Is your child interested in starting a business? Chances are, if your kids watch you working day after day, they will eventually aspire to working just as hard. And it won’t take long before you start hearing all about your kids’ business ideas — some grand and some maybe not so grand.
It doesn’t matter whether they have a large or small business idea on their mind, you should encourage this. Make sure that you are taking the right steps to help them find their footing here because it will provide big benefits in the future.
According to experts, helping your child set up their own business can provide the confidence they need to succeed later in life. It can allow them to dabble in everything from management to leadership and even ensure that they understand the value of money. These are skills and traits that will serve them well not just in their school career but higher education and jobs that they might take on.
It can also demonstrate to them that they have the power, knowledge, and the skill to create something independently and succeed. They will see that when they have the right level of determination and passion, they are able to bring things to fruition in this world. So, how can you help them achieve this?
Focus On The Idea
The first step is helping them find the right idea for their business. It’s possible that their first idea isn’t practical or logistically possible. That’s okay because you can nudge them in the right direction while allowing them to find the right idea themselves. The business idea could be anything. They might want to set up their own website or they could be interested in running a lemonade stand. The idea itself doesn’t matter as long as they had a key part in settling on the option that they were most interested in.
Complete Research
You need to make sure that you are helping them to research the idea. Make sure that they understand all the key areas. Points to focus on will be the cost and what they will need to charge to make profits. Remember, you want your child to succeed so you need to make sure that you are setting them up for success. But again, you want them to reach the right level of understanding. Lead the way but don’t tell them all the answers. Let them work things out with your help.
Get Marketing Right
Once you have ironed out the plan and the cost, it’s time to consider the marketing. You need to make sure that your child understands how they are going to reach a target audience. You can have them create a simple sales plan and help them with this too. This should include a company name, the benefits their product or service will bring and a call to action. Again, you can help them iron out the key details here but this sales pitch can then be used to determine marketing methods.
Ultimately, there are lots of options for promotions. Social media is a possibility as is going door to door or putting up flyers. You can also help them send emails to friends and family members. You need to make sure that you are paying attention to this step. It’s important that your child does find customers for their business.
Cut Out Failure Completely?
It can be tempting to make sure that there are absolutely no issues in your child’s business. The only real way to do this is to make sure that you are running everything yourself. But you shouldn’t actually take that step because learning from their mistakes and setbacks can be a great experience for your child. Instead, you should focus on providing the right balance of support. You should help them solve problems without taking full control. You can build up a full team that they can turn to while ensuring that they are in charge. This can help them gain experience in leadership that you want.
Saving Up
Finally, you need to make sure that when your child does start earning with their business, they learn to save and not spend. You should work to teach them the value of saving and ensure that the money doesn’t burn a hole in their pocket. This will ensure that they get the true business experience and perhaps even invest some of the money they make in improving their company. To do this, you should help your child set goals that they want to achieve and this will include financial aims. This might even involve larger purchases. The aim here should be to help them save at least fifty percent of their earnings.
It’s like they say, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right” (~Henry Ford). However, if your kid thinks you think they can, then they’ve already got a leg up. And the rewards here in the long and short term can be staggering.