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 ever
ything 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.