Teaching business lessons to kids and teens? Being hands-on is a great approach.
Teaching business lessons through real-world experience helps children develop essential entrepreneurial skills while having fun. But don’t just take our word for it—let’s look at some inspiring examples of young business success.
If you think children can’t be successful entrepreneurs, think again.
An article on Addicted 2 Success lists some young people who made it big in the business world and proves that kids (yes, kids) can be entrepreneurs, too. The founder of Miss O And Friends was only 16—still in high school—when she started her online business, which is now worth millions.
Cameron Herald, the chief officer of 1-800-Got-Junk for seven years, recommended that we ‘raise kids to be entrepreneurs’ in his 2010 TED Talk. We’ve touched on work experience previously on our blog and recommend you check it out if you haven’t already.
That said, winter is almost here, so many children will be interested in holding fall and winter bake sales. Need proof? Think of the countless pastry stands at churches, community centers and schools, and you’ll get the idea.
A fall and winter bake sale takes teaching business lessons to the next level.
Teaching Business Lessons Through Bake Sales:
Why Customers Love Customization
A bake sale is an excellent opportunity to teach children about ‘market capture.’ In this situation, figuring out what kinds of customers your children will be selling to and what they want to eat.
For example:
- What are the types of treats most little ones their age like to eat? Brownies? Cookies? Cupcakes?
- Should there be a theme? For instance, if your children are involved in the local church, you could ask them what designs would be most appealing. Christmas trees, angels, and stars might be some suggestions.
- What about diet? Encourage kids to do a little research (i.e., find out amongst their classmates) on what flavors (chocolate, vanilla, peppermint) or dietary options (gluten-free, vegan) they’d like to see at the sale.
Remember: When you teach kids this business lesson, remember to be fluid. Customized offerings will change depending on the customer base. If your children are selling baked goods near a synagogue during Chanukah (also known as Hanukkah), it would be wise to teach them to adapt their products.
Teach Social Media Marketing Through a Kids’ Winter Bake Sale
When teaching business lessons, this is a great tip.
In this day and age, every business needs to be Internet savvy, so show your children how to use social media to market their business.
For example, help children create a Facebook page for their company. Facebook may require that you (the adult) be the account holder; however, you can create the page and then allow kids to develop and maintain it, so long as you keep your children under close supervision.
Show them the rudiments of taking pictures of products — such as a famous cookie — and posting them. Be sure to teach your children how to post the time and date of each bake sale in advance and during business days.
The same applies to X, Instagram, blogging platforms and so forth.
Teach Kids Business and Money Management with a Fun Bake Sale
Teaching kids simple accounting throughout the bake sale would be a great idea.
If you haven’t introduced your children to spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel, now would be a fantastic time to do so! Show them how to keep track of business expenses such as paper plates, baking ingredients and food packaging. Then, show them how to ‘balance the books’ by adjusting the prices of goods to cover costs and make a profit.
If you have extra time, try keeping an inventory of the best-selling goods. This will help inform which pastries you and your little ones will make more of. Tracking sales could also be used as a guide for creating new products!
Inspire Your Kids to Learn Big Business Lessons Through Small Bake Sales
Remember, you instructions when teaching business lessons through something as small as a bake sale will remain helpful if they decide to become entrepreneurs. Lessons such as managing money, market capture, and marketing are all skills applicable to any business, whether big or small.
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