Business:

Be an Entrepreneur

 

Today's Snack: Being in business has a lot to do with the color green - the color of money! So have a big bowl of green lettuce with some cut-up celery and green pepper pieces. Today, your salad bowl will go green - tomorrow, your bank account - next, the world!

 

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Supplies:

Scratch paper and pencil

Friend with smartphone or videocamera to videotape you

 

 

            "Entrepreneur" is pronounced "awn truh pruh NOOR." It's a French word for "business owner." It actually means "someone who undertakes" a new venture or enterprise - which is what someone who starts a new business is doing.

 

Entrepreneurs are goal-setters and problem-solvers, two of the most important skills for adult life. Even with the most basic, most common kid business - a lemonade stand - you see the need for planning, budgeting, promotion, customer service, and all the other tasks of successful business operation.

 

The ideas for a "kid business" are almost unlimited. There are as many different ways to make money as there are kids on the planet!

 

If you would like to do this, welcome to the wonderful world of entrepreneurship. It is a world full of both risks and rewards.

 

When you start planning to start a new business, there's a lot to think about. What do you like to do? What need could you fill, or problem could you solve, that could result in money being paid to you? How many hours a week can you work, and how much profit is realistic to expect?

 

            If you are 7 and this is your first business, then operating a lemonade or Kool-Aid stand at the foot of your driveway several times in the summer might be just the ticket. You can sell small paper cups full for a dime or a quarter, and earn enough in an hour or two for a movie ticket or trip to the amusement park.

 

            On the other hand, if you are 15 or 16 or 17 or older, more than likely you realize all too well that you probably need to make a lot more money than that. You have a better idea how much it costs to drive a car, go to college, have nice clothes, and all the other things that we Americans love to have, which all cost money.

 

            For that purpose, a lemonade stand probably won't raise enough money to satisfy your needs. And if you really want to start your own business, can't find another paying job, or both, maybe it's time for you to try entrepreneurship.

 

            It's time to dream, and then match your dreams to the real world. Figure out what you are good at, what you would like to be paid money to do, how you could make your product or service better than anyone else's, and match up your desire with a neighborhood, community or even a national need.

 

            The first rule of business is to realize that it is NOT all about YOU. It is about your CUSTOMERS - what other people want and need, and will be willing to pay for. All the imagination and hard work in the world won't help, if customers don't want to exchange their money for your product or service.

 

            But when they do, it's awesome!

 

            And it all starts with a dream. Your dream!

 

            Here are some "kidpreneurs" to admire:

 

·        Leanna Archer, www.leannashair.com, was 11 when she decided to start selling organic hair products such as dressings, butters and shampoos. The secret formulas have been passed down in her family for generations. In a recent year, her company reportedly brought in $100,000. Leanna is based in New York.

 

·        Robert Nay of Utah was 14 when he released a game app, Bubble Ball, that was downloaded two million times within two weeks after its launch on the Apple app store.

 

·        LizzieMarieCuisine.com got started when a 6-year-old girl named Lizzie Marie in Georgia started selling home-baked goods at a local farmers market to raise money for horseback riding lessons. Several years later, she is a teenage media cooking guru with her own kids' cooking show through www.WebMD.com and several other projects.

 

·        Farrhad Acidwalla, who lives in India, converted $10 from his parents to develop into an online community for aviation and aero-modeling hobbyists which he sold after just a few months for $1,200. He was 13. Then he put $400 into another company, www.rockstahmedia.com, which does branding, marketing and Web development for small businesses, and he already has 42 employees.

 

·        Asya Gonzalez, 13, designs and sells 1940s-style T-shirts and apparel through her website, www.stinkyfeetgurlz.com. She donates a portion of her sales to a nonprofit she founded that helps fight human trafficking. It is estimated that her business brings in $20,000 a month.

 

·        Adam Horwitz made $1 million before he turned 18 by developing online courses to help people learn how to make money through hand-held and mobile computers. Now he has started another business, www.yeptext.com, which helps small businesses advertise their goods and services through text messages.

 

·        Maddie Robinson was 8 when she got the idea of drawing cute sea characters on flipflops. Her family thought it was a great idea, too, and helped her start www.FishFlops.com. After one trip to a tradeshow, she already had 30 stores willing to sell them for her! Her company made $1 million in sales in two years and she sold 60,000 pairs in 2012. She has been able to donate a lot to her favorite charities and has now added hats, T-shirts, children's books, and a video game to her product line.

 

 

Can you match them, or do better? Maybe!

 

Think about your dream. Think big! And in just one sentence, write about the business that you would like to start.

 

            Now have a friend videotape you describing it.

 

            A few years from now, when you're rich and famous, you will love looking at that video!