We are currently involved in a Kids Biz Program. The program educates younger people (and their parents) the traits of being a successful entrepreneur. We are taught the physical methods and the ways in which to train the mindset to be more successful and open to new ideas.
Flynn and I kerb painting
A wise man once said…
“The most successful people in life are the ones who ask questions. They’re always learning. They are always growing. They are always pushing” (Robert Kiyosaki).
This quote best sums up what my family and I have been doing these past few months.
Kids Biz Monthly Challenges
Every month, the program sets a challenge, which encourages us to take the skills we’ve learnt and apply them to real life situations. In August, our challenge was to take $20, and create a business that will earn us profit. To win the challenge we were to make the most money from our $20.
Our Money Making Idea
Naturally, my family was slow to get started and we kept circulating ideas but never taking action! Finally we had an idea that stuck, and from there it really just exploded! Our idea was to paint house numbers on kerbs, which would help visitors, family members and even emergency services to be able to find where people live easily.
Kit putting the final touches onto the kerb number
We did our fair share of research and planning, and then we took action. In 5 days we presold over 60 kerb paintings, giving us a profit of about $1000.
Amazingly, we won the challenge for the month! We spent September painting kerbs.
It has been an awesome experience so far (and I swear my artistic ability has improved).
I’m really excited to share with you our Kids Biz Program September challenge!! That I’ll tell you all about in my next post.
We invite you to like our new Enterpriseforkids Facebook page.
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!!
In our previous post we shared Sean Rasmussen’s teachings around developing a healthy self image. This article follows on from that discussion as we share more of his valuable teachings around being successful in business.
How would you like to know Sean Rasmussen’s Business Success Formula?
Teaching these understandings to your children will set them on the path to being successful entrepreneurs.
Sean introduced a simple formula that will get results in business. The formula is…
(Training + Tools + Team) X Time = Results.
This formula can fit all business models, whether it be Network Marketing, conventional business or an Internet Based Businesses. This fits with what we have read about Robert Kiyosaki and his Business Builder model (as opposed to small business). He describes building a business system that will grow itself. Sean’s formula formed the bases of the whole Boot Camp of which we were taught how to address each aspect through Internet Marketing.
In our recent blog about David Wood we discovered that he also uses this formula for business success and he taught us how to apply it to Network Marketing.
Training: Attend the boot camps, join a program, find a mentor and study the business system.
Tools: Use the tools provided by the business system. Use the tools that work, don’t be a tool trying to work it all out for yourself! Or as David Wood says, “Use the tools, don’t be a tool!”
Team: Build a team of experts around you who build your business. In internet marketing it may be virtual assistants, ghost writers and marketers whom you can contract very inexpensively from counties such as the Philippines or India. With Network Marketing it will be the people in your upline as well as those in your own network that form your team. You help them build their business and yours will naturally become successful as well.
Time: Give it your all! Without putting time into your business initially it simply won’t be successful. With businesses that grow and generate a passive income the amount of time you need to commit it great to begin with and the income is small, but as your business grows your work time will diminish, but your income will continue to grow!
Results: Your income generated from your business.
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Teaching Kids the Business Success Formula
Flynn extracting the honey from the honey cone.
The Business Success Formula can easily be taught to kids. Firstly help them get started with an enterprise. This way they will learn all about it. For example my son Flynn has learnt a huge amount about bee keeping, harvesting and processing honey and then marketing it.
Next teach them how they can make their business easier by utilizing the right tools. In Flynn’s case it was about borrowing the right extractor equipment and using an expert’s advice (his Grandad) which saves him time.
Then investigate ways of putting a team together to make the process less work and more profitable. Flynn utilized his friends to help bottle the honey, he had people selling his honey on consignment and he found people to take his honey to the market. He wasn’t doing all the work!
Flynn with his product
Explain to your kids about delayed gratification. That is: put the hard yards in now for a financial reward later. Once they see a result in their wallets/purses then they will fully grasp Sean’s formula for business success. Flynn has realised this. He used all his own money to buy his honey and he also paid for everything he required to bottle and market it He understood that he needed to make his business work in order to get his money back with profit. Once he experienced a result with his first batch of honey, he became much more focused and determined with his second batch, which by the way he invested twice the capital!
Three Reasons Why People Are Not Making Money Right Now!
Sean Rasmussen also pointed out three reasons why people are not making money right now. He emphasises the importance of “Action, Intention and Value”. When people use the Business Success Formula, and also attend to and are clear on these three things, they are perfectly set up to make money in their chosen enterprise.
Action
Action is obvious. Take action straight away whenever an idea or opportunity presents. As soon as an idea presents itself, build upon it. Avoid killing the idea with all the “what ifs”.
Intention
To illustrate the point about Intention, Sean had us all write onto a small card what our intent was for the three days at the boot camp, and then we put the card in our pocket to be carried around where ever we went. The idea is… we thought about and put out to the universe our intent without trying to force an answer or outcome. Amazingly, by the end of the three days the answers to our intention were answered! Intention can also be aligned with having a plan.
Value
He refers to Value as being your highest values. Sean Rasmussen explains that your highest values dictate what you focus on. So it is crucial to ensure that what you want, whether it be health, money, family or whatever, is high up on your value list, otherwise it simply won’t happen.
Our Money Mastery mentor, Paul Counsel, also enlightened us to this very important distinction. For us we struggled with putting business ahead of family as our highest value. Our kids have always been our highest value and consequently take up all our time and energy. So what we learnt was that we needed to align business with our highest value of family. Hence we have done that with this very blog and with other enterprise we are pursuing. By aligning our highest value with business, we then have better focus and desire, and our enterprise is moving forward and so are our entrepreneurial mindsets.
So there you have it… Sean Rasmussen’s Business Success Formula.
Flynn celebrating his business success!
In our next blog we will talk more about the wonderful personalities we met whilst on Bootcamp and the sorts of things they are doing to inspire others.about the tremendous opportunity for our kids (and us grown ups!) with building a membership site on the internet. The figures possible…. are mind-blowing!
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!
So far we have seen Flynn building a great Honey enterprise and actually achieve his goal. Kit had a go at “dog walking”, but quickly cottoned onto the fact that Chayse was making more money than him selling lollies or candy at the local Soccer fields, so has been pursuing that with his brother. They have made quite a team, and we will revisit them in an upcoming blog post. Amber has actually reached her goal with her “New from Old” endeavours and we will celebrate her achievement in another post also.
So that leaves our creative Artist, Kaitlin, and our budding App Developer Jai.
It has been interesting to note on the kids’ journeys, that it is actually easier to introduce a different mindset around money to children who are younger than it is to teenagers or older children. Why would teaching youth enterprise be so challenging? Well, the answer is simple really. In our case, Kaitlin and Jai have been a lot more conditioned around money than the younger siblings. They have been around longer with us as their major source of education. Our thoughts/objections/subconscious beliefs have been ingrained into these two and it is now quite a process to change those beliefs.
Kaitlin and Jai
Luckily for us, Kaitlin and Jai are both quick learners and understand the concepts we have been trying to teach. The main obstacle has been providing the “time” to put this newfound knowledge into action. Being teenagers, their lives are full of homework/study, sporting commitments, social life and social media. All of these are things we want to encourage in our children, so our challenge has been finding the time to also include a Financial Education.
But in the end, as with everything, “life” has been the best teacher of all.
Jai hasn’t had an urgency to pursue his App Developing as there was no time line on when his goal needed to be reached. But since then, his goal has changed. Jai has been accepted into the Country Week Soccer team and will be competing in Perth during the holidays. He has to pay for a good portion of this trip. He suddenly has a renewed vision and goal to aim for, and he has spent countless hours researching a variety of ways to make the money in a short amount of time, kicking his youth enterprise into action!
Jai's focus or goal has changed.....Jai loves being active and he now has a new goal.
He has come up with different ways to make the money, some of them he wasn’t interested in before. The sorts of opportunities Jai has been looking at are mowing lawns in our neighborhood, finding items to sell and hiring out exercise equipment. Together, he and Trevor worked out he needed to find $10 a day to be able to afford his portion. He has been negotiating with us over particular jobs that need doing around the house (above and beyond household chores) and been getting on and doing them. He has gone through many of his good quality items that were a “must have” when he bought them, then realised that perhaps he didn’t need them as much as he first thought. These, he has posted on Facebook to sell.
So, whilst Jai’s App developing has taken a backseat, it hasn’t been forgotten, it is just something he has recognised as a longer term project and pursuing it now wouldn’t give him the instant money needed to go on this trip. We are proud of his efforts and are sure he will reach his goal in time.
Jai reflected on his Entrepreneurial Journey a few weeks back. Click here to view!
Kaitlin doing what she loves!
Kaitlin, our artist in residence, is finally learning to manage her energy around study, social life, sport and her youth enterprise ventures. She has put a time line in place and is having more requests for art, so has to now take the time to start each piece so it can be finished in time for Christmas (for some) and earlier for others. Having a boyfriend has actually increased her self effacy as she needs to complete certain things before socialising.
Kaitlin and Lachlan
Luckily, lachlan encourages Kaitlin to do that, because he actually wants to have a social life too!
Kaitlin and her friend Georgia are also realising the power of leveraging their time. They have come up with some great ideas around Enterprise and have put steps in place to pursue these ideas. They are longer term goals, but in the end will reap more rewards than working a job. However, they still see the need to pursue their “job” in the meantime, to give them the money to put towards their enterprise when it is up and running. We will keep you posted with their endeavours.
Kaitlin & Georgia
So the journey towards Financial freedom is always a rocky one, but one worth following regardless of what else is going on in your life. Our kids are teaching us so much along the way, and whilst all of their efforts aren’t successful, they are learning from that and moving forward……..and we couldn’t be prouder.
Amber’s Rabbit Hutch project was hugely successful with her making an easy sale with excellent profit! She now was looking for a new Enterprise for Kids project to keep her enterprise momentum moving forward. So she planned to visit the Geraldton Recycling Centre with her Gran to see if she could find another opportunity.
Amber finds an interesting item.Amber negotiates with the Recycling Man
Amber's pine timber display shelves.
She was under instructions to only bring home something small, as we were to return to Burekup and we had a lot to fit into the car.
What Amber found was a small pine display cupboard. She thought that it would make a good doll house. As an alternative she could simply tidy it up and re sell it.
She negotiated with the Recycling Centre man (batted her big blue eyes!) and bought the shelves for a couple of dollars. She sanded it back, gave it a coat of varnish and advertised it.
Sold for $15!!
... after a lick of varnish!
Once again Amber was happy with her profit. She added her cash to her money jar in readiness for her next Enterprise for Kids opportunity.
We’ve watched Amber’s confidence skyrocket from running her little business. She is developing skills to negotiate and with marketing. She is also learning to spot an opportunity. All important skills to becoming an entrepreneur!
We do hold the crystal ball and we know what Amber gets up to next! You will be amazed by the opportunities she finds.
Stay tuned for our next entrepreneurial blog. We will find out whether Flynn has been able to sell his honey!
