In making an idea work or in running a small business, age matters little.
You’ve probably heard of successful teenpreneurs and kidpreneurs making serious amount of money from their own small businesses.
It’s no secret that smart, enthusiastic, and business-minded kids do exist. Remember your classmate back in grade school who made a profit with his lemon stand business? His parents must have groomed him to be enterprising or he just has an entrepreneurial inclination from an early age.
A friend of mine, for instance, has a nine-year old daughter who has started a money-making venture doing hand and foot massages for family and friends at 25c a pop. I was surprised to learn a couple months later that she has kept at it and made a reasonable amount of money in doing so.
4 Business Strategies Taught by a 9-Year-Old Entrepreneur
As amusing and trivial as this “business” sounds, she has instinctively implemented sound business strategies that we can all learn from.
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Consistently create value for your customers
Does the level of service or quality of goods you provide satisfy your customers? The nine-year old kidpreneur provides consistency in her product, creating value for money that her customers keep coming back for.
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Serve a specific, well-defined market.
Are you trying to serve as many markets as possible? Do you worry that you might miss a great opportunity if you turn a job at which you don’t excel at? Then you can learn from this kid. Her target market is clearly defined: family and friends who need a good foot and hand massage. She has developed a service that her target customers seek.
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Understand that ‘cash’ is king.
Do you encourage your customers to pay you as quickly as possible? If not, it’s time to set up prompt fees collection to improve your cashflow. Learn from this clever, young masseuse. She’s taking upfront payment for her service, thus ensuring she is not out of pocket. If she had any expenses, cash flow would be of little concern to her.
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Holidays are a terrific time to offer special promotions.
Do you grab your customer’s’ attention with holiday-inspired sales and marketing promotions? Think outside the box so you can find creative ways to reward your loyal clients and win new customers. This little girl can teach you how to give discounts based on current events. For example, she offered a two for the price of one as an ANZAC day special.
How can you apply these lessons in your own business?