Finding the Right Biz for Your Young Entrepreneur

Posted by Debbie | 0 comments

Way back in the late 70’s, I was a young mom that didn’t have a clue how to raise a child, but I was eager to learn and soaked up everything like a sponge. Dangerous, I know. Thankfully, Focus on the Family and Dr. James Dobson were predominant on the parenting how-to front, and offered a piece of advice that I’ve never forgotten: Find something your child enjoys and do whatever it takes to help them hone that skill to the best of their ability.

All four of my children have enjoyed the benefits of this advice, and one way we encouraged the development of their skill was through having their own little business. My daughter loved to cook, and made money selling her unbelievably delicious cookies. Now with 3 little girls of her own, they make cookies together and sell them for various events. My oldest son loved to take things apart, which didn’t seem to be something I really wanted to encourage until we discovered he could put them back together again… better than he found it! He made extra money fixing mowers and bicycles in his business.

You get the idea, but where do you start?

Your first step is to require a business start up as a ‘class’ in their homeschool agenda. While some kids will do things like this on their own, most need a little more coaxing. If it’s eating into their free time, a side business isn’t as appealing. When the alternative to working on their business is math or writing a paper, it’s suddenly a preferred activity!

Your adventure will begin with one question: “What would you do as a job if you could do anything you wanted to?”

Granted, there are answers you will need to modify , but you might be surprised at what they come up with. Here are a few seemingly impossible answers with some solutions that might work: 

Playing video games or a sport like soccer or basketball. Great! (hear me out….) They could start a blog with video games or soccer as the focus, with reviews of new equipment or games, strategies for play, bios of great players, etc. You can start with a free blog at WordPress.com or Blogger.com. Don’t forget to discuss how blogs make money.

Drawing. While a little more difficult to find a profitable outlet for their artistic talent this early in their development, there are ways to make it work. They could design their own line of cards, offer to design ads or logos for local businesses, or even team up with a friend that loves to write and illustrate a children’s book together.

Shopping.  Spring and summer are prime time for yard sales, and many great Ebay sellers started by reselling their yard sale discoveries. Ebay offers many tutorials and helps for the new seller, including a list of what sells best. High end children’s clothing does very well, and can often be picked up very cheaply for the shrewd shopper, and is easy to ship. Our church does a bi-yearly consignment sale, and everything left over goes to the first request, so be sure to ask at every sale what they plan to do with their leftovers. You can also find many new Ebay wanna-be’s that are starting up and offer free listings to save on those fees when you are just starting. Since the minimum age requirements for sign up is usually 18, you will probably need to partner up with your student. Work out a deal, remember, this is a business!

Right now the object isn’t so much how profitable their idea is– you are really just trying to condition their brain to think entrepreneurially. In real life, a business should be chosen based on it’s profit potential and meeting a need in the marketplace. You may have a true entrepreneur in your household if they aren’t as concerned with liking what they do as they are in how much money will they make. That attitude will make it much easier to look at what need in the community their talents might serve, yet more actual business education will need to be applied. Landscaping, cleaning, selling on Ebay, even babysitting are great options with almost unlimited earning potential. 

Always be encouraging, even if they fail. Make a point to examine the reasons for the business failure (not their failure) and be quick to point out that failure is part of the learning process. Edison failed thousands of times before he had one of the greatest successes in history. Proper documentation and a final assessment can also qualify it as a credit towards graduation!  Have fun!

Bob & Debbie Maubach live in middle T and have been homeschooling for 20 years. With three of four of their ‘entrepreneurs’ graduated (all homeschooled, of course!), they are now spending more time helping other homeschoolers make home business a fun and profitable part of their homeschool. You can read more about them at their website, www.Homeschool-Entrepreneur.com.