{"id":3921,"date":"2014-02-11T12:35:47","date_gmt":"2014-02-11T12:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spontaneousdevelopment.com\/sdnuggets\/?p=3921"},"modified":"2014-06-10T14:27:01","modified_gmt":"2014-06-10T14:27:01","slug":"anyone-including-kids-in-school-can-achieve-success-via-part-time-entrepreneuring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/anyone-including-kids-in-school-can-achieve-success-via-part-time-entrepreneuring\/","title":{"rendered":"Anyone - Including Kids In School - Can Achieve Success Via Part Time Entrepreneuring"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo 1:<\/strong> Wed. Dec. 11, 2013 - My 10, 14, and 12 year old sons, and the 50% pineapple peel based cakes they baked WITHOUT an oven. All they used was the charcoal stove, a heavy metal pot, and flour, sugar etc that I brought ALL the way from Cotonou...LOL!
\n\"Photo:<\/a><\/p>\n

Now They\u2019re Selling Their Cakes!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Yep. I found out just yesterday afternoon, when I called to speak with them.<\/p>\n

Actually, I called to scold them for leaving their rooms, and most of the house disorganized. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Their mother had complained about that the night before.<\/p>\n

So I decided to call and speak with the boys. One is a teenager already, while the other 2 are approaching that age, but the restlessness of youth makes their attention span notoriously short.<\/p>\n

I started with the 12 year old, asking him why he\u2019d left the sitting room un swept and disorganized. He mumbled a number of excuses. <\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

None of them held water. But I played along. <\/em><\/p>\n

Then I told him I would call by 10p.m to ask if he\u2019d done his chores. And if he had not, he and I would have issues. He knew what I meant, and promised he would get it done.<\/p>\n

I had a similar chat with the 10 year old. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The 14 year old, this time around, was not at fault. He has had to support his mother a lot since I began traveling, and the many different roles he\u2019s playing have made him mature beyond his years.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s become extremely capable in terms of handling house hold chores, including cooking. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The teenage excesses still come over him at times, but he\u2019s learning to better manage them.<\/p>\n

I told him to follow up with his younger brothers and make sure they did what they\u2019d promised to do. <\/em><\/p>\n

Just as I was about to end the call, the 10 year old (he\u2019s always the one who leads these initiatives) snatched the mobile from his older brother, and exclaimed: \u201cTayo, we\u2019re now selling our cakes!\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It was like a repeat of how they told me they had started selling their drinks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I asked: \u201cReally? Where?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our school. Our classmates bought all the ones we took to school yesterday!\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much do you sell them?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cN50!\u201d he replied in an excited voice \u201cThey bought everything, and told us to bring more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo 2: The 14 year old has a finger in his mouth. That's where most of the first set \u00a0of cakes they made went...before they recently began selling them...lol!)<\/h3>\n

\"Photo:<\/a><\/p>\n

As Shown Below I Also Brought Them the Cake Cups I Used In Cotonou<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The price he mentioned was one we'd agreed on before I returned to Cotonou. That day we sat down and did simple costing of the inputs, to agree a reasonable selling price for each cup cake.<\/p>\n

Our computation came to roughly N55.<\/p>\n

Photo 3:\u00a0Heavy metal pot my kids use for \"non-oven\" baking of the pineapple peel cakes. I also brought them the Cake Cups I used to make mine back in Cotonou<\/h3>\n

\"Heavy<\/a><\/p>\n

In Cotonou, I\u2019d seen many people, towards the Christmas celebrations selling similar cake sizes for 150 FCFA. <\/strong><\/p>\n

This amounted to approximately N50.<\/em><\/p>\n

So we agreed they should try selling the cakes at that price.<\/p>\n

I Had No Idea If They Would Find Buyers or How\/Where<\/strong>!<\/h3>\n

I just told them: Try and sell them(just as I did after teaching them to make the drinks)\u2026LOL<\/em><\/p>\n

For one thing I noticed the first set of cakes they made using my \u201czero-oven-village-charcoal-stove-baking\u201d method tended to be a bit undercooked.<\/p>\n

(That did not however stop them and their sisters from gobbling everything up. They really had fun making cakes with over 3kg of flour I brought with me, plus another 2 kg I bought before I left. All the cakes were eaten up. No attempt was made to sell. Kids!!!! LOL)<\/em><\/p>\n

I later found the cakes undercooked because they were not keeping the charcoal bricks burning. As a result the heat tended to diminish with time. <\/strong><\/p>\n

So I told them to let each cakes batch stay longer, and to fan the embers for longer periods.<\/p>\n

As You Can Imagine, An Oven Would Have Made All This Hassle Unnecessary...<\/strong><\/h3>\n

That's true.<\/em><\/p>\n

However, the improvisational approach I used helps people - especially kids - discover how to use their creativity to do things inexpensively.<\/p>\n

And it also equips them with valuable life skills.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The way I see it, as young Africans, it\u2019s useful for them to know how our traditional cooking \u201cequipment\u201d work.<\/p>\n

Who knows where they\u2019ll find themselves in future!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anyway, considering that they now make sales, and buyers want more, it\u2019s safe to say they\u2019ve now<\/span><\/strong> gotten the \u201cCooking Time\u201d for their cakes right \ud83d\ude09<\/em><\/p>\n

Next Step: Getting Them to Understand Why They Must Re-Invest - & Save - Money They Make<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I told the 10 year old I was pleased with what they had done, and to \u201cKeep it up!\u201d<\/p>\n

But he was not done yet\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

He quickly cut in to say: \"Tayo, tell Mommy to give us N300, so we can buy more flour and sugar, to make more cakes.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

That request reminded me of a mistake they had been making since they began recording sales.<\/p>\n

They\u2019d showed me wooden piggy banks they put their money in. But it rarely stayed there. They always found ways to spend it all!<\/p>\n

In fact, the last time I spoke with their mother, she complained they got money from her to buy sugar, flour and other ingredients for making the cakes and drinks.<\/p>\n

But they never brought home the money from sales. Instead they spent it on snacks right in school!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Since they are kids, this was not surprising, and I expected it. <\/em><\/p>\n

I told him to give the phone to his mother. Then I told her to give them the money, BUT to demand that they hand over sales they make to her. <\/em><\/p>\n

The next step I have planned is to sit them down, and explain why they must plough back part of their sales income to purchase materials for the next production.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019ll also tell them why they have to save some of what is left.<\/p>\n

Final Words: One Thing I Know From Coaching Kids Over The Years\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If you explain it clearly to them, so they see the benefits, you will NOT need to chase them to do it.<\/em><\/p>\n

For now, I\u2019m letting them enjoy the feeling of being able to make the classmates part with N50 for each of the cakes they make by themselves.<\/p>\n

I know it\u2019s a wonderful feeling, and it will inspire them to think of more ways to put their skills to use<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I urge you to do the same for your kids.<\/p>\n

Entrepreneurial skills of this kind can prove crucial for their achievement of success in their adult lives.<\/em><\/h3>\n

Children find activities of this kind exciting\/challenging, so interest is unlikely to be lacking.<\/p>\n

And as shown above, they can do it, while still schooling full time!<\/strong><\/p>\n

RELATED ARTICLES:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

1.\u00a0Involve Your Kids in Your Dream, and They\u2019ll Succeed Too<\/a><\/p>\n

2. When You\u2019re Not Working, Create a Bigger Dream (Hint: New Product \u2013 My Pineapple Peels Based Cakes\u2026Made Without an Oven!)<\/a><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Are Your Kids Ready to Succeed in Your World?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo 1: Wed. Dec. 11, 2013 - My 10, 14, and 12 year old sons, and the 50% pineapple peel based cakes they baked WITHOUT an oven. All they used was the charcoal stove, a heavy metal pot, and flour, sugar etc that I brought ALL the way from Cotonou...LOL! Now They\u2019re Selling Their Cakes! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,87,10],"tags":[1001,1002],"class_list":["post-3921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entrepreneurs","category-parenting","category-self-development","tag-anyone-can-achieve-success-via-part-time-entrepreneuring","tag-kids-in-school-can-start-micro-businessess"],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":1442,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3921"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4993,"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3921\/revisions\/4993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}