I have met dozens of teenagers who don’t work for a boss, yet still have money to spend on fun, games, music, food or whatever they want. How do they do it? Where do they get the cash?
They start a micro business
My book Starting a Micro Business for Teens will help teenagers earn money while learning a lot. A micro business is simple to start, usually home-based, low risk, educational and easy for a busy student to run. This book offers ideas, a business plan, pitfalls to avoid and resources to get a teenager started making money running their own micro business.
Paperback from Amazon $9.95
Kindle $4.95
Ebook in pdf format $4.95
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Introduction: What’s Different About This Book?
Chapter One: What is a Micro Business?
- Characteristics of Micro Businesses
- Simple and Fast Start Up
- One Worker
- Sole Proprietorship
- Little Start Up Money Needed
- Home-Based
- Low Risk
- Manageable
- Purpose to Learn and Earn
Chapter Two: Getting an Idea: A Collection of Micro Business Ideas Best for Teenagers
- Ideas for Micro Businesses
- Avoiding Scams
Chapter Three: Problems and Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
- The Problem with Products
- Solutions for Problems With Products
- The Problems With Service Businesses
- Solutions for Service Businesses
- The Problem With Partners
Chapter Four: Plan It First: Writing a Business Plan
- Business Concept
- Marketing Plan
- Financial Plan
- Example Business Plan
- Product Business Example
Chapter Five: Financing Your Business Without Breaking the Bank
- What Do You Need to Start a Micro Business?
- No Money Down
- The Problem With Debt
- Where Will the Money Come From?
- Start Without Risk
Chapter Six: Taking Care of Business: Extra Information to Get You Started
- Home-based Business Series
- Babysitting
- Cleaning
- House Sitter
- Food Preparation
- Lawn Care
- Pet Sitting
- Self Publishing
- Sewing
- Web Design
Chapter Seven: Encouragement: Final Words to Motivate You
- Keep Learning
- Keep It Manageable
- Learning Has Benefits
- You Can Do This
- Get an Encourager
- Persevere and Press On
- Share Your Story
About the Author
Reviews
“Wow, where was this book when I was a teen? Where was it when I was raising six kids? Starting a Micro Business for Teens is the best thing to hit the market for parents since…well, you get the picture. I’m so sold on this book by Carol Topp! She’s got a quick, easy to read and easy to understand style. It pops off the page with fun examples of what a normal American teen can do to earn extra money. But what it really does is set up a teen for success.
Do you have a school library you could share this book with to help kids? Let’s do all we can to prepare the next generation of leaders by feeding their curiosity and ambition in a healthy way now.” -Amazon review 4 stars
“After I received this book, I tried something sneaky. I just left it sitting out. I’ve heard of doing that with books you want your children to read. And it worked! My son picked it up and read it cover to cover. He thought it had a lot of helpful information and now he’s trying to decide if he should start a micro-business.” -Amazon review 5 stars
“I LOVE the book and highly recommend it in preparing young people to earn money in so many ways that produces good work ethics. Carol encourages teens to work hard and how to go about having good business skills.” -Amazon review 5 stars
“If your teenager wants to earn money and is too young to work at McDonalds, then this is the book to consider for him/her. It will help them with everything, including the all important keeping track of what you earn and reporting it as income tax (if applicable). It will teach teenagers (and adults) all the business aspects for the ins and outs of running a successful business from home.
With plenty of true life stories and spaces to write out your information, this book will be invaluable for your teen–and you.” – Amazon reviewer 4 stars
“This book personally resonated with me because it also speaks to a higher aspirational goal of a partnership between parents and their kids. The parents allow the kids to “try” while the teens are inspired to add the “umph” – referencing the quote at the top of this post. The fact that this type of partnership was lacking in my own life is one of the reasons why I can relate to the need for this book.
Because that type of collaborative approach is an invaluable lesson to teach any teenager since they’re going to apply it in virtually any profession or project they pursue in life. Topp’s book is tops in that regard!” – Amazon reviewer 5 stars
“Finally a book available for teens somewhere in between a lemonade stand and a storefront. No doubt the entire series will be a welcome resource if it also teaches, exhorts and encourages youth as did Starting a Micro Business. Every teen parent would benefit from reading Starting a Micro Business. I enjoyed it immensely and hope to read more of the Micro Business for Teens book series soon.” -Amazon reviewer 5 starts
From Teachers, Parents and Librarians
“When my son started his teen business—which he eventually sold in a million dollar deal—he had little knowledge about how to structure it and handle the tax side. It was Carol Topp who helped him learn how to set up his business, keep records, plan for future growth, and put money away for retirement. Starting a Micro Business is thorough and easy to understand. It should be required reading for all high school entrepreneur and business classes, as well as for young adults thinking about starting their own business.” -Chris Santoro, Madeira, Ohio
Carol’s got a really neat vision for young people doing creative, productive, but realistic things. I liked the balance she strikes between neat opportunities to serve customers and earn money, and the fact that they’re STUDENTS and any business project has to take that into account. These are terrific books written for the teens but without talking down them!”-Melanie Young, mother of eight and author of Raising Real Men
“Based on my experiences as a college professor who has taught numerous students how to prepare a business plan and as a parent of two teenagers, I believe that Carol Topp’s book, Starting A Micro Business – Micro Business for Teens, is a great resource to help a teenager to learn about business and to ultimately start their own business. I found this book to be a quick read yet it is still very thorough. I strongly recommend this book and its very practical, doable approach to any aspiring young entrepreneur. I think it is provides teens a great first step into the entrepreneurial world.” -Michael P. Licata, Ph.D, Accounting Professor Villanova University
“With jobs for teens being far and few between, this program comes at a perfect time to teach them how to start their own businesses. Your class material is something adults could learn a lot from as well, and that is why many of the parents told me they stayed during the program.” -Amy Kleman, Librarian, MidPointe Library West Chester, Ohio
From Students
“I just wanted to write you and say thank you so much for your presentation and curriculum! It gave me great ideas for starting my own small business, and maybe for even doing others in the future. It was really encouraging to know that there are teenagers just like me, that they aren’t brain surgeons, or NASA scientists by age 12, but just normal, hard working kids… and that they succeed!!! If you’re interested, here is the link to the business website that I started, thanks to your help: GraciousMemories.wordpress.com.” -Grace Sánchez
“A must read for teens with a desire to earn money on their own. Wonderfully organized book makes for easy reading and comprehension. The content of these books will help to make a business easier to run and, with dedication to the principles, more successful. As a small business owner, I highly recommend the Micro Business for Teens books to any young person with entrepreneurial drive or just wants to learn how business works. Accompanying workbook enables the books’ concepts to be solidified in your mind, yet are fun and interesting.“-Lucas Rice, owner of Living Tree, LLC, a lawn care micro business he started at age 15.
“Carol Topp’s books not only helped me launch a successful micro business, but gave me the ability to run my business in an organized, professional manner. She has a simple, instructive, helpful writing style that is easy to understand and execute. The books have helped me accomplish one of the greatest goal I could ever achieve.” – Jade B., age 16
“These books have helped me to understand different aspects of business that I didn’t know before. I would suggest these books for all teenagers looking to start there own business, because this will help them to spend their money and time wisely so they can be a success.”- Canon B., age 13
“The book was amazing! With it I am making double minimum wage and I’m not even old enough to work at McDonald’s or Kroger! The book has taught me that I don’t have to be 15 to have a job! Starting a Micro Business for Teens has taught me how to manage my time and money wisely between my business, school, and other activities.”-Ethan E., age 14
