How to teach kids to start a business by solving problems, creating value, and turning passions into action with our kid-friendly Mini Business Model Canvas
If you’re already well on your way to helping your mini millionaire spot the skills they can turn into income (or even a future career), amazing!
If not, why don't you start with this article to get up to speed: How to Teach Kids to Turn Skills Into Income.
On the same page? Great: Now let’s take it one step further.
In this article, we’re talking about how to help kids think like builders and giving them a simple tool to turn their ideas into action.
Because starting a business isn’t (just) about making money. It’s about doing something that matters.
To a kid, starting a business might sound like some scary, grown-up stuff.
But at its core, it actually embraces something kids are already great at: spotting problems and coming up with creative ways to solve them.
So when we frame business in this way, it becomes less about money and more about value.
Believe it or not, kids already have a natural inclination towards favourable entrepreneurship characteristics, including: a natural curiosity, a willingness to take risks, not to mention abundant amounts of energy.
So when we show them business isn’t something to be intimidated by, but rather an opportunity to flex their curiosity, creativity, and confidence to solve problems for others, that’ll help them take a powerful (confident) next step in starting their own business, and how to earn their own money.
A simple way to get kids thinking about how they can start a business is by asking: “Can you make someone's life easier or better?”
So it’s all about creating value for others. And your mini millionaire can do this in two ways.
The first one is by doing a job that needs to be done. This can be something like mowing the lawn for a neighbour, or washing dishes at home.
The thing is, the value this creates goes beyond having a freshly mowed lawn, or clean dishes. It’s also about what the person they’re doing this task for can do with the time that’s freed up.
The second way to create value for others is to do something to improve their life. They could bring joy and inspiration to someone by painting a picture, or singing for people.
Real value is about making someone’s life easier or better, not just completing a task.
Before setting up a mini pop-up shop to sell bookmarks, bracelets, or biscuits, help your mini millionaire plan out their business with our Mini Business Model Canvas, a kid-friendly tool to explore what they’ll offer, who they’ll offer it to, and how to get those first customers. (Don't worry, you can get your hands on it at the end of this article).
Then, turn the plan into action: set up a little table, make some signs and flyers, and run the shop for an afternoon for family, friends, and neighbours.
Use our mini business model canvas to spark big ideas, and then bring those ideas to life in a fun, low-stakes way.
Once you've helped them get their first business up and running, it might be a good idea to check out: How to teach kids about multiple income streams.
In case you missed our Monetising Your Passions resource: where kids could list the skills they’re good at (and what they are passionate about), and find a GOAT already using that skill and passion, we got you: get it here).
In Part 2 of Monetising Your Passions, our free downloadable resource takes it a step further with a condensed Mini Business Model Canvas to help your mini millionaire with their Product & Customer Research, and to take that next step of turning their skills into an income-generating business.
By the way: Our Mini Business Model Canvas is a condensed version of the one originally built by Swiss Entrepreneur Alexander Osterwalder in 2005.
Before you go, you might like: How to teach kids the value of money.
