• You learn how to support your kids’ explorations of life and business opportunities
• You get inspired and excited (we all love games) and may dust off an idea or old dream of your own
• You learn from your kids new market insights, and creative ways of being into the world
• If you need it, you may get your groove back!

In a very recent example, parents (Rick and Lauren) supported their young daughter (Hannah, 10 years old) to create what they call “cool stuff for really cool kids.” The family creates zipper pulls (see Pogy the Penguin zipper Pull), and many other fun stuff for kids at affordable prices. Dad, Rick, is now working for the company, CoolZips.com, and Hannah fills the “Marketing Genius” position. And, hmm, did I mention that the company brings half a million dollars in annual revenue?

I WONDER: would you have thought that selling charms, zipper pulls, fun figurines and pencil sharpeners would make such a great business idea?

THE EXPLORER GAME:

The purpose of this game is for a group of parents and kids to come up with ONE IDEA for a product/service that they are very excited about, and for which they:

• Know at least 5 people who need their product/ service
• Know at least 2 people who would pay money to get their product/ service

Wishful thinking is considered cheating in this game!

TOTAL PLAY time: 1 hour (for a group of 4)

PARTICIPANTS: It plays best with 4 people or more, but 2 is a beginning. Kids can play starting at 8 years old.

TOYS: papers and pencils, pens of all colors, focus, concentration, willingness to play, excitement about adventure

DON’T DO: Phone, email, TV or any other multitasking interruptions

GAME RULES:

• Kids and adults get equal time to speak and share! No one gets more time just because they are younger (and smarter) or older (and more fun)
• No one dominates the conversation and there is no screaming for attention
• Irrespective of age, everyone listens respectfully
• Appoint one person to keep the time, and to move the game along
• Ideas can be shared verbally or in colorful pictures that people draw on the spot
• Limit everyone to the generation of 1 idea
• The purpose of this game is for the group to eliminate what is not working and to  end up with ONE IDEA to share

I. IDEA GENERATION:  (15 minutes for 4 players)

Consider the following as you generate ideas:

• MY TALENT: What do I think is my greatest gift or talent?
• BEING GOOD AT SOMETHING: What do people always say to me? (Wow, John, you are so good with… you Jane,  I am amazed how well you do …)
• LIKING TO DO SOMETHING: What do I like? What do I do often, and would even pay to be allowed to do?
• NEED: What did I notice in my school, at work, food store, other stores, in my neighborhood? Did anyone complain about something? Did anyone ask for help? What did I hear, read lately, or saw on TV that made me think possibilities?
• INVESTIGATING: you may want to keep these questions in mind and then ask a few people what item/ service would improve their lives

Ultimately, when you decide on ideas, consider your talents, skills, and what you enjoy doing!

ACTIONS:

• One idea per person
• Every idea is recorded swiftly (words, or pictures)
• Every idea is welcomed with enthusiasm (applauses are great)!
• No judgment of any sort (verbal or non-verbal during this phase)
• Keep track of time, and move fast. Don’t dwell on ideas, or get paralyzed by thinking too much.

II. FRAMEWORK — how to think about ideas: (45 minutes for 4 players)

When all ideas are written (or painted) on paper, put all the papers in the middle of the circle and pick one at random.

ACTIONS:  For each idea have everyone in the group answer the following questions:

• IS THERE A NEED? is there a real need? Is there a need you foresee and keep noticing? Keep it simple. Don’t think about functionality or features, or how cool your product is. Think of people who might need what you offer.
• WHAT IS THE MARKET?  Describe the people who might need what you offer. Do you know at least one person in that ‘market’ in need of your service/product?
• WHAT RESOURCES do I need? How easy or difficult is it to create a first prototype? How easy or difficult is to create a first service or product?  What resources do you need to start? How do your talents fit with your idea?
• WAS IT DONE BEFORE? Do you know anyone who does who you want to do? Can you do it better (better service) or in a different market?

Allow for questions to flow freely. If you want to offer feedback, start with “If it were my idea, I would do this…”  Avoid cutting remarks, even if you believe you are right and/or helping each other.

After you allow 5-8 minutes per idea, at the end of this phase, each idea gets votes from the audience. Better even, rate each idea on a scale from 1-10.  See how many points each idea scores. I hope you end up with ONE idea!

THE WINNING IDEA

In the next week, have everyone do research for the winning idea. How many companies do that already? Do these “competitors” focus on the market that is of relevance to you? Go out and ask people if they were interested in having the product or service you want to create.

FOLLOW UP:

Regroup a week later:  Discuss the idea again from the perspective of new learning and research. See how you all engage with this idea.

Something magical happens when you do the WORK: you generate ideas, you hustle, you do research, you hold that idea in mind, you keep asking questions, you do more research, and you share that idea with others. A body (of insights and knowledge) starts to come to life.

And there is particular magic that happens when you play this game with your kids, spouse and family. Everyone in the family knows how talented and smart everyone is, and there is (shared) excitement about creating something together than is equal to no other joy!

Let me know how much fun it was for you!

As always, I first play a little game with the kids: “Tell me, what qualities do you think are necessary today to be successful in a career? “ Kids almost step on each other to give me answers: “Be smart!” “Have fun!” “Think on the spot!”  “Have your own business!”

Then, I play the game with the parents in the back of the room asking them the same question. A long, thoughtful silence is followed by: “Be a team player!” “Have strong technology skills!” “Have strong communication skills!” “Listen to you boss!”

I ask the little girl in the front row how does one learn to think on the spot. “Well, practice more!”  she replies unfettered. And what is her business idea?  She tells me about a recipe for a new drink, which she would sell in the summer, together with cookies for which, she again, has a unique recipe.  All the other kids nod approvingly, and jump in with suggestions. We do a quick brainstorm to find the right name for the drink. “Red Surprise” gets the highest number of votes.  Then we play with the three steps I gave them for starting a business:

• Create value (product/service)
• Engage your audience (marketing, delivery channels)
• Have a fair exchange (sales, pricing)

When I ask the kids what do they understand by ‘exchange” they quickly reply: “To make money? Ya, we like making money!”  The little girl looks at me with big eyes and says: “I did not realize there are so many steps to selling my special drink.”

There are a few steps, yes, but when one practices how to start new little ventures often, these steps become fun and useful explorations. And when one learns early in life what goes into finding and creating new business opportunities, thinking on the spot gets really easy.

On April 7^th at 7PM I will speak at the Newton Free Library about guiding young entrepreneurs to build ventures and to follow dreams, and about the importance of parents’ participation in fostering entrepreneurship.

We will play a few games and have a live demo for entrepreneurs of all ages!

Many young entrepreneurs have excellent money making ideas, and need a bit of support in getting their projects off the ground. Kids are great at playing with ideas, and are less risk averse than adults in experimenting. Parents have an important role in supporting and stimulating the entrepreneurial drive in their kids. We will speak about simple steps parents can take at home to teach their kids the art of the entrepreneur.

What: Raising Young Entrepreneurs

Date: April 7^th, 2011

Time: 7PM

Where: Newton Free Library || 330 Homer Street, Newton, MA 02459

In one of the recent KidzBusiness classes we were discussing pricing for a little group project.  While all the kids thought that the value we offered was pretty good, and that people might be interested in trying our concept, I discovered that they were resisting to charging for it. I was amazed. During a previous inquiry, they have offered positive connotations to money.

We went a little deeper with the inquiry:  was it acceptable to charge for a great experience, for instance, should we leave tip for dinner, or should we pay for someone who plans a great trip abroad, should we pay for a dating service? Answers were mixed. What I learned is that they thought that only a tangible exchange (something we can touch with our hands), or accepted services that everyone knew cost money (lawyer, dentist, doctor fees) warranted pay. Any new project, such as self publishing a book, building a new game or toy, anything yet untried, created a huge pricing anxiety as if their self worth was at stake and by having their project rejected, they were rejected themselves.

So here’s where entrepreneurial education (or map) can help remove some early blocks, that if left unquestioned, would interfere later in life with one’s ability to ask for a raise, for more time to complete a task at work, for help from a colleague, etc– and perhaps, might interfere with being able to present the world with an authentic (and coherent) personal brand.

There is a clock in the room, time is ticking loudly, and the anxiety rises as everybody rushes to complete the task. It’s a game but it is not play anymore. The only frame of mind in the room is that there are losers and winners, and everyone wants to win—which is not a bad thing when the conditions are right. The right place for winning is a collaborative environment where kids understand the big picture (why are we doing this),  which in this case, is to create a working city.  

Everybody completes their assigned tasks, you have a winner, and now time has come to assemble the city. It really does not matter who won and who lost because the pieces do not fit together. So the guidance I offer kids is to explore with others what the right city looks like, to make decisions together, to build a first prototype, to try it out for fit, to experience new ideas, re-do the work if necessary and use everyone’s talent to build a functional city.  In order words, kids learn to design a business with the goals of value, functionality, ease of use and style/beauty in mind.

This way, they became competitive to create the best project ever, rather than to own a piece of it. This is a metaphor as much as a real online entrepreneurial game we are creating at KidzBusiness.  The idea is to learn through play, and to be flexible in choosing best approaches rather than be fixated on using particular tools. There are many business tools we can choose once we learn to ‘design’  the learning journey, and we get clear about the business we want to develop.