Raising Entrepreneurs

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It sometimes seems hard to escape people selling Girl Scout cookies. Your co-workers hit you up. Your neighbor knocks on your door. Girl Scouts set up shop outside supermarkets.

But one eight-year-old from Asheville, N.C., found that there are limits to where you can sell the cookies. Her dream of selling 12,000 boxes of those cookies to send her entire troop to summer camp has been dashed by a technicality that’s left a lot of people scratching their heads.

Earlier this year, Wild Freeborn (yes, that’s her real name) posted a YouTube video, with the help of her dad, with an enthusiastic pitch: “Buy cookies! And they’re yummy!” They set up an online order system where customers in their area could purchase Tagalongs, Thin Mints and Samoas. Within two weeks, 700 orders came in.

But Wild Freeborn’s e-commerce plan hit a major snag. The Girl Scout Cookie Program, which according to Newsweek “bills itself as the largest program to teach entrepreneurship to young girls,” says it prohibits all online sales of its cookies — primarily because of safety reasons. Its guidelines state that Internet use should only be for advertising. “When we sell door to door we always have adults accompanying girls,” Denise Pesich, spokeswoman for Girl Scouts of the USA told the “Today Show.” “In this case, we have a very concerned father overseeing the process, and we know she’s relatively safe. But not in all cases is that true.”

As a result, the Freeborns had to take down their advance-order site and the YouTube video as ordered by the Girl Scouts’ national organization. Bryan Freeborn, chief operating officer of Web-design company Top Floor Studio, says that Girl Scout’s policy sends mixed signals and is confusing. He told Matt Lauer of the “Today Show” last week, “We knew there was a policy that it wasn’t OK, but we thought we were taking orders and promoting the cookies and we seemed to think that was within the spirit of the rules. The whole intent was to help my daughter meet her goals, utilizing up-to-date marketing principles.”

Those principles are something that the Girl Scouts have known and encouraged in recent years – but only to a point. A New York Times article two years ago told the trend of some Girl Scout troops all over the country setting up so-called cookie academies and cookie colleges to teach marketing, selling and business skills to girls 11 and over. One 14-year-old in Chicago used email messages to snag cookie orders, selling 1,510 in 2006.

Seems like Wild Freeborn’s just ahead of her time. She even has a Facebook group with 280 members: “Help one girl sell 12,000 Girl Scout cookies in Asheville!”

Does the current rule go against its mission to encourage Girl Scouts’ entrepreneurial spirit? Or do you think the safety concerns are legitimate and trump marketing online efforts?

Source: Wall St Journal

A STAGGERING 1,300 budding young entrepreneurs attended the first Cloud 9 event to stimulate enterprising young minds – overwhelming organisers from the Enterprenenurs’ Forum.

Successful young hotshots from all over the UK flew in to share their stories and offer tips on becoming a business success to the 15-26-year olds from local schools, colleges and universities.

Speakers included, Tre Azam, the controversial star of BBC’s The Apprentice, who was joined by top teenage author and blogger jellyellie, Dragon’s Den success story Imran Hakim whose iTeddy has made him a recognised face, and Scotland’s entrepreneur of the year Mick Jackson.

Antony Hutton, who went from winning reality TV show Big Brother to now working on the launch of his own chain of hairdressers in the North-east, and Ajaz Ahmed, founder of Freeserve, also spoke.

Tre told the summit: “I walked into the Job Centre and said I was a young entrepreneur who had once been a millionaire, and a job that would get me £40,000 or so would do. Once she’d stopped laughing, she said ‘you might have been a millionaire but you’ve barely passed your A levels – where are you going to find a job like that?’

“I’d never been interested in learning until that point, but on that day I enrolled on a training course. Now, I see the value of learning.”

Entrepreneurs’ Forum chief executive Carole Beverley said: “I was overwhelmed that we attracted over 1,300 young people. It just goes to show that the entrepreneurial spark is alive in this region.”

Headlined by the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, Cloud 9 was supported by regional development agency One North East, The Prince’s Trust, Make Your Mark, Young Enterprise North East, RTC North, Big Ideas Youth Challenge and North East Enterprise Bond.

Source: Evening Gazette

Unlike their parents, a majority of young Americans say they plan to save for items on their wish list instead of paying with plastic, according to a new poll by financial literacy Web site www.themint.org.

In the survey, visitors to the site were asked what they would do if they spotted a great item at the mall that they couldn’t afford. More than half of respondents aged 29 or younger (54 percent) said they would put aside money each month until they had the full amount to buy the item. An even greater majority of kids aged 17 or younger (57 percent) agreed, saying they would save. In comparison, only 42 percent of adults aged 30 and above said they would save in advance.

“Kids today could become the most money smart generation since the 1940s,” said Meridee Maynard, financial literacy expert and senior vice president, Northwestern Mutual. “April is Financial Literacy Month, and like no other time in recent history, kids and parents alike recognize the importance of managing money. We learn money habits during childhood, and in these challenging economic times, kids are learning why saving can be sweeter and safer than paying with plastic.”

History shows that challenging times can affect personal saving behavior. In the early 1940s, during the Great Depression and World War II, the U.S. personal saving rate soared above 25 percent1. From 2005 to early 2008, that rate hovered between zero and one percent, and even became negative for one quarter (Americans spent more than they earned). But in mid-2008, the savings rate spiked, jumping to over three percent by year-end. And in January 2009, the savings rate jumped to five percent, the highest rate in 14 years.

Kids More Cautious with Credit Cards

The new poll results also indicated that kids are more cautious and measured when it comes to using credit cards. Only seven percent of people aged 29 or younger said they would use a credit card to purchase an item that they couldn’t afford. Of those 17 or younger, six percent indicated they would pay with plastic. In contrast, 13 percent of adults aged 30 and above said they would “charge it” and figure out a way to pay off the debt at a later date.

“If the current generation of young people pays close attention to the downsides of debt, the lessons learned from this recession could provide dividends for a lifetime,” said Maynard. “Low savings rates and high debt helped contribute to the financial challenges we’re seeing today. This financial environment offers engaging opportunities to teach kids about how money works and how to manage it wisely.”

Testing IQ to Avoid the Credit Card Trap

Kids can test their borrowing brainpower by taking the Credit Card IQ quiz on themint.org. Seven questions help to identify their knowledge of credit, and areas for improvement.

Maynard has five credit card tips for parents to share with their children:

1. Pay in full, on time, every month. Always pay off the balance monthly and avoid charging more than you can pay off monthly. Late penalties are costly, and some companies increase the interest rate after one or two payments are overdue.

2. Be aware of rates and fees. Credit card companies often offer low introductory rates to attract new customers. These rates typically last for only a few months and then jump as high as 20 percent. Also be aware of extra fees associated with pre-paid cards, such as activation, maintenance and late fees.

3. Don’t exceed your credit limit. This helps avoid penalties and ensures that you will have credit available in the event of a true emergency.

4. Protect your history. As soon as you start using a card, the payments – whether paid on time, late or not at all – become part of your credit history, which can affect your ability to rent an apartment, get a job, or buy a car or a house. Bad marks stay on a cardholder’s credit record even if the bill is paid later, so make sure to keep it clean.

5. Review your statements. Immediately inform the credit card company of any errors on the monthly statement.

Young Entrepreneur Blaine Mickens

Six Northeast Ohio teen entrepreneurs were profiled in “Who’s Your Boss?”, a new production developed by WEAO Channel 49.

It aired at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21.

Adult host Jeff Blanchard works for each young entrepreneur at jobs such as painting homes, sewing fur costumes and more.

The following teens were featured:

• Adrian Lindsey, 17, a senior at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy in Stow and resident of Akron. Adrian created All-Net Sak, a nylon basketball carrier.

• Blaine Mickens, an 18-year-old Clevelander who is a recent graduate of Whitney Young High School in Cleveland. Mickens owns a landscaping and residential painting company.

• Jake Penwell, 19, of Shelby, is a freshman at Xavier University in Cincinnati. He runs disc jockey company.

• Naomi and Noemi Romero, 16-year-old twins and seniors at John Hay High School in Cleveland, own their own fur-suit business.

• Jaizhou Yang, 17, a senior at University School in Hunting Valley and resident of Beachwood, wants to capitalize on video game trends by holding and promoting video game tournaments.

Image: Peggy Turbutt/The Plain Dealer

Young entrepreneurs learning business skills from Girls' Biz.

Girls’ Biz teaches girls what it takes to become an entrepreneur — an experience that provides a number of lessons along the way.

Seven girls are involved in the organization, which guides them through choosing a company name, selecting products, marketing them, handling the revenues and choosing a charity to receive some of the money. The girls also learn about various careers and at the end of the yearlong program, they will take a trip with the money they earned.

Michelle Morency, a sixth-grader at O’Keeffe Middle School, said she liked her networking experiences with the Madison chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, which is a sponsor of Girls’ Biz.

“They were surprised you know all this stuff about business,” she said. “I think running your own business would be fun.”

Alexis Johnson, a sixth-grader at Sennett Middle School, said this year the girls chose the name, YES, which stands for Young Entrepreneurs Succeed.

Girls’ Biz targets girls in grades six through eight, especially minority girls. It was started in 1996 by a committee of Wisconsin Women Entrepreneurs, the predecessor of the Madison chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners.

The Girl Scouts of Black Hawk Council is a co-sponsor and the girls meet at the council office as Troop 1099, a special troop that revolves around the entrepreneurial activity.

While some of the girls already have an entrepreneurial streak, they start with basically no business knowledge, said director Sally Hestad.

“It is a pretty ambitious program,” she said. “They learn about planning and they learn about bringing an idea into reality.”

This year they are selling spice blends from White Jasmine of Madison, chocolate sauce from Gail Ambrosius Chocolatier of Madison and soap, lip balm and lotion from LuSa Organics of Viroqua. Recently, they also made special gift tags for Valentine’s Day. They feature a replica of an old key and messages like “key to my heart” and “key to joy, peace and happiness.”

The girls have sold their items in a variety of venues and learned tough lessons about sales as they watched people take their samples but not purchase. That was particularly difficult for the girls who felt they spent a lot of time on preparations and thought everyone should be buying.

They also learned how expenses reduce profits, said Bailey Bennett, a Sennett sixth-grader.

So far they have grossed about $3,900 while expenses, which include unsold items, total about $2,900.

Source: Wisconsin State Journal