A child’s drawing is just a drawing, unless you add in a good business plan and a bit of marketing. Then it becomes not only a way to make money but also to build self-confidence and develop an entrepreneurial drive that could last a lifetime.
Where some people see cute lemonade stands or painted rocks, Linda Samuels, founder of Billionaire Babies, sees opportunities to teach kids fundamental lessons about running a business that could change their lives.
Samuels was a science teacher for 30 years before returning to school to get an MBA. It changed her perspective and got her thinking about how many potential businesses there are. In an “aha moment” she was inspired to pass on the insight using the skills from her first career.
“Teaching entrepreneurship is totally doable,” she explained. “You have to break it down and give them the tools.”
Billionaire Babies is a combination of individual consulting, meeting with small groups and offering seminars for young people who want to start businesses. There is also a do-it-yourself packet of material for sale via the Internet.
Helping kids come up with an idea for a business is easy. The challenge is getting them to curb their enthusiasm long enough to plot out the business.
The most important thing is to let the children drive the process, Samuels said.
“I ask them what they would want to do if no one was telling them what to do,” she said.
It ranges from making individually decorated gift bags to selling cello music CDs.
The next step is making a real business plan complete with profit and loss estimates. Then it’s time for action. It may be tempting for parents to fund the endeavor, but Samuels recommends loaning the start-up funds rather than donating them to give kids a true sense of how the world works.
Samuels starts them young with a target audience ranges from 3 to 23. Some kids make money, some don’t. It is not so much about getting rich at this stage but rather learning the concepts of running a business.
“I think it is the long-term solution to our economic crisis,” Samuels said. “We have to teach young people how to deal with their money.”
Samuels is taking pages from her own book, creating the business as she teaches others to do it. The entrepreneur training is an add-on to her more traditional tutoring practice, which focuses on helping kids get up to speed on their math and science skills or prep for college entrance exams.
She’s also hunting for investors to support a game she designed to teach entrepreneurship. The prototypes sold well, but it’s time to take it to the next level, she said.
The hardest thing about building the business has been convincing parents, she said. It is not something that is typically on their radar screen unless they themselves are entrepreneurs. She has, however, seen parents decide to launch their own companies after watching their children do it.
Entrepreneurship is hard work, but sometimes it is child’s play.
7/18/2010
Creating a business can be child’s play
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