If you enjoy teaching and have some business savvy, why not develop a business idea teaching entrepreneurship to kids?
Starting a business is a great way for kids to learn real life skills and build confidence.
Kids are becoming more and more likely to begin their own businesses when they are young, especially now that they have the Internet readily available.
Set up classes to teach entrepreneurial skills to kids!
You could give a two-hour session for $15 per session, and have a group of students of up to 20.
Decide ahead of time if you would like to set age limits on the students in your class. You will be pleasantly surprised at just how many great small business ideas people of a very young age are able to generate!
Your goal for these kids is to educate and empower.
Kids have great ideas. They are by nature creative and natural brain-stormers! Most just need the encouragement to follow through on these ideas and the know-how needed to try them out.
Your class instruction would most likely include basic information on starting and running a business such as:
• How to get a business license.
• How to open a bank account.
• How to figure out how much starting their new business will cost.
• How to calculate costs of running your business (Many persons contemplating starting a new business, old as well as the very young are chiefly afraid of the math involved. Reassure them that only the very basic of math skills are needed to establish and run a business).
• How to advertise your business (If you create flyers, what information should be included on them to tell your customers the information they will need to contact and use your business! Brainstorm with them ideas where their flyers could be posted such as libraries and local schools).
• How important good communication is (make sure that your flyers and other materials are properly typed and a spell checker and/or grammar checker has been used on them, BEFORE they are mass produced).
• How to encourage the adults around you to help (and how much is safe and appropriate to do without adult supervision)
• How to present yourself to show that you are serious about your business (Dress for success! Always be neat and clean, no dirty fingernails).
• Websites that can help them (Prepare a list of child appropriate sites to help them run a business).
• How to prepare a list of business goals (How big should your business get? How much do you plan to sell? How long do you plan to be in business - for a summer or forever).
• How to conduct market research to see if their product or service will sell.
• How to talk to customers (always be polite and well mannered, 'Please' and 'thank you' go a long way).
At the conclusion of your class, you may want to offer a page of pre-prepared memory-joggers so that they will remember the basic information you have communicated to them.
You may want to offer brochures from your local chamber of commerce and also copies of books (at a small profit) to encourage their further business ventures such as:
"The Kids' Business Book" by Author: Arlene Erlbach
"Better Than A Lemonade Stand: Small Business Ideas For Kids (Kid's Books By Kids)" by Daryl Bernstein
"The Kids' Guide To Business" by Jeff M. Brown
Teaching kids how to follow their dreams, and become the young entrepreneurs that they have the potential to be, is a fantastic business idea if it's right for you!
