Book Review: KIDPRENEUR$- Young Entrepreneurs with BIG Ideas

Recently I purchased KIDPRENEUR$ for my daughter to further provide inspiration to encourage her entrepreneurial pursuits. The book was written by two brothers, Adam and Matthew Toren, who are successful adult entrepreneurs that got bit by the self-employment bug as children thanks to their granddad who gave them model airplanes to sell at a local fair. Since that fateful occurrence, the brothers have gone on to own several successful enterprises. Their goal is to teach business techniques to children and show them that it is never too early to get involved in business in ways that are fun, creative and safe.
The book is an quick read and should be easily understood by children as young as age 7. It is practical and straightforward. I believe that it provides all a kid needs to turn their ideas into money-generating pursuits.
And best of all, the book is FREE! I simply paid for shipping and handling and the book arrived within 2 days.  Get yours here.

Top 7 Tips to Market Your Kidpreneur's Business

Photo of  Moziah Bridges of Mo's Bow
courtesy of Forbes.com

Over the last few months I have channeled my energy to focusing on the youth, specifically creative entrepreneurship for children. I've come to realize that there is a MAJOR gap between what children naturally enjoy doing ie: drawing, building, crafting, making and what they become when they grow up. I've found that the option to utilize one's creativity is not only lacking at many schools but even shunned. With this being the case, where will our future innovations come from? How will the next generation create a better world without being encouraged to simply create anything?  I've built the Dream BIGGER Academy to serve as a bridge over that gap, empowering kids to turn their curiosity and natural born skills into career options and entrepreneurship.

Since building Dream BIGGER Academy, I've been asked by parents who have encouraged their children to build their own businesses, how can they "get the word out" and marketing little Johnnie's creations.
Here are my top 7 tips:

Photo courtesy of Mayasideas.com

1. First determine what your kid actually has to market: Is it just a product or is it a business. What is the difference? A product is a pair of Air Jordans. A business is Nike, producer of Air Jordans, Air Force Ones, and countless other styles of sneakers and active wear for men, women, girls and boys. They have a logo (the swoosh) and a slogan (Just Do It). There is an online presence and in-person experience. Nike's packaging and all of it's marketing supports its credo/mission. So getting back to your child, does he/she have a product (hand-painted ceramic bowls) or a business (3 or more types of products, an online presence, a logo, marketing materials, mission statement)? This will determine how you will market and even if it is ready for marketing. Grandma may buy a bowl or two from little Johnnie but why should the rest of us? This leads to #2...

2. Have a compelling story. Why is your pumpkin making these ceramic bowls or wood carvings? Does she have a family history of wood artists and she is the 3rd generation, keeping the family tradition alive? Did you discover her talent at a local art school? Has she been drawing since age 2? Does a portion of the proceeds go to support a charity dear to her heart? Tell us! People don't buy products, they buy experiences. "Today, at the local farmer's market I bought these adorable hand-painted bowls from a 7-year old 3rd generation ceramic artist who donates 20% of her profit to the Red Cross! It felt so good to support such an amazing cause!"--This will be what people post of your little babyfaced mogul with a photo of her holding one of her wood carvings to the camera and this is magical word-of-mouth marketing. This is the stuff that gets the attention of the local media and anyone within driving distance of where she sells her goods. Create great products with a compelling story and more than half of the work is done.

3. Get it in the hands of the public soon. If your kid's products only sit on his bookshelf, chances are they will only collect dust. Sure you can sell a few online to a supportive aunt but if you want to market your little one's business to the world, you have to get it out into the world. If you focus strictly on online sales, you'll soon run out of people to send links to your store. As the parents of this young enterprising creative, you'll email your friends and family a link to support your child's endeavor...but then what? You'll post it to your FB page a few times and your friends will promise to make a purchase. Some will, most will conveniently forget to do so. And now what? Who else can you tell? You have to get the products in the hands of strangers sooner than later. How do you do that? Apply to set up a booth at your local craft fairs, street fairs, farmer markets, or flea markets. Why? For one, the consumers will give you more honest feedback that you can use to tweek her products. Secondly, your kid wants to FEEL like a business owner and LOOK like one too. Not better way to make their dreams of business transactions a reality than setting a table full of their labeled products and marketing materials, with a banner that has their logo, and a SQUARE reader and hip pouch to handle credit card and cash transactions (with the help of an adult, of course).
Lastly, not only will you add the new customers to your network of supporters (be sure to have a form to capture their email addresses for email marketing) but when they share your products with their network, they help grow your network. Make sure you give them plenty to share and brag about...this is where great customer service and branding comes in.

5. Branding counts A LOT. Design a logo with your kid's fave colors and/or one that reflects his/her personality. Create adorable/cool/quirky/awesome packaging, business cards, flyers, labels, refrigerator magnets, postcards, etc. that no one would dare toss in the trash. The longer they keep your marketing materials around, the longer it serves as reminder to order more from you and as a conversation piece. Word-of-mouth marketing is the most effective marketing.

Photo courtesy of Papermart.com

6. Make your business easily found and shareable online. When your happy customers post about what they bought from you via social media, be sure they have a website/fan page/blog url to direct their followers to go purchase or learn more about your child's work. All of the marketing materials should have your mini-me's url and social media handles.

7. Tell the world...or at least your local news outlets. Whether you live in a major city or a small rural town, there is nothing the local paper likes to write about more than one of it's locals doing BIG things. Gather your customer testimonials, photos of your child and his/her products, and make a list of upcoming events where you'll have a booth and create a PDF file. This is your child's press kit. Find out the name and email address of the journalist at your local paper, county magazine, or local cable network (don't forget bloggers!) and send them a short email pitching your kid's business with a link to their website/fan page. Have your press kit and high-quality photos ready if they reply asking for it.Be ready to be the mom/dad of a local kid celebrity!

Marketing a business is a job within itself but without effective marketing, your kid's business endeavor will go unknown. Their young age is a novelty so use it to your benefit. People WANT to hear good news about the next generation. Kids running businesses is a warm-fuzzy story so share it far and wide! The business will grow and so will your child's self-confidence. Below are some links to help with the above tips. Leave a comment if you have questions are would like further explanation.

Are you in NJ. PA, or NYC? Do you want Dream BIGGER Academy to host creative entrepreneurship workshop or birthday parties at your school, church or community center? Just shoot me an email at Terina AT dreambiggeracademy.com

Resources:

How to Pitch to Bloggers (podcast): http://www.launchgrowjoy.com/promote-your-online-store-with-bloggers/
How to Create a Press Kit: http://www.launchgrowjoy.com/how-to-create-a-press-kit-for-your-ecommerce-business/
Find Local Craft Fairs: http://streetfairs.org
Order Business Cards/Marketing Materials: http://www.moo.com/us/
Order Packaging Materials: http://www.papermart.com/food-packaging/id=19088-INDEX
Inexpensive Logo Design: http://fiverr.com/
Email Marketing: http://mailchimp.com/
Build a Website Easily: wix.com

Erica Jones, CEO (CrafterExtraOrdinaire) of The Crop Shop

Erica Jones is one of my real life heroes. Despite her petite size, she has the vision and heart of a giant. The NJ-based, Rutgers University graduate landed a sweet, high paying job for a Fortune 500 company in NYC after graduation but eventually walked away from it to follow her dreams. It was a simple enough dream of being able to be a mother to her young child while earning a living doing work she loves. So she took her savings and opened a scrapbooking boutique in the hip and happening town Hoboken, NJ. Business took off and she had the luxury of creating a healthy work/life balance. Dream come true, right? Well, not exactly...

When Hurricane Sandy hit, her business was completely and utterly demolished. Totally destroyed. Did she close the door on her dreams and go crawling back to Corporate America, though? Absolutely not! Erica Jones rebuilt The Crop Shop and is now, after 5 years running a successful business, on the verge of expansion. She is terribly modest and her interview below may disguise the fact that she's a super hero but don't let her modesty fool you.

Erica Jones ROCKS.

PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF. 
My name is Erica Jones and I am the Owner of The Crop Shop located in Hoboken, NJ. 

 
WHAT DO YOU CREATE? I would consider myself a multi-media artist. I love to work on canvases and in journals, but I also find myself creating a lot of functional pieces too, such as tables, chairs, and bookcases. I’m probably more of a crafty carpenter!

 
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED ON YOUR CREATIVE PATH? I began taking pottery classes at the age of 7 years old. I made vases and plates that my mother still has to this day! I’m pretty sure that was my only structured instruction. I just continued to work on my craft because it was a source of comfort and relaxation to me. Around my college years, I began getting into scrapbooking, which was the inspiration for starting my own scrapbooking business. I opened TCS in December 2009, first starting as a scrapbook studio, and then transforming to an all around Arts & Crafts studio a couple years later. 

 
WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO CREATE? I am inspired by all things beautiful and different… oh, and the color turquoise! I love experimenting with different mediums and I am usually inspired by the desire to have things on display within my own home or a determination to use a material or medium I have never used before. 

 
HOW HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO MAKE A LIVING BY BEING YOUR AUTHENTIC, CREATIVE SELF? I make my living by inspiring and teaching others to love the creative process too. I teach classes and run workshops, hoping to inspire the next generation of artists and creators! 

 
WHAT NEW PROJECTS ARE YOU WORKING ON? I am currently expanding my studio to become an Art Café, a place where people can convene and create in the same space. 

 
HOW CAN PEOPLE FIND & SUPPORT YOUR WORK? TCS can be found online at crop-shop.com, on FB at https://www.facebook.com/TheCropShop on Twitter at Twitter.com/cropshophoboken or by visiting us at 720 Monroe Street, Hoboken,NJ 07030.

Fashion Trucks

Joey Wolffer is photographed in the back of her fashion truck, the Styleliner.

Approximately 2 years ago, when a friend was researching starting a gourmet food truck, I proclaimed rather enthusiastically, "Wouldn't be AMAZING to have a Jypsea BOUTIQUE on a food truck?" I truly thought I was on to something new...like uncharted territory. My own little INVENTION...the mobile boutique! So imagine my shock while hanging with a friend in the Meatpacking district last year when I saw the Styliner gracing the streets of NYC. Come to find out, the mobile boutique concept is a booming trend. Who knew? Clearly, there is nothing new under the sun. It's an amazing way to reach new markets, literally moving to where the customers are while cutting down on the overhead costs of renting a store. Brilliant!
Major new outlets have covered this business trend as well, such as CNN and CNBC.
So enjoy the best days of the year (Spring and Summer) while shopping the fashion trucks in your 'hoods.

Emily Benson’s The Fashion Truck

Here are a few haute picks: The Styliner: https://thestyleliner.com/
The Fashion Truck:
http://www.fashiontruck.com
Sneakerbox: http://www.sneakerboxtruck.com/
The YAPA Fashion Truck:
https://www.facebook.com/YAPAFashionTruck
Celebrities Mobile Boutique:
http://www.celebritiesboutiques.com/

Boston-based Sneakerbox

The YAPA Fashion Truck

Harlem-based designer, Nneka Green-Ingram started a accessory fashion line out of a former snack truck.

Tasha Hussey, "The Jeweled Life."

Each of us artists and designers are all awaiting that BIG BREAK. Jewelry designer Tasha Hussey discusses her process, her niche, passion, business, and what she needs to BLOW UP. Here is a clip from her documentary, " The Jeweled Life."

Turning Graffitti Artists into PAID artists

Streetcraft LA is an outreach project that aims to help youths divert their creative impulses into products that could earn them a profit instead of a trip to the police station.

The organization operates in the low-income area of Wilmington, where a type of graffiti known as tagging has become a problem. Streetcraft LA hopes to encourage youngsters who commit this type of vandalism to use their artistic talent in ways that won’t land them in jail – which could affect their opportunities later in life. Instead, the initiative is offering kids the skills and facilities to put their art onto products such as t-shirts, skateboards and even furniture, which are then sold in the Streetcraft store. Profit from each item sold is then split between the organization and its young creators. The artists are also helped in devising their own marketing strategies, helping them to continue to sell their goods once they graduate from the program.

This Girl Means Business, edition 1

Fantastic new female-orientated business mag. Totally pulled me out of my creative funk today:

Open publication - Free publishing - More business

Gwen Stefani to Launch her Harajuku Mini Clothing Line for Kids

Francois Durand, Getty Images

“Harajuku Mini is a dream come true,” the ‘Hollaback Girl’ Gwen Stefani told fashion trade Women’s Wear Daily. “I’ve always wanted to do a cool children’s fashion line inspired by the supercute and playful kid’s clothing you find in Japan.”
Stefani said that Target has allowed her complete creative freedom so she can “design kid’s clothing that [are] different than most anything you usually see out there with great quality, attention to detail and most of all, available at amazing prices.” That’s a fashion Holy Trinity right there, and if anyone can ensure that a low-priced line still looks and feels good, it’s Stefani.
Harajuku Mini won’t be available until the holiday shopping season.
For more go to Popcrush 

Learn how to design a collection to present to stores. Read my book ENVISION: The Young Accessory Designer's Guide to Collection Development. Get the softcover or download it instantly.

ELEVATION: F/W 2011 (capsule collection) on the Behance Network

See the full collection at
ELEVATION: F/W 2011 (capsule collection) on the Behance Network

Trunkshows Are All the Rage

Courtesy of Neiman Marcus

In the wake of the recession designers are increasingly turning to the age old method of trunk shows to build their customer base, get crucial feedback from shoppers and to actually sell clothes.

 

While it may seem old fashioned in the midst of the e-commerce boom (trunk shows, after all, were first popularized by Bill Blass following World War II), many designers are finding that nothing beats face-to-face time with their customers.

Read the full article...

Author Turns Down Half Million Dollar Deal to Self-Pub Instead; 26 yr old Makes Millions with E-Book: Welcome to The Future.

Thinking of selp publishing a book instead of taking the "traditional" route? Need inspiration? Here you go!
Now go forth...
http://www.businessinsider.com/amanda-hocking-2011-2

http://blog.writersdigest.com/norules/2011/03/21/BestsellingAuthorTurnsDown500KDealToSelfPublish.aspx

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101229/02190512445/have-we-reached-tipping-point-where-self-publishing-is-better-than-getting-book-deal.shtml

Make Your Own Natural Beauty Products!

Turn herbs and botanicals into something amazing.

Learn the basics of making your own beauty products to save money, reduce environmental waste, and know exactly what goes on your skin. In this workshop attendees will: 

• Learn about the raw materials that form the basis for most beauty products. 
• Get in-depth profiles on the best essential oils for beauty. 
• See demonstrations and get tips for adding natural products to your skin care routine.

All classes are held at Enfleurage, 321 Bleeker St. NYC.  Cost is $20 and attendees receive $10 credit on any purchases they make the night of class. For more information or to sign up please email  info@aromavida.com .

Class taught by Christina Dille of Aromavida.com

The John Galliano Fiasco, from the perspective of a LVMH insider

The racist rants of world-renowned fashion designer, John Galliano of Christian Dior, rang around the world last week, as spewd anti-semetic rants. But an LVMH insider says, such antics were common there. LVMH is the conglomerate that owns the Christian Dior label as well as Marc Jacobs, Givenchy, etc. This ex-employees spoke frankly to Chauncey Zalkin about the torture witnessed and encountered there. Read the interview at Whatwomenmake.com.

Entrepreneurship Changes the World! Get INSPIRED...

Scott Gerber Sizzle Reel from Sizzle It! on Vimeo.

Meca's Scar Butter by Hair and Skin Junc

I got burned very badly severely the last weekend of August. 2nd degree burns from my hips to my calves. Determined to heal and share the process of healing with my Facebook friends, I posted the details of the accident and photos of the progress regularly. One of these friends is Christene Carr who just so happens to own Hair and Skin Junc. Christene, already in the process of developing a new product to treat scarring was so inspired by my condition that she named the new body butter after moi! What an HONOR!

I used every speck of it and was thoroughly delighted! First off, being greeted by the soothing scent of the essential oils of lavender and francincense is so comforting. It just SMELLS like it works! Then the firm butter melts right in the palms of the hands and glides onto the body like oil...without the greasiness. It absorbs well, leaving a cool sensation and a natural glow. Seeing how well my legs reacted to it, I began to apply it to my face as an night-moisturizer, figuring a face can never be too clear of blemishes. Again, SCORE! This is the GOOD stuff. 100% natural and totally effective.


About Meca's Scar Butter:

For years, the ingredients in Meca’s Scar Butter have been used to treat sunburns, reduce the appearance of scars and stretch marks as well as heal rough, dry and damaged skin. Mango butter, carrot oil and macadamia oil all have skin regenerative properties. These oils and butter have been enhanced with vitamin E, as well as antioxidant rich argan and pomegranate oils that will help nature along it’s healing path.

This butter keeps the skin supple and the daily application, along with massage, increases blood circulation to the damaged areas of the skin to speed healing, help reduce hyper-pigmentation and scarring. Meca’s scar butter is rich in antioxidants, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals.

Lavender and frankincense essential oils are antiseptics that also have great rejuvenating and healing properties and they give this butter a wonderful, earthy and calming aroma.

Meca’s Scar Butter is 100% natural and preservative free.

Cost: $25. There will be a promotion offering a 20% discount starting on Thursday November 11, 2010 and end on December 3, 2010.
BUY NOW!

Product Weight: 3.5 ounce

Ingredients: Theobroma cacao (Cocoa) Butter, Mangifera indica (Mango) Butter, Daucus carota sativa (Carrot) oil, Butyrospermum parkii (Shea) butter, Macadamia ternifolia (Macadamia) oil, Punica granatum (pomegranate) oil, Argania spinosa (Argan) Oil, Lavandula angustifolia (Lavender) oil, Boswellia carterii (Frankincense), Tocopherol (vitamin E.)
Usage Directions: After cleansing affected area, warm a small amount of the butter in the palm of your hands and gently massage into the affected. Reapply every 4 - 5 hours. Do not apply Scar Butter to open wounds. If irritation occurs, please discontinue use and consult your physician.
A full menu of products is available at:

http://www.hairandskinjunc.com/

Shop Online http://www.etsy.com/shop/hairandskinJUNC

If you have questions about JUNC products, would like to retail or if you would like to request a private label quote, please email us: Sales@Juncbrands.com
973) 826-0473 Monday - Saturday 9 am - 7 pm EST

Fat Tie

ADORABLE!!!


photo credit: springwise.com

 Fat Tie is an ingenious, hip boys' T-shirt company in Los Angeles. It's for kids who mean business!

These cool T-shirts with ties are sharp enough for a formal occasion yet comfy enough for a romp at the park. A Fat Tie with a jacket takes the pain out of getting boys dressed up and makes it fun. Your little boy will love his Fat Tie shirt and so will you!

Get yours:
Website: http://www.shop-fat-tie.com/
Contact: info@shop-fat-tie.com

Creative Business: Wallets2wear

Photo credit:Springwise.com

There are many occasions in life in which carrying a wallet or purse is inconvenient but as chick, we have stuff to carry that are complete essentials. Rather than sticking your cash, debit card, and DL in your bra, San Francisco-based Rogiu LLC has come up with a creative and totally stylish solution: bracelets and wristbands with a wallet hidden inside.
http://wallets2wear.com/

House of Glam

I am just not a TV person. It just dulls my mind BUT when fashion insiders that I respect started buzzing about HOUSE OF GLAM, I figured I'd catch an episode On Demand while I worked. One episode lead to a marathon. I am hooked! I find the show to be completely revolutionary. When I graduated from high school and headed to college to become a fashion designer, my mom told me she would not waste a dime helping me pay for college because there were no blacks in the fashion industry. Boy, have times changed...and luckily I had the foresight to ignore mommy-dearest and follow my dreams (but I digress).
These are beautiful black women running their own businesses, collaborating with others seamlessly and juggling motherhood while looking as fly as their clients. In a world where black women are portrayed as overweight, neck-rolling, money hungry, lazy, ebonic-speaking, can't-find-a-man, always-catfighting jokes of the media; this show makes me proud.
So, watch it for the haute fashion trends. Watch it to peep interactions with your favorite celebrities. Watch it to learn styling trade secrets. Watch it for the peronalities:Crystal brings the drama but with love. Brandi is cool as a fan. Atiba is THAT DUDE. The rest of the cast is equally dope.
Just watch it! And tell a friend.

EXPOSE': Deluxe-How Luxury Lost Its Luster

For those who just LIVE for the newest in Louis Vuitton or Gucci, you'll find this quite interesting. There was a time in history that these luxury brands diligently created leather bags and accessories by hand, custom to order. Most luxury good brands that we know today were started by one-man or one-woman shops that sold beautiful handcrafted pieces. Today nothing exists of its beginning but their name. They are run by business tycoons and use marketing to sell the image of a "luxurious life" but many of the products are mass-produced in the same manner of the bag you just copped from Target. So why do you still drop the cost of a month's mortgage for a bag? Are you brainwashed? With the help of fashion mags, luxury brands have created this phenomenom called the "handbag of the season" that causes FRENZY....drooling, coveting, and waiting lists a mile long.....just for the bag to be passe' after carrying it a week and a new "handbag of the season" to be pushed in our faces.
At one point luxury brands denoted a superior shopping experience with private viewing and seamstresses on hand to custom fit you. It denoted superior quality. It denoted social class and a history of tradition. But in this day and age, this is NOT the case. Your Louis Speedy falls apart as quickly as your Coach. You get no private viewings or special attention at the mall and anyone willing to shell out the cash can wear the same bag as you. OR they can commit the ultimate style sin and rock a fake.
So why do you still buy into it?
In the 1960s LUXURY had gone out of fashion. It was all about free-love and hippie-ism. But the 1980s introduced us to something we'd never seen before: The Tycoon WOMAN. Unmarried, successful, with tons of disposable income. She hit Europe on the weekends and bought clothes and accessories that cost more than her parents's home. American corporate tycoons and financiers saw the potential and bought up these old luxury brands from their founders or incompetent heirs and set their sites on YOU. They understand that people want what they can not have and created an entry into this world of exclusivity by putting these logos on everything from perfumes to eye glasses just so the average joe can feel like he/she has "arrived!"
From the NY Times:
Back in the late 1980s, the Prada backpack — made out of black or tobacco-brown parachute fabric trimmed in leather — became the “it” bag for many would-be fashionistas. It was hip, modern, lightweight and at $450 expensive, but not as expensive as the stratospherically priced bags made by Hermès and Chanel. According to the fashion reporter Dana Thomas, that Prada backpack was also “the emblem of the radical change that luxury was undergoing at the time: the shift from small family businesses of beautifully handcrafted goods to global corporations selling to the middle market” — a shift from exclusivity to accessibility, from an emphasis on tradition and quality to an emphasis on growth and branding and profits.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/books/21kaku.html

“The luxury industry has changed the way people dress,” she writes. “It has realigned our economic class system. It has changed the way we interact with others. It has become part of our social fabric. To achieve this, it has sacrificed its integrity, undermined its products, tarnished its history and hoodwinked its consumers. In order to make luxury ‘accessible,’ tycoons have stripped away all that has made it special.

“Luxury has lost its luster.” (Taken from the pages of Deluxe)


Learn more about the history of the luxury industry and all the smoke and mirrors that exist today to keep you in the poor house below and then ask yourself the hard questions: Why do I need a logo to feel adequate? If I want one-of-a-kind handcrafted pieces why don't I support local artisans? What other brainwashing am I a victim of?


Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster by Dana Thomas



DESIGNPHILADEPHIA 2010

It is upon us! October 7th kicks off the 6th year of this 10 day festival featuring the work of over 450 designers from around the world.

All aspects of design are celebrated: interior, lighting, jewelry, furniture, fashion, graphic, photography, automobile and so much more. If you are even slightly interested in the arts or how things are made to be both aesthetically pleasing and functional, this is not to be missed.

There are wine tasting, business seminars and even diy workshops like 'Eye Design', which invites you to design your own pair of eyeglasses.

The kickoff party, like all of these events are Free and Open to the Public!

DesignPhiladelphia Kickoff! (Part One)

October 7th, 5:30pm - 7:30pm
west elm
1330 Chestnut Street
RSVP for Kick-Off DesignPhiladelphia Reception from 5:30 – 7:30 pm at modern furnishings retailer, west elm with InLiquid featured artist Sarah Zwerling. This exhibition highlights an array of digital collages each based on a photograph that captures an emotional connection to a specific place. Hours 11 – 7 pm, Monday – Saturday, and noon – 6 pm Sunday.
Check out all the happenning here and get in where you fit in! We'd LOVE to see photos of you out enjoying the activities so please send!

Event calendar