My Child Wants to Start a Business: How to Help Your Kid Start a Business
Responsible parenting means doing your best to ensure your kids learn and become equipped with practical life skills. From time management to communication, organization, and of course, money management, these are all crucial lessons your child can learn while running their own business. Help your child explore their entrepreneurial side and start a business with the following tips:
Encourage Them to Pursue Their Passion
The whole experience of starting and running the business should be fun for your child. If it’s anything but, the chances are that they will be frustrated the whole time and want to give up on the business altogether. Please have your child list what they enjoy the most to help you brainstorm ideas for a business. There is almost always a way to monetize passion.
If, for example, your child loves animals, a pet-based business would be perfect. Your child could offer pet-walking or pet-sitting services to clients around your neighborhood. If your child is exceptionally gifted at playing a musical instrument, they can start teaching others and get paid for it. If your child is interested in all things coding, then enroll them in coding school. With the skills they learn from there, they can help kids learn to code and even develop apps.
My Child Wants to Start a Business: Survey the Market
Help your child understand the value of market research. This includes knowing both their target customers as well as the competition. The survey should also include looking at any factors that may impact the success of the business.
Your child loves baking cakes, but what flavors should you bake and sell? If it’s a pet-walking business, find out what time most owners like to walk their pets. Teach your child that it’s all about meeting the customers’ specific needs, and that is why a market survey is one of the most crucial tools for any entrepreneur, young or old.
Have a Plan
Help your child develop a business plan, which includes the business’s goals and objectives and the plan of action to achieve these goals.
Define and categorize your goals into financial and non-financial. Also, list everything that you need for the business, from supplies to any training needed. For example, if the business will be about software development, ensure you find a reputable institution that helps kids learn to code. Will you need to bring in more help, or are you and your child enough to meet the business’ staffing needs? Factor this and more in your plan.
The business plan will serve as a reference point to gauge how well your business is doing. Again, you should let your child know that this business plan should be dynamic, meaning you can change it accordingly as it may become necessary.
Take Care of the Legal Requirements
Being a child CEO will not exempt your young one from the rules and legal requirements of operating a specific business. Put in the work, do your research and find out what these legal requirements, if any, are, and ensure you adhere fully.
Food services, for example, may require a legal permit. Ensure you secure this permit and meet other legal requirements before you open shop. Failure to do so will certainly have legal repercussions, and that is something you will want to shield your child from. Besides, respect and regard for the law is something you’d want your young entrepreneur to embrace.
Polish on Communication and Customer Service
Help your child to understand and appreciate the value of effective communication and excellent customer care in the business. Whether they are pitching to potential clients, addressing a concern with a client, or doing some follow-up, it should all be in such a way that encourages the client to come back.
Role-play different scenarios to help your child understand what is expected, what works, and what doesn’t when dealing with customers. What’s the right tone when pitching or conveying a value proposition? How should one handle different types of customers? These are invaluable lessons that will help the business succeed.
Work out a Marketing Strategy
Marketing lets the right people know what the business has to offer. The first step to developing an effective marketing strategy is, of course, identifying the target clientele.
You could go the traditional way and print out flyers. You and your child can go around the neighborhood, door to door, handing out these flyers. You could also identify areas where you can find your target clientele, such as the library and the park, and pin the flyers there.
Using the internet makes things much easier. Please help your child set up a page for their business on social media platforms. You can always go all out and invest in a good website for the business. Email marketing is also just as effective a marketing strategy, and you can help draft a winning pitch for your child’s business.
Time Management
Running the business should not take up all your child’s time at the expense of other activities. You have a responsibility to ensure that your child doesn’t fall behind on schoolwork because they spend too much of their time and energy on the business. It shouldn’t also stop your child from participating in sport and other extra-curricular activities.
Set a work schedule and ensure your child sticks to it. In addition to the risk of it interfering with other aspects of your child’s life, your child may get bored pretty fast if they are overworking.
It would help if you also inculcated in your child’s punctuality. If a client expects a delivery at a specific time, no effort should be spared to ensure they get it before or on time. Help your child understand that clients will be more than happy to look elsewhere if you don’t respect their time.
A Lesson on Business Ethics
Teach your child no shortcut to success, not in business and not in any other sphere. There is a right way to do things, which should be the only way to go about anything. Business ethics is as much about the little things as it is the big ones. A vendor, for example, gives your child extra change. What to do? Give it back, of course. These are crucial lessons that will make your child kind and honest.
Pay the Taxes
If your child’s business earns big, ensure you fulfill the legal requirement of filing taxes. You will need to file for both the business and the self-employed CEO. Set aside some of the earning for this very purpose.
Helping the Right Way
“My child wants to start a business?” This business is all about your child. It would help if you remained in the background always and not be tempted to take over the business. If something needs doing, let the CEO know, talk about it objectively, and leave the decision-making to the business owner.
Things may not always go the way your child expects them to. It is your parenting responsibility to pick up the pieces and to encourage your child to do better. You can go back to the drawing board and come up with new ideas. You can do so much to help your child to start and run a business. Be a guide without taking over. I hope the question: “My child wants to start a business,” does not sound scary anymore.
