Just like any successful venture, we had our little business down to a science, thanks to the leadership of Dad. You see, these worms were called night crawlers for a reason. They came out at night when it was the coolest outside. So on the night preceding our next fishing trip, to lure the night crawlers out of their holes, we wet the lawn down real good. Then we waited for a few hours, grabbed our flashlights and containers and went hunting.

Now, these worms were not only smart, they were fast. And to be honest, I have no idea how they did it, but they could see us coming from pretty far off. So once we found one with our flashlight, we had to sneak up on it and with pure stealth, snag it with our hands. At that point, the worm was halfway in its hole still, so if we pulled too hard, we’d end up with half a worm to work with. So we had to ease it out of its hole.

Good times! Great father son activity!

But anyway, enough about worms and more about my point.

Inspire the Entrepreneur in your Kids

Since kids can’t go out and find jobs, in order to make money, kids have to be creative! Especially those who aren’t on a kid’s salary, better known as an allowance. Whether it’s mowing yards, selling boondoggles at school or catching night crawlers, most kids come pre-wired with the creative ability to become entrepreneurs. And it does take a degree of creativity, not only in the business idea, but in every other aspect of what makes that business idea successful. Kids are a perfect fit.

Entrepreneurship isn’t taught in grade school, or high school in most places, which is why most people fear becoming an entrepreneur. Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, they become accustomed to waking up and going to a job every day, instead of relying on their own creativity to earn a living.

My kids are a great entrepreneur example to me sometimes, of laying it all out on the line. Regardless of their business idea, they’re going to follow through with it, not matter the result. Here’s an example of one of their ideas.

With that said, I came across a cool website the other day called Kidpreneurs.org. It’s a website based on inspiring the entrepreneur in kids, providing resources to help your child learn more about starting, managing and gaining entrepreneur experience. So stop by, pick up their book. It costs right around $12. Read it with your children and then help them follow through on their entrepreneur ideas. Don’t let that entrepreneur light fade.

This country deserves more creativity from its youth, in fact, it depends on it.

But the main prize my daughters really want, the grand prize, is a 7″ Capacitive Tablet with keyboard case. It’s powered by the Android operating system and comes with Angry Birds already installed (a big bonus for my kids). It’s not an expensive item at all. I could snag one up on ebay for around a hundred bucks. But, in my eyes, the prizes they’ll receive for participating in the Otis Spunkmeyer cookie dough fundraiser aren’t the only things they’ll gain.

Now in order for them to get this prize, along with all the other prizes below it, they’ll need to sell 100 items priced at $16 per item. So in the process of scoring some pretty cool prizes, giving service for a fund raiser and gaining sales experience, out of the $1600 in pure deliciousness they sell, a good portion of that will go towards a good cause.

But I have to be honest, every year when the school sends home the paperwork for these sorts of things, my first reaction is to throw it in the trash. But this time, I saw it as a great learning experience for my kids and a great teaching opportunity as entrepreneur Dad.

Lessons Learned from the Otis Spunkmeyer Cookie Dough Fundraiser

Lesson 1: Get off to a good head start.

With any opportunity, a key aspect of success is your start. The first day is the most important day. If you can knock out a good portion of your sales in the first day, or bring in a good amount of profit, you won’t have to stress about reaching your goal later on. Just as in a race, no matter how fast you are, a good start can be the difference between a win or a loss.

So far, my kids have around 25 sales after one day. The fundraiser lasts until November 2nd. So with such a good start, we’ll have plenty of time to reach our goal. If they can sell just 10 per day for the next eight days, they’ll have their tablet.

Lesson 2: Beat your competition off the blocks.

When it pertains to the Otis Spunkmeyer Cookie Dough Fundraiser, you know there are going to be a ton of other kids rapping on doors as well, eager to earn those prizes. So if you want to sell to everyone you know in your neighborhood, you’d better hit the road before they do.

Mission accomplished! By the time we had pretty much knocked out our entire neighborhood, we saw a Father with his three kids walk out of their front door with Otis Spunkmeyer in hand, heading from house to house. As much as I want success for every child, you snooze you lose!

Lesson 3: Great rewards will come with great effort.

Being a salesman can be taxing, and sometimes extremely repetitive. It takes work going from house to house, getting rejected, saying the sames things over and over again. My goal is, if they work their absolute hardest to reach their goal of receiving that tablet, then maybe next year they won’t have an interest in doing it, because I worked them to death this year! I know, keep dreaming right? It’s only time plus the cost of gas Dad. It’s worth a shot though!

On the serious side, they could have just sold to their parents, maybe their aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas, and got a slap bracelet and some Angry Birds pens but with some hard work, they could get a prize that had some real value to it. We try our very best to teach our kids that they have to earn the things they want. We don’t just get them anything they want.

Lesson 4: Cute kids sell!

This may backfire on me, but I have been trying to teach them to use their strengths to sell more cookie dough per customer. Right now, their biggest sales asset as little girls is the fact that they’re so stinkin’ cute! So naturally, I told them to smile and have fun……and bring their four year old sister to the door with them! I know, I’m sort of cheating. It takes a real grump to turn down a bunch of cute girls.

Next thing you know, they’ll be using this tactic on me!

Lesson 5: A sense of accomplishment.

I hope that during this process, they’ll learn that they can accomplish their goals. While going from house to house, I start talking about the prices they’ll win and it keeps them motivated. I hope they also learn that they are amazing and have more talent at more things than they know. Sometimes all it takes is that first step to learn that.

Conclusion

As much as I resist, the Otis Spunkmeyer Cookie Dough Fundraiser is a good thing for kids. I know they’ll reach their goal of hitting 100 items sold, because they are showing all the signs of wanting to succeed. I learn so much from my kids. They keep me motivated. I’m glad I can share in their success and teach them a little in the process.

So, for those of you who are also participating, just as it says on the front of the prize catalog, “Go for the Dough!”

That’s Lesson #1 she has taught, or I should say, reminded me of. The most powerful forces on earth are extremely focused. When you know what you want, let it consume you until you get it. We all know how it works. For those of us who used to fry ants with a magnifying glass. Unless you focus the rays that come through that glass, the ant will live. But when you dial that in, focusing your efforts on the target, it happens.

For the last several weeks she has been receiving these tiny little Gel pens from her teachers at school. She loved them so much that she decided to con her Mom into taking her to Hobby Lobby to buy a container of 48 Gel Pens at a price of $9.99. She used a few of them and gave a few to her sisters, as a good older sister would do. She then realizes that she’ll never use all of them and decides to follow the entrepreneur inside and sell them at her school. Her teachers approved her desire to sell the pens as long as she did it on the playground. Some schools can be a bit picky about that sort of thing.

She sells the Gel Pens for $0.50 a piece. Today she sold three. The last time she did this, she nearly doubled her cost for purchasing the pens.

Lesson #2: Supply and Demand. The true Entrepreneurial success comes from something that simple. Where there is a demand, supply. At times, it takes a leap of faith, a little risk and a little money, but it works.

Lesson #3: What if the other kids don’t buy the Gel Pens? The cool thing about being an entrepreneur is that you get to choose your venture. Just choose to do something or sell something you like yourself. If all else fails, you get what you have always wanted. If my daughter failed to sell the pens, she would just have to keep all of these colorful Gel Pens to herself. Bummer!

Lesson#4: Your ideas are just as great and brilliant as every other persons ideas. Have confidence in your abilities and ideas. There is no greater lesson in the world of Entrepreneurship than this. You are a success in the waiting. The reason so many people fail is because they fail to get started.

Lesson #5: Ask for the Sale and don’t shy away after a small rejection! When my daughter asked one of her classmates for the sale, she said she didn’t have the money. My daughter then said, “Well, then you can go ask your Mom for the money.” She didn’t give her an easy out. If someone really didn’t want the pens, make them tell you that instead of settling for an excuse. It’s not being pushy, it’s just being creative. If you really wanted my Gel pen, you’d find a way. And if you can’t find that way, I’ll find it for you!

I hope you can find little lessons such as these from your children as well. If not, it’s possible you’re not paying enough attention to them. It’s possible that they’re budding entrepreneurs. If you are listening and have stories, I’d love to hear about your Kid Entrepreneurs in the comments.

 

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyVzjoj96vs&feature=player_embedded[/youtube] ]]> https://www.createfinancialwealth.com/entrepreneur-kids/ https://www.createfinancialwealth.com/entrepreneur-kids/#comments Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:12:51 +0000 http://www.createfinancialwealth.com/?p=2049 It has been amazing to see the effect that our decision over four years ago to become entrepreneurs has had on our children. It has always been known that children are sponges! They soak up everything they hear, see and at times, touch. They are, with all of their individuality, a splitting image of who their parents are being. If Dad raises his voice at someone, they will in turn raise their voice at someone. If Mom and Dad fight, they will fight. On the flip side, if Mom and Dad are very loving and give lots of hugs, that will reflect in their children and if Mom and Dad are Entrepreneurs, guess what the kids want to be.

So yesterday, my daughter comes up to me just thrilled. She had been exploring in the back yard and had found some tadpoles floating around in a pool of water. So, being the kid she is, she scooped them all out and kept them as pets, until today. Today she has decided to sell her precious little swimmers for profit and has conned her sister into her scheme of making money! I love this!

Now, we don’t live on a very busy street at all, so my initial reaction was to tell her all that she did NOT have going for her and her little business. Before I spoke out my negativity, I caught myself. I was about to destroy my little girls enthusiasm about her idea. Shame on me and anyone else who does not encourage their children when they want to sell lemonade, cookies or tadpoles. This is the spirit of the entrepreneur and the back bone of the world. Encourage away and ASSIST in the process by giving suggestions. Never destroy! I think that if we as adults would sometimes act a little bit more like children, the world would be a very fun and prosperous place.

So far we are about 30 minutes into it and their profit margin is growing. They have sold a total of two tadpoles for a profit of $2, a bag of M&M’s and some chips from Grandma!

So if you would like to purchase yourself some tadpoles and are in Payson Arizona, swing by. The big ones are going fast!!