Philip & Carroll Sue Priddy | Family Business Greenhouse

Well, pretty much like everyone else: Very carefully.

She puts together a plan.
She counts the cost of supplies.
She counts the cost of her time.
She sets her price per product.
She determines if the business is viable.
She prepares her inventory.
She contracts with vendors.
She sells her product.

BOOM!

She’s in Business!

We knew we wanted our kids to have life-experience from an early age, but there are few businesses – read none – who will hire an 8 year old.

Having taught Business and Management at the college level for many years, I knew how applicable the lessons were for life, and how accessible they are, even for young children:
Work hard for your money

Be diligent

Treat others fairly

Do work you can be proud of

Time = money

There is a time for work and there is a time for play

Be generous

We just needed a way to do it. Enter the Home-Based Business. By taking an often-complex business planning template and boiling it down to easy-to-understand-yet-still-effective steps, we were able to walk the kids through the planning process to determine if a business idea was viable (profitable, worth our time and effort, do-able).

Besides the business skills, there were also the social skills learned in Business that we wanted our kids to grasp and be able to apply:
Meeting and Greeting – shaking hands, eye contact, speaking clearly

Networking

Conversational skills

Negotiating

The world of family business is an unlimited realm.
We have heard of everything from Gem Mining to
Worm Farming, and everything in between.
The size and scope of the business is less limited
by ones ability and skill, and more so by just not
having thought of something to do.

If this sounds like something your family, or a student in your family, would like to try, then join us for
Entrepreneurship 1.0 (Students) Or Entrepreneurship 1.5 (Adults and Families)

E1.0 (14 week course. $250)

WHO? Students, ages 12 and up. This qualifies as 1 High School Credit.
Weekly assignments delivered via Email to keep the students progressing toward their goal of opening a business.
We will meet via Google Hangout twice a month in groups of 5-9, to discuss ideas, progress, and roadblocks, and to build community among the students.
Opportunity to build relationships with other entrepreneurial students
Opportunity to Complete Business Plan and open Business before the end of the semester.

E1.5 (7 week intensive course. $250)

Geared toward Adults and Adults leading their family to start a new business or grow an existing business.
Faster paced Business Planning developed so that you can start working your new business in as quick as 5 weeks.
Weekly Meetings via Google Hangout with Facilitator and others in the course to discuss progress, glean ideas, share struggles and set new goals.
Workbook that

We are a regular family who has the knowledge and experience of helping our own children start their own businesses at 8 years old, and growing and expanding each year. We have developed our own home-based ventures that have supported our family and built in us the desire to see other families bring work-life back home.

In our house, we are busy!
Busy with Business.

Our kids, Lance is 15 and Charla is 17, each began their first business at 8 years old. Now they each manage 2 different businesses, and help out with our Family Flagship: Family Business Greenhouse.

Lance takes Lucy for a swing.

Lance is a chicken expert. Lance started his chicken flock at 8 years old, and has been growing his flock and his knowledge ever since. He has spent the past 7 years reading and studying everything he can lay his hands on about his birds. He serves as a coach to folks who want to start their own backyard flock, helping with everything from determining the breed of hens, to how to construct, and where to place the coop. He also flock sits. If a family is going out of town for a week or a weekend, Lance tends their flock twice a day to ensure the hens’ health and safety.

He also mows lawns, like many boys his age. This is a great first business! Talk about teaching the value of earning money by
the sweat of your brow! WHEW!

Charla found that purses that had embellished pockets sold best.

Charla likes diversity! She started out making purses and aprons from old jeans. The most basic sewing skills + $1.00 jeans = $120/month. Not Bad for an 8 year old! Once the aprons and purses became more popular, the demand became greater and greater… leading her to really dislike sewing. You might think that would be a negative outcome. It wasn’t. It caused her to really think through her next venture, to find something something she could grow with and not do the same thing over and over.

Now she has a Gluten Free baking business and is a Care Taker for an elderly couple. She cooks health meals, does the grocery shopping, keeps things organized and helps her with Physical Therapy exercises. This last thing has sparked in her an interest in pursuing Physical Therapy in college.

As Business Owners, our kids keep their own books, pay their own salary, reinvest their money as needed, maintain their inventory, etc. We developed Age-Appropriate Templates for them to keep up with these things when they were young, and have adjusted these as they have matured and their abilities have increased.

We make these templates available to Family Business Greenhouse participants – of all ages and abilities.

Business doesn’t have to be overly complex. It is doable, achievable and success-able. You just have to jump in.

Family Business Greenhouse

Author: Philip & Carroll Sue Priddy

How Does an 8 Year Old do Business?

I see Businesses Everywhere!