Raising Entrepreneurial Kids Through Real Life Learning
Enterprise for Kids
Enterprise for Kids follows the journey of an average family seeking to break out of the rat race in their entrepreneurial quest for financial freedom.
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!
If you don’t teach your kids about money, then there are plenty of people out there who will! And not all of them will teach your children what they really need to know.
Kids are conditioned by media and celebrities.
Our kids are educated financially from many sources whether we like it or not. Everywhere they go and everything they look at is conditioning our kids around money.
Teenage kids, for example, are very influenced by their peers, TV and social media. They are pressured to want to have all the latest and greatest of everything! AND…they have to have it now! If you have a teenager in your house (or even a preteen!), you will understand this very well. They will tell you that they are the “only” ones in the “whole world” who doesn’t have one! And if you try to compromise with a cheaper version from Target,… well, forget it! Brand name or nothing!
Many parents fall into the trap of giving into their kids’ persistent demands. We have…..more times than we should have!… and the older a kid gets, the better they are at arguing their point. Some parents may lend their child the money with the view of having them pay it back when they can afford it, or some simply pay for the item fully and don’t expect their child to pay anything back.
But what is this teaching children?
Our son Flynn was preparing to go on a camp with his school. He claimed that ALL the kids would have iPods and that he wanted to buy one to take on camp.
He counted up his money and found that he was short about $100. He was very persistent in his request and we decided to sit down and have a conversation with him around the value of money.
Our dilemma was this – If we were to say an outright “NO, we can’t afford it” then we would be conditioning him with a mindset around “lack of money.”
If we said “YES”, then we would be conditioning him with the mindset to “borrow, then spend!”….and probably not appreciate it too much.
So……………we came up with a solution we had been taught in our mentoring course.
We said “YES”. He could buy an Ipod……however, we weren’t able to pay for it. We brainstormed ideas with Flynn on how he could raise $100. Time was of the essence as he was going on camp in three days.
We came up with ideas such as increasing the marketing of his honey that he was selling through his Honey Enterprise; sell some of his unwanted things such as his surf board; or do a deal with his sister and buy the items she had lined up to sell as part of her “New from Old” enterprise and then resell them with mark up.
The discussion gave him motivation, and we took the punt that if he was really keen for the iPod, then he would make it happen.
The point of all this is that we didn’t automatically say “No, we can’t afford it”…… and we didn’t say “Yes, and we will pay for it”. Rather, we put the onus on Flynn to work out a way to achieve his goal without getting himself into debt. We used this opportunity to teach Flynn about money.
Our Money Mindset Mentor, Paul Counsel, says that in our society, kids are conditioned to “earn, spend and borrow” from a very early age. This conditioning carries through to adulthood and ties people to a job. They need this job to pay for the interest payments on their “things”.
Sporting heros are used to condition people.
It is hard for our kids to avoid this type of conditioning. Their sporting idols appear on TV advertisements telling them what a great investment they are making if they buy x,y or z……and finish with a trusting wink!
Celebrities promote all sorts of things from insurance and jewellery to holidays. Retailers offer low cost, easy monthly payments for expensive items that people really can’t afford. There goes the “earn, spend and borrow” cycle again. Even airlines offer credit these days!
The education faculties don’t teach your kids about money either. In fact they will also put young people into tremendous debt by financing their higher education courses. Young people who spent five years working hard for a qualification, come out at the end with a massive debt!
Locked into debt before you can even begin!
Here is a hard fact… this year the total amount of student loan debt in the US hit the $1 trillion mark. Back in 2010, the amount of U.S. student loan debt surpassed the total amount of credit card debt, and it continues to grow. The trend in Australia is following that of the US.
We can look at life as being a game full of experiences! We are here on earth to play the game. Yet from an early age the odds are stacked against us to achieve personal and financial freedom when we are “conditioned” to earn, spend and borrow for unproductive things.
Can this change? Absolutely.
And who is the best person to teach this change to your children?
Well, if you have already achieved financial and personal freedom, then the best teacher is YOU!
And if you haven’t, then find someone who has achieved the type of financial or personal success you would like for your kids. You may even learn something in the process. 🙂
In this post we revisit Kit and his enterprising Dog Walking business. He was now ready implement his carefully thought out plan.
It was the school holidays and we were all staying with Kit’s Gran and Grandad in Geraldton.
His first client was a family friend, Pam, who owned a small scruffy dog called Elly. Pam had been prepped with a phone call that Kit would be arriving with his Grandad to ask if she would be interested in hiring his services. She was delighted to support Kit with his new enterprise and awaited their arrival.
Kit with Pam's dog, Elly.Kit preparing for his walk with Elly.
Kit explained to Pam what his business entailed and the benefits that she and her dog would get if she hired his services. Pam agreed that his service looked to be very good and then she asked what his rate was. Kit said five dollars. Pam negotiated with him and they agreed on four dollars for the half hour walk.
A beautiful afternoon for a walk.All dogs need a pit stop
Kit was pleased, but not sure how he was going to handle Pam’s little energetic dog. Grandad was an excellent coach and helped him with attaching the lead, offering the dog a treat and instructed on giving commands to the dog.
The walk went very well with no dramas and Kit arrived back at his Gran and Grandad’s house after returning Pam’s dog very keen to tell his family all about his business.
Ending the walk.Kit being paid for a job well done.
Kit continued his dog walking enterprise for the next two days whilst we were on holidays in Geraldton. He managed to make twelve dollars! Kit is now on his way to attaining his goal.
We, as parents, felt that more important than attaining his goal was the fact that Kit got “started” on his idea. What holds many people back from achieving their dreams is the inability to actually start! And of course, there will always be a myriad of reasons why not to – the time isn’t right, there isn’t enough money, there isn’t enough time, my family won’t approve, not ALL conditions are right yet…..the list goes on. These are the BUTS that stop people attaining their goals all the time, so it was refreshing to see one so young as Kit just “do it!”
Our enterprising children are now all busy with their individual kid’s enterprises. It will be time to check in with Jai and see whether his enterprise plan eventuated.
Entrepreneurship ideas for students can start with something as simple as a four-year-old, fifty dollars, a supermarket trip and a mountain of lollies.
This is Part 2 of Chayse’s Candy Man story. His business idea had been planned. Now it was time to buy the product, package it properly and get ready to sell.
The Candy Man with his $50.…outside the supermarket!
Entrepreneurship Ideas for Students: The Candy Man Entrepreneur
Enterprise for children can be a lot of fun, especially if it involves a four-year-old and a mountain of lollies! After you read this blog, you’ll understand why Hansel and Gretel gave in to temptation to eat the witch’s candy house.
This post follows on from The Candy Man Planning an Enterprise, where Chayse first planned his lolly bag business and received $50 in start-up capital.
In this part of the journey, Chayse takes his plan to the supermarket and begins turning a simple idea into a real product.
From Planning to Action
Chayse and I headed off to the supermarket with his $50, just as he had planned.
We walked the candy aisle and Chayse picked out the lollies he thought would be the yummiest. He bought everything from snakes and milk bottles to musks, liquorice and lollipops.
Next he added 50 plastic sandwich bags and some packets of brightly coloured balloons to the shopping trolley. His whole investment of $50 was spent in no time.
The checkout lady asked him if it was his birthday. Chayse nodded.
Well, why complicate things when you are four?
Entrepreneurship Ideas for Students Need Real Products
The production line!
Chayse’s brothers and sisters were at the car ready and waiting to escort him into the house and feast their eyes on all his lollies.
Chayse was really enjoying all the attention. He bossed his brothers and sisters around as they bugged him for a lolly and offered to carry his bags.
This is one of the reasons entrepreneurship ideas for students can be so powerful. A child suddenly has a real reason to make decisions, manage resources and take responsibility for something that belongs to them.
The Candy Man Production Line
Sorting the lollies into bags.
It was all hands on deck. Jaxon and Mitchy from next door came over to help out and a production line was organised around the kitchen table.
The lollies and balloons were placed into fifty piles and bagged up.
Chayse’s intention was to sell each bag for $2. So if all went to plan, he should make 100% on his investment.
That is not a bad return for a four-year-old Candy Man!
Learning About Price, Profit and Helpers
The production line team!
Cathy and I helped him with a sturdy box to display his product. We attached a strap to the box to help him hold it up and then made up a sign.
Mitchy and Jackson ran off home and immediately returned with money to buy a bag each.
Chayse’s first customers!
98 candy bags to go!
Chayse’s brothers and sisters also wanted to buy a bag each with their pocket money. We had to put a halt to that as it was going to create troubles, especially as Chayse wanted to buy his own lollies too.
So the compromise was that they were able to polish off the leftover lollies. Of course, Chayse was in charge of sharing them out to his drooling family.
Entrepreneurship Ideas for Students Build Confidence
Chayse’s first customer, Mitchy.
Chayse’s enterprise for children business was now all set to go. His next job was to market and sell his product.
Simple projects like this can become powerful kids business ideas, because children are not just pretending to run a business. They are learning about customers, product value, helpers, pricing, profit and confidence through real experience.
They are also learning the sort of practical money lessons for kids that are hard to teach from a worksheet.
Entrepreneur Cameron Herold makes a similar point in his TED talk, Let’s raise kids to be entrepreneurs. Children often learn entrepreneurial thinking best when they are encouraged to look for opportunities and create value.
The Candy Man Business Series
This post is Part 2 of Chayse’s Candy Man journey. You can follow the full series here:
Key Takeaway: Entrepreneurship Ideas for Students Can Start Small
Key takeaway: Entrepreneurship ideas for students do not need to be big, polished or complicated. Chayse’s Candy Man business started with $50, a trip to the supermarket and a family production line around the kitchen table.
Where to Next?
If you enjoyed Chayse’s Candy Man story, you may also like:
Money lessons for kids become much more powerful when children experience them in real life. For Flynn, that meant negotiating with his Grandad, harvesting raw honey, making an investment and learning what it really takes to grow a small business.
This is Part 2 of Flynn’s honey business story, where his idea moved from plan to action — complete with bee suits, honey frames, sticky hands and a very serious investment for a twelve-year-old.
Flynn with Grandad collecting honey frames for his honey business.
Money Lessons for Kids: Flynn’s Honey Investment Continued
You may remember from a previous blog that Flynn’s Enterprise for Kids plan was to buy honey at wholesale and sell it at retail. All he needed was a good source of cheap, quality honey that he could buy in bulk.
If you missed the beginning of the story, you can read Part 1: Honey Pot of Gold, where Flynn first explained his honey business idea.
Finding a Product for Flynn’s Honey Business
Flynn’s Grandad has kept bees for over twenty years and had a number of hives which he regularly harvested honey from. The honey produced from his bees is very light in colour and tasty, as the bees forage over the Mid West fields of Paterson’s Curse and coastal gums.
Flynn knew that he had a good quality product.
His plan was to pay a visit and strike up a deal with his Grandad.
Flynn’s Grandad saw that Flynn had thought through his plan. He was more than willing to support Flynn with his new honey enterprise. Flynn negotiated a good price per kilogram, however, the deal included Flynn having to help his Grandad rob the honey from the hives.
Flynn was up for the challenge. He donned a pair of overalls, gloves, boots and bee veil. Then he and his Grandad disappeared for the morning, returning later in the day with a heavy load of honey supers in the back of the ute.
They were carted around to the rear of the house and quickly stacked in the garage. Already the local bees were honing in on the honey, hoping to pinch it for their own hives. The garage door was closed to keep the bees out.
This is where money lessons for kids become very real. Flynn was not just talking about business. He was helping collect the product, understanding the effort behind it and learning that profit starts long before anything is sold.
For families in Western Australia interested in bees and beekeeping, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development has useful information about beekeeping in Western Australia.
Extracting the Raw Honey
Flynn slotting the honey combs into the honey extractor.
Extracting the honey from the honey combs.
Grandad sliced the caps off the honey combs with a hot, special-purpose electric knife and Flynn slotted them into a honey extractor.
The extractor uses centrifugal force to extract the honey from the combs. It was Flynn’s job to spin the extractor, which proved to be a lot of fun. Although everything nearby became sticky with escaping honey, including Flynn!
Preparing the Honey for Sale
Checking the temperature of the honey.
Yummy raw honey — a great enterprise venture.
Flynn’s brother Jai, and a family friend Jack, stopped by to lend a hand. Many hands made light work and before long, after warming and sieving the honey, it was sealed into 10kg buckets.
Angry bees do not take too kindly to people robbing their hives. It was pretty amazing that Flynn managed to do all this work without getting stung. His Grandad and Dad were not so fortunate though!
A Big Investment and Money Lessons for Kids
Enterprising Flynn paid cash for 80kg of honey from his Grandad. He loaded it all up in our car to take it back to his home.
It was a large investment for a twelve-year-old and Flynn, knowing its value, took great care to ensure that the honey was well sealed and cushioned for the long trip home. He did not want it spilling, nor did he want any ants finding their way into his containers.
This was one of the most important money lessons for kids in the whole project. Flynn had to understand cost, risk, value and responsibility before he even made his first sale.
Filling tubs with Grandad.
Flynn wanted to sell his honey at retail. He had done his research and found that honey generally sold in shops for around $12 or $13 a kilogram.
He had a unique product. It was tasty, raw and full of enzymes, which are generally destroyed during commercial pasteurisation processes.
Learning About Presentation and Retail Value
Flynn had also searched online for plastic honey pots. We discussed with him that people would pay a premium for his product if it looked professionally bottled and was not sold in recycled jam jars.
New plastic honey pots were not cheap. The larger the order, the better the price.
Flynn made his order over the phone and bought five hundred 500ml pots. These were delivered by mail within a few days, arriving in a massive cardboard box.
Flynn ordered honey jars and lids.
…ready to be filled.
So now he was all set to go with his Enterprise for Kids project. He had his honey and honey pots and had spent every cent that he had.
It was a huge investment and Flynn had no choice but to make it work. He had overcome fear and had taken a calculated risk with his business. All he had to do now was bottle, market and sell his honey.
And this will all be revealed in a later blog!
Flynn’s Honey Business Series
This article is Part 2 in Flynn’s honey business series, a family enterprise story about money lessons for kids, family business ideas, product value and learning by doing.
These posts show how family enterprise stories can teach children lessons that are hard to learn from theory alone.
Key Takeaway: Money Lessons for Kids Need Real Experience
Key takeaway: Money lessons for kids become much more meaningful when children handle real products, make real decisions and take real responsibility. Flynn’s honey investment gave him practical experience with cost, risk, quality, presentation and enterprise.
Where to Next?
If you enjoyed this part of Flynn’s honey business story, you may also like:
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!
