kids-in-biz.com

Having a business card is a great way to show that you are serious about babysitting. It’s also a great way to easily provide information to parents that need your services. Make sure your parents and families that you babysit for have extra cards to hand out. As a mom, I always ask my friends for recommendations and a business card is an excellent way to get the word out. You can put just your first name on the card. Clear it with your parents before you begin handing out cards with your personal info on them.

If you want to make your own cards, check out the software that you already have on your computer. Many home computers come with templates and free clip art that you can use. Microsoft has a free template section. HP has free templates that you can download and use with Word. Avery sells business card stock and has free software you can use right on their site to design your card. An even cheaper option would be to go to Vistaprint. They have free designs you can choose from but if you check out their premium options, the Childcare designs are adorable and is really about the same cost as printing your own. They have 27 designs to choose from and they’re really cute!

Have some fun creating your own designs. Don’t forget – this is about babysitting. A hand-drawn image is perfect for this kind of card. You can even scan in something you drew as a little kid for a whimsical look.

Speaking of free templates, Microsoft also has a Babysitters Checklist and Babysitters Instructions that you can download. If you show up with these, you’ll look impressive!

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Twelve-year old David Wilkinson has been interested in computers all his life…but today, what kid hasn’t? The difference is that he loves the technology and wants to share it with the world. While most kids his age spend hours playing computer games, this blogger puts in his hours writing his blog Techzi.

Wonder how he makes money with his blog? Notice that he has “premium sponsors”. These are advertisers that pay to advertise on his blog. If you click on “Advertise” you will notice that he gives his statistics – how many visitors he gets and how he ranks among other sites. He also spells out his ad rates. Advertising is a good way to earn money with a blog but remember, businesses want to advertise on quality sites that gets lots of visitors. If you are thinking about starting a blog, it’s important that you have information that your viewers are interested in reading! Check out his top posts and read “Entrepreneurs – Making a Living Online.”

One of the best ways to learn how to make money is to visit other sites and take notes. Learning about business can be as easy as web-surfing with a mission. What sites do you visit often and why? What captures your attention? What makes you stay? What would make you want to tell a friend? Starting a blog is easy. What are you going to share with your visitors that will keep them coming back for more?

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Check our your high school club listings and see what is offered right in your own school! DECA has over 4500 chapters and over 180,000 students participating!  Students that are interested in hospitality, finance, sales and service, business administration and/or entrepreneurship are encouraged to join.  DECA programs are co-curricular, meaning that they learning coincides with classroom curriculum, and goes further by incorporating realistic educational experiences not available through classroom instruction alone.

Sure, a business club like DECA will look great on your college resume.  Local businesses will be impressed, too.   But don’t overlook how much fun you can have! Students with entrepreneurial spirit are great to be around!  Local and national competitions are a great way to meet new people and gain some real-life experience. Check it out.

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It’s an interesting question. Kelly McCausey (Work at Home Mom Talk Radio) brought up this question this week and it think it’s a really interesting topic. Have you always wanted to be in your own business? I certainly didn’t. I actually avoided the small business and entrepreneurial classes when I was getting my business degree! I remember thinking, “I’ll never have my own business? What would be the point of taking these classes!” Wouldn’t I love to go back in time and revisit my course options!

When I was in high school, I had friends that were clearly cut out to be business people. They loved to sell! The minute a fundraiser would come in, they’d hit every house in the neighborhood before we even had a chance to review the materials! They clearly had it in them.

Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit our are you reading this because you are trying to ignite the spirit within?

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “Hang around with winners, become a winner.” I believe that if you hang around with self-employed people, it rubs off on you. When you see the excitement, it’s contagious. My daughters already know that they do not want a corporate 9:00 to 5:00 job. Did they catch the spirit from their parents? Time will tell.

What do you think?

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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.

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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.

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Can a bad hair day lead to a successful business? Sure! It happened for my 13-year-old.
My daughter, a soccer player, was having problems keeping her hair up. “I’m really bad at doing my own hair and it was always falling in my eyes!” she said; until a friend gave her pre-wrap.
Pre-wrap is a velvety soft foam that comes in rolls like tape. It’s really an athletic pre-taping product used to wrap over an injury before tape is applied, but many female athletes have found it makes the perfect headband! It’s clingy and doesn’t slip off your head like regular headbands. (Check her site out at Pre-wrap.com. ) She loved it so she went hunting for it at the mall. Unable to find it, we had to buy it in bulk on the Internet. She took the extra to share with her teammates – that’s when her business started. “Everyone loved it and wanted it! I had to order more right away.”
Kids have great ideas – they know what other kids want. Listen to them. Make suggestions. I always knew I wanted to teach my kids about business and the opportunity just dropped in my lap. The key? I was ready and waiting! Are you ready?

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I know it seems like babysitting is just something you do to make money…but did you ever stop to think that when you babysit, you are actually a business person? You are in what is called a service business. You may babysit for just one family (even your own) or many. The people that hire you are actually your clients or customers.

Want to take your babysitting to the next level? Ask the families you work for to refer you to their friends. Don’t be afraid to tell them the kinds of kids you love to babysit for. If you love babies, say so! If you prefer to be out in the backyard hitting baseball, tell them that, too. Many moms don’t want to give out the name of their best babysitter – they keep you to themselves so you are available when they need you. You can certainly create flyers or hand out business cards in your neighborhood, but I prefer the word-of-mouth method for babysitting referrals. When you are in someone else’s home, watching someone else’s kids, it’s nice to have someone that is familiar with the family.

You can still be professional. Why not have some business cards printed up with your name and/or your email address on it. Printing cards will show that you are serious about wanting to work and makes it easy for people to refer you. Check out Vistaprint. They offer free business cards – you just have to pay shipping. You can also create your own. Office Supply stores like Staples have business card stock you can put through your home printer, but I think Vistaprint is probably easier and cheaper!  We were really happy with our first cards and just ordered more.  You can get 250 premium quality, color business cards FREE!  Click here.

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That’s the fun part of internet marketing and having a blog. You can talk about anything you want and share products and services you love with your readers. Affiliate marketing is all about “pre-selling” a product. This year, our family added three new games to our favorites. Our family favorite is “Kids Against the Grown-ups.” In this game, the kids get questions targeted at the older generation (like questions about the Beatles) while the adults get questions about Disney characters or Spongebob. It’s a tug-of war board and lots of fun to play with your family.

Quiddler is a card game where you make words using the letters in your hand. You might say it’s a twist on Scrabble, but I personally think it’s more fun to play as a family. Players score points by totaling the value of each card, earning bonus points for the longest and most words in each round. This addictive word game contains instructions for playing a solitaire version, so you can enjoy it even when no one else is around. It’s an excellent game for grandparents to play with grandchildren. It’s easy to learn and fun for anyone old enough to spell!

We bought The Original Food Lover’s Trivia Game this year and enjoyed this game without a board! We rarely use the trivia boards anyway, so this was a nice change. If you are a food lover who likes trivia games or a trivia game lover who likes food then you’ll like this game. It features 1,800 questions in the categories of Beverages, Geography and Culture, Ingredients, Recipes, Food People and Food Arts & Science. If you are playing with kids, definitely try Eat It! This one is all about snacks and candy will make your sweet tooth tingle just playing this game!

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The New Totally Awesome Business Book for Kids, Revised and Updated Third Edition by Arthur and Rose Bochner

This book is an easy-read that touches upon the basics of business plus 20 ways to make some money. Although the 20 ideas include the obvious, such as babysitting, the lemonade stand and raking leaves, it does offer some creative ways to save money around the house. The Bochners are a young brother-sister team, aided by their mom, Adriane G. Berg, who clearly wants the same that many of us parents want for our kids – financial savvy and a solid understanding of money-making principals. What I liked best about this book was the concept of auditing the family’s spending habits and sharing in the savings. Kids do tend to think money grows on trees. Realizing that electricity actually costs money and someone actually has to earn the money to pay for dinners out are always great things for kids to learn.

If you are looking to start an internet based business, then this isn’t the book for you.

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