Archive for Youth
Caine’s Arcade – A 9 Year Old Future Millionaire
Posted by: | CommentsAnd just a beautiful story as well
Just read this great post written exclusively for WDD by Jim Lodico.
I have always been a fan of getting youth started young to be an entrepreneur. Just like giving you kid art, music or sports lessons, why not give them entrepreneur lessons? It is never too early to learn. I have written about young boy in Ramat Bet Shemesh, Israel here which you can read and I think it is absolutely fantastic.
One of my partners, Hillel Scheinfeld, just told me about a restaurant he went to called Lilith where they have a rather unique social agenda that I find admirable:
One of the most impressive things about the restaurant is its social agenda. Owned by Alam, a non profit organization for teenagers at risk, the kitchen at Lilith takes in youngsters from difficult backgrounds and gives them the opportunity to get a profession and learn about the world of cooking.
I think it is a fantastic way to give a productive outlet for youth on the street and I think every community should have a similar program for it’s youth. I have an idea for a very similar program that I will eventually do as I think it would give an incredible sense of accomplishment and self esteem to the youth in my city where I live, Ramat Bet Shemesh.
Anyway you look at it getting youth started in business at a young age can be an amazing outlet and self esteem builder. One of the risks you would need to look out for is that you don’t want your children thinking that “making money” is the most important thing in the world. Then again you can say the same thing about playing music or sports.
In this article the author writes about his daughter Sophia who decided to open up a lemonade stand, but ended up making more money then you would have thought by giving away the lemonade for FREE. Read the article to find out how she did it and how you can learn and apply the lessons to your own business.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE
The Israeli kid candy entrepreneurs are back in Ramat Bet Shemesh
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I am very impressed! A couple of weeks ago we highlighted on this blog a post about these two young brothers who were selling candy on Nachal Dolev in Ramat Bet Shemesh right outside my offices. You can see that post here. Well yesterday they were back! Or at least one of the brothers. The other was probably working another corner spreading distribution.
As you can see from this exclusive photo not only have they fixed there presentation by adding more candy and keeping them in a nice container as opposed to spread out on the stools, but the quality of the candy and the prices hasgone up as well. This time I bought 5 of the candy necklaces at 1nis a piece. This is pure entreprenurism at its best. They tested the market with a product without investing in huge inventory, they saw that there was a market need. So they reinvested the product in more and better stock and are now testing it in multiple locations (according to my theory of where the other brother is). If they keep this up, by the time he is Bar-Mitzva he will be the most successful candy company in Israel (or at least on Nachal Dolev)!
As early as I can remember, and long before I even knew what the word meant, I was an entrepreneur. From babysitting to shoveling snow to selling baseball cards and candy, as far as I can remember I was always doing business. I learned to read Hebrew not so much because I was such a great student in school, but because my Bubbe and Zaidy would pay me .02 for every word I read to them in Hebrew. So when ever I see young kids being entrepreneurial, I can’t help but support them. Today it was two young boys, brothers, that set-up shop outside my office. They were selling individual candies for .20 Agurot each. I gave them a 5 NIS piece and took 6 pieces of candy as a Rosh Chodesh treat for my family. Yes I know I over paid, but I wanted them to feel successful. Because when as youths you feel success in anything you do, it will only lead to more success and to stive to have the feelings of success again and again. It’s the drive of an entrepreneur that makes him successful when others fail becuse a true entrepreneur never fails since he is always in process and learning from his mistakes. The taffy never tasted so sweet.
