Support Your Child Entrepreneur with the Acton Children’s Business Fair

Are you raising a child entrepreneur? Many of us dream of raising young business owners and teaching our kids how to start their own business starting at a young age. But wanting your child to grow up with the entrepreneurial spirit is not enough. You must also support your child entrepreneur and give them the tools they need to succeed.

Unfortunately, not all of us have the knowledge and business skills required to give our kids these critical tools, even though we know they are important to the child’s success. So what are those of us in this situation supposed to do?

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Thankfully, we are not alone and Acton Academy is providing parents and teachers all over the world with the tools and resources these young small business owners need with the Acton Children’s Business Fair.

While your child will still need to gain their own business skills and knowledge, Acton Academy provides a safe environment and a full-on immersion experience for your child to learn and grow and develop these skills all on their own.

Why Encourage Childhood Entrepreneurship?

There are so many reasons to encourage children to grow up with an entrepreneurial mindset. The first and perhaps the most obvious reason is that people equate entrepreneurship with wealth and financial security.

While successful entrepreneurs often lead financially prosperous businesses, having an entrepreneurial mindset does not guarantee you are going to have a profitable, money-making business. In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20% of all startup companies fail within the first year, and by the end of the fifth year, 50% of startup companies will have failed. So obviously being a business owner does not guarantee success.

So why bother at all? Well, there’s something to be said about the resilience and tenacity that comes with starting a business. Starting a business teaches life skills such as perseverance, problem-solving, and critical thinking. It also teaches how to deal with failure and how to keep going even when things get hard.

Not to mention, being a business owner can be a ton of fun! And this is especially the case for kid entrepreneurs who don’t have to worry about being kicked out on the streets or not being able to feed their family if their business fails. Child entrepreneurs only have to worry about solving problems, overcoming obstacles, and having a ton of fun!

Young and Successful Entrepreneurs

Here are just a few examples of young and successful entrepreneurs (kidpreneurs) who started their own businesses from an early age.

• Sebastian Martinez of Are You Kidding Socks – Sebastian started Are You Kidding Socks at just 5 years old. He and his brother run a successful sock company that specializes in fun and colorful designs and focuses on giving back to charities in their community.
• Lily Born of Kangaroo Cups – When Lily was 7, she founded Kangaroo Cups which specializes in 3-legged cups designed for helping those with Parkinson’s Disease gain more independence.
• Moziah Bridges of Mo’s Bows – When Moziah was 9, he decided he didn’t like the bow tie options in his local stores so he ventured out to create some bow ties that he would be proud to wear.
• Mikaila Ulmer from Me & the Bees Lemonade – When Mikaila was just four years old, she hosted a lemonade stand at a local Acton Children’s Business Fair. Her lemonade is sweetened only with honey and a portion of her proceeds go to help save the honeybees.

Thanks to supportive communities and a whole lot of hard work, each of these kidpreneurs has turned their small business into success stories that inspire child entrepreneurs all over the world.

And you know what? It’s easier than you think to help your own child become one of these success stories too.

Child Business Ideas

Does your child want to start their own business? When it comes to business ownership, the sky is quite literally the limit! All your child needs to do is identify a problem that they or somebody around them is facing and then come up with a solution to solve that problem. After that, it’s basically just trial and error until you find a way to market that solution to the world.

Here are just a few business ideas that your child can use to get the inspiration flowing.

• Wrap presents for those who don’t have time to do it themselves.
• Make and sell bath bombs or bath salts
• Make and sell hot cocoa bombs
• Write and/or illustrate a book
• Start a dog-walking or pet-sitting business
• Start a cupcake or a cookie bakery (or some other bakery)
• Sell slime (including toddler-friendly edible slime)
• Crochet or sew small items such as doll clothing, mittens, etc
• Create meal plans and shopping lists for others
• Make pre-made freezer dinners for others
• Raise a garden and sell the produce
• Polish rocks and turn them into jewelry
• Sell wildflower seed bombs

What is the Acton Children’s Business Fair?

Once your child has come up with a solution to their problem, or a product or service they want to sell, now it’s just a matter of perfecting their product design and/or recipe. After that, the Acton Children’s Business Fair gives you all the tools and resources you need to support your child entrepreneur through the next leg of their journey.

So what exactly is the Acton Children’s Business Fair?

The Acton Children’s Business Fair is a business fair that is designed especially for young entrepreneurs. These fairs are only for young business owners and all kidpreneurs must be between the ages of 5 and 15.

Once a parent or teacher volunteers to host a local business fair, the rest is up to the children. Children must come up with their own business ideas and submit them to the local fair host for approval. For the most part, business ideas are always approved, although if you have a similar idea to another booth, you will be informed so you can decide if you want to change your idea or not.

Kids must set up their businesses all on their own. Parents are not allowed to help with anything other than logistics (and perhaps a small business loan – which should be paid back!) Kids must plan, execute, and market their business idea all on their own. This will give kids the opportunity to truly develop their entrepreneurial skills and give them a real sense of accomplishment they would not have achieved otherwise.

If marketing and advertising has gone well, your local business fair will hopefully have a large turnout which will then give kidpreneurs even more opportunity to sell their goods and services. At the end of what is ideally a successful day, one lucky fair winner (chosen by the local host) will then receive up to a $500 cash prize which is donated by the Acton Children’s Business Fair founders.

Where does that prize money come from? The Acton Academy provides the fair host with a certain amount of money per fair booth to cover costs. Most fair hosts volunteer to cover the costs of the fair themselves which leaves that money to go to the winner of the fair instead. The Acton Academy also teaches fair hosts how to get their own business sponsors for even more prize money availability, if desired

These fairs are a gift from the founders Charlie and Sam Sandefer and their families. Charlie and Sam Sandefer believe in business ownership and in teaching young children all about the exciting world of owning your own business beginning at a very young age.

The Acton Children’s Business Fairs are designed to be accessible by absolutely everybody in the world, regardless of their social or economic status.

You can enjoy a business fair from your front yard with a couple of tables and chairs, or you can rent a convention center or other venue and go all out. The choice is yours. The Sandefer family believes that every child should be given the same opportunities to succeed should they have enough desire and ambition.

Support Your Young Entrepreneur with an Acton Children’s Business Fair

Are you ready to get started? Whether your child has tons of business ideas and has just been waiting for an opportunity like this to come along, or you’ve been trying to come up with a way to encourage your child to develop an entrepreneurial spirit but just haven’t known how to start, the Acton Children’s Business Fair provides you with a great opportunity to support your young entrepreneur.

Participating in a business fair is easy. Just go to the Acton Children’s Business Fair website and type in your zip code. A list of local, upcoming business fairs will come up and you can choose the one to go to. Then it’s just a matter of contacting that fair’s host and getting your child’s business idea to the fair on the right date.

Each fair is provided with a “kit” including a fully functional website that allows fair participants to submit their own business idea.

Should I Join a Local Children’s Business Fair or Host My Own?

If there is not a business fair local to you, or the dates that are local don’t work for you, it’s easy to apply to host your own fair. Just click on the “Start Your Own” button in the top right-hand corner of the website and fill out the application.

Hosts are vetted so that each fair has the highest likelihood of being successful. Hosts must also undergo a background check for the safety of the children. But most hosts are approved and it’s really easy to sign up to host your own fair. So go ahead and apply to host one if you want to be in charge of date and location.

When you decide to host your own fair, Acton will help you put together a website for marketing and advertising so you can easily get the word out to your local community.

Or if there is a convenient fair date and location that would be easy for you to get to, you can easily contact that fair’s host and get your kids on board to attend that local fair instead. The choice is yours and there is so much flexibility there’s really no reason not to.

Give every child the opportunity to change the world with their own innovative ideas. The Acton Children’s Business Fair makes it easy, no matter where you are in the world.

Learn More About the Acton Children’s Business Fair

Are you ready to take the next step? Give your young entrepreneur the greatest opportunity to take their business idea to the next level by hosting your own Acton Children’s Business Fair. Remember, each fair will have up to a $500 cash prize to be given to one fantastic business idea.

There is no limit to how small or how large your fair needs to be. No matter your circumstances or budget, Acton makes it easy to provide every child with this amazing opportunity.

You want as many young entrepreneurs as possible to be able to earn this fantastic prize so go apply to host your own business fair now! Your young entrepreneur will thank you.

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