8 Tips for Kid Entrepreneurs to Be Successful in Business

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These tips for kid entrepreneurs are brought to you in partnership with WildBrain to promote Strawberry Shortcake “Market Yourself”. kid entrepreneurs creating and working

Kid entrepreneurs are some of my favorite people to be around because they are so passionate about what they do. And a successful kid entrepreneur is pretty savvy when it comes to money as well. But the road isn’t always easy when it comes to kids learning to create and run their own business.

There are plenty of ups and downs to learn about. These tips below will help your child embrace their entrepreneur adventure and be successful.

True Story of a First Attempt at Becoming a Kid Entrepreneur:two boys kid entrepreneur selling slime

When my son was 6 years old he decided that he wanted to make some money by selling carrots. (Don’t laugh – kids have to start somewhere!) Although I understandably had my doubts about how successful he would be I encouraged him to proceed if he thought they would sell well.

He spent hours chopping up carrots into small bags and sitting at the end of our driveway attempting to sell carrots. He not only put a LOT of effort into chopping carrots to sell but it was a pretty epic failure.

He quickly learned after a day that no one really wants to stop and buy chopped carrots aside from the very kind elderly neighbor who felt bad for him. But it was an important lesson. And it didn’t stop him.

Soon after he decided to set up a lemonade stand when he realized there was a large crew of construction workers down the road. After the first day he had made over $100 from his lemonade (and kind donations from thirsty construction workers) and news of his cold drink stand spread like wildfire through the construction camp.

He took the money he made, spent a little on himself, and used the rest to make 75 containers of magnetic slime and his 3D printed fidget spinners to sell at a local children’s business fair – right when both were trending. It was a big hit. This journey taught him to look for a need or trend and to offer something different that no one else was offering.


Kids need to fail, and understand how to handle failure, in order to succeed. They need to embrace failure.


Using Cartoons & Edutainment to Help Kids Understand Failure, and Success:

My son first became interested after watching some of his favorite cartoon characters making money from selling things. Choosing what you allow your children to watch is very important. I’m always reminded about being true to yourself and finding innovative ways to market your business! What a great lesson for kids watching!

I’ve been working with WildBrain (you can see all of their videos on their YouTube channel here) the last few months to promote their awesome selection of kids videos and family-friendly edutainment! From SuperWhy to Tiddlytubbies, Ellie Explorer, Cody, Caillou, Billy Bricks and more – you don’t have to worry about what your kids are viewing with WildBrain videos! In fact, not only will your kids learn something, but maybe they’ll be inspired to get up and do something too!


Lessons to Learn & Tips for Kid Entrepreneurs:

  1. Research & Innovation –

Before you can start a business you need to have something to sell! And it doesn’t have to be a product – you can sell a service too! Ask around to learn what people want, follow the trends, and offer what no one else has.  Understand demographics – are you wanting to sell to other kids, grandparents, girls, boys, etc.

2. Vision & Goal –

An important part of having a successful business is by actually having a vision and goal so that you can not only grow your business but know how to measure your success. What do you want to have available to sell in 2 months, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years? Do you want to make $50, $100, $1000?

3. Self-Motivation –

You can’t run a business if you aren’t self-motivated and this trait is incredibly difficult to actually teach, it’s more something that you are born with. Successful entrepreneurs of any age absolutely must have this trait to keep up with their business!

4. Organize & Prepare –

Staying organized and being prepared is where kids might need some help in keeping track of their business. Whether they use a computer to keep track of their to do list or a journal – find what works for them! Helping kids learn how to organize their business will give them the tools to run their business efficiently.

kids art journal kid entrepreneurs

5. People Skills –

People skills come easier to some kids than others. But even those overly social butterflies have people skills to learn too! Help your kids learn how to handle and learn from complaints, impatient people, rude comments, and other situations that can maybe hurt their feelings or leave them confused.

6. Risk & Failure –

Even kids can parrot back to you what failure is and that not everything in life is successful. But it takes a brave and determined kid to not only experience failure but to embrace it. Understand the point of failure and learn from mistakes. This is where a mentor can help greatly (see #8) in seeing the outcome before making the decision.

7. Teamwork and Leadership –

Most kid entrepreneurs at least start out working by themselves. Sometimes they “hire” a sibling or friend to help out, and the most successful kid entrepreneurs move on to a commercial industry where they have entire teams of people that they work with. This experience is incredibly important for helping to build leadership skills and strengthening their team working abilities.

8. Mentor –

Any strong business person needs to have a mentor – ESPECIALLY kids. The best that kid entrepreneurs can do is to find someone they can go to, ask questions, and really listen to their advice. Whether it’s a parent, aunt or uncle, or another person in a similar business field – find someone your children will not only get good advice from but that they will actually take action on that advice.

 

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