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Independent individuals are a rare breed in today’s world, and it does not come easy. Childhood is the best time to train your young minds. Do you ever ponder on how to start a business as a kid? How to do something online (or offline) that can fetch you high profit?
Must read – Profitable Online Business Ideas
We all are quite aware of the saying, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”
Even the opposite of it is also equally true, “all play, and no work can also make Jack a dull boy.” Thus, having a proper balance between work and play is essential.
There are several “online businesses for kids in today’s world.” What are you waiting for, if you want to do one of these businesses or if you have a novel business idea, and want to make it big?
Quite often, children are more conscious than their parents and keep up with the world by deciding to learn how to earn money as a kid.
If you think it is time for a business, learn a few detailed steps that might help your business.
If you’re a parent and you are reading this article, and if you are right now dueling with this question, “how can a kid successfully start a business?” I must say you have walked up to the right place.
Engage them in creative, constructive, and cognitive skills, and you would be quite amazed by the transformation of your children. Now, the 3C’s can make your child achieve the 3M’s-monetary, mental and moral independence, and that is a remarkable feat for them indeed.
Independent business is one way to accomplish it, other than engaging your children in regular jobs after school. In a job, they have to do more often what they are told to do, basically follow orders. However, a business would ensure that your child is using his or her entrepreneurial mind and is thus expanding mentally more than one can in a job.
You could even go back and tell your child these ideas when they come to you with a business proposal.
Let’s find out “how can a kid successfully start a business at the age of 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, or 17?” Here we point out a few essential steps one must address before beginning a business.
Page Contents
How to Start a Business as a Kid?
Invaluable tips to help your child start a business legally.
Choose a Business You Would Like to Pursue
Choosing a business is not important, rather knowing how to choose your business is essential.
Remember always,
- The right choice is always guided by your inner passion and your likes and dislikes and not by other’s choices.
- Do not go by what others say and do but by your own choices and limitations. Time can be your limitation or rather resources at times and mainly our inner drive and passion for doing a particular thing. If your friend opens up a lemonade store in his free hours, it might not be your choice.
- Spend some time with yourself to know what you want and which idea suits you best.
- Respect your interests and likes, your inner energies, and forces that guide you.
- Additionally, your interests are often guided by your skills, like what you are good at ordinarily.
Now what Blake Ross (creator of Mozilla Firefox) did is not precisely what interested Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook). Both did something extraordinary and fared well in starting an online business as a kid.
If you are out of ideas and need some inspiration? I have listed 51+ Small Business Ideas for Kids.
The whole exercise can make you far more knowledgeable. Even if you do not profit from it, your learnings from your failures will guide you in your next venture for sure.
Thus, always be positive and make sure you learn from your mistakes. Therefore, going by your likes, your pocket, your rational choices is very essential.
Do not ever fear to lose but make sure you jump into a journey that takes you deeper into your life.
Set Goals and Put a Plan in Place
Goal setting is crucial. You must know how long you want to run it, and what kind of business you prefer? Will it last one summer or will you be starting an online business.
Before setting your goals, check a little on your competitors also. By reading the paths taken by your competitors, you might have an opportunity to learn from their mistakes.
If the goal is longer like for a year, then make sure you know your trimester or six-monthly plans as well. Indeed, you can’t foresee everything in the beginning but make sure you have a rough sketch of whatever you think might crop up in some time.
- Focus on creating a few initial goals like if there is a need for any training to begin the work.
- What kind of raw materials you need,
- What type of infrastructure support might be required to establish the so-called kid business?
Planning it well ahead is the key to success and knowing how to prepare is yet another skill you might want to learn before you make your decisions.
For example, if you want to do business out of mowing lawns for older adults, then know the challenges you may face in the business after six months.
It could be anything from your mower maintenance, an altogether quicker mower, or an entirely new cordless electric mower.
Focus on Customer Satisfaction and Communication Skills
Customer satisfaction often is not a goal you can fulfil by merely delivering your customer his or her needs. It is an art you might need to hone even before you step into a business.
What ingredients might you need to drive the goal of customer satisfaction?
- You might need a pair of empathetic ears,
- You might need to know ways to define your products succinctly,
- How you convince your customers,
- Plus accommodating special requests as and when required from them.
- Adapting proper humanitarian actions towards ill, disabled, and low customers is also vital to living in the business.
All of this and much more is needed often to keep your customer contented to make them keep coming back to you.
Similarly, your child needs to understand the importance of proper communication skills.
No matter what he or she faces, communication skills cannot change. However, also teach your child about dignity and self-respect.
Soft skills and effective communication skills are important.
Learn Legal Aspects of your Business
The legal laws do not change on whether you are an adult or a child starting a new business. It’s annoying but valuable to develop a concrete understanding of the importance of legal aspects of your business.
It is this point where you could get stuck, be it local licensing or local permits. You might need to do several rounds around your local city office and might require several sittings with the clerk.
You can even hire someone from your family or around the neighborhood to understand these legal terms and conditions. Do not evade them at any cost, since they can cost you later.
If your parents can render help, there is nothing better than that, but if that can’t be done, you might have to seek out a way for yourself.
Additionally, always know that you have competitors. Understanding the role of law in business can be an indispensable weapon in times of need. Thus, being legally correct gives you an edge over others. After all, you might want to be taken seriously and not shooed off as a naïve child.
Know the legal risks and liabilities that you might have if you are not legally compliant. Kids who do not have proper permits might face the risk of closure of the business.
Pay Taxes on Time
Check out your taxes. Local taxes, government taxes are often entirely gibberish to the commoner. Every country has different tax rules and structures. Ensure you are well aware of them before trying anything. It is always nice to know about your taxes at the beginning of your business.
If you are opening a business in your own country knowing, the tax law is easy. You can find someplace where you can obtain this information quickly. However, if you are doing business in a different country or your business is meant for another country, then you will have added work.
Not only do you need to know the laws of your country, but you also need to know the tax structure and regulations of all those countries where you’re running your business.
The government of every other country has a different tax slab for different types of business. Carefully identify your categories, your tax slabs and the payments you need to make at the end of the year to these departments.
Doing a business is not often easy, but if you’re determined to take it forward, initial hiccups should not be where you stop. Move ahead, know the importance of paying taxes and begin to live responsibly from this age itself.
Take Money Management Lessons Early
Though it is one of the most important things, it comes in the end. It must be learned last. It is true whatever we do, we do it to profit out from it, but our ideas and our business are far more important than earning a profit out of it.
If you’re profit-oriented, you might get disappointed very soon and if you are service-oriented, then you will keep moving through your hurdles.
Those who begin a startup, please note that it almost takes three years before your business can bring any real profit to you.
Thus, if you’re up for immediate profit, you might not want to stick to your business for so long. Or else you might want to create a business that can bring you profit right from day one.
Real business does take time to make a real impact in the market, and you might have to be patient in this case.
Now, what kind of a business you have makes all the difference. An app-based business, an upfront store of some sort, and service-based business, all have different rules, laws, and structures and initially, you have to fall into that structure to build your business, unless you have something better.
To bring closure to this topic what we can say is this –
Advice to the parents/guardians
If you have a child who is crafted for a distinct niche, and if you happen to spot it, go for it, make room for him/her. Please help your child but make sure you do not decide for them. They need to learn about this world and the faster they do, the better.
Advice to the teens/kids
Are you keen on having a business and if you believe you are cut out for it, do not take anything other than what you want from anyone.
Make sure you work hard and most importantly work consistently towards your project, your business. Hurdles are many, each time you take up something.
Analyze the doable and non-doable areas around your business. Ensure you keep it planned as to what you want to do about each hurdle that you envision on the roadmap.
I am sure this article would serve as a guide for your parents and you and would tell you enough on how to start a business as a kid/teen?
Remember to prioritize, plan and process your business needs well!
Okay, I am nine years about to turn ten, and i need money. How can I get money without having money in the first place? I really need a phone and my parents wont let me have one unless I pay the monthly payment. What do I do?
Hi Anthony,
Thank you for your comment, glad you asked. You don’t always need money to start something on your own. My suggestion would be to look for something in your house and see how you can make use of it, for example: it could be jar and a table for setting up a lemonade stand in your lawn or something else, I am sure you get an idea.
To make it easy, you can check 51 Business Ideas for Kids
Good luck!