Kid Start-Up: How YOU Can Become an Entrepreneur

by Mark Cuban, Shaan Patel, Ian McCue

Overview

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it." —Mark Cuban, How to Win at the Sport of Business

Discover a winning idea, launch your business, and start making money today!

Do you think it would be cool to run your own business?
Do you want to help people with everyday problems?
Do you want to make money?

Then you could be an entrepreneur!

You don't have to be a grownup to launch your start-up. We'll show you how to discover a great business idea and get it off the ground. You can try one of our ten kid-friendly businesses, including timeless ventures like starting a lemonade stand to more modern-day endeavors like launching an Etsy art store, or create your own. Because every billionaire was once a kid with great ideas—just like you!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635764710
Publisher:	Diversion Books
Publication date:	08/14/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Through his bold and ingenious approach to business, sports, and life, Mark Cuban has become one of the world's wealthiest entrepreneurs. With a knack for the inventive, as well as the spotlight, Cuban stands as one of the most innovative, successful, and talked about business minds of our generation.

Shaan Patel is a Shark Tank entrepreneur (who made an investment deal with Mark Cuban for his company Prep Expert SAT & ACT Preparation), a bestselling author, and a dermatologist-in-training. He has an MD from USC and an MBA from Yale.

Ian McCue is the founder and director of Spark Skill, an educational startup offering coding, design, and maker summer camps for tweens and teens. At just sixteen years old, he is an entrepreneur with extensive experience in STEM and educational ventures, along with a passion for promoting youth engagement in coding, engineering, and business development.

Read an Excerpt

NEW Kid Entrepreneur Interview: Tommy Vanek


Started Selling Soap at Age 15


Regularly Sells His Products in Bulk to Hotels



1. Did you have any business or work experience before you started your business?

I couldn’t get a job before I was sixteen, but I took an entrepreneurship class in school that was really interesting and helped me make my decision to start a business.

2. What inspired you to start your company?

I wanted money for my first car. I chose soap because my family and I did a fun experiment making soap a few summers prior, so I chose to continue the experiment by making and selling soap.

3. What were the first steps that you took in starting your business?

I first had to run the numbers and figure out how much money it would take to start it up and how much I could sell it for to make a product. Then I had to get all of the permits and licenses required to start a business. Then I bought all of the materials and supplies needed to make the soap and I had to learn how to make it well. After all of that, I had to think of the names and designs of all of the soaps before I started production.

4. What was your biggest challenge in starting a business?

I think that one of the biggest challenges in starting up my business was the risk and hardship that came with it. Running a business can sometimes be extremely hard, and there is the possibility of losing the time and money that you invest. I had to contact my suppliers and create a website and a million other things besides just making the soap that took up a lot of my time.

5. Do you have any advice for aspiring kid/teen entrepreneurs?

Don’t be afraid to take risks. A lot of times, people won’t do something because of the fear of failure. However, if something fails, then you can learn from it. It will often just be a bump in the road.

6. Was there any one decision that was truly key to your company’s success?

I don’t think that there was any one decision that made my company a success. It resulted from many small decisions, luck, and the support of my family.

7. If you could go back in time and make one change to your business, what would it be?

There isn’t one big thing that I would change, but I would make a few small changes. I would be more careful when making the soap by staying on top of everything so that I don’t ever have to rush at the last minute.

8. What do you want to be when you grow up?

To be honest, I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up, but probably something having to do with business or investing.

9. What have you learned through starting and running your business?

Running a business takes a lot of hard work and dedication, but it is definitely worth it. I recently bought my first car and I am loving every minute of it because I made the money through my working hard for my own business.

10. Why should fellow kids and teens start their own businesses?

It helped me learn a lot of responsibility and social skills. I have learned managerial skills, and, when I look at my business, I feel very proud of what I have created. It will also look great on resumes and college applications.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 What Is an Entrepreneur? 7

Chapter 2 The Kid Entrepreneur 19

Chapter 3 Discovering Your Business Idea 29

Chapter 4 10 Businesses Any Kid Can Start 37

Chapter 5 Nuts & Bolts of Launching Your Business 57

Chapter 6 Successful Kid Entrepreneur Interviews 67

Chapter 7 10 Business Principles Any Kid Can Follow 87

Chapter 8 Extra Content 115

Affiliate Marketing 117

Glossary 118

Resources 120

Acknowledgements 123

Editorial Reviews

Business 101—simple, with a good measure of excitement and motivational verve.” —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2018-06-25
Tools for becoming an entrepreneur, a kid entrepreneur.Cuban, Patel, and McCue have put together here both a guide and a workbook to entrepreneurship. "Any kid that starts a business to make money is an entrepreneur" (from the French entreprendre, readers learn, which means to undertake). The authors are all about action: Ideas are great, but selling those ideas is the rub. They chart out characteristics of successful entrepreneurs—hardworking, enthusiastic, creative, flexible, motivated—which are good traits for any kid in any endeavor, but entrepreneurs also have to be ready to fail, as the way of the entrepreneur is full of risk. The whole idea is to create something of value that people are willing to buy to solve a problem or fulfill a need. They then give umpteen examples of things people could have use for, from duct-tape wallets to social media sites, and encourage readers to delve into any chosen product and make the very best one that you can. The trick here is to get excited enough to put thought into action, and the authors rev up the enthusiasm, provide lots of tips and ideas, and stress that even failures have their uses, as in not repeating them. Plus, starting as a kid allows you to fail and not face financial disaster, as parents are great backstopsBusiness 101—simple, with a good measure of excitement and motivational verve. (Nonfiction. 9-13)

Kirkus Reviews