Quote This! – Success

May 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Looking to start your own micro business? Find inspiration through Quote This!, a short blog series dedicated to sharing encouraging quotes for teen micro business owners. 

Much has been said about success in business. As you start your micro business, keep these thoughts in mind:

“The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vidal Sassoon, recognized British stylist

“If hard work is the key to success, most people would rather pick the lock.” – Claude McDonald, British diplomat

“Every single person I know who is successful at what they do is successful because they love doing it.” – Joe Penna, musician and filmmaker

“The road to success is always under construction.” – Arnold Palmer, American professional golfer

“Whether you think you can or can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford, Industrialist, Founder of Ford Motor Company, and Developer of the Assembly Line

Courtesy of Nick Tart, Founder of 14 Clicks

Work hard to build a micro business around what you love, teens, and that is a success!

Carol Topp, CPA

Filed Under: Blog, Running a Micro, You Can Do This

Quote This! – Entrepreneurship

April 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Looking to start your own micro business? Find inspiration through Quote This!, a short blog series dedicated to sharing encouraging quotes for teen micro business owners. 

Today’s quotes center around the spirit of entrepreneurship. Take a look at these wise words to bring into your micro business:

“The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.” - Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States

“An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he’ll quickly learn how to chew it. ” - Roy Ash, co-founder and president of Litton Industries

“Start today, not tomorrow. If anything, you should have started yesterday.” – Emil Motycka

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas Edison, American inventor and businessman

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest learning experience.” – Bill Gates, former CEO and chairman of Microsoft

Courtesy of Nick Tart, Founder of 14 Clicks

Aim high and work hard, entrepreneurs!

Carol Topp, CPA

Filed Under: Blog, Running a Micro, You Can Do This

Get Your Product “On the Shelf!”

April 12, 2012 By 1 Comment

© by Anthony Albright

Want to see the products from your micro business sold at a multi-national retailer? Walmart is running an online contest, “Get on the Shelf,” for entrepreneurs (or micro business owners) to submit their great product ideas. The grand prize winner could see their product sold at Walmarts across the country! Entrants must be “age of majority” to enter, but don’t let this stop you, teens. You just might need a parent or adult’s help in submitting your product. The contest would be a lot of fun and, not to mention, a great way to get some publicity for your micro business! Entries for this year’s contest ended on February 22nd, but keep an eye out for the contest again in 2013. See “Get on the Shelf”‘s website for this year’s contestants, and start thinking about your product for next year’s competition.

Want to enter this competition, but not sure about a product? Check out my website for great micro business ideas that you can easily make to compete!

Carol Topp, CPA

Filed Under: Blog, Featured, You Can Do This

5 Reasons Entreapreneurship Should Be Part of Every Education

October 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment

 

My friend, Janice Campbell, of Everyday Education shares 5 reasons entrepreneurship should be part of your teenagers education:

 

Mindset: We live in a society that teaches passivity, rather than active exploration and initiative. … Entrepreneurial training takes this a step farther by teaching students how to act with freedom, integrity, and purpose in their work life.

Flexibility and Preparedness: Entrepreneurial education provides a way for anyone of any age or financial condition to be better prepared to independently generate personal income. Business transitions are a fact of life. Factories close or automate, corporations merge and shift focus. It’s critical to be prepared to observe trends and be ready and able to move into another field or to supplement income with a microbusiness.

Learning:  Teens who choose run a business rather than flip burgers for the summer learn not only the service or product they are selling, but they also learn about business structures, bookkeeping, customer service, marketing, creative problem solving, real-world communication, and much more. Real bookkeeping for a small business is a lot more memorable than exercises from a consumer math textbook. Best of all, the skills and knowledge gained can be applied to many other parts of life.

High-School Transcript: A small business is a great addition to a high-school transcript. … entrepreneurship demonstrates initiative, hard work, creativity, perseverance, and other valuable skills and character traits. It’s likely that you’ll be able to grant credit for many of the business functions (bookkeeping, salesmanship, web design basics, etc.) your student learns as her or she builds a business.

Using the Micro Business for Teens curriculum will earn you 1/2 credit of high school credit and running your business can be another 1/2 to a full credit.

Fun: Finally, entrepreneurship is just plain fun. It empowers individuals– moms, dads, teens, pre-teens– to create something of value and share it with others in a profitable way. A young person who starts a microbusiness gains a lot more than spending money. He or she gains confidence, valuable experience, and a host of new skills that can be used for life.

 

Janice, you are so right. There are so many things a teenager can learn by starting their own micro business-and earn money while learning!

So, don’t delay, get an idea and get started. Start with reading the blog posts here and then my books will help you launch your own micro business.

Carol Topp, CPA

Filed Under: Blog, You Can Do This Tagged With: , , ,

3 things entrepreneurs do (better than the government)

September 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment

From the Kauffman Foundation

Data show(s) that virtually all new job growth in the United States has been driven by firms less than five years old.

This video explains three things entrepreneurs do (better than the government) and why entrepreneurs are our heros!

Filed Under: Blog, You Can Do This

Video: Starting a Micro Business Interview

August 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Mary Jo Tate talks with Carol Topp, author of Micro Business for Teens about setting up small businesses with your teens.

Filed Under: Blog, Starting a Micro, You Can Do This

Idea: Man-scented candles

March 26, 2011 By 2 Comments

Hart Main, a teenager from Ohio, had a neat idea for his micro business: man-scented candles!

“My sister was selling candles for school, and I was kind of making fun of her because they were really girly scents, and the idea came to me to make man-scented candles ’cause nobody was doing that,” Hart says.
He used $100 from his savings to start his business called ManCans. He makes the candles at home when he’s not in school.

He’s all about “being green.” His candles come in recycled cans and feature labels made of recycled paper.

The candles sell for $8.00 and come in different scents such as:

  • New York Style Pizza: Straight out of the oven.
  • Money to Burn: Use your tax refund to buy a candle.
  • Gear Head: Smells like the auto garage.
  • Cracker Jacks: A prize for your nose in every can.
  • Coffee: Men don’t go to coffee houses, men go to ManCans.
  • Bacon: Bacon, Bacon, Bacon, Bacon… I smell Bacon.
  • Bubble Gum: Just like opening the pack of Topps baseball cards.
  • Grandpa’s Pipe: A fresh tobacco blend just like grandpa smoked.
  • Sawdust: A light cedar smell.

I love Hart’s micro business idea and wish him great success!

Hart’s ManCan website.

Carol Topp, CPA

Filed Under: Blog, Ideas, You Can Do This

How young entrepreneurs balance business and school

March 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

My friend Jack at Teen Business Forum has 20 students share how they balance running a business and schoolwork. Some are college students, but many are teenagers in high school.

They do things like

  • plan ahead,
  • wake up early,
  • work late,
  • work while others play,
  • set goals and
  • manage their time.

How Young Entrepreneurs Balance Business And School

People always talk about work-life balance. Well, with young entrepreneurs, it’s more of work-school balance. Here’s how some student entrepreneurs were able to balance their school work and the company they were running on the side. It’s more like the the company they were running and classes they were attending to on the side.

Read more…

If they can do it, so can you!

Carol Topp, CPA

Filed Under: Blog, Running a Micro, You Can Do This

Chik-Fil-A Owner: Keeping Priorities Straight

November 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Have you heard  Chik-Fil-A owner’s Truett Cathy’s success story?  It’s very inspirational, especially to a teenage micro business.  Mr Cathy closes his business on Sundays in order to keep his priorities in place. You too may need to place the demands of your micro business aside in order to keep your other priorities like homework, family, faith and friends straight.

“I was not so committed to financial success that I was willing to abandon my  principles and priorities. One of the most visible examples of this is our decision to   close on Sunday.  Our decision to close on Sunday was our way of honoring God and  of directing our attention to things that mattered more than our business.”

Chick-fil-A is the only major fast-food restaurant chain to be closed on Sundays, one of the busiest days of the week in the restaurant business. Despite being closed on Sundays, Truett Cathy has led Chick-fil-A on an unparalleled record of 38 consecutive years of sales increases, with its core free-standing restaurants achieving higher sales per unit in six days (with shorter operating hours) than most major chains in the industry.

Read more about Mr Cathy’s business principles here:

Five Step Recipe for Business for Success

If he could do it, then you can do it too!

Don’t sacrifice the important things like faith and family just to make a buck!

Filed Under: Blog, You Can Do This Tagged With: , ,

Fear of failure stopping many teenagers

November 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A recent study by Junior Achievement on teenage entrepreneurs found that mant teenagers are afraid to start their own businesses because they are afraid of risk and have a fear of failure.

Of those polled, 74 percent identified risk (39 percent) and failure (35 percent) as the biggest discouragements from starting their own business, compared to 56 percent who cited lack of money to fund their ideas. The Junior Achievement 2010 Teens and Entrepreneurship Survey was sponsored by Sam’s Club.

But starting a micro business is different!

Micro businesses can be started with little or no risk and rarely fail!

It is not necessary to be a risk taker to start a micro business. Teenage micro business owners do not want to take risks; they are in business to learn something and to earn money. Starting a business does not need to be risky. Micro business owners have a purpose—to learn—and usually have a set financial goal for their micro. They can start with what they have on hand and need little or no money.

Starting a micro business does not need to be risky.

There is a misconception that teenagers starting a business must be on the road to greatness and have Microsoft founder Bill Gates as their idol. This emphasis on super-success can be intimidating to a teenager just trying to learn the ropes. Instead, micro businesses can be quite simple. It can offer a tried-and-true method for teenagers to earn cash, such as mowing lawns and babysitting.

Find out how to start a micro business without risk or fear of failure by ordering my book (or ebook) Starting a Micro Business today

Paperback $9.95 Order Here

Ebook $9.95 Order here

Filed Under: Blog, Starting a Micro, You Can Do This Tagged With: , ,
« Older Posts