Raising Cash Smart Kids

It’s a rushed week this week, as I am preparing to go overseas this weekend. I’ll be flying to Stockholm to speak at a conference, and then on to Washington to attend another conference.

In Washington, I’ll be catching up with Shonika Proctor, who is coaching those remarkable business kids from very underprivileged backgrounds. I am looking forward to hearing more of their stories, and I’ll share them with you soon.

I have had a press enquiry – if you are in the north-eastern part of Sydney, Australia, and you put an entry into the competition, your regional newspaper, The Manly Daily, will do a story on you and your business. Now, we don’t have an entry from that part of the world yet, so the field is wide open!

I don’t need to tell you what it can mean for your business to have a story in a paper with a readership of over a million people.

So, any Aussies ready to grab this opportunity?

I read a great blog post yesterday from Dave Ramsay, which started:

Some people say, “Timmy’s so young. I want him to enjoy being happy and innocent.  Money is a worry for grown-ups, not kids.”

I say, “We’re raising a whole generation with ’sucker’ stamped on their foreheads because we’re not teaching them.”

Your job as a parent is not just to keep your child happy. You’re raising a future grown-up who needs to be able to deal with grown-up matters. If you teach little Timmy how to handle money responsibly, then grown-up Timmy will be better equipped for a richer life.

Read the rest of Dave’s post at daveramsay.com.

I think Dave makes a very good point here – we are all questing for happiness, and we all operate on the assumption that is life is easy, we will be happy. Therefore, we try to make life easier for our kids, in the expectation that they will then be happier.

The truth about happiness, however, is that the ease or difficulty of life is not the issue. The issue is how we deal with life. Competence breeds happiness. The ability to handle one’s responsibilities breeds happiness. A sense of self-reliance and self-direction breeds happiness.

“Cotton wool kids”, who are sheltered from “harsh reality”, never have the opportunity to learn how to deal with life and manage responsibilities in a gradual manner, with parental support. They remain infantilised until the day that parental safety blanket is ripped away – by death, divorce, or the need to move away from home – and then they are suddenly, shockingly, exposed to situations for which they are woefully unprepared.

Needless to say, there are not happy at that point.

However, even during the “cocoon” phase, studies show that kids who have everything done for them suffer from anxiety and depression at a greater rate – and as the post-war generations have progressively shielded their kids from more and more of life’s harsh realities, the rates of depression in the population have soared.

Human beings instinctively know that life takes effort. We enjoy the moments of rest and freedom, but we enjoy them because of the contrast with “real life”. In the absence of major challenges from the outside, we hunt for “problems” amongst the minor ups and downs of daily life.

Kids as young as eight are worrying that they will have to support their parents financially when they grow up. These are comfortably middle-class American kids I am talking about. Suze Orman wrote an article for the Readers Digest in which she recounted the story of visiting a third grade class and asking them what their financial worries were. One child piped up with “I am worried that Mum and Dad will run out of money when they are too old to work and I will have to take care of them.”

Expecting this to be a rare thought, perhaps due to a particular family situation, Suze said “Does anyone else have that worry?” – and about half the class raised their hands.

Data shows that the greatest risk factor for bankruptcy is being middle-class and having children. These are some of the most pampered and protected children on the planet. These are the kids whose parents want them to “just be kids”.

These are the kids carrying huge financial worries – and unable ever to talk to anyone about it.

“Run along and play, don’t you worry about that” won’t cut it.

We need to prepare kids to deal with money from the day they first want to spend it. We need to talk openly with kids about financial issues – at an age-appropriate level. Most importantly, we need to recognise that they can and do think very responsible thoughts about money issues – but without the perspective or knowledge required to feel confident about that responsibility.

We don’t shield kids from problems when we tell ourselves “money is a worry for grown-ups, not kids” – we just isolate them from the solutions.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

I had an email last week from Steve Gillman, from unusualwaystomakemoney.com – he has had a link from his site to the Cash-Smart Kids site for a few months now. He’s going to be letting his subscribers know about the competition, so I am looking forward to hearing about some unusual businesses!

If you’re stuck for an idea to get your business going, have a look at Steve’s list of ways for kids to make money.

Still waiting on a large number of promised entries … you know who you are! As I say every week – get them in!

I can’t promote your videos and Hubs if I don’t have them …

A short post this week, because I have been sick and haven’t caught up on the competition updates from around the world.

Still waiting on news from the publishers, and still waiting on a large number of promised entries – come on, it’s summer holidays in the US now – no more excuses!

Much more next week, I promise …

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

Still waiting on word from the publishers …. nothing ever happens when promised! Sigh.

Meanwhile, I want to remind everyone of the great opportunities which are available to entrants in the competition – for example, having your business mentioned in a magazine which goes out to 6 million readers!

Whether you win or not, being in the competition has all sorts of ongoing benefits. For example, young Rhiannon’s video has been seen by news outlets all around the world, and is currently featured on Peter Economy’s blog.

I know there are lots of people out there intending to put entries in, but procrastinating.

Do it NOW!

The longer your video is online during the competition, the more exposure your business will get.

Today we welcome back Amanda Van Der Gulik, Mompreneur and enthusiastic advocate of teaching kids good money habits from an early age.

“Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees!”

Does this saying sound familiar to you?

I bet you are probably one of many who heard this often growing up, right?

If not, you were lucky.

Let’s turn a new leaf and start raising our own children a little differently.

How about we change the way we answer our kids when they want something that requires money that we do not have or refuse to give.

For example:

Jonny wants a new pair of brand-name, high-endurance, running shoes.

“Dad, I really need a new pair of ‘brand-name’, running shoes. They are the coolest and all the kids have them. I want a pair too! If I don’t get a pair of them, then Shawn’s going to beat me at basket ball and you know, I’m 10 times better than him at basket ball!”

Here are two different replies:

Dad replies with,

“What do you think I’m made of?  Money doesn’t grow on trees you know!“

or

Dad replies with,

“Well son, if those shoes mean that much to you and you truly feel that Shawn will have an unfair advantage over you in basket ball, then what is your plan? How do you plan to buy those shoes?

Can you think of something that you can do, or make, or service, that can raise you the money so you can buy your own pair?

If you really want those shoes, son, then you’re going to have to come up with a good way to buy them. I believe you can do it.

Come back to me when you have a plan and we’ll see if we can work it out together.

Good luck kiddo.”

In Dad’s first reply, Dad shuts Jonny’s hopes down but ALSO teaches him, although unintentionally, that life is all about ’scarcity’. Jonny learns from these negative replies that money is hard to come by. That it is difficult to get what you want in life. That other people will always have more than you.

And the list goes on and on…

On the other hand in Dad’s second reply, you can see that Dad is turning on the creative juices in his son’s mind, “okay, so I want these new shoes,  how can I go about making the money to get them myself?”.

And as well as getting Jonny’s creative juices flowing on some easy ways for kids to make money, Dad is also teaching some other incredibly valuable life lessons.

Like: Abundance, Optimism, Faith in his son to find a way to fulfil his desire.

He is teaching him to be responsible for himself as well as encouraging him to come up with a plan and then to work together on making that plan come to action.

This alone will diminish any thoughts of theft as an option.

So how are you talking to your own kids when it comes to money?

See if you can pay attention to the next time your child asks you about money.

Listen to your own reply and then meditate on it for a minute or two.

How did that answer come across to your child?

Was your child turned off of money, or encouraged to take responsibility to come up with a creative way to attract their desired goods?

I hope you have enjoyed this thoughtful session, and I look forward to writing the next. If you have any specific topics that you would like me to talk about please just leave a message and I will do my best to answer your topics of interest where concerned with kids and money.

Cheers…Amanda van der Gulik…Excited Life Enthusiast!

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For 50 Free Money Making Ideas for Kids click here!
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PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait…

We had a rush of people coming to look at the competition rules last week, so I am guessing that someone has been publicising the competition, or the press release – or maybe we have had some press coverage that I haven’t heard about yet.

If you happen to have seen a new story about the Cash-Smart Kids YouTube video competition somewhere, please drop me a line in a comment on this blog, or via the contact page and let me know!

We’re still waiting to hear from the publisher we like the best, after an initial warm response – who knows how long it might take them to come back with an offer?

In the meanwhile, though, keep the entries coming in – so far I have seen about one percent of the entries that people have spoken to me about actually materialise, so I know there are an awful lot of good intentions out there.

Let’s see those good intentions turning into some ACTION!

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait…

Keepin’ it brief today – we have the flu in the house.

We have had a nice, positive response from at least one publisher about the book, the project, and this competition. Peter and I are going to be interviewed by Costco magazine in a few weeks’ time – this goes out to over SIX MILLION readers.

If you want a chance to have your business mentioned in that interview – get off your tootie and put your entry in!

Check out the competition rules if you haven’t already. The rewards just for entering are very, very worth it.

Shonika Proctor, teen business coach, shares her knowledge of ways for kids to make money, even when they are under 16.

Po’ No Mo’

5 Tips on How Youth Under Age 16 Can Make Money

In his internationally best-selling book Reallionaire: Nine Steps to Becoming Rich from the Inside Out, Dr. Farrah Gray, a self-made millionaire by age 14, discusses how, in one of the first of his many business ventures, he painted rocks and sold them as door stops door-to-door for $1.50 each when he was only 9 years old.

Despite common misconception, you do not have to have money to make money. All you need is a great idea and a persistent willingness to put that great idea into action. Here are 5 ways you can make money in the 21^st century, even if you’re not yet 16 (or 14, for that matter), and even if you don’t have a dime to your name.

1. Competitions: Enter business plan competitions such as the ones offered by NFTE.com and BlackEnterprise.com. All sorts of contests and competitions exist for young budding entrepreneurs, and the cash or scholarship prizes you may receive are only half the benefit. The other half is the name recognition you can carry with you into your burgeoning business life as being the chosen winner amongst all the many entrants in such illustrious, business-related competitions.
2. Advertising: Seek sponsors and advertisers for your product or service. For example, sell advertising space on the flyers, postcards, and – yes – websites you put out there to promote your own business. The advertising funds you generate will pay for the production, printing, distribution, etc. of your own promotions, essentially making it free advertising for you!
3. Sharing Your Experience: It doesn’t matter how young you are. We all have expertise in something, even if that something is simply being ourselves. We’ve all lived unique lives and we all have an important story to tell. Get the word out about your endeavors by writing articles on the subject for your local newspapers. Write about the subject of your business. Write about your own experiences starting a business. Usually small local newspapers are looking for filler content. With just a single publication credit, you will instantly start to become known as an expert at whatever you do. You may even get paid a few dollars or more for your efforts, though that isn’t the point. The point is to get more free advertising for your business by writing about what you know best – you and all that you are up to.
4. Technology Training and Consulting: Put that way it sounds so lofty and complex, but it isn’t. As a member of the younger generation, you have natural abilities to work with computers that may seem like nothing but second nature to you but are a hot and valuable commodity to people of older generations who didn’t grow up with all this newfangled technology in their homes. You’d be surprised how many people older than you don’t know how to make a web page (or maybe you wouldn’t be surprised). The point is, even if you can do it in your sleep, there are people who will pay you big bucks to teach them how to do it, or more – do it for them. YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, and all the other social networking and bookmarking sites as well as blogs, newsletters, and ezines are the new media. And guess who the experts are in this new media? That’s right – you are! And as a related bonus tip, you can even offer a free course for small business-people at your local library on the importance of having online presence, and then at the end of the class offer to sell your expertise to build their pages. Give them a discount if they order your services on that day.
5. Odd Jobs: This is one suggestion that never goes out of style. Random odd jobs like cutting grass, raking leaves, dog walking, shoveling show etc. may not be the most exotic, novel, or interesting forms of making money. But they’ve been around forever for a very good reason – because they work. This type of work may not be directly related to your business or business idea, but you can take heart that the entire time you’re toiling away at some seemingly boring task for some extra ducats, what you’re really doing is serving a much higher purpose – raising valuable funds for your business’s success.

Tired of being po’? Of course you are! Well, get over it – literally! Because you can easily be po’ no mo’. All it takes is a little innovation and a willingness to make it work. Problems equal opportunities. Be resourceful and creative. Make money by solving problems that exist around you, and before you know it you’ll have solved the problem of being poor and well on the way to your well-deserved riches.

Shonika Proctor, aka the Nika’Nator, is a youth and teen entrepreneur coach. She helps aspiring and emerging young entrepreneurs to demolish drama and build dreams. www.renegadeceos.com.

It is sometimes really difficult being a parent.

Who am I kidding? It’s OFTEN very hard being a parent.

We had one of those difficult situations at our place last week. My oldest, who has been quite sick and unable to work on her business for the past few months, is basically trying to keep up with her friends and their lifestyle on her “sickness benefit”, aka her allowance of $20 per month.

This weekend was a three-day weekend, and her group of friends has planned two trips to the movies and a shopping trip to the city. She didn’t have any money, and she asked if she could borrow some.

Now, as you know, we don’t do loans. And especially since this loan would have been an advance of three months worth of allowance!

I explained to her that she has to live within her income, even when it’s small.

We have a close friend who came down with chronic fatigue a couple of years ago, and Sam is well aware that we give this friend money each month because the government sickness benefit is not enough to cover her basic rent and food needs, let alone pay for medical treatment.

I pointed out that Sam is in the same situation, and her friends need to understand that she simply can’t afford to do these things. The real friends will understand.

This developed into an interesting conversation about another girl in her group of friends who is getting a job because her parents won’t just keep giving her money any more. This girl would rather not be doing the expensive stuff, either.

It seems that there is a whole group of kids doing expensive things like going to the movies and ice skating, spending money they don’t have, all because they don’t want to be “left out” of the group. I suggested that it might be a simple thing to turn the whole group around to low-cost activities, if my daughter and the other girl just took a stand.

Of course, at fifteen, that’s a scary prospect. Being accepted is everything.

But, to her credit, she went off to talk to this other girl, and in the end three of them opted out of the movies and did something low-cost instead. Along the way, they stopped on at a local indoor playground and filled in job applications.

She has wisely decided that working for someone else is lower-energy and more manageable for her than being entrepreneurial right now. I think it’s the right decision, and an enjoyable job is a good stepping-stone to bridge the gap until she is fully well again.

It would have been so easy to lend her the money.

I mean, she has been sick, poor kid.

But what a benefit she gained because I didn’t – she has taken steps to change the culture of her group of friends from pointless spending and keeping-up-with-the-Joneses to being on the lookout for low-cost fun. The benefits will not only flow to her, but to all her friends who get the message.

In the long run, she will have a group of friends who are much more supportive of her goal of financial responsibility, and the confidence which comes from challenging a group norm and shifting it. For the rest of her life, she will know that she doesn’t have to do what everyone else is doing, just so they won’t reject her. She has learned that if she leads, others do come with her.

Absolutely priceless lessons.

And if I had lent her the money, she would have had none of those lessons.

It was emotionally very difficult at the time, but she and I are both glad now that I stuck to my guns and didn’t lend her the money.