Schoolhouse Crew Review for Micro Business for Teens

 

Do you have a tween or teen who wants to have some extra spending money? Maybe they have a business in mind but not sure what to do. That’s when I knew that Micro Business for Teens was what my daughter needed. I was excited to be able to do this review. For the review I received Startinga Micro Business, Running a Micro Business , and Micro Business forTeens Workbook.

Micro Business for Teens is for ages 10-18. The books for Micro Business for Teens Cost:

Starting a Micro Business $9.95

Running a Micro Business $9.95
Micro Business for Teens Workbook $14.95

“Starting a Micro Business” is the first book you would read. This is going to cover the basics of what a Micro Business is, planning, and other information needed to start a Micro Business. 

Chapter 1-What is a Micro Business?

Chapter 2-Getting an Idea: A Collection of Micro Business Ideas Best for Teenagers.

Chapter 3-Problems and Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them.

Chapter 4-Planning a Micro Business and Writing a Business Plan.

Chapter 5-Financing Your Business Without Breaking the Bank.

Chapter 6-Taking Care of Business: Extra Information to Get you Started.

Chapter 7- Encouragement: Final Words to Motivate You.

This book is written for the pre-teen or teen for reading but, it could also be used as a read out loud and talking about the book also. It will introduce you to what is a Micro Business? If your teen doesn't know what they want to do for a Micro Business this will give you some ideas that teens can do. After you decide what you want to do you will begin writing out a plan, budgeting, the pros and cons of a Micro Business. This book will stress not to forsake your other responsibilities and to be debt free. They stress the importance of seeking out mentors from parents or others.

 

The next book is, “Running a Micro Business” Is going to explore how to put your plan in action. All the details of running a business. After you have decided what kind of Micro Business you will proceed with you will go to Running a Micro Business. You will learn how to sale, market your product. Then they will guide you in the importance of keeping records and how to do so. They stress keeping those customer happy and coming back. 

Chapter 1-Sales

Chapter 2-Marketing

Chapter 3-Customer Service

Chapter 4-Record Keeping

Chapter 5- Bookkeeping Basics

Chapter 6-Using Software

Chapter 7-Legal Names and Numbers

Chapter 8-Reducing Risk

Chapter 9-Time Management

 

MicroBusiness for Teens Workbook will help you apply everything you learned in the “Starting a Micro Business” and “Running a Micro Business” . This will give you a place to write down everything that you have brainstormed for your Micro Business. This is a great companion with the other books to help you keep on track and not miss anything that you may have forgotten while reading the books.

How did I use Micro Business books in my homeschool?

With my daughter's reading disabilities I read the book to her. Since handwriting is another issue I wrote down her ideas for her. We talked about the last few years of working up to her Micro Business. Then we went to work and put her plans on paper.

She set future goals for her Micro Business. We planned items she would need later for her Micro business. We wrote those items down and made a list of the cost and the suppliers of each item. We brainstormed where she could sale her items at. The most important thing we did was planning on how to obtain those goals financially. 

I feel confident that I can lead her in the direction she needs to go. Thanks to an unexpected blessing in, "Micro Business for Teens". The timing was perfect for these books to be in my hand when I needed it the most. She will learn so much on this journey.

A little history: 

As a mom I don’t want my daughter’s disability to stop her from her dreams. I don't know what God has in store for her future. I don't foresee her being able to go to college but, I’m not going to put God in a box either. Bug wants to be an Entomologist. She loves insects and can tell you just about anything about insects. The reality is that she will most likely need help in all areas of her life forever.

Three years ago on a field-trip to an apiary I seen my daughters face light up in a way that I knew I was in trouble. I was terrified of stinging insects as I got attacked by a nest of yellow jackets as a child. After the group left we got invited on a private tour into the hives. We suited up and went into the beehive. A bee got into Bug’s veil and stung her in the head. Her first sting ever! (I thought I was off the hook.) We removed the stinger and she went head first back into the hive without hesitation! The beekeepers said, “With her determination she has what it takes to keep bees”. Was I ever in trouble?

Bug was hooked and wanted her own beehive. I hoped it would pass and she would drop the idea. No she wanted me to read books about bees and beekeeping to her. She wanted me to seek out beekeepers so we could go into more hives. She even started saving every bit of change she could get a hold of. Somewhere along this journey that my daughter has led me on I fell in love with having a beehive in our backyard. I let go of my fear of stinging insects an let God take control of her future and stopped worrying if she would be okay. Here we are three years later and with our first beehive.

Bug’s Micro Business Plan:

She picked out a name 2 years ago. It will be called, “Bug’s Honey Tree”.

She already has a logo planned out it’s a cartoon bee wearing eyeglasses with a beehive hanging in a tree in the background.

The hives came after waiting almost 3 years!

She saved $150.00 in two years with lose change. She did so well saving her money. I decided to help out some and sold some homeschool books. We bought her beehives, equipment, and the honey bees.

Those are around 10,000 bees in my van!

Now we wait and let the bees do their work. Checking up on them and doing what we can to help them along. 

The bees came in on May 13, 2014 and we installed them in the hive.

Most likely we will not be able to harvest anything from the hive until next spring

and another harvest next summer. 

We will make business cards and flyers at home using what we have on hand.

Bug’s next step is how to harvest the honey without an extractor and the expense of bottles. She came up with some options.

1. Borrow and extractor from another beekeeper

2. Her upcoming Bat Mitzvah she is asking for money instead of gifts for her beehives.

3. We use mason jars at first to keep the expenses down with no fancy labels or jars. Mom already has some mason jars that she can spare. Her first customers are those we know well and we can ask them to bring a mason jar to fill the honey into.

With the honey sales she will be able to use the money towards other equipment and supplies.

She can start to sale other items from the beehive. She will learn how to make beeswax candles, lip balms, salve, bee pollen, creamed honey, comb honey, and chunk honey.

She wants to look into having her own Etsy shop.

We know how to find the current prices of honey and what to sell it for.

We came up with a storage solution for all the equipment for the hives. We will store everything in our shed except bee suits will be hanging up next to the garage door out of site from the main part of the house. During harvest season we will do the work inside the house in the kitchen.

 We finished the install and are just marveling at God's creation. Bees are amazing!

We have put all her cost at this point into an excel spread sheet. I had her make a file to keep all the receipts together by year.

Her long time goals:

My daughter plans on growing her business with more hives. We know how many beehives we can have on our property and have talked to the grandparents about having beehives out on their property which has several acres. Bug is thinking big with 10+ hives and added from there. We will go slow and steady.

 She is passionate about bees!

 We also found that some regional beekeepers that sell honey and other supplies from the their beehives in bulk that other hobbyist keepers use to help boost their inventory and sales. That is something we may consider until she gets more hives.

She wants to catch swarms and be listed as a swarm catcher.

 She has already taught about keeping bees in two of her 4-H classes.

She wants to teach others about bees and being a beekeeper. Her goal is to have a store with honey products and beehive equipment to sale in our area and maybe do it online.

My daughter has big goals. It was nice having books and a workbook to look at the big picture. I wasn’t sure what to expect but now we know a little more thanks to Micro Business for Teens.

Final Thoughts:

The information in all of Micro Business for Teens is clear and easy to understand. It teaches stewardship, and stresses not going into debt, profitability and not to take unnecessary risks, as a teen it stresses to not overwork and neglect school and other responsibilities. You will learn things like, what are overhead costs? The pros and cons of having a partnerships in your micro business.

I highly recommend Micro Business for Teens in preparing young people to earn money and good work ethics. It has been very educational for Bug and me learning what is all needed to start and run a Micro Business. This would work well in a co-op class, or just in the home. I think every teen should go through Micro Business forTeens whether they are wanted a Micro Business or not. The information is invaluable in learning about money and being debt free.

Social media links for Micro Business for Teens:

https://www.facebook.com/MicroBusinessForTeens?ref=ts

https://twitter.com/CarolTopp

http://www.pinterest.com/caroltopp/