Jeff M. Brown - The Kids Guide to Business

Second Edition

Introducing, Preparing, and Launching Kids intoBusiness

by Jeff M. Brown

First Edition Copyright 2003, Jeff M. Brown

Second Edition Copyright 2013, Jeff M. Brown

Smashwords Edition

Published by TeachingKidsBusiness.com

Proceeds from this book are being used tofurther develop the social venture of TeachingKidsBusiness.com .Proceeds will help provide kids with programming and opportunitiesto learn about business.

Revised December, 2013

ISBN 978-0-9936192-2-9

eISBN 978-0-9936192-3-6 (ePub)

eISBN 978-0-9936192-4-3 (Kindle)

All rights reserved. No part of this book maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by anymeans, electronic, mechanical, photo copying, recording, orotherwise, without written permission from the author.

Visit TechingKidsBusiness.com for additionalbusiness activities and opportunities for kids.

This book takes a unique approach todiscussing business. The author talks to parents and kids and hopesboth will participate in the activities and discussions throughoutthis book. A key to teaching kids business is to respect kids andinclude them in discussions about business. The book talks to bothkids and adults as equals and helps them work together. The authorcombines business consulting with coaching and teaching techniquesto help both parents and kids consider a variety of ways to learnabout business.

This is a guide to help kids learn aboutbusiness and get started in business; it provides them with aframework to explore business. Some kids will use this book as areference to develop their own businesses and others will use it asan introduction to business. There can be immediate results (dobusiness now) or the start of a long thinking, exploration,discovery, skill development, and experience process.

This book was inspired by rsums submittedto the jobs for kids program at TeachingKidsBusiness.com. Irealized that kids do not have a lot of work experiences orbusiness opportunities beyond household chores (i.e., dishwashing,putting out the garbage, cleaning their rooms, and walking andcaring for pets). I believe that kids are capable of much more andare ready for the challenge.

The term "business" is used in this book tocover the commercial activities of companies and career choices. Ibelieve that as you prepare for business, you also prepare for acareer in business and buying or interacting with businesses. Iwould like kids to think of going into business and choosing acareer as two things with similar goals that require similarpreparation. This book will help kids prepare for careers andexplore business opportunities. Learning to develop a business willhelp kids learn to work in a business. The skills that kids developfor business will help them succeed in their daily lives and inbusiness.

This book is geared for kids in grades K-12,5-18 years of age, and it aims to make kids feel confident indeveloping their own businesses. It is written in a way that willhelp them understand business better by discussing business basicsin a kid-friendly way. This reading experience will encourage,empower, challenge, and provide ideas and an excellent learningexperience, while taking kids through an approach to developing abusiness.

Because business is new to many kids, thisbook demonstrates how to explore business and how adults can usethis book to help kids learn about business. Our A to Z approach isreally an introduction to business through the development of abusiness.

The Kids' Guide to Business provides a uniqueapproach by helping kids understand business and encourages adultsto take an active role in exploring business with kids. Once weintroduce kids to business, we will have given their future ajumpstart. Naturally, this will spark kids' interest, and they willstart asking questions and exploring and experimenting in business,which will help them prepare for their eventual future/career inbusiness.

References have been made to the businesscase of the lemonade stand to show kids about business in a fun andrelevant way. Kids will learn about business by applying businessbasics to the lemonade stand example. I believe that all kidsunderstand the lemonade stand business and will feel comfortableapplying even sophisticated business practices to this simpleexample. Kids may not actually operate a lemonade stand business,and it's not important that they do so, but this approach willallow kids to use their imaginations in developing their businesseswith the lemonade stand business in mind. Many kids will think interms of the lemonade stand example and then actually apply theconcepts to their business ideas.

The book's detailed table of contents willallow you to jump around and explore the different sections in thebook. The introductory sections should be used to ease you intobusiness, or you can jump ahead to the DAB section, where kids canstart to "Develop a Business" (DAB). The adult and kidsintroductions are good sections to read to help understand thestrategy behind this book.

TeachingKidsBusiness.com's "Develop aBusiness," or DAB, approach takes kids through the many steps usedto develop a business. In the DAB approach, kids are introduced tobusiness terms through a two-step process. First, we define thebusiness term and then we explain it through discussion. Secondly,we apply the business term and principle to a lemonade standbusiness to make the ideas and concepts simple, fun, and easy tounderstand. We ask many questions to engage kids in discussionsabout business. Questions help us think about the subject matterand learn from developing answers. The answers kids provide willchange over time with more thought, experience, and skills. Kidscan then apply this approach to other businesses.

This book has been developed to enhance theprogramming of TeachingKidsBusiness.com, as proceeds from this bookwill be used to further develop this social venture and create morebusiness experiences and opportunities for kids. A progression fromthis book is Teaching Kids Business: Why, What, When, Where, How& Impact.

Let's learn about business while we discussand develop a lemonade stand business!

Let's "plan a stand"! Let's develop abusiness!

The important concept behind this book is toinvolve kids in business and to provide them with businessexperience. This has been accomplished in a number of ways and themomentum is growing.

I would like to thank Amey Harding, TylerBrown, and Hayley Brown for perspectives and idea generationsupport. They have been very instrumental throughout thedevelopment of TeachingKidsBusiness.com and The Kids' Guide toBusiness.

Thank you to the hundreds of kids who haveshared their rsums with us on TeachingKidsBusiness.com andprovided their perspectives on how they plan to prepare for theirfuture. By looking at the rsums, it became clear to us that kidshave career and business ambitions at an early age, but they needhelp and experience to obtain their goals. Many kids have alsooffered their comments on the concept of teaching kidsbusiness.

Thank you to the many people who havesupported the social venture of TeachingKidsBusiness.com. Thecompliments, encouragement, comments, and programming input havehelped create unique opportunities for kids. I would like to thankTara Sorensen for her support in the initial development of theTeachingKidsBusiness.com web site.

Thank you for buying this book and supportingour teaching kids business initiative. The proceeds from this bookwill help us grow as a business, demonstrate business to kids, andexpand our programming to affect the future of kids.

Thank you, in advance, for taking the timeand interest to teach kids business. By taking an interest in thissubject matter, you will gain from the wonderful opportunities thisbook has to offer and from business in general.