I home business school my kid, part II
Sunday, June 3, 2012 (Part 1 is here, but these two posts really have nothing to do with one another aside from the fact that it's a catchy title and I was too lazy to think up a different one.)
Fury's school does the coolest thing. A few times a year, they hold a student marketplace where kids can get their entrepreneur on and set up stalls to sell anything they want. They can peddle used items, homemade edibles, store-bought edibles, crafts, services -- pretty much anything they can think up and drag to school, except for weapons.
Which saddens me because I really wanted to pass down my handmade ninja star business to himTo provide legal tender for these activities, the school has established its own currency system. You start off the year with a set amount, and throughout the school year you can earn or spend those dollars for doing (or getting out of) chores and tasks. But what really separates the wheat from the chaff is the student marketplace. This is where fake money fortunes are made or squandered.
I learned of this recently when Fury asked "Hey, dad, I need you to help me make some Colt Cash."
I opened my mouth to say "well first you need to find an unclaimed street corner and a good supplier," but thought better of it and just said "why do you need cold cash?"
"No, Colt Cash!" And this was followed by the description I shared with you above.
Since our entire family watches the show Shark Tank religiously (it is the best show on TV), and I never pass up an opportunity to do my Mark Cuban impersonation, I proceeded to grill him on his business idea, which was this:
That's a Creeper costume from the game Minecraft. If your kid has succumbed to Minecraft, let's start a support group. No better yet, a drinking and partying group because our kids would never notice anyway.
Once we got to the "but how scalable is this? And could you get production cost to under $2 if we made it in China?" the holes in his business plan were simply too big to ignore. Plus, it might be hard to bike to school with them. So we did some brainstorming. What could we sell that would capitalize on the buying impulses of elementary school students with play money burning a hole in their pockets?
We had it. I wrote up a list of materials that he needed to go buy with mom, along with instructions on how to put it all together.
When I got home from the work the next day, the product was assembled and ready to go.
Introducing CANDYWARE, fashionable accessories made with real candy!
Of course, to hedge his bets, Fury also created two consulting companies (advertised on either side of the board above): Poptropica Island Boys, where he helps you get past some supposedly really tough island level on the Poptropica video game, and SkinTek, in which he uses a Minecraft skins app, which he bought with his own allowance, to create skins for your Minecraft characters (note the clever logo he drew up with the word Tek rolling off a conveyor belt).
When I got home from work the next day, he gave me the breakdown:
ALL 24 BRACELETS SOLD WITHIN 5 MINUTES
"And I already have orders for another batch!"
"So how much Colt Cash do you have now?"
"$45,000!"
"And how much did you start the year with?"
"$7,000... and I'm going to buy my way out of homework FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR!"
A good entrepreneur: knows how to make money. A dangerous entrepreneur: knows how to spend it wisely.
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Bonus: I also posted this week on MamaPop about what a bummer it is that fighting is now like a pop culture thing. I complain like you're on my lawn or something. It's quite lovely.
Reader Comments (10)
Did he think about liability insurance in case he sold to somebody that was allergic to strawberries?
Awesome idea! Fury is brilliant. And with a mug like that, I'd definitely buy a Candyware, too!
Um, do you know that this is a valuable product and he should market it towards Type One Diabetics?
We will take 10.
Fabulous bracelets. And brilliant idea with how to spend his cash.
I don't understand the draw to Minecraft. Every other game is all abou thte graphics and how cool they look and Minecraft is like a blast from 1988. What gives?
Love the idea. I especially love the buying out of homework bit!!!
What kind of school does he attend? This is awesome! I wish schools routinely taught students how to be creative and entrepreneurial. The "train them to be factory workers" model has been overdue for an overhaul for decades, but it's especially antiquated in the 21st century, when much of the "factory jobs" aren't in the U.S. any more.
What a great idea! I love how you're teaching your kid real world practical knowledge he can actually use (I am yet to use long division, my teachers lied!)
I would totally buy those!
So when is Fury joining the cast of Shark Tank??? Genius!
Seriously though, I'd love to know more about the Money Game the school plays as I just joined the school committee for my son's 1st year.
Awesome Stuff, as usual!
What if it's your husband that's succumbed to Minecraft??? :P
Way to go Fury, the whole buying your way out of homework... I think he's got the 1% figured out already. ;)
I think that the student market place is an awesome idea for your school. I wish my kids has something like that to participate in. What a practical idea.