March 9, 2023

The 11 Most Profitable Inventions of All Time

Most aspiring Biz Kids have similar daydreams: what if the gadget, gizmo, or service that fills their notebooks ends up being a runaway success? What if it makes them a millionaire? Or better yet, what if it goes down in the history books as one of the most important, most incredible, most profitable inventions of all time? While such visions may sound like pipe dreams, they probably felt that way to the inventors who did find such success, too. Here, we look back at 11 inventions that have stood the test of time (and made some of the entrepreneurs behind them quite wealthy).

11. Streaming video: In our digital-everything era, streaming video may not sound like it would be one of history’s most profitable inventions. But when you consider the billions of dollars spent on creating content, and the percentage of Americans’ lives devoted to consuming it, it’s easy to see how such an influential piece of our lives could be a revenue-generating one as well.

10. Online shopping: It’s hard to think of a time when buying things online wasn’t the norm, but Jeff Bezos remembers the time well. That’s when he began selling books on the internet, with visions of someday building an “Everything Store.” His vision is now a reality, as is his place on Forbes’ list of the wealthiest people in the world.

9. Social media: Launched in the early 2000s by various individuals and companies, most notably Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, social media has transformed the way people communicate, making it possible for people to connect with others around the world. But the hyper-specific ways that advertising can now be tailored according to people’s interests has also made social media an incredibly profitable platform for its investors.

8. Smart phone: When Steve Jobs took to the stage in 2007, few people could have imagined how ingrained the device would become in our daily lives. People now interact with their phones for everything from catching up with Grandma to viewing a menu to booking a flight. Few gizmos have had more impact than the smart phone, one that was nowhere to been seen decades ago, yet today fills literally billions of pockets.

7. The internet: Part of what makes the smart phone so powerful is its connection to the internet. Invented in the late 20th century by multiple individuals and organizations, including Tim Berners-Lee, the internet has transformed the way people access and share information, making it possible for people around the world to connect and communicate in ways that were previously unimaginable.

6. Personal Computer: Before the internet could improve so many corners of our lives, hardware had to bring it closer to home. For that, we primarily have Steve Jobs and Bill Gates to thank. Gates and Jobs took a technology that was reserved primarily for industrial and university settings and made it possible for individuals to have powerful computing capabilities in their homes and offices.

5. Airplane: Believe it or not, there used to be a day when living on opposite sides of the country meant that you wouldn’t see each other much, if ever. Invented by the Wright Brothers in the early 20th century, the airplane revolutionized travel and transportation, making it possible to travel long distances in a fraction of the time it would take by other means.

4. Automobile: If the airplane sounds revolutionary, consider the car. In the late 19th century, Karl Benz and Henry Ford disrupted transportation by transforming the stagecoach concept previously powered by horses – literally – to one powered by machine. Along the way, Ford also pioneered the assembly line concept, bringing more efficient manufacturing to multiple industries.

One Biz Kid who’s certainly glad Henry Ford paved the roads he did? Fabulous Coaches…

3. Telephone: Before the smart phone made FaceTiming with grandma a cinch, the airplane made seeing her simple, and the car made driving her easy, the telephone made talking at a distance reality. Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone made letter-writing cute, rather than crucial.

2. Light bulb: Perhaps one of the most disruptive inventions of all time is the one that eradicated the importance of day and night – the light bulb. When Thomas Edison channeled the power of fire into an electric orb, people could work longer, play longer, and yes, invent things late into the night.

1. Printing press: But before any other kind of gadget or gizmo made communication easy, we lived in a world where communication was one-to-one. Basically, your options for conveying an idea were to speak in person or through letter-writing. Then Johannes Gutenberg came along. His orienting press made books and other printed materials much more affordable and accessible to the general public. All of a sudden, ideas could spread with easy.

One great use of the printing press? Our best-selling book for teens:

March 2, 2023

Business plans: What’s with all the fuss?

In the world of entrepreneurship, two words act as the gateway between dreams and reality: business plan.

Our business plan template for teens has long been our site’s #1 most downloaded resource – and one of the most popular such guides on the entire web! There’s a good reason for that: what other resource acts as a such a consequential piece of paper? Looking to get a loan from your parents, grandparents, or old-school bank? Have a business plan ready for your first meeting. Looking to convince a buddy to leave his after-school job to join your big idea? A thoughtful roadmap will go a long way toward persuading her to take the risk.

To some entrepreneurs who see themselves as “big vision” types, a thoughtfully crafted business plan can feel like a waste of time. After all, whose financial “projections” ever come true? Yet the exercise is valuable for more reasons than one: not only will a written plan instill confidence in others, but it will help you work out the kinks in your own thinking before taking your vision to the marketplace.

Big Vision a.k.a. Elevator Pitch

It’s one thing to have a grand vision in your head, but a completely different thing to communicate your vision in a way that others can understand and rally around. Your big vision should paint a picture of the state of the world without your product or service, and the difference your idea will make in the lives of its adopters. How would you describe your big vision in a brief and bold sentence or two?

Market & Competition

The “market” for your product is the region, platform, or audience that your product or service will compete in. For a lawn care business, perhaps it’s the homeowners behind every lawn in suburban Kansas City. For an artist crafting greeting cards, perhaps it’s the window-shoppers of retail gift shops in Pensacola. Even if you think your audience is unlimited (Bro, I sell stuff to everybody on the internet!), you’ll be taken more seriously if you’re able to describe a specific, well understood market for your product or service.

Once you’ve framed your market, consider your competition. A reader of your business plan will want to see that you’re aware of your competitors and have a plan to improve on what they offer or how they operate some crucial aspect of it.

Team

Whether you’re asking strangers or relatives for investment or purchases, you’re not just selling an idea; you’re selling someone on your ability to make it happen. Here, give your readers an idea of who you are and what sets you apart. What are some examples of times your determination has paid off or your skills have been recognized by others? In other words, this is where you get to brag.

Financials

Let’s face it: “financial projections” are often mocked for being as realistic as unicorns. But calculating your hypothetical revenue and profit is a good exercise nonetheless. It’s important that you consider your costs of goods sold, like the cups, sugar, and lemons that would go into a lemonade stand or the gadget and cell phone plan required to try your hand at becoming a social media “influencer.” Without careful consideration of costs, your dream money-maker could become a nightmare money-loser in short order.

There used to be a bad habit in the world of entrepreneurship of gaining customers at any cost, with plans to recoup those costs later. Those days are over. Now, bankers and business pros want to see that you have a clear plan to make a profit. This is where you show them that you’ve thought things though and know how you’ll turn your sense of the market’s need into a financial success.

Marketing Plan

Once you’ve explained your big idea and shown how you can do more than break even by selling it, it’s time to outline your approach to gaining customers. This is where the “4 P’s of Marketing” are helpful handrails. What do you have planned regarding your product’s place (where you’ll sell), price (how much you’ll sell for), product (any variations you might offer of what you sell), and promotion (how you’ll spread the word)?

Executive Summary

Now that you’ve scribbled down responses for each section above, it’s time to boil your work down for a busy audience. It can be tempting to go on and on about a product or service that you’ve been dreaming up for weeks, but few things are more harmful to an otherwise stellar pitch than taking too long to explain it. If you worry that being brief will leave too much out, consider this: once you’ve hooked them, your audience can unlock all that additional brainstorming by uttering three words: “tell me more.” As you write the executive summary to your business plan, make those three words your goal, and you’ll be well on your way to securing the buy-in you desire.

February 23, 2023

Making a Splash – and a Profit – as a Kid Entrepreneur

This is part three of a three-part series on youth entrepreneurship. You can read part one here and part two here.

Two weeks ago, we championed the news of entrepreneurship’s rise with a rallying cry to launch a business of your own. Last week, we tackled the tricky terrain of securing the funding needed to start a business before becoming the legal age of an adult. And this week, we look to the future: now what?!

Once you’ve chosen an entrepreneurial path and secured the funding required to turn your idea into a reality, the real work begins. After all, recycling bins around the world are filled with business plans of great ideas that didn’t stick – or promising ventures that burned through more money than they took in.

So how can you rise above the rest? In business, success often comes down to how well you use two levers: marketing and money.

Marketing

Marketing is the engine that most effects the demand side of the supply & demand equation. How are you getting the word out about your product? How are you communicating its value to the people who need it? The shorthand for the categories that matter most in marketing are referred to as “the four P’s.” Here’s what they are (and what they mean):

1. Product: This refers to the goods or services that a business offers. It can also include aspects such as the quality, design, features, packaging, and branding of the product, though some of those fall into promotion as well.

2. Price: How much money are customers required to pay for your product or service? Your pricing should take into consideration factors like production costs, competition, and demand.

3. Promotion: How are you persuading potential customers to purchase your products? Common promotional tools include advertising, discounting, and PR.

4. Place: Location, location, location. “Place” refers to the digital or physical stores a business uses to put their products in front of customers. The bottom line? It should be convenient.

Ready to tackle your own 4 P’s? Check out our free download, the 4 P’s of Marketing.

Money

You could gain a quick and loyal base of customers by selling five-dollar bills for a buck a piece, but the math will turn your “business” into a bust in short order. Yet that kind of math – chasing demand at any cost – is precisely how many entrepreneurs lose their shirts. How can you avoid the same fate? By making sure you’re making a profit at all times. Not sure how? Our free Profit Worksheet download will help you tally your expenses and calculate whether your pricing, cost of goods sold, and marketing budget will help you turn a profit or turn up empty-handed.

February 16, 2023

Finding Funding for a Kid-Led Venture

This is part two of a three-part series on youth entrepreneurship. You can read part one here.

Last week on this very platform, we heralded the notable news – that last year was one of the very best on record for becoming an entrepreneur. We coupled that news with a list of businesses suitable for launch by an aspiring teen entrepreneur. This week, we’re considering the next question likely on the minds of budding tycoons: how?

After all, while launching a business can be an exciting and rewarding venture for kids, funding one can be downright elusive. Yet it doesn’t take a historian to notice that no shortage of billion-dollar ideas have been started by young people. So while funding is more difficult for minors, it isn’t impossible. Here are just a few ways that kids can secure the funding they need to turn their idea into reality:

1. Start lean

Just as author Chris Guillebeau instructs grown-up entrepreneurs in his best-selling book, $100 Startup, kids can begin by developing a prototype or a minimum viable product (MVP) to test out their concept on a small scale. This allows them to prove their concept before investing a lot of money into it.

2. Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a popular option for entrepreneurs of all ages, but is a step that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Yes, you can quickly create a campaign on crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter, GoFundMe, or Indiegogo, to raise funds for your business idea. A successful crowdfunding campaign typically involves creating a compelling video explaining your idea and its potential, while offer incentives to backers in exchange for their support. Consider those commitments seriously. If you promise a gadget in exchange for $40 in funding, your backers will be expecting to receive one.

3. Grants

Many organizations offer grants to young entrepreneurs to help fund their business ideas. Research local grants that are available in their area and apply for them. Popular national grants for young entrepreneurs include the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Young Entrepreneur Awards and the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA).

4. Personal Savings

Kids can also use their personal savings to fund their business idea. This is a great way to learn about financial management and budgeting. Once you have your own skin in the game, ask your parents to consider matching your savings! It never hurts to ask.

5. Business loans

Although traditional business loans may not be a viable option for kids in most areas, micro-loans or small business loans offered by community organizations or credit unions might be. These loans often have lower interest rates and more flexible repayment terms.

6. Partnership

If all else fails, consider partnering with other businesses or entrepreneurs to fund your business idea. This can be a helpful way to share resources, knowledge, and ideas. You may even acquire a mentor along the way!

Whether it’s starting small, crowdfunding, applying for grants, using personal savings, seeking out loans, or partnering with others, creative paths can indeed be found that help young entrepreneurs bring their business ideas to life.

Being 18 isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

February 9, 2023

Entrepreneurship is peaking. Ready to take the plunge?

Let’s face it: stats calculating…anything…from the last two years haven’t given us much to celebrate. But today, we’re throwing confetti over a truly awesome development just declared in Inc. Magazine.

Ready for the inspiring news? Here it is: 2022 was the second-most popular year for entrepreneurship since the beginning of record-keeping. A whopping 5 million applications were submitted by aspiring entrepreneurs – 5 million of the most diverse group of risk-taking, goal-setting, world-changing innovators our country has seen in some time.

Whatever the reason for the rise, one thing is certain: those seeking to launch a business of their own are in good company. Are you among them? Today, we’re launching a three-part series just for you. Today’s installment is for those of you who have the entrepreneurial itch but aren’t sure what to do with it. Without further ado, here are ten ideas for a kid aspiring to start a business of their own:

Lemonade stand: Sure, the warm weather isn’t here yet. But some creative prep now will give you a leg up come spring and summer. This classic business model requires only a few ingredients and a little entrepreneurial spirit. (Just want to practice? Our Dollar-a-Glass game is free — and won’t keep you waiting for warmer weather.)
Pet-sitting service: If you love animals, this is a cuddly way to earn money by taking care of pets while their owners are away. Just be sure to loop your parents into your plans and listen to their input about safety.
Gardening service: Wish you could profit from your love for the outdoors? Starting a gardening business can be a refreshing way to earn money (and get exercise, too!) From weeding to debris cleanup, getting your hands dirty could have you cleaning up at the same time.
Car washing service: With little more than a bucket, soap, hose, and some fluorescent poster board signs, you can launch a neighborhood car washing service. Even more fun? Including your friends in the endeavor.
Bake sale: For those who love to bake, starting a bake sale is a tasty way to put your culinary skills to the test and earn some pocket change. (Just make sure you know what your expenses so you’re actually making a profit! Our Profit Worksheet will help you run the numbers.)
Craft sale: If you find yourself regularly taking compliments for creativity, take your handiwork to the sidewalk or local art fair to offer your handmade creations for sale.
Tutoring service: Perhaps you consider yourself more of a student than an entrepreneur. That has value, too! If you excel in a particular subject, starting a tutoring service is a great way to share your knowledge and earn money.
Yard work service: Distinct from a gardening service, a yard work business can include lawnmowing, patio sweeping, raking and more.
Recycling service: Some cities make recycling easy, but not all! If you live in a town that doesn’t pick up recyclables on a weekly business, starting a recycling pickup service can be a meaningful way to earn money and help the planet.
Home cleaning service: Sure, you may not be a big fan of cleaning your own bedroom. But if organization sounds appealing at all, starting a home cleaning service is a tidy way to earn money while helping others keep their homes in tip-top shape. We’ve featured plenty of cleaning businesses over the years, like King’s Cleanup!

February 2, 2023

All About Love (and Money)

It doesn’t take a sleuth to detect the theme of the month. Candy hearts, red foiled greeting cards, and shimmering boxes of chocolates have replaced stores’ holiday season clearance sections with haste. Valentine’s Day is approaching, and the month of love is upon us.

Love may not seem like the topic of choice for a financial literacy brand – until you consider the many quotes that bridge the two.

“Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

“Love of money is the root of all evil.”

“Do what you love and the money will follow.”

Whether abundant or lacking, the concept of love is frequently linked to both professional endeavors and money matters.

Loving Your Work

To some, the concept of “love what you do, and you’ll never work a day in your life” may sound silly. After all, we can’t all be professional athletes, social media influencers, or professional gamers. But finding a way of making a living that satisfies isn’t just about play or prestige. Sometimes, it’s not the title that brings joy, but the little things that give a job meaning. Perhaps it’s turning your love for coffee into a gig as a barista, your eye for art into a seasonal job as a museum staffer, or channeling your passion for helping people into a position as a public housing advocate. Finding a job that you love is more realistic than it sounds – if you look behind the big fancy careers and obvious titles.

Our episode, “Hidden Careers,” does just that. It searches popular industries like film, aerospace, and food for the lesser-known careers that provide a realistic foot in the door. “Doing what you love” might be easier than you think.

Loving Your Money

Money is a powerful tool. It can put a roof over your head, provide transportation to a job, turn an idea into a prototype, and put food on the table. But money – or the reckless pursuit of it – can also harm. Disputes over money have ended professional partnerships, split marriages, and silenced lines of communication between siblings, parents and kids, and lifelong friends.

The old adage – that the “love of money is the root of all evil” – is often misquoted as simply, “money is the root of all evil.” There’s a big difference. Money isn’t inherently evil at all but making money one’s sole pursuit in life is a quick way to lose friends, distance family, and find yourself wading deep into moral compromise. (Our episode, “Scam-o-Rama” features multiple examples of scams that no-doubt stemmed from a scammer’s love for money above all else.)

This February, let’s put money in its place. Respect the power it has, while limiting the control it has over your life. Love what you do not the money behind it, and the money just might follow.

January 26, 2023

Bringing Back Budgeting

What memories or emotions does the word “budget” bring to your mind? Perhaps it’s a childhood memory about buying clothes – or not buying clothes – for the new school year. Perhaps it’s recent headlines about the government’s inability to agree on a budget at all, and the “nonessential workers” set to be furloughed as the budgets that pay their salaries are frozen in time.

Whatever connotation “budgeting” recalls, one thing is certain: for such a boring word, it sure can wield a lot of power. It turns out that “budgeting” is also susceptible to wild fluctuations in popularity.

Consulting Google’s database of print word usage, the word’s fallout quickly comes into focus. The phrase has clearly fallen out of vogue as of late, but history paints an interesting picture. Its all-time peak in popularity was the 1970’s – an era that frequently tops the charts in another category: inflation. As costs soared, it appeared that the good old-fashioned budget came into fashion.

As inflation tops newcasts and minds once again, it’s a good time to return to the word – and practice. The good news? Budgeting in today’s app-driven, tech-enabled world is a much easier task than budgeting in those groovy 70’s. Apps like Mint, Dave Ramsey’s EveryDollar, YNAB, and Goodbudget take all of the manual arithmetic out of the practice, tallying debits from your bank account or charges to your credit card and subtracting them from budget categories you’ve established.

Even more good news? The systems you put into practice today could quickly become habits tomorrow. And because those habits pertain to your monthly bottom line, the new habits could prove to be downright lucrative.

Want to learn more? Our Budgeting Basics episode and corresponding lesson plan cover the ins and outs of the topic, including the importance of having a budget, what you learn from keeping track of your expenses, and how to use a budget for personal or business situations.

January 19, 2023

Why Financial Basics > Financial Fads

If you’d listened to the financial “wisdom” of the pundits on social media over the last couple of years, you’d have been in for one heck of a roller coaster ride. If you happened to get lucky with regards to the timing of when you followed their advice, you could have made it rich on meme stocks (remember Game Stop?) or turned pennies into profit through cryptocurrency.

Or, if your timing was slightly different, you could have seen fortunes turn to rubbish with the collapse of FTX, or your rainy day turn to puddles with the drop in those very same meme stocks. The trouble with financial fads is that, for some, they can appear smart. As the old saying goes, “even a broken clock is right twice per day.” Just consider the total load of content put before our eyes each day last year:

95 million Instagram posts.

867 million Tweets.

300 million Facebook photos.

252,000 new websites.

Such was a single day of life in 2022. Information overload is an understatement. With that many pieces of content being written, just like a broken clock, nuggets of luck are sure to count among the counsel. After all, thousands of times per second, new thoughts are published, ideas are broadcast, and tips are shared. Those looking for lasting wisdom amidst the noise do so amidst a hailstorm of information.

In this age of information overload, let’s do something else. Let’s get back to basics.

Old wisdom works.

When Tess Vigeland, the host of NPR’s show Marketplace Money, retired, she signed off by sharing what she’d learned over her years hosting a show dedicated to finance. Her final words of wisdom?

Now here is where I could insert a bunch of the usual personal finance bromides. Spend less than you earn. Save all you can for retirement. Stick to a budget. Sure — all those are important. But after six years of dispensing financial advice or at least being in the room when we gave that advice, it really comes down to one thing: choices. And there’s almost nothing more personal in our lives than the choices we make.

Follow fads at your own risk.

Warren Buffett, the world’s most famous investor, has been criticized over the years for avoiding tech stocks and the profits they reap. His reason? He doesn’t understand them, so he sticks to the basics he knows – t-shirts, bricks, chocolate, and toilet paper among them. His philosophy seemed questionable amidst the dot-com boom of the 1990’s, but wise amidst the bubble’s pop soon thereafter. When you avoid a financial fad, you’re limiting both risk and potential reward. Only time will tell which was wisest. In the meantime, stick with what you understand.

Compound interest is key (and never ceases to amaze).

It’s one of the oldest, surest, and most frequently ignored pieces of financial wisdom. It’s the power of compound interest, and it’s the financial equivalent of a superpower for the young. Invest early at a steady interest rate, and you’ll do far better than any “grown up” working to catch up at an older age. Need a reminder? This chart from Dave Ramsey reveals the power of compound interest through a few $2000 investments at an early age as compared to many, many more by an adult:

Ready to join us on our quest to get back to basics? Check out our page devoted to Financial Basics.

January 12, 2023

Three keys for growing your dough in 2023

Take a quick survey of the 2023 New Year’s resolutions of close friends and family, and two words are likely to bubble to the surface: more and less.

“I want to look at my phone less this year.”

“I want to exercise more.”

“Eat less junk food.”

“Spend more time with my friends.”

“Worry less.”

Money matters often make the lists – spend less, save more. Or invest more, squander less. But as we discussed last week, a resolution that lacks specificity or measurement is difficult to achieve. This year, if money-related matters or more or less are on your mind, consider these strategies for making your financial resolutions specific and measurable:

Save a specific amount in a specific period of time

Depending on your age and income, a resolution to “save $1000 this year” could feel daunting. But broken down into smaller goals, the ten-Benjamin goal could be surprisingly achievable. Consider the weekly goal – just $20 per week, with 2 weeks to spare. Or perhaps the daily amount is easier to stomach: $2.74. If you find just one daily opportunity to squash your urge to splurge on a $3 item, a cool thousand could be yours at year-end.

Trade a specific line-item for savings on autopilot

David Bach’s book Automatic Millionaire makes the case for taking your goals out of your emotional hands into the code of a scheduled transfer. Want to save $25 per month? Set up an auto-transfer with your bank to make it so. Want to invest $100 per month? Set up a scheduled trade with a low-cost trading platform like Robinhood.

Hack recurring transactions for multiplied impact

Our subscription economy has an effect intended by companies but unintended by consumers: expenses we might have considered one-by-one twenty years ago (like purchasing an album) are now made on autopilot (e.g. Amazon Music or Spotify). 1999’s Blockbuster rental is now a monthly Netflix or Hulu subscription. Even book purchases can now be made monthly (like Kindle Unlimited). The result? Seemingly small monthly transactions of $9.99 add up to big annual sums. One rapid way to achieve your goals to spend less and save more? Slash some subscriptions. Take a look at your bank account, or better yet, use a tool like Rocket Money to uncover recurring charges and slash away. Just think: if you can find $30 in monthly subscriptions, a $360 plane ticket could be within reach by Christmas.

The bottom line? Think slow and steady.

The key to making your financial goals a reality is to consider the total impact of small decisions made regularly. Trading a recurring subscription for a recurring investment could have major implications once you harness the power of compound interest.

So this year, take your money goals to the next level: make them specific, make them measurable, and make them automatic.

Interested in learning more about the power of compound interest? Check out our online money course for teens, “How to Turn $100 into $1,000,000!”

December 29, 2022

Just received a new gadget? Fill it with profitable fun.

Word from the North Pole is that this was a big year for screens of all varieties — new smartphones, TVs, and computers had Santa’s sleigh quite loaded down last week. Our take? Nothing could be better — if you use your tools strategically.

At Biz Kid$, entrepreneurship runs through our veins. As an Emmy-winning financial literacy series on public television, we spend every month thinking about how to teach kids about entrepreneurship, saving and investing, financial basics, credit and debt, and more.

So if a new gizmo has you itching for profitable content, you might be thinking about something else: so where do I find all that Biz Kid$ has to offer?

You’ve come to the right place for the answer, Biz Kid.

Without further ado, we present a roundup of our all of our content in one convenient place. Away we go!

Emmy Award-Winning Video Content

No matter what your age, you likely know that video rules. Fun and engaging video, even better. And Emmy Award-winning video? Now that’s what we’re talking about. We’re a public television series that’s been on the air for six seasons. You can find our video content for FREE in the following places:

YouTube

Search for individual clips or view our collection of curated playlists on topics like “How Teens Can Get a Job” and “Biz Kid$ Basics.”

BizKids.com

Our site has clips organized by episode, topic, and even state and national standards for you educators out there.

On Public Television

Unwrapped a shiny new TV? Biz Kid$ airs on public television stations across the country. To find out when we air in your local market, click here.

Stream on Vimeo

Episodes from Season 6, as well as specially curated bundles of content featuring the “Best of Biz Kid$” are available to stream or download from Vimeo today. Downloads start at just $2.99.

Online Games

Sometimes, kids just need to play. Our free games make playtime (secretly) educational. Our Dollar-A-Glass lemonade stand game gives students a dose of summertime entrepreneurship anytime of year. Bring Home the Bacon takes financial literacy to outer space. And Break the Bank teaches the ins and outs of banking.

Young Entrepreneur Resources

Did Santa bring you a new briefcase? You’re our type. We also have tons of resources specifically geared toward young entrepreneurs, like our Business Plan Guide, Marketing Guide, and Profit Calculation Worksheet. Once again, they’re all free.

Online Course for Teens

Our online course is a self-guided journey through making, growing, and saving. It includes hilarious sketch comedy, inspiring profiles of real young entrepreneurs, and educational content you can take to the bank.

December 22, 2022

Hacking Holiday Break (for Profit!)

Cookies are becoming a regular fixture on kitchen counters, the bottom of the tree is filling up, and hints are being dropped left and right. It can all mean only one thing: the holidays are upon us. As with every break, the extra time presents a decision: use it to chill, or use it to profit.

When headlines like “6 Shows to Binge Watch Over Holiday Break” begin to arise, so does the temptation to veg out during your long-awaited weeks off. But this year, rather than watching endless reruns of holiday movies, what if your kids used the break to fill up their piggy bank or make progress on that invention? If they need a nudge, we’re here to help. Toss this list under their door (and don’t say a word.)

Snagging a Seasonal Gig

If you think a month isn’t enough time to make an employer happy, you haven’t seen the job boards recently. A simple search for “seasonal” on a leading job site resulted in dozens of listings for everything from “seasonal fulfillment center employee” to “seasonal retail clerk” and even “gift wrapping associate.” Because the holiday break is peak shopping season for retailers, they turn to seasonal employees for extra hands. Some jobs require employees to be 18 or older, but not all. (You may even have luck earning employment as one of Santa’s elves!) Here are some of the most popular seasonal gigs around the holidays:

· Delivery Driver “Holiday Helper”

· Retail Clerk

· Seasonal Catering Waitstaff

· Fulfillment Center Associate

· Tree farm retailer

· Gift wrapper

For even more ideas, check out our YouTube playlist, “How Teens Can Get a Job.”

What exactly does seasonal work look like?

Creating Your Own Income

Can’t find a short-term gig, or simply prefer the entrepreneurial life? The holidays present plenty of opportunities for inventive self-employment. Your first assignment? Brainstorming. Make a list of the unique tasks the holidays bring, then ask yourself how you could help make them easier. Perhaps you could wrap gifts for a few dollars per package, help string lights, or clean houses before company arrives. Need some inspiration? Consider the following:

· Giftwrapping

· Tree trimming

· House cleaning

· Kitchen helper

· Personal gift shopper

· Holiday card envelope stuffing

Thinking Long Term

A seasonal gig is a respectable way to spend a break. And making your own income through an entrepreneurial pursuit is an impressive use of time. But there’s another way to use your break fruitfully: making big plans for the future! Lots of us have ideas for gadgets that make life easier, tasks simpler, or frustrations smaller. The next step? Doing something with them. Use your break to turn your idea into a plan. Our free business plan template is a great start. Ready for more than just planning? Consider devoting some family time to a Shark Tank-style family invention challenge.

Your Holiday Challenge

Marketing guru Seth Godin is a master of a lot of things, but among his top talents is the “Ship something everyday.” No, we’re not talking about the pile of gifts you need to bring to the post office. We’re talking about taking action. The concept is to commit to taking a single, small step toward your ambitions everyday. Perhaps it’s as small as sketching your concept on paper, sharing your plans with a relative, or opening a business checking account. Whatever it is, a three-week break could put you 21 steps closer to reaching your goal.

Readers can download a free pocket guide on Seth Godin’s website.

December 15, 2022

“If it sounds too good to be true…”

Yesterday, a man recently touted as the “JP Morgan of crypto” was led into a police car in the Bahamas. Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of cryptocurrency platform FTX, was arrested after the sudden collapse of his company and the yet-to-be-determined potential loss of $8 billion in customer funds.

His sudden fall was reminiscent of many other heros-turned-villains, like Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and former NASDAQ chairman Bernie Madoff.

Before making headlines for their crimes, they filled cover stories with tales of greatness. Even the editors of Forbes Magazine were taken by their visions.

A common thread through the stories of Elizabeth Holmes, Bernie Madoff, and Sam Bankman-Fried is a claimed disruption so significant, one might believe they were too good to be true. And such naysayers would have been right.

When Elizabeth Holmes was pitching Theranos, she claimed to have a device that could run 100+ lab tests from a single drop of blood. Sam Bankman-Fried was seen as the sane brainiac in an industry defined by speculation and risk. For Bernie Madoff, it was years of uncanny stock picks that matched the market’s biggest wins and avoided its steepest losses.

In retrospect, it’s easy to look at such claims and laugh at anyone who believed them. But there’s a reason such claims aren’t obviously fraudulent in the moment.

That’s because not everything that sounds too good to be true ends up being so. Imagine telling a person holding a 1.4 megabyte floppy disk in 1999 that in 20 years, a USB thumb drive a fraction of its size would hold 128 gigabytes – a 100,000X improvement — yet cost roughly the same. Or telling a shopper at a record store in 1975 that they would someday carry a device that held every song ever recorded in their pocket, and that the service would cost the same each month as a single album. Sometimes, disruptions that change our world forever sound just as outlandish as those that fail to deliver.

The lesson here? If it sounds too good to be true, it’s probably one of two things: fraud or the future.

If it were easier to decipher between the two, you likely wouldn’t see Elizabeth Holmes on stage with former presidents, or Sam Bankman-Fried enlisting NFL stars to record Super Bowl commercials.

So rather than having a golden rule for discerning between fraud and the future, consider this age-old advice: don’t put all of your eggs in one basket, no matter how promising that basket may sound.

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