Help entrepreneurial kids start a business

We all know the famous adage that goes "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish and he eats for a lifetime."

Most of us don't think about entrepreneurship. Schools certainly don't. We think about getting good grades and preparing for universities. We think about how we can help our children mold themselves into a person that universities will want and employers seek out. I'm not saying that is a bad thing to do, not at all. But what I am saying, is alongside this academic learning, wouldn't it be beneficial to develop business related skills so that they know how to become employers not only employees? Sure, owning and running a business isn't for everyone, but neither is being a doctor, teacher or manager.

It has probably never been easier to encourage entrepreneurial thinking with the vast amount of knowledge we have at our fingertips and the opportunities the internet gives us to sell to the whole world. All our children need is a little help and guidance from us, and they will lead the way.

If you're sat at home wondering is there any real benefit to teaching our children entrepreneurial skills, I certainly think there is. Aside from  the fact that you won't have to keep dishing out pocket money every month because they can earn it themselves, when we help our children earn their own money they're developing some massive life skills that will equip them for their own futures bi'ithnillah.

Why teach kids entrepreneurship skills?

A multitude of skills are gained when looking at how to create and run a business from scratch. Along with working on real-life maths (not just some made up problem about how many more apples Harry has than Jane) starting a business encourages kids to think creatively, to problem solve, to be curious, to take responsibility and action goals, improve communication skills and help others.

Inviting children to think about creating their own business, gives them another potential door to walk through if when they are older they find doors being shut. It helps to give them control in seeking out their sustenance, rather than relying on someone else alone to give them that opportunity.

If they are in a position where they have no job, they can have the creative thinking and confidence to go out and do something to earn money for themselves inshaAllah - whether that be something as simple as buying a ladder and walking door to door to clean windows, or creating an innovative new product or service to meet the needs of people. It puts them in control to go find the rizq Allah has already decreed for them.

How do I start teaching my children about entrepreneurship? 

Get them reading!

Study existing big businesses and discover how they set got themselves started. You can find out about this online easily and learn so much about history and people along the way.

Have a look out for books on entrepreneurship for kids. There are quite a number of them around now. As simple as they may be, they could provide just enough umph for your kids to go out and try working on some ideas of their own.

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A post shared by A Muslim Homeschool (@amuslimhomeschool) on Feb 8, 2019 at 3:03am PST

Help the kids start a business

The best way to really learn about business is to create one....whether it proves to be a success or an epic "failure" so many skills will be learned through the experience.

Start small. Start with something the kids enjoy or something you think you could easily help them with. Some ideas you might like to try:

• Baking cupcakes and cookies to sell to neighbors, family and friends. Julie Bogart, creator of Brave Writer has often shared how her son sent himself to space camp just by selling cookies! People love cookies.
• If you have an app like Procreate, design (non animate) vector images to sell as clip art on Etsy
• Buy cheap items and resell on ebay. Look in charity stores or buy wholesale. 
• Make natural beauty products like lip balms and soap. They are super easy to make, fun and perfect to sell onto friends.
• Start as a Mother's Helper - perfect for teens who are not old enough to babysit alone. A mother's helper is a young teen who will help entertain younger children and keep them busy whilst the mum is doing other things. Maybe she works from home, is homeschooling older kids and needs the  little ones busy, or perhaps she is just tired and wants a break to read a book or cook dinner in peace! 
• Design and print t-shirts. These are pretty cheap to buy plain; just purchase some transfer paper to print onto and iron on.
• Make handmade gifts - have a look on places like ebay and Etsy to see what people are doing already that the kids can probably do too. 
• Handwash cars for neighbours 

You have information. You have wisdom and insight. You know how to help your children find what it is they need.
You know how to help your children reach neighbours, family and friends.
You know how to sell through online market places such as local watsapp and facebook selling groups or places like Ebay and Etsy.

 They will need your support and guidance, perhaps a little help with quality-check control, but once they have found their feet you should be able to step back and let them fly alone insha'Allah. 

Here's what we did

Admittedly it can be easier said than done helping the children get started - I had been talking to my kids about working on something long before I got around to buying what they needed. And then it still took another several months before we got around to actually starting.  I ordered some of the materials needed in May or June time, but it wasn't until a sister put on a local kid entrepreneur event in December that we had the push to get up and do something with what we had. But once we got started I don't know why we didn't sooner. 

We decided to create a lip balm business....which morphed into a small range of products including bath salts, beard balm, body balm and bath melts.

To get started, the children needed inspiration. So they looked at existing products online, printing images to create a large product board, brainstormed name ideas and used Canva to design a logo and packaging labels.

They sell their products on local watsapp selling groups and are planning to launch on Etsy soon once they have refined their packaging labels to reflect a more refined and professional branding look insha'Allah.

As this is the first time the kids have done something like this, of course I helped guide them. I helped them to think about effective design, and whilst it still needs some work to improve, they are well on their way to getting something ready to launch to the world insha'Allah.
How long it will last - I don't know. But it is a better way to teach them about business than just reading a textbook.

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A post shared by A Muslim Homeschool (@amuslimhomeschool) on Dec 13, 2019 at 10:42pm PST

Free kid entrepreneurship workbook

I've created a free workbook you can use with the kids to help them design their own little start-up inshaAllah. It will guide them through brainstorming initial ideas through to designing their product, working out cost and figuring out how to advertise.

Please note downloading is strictly for your personal use only - it is strictly prohibited to share the file link directly. I'm finding my resources uploaded and shared through different channels and file hosting websites - even being sold on places like Teachers Pay Teachers. This is not okay.
Please respect that this resource has cost me not only my time but money to produce. I love that you want to share it, and I encourage you to share the blog link - it helps others find out about my blog and it helps me know that these resources are wanted. Sharing the file or uploading it onto your own file share sites is strictly prohibited and is unnecessary when you have the blog link you are viewing yourself right now (smile).

Download the Kid Entrepreneur printable workbook.