Project 145: Starting a Business

One of the problems with children is they are always coming up with quite impractical business ideas:

"I'm going to start a shop selling my drawings [scribbles on scrap paper]"

"I'm going to charge people five pounds to look at my museum [a tin of bits and pieces]"

or 

"Sell flowers [i.e., daisies and dandelions they've picked]" 

So after Solomon declared he wanted to earn £1,000 for a new games computer, we decided we'd do a project on Starting a Business.

We started the week with a big presentation on different types of business, the advantages of starting your own business, and activities on the sort of business they might like to have. We made use of three books, with particular attention to the activities in Starting Your Own Business: Become an Entrepreneur.

Monica decided on a dog-walking business (despite her fear of dogs!), and Solomon decided he wanted his own Fortnite channel on YouTube. 

They then had to make their own business plan, including costs and profits, and come up with a marketing strategy. 

Solomon designed a number of logos for his Fortnite channel:

And Monica designed a leaflet for her dog walking service: 

They were also expected to give a Dragon's Den style presentation asking for any investment they might need:

• Monica wanted £120 for insurance, a lead and collar, poo bags, leaflet printing, and ingredients for dog biscuits. 
• Solomon wanted £80 for a PS4 camera so he could record videos of himself playing video games. 

Both were refused (for now): Monica until she could show she could actually go near a dog and not scream, and Solomon until he showed he would stick at creating Fortnite videos in the long term. 

Solomon's YouTube channel is now up and running - and (for now) he seems to be enjoying editing the videos as much as he does playing the game!

Next week's project: A Wrinkle in Time.