Raising Entrepreneurs

Welcome back!

The Cash-Smart Kids Competition is officially closed!

The entries are now in the hands of the judges – well, judge, actually. my co-author, Peter Economy, will be making the final decision about which stories to include in Raising Cash-Smart Kids.

Watch this space for the announcement of the winners!

In the meanwhile, here’s an email I received recently from an entrepreneurial 12-year-old. Obviously his parents have done something right!

I have been interested in the internet since I was at least seven or younger where I owned my first blog. The blog didn’t make any money because it didn’t have a way to make money from it. But I really didn’t care about that; the only thing I cared about was a community. So I started posting articles and thinking. The first post I made was the post of a lifetime that showed me the ropes.

After my first post I waited for traffic and waited. Of course, then I got really bored and decided there has to be a different way than waiting for traffic. I really didn’t read anything on how I could build up traffic. So then I thought maybe if I keep posting articles I could build up traffic. So I began to post every day, waiting and waiting. Finally one day, I had 5 comments on one post. Then I celebrated, and knew You Can’t Sit on your Chair for Traffic, you have to work for it. So I began creating articles and submitting them to article submitters. I did not try to make money; I just thought it was really cool to have a community.

Later, at age 8 the stock market was something I got addicted with.  Trading and learning, I began to make more and more money. I began to watch shows like fast money, and so on. I also was reading all the books that my dad was reading on the market. So I was having a great time reading the newspaper and reading stock charts.

So at age nine I started on eBay. Ebay was pretty fun and I learned a ton from it. I thought it was pretty cool, that I could use my games for a long amount of time, keeping them in good condition and reselling them for almost the same price I bought them for. Also, I had a fun time cheating people off with yugioh cards..Long Story..  I made a good amount of money off that though.

So at age ten I started designing a membership website on the stock market, for kids, since I was making great money for a kid from the stock market. I was playing with about 2grand in the market, which for a kid playing around with 2grand in a stock market is quite impressive. Oh yeah, almost forgot, I started off with about 100dollars and grew it to that. I probably could have made more but it was more of long-term except for some options I owned. So after I finished the site, I showed my family and they thought it was really
cool. So then I began to think why a kid would want to make money in the stock market and read the newspaper. So I deleted the site and that was the end of a stock market site for kids called streettowealth.com, I still own the domain. So at ten, I was just learning about blogs and so on, when I had
free time.

At ten, I began to think I could make millions if I were to learn programming and create software. So I then began reading into it and most web designers and web programmers aren’t making huge slaps of money like
millions. Of course I am not delighted if I can’t make millions.  So I began reading articles from blogs.

Aright, at eleven this is what stopped me, an online video game that all the boys in my school class played. So then I stopped and thought I was wasting my time paying 20bucks a month on a game where I learn how to kill things. So I had a determination, I had to figure out a system or something that could make me money. Boom found it affiliate marketing!!!

So the beginning or a month after school ended of 2008. I read everything that was possible on ppc and more about the internet. I also read about blogs that were making huge slaps of money but I hate blogging. I started some bans websites using a little ppc. I did try affiliate marketing but didn’t make much money Yeah but it’s not the end of ppc for me I am still thinking of some projects for using it. I haven’t given up but I just recently began reading about niche products and niche eBooks. So recently I have been checking emails, logging into aim and talking to affiliate managers about top categories, reading and watching videos like with Michael Cheney. This is my plan. Maybe start affiliate marketing using ppc, product launches definitely, and build up email lists.

I am currently still in the evil stock market managing some accounts. I rarely make trades because it is long-term. Usually I will buy or sell one stock a month or longer. So I don’t put that much time into it. The story of me I told you also had a lot of stops and starts.  I would start a month and stop for a month. It wasn’t untill about July 1, 2008 where I was reading and doing stuff every day on the internet . I have been making about 50dollars a month with bans.  Not much, but bans isn’t something that I want to make
thousands in. I also still make a lot of money with Ebay.

So a regular day for me is maybe on Monday, where I wake up at 7 and get ready for school. Then from 8 to 2:30 I have school. I get home at 2:45 or 3:00. I then do my homework till 5:00. Get on my computer from 5 to 8 and do what I have to do. Then at 8 I do some more homework or study till 9 or 10. Then I either go to bed or stay up another hour and go on my computer. Then another day is the same but a sport after school.

At first Startupseeds.com’s event seemed like just another day camp. Some 30 children, aged 12-16, sat in an auditorium at Tel Aviv University. Ami Ben-Bassat, the company’s CEO, opened the meeting with a declaration: “Today we have reason to celebrate, Gil has a birthday.”

At the sound of applause, a curly-haired boy with rosy cheeks, smiling from ear-to-ear went up to the dais. “He just returned from day camp, he looks completely roasted,” Ben-Bassat said. “Today, he is 14 and on August 1 he will be launching his first startup.”

It was a periodic meeting of Startupseeds.com, a community of children with startups, most of whom are programmers, but some already describe themselves as “managers.” In the next part of the program, a partner in a high-tech company that recently launched a new service to build Web sites addressed the crowd.
It was hard not to blink in shock at the questions and comments coming from the children, as some of their voices had yet to change. One after another they slung sharp questions at the lecturer about the structure and operating method of the service and the company.

“How does the business model of the site work?” asked a 14-year-old, adding that he had already read about the company in TheMarker.

“This is the best of the entrepreneurs, who have a fire burning in their bones,” explained Ben-Bassat. “At this age, thinking is pristine. They are a moment before the establishment quashes them, before the army, marriage, and obligations. Their technological level is so high that they have great confidence. They also know that technology geeks today get a lot of credit. They want to conquer the world, and our job is to feed the fire in proportion, without extinguishing it.”

Startupseeds, the Israeli Internet Center for Young Entrepreneurs, is a subsidiary of Madatech, the national museum of science and technology in Haifa. The company was created last October at the initiative of Michal and Yigal Lichtman (one of the founders of Magic Software) to encourage youngsters with an understanding of technology. Within a few months, a community of more than 1,000 children from all over the country, and mainly from the periphery, formed around the venture. Children from Kiryat Yam, Migdal Ha’emek, Afula, Lod and Hadera attended last week’s event. They meet at the forum on the Startupseeds.com Web site and also at meetings and trips in the “real” world.

The Web site allows youths to discretely send in applications and ideas that are reviewed by an advisory committee. “We provide assistance to anyone who gets past the committee, and if the idea is approved, we give the young entrepreneur up to NIS 12,000. He repays the money if the project yields results and all rights remain his,” says Ben-Bassat.

Ben-Bassat, the company CEO, is a popular blogger (notes.co.il/benbasat) and a one of the most veteran figures on the Israeli Internet. For a few minutes, he expresses displeasure with the strong desire of children to succeed. “I told you not to be show-off,” he endearingly scolds one of the children who boasts about his business venture. “We help them, but we try to send a calming message. They’re only kids; they’re in school. We are constantly telling them that the success rates of startups are very low.”

Read the full story in Haaretz.

You can never be too young to start learning the principles of entrepreneurship. That’s certainly what parent Cameron Reilly thinks. When one of his twin boys, Taylor, fell in love with an iMac computer he also realised how long it would take to save up his $7-a-week pocket money to buy one. To accelerate the process, Taylor thought he would be able to raise more money starting a business. His brother, Hunter, was also excited about the prospect.

That was about a month ago. Since then, Kids Candle Company – a business making and selling beeswax candles – has taken shape. Their Dad has helped them create a business plan. “I just outlined the structure and left all the bits blank for them to research themselves,” says Reilly. “They had to do market research on the price of candles and where they can sell them.”

Plans for growth

Currently, the boys sell online but plan to also sell at their local markets. They also made the decision to give 25 per cent of profit to charity, 25 per cent back into the business and they will split the other 50 per cent among themselves.

Like many other start-ups, they have a blog, where they have written simple posts like “What I have learnt about business”, “Making our first batch of candles”, and “How to be doing well”.

And the young entrepreneurs are already in demand. Their school teacher has already asked them to talk to their class about their business. What a great marketing opportunity.

The boys have already worked out that if the business does well, there are only so many hours in a day that one can make candles. So maybe they’ll rope in some friends – or there are rumblings that a franchising model may roll out.

I think it’s fantastic the spirit of entrepreneurship can be fostered in young kids. While they may not become mini-moguls overnight, it teaches them about taking calculated risks. I’m always amazed by number of intelligent, talented adults I meet who love the idea of being an entrepreneur. but are just too scared to take the leap. This is never going to be a problem for Hunter or Taylor.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Only  a few days left to enter the Cash-Smart Kids Competition!

It’s not too late for you to enter.

Describe your business or business idea, and submit your entry to us.

You can post a 2-minute video to YouTube, tagged “cash-smart kids”, or make a Hub on HubPages, tagged “cash-smart kids”, or you can submit text and a photo at the Cash-Smart Kids website.

The two best entries will be featured in the book “Raising Cash-Smart Kids”, which will be published next year.

Entries close October 15th.

Source: YourWestValley.com