Little business for youngster
Discussion
My 11 year old lad is taking a bit of an interest in earning money. As a business owner I'm keen to encourage his entrepreneurial spirit but of course there are many limits for a boy of this age.
I think gone are the days of walking around with a bucket and sponge offering to wash peoples cars for £5 (nor do I fancy a huge bill when he drops the sponge and rubs grit all over someones P&J!) so I haven't encouraged that one. I've gone down the route of advertising his old toys on FBMP and eBay but that's not really a business in my eyes as there's not really any buying and selling involved.
I've considered trawling the car boots looking for hidden gems and then selling online so that is one option, but I wondered if anyone had any other ideas we could try. Obviously I would be overseeing everything he does but as I said earlier I'm quite keen to encourage this.
I think gone are the days of walking around with a bucket and sponge offering to wash peoples cars for £5 (nor do I fancy a huge bill when he drops the sponge and rubs grit all over someones P&J!) so I haven't encouraged that one. I've gone down the route of advertising his old toys on FBMP and eBay but that's not really a business in my eyes as there's not really any buying and selling involved.
I've considered trawling the car boots looking for hidden gems and then selling online so that is one option, but I wondered if anyone had any other ideas we could try. Obviously I would be overseeing everything he does but as I said earlier I'm quite keen to encourage this.
Buying and Selling on said platforms.
He needs a specialist subject.
Where he can acquire cheap and make profit, or renovate / cleanup with minimum effort / outlay.
So what's he into?
Clothes, trainers, Pokemon cards, PC components, Analogue camera parts, hot wheels...
Boot Sales, Charity Shops, Misspelled Auctions, Local Groups.
Give him seed money, and a spreadsheet to track those hidden costs e.g time, resources, postage, losses, returns.
He'll be running before you know it.
Help with the bank account, accountability, and technical setup as well as your experience of scams and internet life etc.
He needs a specialist subject.
Where he can acquire cheap and make profit, or renovate / cleanup with minimum effort / outlay.
So what's he into?
Clothes, trainers, Pokemon cards, PC components, Analogue camera parts, hot wheels...
Boot Sales, Charity Shops, Misspelled Auctions, Local Groups.
Give him seed money, and a spreadsheet to track those hidden costs e.g time, resources, postage, losses, returns.
He'll be running before you know it.
Help with the bank account, accountability, and technical setup as well as your experience of scams and internet life etc.
8IKERDAVE said:
Great suggestions there thank you!
His interests are primarily focused around gaming and there's not a lot to be made from that nowadays as everything is digital.
I'll get him set up with something and report his progress back
Gaming-related products like little models and clothing?His interests are primarily focused around gaming and there's not a lot to be made from that nowadays as everything is digital.
I'll get him set up with something and report his progress back
I would stay away from washing cars in these days of litigation. Unless you (as it will come back to you) insure him.
Cutting lawns good idea but might wear him out. What about general weeding, sweeping up, general tidying of gardens?
Cold calling houses will, at least, toughen him up to the reality of rejection. In my youth, among other things, I sold cream and bacon door to door - and the rejection week on week was immense - and that was with a customer list of specific houses to call at!
Hard work. Built character. I think.
Cutting lawns good idea but might wear him out. What about general weeding, sweeping up, general tidying of gardens?
Cold calling houses will, at least, toughen him up to the reality of rejection. In my youth, among other things, I sold cream and bacon door to door - and the rejection week on week was immense - and that was with a customer list of specific houses to call at!
Hard work. Built character. I think.
8IKERDAVE said:
Great suggestions there thank you!
His interests are primarily focused around gaming and there's not a lot to be made from that nowadays as everything is digital.
I'll get him set up with something and report his progress back
Retro gaming is massive these days. His interests are primarily focused around gaming and there's not a lot to be made from that nowadays as everything is digital.
I'll get him set up with something and report his progress back
Teach him to solder and get him recapping old 16 bit and 8 bit computers. Would make a lot of money doing that, if he can get hold of the original machines.
Slightly dodgy, but putting together custom memory cards for the likes of Anbernic devices - rather than just dumping every ROM on the sun as other on ebay do, he could carve out a niche by filtering ROM for quality. Fewer, but more iconic games on his cards. A curated collection, rather than a just a dump.
High front end investment of time, but a simple money maker thereafter.
But not 100% kosher, depending on who you speak to. Should be okay if he sticks to the 8 bit and 16 bit stuff. For the time being, at least.
8IKERDAVE said:
Great suggestions there thank you!
His interests are primarily focused around gaming and there's not a lot to be made from that nowadays as everything is digital.
I'll get him set up with something and report his progress back
There is a shop in Otley that sells everything for 20pHis interests are primarily focused around gaming and there's not a lot to be made from that nowadays as everything is digital.
I'll get him set up with something and report his progress back
My brother in law who is a computer geek and dabbles on Ebay found an ultra rare spare part for an early 80's games console.
He sold it to someone in Norway for £95.00.
8IKERDAVE said:
I think gone are the days of walking around with a bucket and sponge offering to wash peoples cars
You'd be surprised. There's a lad in my village who is raising money to fund a 4 week trip to Peru next year with Camps International where he will be involved in various community & conservation projects. He's currently at £1340 on his way to a £4500 target, and started out by doing car washes. The car washing has evolved in to other odd jobs too like dog walking, gardening, etc.About 15 years ago I used to go to a couple of car boot sales on a Sunday and sell the stuff on eBay. For a few hours work I was easily making £100+ profit a week.
I would concentrate on the following
1)Old computers and consoles
2)Sealed DVDs (no market for these anymore obviously)
3)Lego
4)Brand new and sealed toys
5)Any old 70s and 80s toys and board games
6)Old train sets
7)Old dinky toys
8)boxed, unmade airfix models
I used to pay a pound or two for most items and often sold them for 10 times what they cost me. However, I wish I had just stuck all the old computers, consoles and games in a cupboard as they would be now worth 10 times what I sold them for at the time.
I would imagine due to everyone having a mobile phone and being able to instantly check prices there are few if any bargains anymore.
If your children are anything like mine they will not be able to get out of bed to go to a car boot. They would expect me to go on my own, list everything, package everything, go to the post office, deal with emails and give them the money.
I started to see the same group of people at every car boot, there was one guy with a jewellers loupe looking at every spoon trying to find the silver ones.
Great fun, I really used to get a buzz from it as I turned up not knowing what I might find.
I would concentrate on the following
1)Old computers and consoles
2)Sealed DVDs (no market for these anymore obviously)
3)Lego
4)Brand new and sealed toys
5)Any old 70s and 80s toys and board games
6)Old train sets
7)Old dinky toys
8)boxed, unmade airfix models
I used to pay a pound or two for most items and often sold them for 10 times what they cost me. However, I wish I had just stuck all the old computers, consoles and games in a cupboard as they would be now worth 10 times what I sold them for at the time.
I would imagine due to everyone having a mobile phone and being able to instantly check prices there are few if any bargains anymore.
If your children are anything like mine they will not be able to get out of bed to go to a car boot. They would expect me to go on my own, list everything, package everything, go to the post office, deal with emails and give them the money.
I started to see the same group of people at every car boot, there was one guy with a jewellers loupe looking at every spoon trying to find the silver ones.
Great fun, I really used to get a buzz from it as I turned up not knowing what I might find.
Superb suggestions there everyone, thank you. I think a few of these can be explored. I am starting by giving him £10 to go to the charity shop with a view to selling the items on Vinted. His challenge is to make ANY profit, then I will double the investment the following week.
I can't really bring him into my business, we are a sign and vehicle graphics company and my unit is 20 miles from home. If it was round the corner I'd have him doing odd jobs here but realistically there's not much an 11 year old can do without using the equipment which I'm not keen on.
I love the car boot idea as well, but as you say getting him out of bed at 5:30am on a Sunday will simply turn into me doing 80% of the work!
I can't really bring him into my business, we are a sign and vehicle graphics company and my unit is 20 miles from home. If it was round the corner I'd have him doing odd jobs here but realistically there's not much an 11 year old can do without using the equipment which I'm not keen on.
I love the car boot idea as well, but as you say getting him out of bed at 5:30am on a Sunday will simply turn into me doing 80% of the work!
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