Dallas Crilley’s Kidpreneur Blog — Ways Kids and Teens Can Make Money

The Story:

14-year old McKay Hatch decided last year too many of his friends were using foul language at his junior high in South Pasadena, California. So he challenged his friends to stop swearing. But for some of them that was easier said than done. So he decided to form a club to remind them all of their oath — he called it the No Cussing Club.

Soon word spread around the school and before long 50 kids had signed up and taken the oath. Then the local media found out about him, and his story took off. In the last year McKay has done hundreds of interviews with everyone from BBC London to Dr. Phil. And he’s watched the membership in his club grow to 50,000. It doesn’t cost anything to join but McKay has a store on his website. With 50,000 members one could see that McKay is well on his way to paying for his college tuition with a business that no one would ever cuss him out for.

The Secret:

Like many of the Kidpreneurs that I’ve covered in my newsletter and in my book McKay’s business was almost an accident. He started a club to help his friends clean up their language and now he’s just plain cleaning up.

Now It’s Your Turn:

I don’t believe in accidents — I believe that everything happens for a reason. So if you see yourself being put in a situation where you need to take action, look a little further and see if there’s a business behind that door. And like McKay you may discover another 4-letter word: C-A-S-H.

The Story:

At the age of six, Sami Fitzgerald was looking for a book about gratitude.  So she and her mother started hitting the bookstores. There were lots of grown up books on the subject of giving and being thankful, but nothing for kids.

And so Sami announced to her mom, “Well, I guess I’ll just have to write one.” And that’s exactly what she did. A few months ago, this Kidpreneur from Mansfield, Texas came out with a workbook called “Fish Sticks, Books and Blue Jeans – Teaching kids to be thankful for everything (yes, even Fish Sticks) everyday!”

She hasn’t been on Oprah yet, but she’s already been featured in dozens of local TV, radio and newspaper articles.  And she’s already sold close to a thousand books and is putting away a nice stash of cash for college.

The Secret:

Sami saw a need.  She looked for a book for kids about giving and couldn’t find one. But instead of stopping there, she decided to write one.

She was passionate about it.  No child will see a project through unless they love what they are doing. Sami is just a giving little girl. She had to share her message of gratitude with the world.

Now It’s Your Turn:

The next time you find yourself saying, “I wonder why no one has ever invented..” don’t stop there. Get busy and do it yourself.  Look around you. Every invention started with intention.  Sami discovered her passion at the age of six. Don’t wait till you’re 66 or 106 to find yours.

For more information about Sami and to order her book, go to www.samifitzgerald.com

The Story:

11-year old Leanna Archer has to juggle doing her homework with running a successful hair-care product company out of her home. For as long as she can remember she had been using her great-grandmother’s recipe for shampoo oil to condition her long locks. And when schoolmates would compliment her on her hair she would cook up another batch and sell them by bottle. She was only 8 when she founded LeannasHair.com.

Through media interviews the word has spread and now her home-based business is filling orders for salons across the country.

Leanna says, “I would love for kids to know that it is never too young to start a business.” For Leanna there really isn’t such a thing as a bad hair day.

The Secret:

The secret for Leanna’s hair-raising success is that when her classmates complimented her on her beautiful hair she didn’t just say thank you and move on. She took the compliment and turned it into cash.

Now It’s Your Turn:

Getting started in a business isn’t that complicated, folks. Somebody has a need, and somebody who fills that need makes money. Leanna’s great-grandmother came up with a recipe that had been handed down for generations, but it took an 8-year old to finally figure out there was a business.

Be like Leanna: don’t let a good idea curl-up and dye.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqxU-T3H31U

The Story:

When Emma Kragen was just 7-years old she wrote the words to a book that would become a best-seller on the back of a restauraunt place mat. In her young mind instead of the 12 Days of Christmas, Emma saw the 12 Dogs of Christmas. Her father, a successful producer in the entertainment field, knew they had a hit.

The book, aimed at children, has sold more than half a million copies and has been turned into a movie. They’ve even sold more than 100,000 stuffed animal dogs.

The Secret:

There’s an old saying that says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, and there’s a certain amount of truth to that. By the time you’re older, you might be so consumed with negative “I could never do this” habits that it may be too late. Emma didn’t wait until she was 18 to write her book — she didn’t even wait until she could spell all the words right. This girl had the dogged determination to know that she had a great idea and just go ahead and do it.

Now It’s Your Turn:

If you really want to be bad to the bone, don’t be like all of the other kids in the kennel who just have all bark and no bite. Be the kid that gets a good idea and doesn’t just roll over and play dead.

Samantha Qualls

The Story:

When 17-year old Ashley Qualls isn’t out with her friends hitting the malls, she’s hanging out at her house. Not her mom’s house, not her dad’s house, her house. The one she bought herself, with her own money. Ashley started out designing Myspace layouts for her friends, and quickly discovered she could make a business out of it. She created Whateverlife.com, which caters to teenage girls, and offers countless unique designs for free. Ashley makes money off the ads, and with over 60 million page views a month, that’s more hits than Oprah gets. In fact, she just turned down an offer of 5 million dollars to sell the company.

The Secret:

Who better to design layouts for teenage girls than a teenage girl? She knows more about what kids like than any adult ever could, but she also had to act. So many of us dream about doing something, but all of these ambitions seem to disappear as soon as our heads hit the pillow.

Now It’s Your Turn:

As Ashley demonstrates, children often have an advantage over adults. They see a market of other teenagers that many adults are completely ignoring. What are kids around you into? Is there a way for you to provide it and make money off of it? If all the kids in school are into a certain kind of music or clothing, could you get that and sell it for a profit? If you go into Whateverlife.com, you’ll see that Ashley’s favorite color is probably pink, but I can guess whatever her second favorite color probably is: green.

A Talent For Tape

The Story:

If there’s one undeniable truth in this world, it’s that duct tape will fix anything. After seeing Red and Harold from the “Red Green Show” make a duct tape wallet, 10-year old William Beacom realized that you could probably make anything out of duct tape too. His curiosity already sparked, Beacom decided to see just how much he could make with an ordinary roll of duct tape.

With persistence, William began realizing how far he could stretch the tape of his friends’ imaginations. After hearing compliments from his peers time and time again, Beacom realized that there was probably some cash in his creations.

He decided to start giving workshops to libraries and kids all across the state of Michigan, and when he was just 16 his unique story caught the eye of a reporter for the State News. The story they wrote for him was then seen by a talent coordinator for the David Letterman show, and just a few months later he found himself being broadcast to television sets all over the nation.

William says that he’s made about $8,000 dollars so far, giving him a great start towards paying for college. He is still a renowned tape expert, and his web site can be found at http://www.williambeacom.com/

The Secret:

This kid had a talent for tape, plain and simple. Not only was his skill interesting and unique, but he did it better than anyone else. Seeing that other kids his age all wanted to learn, he decided to share his aptitude for adhesive — for a price, of course. Once you get started, you’ll find that the people who can do things other people can’t do are the ones making money.

Now It’s Your Turn:

What are you good at? Start looking at your talents. Are you better at something than all of your friends? Once you’ve found that talent, it’s time to start using it. Isn’t about time that you begin turning your skills into a salary? The lessons you learn along the way will stick with you for the rest of your life.

Here’s the new Kidpreneur blog — I haven’t quite figured out how I’m going to make the e-zine and the blog work together, but hey, this is a pretty cool piece of technology.