Young entrepreneurs start some creative businesses, and some grow to include the whole family. Bradt’s Menagerie in Woods County, Oklahoma, started with the kids keeping chickens and now is a whole-family business.
Jerry Johnson issued a bit of a challenge in the comments, encouraging us all to brainstorm potential business ideas for young rural entrepreneurs. That reminded me of a terrific list of actual student businesses in Norfolk County, Ontario.
It’s a list of real businesses started by kids in grades 6 through 12, part of their Student Start Up project. Kids can apply with a simple “business plan” template and may receive $200 in start up funds to kick them off. In 2016, they funded 40 student entrepreneurs.
And look at the creative businesses the kids have started in 2017. Besides the usual ideas of babysitting, car washing and lawncare, these young rural entrepreneurs have come up with some terrific projects:
- Fruit and vegetable stands
- Dog walking and poop scooping
- Lessons in French language, swimming, and growing plants, vegetables, fruit and crops
- Lemonade stand
- Magic tricks and entertainment for parties
- Art sales, including pen and ink, anime characters and rustic modern styles
- Dog sitting and dog care
- Beach glass jewelry
- Lip balms, sunscreen, bath and body products
- Boat cleaning
- Custom pinback buttons
- Seedling plants, veggies, flowers, and trees
- Rare sneaker sales
- Specialized crafts like woodworked bowls and cutting boards, handmade fishing flies, tie-dye T-shirts, painted lucky horseshoes, art welded from old car parts, wood and pebble pictures, mosaics, stained glass, terracota, signs with sayings
- Babysitting with science lessons or tutoring
- Used toy sales
- Snack shack at the ball parks and splash pad
- Chicken and quail breeding
- Bags of ice and sweet corn sales
- Cupcakes
- Performing on guitar and piano
- Dog treats
- Web design
- Fish breeding
- Garden, plant and flower watering service
- Lawn weeding
- Free-range eggs
- Social media management
- Carpentry
- Popsicles
- Photography
You’ll find the full list, with photos, at the Norfolk County Student Business page. I’m sure they’ll keep updating it year to year, so stop back next summer to see the newest student business ideas.
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Long-time reader Jim Metcalf sent this comment via email:
“Thank you for highlighting young entrepreneurs as they are our future. We have taught more than 350 10-year-olds over the past 6 years. A number have kept their businesses going. One thing that is very successful here in rural areas is to sponsor a market place for the kids in conjunction with a town event or celebration. We will have 50 kid businesses setup in a hall or town square.”
I think that’s a terrific idea, and really supports the Innovative Rural Business Models plan of taking small steps toward being in business. Thanks, Jim!
In Driggs, Idaho, we’ve created a kitchen incubator (www.tetonvalleykitchen.com) in a vacant restaurant and partnered with 4H and Full Circle Education, which both teach kids classes – from harvesting to preparing to selling food products. They are out selling at our farmers market as I write this – pesto, quiche, bees wax candles and other harvested items. The kitchen incubator is also marketed to young entrepreneurs to make food products they can sell out in the community, and beyond: check out this story from another kitchen incubator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd_41Vj7QTk&sns=em
Doug, this is so perfect! Kitchen incubators are one of my favorites, and to see it partnering directly with young entrepreneurs is brilliant. Thank you for sharing this.