Both Hubby and I have been self employed for the last 12 years and I have always been keen for the girls to understand how business works so I was excited to review Micro Business for Teens.
Micro Business for Teens has been created by Carol Topp. She has created a practical, goal orientated program to teach teens to create and manage a small business. It is designed for teens to work through independently, although it would work well in a group setting too.
We received an Ebook copy of Starting a Micro Business ,
and the Micro Business for Teens Workbook
The Micro Business for Teens curriculum goes through step by step the process of starting and running a micro business. The books are very thorough and cover business ideas, detailed financial planning, marketing, customer service, time management, record keeping, business plans, pricing and loads more.
They suggest spending a week on each lesson and there are a total of 14 lessons in the workbook. So over the week Lilly (11) and Sunflower (9) would read a chapter and on Friday they would complete the corresponding workbook exercises. It was all fairly straightforward and both the books and workbook are well laid out and easy to follow. Throughout the book there are anecdotes and stories relating to other teen’s experiences and the lessons they learnt running their businesses.
I was impressed that she encourages them to do their own market research – asking people they know if they would buy their product and how much they would be willing to pay for it. She also emphasises the importance of not going into debt and balancing business around your life.
The girls have put her lessons to good use – they were keen to try one of their business ideas out at a local charity event. They made a number of soaps and posh bath bombs (market research suggested citrus and lavender soaps, melon and rose bath bombs and gave them their pricing) they manned the stand (with some help from their younger sisters) and on the day managed to sell over £50 worth – they were able to donate their profit of £41 to the charity : )
They have already booked their next sale and have asked me to help create a Esty site for them.
They suggest spending a week on each lesson and there are a total of 14 lessons in the workbook. So over the week Lilly (11) and Sunflower (9) would read a chapter and on Friday they would complete the corresponding workbook exercises. It was all fairly straightforward and both the books and workbook are well laid out and easy to follow. Throughout the book there are anecdotes and stories relating to other teen’s experiences and the lessons they learnt running their businesses.
I was impressed that she encourages them to do their own market research – asking people they know if they would buy their product and how much they would be willing to pay for it. She also emphasises the importance of not going into debt and balancing business around your life.
The girls have put her lessons to good use – they were keen to try one of their business ideas out at a local charity event. They made a number of soaps and posh bath bombs (market research suggested citrus and lavender soaps, melon and rose bath bombs and gave them their pricing) they manned the stand (with some help from their younger sisters) and on the day managed to sell over £50 worth – they were able to donate their profit of £41 to the charity : )
They have already booked their next sale and have asked me to help create a Esty site for them.
2 comments:
I need this book for my daughter ;)
Zelda,
Thank you for your review. I appreciate it.
How wonderful that your daughters were able to donate 41 pounds to charity and learn about running a business at the same time.
They are at the young age of the book (it's really designed for teenagers), but with a little help from mom, it's fun to see what they can accomplish!
You might enjoy the public television program Starting a Micro Business, based on the first book. It features 6 students (all homeschooled!) and their parents discussing their micro businesses. http://youtu.be/K2g_MKqLUpo
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