We all want our children to become confident, intrepid, and imaginative little men and women. We want them to follow their dreams, take chances, and understand they don’t always have to color within the lines. These lessons aren’t necessarily taught in the classroom but can be learned during their earliest entrepreneurial pursuits.
A summer business can be the perfect breeding ground to help your child’s confidence and entrepreneurial spirit take flight. It encourages creativity while also teaching some very practical skills like balance sheets and marketing. And today’s kids aren’t just sitting by the lemonade stand either. They’re busy building an organic lemonade empire or creating an app that lets you know where the best lemonade stands are on a given afternoon.
If your child shows an interest in starting a business this summer, here are a few ways to help make that experience (if not the business itself) a success:
Introduce the concept of money management
A summer job is an excellent approach for teaching children essential and advanced money management skills, such as calculating gross earnings and controlling overhead. Teenagers can keep track of company income and expenditures. Younger children can practise calculating total prices and counting change.
You may need to provide your child with startup capital for their firm. If so, have them list all of their up-front expenses so you can determine the precise amount required. You might offer to fund a particular amount on the condition that kids give birthdays or allowance money. You may even host an investor meeting in which your youngster presents their business plan and describes their financial requirements.
Nurture their skills, talents, and interests
Interests and hobbies are frequently a rich source of business prospects. Encourage your children to be imaginative and creative. If they enjoy writing, encourage them to do so. If they enjoy building objects, allow them to use your tools. Sports participation will teach children teamwork.
Make a plan
A good business plan is at the core of any startup. While your child doesn’t need to put together a fancy PowerPoint to pitch to a VC, you do want to teach the importance of planning. Have them create a list of all the equipment and supplies they need to launch their business. For example, what ingredients do they need if they’re starting a cupcake business? How will they package their cupcakes? They might want to take a CPR or first aid course if it’s a babysitting business. How much time do they think the business will take, and how will they balance it with their other activities?
In addition, have them write down their goals ahead of time. How much money can they make? What else do they want to achieve in the business? It will be a great exercise to revisit these goals at the end of the summer.
Give back
Entrepreneurship involves more than just earning revenues. It is about resolving issues and assisting others. Encourage your child to support a cause by donating a percentage of their proceeds to charity or by arranging special sales events. A brief comment on maintaining your child’s motivation: as much as we want to teach our children and assist them achieve success, we must remember that they are still children. Keep it enjoyable, and don’t place undue pressure on them.