I believe it’s never too late to start a business but I also believe it’s never too early.

In our constantly changing world filled with possibilities, we want our kids to follow their dreams and thrive.
Instead of them giving up and spiraling downhill when life throws them curve balls, we want them to be able to creatively solve problems and bounce back.

Creating their own business is the ideal way to prepare them for the big wide world. Not only will they learn the essential skill of money management, but they will also learn to use their creativity to create something unique and profitable.  They will build resilience and learn to problem solve when things don’t go their way and come out empowered by what they themselves have created.

By helping your kids start up a little business, you are providing them with invaluable life experience that they can carry into all aspects of their future and the best part is, it doesn’t have to be as difficult as you think.

Here are my 6 top tips to help your kids start up their own little side hustle:

1.Pick an idea
Choose an idea that your child is passionate about. This bit is important.  Kids can lose interest in things quickly.

If they love baking they could make up recipe packs. If they love craft they could make up art and craft kits. If they are awesome at drawing they can create framed doodles. There are millions of ideas so it’s important to find one that evokes excitement in your child. Picking an idea that has elements of things they love, will be make or break to the process so try not to discourage an idea simply because you don’t think it will work out. This is all about the learning and not the final result.

2. Make a plan and set some goals.
Get them thinking about all of the things they need in order to carry out their idea. What stock do they need? Do they need any form of equipment, access to a printer, a supply of picture frames?
Get them to write down their aspirations and include some financial goals in there too. This sets up the framework for them to learn to evaluate their progress, look back at where they excelled and notice where they need to tweak things for next time.

3.Provide them with some money management help
Depending on their age, what you do here will vary but in simple terms, you want to give them a run down of their expenses, income and profit. They need to be able to clearly see what the item costs to make and what they are getting paid for it. They can then see clearly how much they can reinvest into their business and how much they are making for their back pocket.

4.Marketing
Discuss how they are going to get their business seen? Are they going to print out flyers for post boxes or advertise it in the school newsletter? The options here are endless. They could even contact their local media for a shout out.

5. Work on their communication skills
Encouraging your child to realise the importance of customer service and what that means, is not only essential for running a business.  Empathy, understanding, listening and accommodating reasonable customer requests, is essential if you want to succeed in life.

6. Look at the legal requirements.
Does their business require insurance? They need to consider that whilst that fee may be minimal, it still comes out of their profit. In Australia, anyone can get an ABN (Australian Business Number) at no cost so that is an easy a step to take.

I want my kids and yours to learn these skills early on, to respect money and be able to communicate effectively. Most importantly I want them to be adaptable and creative when it comes to solving the problems that they come across throughout their crazy but beautiful life that lies ahead of them.

Check out my upcoming course for kids and allow me to guide them in creating their own side hustle in the lead up to Christmas. https://shweshweroots.com/collections/uplift-me-now/products/bizzy-kids-6-week-course