Category Archives: Entrepreneurship

Raising Savvy Business Kids

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Flash to the Past

When I was growing up, my dad wanted me to get a college degree so that I wouldn’t follow in his footsteps by creating my own small business like he did (and my grandfather too).  Sadly, I was not destined to be a savvy Business kid…

Both my dad and grandfather had fairly successful businesses (my dad still have his business, my grandfather has past away).  They were trying to save me from the hours they put in to grow their businesses.  I remember my dad, looking at blueprints during basketball games down in a recreation room many a night!

Flash Forward

I’m doing the opposite with my kids!  I’m actually trying to raise my kids as Savvy Business Kids!

I decided to change direction from my dad because the company employee paradigm from his era no long applies today!  Company loyalty (while still may exist at a very small subset of companies), is going the same way of company pensions, they are becoming nonexistent…, extinct…, dust in the wind…

So what have I done to help my kids become business savvy?

  • I started introducing basic math early, especially getting them to recognize which coins had more value!
  • I bought a game called “Cash Flow For Kids” and to give them an incentive to play, I embellished the game for doing the following.  If they won, I paid them whatever they would spin on a spin dial.  the had the opportunity to win a 25 cents, 50 cents, 1 dollar, 2 dollars or 5 dollar.  So far, I’ve been luck and they haven’t won the highest amount yet ($5.oo).
  • I started an eBay business with my son so he could learn that it’s possible to make money at an early age.   Ironically, this ended up working really well for me too!  We were able to buy a product from a supplier and sell the item on eBay at a pretty decent markup.  It was a good experience for the both of us (the taxes did sucked though).
  • We put prices on their toys and sold them in garage sales.
  • They would occasionally put up a lemonade stand.
  • My son has a deal with my dad to mow my parent’s lawn.  This actually works out great because he gets paid for mowing, but plays for a bit on the riding lawnmower at the same time (it’s a win-win).
  • My son has expressed an interest in selling some of his Pokémon cards on eBay.  We will start this adventure next!
  • ICarly has inspired son to think about blogging, but we haven’t done anything yet because he’s got too much going on as is.
  • My daughter has created drawings for sale (most of which my wife and I bought), and also had her own lemonade stands.

I’m hoping that the small business experiments that I’ve been working on with them will help in the future!  I think the lessons in investing and some small business exposure will help them see opportunities that others might miss in the future!

Do you think I’m trying too hard?  Do you have any suggestions? 

I’m an employee, so any suggestions would be appreciated from any small business folks out there!

-MR

Is Recycling Aluminum Cans Worth Doing Anymore?

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At one time, it was worth it for people to recycle aluminum cans for money.

So I thought it would be a good experience for my kids to the same, but I’m not so sure now!  You see, advances in technology have made it possible for the aluminum in the cans to be stretch so far, that the can wall are almost as thin as paper.  This, in turn, produces a much cheaper can!

While it might be worth it for kids, the hourly earning rate for crushing 5 cans a minute may not be worth it for adults.

See my calculations in the table below:

Recycling costs

Aluminum Statistics

The tricky part is that the aluminum prices vary weekly and by state.  So in my state, aluminum is going for .40 cents per lbs.  In some states (Michigan and California) people can get a specific money amount for aluminum cans.  For example, in Michigan the rate is 10 cents per can, in these cases, the effort would be worth it.

The 10 cents rate per aluminum can is much higher than my home state (Ohio).  We typically only get 1.3 cents per can.  In fact, a state like Michigan (which has such a great return policy) would have a rate of pay of around $30 per hour to crush cans!  There have even been scams where people (mainly store owners) from surrounding states take their cans over to Michigan for reimbursements.

Now back to my state, do you think $3.75 is a good rate of pay for a 10-year-old to crush aluminum cans?  I personally don’t think it is.  Especially when you factor in the gas money it will take to get the cans to the recycling center and the cost of the plastic trash bag to gather them in.

Update: We are trying to decide whether to have my son collect cans to make money off of them, or to drop off at the local Fire Department.  The Fire Department takes the cans as part of a charity effort.

I called a metal recycling center after this article was posted, and the aluminum rates are currently .60 cents per lbs in my state (Ohio)!  So the current price is actually 50% higher than the .40 cents per lbs price that I initially used in this article!  This just goes to show how much aluminum prices can fluctuate.

So revising my calculated number for hourly pay rate for crushing aluminum cans, the new pay rate would be 50% higher too, so it would be $5.63 per hour spent crushing cans!  This revised rate is a bit better for a 10-year-old, so perhaps it is worth it to a 10-year-old?

Cheers,

-MR

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