kids-in-biz.com

Do you love animals? Dog walking may be the perfect business for you. Plenty of fresh, clean air, exercise with “man’s best friend”, and cash to boot!

Dog walking is a big business in large cities. Dog walkers are a fixture in the parks of New York City. People these days are too busy to walk their own dogs so they hire someone who has the time to do just that. You don’t have to live in a city – many pet owners are thrilled to have someone check in on their pets while they have long business days or plan to be out of the house for longer than normal. (If you’re staying home on Thanksgiving or Christmas, these are great days to offer some holiday service. Many families appreciate not having to rush home early to let a dog out.)

If you are interested in a dog walking business, you need do some homework. In our neighborhood, that’s easy to see who has a dog by just walking around the block.

Neighbors may not want to pay you just to walk their dog. Offering other services along with dog walking could boost the number of clients willing to take a chance on the service. Additional services you can offer include: pet grooming, pet feeding, and pet sitting.

Once you both have done the legwork, now it’s time to map out your business plan. Develop a price list. Still offer dog walking by itself, but also list prices if one of the additional services is added. Instead of writing down a set price, say something like, “We also offer dog grooming services with prices starting at $15.” Using a range gives you room to negotiate prices with different customers. If one customer has a bigger dog, the price will be higher than the starting rate. Drawing up a contract with the customer for the agreed upon prices is not a bad idea.

Once you have the price list, design a flyer. Go door to door again and hand them out. Include your name as owner of the business, the family telephone number, and address. Be prepared to have references available in case people want to find out if you are a reponsible kid.

Next, head to the store for supplies. With any business there is an initial outlay of money to get started. You will need to purchase grooming supplies, pooper scooper, extra leashes, and doggie treats. Start with the basics and add more items as your business grows. Most animal owners will supply everything you need, but having an extra leash is a great idea.

This summer, my daughter pet sat for two families for less than two weeks and earned enough to buy a Wii! They visited the pets so often that a neighbor reported to our vacationing customers how responsible and caring they were! The extra TLC earned them a nice bonus and I’m sure they’ll be called back the next time a vacation rolls around. Another added bonus – these same customers now call my girls for babysitting, too!

Edited to add – the day we posted this, the same two families called for both babysitting and dog-sitting for April vacation!

You wouldn’t be reading here if you weren’t looking for a way to make some money. Let me ask you this – do you want a job or do you want a business? Some kids naturally have an entrepreneurial spirit. They thinking running a business would be cool. They like the idea of having the sky as the limit financially. Others kids just want money to buy stuff and that’s okay, too.

Does it matter? It does if you are in the planning stage of your money making journey. Do you want to run the show? Do you want to be responsible for everything? Or do you just want someone to pay you for the work that you do?

The SBA was established in 1953 to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns. The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. They even have a teen division with great information and a host of resources. If you are looking for tips on how to generate ideas for a business, the legalities of owning a business, or guidance in writing a business plan, this is a great place to start.

This is one site you can trust to give you straight-forward information. All business owners and future entrepreneurs should check it out. The teen area is well-laid out and easy to read. Make sure you bookmark it. SBA for teens.

You want an iphone or ipod? Maybe the new Wii?  Trying to save up for your first car or need to pay for your own car insurance?  You want to work, but your crazy school schedule isn’t flexible enough for a regular job? Perhaps you aren’t even old enough to get a regular job.  Now might be the time to consider starting your own business.

Start by looking at your own skills. What are you good at? What do you like to do?  Do you like computers? Kids? Being outdoors? Fixing things?  Are you highly organized? Do you like pets?  Are you an early riser or a night owl?   Do you like to write?  Are you a talented artist?  A musician?

All of these skills can bring you money.  Take inventory of your own talents. Write them down.  Figure out what your strengths are.  People will pay you for things that they

1. Can’t do
2. Don’t want to do

3. Don’t have time to do

What may be easy or fun for you might be miserable for someone else.  Knowing yourself is the first step in deciding on a business.

I was listening to Michelle Waters over at Product Sellers Talk Radio and she brought up a great point about how to choose a product to sell. Instead of thinking “What product should I sell?” why not think “Who should I sell to?” First things first. When you begin your journey learning about business, you will hear the term “target market.” This basically means, who will be buying your product or service? If you are babysitting, your target market is parents of small children. If you are thinking about selling a product, who will you be selling to? As kids, chances are good that you know what your friends, classmates, and teammates are buying. Is there something everyone wants or needs but have trouble buying in your area? Are there things that people buy online that you might be able to earn an affiliate commission by selling? Did you know that you can actually make money by selling ringtones?

This is an example of one our affiliate programs: Hottest Ringtone on Your Mobile!

As you brainstorm ideas, ask your friends what they think of your idea. Don’t be surprised if people are not encouraging at first. Many people think that owning your own business is a fantasy. With a little determination and willingness to learn, you can make it a reality.

1. Make a list of all the things that interest you and what you might like to see a website about. Get the family involved and have everyone write down a few ideas. It doesn’t matter if the ideas seem silly…they should be written down. Ask friends to add to the list. Write down everything that interests you!

2. Narrow down the list to about 3-5 topics you may wish to pursue further. If it’s a few less or a few more, that’s okay.

3. Do some “keyword” research and see what people would like to know about the topics. Go to a site like WordTracker to see what people are searching for on the topics. WordTracker is a service that shows what phrases and information people are searching for on the Internet. There is a free trial available.

This will give you ideas on what to include on your website or blog and to see if a lot of people are actually searching for information on her topic. If the numbers seem small on some of the topics, you may want to choose one of the more popular topics to pursue. By the end of this research, she should have chosen the one topic to create a website about. Brainstorming Products to Promote. Again, it’s time to involve the family, friends and anyone else who will participate. You now know what kind of information people who are interested in your topic are looking for — but what kind of products will they buy?

Let’s say you are going to create a website about becoming a ballerina. Brainstorm everything a ballerina will need to buy…from slippers, to videos, to music to costumes. Again, pass this list around and if everyone writes down a few things, the list can go grow quite quickly.

My girls were 10 and 12 when our business adventure began. My daughter came home from a soccer game and begged me to get her pre-wrap – a headband that “is the only thing that works.” My kid doesn’t really care about hair, so this was an unusual request. I searched high and low for this magic foam and finally turned to eBay to locate it. I bought a lot of 8, and told her that if her teammates wanted to buy the extras from her, she could keep the money. She sold them all that afternoon and came home with a page full of orders! Wanting to encourage their entrepreneurial spirit, I suggested they start a business. The goal was to teach them that money doesn’t grow on trees, and that business can be fun when you have a product you love. An extra $5 or $10 can mean a lot to a kid.

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People often ask for advice on how to get their child started in business. Kids can be taught business concepts without actually starting a business. The lemonade stand is a classic example and it’s even good to use with older kids. I start with a scenario – maybe your child wants to buy an ipod.

Here’s a typical conversation in our family:
1. How much money will you need to buy the ipod?

2. Are you sure that’s all you need? Is there sales tax? Does it come with headphones? Will you need to pay for shipping? Is there anything else you need to go with it?

3. How might you raise money? (Let your child come up with ideas, such as saving allowance, doing chores for you, neighbors, grandparents, dog walking, snow shoveling, babysitting, etc.) Usually they will come up with a lemonade stand on their own).

4. How much can you sell a glass of lemonade for?

5. How many glasses will you have to sell in order to make enough money?

Most kids will assume that mom will buy the cups, the lemonade, the ice, etc. This is where you tell them you will loan them the money, but they will have to figure out what they need and what it will cost. Don’t forget to remind them that they will need signs, change, etc.

After they have figured out the math (for example $150 ipod = 600 glasses at 25 cents each or 300 at 50 cents each) you can add other things into the discussion.

6. Do we have that many cars that come by our house? How many might stop?

If you don’t (we certainly don’t) make other suggestions.

7. Can we do the lemonade stand for more than one day?

8. Can we go up to the ball field on a hot day or at a tournament and set up?

We have even gotten into things like: what if it rains? What if it’s too cold?
Can we sell hot chocolate at the cold morning soccer games? What else could we sell to make more money such as cookies or donuts?

This doesn’t have to be one long, drawn out discussion. We started it and continued it in the car, over dinner, and so on for a few weeks.

Have your child make a plan: 2 days of selling lemonade, 10 hours of babysitting, x amount of chores, etc. and get their money for their goal. You can even match the money they earn as incentive.