kids-in-biz.com

If you’re reading this, chances are you came to this site hoping to teach your child how to earn some extra money.  Great!

More importantly, I implore you to teach your kids how to manage the money they do have!  Do you have control over your financial situation?  If you are wallowing in debt or don’t know where to begin, check out Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover.  Ramsey, a debt-free evangelist, is amazingly inspirational.  I joined a few days ago and am completely hooked.

Wander over to   “Junior’s Clubhouse” and check out the Parents Room.   If you are looking for a great Christmas present for your kids, why not consider  “Financial Peace Jr For Kids” or the picture book “Careless Spending at the Carnival” which boast the message “Early Lessons that Create a Lifetime of Success!”  Click here to see the sample book.

Guest blogger 13-year old Fae has given us her opinion on Tyler and His Solve-a-matic Machine, by Jennifer Bouani. This book is part of the “Future Business Leaders’ Series.

Synopsis:  In the magical city of Nessibus, Tyler, dreams of sailing around the world. Without a father and mother, he has no idea how he will ever make this dream come true. That is until the Great Spirit of the Entrepreneurs, calls him to invent a great machine to help him do his homework and create a business to make many of these machines for his friends.

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Fae’s opinion:

I liked Tyler and His Solve-a-matic Machine, and I think it was a great way to get young kids interested in business.  I think it’s suited towards the 9-11 age group, who are old enough to understand the words, but young enough to be entertained by the wild story.  This story uses many words that very young children won’t understand, and concepts too complicated for them.  I still found the story light and fun, a bubbly sort of story that made me smile.

Tyler and His Solve-a-matic Machine has many funny and creative characters that help the main character, Tyler, on his quest to become an entrepreneur.  The characters are kept fun, but believable–if there is such a thing as unbelievable to a 9 year old!  Tyler wants to sail around the world, and invents a machine that he wants to sell to get him the money for it.  Tyler meets characters such as Soté, the one who starts him on his journey, and Giselle, a young girl like Tyler who keeps his spirits up and help him along whenever she can.  Tyler builds friendships along with his entrepreneur skills, something I found interesting.

I think that the best part of this book was that it teaches children about businesses and entrepeneurs.  The author included many clever metaphors that explained real life things that an entrepreneur would have to know about.  Copyrighting, for example, was personified by the “pirate parrots.”  There are very real lessons to be learned from this book.  I am looking forward to reading the next installment in this series!

If you love animals then it might sound really fun to start your own pet sitting business.  What could be better than getting to cuddle with animals all day long?  Pet sitting is a great way to make money, but there is a lot more to it than just playing.

In order to become a pet sitter and have people hire you they will want to make sure you know enough about animals to do a good job.  They love their pet and want their furry friend to have the best care possible.

That means you should have some experience caring for animals.  If you have your own dogs or cats that is a good head start.  If you’ve never had a pet you might want to visit a friend or family member who have one so you can see if pet care is something you are good at.  You might even volunteer to take care of your own pet without your family’s help for a couple of days, or volunteer to take care of your friend’s pet.

Taking care of a pet means:

• Feeding it on time
• Making sure it has enough water
• Taking it out to go to the bathroom
• Making sure it gets enough exercise
• Taking care of it when it gets sick
• Knowing what the pet likes and does not like
• Sticking with the pet’s routine

A friend, neighbor, family member, or client might hire you to do these things for their pet when they go away.  A lot of people would rather hire a pet sitter than send their pet off to a kennel.  You’ll usually go to their house to sit for the pet, which means the pet will get to stay in its home environment.  Sometimes the pet might stay with you in your house instead.

If you are too young to start your own business this might be something you can help another pet sitter do.  Sometimes pet sitters who have their own business like to have an assistant to help with things like going for walks or feeding.

If you are old enough to start your own business there are some things you need to do to protect yourself and get clients.

1. First, you need to learn all you can about taking care of pets.  There are several different books on the market that can help you.  “Pet Sitting for Profit” by Patti J. Moran is an excellent one to start with.

2. You or your parents need to think about protecting yourself in case something goes wrong while you are sitting.  Sometimes things do happen, and pets get sick.  A professional pet sitter with a business needs to be bonded and insured.  See this link for more details: Petsit.com.

3. You can also get accredited by joining at PSI.  This definitely encourages more people to hire you so you can grow your business.  You can find more information about becoming a professional pet sitter at this address: Petsit.com.

4. Since you want to provide the best service possible, it’s a good idea to find out what people consider to make up a good pet sitter.  This humane society article on choosing a pet sitter gives you a good idea of what people want: Choosing A Pet Sitter.

5.  National Association for Professional Pet Sitters (NAPPS) is another resource you can look at to become better in your business and get more credibility: Pet Sitters.

6. It can also help to read about how other people’s pet sitting businesses are going and how they handle the daily life of caring for pets.  A great example is: Pet Sitting Businesses.

Pet sitting can be a hobby that you do to help out friends and family members, and to make a little bit of extra money.  Or, you could make it a very profitable and long-term business by becoming accredited, getting insurance, and advertising for many customers.  It’s hard work, but it can be a lot of fun too!

Teaming up with an adult who can supervise and assist you is really important.  Animals can be unpredictable and having an adult available is essential.

If you want to have a website, then you need to look into getting your very own domain name. Your domain name is your web address. Just like people find your house by using your address, they will find your website the same way.

There are domain names everywhere. Do you have any favorite sites? The chances are that you type in their domain name in order to get to the right page.

Some popular examples of domain names include:

• www.Google.com
• www.Amazon.com
• www.CNN.com

When you know you want to head to any of those websites, you type their domain name into your web browser.

You can get your own domain name too! It’s actually a lot easier than you think. There are many different services to choose from. The good news is that you can buy your very own domain name for under $10.

First things first, you need to know how to go about choosing your domain name. Your name is something that should stick with people so they remember how to get to your site. It’s also helpful to think about how your domain name will show up in a search engine like Google. The better your domain name, the more traffic (or, site visitors) you will get.

Here are the steps to choosing a domain name:

1. Why do you want the name in the first place? Is it for a hobby, business, personal blog, celebrity or TV show fan site? The name you choose should reflect its purpose.

2. Do you want the search engines to “understand” what your site is about? When you do a search in Google you type in what is called a keyword. Google then pulls up WebPages that are related to the keyword you’ve typed. Sometimes, registering a domain name that is similar to the keyword can help you show up higher in the search engines (which is a very good thing!). So, if you are creating a site about doll clothes you might purchase the domain, www.awesomedollclothes.com

3. Do you mind if your domain name has a .com, .net, .org or other extension? These are called “Top Level Domains” and can make a difference. If you can register a .com it is usually better since that is what people remember the most. The others are just fine, and you might have to get one of the others if someone else has already bought the one you really wanted.

After you’ve chosen your perfect domain name, it’s time to register it. There are many different places where you can register your domain. Many of these have very good service, so your choice might come down to where you can get the best deal.

Here are some options:

• GoDaddy
• Namecheap
• Dynadot
• Yahoo Domains

After you register your domain name it will show up in your domain account. After that you will need to have the domain name point to your web host so your website can show up. This is called changing the DNS settings, and your domain registrar will have detailed instructions on how to do that.

Buying your first domain name is a very exciting process. You’ll finally have your own place on the web! It’s also easier and cheaper than you think, so get started today.

Are you hoping you’ve got your own Bill Gates in the making in your home? As a parent you can probably tell pretty easily whether or not the entrepreneurial spirit is evident in your child. Some kids make it very obvious that the regular nine-to-five will not be a part of their future. For others, you might need to investigate a bit further to see.

Ask these simple questions about your teen to see if your teen has the entrepreneurial spirit. If your answer is “yes” to one or more, you probably do.

1. Does she ask what she can do to earn more allowance? Is she willing to take on jobs around the house instead of hanging out at the mall with her pals? Does she do her chores and work with vigor and excellence?

2. Did she have the best lemonade stand on the block? Did she go the extra mile to make sure that her stand was profitable and her product and service brought back customers over and over again?

3. Does she value flexibility and independence more than the “sure thing” of an hourly job? Does she make comments about wanting something “more” than just flipping burgers or selling pink t-shirts?

4. Does she work well on her own? In her free time is she thinking of other ways to make money or start a business? When you give her a job or chore around the house does she jump in and do it quickly and efficiently?

5. Is she a self-learner? ? Does she spend time researching and reading for her schoolwork and outside of that? Does she enjoy finding out more about how to use the computer to her advantage?

If, indeed, you do have a young entrepreneur budding in your midst, you might want to start her off now in a business of her own even now, before the college bills start piling up! It will serve her well now and in the future!

Joelle Davidson welcomes you to http://www.showkidsthemoney.com where you’ll find plenty of free information to help your kids start their own businesses.

It’s not big news that teens are often much more tech-savvy than many adults. Truth is, many small business owners don’t even know where to begin and therefore will not be advertising that they need help in this department. Why not check out some of the local businesses in your town? You can begin by doing a search to see if they even have a web presence. Grab your home-town newspaper and see who is advertising. Read local articles featuring small businesses in your area.

Start with a local restaurant – perhaps your favorite pizza joint. Does it have a website? Was it easy to find? Can you easily get a phone number, hours, directions, and a menu? Does your town have it’s own website? If so, is there a listing of local businesses? Is it listed there? If not, you may have a golden opportunity awaiting you.

Web designers can charge thousands of dollars to create a website, but with today’s technology, spending that much money may not be necessary. Buying a domain, inexpensive web-hosting, and creating a simple site or blog can be well-worth the investment.

You don’t have to know everything to begin, but you do have to have some basic skills. If you’ve never done a blog or site before, summer is the perfect time to try! Remember, starting a business is going to take some work on your end but if you put in a little work up front, you won’t have to be fighting for the few-and-far between camp jobs that every other teen in town is applying for.

Choosing a business idea often comes from frustrations in your own world. We started Pre-wrap.com because we couldn’t find colored pre-wrap in our local area. Seventeen-year old Celeste discovered that finding a job is not an easy task for a teen. She learned that lesson quickly when she ventured out to find work. She realized that she didn’t even know where to begin! The whole job world was open to her, which was a bit overwhelming and even intimidating. She sought help from her older brothers who have earned paychecks doing everything from mowing lawns to serving ice cream, but soon expanded her questioning to a broader circle of acquaintances.

Celeste decided to help her friends by passing on what she learned about first jobs to others through myfirstpaycheck.com. It is a slow process but Celeste and Austin are constantly trying to make the site better. Along with job, internship, and volunteer opportunities, Myfirstpaycheck.com provides advice and resources, including a dynamic resume builder, to help young people have a more successful job application process.

Myfirstpaycheck.com is also a valuable resource for companies searching for an online outlet to hire temporary, seasonal and part-time employees.

Keep checking myfirstpaycheck.com for job advice and job postings for teens like you, and please feel free to pass on any suggestions you have. You can get some tips about your first job and help a teen entrepreneur grow her business! Check it out today!

Well, of course that’s not true. But a Kindergartener can surely be involved in internet marketing. I just got off the phone Christina Lemmey from MultimediaVA. She told me that her six-year old daughter wanted her own website just like Mom! At first, Christina didn’t pay that much attention to her daugher’s request, but after repeated begging, she decided to give in.

“I decided to build a Squidoo lens with her. It’s easy. It’s free. And it’s fun for kids, too,” Christina explained. It wasn’t hard to come up with a topic for this Hannah Montana fan! Gifts For Girls was an easy topic for this mother-daughter team! “All you have to do is look in her room!” she laughed.

Since Kindergarten typing, writing, and computer skills are limited, Christina set up the lens. She let her daughter pick and choose the products to feature from Amazon and eBay. She focused on her two favorite things – Hannah Montana and American Girl. Earning money wasn’t the main concern for this lens, her mom explained. She wanted to respect her daughter’s desire to have her own site and toss in a taste of learning about business at the same time.

“How will people know about my site, Mom?” she asked.

Out of the mouths of babes…

(Check out her lens at Gifts for Girls and feel free to leave an encouraging comment so that she knows that she’s had visitors! Who knows, maybe you might even need a gift idea!)

Is this fantastic or what?

Champlain College in Vermont actually allows you to bring the business to college with you! So if you are a young entrepreneur, you don’t have to choose between going to college and growing your business. At Champlain, students learn from successful entrepreneurs and other experts about the strategic, financial, legal, technical, operational and managerial matters you’ll need to know.

In addition to a network of entrepreneurial mentors, they even can put you in touch with angel investors and venture capitalists who can help you learn the ropes.

Janey Hair is one great example of the kind of student Champlain has enrolled. Janey founded Rosey Pink Cosmetics when she was fifteen. She handles many aspects of her business while still attending classes and living the life of a typical college freshman.

Other students have businesses selling t-shirts and sweatshirts with original designs, ice cream sales, urban style hoodies, ipod accessories, auctions, and web design. Even if you aren’t quite ready for college, check out this inspiring program! Champlain College just might be the place for you or your business savvy kid!

I know, I know…school is out and you long for the days that you can sleep in and lounge around without worrying about anything! Starting your own business doesn’t have to take up all of your time. Think of it as a labor of love! If you put a few hours a day or even a few hours a week, you can be on your way to earning money doing something you love to do!

Summer is the perfect time to explore your entrepreneurial options. Check out the library or your local book store on topics that interest you. If you have required summer reading, perhaps you can include a business book. Although there are many books out there on kids in business, don’t limit yourself there. If you love to take pictures, grab a book on photography. Love sports? Read an inspirational book on a favorite athlete or coach – many of these people are truly motivational. Like computers? Why not choose your favorite software program and really master it? Or choose a new one! Love kids? Then really show it by taking a CPR course. Summer is also a great time to volunteer your time. Offer your services to a local small business in exchange for some experience.

Here are some words of wisdom. If you want to make a lot of money – you need to have valuable skills that people will pay for. It’s really that simple. As a kid, you’re probably thinking that you are too young or that’s what college is for. Wrong! People don’t pay you for your degree – they pay you for what you can do. For what you have to offer.

Summer is a great time to start a blog. Learn to build a website. Take an online Photoshop course. Write articles for website owners. If you want to work, you must let people know you are available and interested! Want to pet sit, dog walk, babysit, mow lawns, type, or write? Make up flyers or business cards and take a walk around your neighborhood and hand them out. No one is going to find you unless you let them know you exist!

What are you doing this summer?