“That problem is already solved”, “I already have something like that”, “No one needs another one of those on the market”…..
Yup, we have all found ourselves saying something like that before, I’m sure. Another onion chopping thingy or a new kind of water bottle, there seem to be so many products that all solve the same problem…. or is there?
Meet Nate, Miranda and Vince who I am calling our 2019 Slimers!
Slime is nothing new. We had it as kids and now our kids have it too. Kids love it and for many, they can find relaxation and therapeutic relief from holding it.
In our Fall Semester KidPreneur Program, we had multiple classes running and, of course, a bunch of kids wanted to do slime. It ended up that on Market Day, we were going to have 3 Slime Businesses. Oh no! Of only 18 vendors, 3 would be slime. Wouldn’t that make the market boring? Why would someone buy slime from more than one vendor? Or if faced with the choice, how would a customer choose between which KidPreneurs business to support?
Never underestimate the intelligence of a True KidPreneur and their business savvy.
One of the most common questions we get from parents when considering placing their child into a Build a Biz Kids program is, will my child need to enter the program with a business idea already? Or do you help them with that?
The answer is either or works fine. From experience, we have found that our students are one of 2 types: They either have TOO many ideas that we need to help them choose the perfect one to start with. The other type is one who has no idea what to do as, after all, this is the first time they have ever thought of starting a business. In these cases, we give them loads of ideas and encourage them to “Make It Their Own” by asking questions like:
- Who will your customer be? Adults? Kids? Boy’s? Girls? Etc
- How much effort and time do you want to put into making them?
- What price point do you want to sell at?
- What is something you could do differently to make this more fun? More useful? Standout more?
For example, maybe they decide to make soap. Well, they could make them shaped like the flowers they scent them with; great for adults. Or place a toy in the center of it so kids want to wash their hands more; great for kids.
Getting back to our slimers, Wow! they definitely took that to heart and ended up making 3 incredibly successful slime businesses that all stood out from one another.
Meet Vince & his Squishy Business! Vince decided to go with a cool theme and boy did he run with it! He did glow in the dark slime. His display has a dark box and black light to show how they glow, plus he had them in a Light Bulb container so you could understand what made them amazing without having to say a word! They looked so cool and were definitely something you don’t see every day. Kids Loved Them!
Meet Nate and his Fluffy Slime Business! Nate took a different angle. He understood that not everyone can play with traditional slime because they break out into a rash from the ingredient, Borax, that is usually in it. Nate’s solution! Borax Free Slime which also makes it super fluffy! He had an awesome display with lots of height and a sign that you could see from across the room. At just 7 years old, Nate ran his booth all by himself and made his parents very proud of him.
And last but definitely not least, Meet Miranda and her Slime Bar! Yes, that’s right! She had a slime bar! Talk about covering your bases lol. Her bar consisted of 3 stations. Step 1 – choose your base, clear or white. Step 2 – choose your “add ins” like foam balls or glitter. Step 3 – Choose your colouring! Great ideas right?? Not only do you get custom slime, she was teaching other kids how to make it themselves as well.
3 Slimers, all with completely different slime businesses. Isn’t it a kick in the pants when kids “get it” and sometimes us adults don’t. They were not worried at all about having other slime there and loved seeing what one another had come up with.
These KidPreneurs are pretty amazing but what we may have not realized that they learned in such a fun way, is that no problem is ever completely solved. There is always another group of customers within a market who can be served better. And most of all, never shy away from competition or have a mindset of scarcity. If you are willing to work hard and listen to the people you want to help, there is more than enough success and FUN to go around!
Interested in our next semester of programming? Find out more here
Fall 2019 KidPReneur Programs are designed for students ages 7-12 years. Programs available in West Vancouver, North Vancouver, Downtown Vancouver, Burnaby, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, New Westminster, Maple Ridge.
To Register for a program next semester, View Our Schedule Here.
Also Available are Summer Camps
