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Inspiring kids to be entrepreneurial.

The Enterprise for Kids Team is Back!!

October 1st, 2016

Yes, the Enterprise for Kids Team is still here!

Hello Friends and Followers,

Would you believe it’s been nearly four years from our last post!!

Our “little” kids are not so little anymore. Kaitlin and Jai are 20 and 18 and have left school. Flynn and Amber are 16 and 14 and are studying at High School and our three babies- Kit, Chayse and Akaisha are 10, 8 and 5.

The Howitt Clan household is intact and would you believe… still on their Entrepreneurial journey!

There is so much to catch up on with our family’s activities. Too much for this blog post!

We will, over time, visit each of our children and look at what they have been doing and what they have learnt. We’ll look at their successes and we’ll share the tough lessons. We’re also super excited to share with you our latest enterprising projects!

So stay tuned for the next chapter in the Howitt Clan Entrepreneurial journey.

Check out little Amber from 5 years ago when she embarked on her Money Bunny Enterprising project!

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

July 29th, 2013

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

Natalie Cook stood on a chair for this photo!

A Plan, Natalie Cook’s Fifth P

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

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

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

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

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

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

Having a Defined Goal

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

Vision Board Builds a Kid’s Mindset for Success

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

Facing your fears! Walking on broken glass!

Positive Affirmations Leads to a Success Mindset in Kids

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

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

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

Coming up in our Mindset for Success Series

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

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

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

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

Teaching Your Kids To Be Successful Part 3: Perseverance

July 23rd, 2013

A baby learns to walk by falling over many times. An entrepreneur learns to succeed after stumbling along the way. Teaching yourself, and your kids, to be successful in business requires Natalie’s fourth P: Perseverance (perseverance on their part, and yours!)

For example, Cathy and I have learned that in the business of referring people to an opportunity, many people will just not be interested. With enterprising teens watching, how do parents set an example to persevere in the face when people say “No”? Well, the mindset for success is to celebrate the “No.” After so many of them, a “Yes” will inevitably follow. One of my mentors, David Wood, says to do the Happy Dance whenever you get a “No,” because the rejection only moved you one step further towards the “Yes.”

Your kids, whether entrepreneurial or not, are going to like to see that Happy Dance, making it a practical way to help seal the behavioural pattern of success in their mindsets. Being able to overcome rejection in business, rejection from friends and rejection from family is paramount for kids to be successful.

Our vocabulary also plays a huge part in our ability to persevere. In our family “Can’t” is a swear-word and not allowed to be used at any time; “Can” is encouraged. Many people, including kids, are quick to give up when the going gets tough, saying, “I can’t” rather than “I can.” The little kids in my family actually believe “Can’t” is a swear word, right up there with the other big four letter words!

Another phrase to abandon is, “It’s too hard.” Natalie showed us a little trick she used to change her perception of what is hard. She bought a toy button that calls out, “That was easy!” when you press it. Natalie would strap this toy button to her volleyball net pole. Whenever she did something very well that was also very difficult, she would run up to press the button: “That was easy!” Try it for yourself… press the button below!

Being the best in the world at your sport certainly has its challenges, and my kids would love to try out one of those buttons. You can get them from Amazon.com. But whether or not, the point is not to say “That was hard!”

These tactics to increase the level of perseverance in kids and keeping them on a successful track comes easier when you have a Plan. This is the fifth P we’ll talk about next week.

Make sure you have a look at the short video (click the image above) we made of Natalie Cook giving a special message to our kids. Can you spot the BLOOPER?

If you missed last weeks article “Amber’s Reflection of Green SuperCamp” here it is.

Green SuperCamp Amber’s Reflection

July 15th, 2013

For our readers who were expecting Part 3 to our “Teaching Your Kids To Achieve Success” series of articles, I’d like to let you know that will be up very soon and it will be well worth the read.

Flynn and Amber Howitt have just returned from a Young Leaders Camp in Bali, and as it is so fresh and exciting I thought we would interrupt our 5 Part Series and share with you some snippets of Amber’s experience whilst on camp.

Amber and new friends.

Amber and Maddi leading the run.

Before I hand you over to Amber, I would like to give our readers a little back ground about the Green SuperCamp, which is held every year at Green School Bali.

Indonesia. In 2012 three of our children (Kaitlin, Jai and Flynn) attended the camp and returned full of experience and wisdom. The camp is designed to create young leaders to care for our future world. The camp does this by building their confidence, encouraging them to think big, and by giving them the skills to learn, interact and to step out of their comfort zones.

Amber participating in a team performance.

Flynn learning to trust.

This year Amber was old enough to go along too. She was very excited as she had heard all the awesome stories and learning from her siblings’ camp experiences last year. Also a bunch of friends from Western Australia were coming along as well (Maddi Barrett, Macy Hobson, Georgia Dewar and Lachlan McRoberts). To learn more of what Green SuperCamp is about and to understand the philosophies of Green School, you’ll have to click the links to earlier articles.

So enough from me… here is Amber Howitt’s Green SuperCamp Reflection…

Green Super Camp, for me, was an amazing experience! Everyone there is treated evenly and kindly. No one is excluded or mistreated, so everyone is happy. Your phones and valuables are given in, but you can reunite with your valuables almost every night to contact your parents.

Grinding grain.

Flynn and his Super Camp team.

The Green SuperCamp itself is built mainly out of bamboo. It is nurtured and cared for by the people within it. They use water from their lake and purify it. People from the world outside Green School can come collect the water for free and use it in their homes. Green School is meant so people around the community can be involved with the school. They make their own power using solar energy and grow their own food in food gardens.

Goal Setting Steps

The camp has inspired me to do more with my life, rather than just sit around and be… normal. It has inspired me to take challenges, adventures and think of the things I could be doing. Writing books and travelling around the world are two of my crazy ideas… those things might be a little hard for someone at the age of eleven though. But I can try to work up to that goal. The steps for goal making are:

Design it
Outline it
In your face (tackle barriers)
Take action!

High ropes course. Facing fears!

Flynn floating on hands.

Quantum Strategies

We were taught Quantum Reading and Writing. I improved my reading speed with the same comprehension by over 100%. I concentrated by using the Alpha State. Alpha State is a technique to relax and to concentrate better. The steps to Alpha State are:

Sit up
Breath in and out
Close eyes
Think of a peaceful place
Roll eyes up and down
Open eyes
Concentrate

Maddi preparing the home grown food.

Macy and Georgia

Relationships

The friendships you can make at Green SuperCamp are really special. I made friends with both team leaders and kids from all over the world. It is really easy to do so because everyone wants to make friends. Sometimes your relationships can last forever. Green Super Camp teaches you how to have the courage to become friends. No one is alone at Green School or Green Super Camp.

I also learnt techniques to help me learn. These help me to improve my relationship with my teachers. We call this “SLANT” (acronym)

Here are the “Tips for Learning” or “SLANT”.

Sit up
Lean Forward
Ask Questions
Nod your head
Talk to your teacher

Thanking and Apologising

Flynn Saying goodbye to new friends!

We also learnt the importance of thanking people and apologising. We were taught how to do this properly. We call the steps to thanking “OTFD” or “Open The Front Door”.

Observation, Think, Feel, Desire

We call the steps to Apologise, “AAMR”, pronounced “A Mr!”

Acknowledge, Apologise, Make it Right, Recommit

Eight Keys of Success

Lastly we were taught the “Eight Keys of Success”. These are the keys that keep you on course for success! For each of these keys we learn a different hand movement. This helps us to remember them. Here they are:

Integrity
Failure Leads to Success
Speak With Good Purpose
This Is It
Commitment
Ownership
Flexibility
Balance

If you read this and think “Nah… my child wouldn’t want to go to that camp!” Think again! Any child, from any place, no matter what, will want to go to Green Super Camp. Thank you to my parents and camp sponsors for making it possible for me to attend Green SuperCamp. Thank you to my friends and new friends that supported me on camp. Thank you to all the team leaders and facilitators that taught me all the tools I need for life. Lastly, thank you my team, GO TEAM H!

Thanks Amber for your reflection. Jai, Kaitlin and Lachlan are currently on the Senior Green Super Camp. Here is a link to the Green SuperCamp Face Book page. There are lots of photos to look at if you’re interested. And here is a link to an article we wrote last year on the Green SuperCamp.

Here are Jai’s and Flynn’s Reflections from last years Green Super Camp.
Kaitlin shared why she wanted to attend the Green SuperCamp here.

Our “Teaching Your Kids To Achieve Success” series will continue next week with Part 3 (Part 1 and Part 2). Amber would love to hear your comments. Be sure to ask her some questions. The comment box is below this article. To subscribe to Enterprise for Kids just add your name and email on the form on the left side bar.

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

June 29th, 2013

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

Natalie Cook Gold Medalist 2000 Olympics Beach Volleyball

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

The Five Ps

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

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

Part 1: Purpose

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then I asked him to ponder a few questions:

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

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

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

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

Teaching Enterprising Teens How to Achieve Success (Part 2)

June 4th, 2013

After my son Jai and I discussed the first of Natalie Cook’s Five P’s, Purpose , in choosing a career path (in Part 1 of this series), I asked him to make a timeline of his life. He was to focus on his surroundings, and more importantly, on the people who would be with him.

People

You see, Natalie’s second P is People. Attracting the right people in life is key to building a successful kid entrepreneur. But whether Jai chose to be an enterprising teen or not, it was his mindset for success in whatever path he chose that was most important to me.

So, I asked him where he would like to be sitting five years from now and with whom? Ten years from now? Forty? I had him picture what was around him, his associates, and what made these kids so valuable to him right now that their presence remained visible decades into the future.

Natalie Cook discussed the value of surrounding herself with the right people, while training to be an Olympic Gold medalist. Around her were coaches, mindset mentors, professionals, and peers whose encouragement always lifted her up, instead of bearing criticism that tears a person down.

Jai contemplating the people he would like to surround himself with. People with Passion that will assist him with his enterprising teen journey.

At the same time, it is important, especially for enterprising teens, to hang out with the sort of people they want to emulate. Qantum physics and studies in neuroscience have discovered that there are mirror neurons in the brain that mirror or copy the brains around them. That is, a person becomes like his/her closest friends. This is besides peer pressure! They should be encouraged to make conscious choices of mates who will add to their mindset for success.

As adults, what I love about the new business that Cathy and I have become involved in, Isagenix, is that it is all about people. Natalie Cook understands this, too, as she is a partner in the same company. In fact, it really doesn’t matter what is your business or your kids’ enterprise for one reason: When being helpful to other people, your success increases. This is because helping people gives enterprising teens and adults an energy that attracts the right people into your lives, and who, in turn, help you.

Passion

People are also attracted to those who have a passion for what they do. Passion is Natalie’s third P. Natalie said in a Sparkmag interview that passion is

“required when times are tough. If you are not passionate about what you do and you don’t love the process and the product… it makes is much easier not to feel as emotionally involved, or eventually shut up shop and walk away.”

Now, Jai rightfully wanted something he could stick with for the long term. Having him visualize himself, his surroundings, and companions way into the future really took him to a place that I could see was his passion, something apart from what others were expecting of him, a desire that would not fade with time. His spirit guided him, instead of the social conditioning of his school, friends, and family.

Want to know more? The next P is inseparable from Passion, and that’s Perseverance. See you next week (Check out the very funny video of Natalie Cook giving our kids a message!)

If you enjoyed this article, then you may find this one just as interesting “How Do Entrepreneurs Think?”

If you could enlist three people in the world to personally be your friend and mentor you, who would they be? Mine would be Richard Branson, Robert Kiyosaki and Michael Clouse. Make sure you leave us a comment…

Enterprising Kids Succeed at the Burekup Fair!

January 29th, 2013

The day started with a mad rush!

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

Amber and her succulents.

… and making a sale.

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

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

All set ready for the customers!

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

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

Amber and Flynn with their “Fish in a Bottle”

Products waiting to be sold.

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

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

Kaitlin’s EYE heART on display.

…customers admiring her work!

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

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

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

Jai manning the stall with his exercise equipment.

Flynn selling his unpasteurized honey.

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

By the end of the day we were exhausted!

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

Cathy explaining the health benefits of Isagenix.

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

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

Cathy talking with an interested customer.

Kit and Chayse selling lolly bags>

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

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

Chayse selling lolly bags to a customer.

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

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

January 23rd, 2013

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

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

Burekup Country Club Hall.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Flynn showing his honey pots.

All bottled awaiting labels!

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

Kit and Chayse sorting lollies.

Lolly bags all set to be sold!

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

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

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

Amber watering her succulents ready to be sold.

Amber showing her product.

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

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

Fish in a Bottle.

Can you see the fish?

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

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

Jai showing his Icey poles.

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

Kaitlin's Eye heART.

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

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

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

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

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

Just need the right ship to get them there!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kit and Chayse and a Lesson on Self Efficacy!

November 1st, 2012

Kit has decided to form a partnership with Chayse with his Lolly Bag Enterprise for Kids Business! He figured that his Dog Walking business was moving too slowly, and he saw how easily Chayse was making an excellent profit. So they joined forces and together visited the local supermarket to spend their capital on buying large bags of confectionary. This time they were very serious and bought $230 worth of lollies!

The Production Line

Once again the family pitched in around the dining table to sort and bag all the lollies. Before long Kit and Chayse, in partnership, were ready to go out to the sporting grounds and sell their product. Click here to view a video of Kit and Chayse’s production line!

This time round was a little different though! Our kids had been taught and now understood the value of gifting (An Entrepreneur’s Conscience). Taking a small portion of their profits and giving it towards a worthy cause, teaches the kids about generosity and about appreciating their own good fortune. We also believe that by giving, the universe in turn will give back in some way or form. Flynn, for example, is putting money to one side to give to our African sponsor child Cheroko. Amber has chosen to give to the Cerebral Palsy Association because she has a school friend with this disability. Kit and Chayse have chosen The Flying Doctor Service as their charity because the Flying Doctor really helped us out when Kaitlin was born in a very remote Kimberley town. (Kalumburu).

Designing the For Sale Sign with RFDS as the beneficiary....

All the soccer lads checking out their lollies.

Watching Jai in action at the soccer fields!.........

.....whilst the boys sold their wares

So armed with renewed confidence, the two boys did the rounds of the sporting grounds and sold box after box of lollies. They were magnetic – attracting people from all over the place. Just like the Mr Whippy Van!

The boys were very good at counting money and giving the correct change. They did at first need prompting to approach groups, and to say thank you. However, after a while their confidence grew and they happily spoke with customers. There were lots of questions about what they were doing and why they were selling lollies. Kit and Chayse would tell people that it was their business and that they were also giving a little money towards the Flying Doctor’s Service. People were all very happy to support their business and some even bought lollies just to have a chat with them!

On a later trip to the sporting fields I was super surprised to find that young Chayse had taken it upon himself to gather up his heavy box of lollies and head off down the lines of spectators. I had no idea that he had gone as I had been focused on watching Flynn playing his soccer game. I was suddenly alarmed to notice that the lolly box had gone from under my feet and that Chayse was no where to be seen! Looking around I could see some commotion about fifty metres away. It was Chayse with a crowd of people buying his lollies.

I was very proud of the little “fella” as he had proven that he was developing his self efficacy with being an entrepreneur. Through many weeks of shyly putting himself out there with his customers selling lollies, he had finally built the confidence to go it alone!

If he keeps this up he will be an awesome young entrepreneur when he grows up!

Cathy and I have been learning the importance of self efficacy at our Money Mastery Course from our mentor Paul Counsel. He explains that it is very difficult to just switch and be an entrepreneur. What we need to do is to build up to being one by pushing our upper limit continuously. That is done by doing things that take us out of our comfort zone. Take on new challenges and then celebrate the success, then repeat it over and over again. Eventually you become comfortable with being uncomfortable, which in turn open up new possibilities and attracts opportunities. This is exactly what has been happening with our four year old son Chayse… in fact it has been happening to all of us!

Kit also demonstrated his growing confidence only a few days ago. He said that he wanted to take his Enterprise for Kids lolly business down to the local skate park all by himself. We agreed to his request and let him go. His big brother Flynn was instructed to follow behind at a distance to make sure he was OK.

Self Efficacy!

Well Kit sold a bunch of lolly bags and on returning he announced, “A Granny gave me a big cuddle and kiss!” Not sure what he was going on about we asked him to explain. Kit said, “She was really happy to see me doing my business. She bought some lollies and then gave me a cuddle.”

Two young Entrepreneurs....

....share their rewards.....

......with the RFDS.

You can donate directly to: www.flyingdoctor.net

We believe that our enterprising children are experiencing mindset shifts to think more and more like entrepreneurs. It will be interesting to see how this changing mind set effects the way they approach their enterprise for kids ventures. It all takes a lot of practice and confidence. In later blogs we will talk more about self efficacy and how our other children are moving along with it and we we also share our own enterprising endeavours!

Ways Children Can Make Money! Amber’s Enterprise Continued…

September 20th, 2012

There are hundreds of ways children can make money! Yet when chatting to parents they often tell me that they would really like their kids to have a little business enterprise of their own, but they just can’t think of a good idea.

Well here’s the tip… think what the problems or needs that your local community has and maybe a kids’ enterprise could be built around it. Another angle to come from is to consider what skill your child might have that they could put to good use and build an enterprise around that.

Brainstorm ideas by jotting them down on paper. Keep going until you have exhausted all possible ideas whether or not you intend to use them or not. Try asking the neighbours what issues and problems that they have and add these to your list.

Generally people have ‘time’ issues and that is where a business can be started from. Not enough time to mow the lawn, clean the large rubbish bins, chop the wood, tend to the kids’ homework, clean the windows, rake the leaves, tutor the kids, pull the weeds, clean the car… you get the picture!

If you are still stumped for ways children can make money, then check back through this blog as it’s full of ideas.

Amber’s “New From Old” enterprise has been going great guns right from the beginning. Her money jars are filling up, and really she hasn’t had to do much work at all! She reached her goal that she set a while back and she is now preparing to take her business to another level (we’ll talk more about that in a later blog).

If you are new to our blog and haven’t yet had the chance to follow what Amber’s Enterprise entails, then click the link on the left side bar that says “Enterprising Howitt Family”. Here you will be able to read about all the Howitt Kids and their entrepreneurial journeys.

Toddler ride-on toys

Amber will make the fortnightly trip to the local Recycling and Waste Recovery Centre. It sells anything salvageable. The guy who runs the place now knows Amber and understands that she is running her own business. Amber has developed important skills of negotiating and connecting with a network. When she identifies an opportunity she will confidently strike up a deal with the Recycle Man.

Much of the stuff for sale is really not worth the effort to resell and profit from. It is like looking for a gold nugget in amongst the boulders. Amber’s ability to pick profitable items has improved over the months and she now has an eye for a bargain.

Pet Cage

The items that can be resold are the ones that generally solve people’s problems (eg pet cages, baby toys, storage and exercise). These items need to be well presented and in good condition. So Amber looks for opportunities that don’t require spending lots of time and money fixing them up. Ideally she buys things that just need a good clean, a lick of paint or a new set of batteries. She has learnt from her mistakes to check the items properly before buying them. She did buy a perfect condition four man tent still in its new box for $10, only to find out later that it had no pegs or poles. To buy pegs and poles new would blow her costs out and she would run at a loss. So it was put down to a learning experience. Does anyone have free pegs and poles??)

Fish aquarium

Sometimes Amber will see a possible opportunity, but holds off buying it until she has done her research. She will work out what it will cost to repair or tidy it up (paint brushes, varnish, batteries, sand paper, labour, etc) and then she will look at what others are selling it for on Gumtree (Classifieds online). By doing her research, she then has an idea of how much she can pay for it in order to make a reasonable profit.

Amber sells almost all her items on Buy and Sell Bunbury Face Book. She set up her own Face Book page for the sole purpose to be able to participate in the buy and sell market. She writes her own ads, uploads her own pictures and converses with customers online and on the telephone. When a buyer arrives she will present her goods to them and collect payment.

Amber placing her adverts onto Buy & Sell Facebook with the gang watching on!

We’ve watched Amber continuously grow in confidence with her enterprise. She understands the many different ways children can make money and has found and built her own business around solving problems and using her skills of creativity and communicating with people.

Some of the items that Amber acquired and on-sold for profit can be seen in the pictures on this blog.

The five outdoor toddler toys were bought for a good price. She scrubbed them, put new batteries in one, charged the battery in another and sold them all for $60.

The aquarium and pet cages just needed a clean and she made a profit of $25.

Display shelves

Her corner display required screwing together and she made a profit of $20.

Her current project is a very large timber outdoor table. She paid $10 and hopes to sell that for a profit as well after sanding it back and varnishing it.

Amber has also been collecting succulent plants from friends. Her plan is to paint decorative ceramic pots and plant hardy succulents in them, then sell them at a market day.

Here is a video clip of Amber reflecting on her business and goals from several weeks ago. She talks about how her business is progressing, what she needs to do to attain her goal, buying assets and gifting money. Make sure you take a look by clicking here!

It will be very interesting to see where her entrepreneurial journey takes her as she grows older. She loves writing, so maybe she will write a book about her journey!

Amber making a sale!

Hopefully in this blog we have helped show some ways children can make money through enterprise. If you have any good ideas or tips for our subscribers, please leave a comment below.

In our next article we will talk about kids buying Gold!