise and Real-World Learning
One of the things I love about Kaitlin’s idea is that it connects creativity with real-world learning.
She was not just drawing for fun. She was thinking about how her drawings could become useful or meaningful to someone else.
That is an important shift. It helps children see that their skills can be assets. Their interests can become opportunities. Their creativity can serve other people.
This is also why we believe so strongly in raising entrepreneurial kids. The goal is not simply to make children business-minded. The deeper goal is to help them become observant, confident, capable and willing to try.
The Australian Government’s business planning guidance also highlights the value of thinking through customers, marketing and planning before starting a business. Even though Kaitlin’s idea was small, these same basic principles still applied. Developing a business plan helps clarify what you want to offer and how you plan to make it work.
Key Takeaway: Small Business Ideas for Students Can Begin with Talent
Key takeaway: Small business ideas for students can begin with the skills they already have. Kaitlin’s portrait drawing enterprise shows how creativity, practice, planning and confidence can turn a personal talent into a real business idea.
Where to Next?
If you enjoyed Kaitlin’s portrait drawing enterprise idea, you may also like:
So we have covered all our kids’ enterprising ideas except for one. In our next post, we share Jai’s passion for electronics and gaming and how he plans to turn this interest into a money-making enterprise.
We would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment.
A dog walking business for kids might sound simple, but for Kit it became a real lesson in confidence, problem-solving, service and earning money through enterprise.
This is the story of Kit’s pocket money idea and how he planned to turn dog walking into his first little business.
Welcoming Kit and his entrepreneurial idea.
Dog Walking Business for Kids: Kit Plans His Enterprise
Plenty of kids receive pocket money from their parents. The kids then either save it or spend 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 came up with some fantastic ideas which we’ll share with you in later blogs.
This particular blog is about Kit’s pocket money idea and how he planned 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 walked their own dogs, there were also elderly or busy people who owned 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 would take their pet for a walk on a lead.
At first, when he shared his idea, we thought he had gone bananas! Firstly, Kit had always been afraid of dogs and secondly, he was 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 them to think their ideas are not good enough. So we decided to play along with his pocket money idea.
Why a Dog Walking Business for Kids Needed a Plan
A dog walking business for kids sounds easy on the surface, but when we talked it through with Kit, there were some very real roadblocks.
This is where the learning became valuable. Kit was not just coming up with a cute idea. He had to think about safety, customer trust, his own confidence, the dog’s needs, and whether the service would be worth paying for.
That is why small kids business ideas can be so useful. Children get to practise thinking through a real situation rather than just talking about business in theory.
Roadblocks and Solutions
We talked through a business plan with Kit and investigated the roadblocks that he might be faced with. Then we investigated the solutions.
The main issue was that he was too young to walk other people’s dogs by himself, 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. 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.
We also talked about being safe and respectful around dogs. The RSPCA WA safety around dogs information is a useful reminder that children should be supervised around dogs and should understand how to behave calmly and safely around them.
Kit’s Dog Walking Enterprise Idea
Dog walking was Kit’s enterprise idea.
Kit’s idea was simple: offer to walk dogs for people who needed help.
That made it a service-based business. He did not need to buy stock like Chayse did with his lolly bags. Instead, Kit needed to offer his time, care and effort.
This gave us a great opportunity to talk about the difference between earning money from a product and earning money from a service. Both can be valuable money lessons for kids, but they teach slightly different things.
With Kit’s dog walking idea, the lesson was not just about money. It was about trust, responsibility and doing a job properly for someone else.
Could Kit Become the Next Dog Whisperer?
Could this be the next Dog Whisperer?
Kit decided that he would negotiate a walking fee of $5 for a half-hour walk. 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!
What Kit Learned from Planning His Enterprise
Even before Kit walked his first dog, the planning process had already taught him a lot.
He noticed a need in the neighbourhood.
He thought of a service people might pay for.
He talked through the risks and roadblocks.
He found a way to make the idea safer by involving Grandad.
He added value with treats and a dog lead.
He thought about a simple fee for his service.
That is exactly the sort of thinking we want to encourage when we talk about raising entrepreneurial kids. It is not just about making money. It is about helping children notice opportunities, solve problems and back themselves enough to try.
Kit’s Dog Walking Business Series
This post is the planning stage of Kit’s dog walking idea. You can follow the next stage here:
Part 1: Kit Plans a Dog Walking Business — Kit notices a need, works through the roadblocks and plans his service.
Part 2:The Dog Whisperer! — Kit gets started, walks his first customer’s dog and earns money from his idea.
Key Takeaway: A Dog Walking Business for Kids Teaches More Than Money
Key takeaway: A dog walking business for kids can teach far more than earning pocket money. Kit’s idea helped him think about service, safety, value, responsibility, confidence and solving a real need in his community.
Where to Next?
If you enjoyed Kit’s dog walking business idea, you may also like:
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…
We would love to hear from you, so please leave a comment.
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.
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:
Part 1: Chayse Plans a Candy Business — Chayse comes up with the idea and receives $50 start-up capital.
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:
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 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 — 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.
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
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.
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.
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 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!
