Youth In Business Magazine by Read Publishing

YOUTH IN BUSINESS

6 SECRETS TO AN EFFECTIVE WEBSITE

MELANIE PERKINS: Patience Pays Off

Should I Wholesale Or Should I Retail?

THE POWER OF YOURâ&#x20AC;&#x2030;

Brand

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HOW TO CREATE A

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The Life Changing & Inspirational 2 Day Event Every Young Person Needs, Plus It’s 100% Free… Want Your Kids To.... • Learn Real Business Skills • Earn and Manage Thier Own Money • Start A Successful Business • Develop the Skillset Of An Entrepreneur Most parents we talk to say that there is limited options for teaching young people real life business concepts and skills to empower them at a young age However, an under ground movement of parents have broken the mould and seek quality training to open their kids minds to a bright future in business.

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Melanie Perkins: Patience Pays Off

How To Run A Successful Business While Attending School

How Your Kids Business Will Benefit From Free Publicity

Should I Wholesale Or Should I Retail?

Six Secrets To An Effective Website

The Power Of Your Brand

Why Your Kids Need To Understand About Money

Pet Treats: A Real Life Success Story

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EDITORS-IN-CHIEF B E N

A N D

S H E R I

J O N E S

Welcome to the third issue of Youth In Business Magazine. This magazine was created to inspire, educate and share real stories, information and tips to support you on your entrepreneurial journey! In our own journey as entrepreneurs and when working with our youth entrepreneurs in our programs we know that at times it can be a tough ride. That is why we wanted to create this magazine - to help share stories and advice to make this crazy ride of an entrepreneur a little less stressful.

If you have your own story you would like to share with us and the Youth In Business tribe please make sure to visit www.youthinbusinessmagazine.com

and our editorial team will be in touch.

When we put together the content for the magazine we wanted it to be a mix of tips to help you on your way, and stories that will inspire you.

We hope you enjoy turning every page.

Make sure you take a look at the page we like to call Youth In Business TV where you can hear from the teens as they share their journey with you! We are always so amazed by the hundreds of teens we work with that take the entrepreneurial plunge and do so with an enormous amount of gusto and enthusiasm.

Ben and Sheri Jones

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M E E T O U R PA R T N E R S C A I T L I N

A R G Y L E

T O N Y

I’m a young entrepreneur with a passion to teach other young people the life skills I have learnt about finance and business so they can set their own goals and create their own income. After being mentored and creating my own business, I am now able to spend time doing things I love. I have had multiple businesses, in the toy niche, social media content, sales and baking niche that have all made a profit. I have also run a crowdfunding campaign for my first investment property which saw me featured on the Australian television show ‘The Project’ as well as appearing

Initially trained as an accountant, Tony spent the early years of his life in both chartered accounting and corporate accounting and management serving as Chief Financial Officer, Company Secretary and Circulation Manager for an independent New Zealand newspaper. In 1996, he and his wife Leanne purchased a jewellery store, which they ran successfully for 12 years, during which time he joined the board of the Gemtime New Zealand national jewellery chain (now part of Showcase Australia). During that period Tony and Leanne also branched out into furniture retail, purchasing an existing store and opening another.

A R G Y L E

on national news with Channel 7 and breakfast TV with Channel 9 Australia. I have even been flown in as a keynote speaker at a property industry conference. It has been more than just money I’ve made, but the skills I have learnt from each of these ventures, I will have with me for life, giving me confidence in my future. I want to be able to inspire and teach other young aspiring entrepreneurs the skills and knowledge to be able to create their own business, even before they finish high school.

Caitlin Argyle In 2009, Tony and his family sold up and moved to Australia, where they have spent the last ten years involved in management and marketing consultancy. In 2019 Tony and Leanne made the choice to become global citizens and now spend much of their time travelling and living in various parts of the world. Tony is passionate about financial education, particularly where his own children are concerned. His involvement in Youth in Business is a natural extension of the desire he has to see young people develop the skills they need in business and financial matters to survive and thrive in the 21st century.

Tony Argyle

MELANIE PERKINS:

PAT I E N C E PAY S O F F How does it feel to be the 32 year old female founder of a company valued at over $3 billion dollars? If you want to know, you probably need to ask Melanie Perkins. As CEO of online design platform, Canva, she can count over 20 million users across 190 countries using the platform she co-founded. The Perth graduate of the University of Western Australia had always had entrepreneurship in her blood. At just 14 she founded her first business selling hand-made scarves to shops and markets around the city.

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She was studying communications, psychology and commerce at UWA when an opportunity came along to set up a new venture - Fusion Books, a concept to enable students to design their own school yearbooks using a drag and drop system. In an interview for bbc.com called The 30-year-old woman who designed a $1bn business, Perkins said she was frustrated by how long it took to learn how to use most mainstream design software. “It could take a whole semester to learn the very basics,” she said. “Even the simplest tasks, like exporting a high-quality PDF file, could take 22 clicks.”

Setting up in her mother’s living room Melanie launched the business with her boyfriend, Cliff Obrecht. Over five years Fusion Books developed into the largest yearbook design company in Australia, also building a client base in New Zealand and France.On the back of this success she dropped out of Uni to devote herself full-time to her entrepreneurial endeavours.

Despite the early customer traction it took Canva five years to be profitable achieving it for the first time in 2017. Without the backing of investors it would have been difficult to keep the company going and get the traction she needed to be established. She has turned down several sales offers for the business and a share market listing is talked about in the foreseeable future.

Realising the technology had an application in the graphic design space, the duo teamed up with Cameron Adams, a former Google employee who was impressed by Melanie’s drive and vision, to form Canva, now one of the world’s leading graphic design online tools with customers all around the

It doesn’t seem she’ll be putting her feet up anytime soon.

globe. Canva was launched in 2013 with over 750,000 users in its first year. At first, getting started was a challenge. Perkins flew to Silicon Valley to pitch her ideas, but her initial meeting with a large investor didn’t go well – he spent most of his time on his phone. She made enough of an impact for him to suggest some other people she should see where she faced countless rejections before finally getting the funding she needed. “It was three years between first pitching to an investor and actually landing investment,” she told bbc. “This is an incredibly long period of time, and we had hundreds of rejections along the way.”

“It was three years between first pitching to an investor and actually landing investment . . . This is an incredibly long period of time, and we had hundreds of rejections along the way.”

Since then, Melanie has overseen the raising of over 150 million in funds to expand the business from investors such as Blackbird and General Catalyst. Perkins also oversees a team of more than 650 staff based in Australia, the Philippines and China.

Sources https://www.bbc.com/news/business-42552367

So, what’s next for Perkins?

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How To Run A Successful Business While Still Attending School

Many parents are excited by the prospect of their children learning business skills. They recognise that school seldom provides assistance in this area and that it will increase their child’s self sufficiency in later life. One of the most common questions we get asked however is “How do they juggle the development of a business with the demands of school time?”. In this article we’ll discuss the secret to ensuring that any venture they get underway doesn’t come at the expense of their school marks. Firstly it’s important to understand how children view the experience of building a business and earning their own money. All the young people who get involved in Youth in Business are excited at the 8

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freedom it gives them, the money they can earn and the growth in self-esteem they get from the experience of doing it. They don’t see it as a chore. Because of this and the excitement and enjoyment they get their involvement normally comes at the expense of other ‘fun’ activities that use up their leisure time such as watching tv, hanging out with friends, gaming or lying about the house. It is less likely to eat into ‘must-dos’ such as household chores. It effectively becomes a new way of enjoying their spare time as it’s an activity they want to do. That said there are a number of tips that can help them with making the transition to business owner in a smooth way that reduces the disruption on other areas of their life.

Learn Some Time Management Skills. The busier you are the more you need to manage your time productively. This can be a wonderful life skill to learn anyhow but can become even more important if your child has plans to be an entrepreneur. It’s important to prioritise what needs to be done (such as homework and chores) as well as the tasks that have to be completed as a successful business owner. Learning to prioritize will be a useful skill for later life whether they become an entrepreneur or work for someone else. Overlapping School And Business Can Be A Good Thing. Undertaking courses in accountancy, management or marketing while still at school can supplement the education they get from their own business, and being an entrepreneur can bring a greater level of understanding to some of the lessons they get in school and lead to stronger marks. Marketing papers can seem like theory until you get the practical opportunity to do it yourself – and mathematics takes on a whole new meaning when you are measuring your business profitability. Your child should let their teachers know that they are undertaking a business –

they will often find encouragement, support and ideas coming from them and it shows a level of commitment that will reflect well on attitude marks that may be given out. Develop A Supportive Networking. It’s important that your child understands your role in their venture and as a parent you are supportive of what they are trying to achieve. Entrepreneurship can be a lonely road without having others around you. Your child needs to know you see their entrepreneurship as an important part of their development and growth and that you are supportive of what they are doing. Encourage their efforts and look to build relationships with other parents whose children are also heading down the entrepreneurial path. This will provide you, as a parent, with support as well as your child. Juggling school and business can be challenging at times but working with your child to outline some important guidelines will make the process considerably easier. There are many benefits to be had from integrating schoolwork successfully with an entrepreneurial venture and the rub off will be well worth the effort.

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How Your Kids Business Will Benefit From Free Publicity

“If you have a tale that is interesting, timely and relevant your business can benefit from the attention they will give it.”

Getting widespread publicity for your business is one of the most effective and affordable ways of helping your business grow. As Malcolm Gladwell’s famous book Tipping Point demonstrated, once you reach a certain point, sales will start to grow and feed on themselves. People will come to know you and you will start to be top of mind when consumers are making a purchase. Free publicity can accelerate the process of reaching this point. There are a number of advantages that free 10

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publicity can provide for your business. Here’s 8 reasons we see it as a key part of your business arsenal.

Publicity Costs You Nothing The media are always hungry for stories that can fill their news space. If you have a tale that is interesting, timely and relevant, your business can benefit from the attention they will give it. Other than the time involved in giving interviews or answering questions, there

is no cash outlay required in order to get this sort of publicity, which can be invaluable when starting out on a tight budget.

Publicity Beats Advertising Hands Down As consumers, we are bombarded with thousands of messages per day and so we become selective in what we pay attention to. Adverts can be skipped or shut down quite quickly, TV ads are scrolled through and other forms of advertising can be shut out but news stories aren’t treated the same way. The attention from a good news story will be countless times higher than an advertisement in the same publication.

Publicity Has Increased Credibility The public will believe news stories ahead of paid advertising. They know with an ad you have an angle to push but what is considered newsworthy is someone else’s decision, and comes without the vested interest that an advertisement will have. Because of this news stories give you greater credibility – consumers assume because the news agency is running

the story that it must be something worth listening to or watching.

Publicity Can Show Off Your Expertise With increased credibility comes increased reputation. In most cases people will see you as an expert in the field that your article is about. Publicity sees you getting more credit in the eyes of the consumer for your knowledge in your particular field and this can lead to increased sales. It elevates you above your competition as the ‘go-to’ person in your area of product or service.

Publicity Leads to Stronger Networks Often publicity will see others in your field reach out to you leading to strong alliances and more business opportunities. Many fledgling businesses have benefitted from other businesses owners that have reached out after seeing the business appear on national television or in newspapers. Even where you reach out to other businesses, citing your

“...publicity will see others in your field reach out to you leading to strong alliances and more business opportunities.”

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media success can provide you with a stronger reason for them to reply.

brand ambassador and speak at a Melbourne real estate conference.

Publicity Lasts Longer

Publicity Can Lead Directly to Sales. Young entrepreneur, Ned Heaton managed a $4000 jump in toothbrush sales immediately after getting his news media exposure and these sales can continue for some time afterwards.

An advert doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have any staying power beyond the appearance it makes, but publicity can last much longer. Often other news sources will pick up on the initial publicity and run their own pieces as well. News stories tend to get archived and may reappear later with regard to similar news stories. Once publicity has been achieved you may find news outlets contacting you for future comment on related matters.

Publicity Can Lead to Celebrity Status Caitlin managed to achieve this with her crowdfunding campaign with invitations to be a 12

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Generating publicity can be one of the best things for your business and kids business owners have the added advantage of youth as an angle that often appeals to media outlets. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important that you are ready to deal with the response that you receive and that the business, and the young owner concerned, can deal with the reaction that they get.

101 Great Kids B U S I N ESS I D E AS

Yes I want this! www.youthinbusiness.com/101-ideas

Is your child ready to kick off a business using their skills and talents? There are literally dozens of ideas in • • • • • • • • • • • •

Arts & Crafts Food Production & Cooking Household Items & Products Personal Services Pet Services Childcare IT & Technology Education Home Services Entertainment Writing Film & Photography

To make it easy for you to unlock your child’s potential, we have created 101 Great Kids Business Ideas.

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SHOULD I WHOLESALE OR RETAIL?

One of the most important stages of developing a new business is determining who your customer is. This can involve determining a market demographic or segment that you wish to aim for but it also might include looking at the channels through which you can sell your product. Selling directly to the public yourself has its advantages, but can also come with disadvantages as well. Generally finding your own customers comes at a cost â&#x20AC;&#x201C; you will need to invest in building your customer list through advertising channels and this doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come cheap. The advantage with retail is you can charge the customer full price for the product, providing 14

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yourself with more margin to cover the additional expenses youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll have to incur. The other option is to consider wholesaling your product. This involves finding those people who already have the customers and selling the product to them to on-sell. An example would be a perfume supplier who provides their product to pharmacies. In this case the pharmacy is responsible for finding the customers, mainly through walk ins to their retail premises. In order to make the proposition attractive for the retailer or end seller the product must be made available to them at a price that will still leave them with a profit when they sell it. In many cases

this will be considerably less than the price of selling directly to the end user but has the added advantage of selling in bulk. The perfume supplier might not be able to get full price for the items from the pharmacy but they will be able to sell them a much larger quantity of items at one time than what one consumer will be willing to buy. So what type of seller can you be? Supplier – Someone who sources products in a raw form. For example a dairy farmer that sells milk and cream as a raw product to a manufacturer. Manufacturer – Suppliers who add value to the process. A food manufacturer such as Nestle who would use a raw product such as cream, as part of the process of creating the chocolate we know and love. Wholesaler – Often referred to as the middleman, they play no part in the manufacturing or sourcing of product but instead, link the product source with those who have the customers willing to

buy. Think of some of the brands you might see in the supermarket, such as milk brands, who often don’t manufacture the product themselves, but distribute the product to the end user. Even some big brands such as Nike could arguably be considered a wholesaler rather than a manufacturer as the product is often made in factories not owned by the company themselves. Retailer – The final piece in the process. They deal directly with the consumer passing the product onto its final user. Of course, many business models can include some or all of this process with some companies taking the product right through from source to end user. So, should you sell wholesale or should you sell retail? The answer comes back to understanding your strengths and the numbers behind your business. If you are good at marketing and finding the end consumer, then retail may be your strong point. If you are stronger in manufacturing,

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systems, or you have a unique product that isn’t easy to cop,y then wholesale or manufacturing might be your best option. It’s important to work through the costs of both methods, the difference in margin you would apply at each stage and the additional costs you might have to deal with such as staff or rent. You also need to consider competition with your onsellers. How would other retailers feel if you were retailing also? Could you make extra money from retailing yourself but lose potential wholesale customers who don’t want to compete with you in the end user market?

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Determining wholesale or retail is a long term game but choosing one or other doesn’t stop you from crossing over later. Many manufacturers later go into retail themselves e.g. Adidas, while many retailers often look to source their own product directly at a later stage e.g. think the house brands that many supermarkets sell which compete directly with established brands. Choosing your option will depend on where you can get the best return on your time and money.

SIX SECRETS TO AN EFFECTIVE WEBSITE

Whether you’re an e-commerce entrepreneur or you’re just wanting a starting point for customers to find you, an online presence will be important for your business. There’s a difference between a website that can be effective in bringing you customers and sales however and one that takes up a corner of the internet and just gathers dust. Regardless of the reason there are some important tick boxes you should sign off on in order to get the most from the website you have in place. Here’s six suggestions that can help your website work better for you.

One purpose per page. I’ll let you into a little secret – most people are lazy. We don’t like to think. Given a choice between…well…making a choice and doing nothing, we tend to take the do-nothing option. That’s why one web page that asks a customer to join their Facebook page, sign up to a newsletter, make a purchase, and enter a competition is likely to finish up with the customer choosing none of the above and reaching for the exit button. Each page on your website (with perhaps the exception of your home page) should ask the customer to do one thing and that page should be all about getting

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the customer to do whatever that one thing is. Simple. Oh…and about that home page. Don’t over-focus on your home page. You might think it’s the front door to your site, but chances are most website visitors are coming in through the tradesmen’s entrance. Google does not give preference to home pages – they treat all pages the same based on their relevance and its most likely if a customer is finding you based on diamonds then Google will take them to your diamond page. Only

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those people looking for you specifically will go to the home page and that’s not going to be most web searchers. Keep it Clean. Less is more. At least, when it comes to your website. An overabundance of images and words is not conducive to an effective website. It is there to do a task, not win an award for artistic achievement. Sadly, some web designers still think it’s all about ‘the look’

quite but video content is the preferred means of absorbing content for more and more web visitors, especially those in the under 35 market (hello, engagement rings!). Furthermore, a high percentage of websites still don’t offer good video content on their site meaning those that do are getting a jump on the crowd. It also gives you a chance to make a presence on YouTube, which is the world’s second largest search engine after Google. Lights, cameras, action people! Check your load speed. Most website visitors will only give a website a handful of seconds to load – in fact surveys have estimated this to be less than 3 seconds! Yet a huge number of businesses are losing web traffic because they don’t have a web designer spend any time on making sure their page load speed is what it could be. The result? Lost visitors. This is an issue that can be very easy to fix.

It should have a ‘Responsive Design’. This is techno babble meaning it needs to be readable on any device. Be it tablet, laptop or mobile your readers need your website to look tidy regardless of the format…and with over 70% of readers now using a mobile to view the internet, it’s time your site caught up. Have you checked out your mobile version lately?

The important thing is to remember is, it’s not a ‘set and forget’. Your website will need ongoing maintenance and checking to ensure it’s working effectively for you. You need to ensure your links are working and that there aren’t error messages when going to certain pages. Regular backups are a good idea and comments should be reviewed. Fortunately, there are a load of online tools that can help you with this process so you can focus on the thing that matters – bringing customers into your business.

Don’t under-estimate the power of video. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video must be worth a million. Maybe not

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Youth In Business TV • • • • •

Learn from real life young entrepreneurs Live interviews of successful young business owners See into the back end of 7 figure kids businesses Full video library updated with the latest Interviews Be inspired as they share their secrets to success www.youthinbusiness.com/yibtv

VISIT WEBSITE TO WATCH

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THE POWER OF YOUR BRAND So what is a brand? For any business it’s best described as the ability to generate sales based on the reputation that has been created. For a business with a well established brand, their reputation can be worth millions of dollars in sales per year.

and online companies. Here are the rankings ($US)

A strong brand not only builds sales but enhances the overall value of the business – after all someone would pay a lot more for Coca-Cola than an unknown Cola company. They know the Coca- Cola brand gives customers trust and confidence that leads to superior sales performance. The extra value, or sale price, attributable to a business when it’s being purchased by someone else is known as the brand equity.

Microsoft $117 billion

To illustrate the value that can be built from a brand we’ve included a breakdown of some of the world biggest brands and the value that is attributed to them.

Also of interest is the data around brand value growth with Tesla coming out on top. In the last twelve months Tesla has seen its value increase by 65% with Instagram also showing strong growth at 58% for the year.

A quick look at the worlds most valuable brands shows a strong performance from tech

Amazon $220 billion Google $160 billion Apple

$140 billion

Samsung $94 billion Industrial Commercial Bank of China $80 billion Facebook $79 billion Walmart $77 billion Pingan $69 billion Huawei $65 billion

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Obviously these are big numbers and well in excess of most businesses however its important to understand the wealth and value that can be built from a successful business. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not unusual to see strong brand name businesses selling for several hundred thousand or even millions of dollars more than the value of their tangible assets as a result of the reputation they have built.

A detailed list of marketable customers. A good business knows who their customers are and how to reach them. A strong database of clients and a large social media following can be converted into regular repeatable sales

So what factors can be attributed to building a strong brand

A competitive advantage. Do you have something unique you offer that your

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Good systems. Someone looking to purchase your business will pay more if they know you have strong systems in place that can deliver consistency to your customer base.

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competition cant? Perhaps you have a copyright or patent on a process that only you can use. KFC’s secret recipe is a case in point of doing this. Maintaining your quality and ethics. Product faults can destroy a brand almost overnight. Boeing have suffered a large drop in value in the last year due to accidents attributed to their planes. Building your brand can be both a business and personal endeavour. Whereas a business brand can be sold, your personal

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brand will continue with you for life and can’t be sold but its increasing value will inevitably translate into more money for you in time. People like Richard Branson and Warren Buffett have built their personal brands through their behaviour and reputation conducted over decades of business. As such it can take a long time to build a reputation or brand but only an instant to destroy it. As Buffett famously said “ It can take 20 years to build a reputation and only 5 minutes to ruin it. If you think about that you’ll do things differently”

WHY YOUR KIDS NEED TO UNDERSTAND MONEY? There is an element of truth to the old saying that a fool and their money are soon parted. We all want what’s best for our children and a good understanding of money is an important part of their future success, but determining where to get that financial education isn’t as easy as it sounds. It’s been statistically proven that financial issues are the number one contributor to relationship failure. Often this stems from one or both partners

not appreciating how to save and spend wisely. If your children can learn this at an early age and avoid making money choices that can ultimately be their undoing then it will help to set them up financially for the rest of their lives. So, as a parent what action can you take to further your children’s financial education and ensure they don’t overextend themselves in the spending department?

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Teach Them To Save Early Getting into a good saving habit will literally set them up for life. An appreciation of money starts with realising that you can’t spend more than you make and you are better off if you can spend less. A simple savings jar system, even at a young age, will give them a strong visual incentive to keep rewarding themselves by spending less.

Be Good With Saving Yourself Your own money habits will speak volumes to your children. Are you responsible with your own spending? Do you take on consumer debts and use credit cards without discretion? They will observe your behaviours and see it as an example of how they should live. Setting the right example will make a significant difference.

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Let Them Spend Their Own Money Buying everything for your kids will not teach them the value of money or the choices they must make when spending their own money. Even if it’s a small amount allow them to decide how they will spend it and what they can buy. Don’t make the habit of purchasing everything for them as this will create an expectation going forward.

Discourage Spontaneous Purchases Learning delayed gratification is one of the most important things you can teach your children. A Stanford University study in 1972 of young children tested their willingness to wait for a greater reward later by offering a choice between a marshmallow

now or two marshmallows at a later stage, if they were willing to wait. Follow up studies showed that those who were willing to delay for a greater reward achieved greater success in life across a number of measurable factors. If your child is wanting to make a purchase encourage them to sleep on it before making a final decision. They may often find the urge has gone and desire no longer warrants spending the money.

Forget About Keeping Up With The Jones’ Many of your child’s requests for items will be a reflection of what’s happening with their peers. If their friends get a new mobile phone you’ll probably find they will want one too. Resisting the urge to do what others do can be a major test of their determination but if they can master it at an early age it will have major positive spinoffs in later life.

Open A Bank Account Nothing encourages responsibility financially like opening their first account. This will get them used to money concepts like banking, debits and credits and using a money card. The sooner they have this experience the better it will be for them

Teach Them About Debt Bad debt can be a killer to their chances of financial freedom. The sooner they understand the price of debt and what the consequences are of not paying it back, the better it will be for them. Make sure they know how credit cards work, the cost of these cards and the impact of payday loans on their finances and credit rating. It’s never too late to start your children down the path of financial education. Whether they are 2 or 22 the lessons that can be learnt will make a big difference to their financial achievements and ultimately the level of freedom they can experience in life. youthinbusinessmagazine.com

Svenari Pet Treats: A Real Life Success Story

“We loved the child-friendly approach for our children to learn about business.”

We often get asked what’s involved with the free workshops we hold and what it is like to attend them. This month we interview mum Sharon Mueller along with her two children Sven and Ari who recently joined the program after coming to one of our events and starting up Svenari Gourmet Pet Treats.

What made you decide to come to the Youth in business workshop? We loved the child friendly approach for our children to learn about business 28

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Have you ever set up a business before? If so, what was it? This is the first business setup for Sven and Ari. They do understand business ownership as we are business owners.

What did you enjoy most about the workshop? The step by step process and the fact we had our initial product idea by the end of morning tea. We could follow the system and make pre sales before the beginning of the second day.

What business did you set up for the $20 challenge? What did you sell?

What were the business challenges you had during this period ?

Pet Treat and we also added Caramel Popcorn

With the Dog Treats it was the product development, packaging, and labeling.

How did you make sales?

With the Popcorn it was finding a supplier, packaging, labeling.

Phone, family and friends Dog parks Sven and Ari’s sports events Door Knocked Local parks on outings Local markets Talking to people

Organising a card payment facility as well as compliance. Overcoming the fear factor of approaching people and sharing our story was initially difficult. The daily getting out the door was the hardest. Once you got your first sale of the day it became a game of who next, can we beat yesterday’s sales, how many tips will I get today, who will be the most interesting or inspiring person we talk to.

“A sale made is better than a sale you overthink and don’t make.”

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How much money did you make? Over $5000 for the month!

A sale made is better than a sale you overthink and don’t make. Set some goals and do some action daily.

What was your biggest learnings from doing it? Everyone is potentially your customer, and overcoming the fear of the unknown

What would you say to anyone thinking of doing the challenge? Just go and do it. You will make it work and learn your weaknesses, which you fix as you go. It does not have to be perfect.

Small actions roll into big actions fast. Don’t overthink it. What have you been doing since to develop your business further? We have added the name Gourmet Handmade Pet Treats. Improved packaging and labels. Extended product range. Developed new products. Tapping into the wholesale market. We have wholesale interest in our popcorn from a large local sports club and a Premium Fruit and Veg Shop. Svenari Gourmet Handmade Pet Treats are now in a range of retail outlets.

How have sales been since? Sales have been great. They don’t come to you; You have to introduce your product to people.

Have you won any of the monthly challenges and if so which ones? We have won 3 of the challenges so far (as of the end of January). 1. $20 Challenge 2. Interview Famous People 3. Perfect your pitch & make sales We are in the $1K club and plan to soon enter the $10K Club doing over $10000 in monthly sales very soon!. 30

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