Micro Business for Teens » Startup

Volunteer to learn about business

Carol Topp, CPA — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 08:15:16 +0000

Internet Based Kids had a great blog post about how volunteering can lead you into business or a future career.

Volunteer Opportunities for 16-25 Year Olds

If you are between the ages of 16-25 and looking for a way to gain work experience you might want to think about signing up to be a volunteer. Many businesses allow volunteers to help out to give them the opportunity to see if they might be interested in having a career in that particular field.

Among those businesses you may want to consider charity work in are hospitals, some long term care facilities, grocery stores, charity groups, and many other establishments as well. This can also allow people to gain new relationships and earn a good reputation for when they are ready to go out into the working world in the future.

Volunteers are a great help to businesses. For instance, those who work as volunteers in hospitals help patients to have a more tolerable stay while they are ill. Nursing home patients may enjoy having a volunteer come visit them from time to time just to keep them company. Volunteers in grocery stores can be helpful by carrying bags out for customers or helping them locate certain items in the store.

Volunteering your time to help charity groups can also be an enjoyable thing to do. Knowing you are helping those in need can be a rewarding experience that you can be proud of. Many elderly people who are shut-ins need volunteers to run occasional errands for them. Having trustworthy people who can go pay their bills or make trips to the store for them when needed can be a tremendous help.

Another benefit of being a volunteer is how you are perceived by the public eye. Most likely if you do well at job volunteering, you will be considered strongly should you ever want a permanent job at that particular business. When business managers see they can depend on you as a volunteer your reputation as a good worker will be set in stone. It is also a nice addition to have volunteer work listed on a resume as experience working with others in your community.

Volunteer opportunities are also a great way for college students to gain on the job training. You can check here – http://www.vinspired.com/opportunities for more information. Once you have an idea of which career you want to go into, find out if there is a business in that field that has a need for volunteers. This can help you be better prepared for the job and give you a sense of pride while doing it.

About The Author

Steve Volman – writer, thinker and general muser. Interests include charity and volunteering, football and the odd spot of golf. Any feedback on my articles in more than welcome.

Love horses? Turn your love into a micro business!

Carol Topp, CPA — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 11:41:04 +0000

I have met a lot of teenage horse lovers that have created a micro business related to their horse passion:

Libby offers riding lessons to children on her family farm (Check with your parents and an insurance agent before starting this)

Abby sells custom made saddle pads to horse lovers at horse shows and to people she knows from 4-H. She leaves a sample fabric swatches at her local stables, so customers can pick a favorite design.

Victoria Kasten was only eight when she started writing novels that featured horses. She has now written more than 9 books. The books covers above are Victoria’s books. See her books at http://www.epicscrolls.com/

Heather gave my 10-year old, horse-loving daughter six riding lessons one the summer. Sarah learned how to groom a horse and muck out a stall too!

Jessica set up a website devoted to horses, Learn About Horses, and gathers income from the ads placed there. See her work at: http://www.learn-about-horses.com/index.html

Let your interest in horses make you some cash! Start a micro bsuiness related to horses.

A job or self employed?

Carol Topp, CPA — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 22:33:33 +0000

Wendy at Homeschool-Curriculum-for-Life.com is my guest blogger today. She shares her thoughts about whether it better to look for a job or be an entrepreneur:

Entrepreneurship for teens is a hot topic these days. As a parent of a soon-to-be teen, my thoughts are turning more and more towards her future. I knew very early on that our children cannot look forward to a job in the public/private sector due to certain imbalances of the political past in our country (Wendy lives in South Africa) . But even if this were not the situation, I would still not consider a career working for another person as an ideal.

A job or self employed?

Why not a job in the public sector? My reasons:

We need to realize that jobs are not secure these days just because our children have graduated from school and college with a degree – a degree is not an automatic pass into a job anymore.

I have seen many homeschooled and public schooled teens come to the end of their schooling and not know what they want to do with the next few years of their lives. Some are so out of touch with their passions and interest that they opt to travel for a year on their parent’s expense. This is not an option for us.

Other teens have not been trained in responsibility or with business skills and are thus totally unprepared to begin an entrepreneurial venture or even hold down a summer job. These young people think that the only way to make money will be to get a job as a waiter or waitress.

In this country 30% of our population is unemployed, this means that to each job there are hundreds of applicants. Our local newspaper states: “At least a third of the 351,503 who finished school will still be unemployed a year from today, while half will battle to find jobs.” Taken from a newspaper article dated 11 January 2007.

By raising a child to think entrepreneurially they will be able to provide much needed employment to others.

Wendy has more to say here.

Chess into $$

Carol Topp, CPA — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:08:00 +0000

Turn a hobby or passion into a money making micro business.

I heard about Jonathan Hilton at a graduation party where I met his mother. She told me how Jonathan made money from chess. “Do you mean prize money?” I asked. “No,” she explained, “by writing magazine articles and books.”

Jonathan is selling his knowledge about chess and people are willing to pay for what he knows!

The 19-year-old college freshman holds the title of National Master from the United States Chess Federation.

He writes articles relating to his experiences at playing chess abroad and has co-authored “Wojo’s Weapons: Winning With White,” with International Master Dean Ippolito.

For those who might be interested in learning about chess but fear it just isn’t “cool,” Hilton has these thoughts: “Chess is something that transcends all ages and cultures. I’ve been in situations where I didn’t speak the same language as the other player, but yet I was still on such good terms with them because we could play, we could analyze and we could learn some things. Chess unites people because you have a common experience and a common passion.” http://www.uc.edu/spotlight/student/jonathan_hilton.html

You may not hold a national title, but you may know something about some thing, right? Start writing it down! Start a blog, write some articles and see if magazines are interested in paying you for your knowledge and perspective on life. Maybe even consider writing a book. Other teenagers have done it, why not you?

Crafts into Cash

Carol Topp, CPA — Wed, 19 May 2010 13:39:00 +0000

Stephanie over at Crafts for Kidlets has some helpful advice on creating cash from crafts.

Turning Your Child’s Craft Hobby Into A Business

Two things that I love are seeing people who are passionate about crafting, and children with an entrepreneurial spirit.

I know that most of the crafts that I have posted here have been geared toward the younger kids. But what if your tween/teen wants to turn their crafting hobby into profit?

Perhaps your child has a passion for:

jewelry making
woodworking/painting
knitting/crocheting

just to name a few things. I know out here on the East Coast, Spring and Fall are huge for craft fairs and the Summer is a great time for Yard Sales (Tag Sales as we refer to them!).

If your family, friends or neighbors are having a tag sale, perhaps your child can set up a table with his or her goods to sell.

Now the other places that I mentioned for selling your crafts are:

Etsy – You can set up your own site with customized banners. It costs 20 cents to list an item for 4 months.
eBay is another place to list your items. There is a cost associated with it, depending on the amount of the sale.
Lily’s Craft Store Mall is one other place you can list your crafts. You pay a monthly fee for the website, but the actual craft listings are free.

Do any of you use the sites Stephanis lists for selling your crafts? Tell us how its going for you. Drop a comment.

Idea: Virtual Assistant

Carol Topp, CPA — Wed, 19 May 2010 13:30:36 +0000

One great micro business idea is to be a virtual assistant (VA)-someone that helps a business with bookkeeping, administrative tasks (scheduling, responding to e-mail,etc.) or creative tasks (editing, graphic design, etc) all from a remote location.

Here’s a book that could help you get started.

http://entrepreneurialfreedom.com/

Be warned in Chapter One, that you can read online, the author states that you’ll need $3,000 to get started. Ouch!

She doesn’t know about micro businesses!

A micro business can be started with no debt! Use what you already have like a computer, what’s between your ears (i.e. your brain) and your personal experience.

To learn how to be a VA, you might consider Rhea Perry’s class 8-Week Administrative Virtual Assistant Course

http://rheaperry.com/entrepreneurial-education/?page_id=723

It’s an 8 week online class that teaches you how to be a Virtual Assistant.

Check it out!

iPhone Apps as a micro business

Carol Topp, CPA — Mon, 10 May 2010 18:37:25 +0000

Here’s a clever teenager finding a neat micro business: iPhone apps

My name is Jonah. I am 13 years old and I met you last year at the Cincinnati Homeschool Convention. My mom and I attended your talk. You mentioned that I could get in touch with you if I any questions. Here’s my question:

I am looking to start up a micro business by creating iPhone Apps for people. In order to do so, Apple requires one of the following:

Articles of incorporation

Business license

Certificate of Formation

Charter documents

Operating Agreement

Partnership papers

Reseller or vendor license

I was wondering how I would be able to get one of those since I’m just starting up a micro business.

Jonah,

Getting a vendor’s license would be the easiest. All the other options involve forming a corporation, something you do not need and are not ready for.

In Ohio you can apply for a vendor’s license at the Secretary of State’s website: http://tax.ohio.gov/divisions/sales_and_use/license.stm

There are several types vendors licenses depending on what you sell and if you travel around selling. I recommend the Service Vendor license. It costs $25.

A word of warning: the State of Ohio expects micro businesses to file sales tax returns every 6 months even if you do not have any sales. One man was fined over $100 because he did not file a sales tax return, even though he didn’t have any sales yet; he was just getting started. He managed to talk them out of the fine.

Here is where you go to file the sales tax returns.
http://tax.ohio.gov/online_services/business_taxes_sales_filing.stm

Follow up: Jonah emailed me to say this:

I was able to join the iPhone development program without having to get a vendors license… Turns out if you sign up as a individual, you don’t need to provide any info.

That’s great, but Jonah may still need a vendor’s license and may need to collect sales tax on the sale of his apps. It depends on the rules of his state and whether he sells to the final user. Jonah will only collect sales tax if he sells to the final purchaser. If Jonah is a wholesaler and sells to a company (like Apple) that resells his app, Jonah is not responsible for sales tax; the reseller is responsible for collecting sale tax.

10 Micro Tips for Micro Businesses: Learn a Lot

Carol Topp, CPA — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 21:00:59 +0000

10 Micro Tips for Micro Businesses

Countdown to Starting a Micro Business ebook launch

Day 10: Starting a Micro Business ebook by Carol Topp, CPA is now available for purchase!

Today’s tip: Learn a Lot

You go into business to make money, but wouldn’t it be great if your business also had other benefits?

What if you learned so much, you decided to launch another, larger business?

What if you found your future career by running a micro business?

Or what if you learned what you definitely do not want to do for a career? What would that be worth to you?

Starting a micro business can be a huge learning experience, without paying tuition.

Here’s a few things you might learn:

time management
customer serve
how to overcome shyness
bookkeeping to track your income and expenses
how to express yourself
confidence
marketing

Meghan taught violin lessons to children when she was a teenager. She loved playing violin and enjoyed teaching so much that she decided to study violin in college. Running her micro business helped her find her future career.

What would you like to learn? ____________________

In what areas of your life do you need to grow?_____________________

Get started on learning more today by purchasing your copy of Starting a Micro Business.

For one week only until May 10, 2010, I will be offering a special bundle package. For the price of the ebook, $9.95, you will also receive a copy of my Teens and Taxes: A Guide for Parents and Teenagers ebook and my audio Starting a Micro Business. This offer is only good for one week. It expires Monday May 10.

Carol Topp, CPA

http://MicroBusinessForTeens.com

Find Micro Business for Teens on Facebook!

10 Micro Tips for Micro Businesses: Keep it Manageable

Carol Topp, CPA — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 06:00:58 +0000

10 Micro Tips for Micro Businesses

Countdown to Starting a Micro Business ebook launch

Day 9: 1 day until the release of Starting a Micro Business ebook by Carol Topp, CPA

Saturday, May 1, 2010

As we count down to the launch of Starting a Micro Business, I am going to share tips on starting a micro business.

Today’s tip: Keep it manageable

Micro businesses are a perfect business for teenagers to start because they are small and manageable. A teenager should be able to run a micro business and keep up with school work and extra curricular activities.

Running a micro should only take a few hours a week, up to 20 at most. The time commitment should be similar to working a part time job, but the rewards are much greater!

Emily teaches piano lessons to seven students for 30 minutes each week. The three-and-a-half hours a week is not a heavy load, but she is a busy high school student. She charges $8 for a half hour lesson, a very reasonable price, but twice the hourly rate that she would make working fast food. She can schedule the students around her schedule and since they come to her home, she doesn’t have to spend time driving or borrow the family car.

Do you have a busy life with your parents expecting you to get good grades?
Do you still want to earn some money without being given a funny uniform and being told when to show up for work?

A micro business would be great for you!

Be sure to visit MicroBusinessForTeens.com on Saturday, May 1, 2010 to order your copy of Starting a Micro Business.

For one week, May 3-10, 2010, I will be offering a special bundle package. For the price of the ebook , $9.95, you will also receive a copy of my Teens and Taxes: A Guide for Parents and Teenagers ebook and my audio Starting a Micro Business. This offer is only good for one week. It expires Monday May 10.

Carol Topp, CPA

http://MicroBusinessForTeens.com

Find Micro Business for Teens on Facebook!

10 Micro Tips for Micro Businesses: Use What You Own

Carol Topp, CPA — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 06:00:45 +0000

10 Micro Tips for Micro Businesses

Countdown to Starting a Micro Business ebook launch

Day 7: 3 days until the release of Starting a Micro Business ebook by Carol Topp, CPA

Saturday, May 1, 2010

As we count down to the launch of Starting a Micro Business, I am going to share tips on starting a micro business.

Today’s tip: Use what you own

Some micro businesses can be launched without any start up expenses at all. You can often use the equipment and tools you (or your family) already own. Things like:

a piano or guitar to teach lessons
a stove and oven to cook food
a vacuum cleaner and mop to clean houses
your two feet to walk dogs
your babysitting training to do childcare
your computer to do web design

Be sure to visit MicroBusinessForTeens.com on Saturday, May 1, 2010 to order your copy of Starting a Micro Business.

Carol Topp, CPA

http://MicroBusinessForTeens.com

Find Micro Business for Teens on Facebook!