Benjamin's Entrepreneurial Journey
Starting a business is a Journey no matter how old you are! This is Benjamin's story from choosing his product, the trials and errors of perfecting his product, to making game day decisions to increase his sales and success!
"My name is Benjamin an my business is called Benjamin’s Bomb-a-licious Bath Balms. The teacher of the class was doing a slide show and none of them really caught my eyes or my focus but when I saw the bath bombs I really felt engaged and I really wanted to do it. It took me a long time and a lot of tries and they always kept on falling apart. We actually made them last minute yesterday 9 to 12. There's a lot of things here that you don't learn at school and I had no idea they ever existed before I took this program. It also, it teaches kids how to fend for themselves instead of their parents buying them stuff and learning to earn money and learning how to do this before they grow up. Well I didn't really get a lot of customers at in the first 30 minutes so I was kind of worried 'cause I didn't make any money, but then my uncle came and he told me to upgrade my elevator pitch and now I have a lot of customers"
Click here to view next semesters KidPreneur Program Schedule
*** Like Us On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/buildabizkids/
@buildabizkids
**Follow on Twitter - https://twitter.com/BuildABizKids
@buildabizkids
*** We are On Instagram!! - https://www.instagram.com/buildabizkids/
@buildabizkids
** LinkedIn Too! - https://www.linkedin.com/company/build-a-biz-kids-bizkids-practical-education-assn/
Kid entrepreneur programming is offered by Build a Biz Kids, a local non profit society focused on helping kids to develop and strengthen their essential soft skills. Students gain confidence, and learn foundational skills such as critical thinking, resiliency, financial literacy, leadership, decision making, self awareness, communication, public speaking, and so much more! Find out more about us and our incredible students at http://BuildaBizKids.com
"Those Big Lumps In Your Path" Brynne
Meet Brynne! She had a tough time in her Kid Entrepreneur Program and has to make some tough last minute choices on her business. But her resiliency muscle was flexed and the payoff was HUGE for her.
"My name is Brynne and the name of my business is Wooden Wonders. My favorite part of the program, it was honestly, it was really hard when things kept popping up when I was under a lot of stress during the time where I was preparing. I had to come up with a last minute resort but my favorite part was the best feeling when you overcome that and when a customer comes up, and all you’ve been through is just for this one moment where you're selling. It's amazing! When like yes, OK here's your money, feels awesome because you know all of these things you struggled through. It's the best feeling when you get over them and this customer comes up, not knowing what happened, but they still want to buy stuff from you. There will always be those big lumps in your path and it'll be hard to get through them but you will and it’s the best feeling after that. They should take this program 'cause it teaches them, it's really fun of course, but it also teaches them to get over these big struggles and it will all turn out OK if you just keep working through it."
Click here to view next semesters KidPreneur Program Schedule
*** Like Us On Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/buildabizkids/
@buildabizkids
**Follow on Twitter - https://twitter.com/BuildABizKids
@buildabizkids
*** We are On Instagram!! - https://www.instagram.com/buildabizkids/
@buildabizkids
** LinkedIn Too! - https://www.linkedin.com/company/build-a-biz-kids-bizkids-practical-education-assn/
Kid entrepreneur programming is offered by Build a Biz Kids, a local non profit society focused on helping kids to develop and strengthen their essential soft skills. Students gain confidence, and learn foundational skills such as critical thinking, resiliency, financial literacy, leadership, decision making, self awareness, communication, public speaking, and so much more! Find out more about us and our incredible students at http://BuildaBizKids.com
Practicing Decision Making
Did you know that Decision Making is a Skill? It falls under Soft Skills but it is anything but soft, it's critical!
When kids are given the space to make decisions, and do so, it's important that we use that moment to credit them with that. Not the topic or actual choice that they made, but the action of choosing, making a decision, is one we want to encourage.
For my son, I want to encourage him to try new things. New food, new clothes, hair styles, friend, sports, and so on. You can see that moment in your kids eyes when they over think something and it becomes a really big, painful deal. An easy example for us is trying new food. Our son is not a fan of new food and, when we tell him he has to try it before declaring he doesn't want it, you can see the panic start to rise the longer he thinks about whether he will actually put it in his mouth or not.
The other week he asked if he could try something we were eating. That is an action we want him to do more.
Another example is what he is going to do to keep himself occupied while we work. Often it is a struggle to get him to do anything other than watch his iPad, which is very limited in our home, so when he made a quick decision to take his scooter to the skate park, we were elated!
Teaching moments are all around us, but it is so important for us, as parents, to be aware of WHAT it is we are wanting to praise. Praising results, even if the results are exactly as we wanted them to choose, are not the actions we want to praise. That is what can develop into people pleasing, low confidence adults.
Instead we want to praise the process of how they got to those decisions, the action of deciding what they wanted or thought was best, whatever that may be.
Are You Winning or Losing? Does It Matter?
Imagine your child won a Nobel Prize for giving one big idea to the world, through taking action. Do you believe this is possible? Do they have it in them to be exceptional?
Labeling Your Kids to Shape Their Identity
How to Instill a Growth Mindset
Prepare Them for Anything!
Forget Gen Z, This is Generation Auto-Play
For parents and teachers…There’s a new adversary in town. It’s the auto play.
Entertainment and indulgence have become an automated activity with countdown clocks to the next episode on Netflix, to the next match in online gaming, to the next YouTube video. Even our meals can become automated with the delivery apps that recommend your preferences.
There’s benefits to this automation. It frees up our minds from having to make too many decisions as well as the time of manually completing the task. “Be Kind, Please Rewind” is a phrase our kids will never know.
Our kids are growing up with access to instant gratification from very minimal effort. And yet as parents we know that self-esteem and confidence are derived from overcoming challenges and success can be determined by ones ability to delay gratification.
How can we instill the work ethic in our kids that will set them up for challenges later in life?
Do they need to earn their time on video games? Do we treat time on electronics as a currency that we pay them in exchange for chores and good behaviour?
For us, the greatest thing we can teach our kids is the joy of skill acquisition. The confidence they gain from being able to do something they once were incapable of is empowering and hopefully inspires them to want to learn another skill.
The electronics we see as a distraction can also be used as tools. But like I told our son this week, tools, like a hammer, can be used to build a house but also take one down. It’s about deciding the outcome we want to use the tool for and then utilizing it to best meet that outcome. In our home, and through Build a Biz Kids, we are looking for ways to use these tools to learn new skills.
What has worked for you? What tactics, strategies and communication models have you used to get positive results from your kids when addressing technology for good?
We would love to hear from you. It takes a village and an open network of knowledge sharing to trial and error each child (and parent) as individuals to reach the desired results.
Stay tuned as we share assorted strategies that Build a Biz Kids, and Parents, have utilized with success, as well as those that crashed and burned.
How To Ensure Your Child Get's a Great Job
How can you ensure your child get's a great job?
Well, a magic ball would be a lovely answer. And yes, we can certainly push them to succeed in ways that we have been told will prepare them for a successful future, but what WILL their future look like?
Let's take a walk back about 40 years and see how the future can help us to "predict" the past.
When I was born in 1981, industries were booming, working in the trades was steady, and getting a corporate job where you could move your way up was the best possible outcome. Plus, everyone was unionizing. Even Safeway had a union and was easily able to entice fresh high school grads to work for them and make "loads" of money today and have job security rather than go to school. Or, you could go to school, that cost money, with hopes for more financial security and health benefits later.
Then, 10 years later, those 80's babies grew up a little and went to school and we were told, Baby Boomers will be retiring in droves! Prepare yourselves for any job your want so get as much education as you can to ensure you get the best, secure job. So we did. In fact, in my final high school year they introduced CAPP, Career And Personal Planning. AKA, how to write a resume and how you can earn the most money having the most number of letters after your name on a business card.
Grad came and, low and behold, the boomers all stayed put. They couldn't afford to retire. No jobs were to be found. Some industries were starting to fall backwards a bit, but all was still fairly stable in the job economy. We had the choice of starting at the bottom of a union seniority list in hopes of moving up after many years and some of those Boomers started to retire, or become career students until things got.... well... better. Trade Schools looked really appealing to my generation. They made good promises and taught a lot of content in a short period of time so many of us managed to get decent jobs after completing a couple years of hands on education.
Fast forward a bit and next was my sisters generation. Millennials. She was born 13 years after me. Don't worry they told her. The boomers are all definitely retiring now and those Gen X kids are all out of the way to make room for you to walk into all of these job vacancies. But, the boomers were STILL around. AND the jobs that they did have were becoming obsolete in place of tech jobs instead. Who could have seen that coming?!? Jeeze, I wish they had been teaching technology and coding when she was in school... Wait, they still don't do that?? Anyway....
Now it takes us to today. My son is 10 and at this point, no one knows what the heck things will be like when he graduates high school, or even why there is high school. I think many economists prefer to guess, I mean "Predict", what happens next in oil and gas rather than education.
Being that I am "Technically" a cusper of Gen X & Millennial, or so the book "Y-Size Your Business" told me, I like to think I can speak wisely from 2 generations experience about market conditions, false promises, and overall, teach those who come next.
PREPARE FOR ANYTHING!
Sorry, that got a little over dramatic but seriously, prepare for anything. How? Well it sure as heck isn't learning about WW1 (unless you want to be in the military or a history professor) and it sure as heck isn't learning about Geology (unless you love rocks and want to be a scientist or teacher). I have nothing against learning these areas of education if someone is curious but I would rather you Learn HOW to Learn and about the brain than content that traditionally, from experience, is crammed in and spewed out onto a test to determine how much value we have in this world.
Science and Math and History and English and Art, this is ALL needed in this world. But if we don't teach kids HOW to learn and expose them to all that this world has to offer, and where the world needs help, how will they ever be able to grow up to be contributing adults who can pivot and take action in ANY scenario that arises?!?
The lessons that need to be taught are those that can't be graded with an A, B or C+. They are areas that are ALWAYS in development. Area's that we all have different levels of to begin with but all need to understand and be conscious of. They have been called by many "Soft" skills but in my opinion, they are the hardest and most critical skills to acquire, on purpose, in today's education system.
Unfortunately, this blog is already incredibly long and I want to finish my original point so I will leave diving into these Critical (Soft) skills for another post. But picture this;
Your baby is now 17 years old and about to walk up on stage and collect their high school diploma. In that moment of joy, you feel that moment of fear seep in as well. What's next? What are they capable of? What has school prepared them to do? I mean, 12 years is a LONG time to have taken them away and taught them "things", but what can my child actually do to take care of themselves while also feeling fulfilled and happy throughout their life???
Do they have to go to college now and possibly take on debt? Do I have to take on debt for them?
What will they take in college? And what if they don't like the field they choose? What if there are no good paying jobs in that field when they graduate?
So many questions. What are the answers?
The answer is this, and it's not all on you, but you are the one in a position to take action. Before their graduation, help your child gain experience and expose them to as many experiences and topics as possible. Help them find out now what they like and don't like. Help them help others and feel what real contribution and internal fulfillment feels like. Give them the chance to develop and practice these Critical Skills (soft skills) so they can start to develop them before it becomes more difficult for them to adapt.
From 7-17 years, focus on giving them 10 years of real world experience so they feel like college is an empowered choice, not a mandatory debt. Help them to be capable of self care before they become adults. Allow them to hit the ground running.
I promise to go deeper into these Critical Skills (soft skills) next. For now, I just want to prepare you to prepare them for the unexpected future that they will have a hand in shaping.
Build a Biz Kids hopes that through our programming, and utilizing entrepreneurship as a medium for learning, we can be an option to parents to help them develop and practice these Critical Skills. We are also in development for what comes next. Stay Tuned. You will be hearing more about The Fuel Academy over the coming months but know that we are in your corner, a part of your village, and here to support you and your child on their journey.
The Power of Gamification with Your Kids
It's no big surprise that most kids love games. In fact, most adults do as well when we have time to play them (as experienced at a recent bachelor party that ended with a bunch of guys playing board games. Getting married after 40 is much different than in your 20's lol)
So the question is this. Are we fully utilizing the power of gaming to inspire action in our kids?
The logic runs as follows.
Gaming:
- We all want to win the game
- To win, action must be taken
- Strategy must be determined, planned and executed on
- Winning or losing can still be fun as it truly is the journey that is so exciting
Life:
- We all want to be happy in life, often achieved by working & achieving goals
- To reach our goals, action must be taken
- Developing a strategy can help us achieve more goals faster
- Ideally, achieving a goal or not, the happiness should be found in the journey
So, why not teach kids when they are young to gamify, well, everything? And for that matter, let's encourage adults to "play the game" of life as well so we can demonstrate authentically how fun personal, professional and social development can be?!
Here's an example of what I mean. Today we completed one of our Inventor's Paradise camps and it was phenomenal! It's set up to be a fun and innovative boot camp of learning how to see & solve problems in multiple ways and then take action to innovate and develop real, live prototypes. It's so much fun to see what these young minds come up with!
Anyway, one of the modules is designed to get them seeing outside of their day to day bubble and out into the BIG world they live in to find solutions to remove or prevent plastic in the ocean, supporting charitable organizations doing great things to clean water or feed the homeless sustainably, as well as designing a community gathering place (pictured) where people of all ages can come together and form true community bonds.
**Quick side note - I was SO impressed with what the students did in this camp but this particular exercise was mind blowing! They did it in just a few hours as a team and everyone was only 8-12 years old! I get excited for the future of our world when I see things like this.
But back to Gamification and how to utilize it, one of our other lessons was designed to teach them to look at the details of what's around them; literally. We designed a scavenger hunt and they decided they wanted to compete in teams. This scavenger hunt had items like, find someone who could use a hand and, if safe, help them; Find something that is broken and needs fixing; Find something that you could improve and make work better through innovation; And of course, find 3 pieces of garbage and pick it up.
WELL, they took this scavenger hunt and RAN with it, to the tune of massive bags of garbage collected. When there was some extra time at the end of class and the facilitators asked what they would like to do, they all said, "Can we go pick up more garbage?" Mission accomplished!
Although we are not able to be at each camp all the time, we always try to be there for graduation so we can meet the students and hear about their experiences throughout the camp. It's also a great opportunity for us to speak with the parents and hear their stories of development they have noticed within their own children throughout the week.
One week I spoke with a mother of a student who took our Lemonade Stand Challenge. Her son was somewhat easily distracted during lessons and often gave answers that were silly when asked questions. He is a lovely young man but a little hard to keep engaged at times. What was fascinating to watch, however, was once the Lemonade Stand Challenge begun, he was FOCUSED! I couldn't believe the change in his demeanor and how serious and on top of things he became. No silly words; no going off topic or wandering off. He wanted to sell and he wanted to win the challenge!
When I spoke with his mother I told her how impressed I was with his performance during the Lemonade Stand and that competition really seemed to drive him. She laughed and said, "Oh Yes! I learned that a while ago." In fact, she uses it. To get him to clean his room. Rather than saying, "can you clean you room?", she says, "I bet you can't clean your room in 15 minutes". His competitive nature engages and his room is clean within 15min!
I get it, I'm sure many of you are saying, my kid would never fall for that. Well, perhaps, but all kids engage in different ways and have different triggers and that is the point. Gaming is a common thread among all of us but the types of games we like to play are different. Our kids didn't come with instruction manuals, unfortunately, but through trial and error and engagement, we can figure out what get's them going.
Schools are also noticing gaming as a trend and now do math problems on iPads for points. My son's teacher last year even introduce a monetary economy of "money" for completing things that cashed in for pencils or stickers, etc.
Of course, what we really want is for them to WANT to make their bed and WANT to clean their room but we actually force anyone to love something that isn't fun. In fact, we as adults don't even enjoy many of the tasks that we do on a daily basis which is why gaming as adults can make mundane tasks fun and feel purposeful again!
Here's an example of game boards I have made for myself over the years. (pictured below) What I did was take a magnetic whiteboard and divided it into 3 categories of "Adulting" Tasks (things that need to get done like laundry, cleaning the bathroom, etc), Physical & Mental Health (going to the gym, meditating, eating well, going to bed on time, etc), and Personal & Academic Learning and Development (reading, learning a new skill, writing, puzzles, etc).
Over time I kept adjusting the board depending on what was working and what wasn't and modified the points accordingly. If something was REALLY hard for me to "want" to do but was really critical that I get it done, then I would give it more points to make it more enticing. Each day I had a goal for points that I had to hit. If I was above that threshold, I was moving life and myself forward. If below, I was falling behind. It helped me with gaining perspective on my life goals and ensuring I made time for the things I enjoyed doing, as well as getting the stuff done that needed to get done quickly and with less resentment.
It also totally got me doing WAY more of the things that I would often procrastinate on such as learning skills that I always wanted to learn. On my board I would get 3pts if I spent 5min working on a goal learning something I always wanted to learn. During this time I learned how to do the 3x3, 4x4 and 5x5 Rubix cube, how to juggle and many other little things that I always wanted to learn. As I would add points to my board each day, I would find myself feeling excited about my progress that was starting to feel so simple. I would end up looking for other things I could do, but wouldn't normally, just to get more points. Laundry needs folding? Sure! I can fold the one load that is done and get 3 more points. No prob!
Going to the gym? Perfect! I would get points only for the actual sets I would complete, so, doing that one extra set became easily encouraged knowing I would really be excelling that day.
As it progressed, and only as it progressed, I started to introduce negative points when I would do behaviour I was trying to quit such as binge watching TV or being on Facebook to long. To track my progress, I had magnets that I would place next to each item I accomplished for the day and then reset at the start of the next. It was so much fun and got me into some really critical habits. I used this board for about 2 years.
Back to the kids. So, while the list below is only a fraction of ideas you can try with your kids, or even yourself, it might be a great start. I have used many of them myself, some that work and some that didn't. It's important to note that not every game needs to have a prize, although sometimes that can help. Just remember, prizes can be something intangible like, they can choose dinner or the movie that day, or they get to sleep with the puppy tonight, extra iPad time, or other things they enjoy but perhaps don't always get to do.
- A Game Board of Points and Progress - Get a white board and list the goals for each day with a point value next to them. Perhaps, making their bed, making breakfast, reading for 15min, creating a craft or building something unique in Lego, and so on. If your goal is to get them off their iPad, list things with them that they have always wanted to learn how to do, like playing a guitar or skateboarding at the park on the list. Mix in daily chores and reminder of what they need to do each day. List points and then a prize column. 25 points might get them tickets to the movies, 50pts might "buy" them new runners or sunglasses, etc.
- Dice! - Dice can be used in so many ways! Roll a 6 and mom or dad will do one chore on your list for you. Otherwise, it's up to them to get what's done on their daily chore list. Or have a list of what each dice number represents. 3 Means an outdoor activity, 5 means they can choose the movie, or whatever their incentives are. As long as they get their chores done, they get what's on the dice.
- Race Them! Set up challenges where you race them to complete your daily chore list. Maybe they have to match all the socks while you fold the laundry to see who wins! Maybe they have to clean their room while you clean the kitchen. Who will win!?
- Basketball! - Yes, it will take longer, but tossing items that need to be washed into a basketball hoop hamper or toys into a bin can spice it up quickly.
How about you? How have you been able to add gaming into your child's world to get them excited to learn or complete tasks?
Happy Gaming!