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Social Influence Reveals a Silver Lining

Ten years ago, if you’d told someone that you sought financial advice from a TikTok star, their puzzled response would have been something along the lines of, “What do one-calorie breath mints have to do with saving and investing?!” My, how times have changed. The short-form video platform has swiftly transitioned from literally nothing to strictly entertaining to competantly educating in a matter of months.

Consider Tori Dunlap, the founder of Her First $100K. The 26-year-old took to TikTok in March 2020 to get the word out about the power of high-yield savings accounts. That’s when the world began to take notice. Another video, debunking the idea that riches could only be gained if pricey lattes were avoided, went viral. 800,000 followers later, Tori is officially a TikTok star. And her fame centers around financial literacy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xRm5iav5VM

Another TikTok money maven is Delyanne Barros, who champions the merits of retirement and paying down debt. Even without a financial advisor accreditation, Delyanne’s advice is reaching the masses. 183,000 followers count on her financial insights on a daily basis.

Parenting a generation of which 54% aspire to become famous is no day at the beach. Perhaps the only parents who can relate are those who sheepishly told their financial stability-loving parents of their plans to become an artist, musician, or poet.  

But if your teen aspires to become a social influencer, take heart: there are paths to social influence that don’t center on celebrity alone. If your teen has visions of becoming a social celeb, encourage developing a proficiency that can benefit from social amplification, rather than chasing likes and reach alone.

If your child is more of a social media consumer than producer, don’t worry. If the 4 billion video views associated with #personalfinance are any indicator, their social obsession may not be so fruitless after all.

A small three leaves flower

A St. Paddy’s Day Celebration of Green Entrepreneurs

What does a “green business” mean to you? On any other day, it may be a sustainable one. But today is St. Patrick’s Day. And on St. Patrick’s Day, green rules. So today, we deliver a round up of our favorite green-related entrepreneur profiles from the years gone by. Some are sustainable and some are just Irish, but today…for one reason or another…none of them will get pinched.

The Gothard Sisters

It wouldn’t be St. Paddy’s day without some traditional Irish dancing. Meet the Gothard Sisters.

Sporting Sails

There’s still plenty of fun to be had from sails that have passed their boating life. These two brothers created a new sport out of old material. How very green.

Green Day

Let’s face it: we’re a country of consumers. But all of that stuff doesn’t just disappear after we toss it out. You might call it a “Boulevard of Broken Things.” Cue the music! 

Back to the Roots

Think mushrooms couldn’t get any more sustainable? Try planting them in used coffee grounds. 

America’s Next Top Green Business

It’s the hit fashion show you’ve never heard of. Who will be America’s Next Top Green Business? 

Sweet Dissolve

Tiny amounts of waste add up. Sugar packets are a great example – and the latest category to be disrupted by an innovative Biz Kid.

 Ava Anderson Cosmetics

Ava Anderson was shocked by the ingredients in the cosmetics she used everyday. So she invented a line that was actually good for people and the earth.

Free Lesson Plan for Teachers

Looking to incorporate the concepts of green businesses into your curriculum? Our free lesson plan includes activities, vocab, and more.

Lots of candy hanging

How Kids Make Money with Candy

For most of us, the question is not if you ever wanted to make or sell candy for a living, but when. Perhaps it was the first time you saw Willy Wonka step onto his magical factory, or the Saturday afternoon your grandma gave you five dollars and a ride to the sweet shop.

It should be of little surprise, then, that so many young entrepreneurs go into the candy business. The other unsurprising fact? Many of them experience some truly sweet success. 

Here are just a few of our favorites: 

The Candy Shop that’s 10X as Old as its Owner

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In the North Yorkshire village of England sits a sweet shop – shoppe, that is – that’s been in continuous operation since 1827. It’s so old, in fact, that it maintains a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. Yet its latest headlines aren’t due to old age, but a young age: the spritely age of its newest owner. The entrepreneur who just took the reins is only 23 years old. 

The chocolatier to the stars was once a Biz Kid.

A former Biz Kid runs one of the most coveted chocolate brands on the planet: Compartes Chocolatier.https://www.youtube.com/embed/0d1uyj4hSyo?wmode=opaque&enablejsapi=1

From Candy to Lightbulbs

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Before Thomas Edison brough incandescent light to households everywhere, he was bringing candy to people on trains (or so he tried.) His first entrepreneurial endeavor was going seat to seat, selling candy. As he explained, “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

Kids looking ipad with a bowl of chips

The Ultimate Biz Kid$ Resource Roundup

Every now and then, it’s a good idea to get back to basics. As an Emmy-winning financial literacy series on public television, we spend our time thinking about how to teach kids about entrepreneurship, saving and investing, financial basics, credit and debt, and more.

But if you’re new to Biz Kid$, you might be thinking about something else: so where do I find all that Biz Kid$ 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.

On Public Television

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.

Free Lesson Plans Mapped to State and National Standards

Yes, you read that right. We’ve written dozens of lesson plans that expand upon our video content with engaging, thought-provoking questions and activities. And that’s not all. We’ve also mapped our lesson plans to state and national standards. Just download, teach, and inspire.

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

We don’t stop at financial literacy. 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.

Stock market graph in mobile

GameStop’s Wild and Wacky Stock Market Ride

It’s a question we’ve asked – and answered for years: What’s up with the stock market? But last week, when GameStop went from the back of America’s minds to the top of their lips, the question gained new significance. Even finance pros and Wall Street veterans were asking, “Okay, really, what’s up with the stock market?!” Here’s how famed investor Jim Cramer explained the insanity:

To explain what happened on Wall Street last week is incredibly complex. But here goes, with a bit of help from my friend who works for the British Bitcoin Profit app. Most of us invest in stocks the old-fashioned way: by picking companies we admire and think will do well in the future. If we’re right, their stock goes up and we stand to profit. If we’re wrong, we could lose our investment. But in the complex portfolios of professional investors is something called a “short position.” It’s essentially investing upside-down. Investors “short” a stock they think will do poorly. If they’re right, they profit. But if they’re wrong, they could lose – big time – for betting againstthe company.  

At best, “shorting” a stock is an insult, and at worst, it can damage a company’s financial prospects. Translation: companies and the people who love them don’t like it. Some, like Elon Musk, even think the practice should be illegal. 

But at least for now, the practice is not illegal. And yet a massive group of armchair investors figured out how to punish those who were “shorting” their beloved companies anyway.

Gathering on the Reddit message boards, investors went from one stock to the next – most notably GameStop – investing in shares without regard for their future prospects, but instead, just to inflate the stock price and cause the big investors who bet against them to lose.

It worked. 

GameStop’s stock price rose by thousands of percent. The hedge funds who bet against it were forced to sell other stocks just to cover their catastrophic losses. And all of us were left wondering what all of this meant for the future of investing.

As for the immediate impact, some unsuspecting investors had a pretty good day.

A ten-year-old from Utah who just so happened to receive a gift of $60 worth of GameStop stock for Kwanzaa in December of 2019 suddenly found himself sitting on a $3,200 goldmine. He sold his stock while the price was while sky-high, and immediately put $2,200 into savings. 

It’s unlikely that the GameStop debacle will become a template for future profits, but who knows. In the meantime, anyone lucky enough to profit from the insanity would do well to keep the funds growing. 

Want to know what to do with your GameStop fortune? Check out our full episode, “What to do with a Windfall.”

Publics are on super mall

Teaching Kids the Truth about Credit

Almost every credit card approval letter begins the same way: “Congratulations!” From the misleading greeting, you’d think the $5,000, $10,000, or $20,000 credit limit just approved was nothing but a gift. Instead, the greeting should read: “Warning!” After all, a new line of credit is little more than a new chance at deeper debt. 

Yes, credit is a tool. It has its place. But just like a saw, hammer, or drill, credit is a tool that can also do damage if misused. 

According to a recent report from the credit authorities at Experian, Americans have an average of $22,751 in available credit. That’s $22,000 is potential debt. $22,000 in potential bills. And $22,000 of potential misunderstanding by the kids who witness our transactions.

Beware of Your Child’s Concept of Credit

Assumptions are a tricky thing. After all, much of what a child assumes rarely comes up in conversation. They just believe what they believe, until something contradicts it. But a child’s assumptions about credit cards can be downright dangerous, financially speaking.

For a child, money is usually tangible. Their money fills their pockets, lines their piggy bank, or falls out of birthday cards. So when mom or dad leave a store with a cart full of food by merely swiping a piece of plastic, a child can assume that such things didn’t cost a dime. But a few smart habits can turn your shopping trips into learning moments for your child.

Show and Tell

Studies show that 48% of all purchases are transacted with plastic. About half of those are debit cards, and the other half are credit. When you’re among the 48%, use the point of sale as a teaching moment. Explain that the card you’re swiping tells your bank to send the store some of your money. Perhaps something like this: “Today, we’re using some of the money mommy and daddy worked for, just like how you work for your allowance. We’re trading the store some of our money for this food.” Their follow up questions about how your bank communicates with the credit card processor? You have our permission to make that up.

Spill the Bills

If your child is old enough to understand the concept, sit them down at the end of your billing cycle and show them your transaction history. “See, we’re now paying for the food we ate last week. But we saved our money to pay this bill, so it’s okay! We worked hard to make money so our family could buy what we needed. We knew how much money we had in the bank, and were careful not to spend more than we had.” Your objective here? Drive home the point that those cash-free purchases didn’t go unnoticed by your pocketbook.

Practice Makes Perfect

Finally, to turn your credit card concepts into financial understanding, hands-on exercises will help. There are a number of modern apps and programs that allow parents to pay their child’s allowance digitally, offering practice in cash-free living. Here are a few of our favorites:

  • RoosterMoney is a beautifully designed digital allowance manager for families. Their tagline: “Transform the way you manage pocket money.”
  • FamZoo is a virtual online bank for families and kids that facilitates cash-free allowance, loans, expense sharing, and even matching contributions.
  • ThreeJars is a simple online allowance system that even keeps track of IOU’s between a parent and child. Coming soon: online shopping.

Looking for more information about credit? Learn the ins and outs of credit and debt on our new dedicated page.

A boy wearing sunglasses and holding a cell phone.

The Priceless (and Perilous) Smartphone

7 hours and 22 minutes. That’s the average amount of time the modern teen spends on their phones – not including schoolwork.  

The devices we couldn’t imagine until Steve Jobs revealed them to us 2007 are today considered downright essential. Even before COVID-19 turned our phones and computers into classrooms and offices, the devices were taking over our lives — a double-edged sword in every since of the word.

Hundreds of years ago, parents marked their children’s coming of age with the gift of a sword. It marked a level of trust and a level of responsibility. It was a powerful tool, and could become a dangerous weapon. It could be used for good, for ill, and could even be used against you if you weren’t careful.

Sound familiar? The cell phone has replaced the sword with striking similarity. It’s seen by most teens as a rite of passage, and by most parents as a daunting conundrum. It’s a powerful tool in that it puts a world of access into the palm of your hand. And it’s a dangerous one for all the same reasons. But is it anything new? Actually, yes. The figure is double the average from just four years ago.  

It goes without saying that smartphones have created plenty of good. They’ve connected people across continents, added a $2.4 trillion sector to the global economy, shined light on brutality, created record of moments of jubilation, and allowed professionals to conduct work from the beach.https://www.youtube.com/embed/WIKYgfnYQ0s?feature=youtu.be&wmode=opaque&enablejsapi=1

High School Musical star Cymphonique created a social network where girls can use the power of the phone to get professional help for life’s many challenges.

But what else has our phone-addicted society brought us? Here are a few facts every parent should know:

So what’s a parent to do? Protecting your kids from the downside of devices is a combination of timing, balance, and boundaries.

Timing is Everything

When you got your first cell phone depends on when you grew up. For many parents of teens, it coincided with going off to college; parents of toddlers, the driver’s license. And today’s cell phones? 53% are in the child-sized pockets of kids just 11 years old. The average age at which a teen receives their first cell phone isn’t in the teen years at all: it’s 10.3 years old, according to TechCrunch. Such early adoption comes with new concerns, precautions, and questions.

Who Pays?

Just a decade ago, when cell phone adoption was relegated to the teen years, a parent could realistically expect their child to pay or chip in for their cell phone bill. With smartphones expected years before most states allow a child to work at all, the standards are changing.

There’s a silver lining to this shift. As they say, “He who controls the purse strings holds all the power.” As a parent, your authority is already a force in itself. But the power of the purse puts you in more concrete position to enforce rules and monitor behavior. Make it clear that granting the privilege of a cell phone is just that, and misuse will result in rapid disconnect.

That being said, nothing causes a person to value something quite like being financially invested, even if such an investment feels nominal to you. If your 11-year-old earns $5 per week in allowance, perhaps their contribution to a cell phone would require half that.

The Art of Analog Hours

Experts say that healthy cell phone use should be limited to roughly 2 hours per day. If that sounds like a lot, wait until you hear how long Psychology Today found teens are using their cell phones. Ready? 8 hours per day. Psychologists have a word for that: addiction.

But enough of this “when I was your age.” What can a parent do about it? Enact analog hours. Dinnertime? Place all cell phones — mom and dad’s included — into a designated bowl on the kitchen counter. Road tripping? Have designated breaks where phones are kept in the console. And nighttime? That’s deserves a paragraph of its own.

Here’s a rule of thumb: when lights are off, screens are off. If that seems impossible to enforce, there are no fewer than a half-dozen apps created with a single purpose: to help you stop using your phone at night. Parents and teens alike will be better for it.

Drawing the (Phone) Line

As a parent, one of your primary responsibilities is keeping your child safe. On the digital frontier, nothing could be more relevant. Our take on when to draw the line on the phone line? When health or safety is in jeopardy. Included in that list? First up: bullying, either as the instigator or the subject. Next, when used as a tool for breaking your house rules, such as making plans to sneak out at night or invite guests over at off-limits hours. If a phone is putting your teen’s wellbeing in jeopardy, the best thing you can do for them is take it away. Will they see it that way? Not a chance. Do you have the right? You bet your bottom cell phone bill-paying dollar you do.

For more on cell phones and teens, we recommend this article from Psychology Today.

A scholar is looking at the TV

As College Went Virtual, Students Went Packing

A few years ago, Harvard and Stanford took the extraordinary step of putting classroom-recorded courses on their websites for free. The move was downright gutsy. After all, access to the schools’ professors and insights were considered elite; their $50K+ tuitions, worthwhile. 

Many in academia took pride in the assumption that nothing could beat the classroom experience. And because of that, demand for pricey enrollment would not be threatened.

Little did they know, in the year 2020, the entire academic world would be forced online. Yet, this time, the schools scrambling to equip their professors with webcams would ask for tens of thousands of dollars for the honor of “attending” an elite university from the comfort of their secluded dorm room, basement, or parents’ kitchen table.

The impact was much like you’d expect.

According to Inside Higher Ed, last year’s college applications saw a significant decline. The Common Application reported a drop of 8%, while the number of lower-income applicants dropped twice as quickly – a 16% decline compared to the previous year.

Calling College into Question

The exact benefits of college have long been debated. Is a 4-year degree worth it? How about if it comes with large amounts of debt? Which degree programs retain the most value? Could attending a community college, either for the first two years or the full four, save precious dollars without damaging one’s hiring prospects? 

For many, “the classroom experience,” “student collaboration,” and other traditional university experiences tipped the decision in favor of doing what had always been done. Now, like every other category of human life in 2020, those assumptions have been disrupted.

A License to Ask 

If you’ve found yourself more interested in the “hard skills” offered by a trade school, or satisfied with the education that an online college can deliver, the global pandemic just handed you another reason to have confidence in asking the question at all. 

And it’s one we’re asking right alongside you. We devoted a full episode to asking the question, “is college worth it?” Even before COVID turned all schools into online schools, the answer was complicated. 

Looking for more information about college and careers? Check out our dedicated page at bizkids.com/learn/careers.

Man looking at light shine

Young entrepreneurs, this is your time to shine.

It’s official, Biz Kid: the playing field has been leveled. For all of last year’s despair and destruction, it delivered some unexpected advantages for aspiring teen tycoons. Some of the biggest hurdles faced by young entrepreneurs have suddenly been demolished. What you make of the moment is entirely up to you.

Fancy offices are out.

Here’s a quiz: what’s the difference between a 17-year-old graphic designer and a Madison Avenue ad agency? Yes, the big guys may have more experience due to unlimited graphic design jobs they’ve worked. They certainly have bigger invoices. But more than anything else, they have the façade that gives clients confidence. 

The allure of the prestigious address has long put Biz Kids at a disadvantage. Sure, you may be a talented painter, but this other guy has a studio in Greenwich Village. And you’re….at your mom’s house? Suddenly, everyone is working from a makeshift home office. Address advantage: neutralized.

Virtual work is leveling the playing field.

Big cities used to snag all of the big deals. “The difference between New York City and everywhere else,” once quipped SNL producer Lorne Michaels, “is that the things that happen here matter.” 

In the era of Zoom meetings, to be in a gleaming tower in a metropolitan city means nothing. Wish you could snag a client in a city 1200 miles away? Today, your suburban locale is no longer a strike against you.

Tradition is being tossed.

There are plenty of good reasons for tradition. Some things are done the way they are because they’re the best or most efficient ways of doing so. But others are simply a matter of habit. Over the last nine months, the traditional ways of doing everything have been rethought, reworked, and renegotiated.

Consider cash. For years, people have been foretelling the demise of our cash-based society. Between cards, Bitcoin, and Venmo, surely we had no need for dead presidents anymore, right? And yet familiarity kept cash in pockets. Only when germs became a concern did the overhaul finally happened. Suddenly, many stores refused to accept cash at all. Habit: broken. 

The question for you, Biz Kid: what opportunities has the breaking of tradition created for you? What familiar ways are being reconsidered? What inventions could save people time, money, or concern? 

Your answer could be the ticket to making 2021 the year of the young entrepreneur.

Looking for more resources on becoming an entrepreneur? We’ve devoted an entire page to the topic, complete with video clips, downloads, and even games.

Room decoration with 2021 baloon

2021 Resolutions, Family-Style

In some ways, January 1st will be just another day. It’s another collection of 24 hours, each a set of 60 minutes, each comprised of 60 seconds. And yet there’s something about the dawn of a new year that gives us fresh fuel to conquer our goals, to shed our bad habits, to launch our ideas, and to run after what we want.

And all of that was true long before 2020 gave us all a year to wish away.

Today, people around the world are jotting down plans to lose weight. To exercise. To spend less. To save more. These are the resolutions made for generations. Goals selected on this first day of the year. And goals too often abandoned by February. So why do we have such trouble keeping our resolutions? Accountability.

Spending less, for example, is easier said than done. It’s easy to think you could cut your dining out budget until your friends want to celebrate a birthday. Or that you could exercise more until your boss moves staff meetings to 8am.

That’s why this year, we’re taking another approach entirely: New Year’s resolutions, family-style. Join forces with the ones you love to make a single set of goals for the whole house. Not only are your resolutions more likely to be kept, but you could build family unity in the process.

Need some ideas? You can have one of ours.

Learn from 2020’s Lessons: It’s Relationships that Matter.

Many resolutions have much to do about self. We might want to lose weight so we can feel better, or save more so we can have more later. But if 2020 taught us anything, it’s that relationships matter more than anything. Sure, we all missed going out to eat or enjoying a screening at a movie theatre. But most of all, we missed each other. This year, make a resolution regarding family time. Perhaps it’s as simple as eating dinner together 4 nights per week, or going to visit the grandparents once it’s safe to do so. Whatever you do, don’t fill your goals with self-centered resolutions alone..

Don’t Spend Less. Spend Smarter.

Few resolutions are more of a buzzkill than “spend less.” The mere idea of forgoing your morning cafe run can make a coffee guzzler shudder. Rather than eradicating all of of your wants, make an effort to eliminate the “oh well” spends. Things like Uber rides after missing the bus, late fees on library books, or the 6th day of fees on that RedBox you watched last weekend. In other words, taxes on irresponsibility. Though the category requires more effort, it won’t steal an ounce of joy from life’s simple pleasures.

Take an Idea to the Next Level

Perhaps you’re one of those families that spends dinner time speculating about grand solutions to little problems. Whether inventing a better salt and pepper shaker, talking about a better app, or making plans to turn your TV room where you usually connect switch to tv without dock into a tech shop, it’s always easier to talk than take action. This year, make a goal of taking a step toward one of the ideas your family has had percolating. Perhaps your next step is writing a business plan, clearing a patch of land, or cleaning up the garage. Whatever it is, divide your task into pieces and assign one to each family member. Who knows: that salt and pepper shaker could be the next big thing.

Join Forces on a Family Splurge

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Every child has a dream that’s been met with a similar response: “That costs too much money.” Perhaps it’s a dog, a trampoline, or a trip to Disney World. We all hate saying no, but it’s often the responsible thing to do. Want to give your child a different answer? Here’s a simple idea: pool your spare change throughout the year in a giant jar. Have a goal in mind and invite the entire family to take part is seeing it actualized. At year end, visit a Coinstar machine and use the proceeds to buy your family’s splurge of choice. One family saved up so much change in a water jug that they’re taking a family vacation using nothing but pennies, dimes, nickels, and quarters. A family goal, a family effort, and a family reward.

Hands full of painting color

The 9 Qualities Every Young Entrepreneur Must Have

Grit.

There’s a reason the vast majority of Americans prefer the stability of a paycheck over the life of an entrepreneur. It takes bravery, persistence, and determination to face a world of rejection and risk. There’s a word for such a combination of qualities: grit. Grit is the quality that causes an entrepreneur to take risks, defy odds, and keep on keepin’ on.

Ingenuity.

The very quality that puts the “create” in creator and “invent” in inventor is ingenuity. Having an eye for solving society’s problems in creative ways is the X factor that separates the makers from the rest. Your business doesn’t have to be an invention to require ingenuity. Finding a new way of selling a traditional item (Warby Parker, anyone?) requires the very same skill.

Empathy.

The concept of empathy may be surprising for a list about self-starters, but entrepreneurship is, at the end of the day, about meeting the needs of others. The best brands are those who’ve found ways to understand what their customers feel, then make their experiences—and lives—better. 

Humility.

If any quality on this list faces resistance in modern entrepreneurship, it’s humility. Instagram accounts are full of entrepreneurs broadcasting their spending, their success, and their overall good fortunes. If only it were always true. Among the many problems with rejecting humility is the affect it has on those around you. How lonely it would be to attain success only to have no one next to you cheering it on.

Grace. 

When you lead a company or run a business, you’re bound to ruffle some feathers and have your own feathers ruffled in return. Getting ahead isn’t about avoiding conflict. It’s about moving beyond it. Having grace – both for your own mistakes and the mistakes of others – is vital to making it as a leader without growing bitter.

Scrappiness.

Launching a business is a pricey endeavor. There are plenty of ways to burn through your seed money, including pricey furniture, flashy clothing, or slick marketing materials. But as made famous in The $100 Startup, it doesn’t have to be that way. Remaining thrifty in the early days is a necessary ingredient in becoming successful over the long term. 

Discipline.

Today’s world is full of distraction. Social media has confused running a business with managing a brand. But those who succeed often have a common trait: focus. Being disciplined in managing your schedule, conquering the tasks before you, and sticking to your plans is an absolute must if you’re going to be a self-starter.

Integrity. 

Making a cheap buck is actually pretty easy. Selling goods that don’t work or fudging your numbers to make some extra profit may give you a leg-up in the short-term but will give you a rotten reputation in the long run. (Not to mention a well-earned sense of guilt in your gut.) Maintaining high integrity may not always pay off immediately, but it’s essential to living a life of honest success. 

Resilience. 

The road of entrepreneurship is one marred with potholes. Give up when you hit your first roadblock, and you’ll be in good company. But if you’re able to brush your knees off and try again, you could join the ranks of the many ultra-successful people whose first endeavors didn’t quite pan out.

Want to learn more about becoming an entrepreneur? Check out our free collection of videos and tools on our Entrepreneurship page.

Kids looking at ipad

2020’s Smartest Gift: A Course in Millionairedom

With the holiday season in full swing, parents and grandparents are scrambling to find gifts that will live on long after the wrapping paper has been recycled. For our top pick this year, we start with a problem in need of a creative solution. First up? The problem. The big, grinch-style problem.

When T. Rowe Price released the results of its annual Kids & Money survey, one question stuck out like a sore thumb: “Which of the following types of financial education did you receive when you were younger?”. 41% responded with a mind-numbing answer: “none of the above.”

Source: T. Rowe Price
Source: T. Rowe Price

At Biz Kid$, we’ve committed ourselves to filling this glaring void in our educational system. Over the last ten-plus years, we’ve created an Emmy-Award winning television series, dozens of free lesson plans mapped to state and national standards, a library of tools for young entrepreneurs, and a best-selling money book for kids.

https://youtu.be/sY8sJTqNxBc

The problem identified by T. Rowe Price is exactly why we invested so heavily in the latest addition to the Biz Kid$ vault of resources. It’s an interactive course that incorporates our most engaging (and yes, hilarious) video content with a load of new material, vibrant graphics, and inspiring activities.

A sampling of content from the course, “How to Turn $100 into $1,000,000.”
A sampling of content from the course, “How to Turn $100 into $1,000,000.”

Based off of and named after our best-selling book, “How to Turn $100 into $1,000,000,” from Workman Press, the course teaches teens how to make, manage, and grow their money. Our self-guided format allows each teen to work their way through the materials at their own pace.

Access to the basic version of the course costs $29, while a premium version packed with additional interactive materials is $49. Plus, it makes a fabulous gift for the future tycoon in your life. Preview the course today at bizkids.teachable.com.

So what’s the true impact of making, saving, and growing money? Well for one thing, perhaps the next generation’s financial literacy surveys will have starkly different results.

We think of it as the closest thing to a class in Millionairedom, and we think it makes the perfect holiday gift for the year none of us will soon forget.

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christmas gifts, 2020, gifts for young entrepreneurs, financial literacy

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