Hello,

Welcome to another edition of Mini Millionaires, especially everyone who signed up since last week. Great to have you along for the ride.

It’s been wonderful to hear from all of you. Keep those replies and DMs coming.

In this edition, we’re continuing our conversation about the first steps to making money: How to teach kids to start a business.

Let’s jump right in.

Game On

• 📋 Starting strong: Teach your kids to start a business

• 🛠️ Get the tools: Build your mini business model canvas 

• 🦸 Superheroes converge: Unleash the (super)power of earning

• 🖊️ How you voted: The best skills to turn into an income

Money Smart

Solve the problem, build the solution, and just get going

So now that you’ve helped your mini millionaire spot the skills they can turn into income (or even a future career), let’s take it one step further.

This week, we’re talking about how to help kids think like builders and giving them a simple tool to turn their ideas into action.

Because starting a business isn’t (just) about making money. It’s about doing something that matters.

Just like one of our awesome Fintr Families.

During our program, they went through the monetising your passions section and came up with two businesses: Social Spark, a content creation business (that’s already landed their first client), and Lillionaires, making and selling lollies on those hot Pretoria days.

Well done, Fintr Fam.

1. A mindset to cultivate

Business is just solving problems

To a kid, starting a business might sound like some scary, grown-up stuff.

But at its core, it actually embraces something kids are already great at: spotting problems and coming up with creative ways to solve them. 

So when we frame business in this way, it becomes less about money and more about value.

Believe it or not, kids already have a natural inclination towards favourable entrepreneurship characteristics, including: a natural curiosity, a willingness to take risks, not to mention abundant amounts of energy.

Takeaway: Show them business isn’t something daunting, but an opportunity to flex their curiosity, creativity, and confidence to solve problems for others.

2. A habit to form

Ask them: “Can you make someone's life easier or better?”

It’s all about creating value for others. And your mini millionaire can do this in two ways.

The first one is by doing a job that needs to be done. This can be something like mowing the lawn for a neighbour, or washing dishes at home. 

The thing is the value this creates goes beyond having a freshly mowed lawn, or clean dishes. It’s also about what they can do with the time you’ve freed up.

The second way to create value for others is to do something to improve their life. They could bring joy and inspiration to someone by painting a picture, or singing for people. 

Takeaway: Teach your child that real value is about making someone’s life easier or better, not just completing a task.

3. A tip/trick to try

Map it out, then try it out

Before setting up a mini pop-up shop to sell bookmarks, bracelets, or biscuits, help your mini millionaire plan out their business with our Mini Business Model Canvas, a kid-friendly tool to explore what they’ll offer, who they’ll offer it to, and how to get those first customers.

Then, turn the plan into action: set up a little table, make some signs and flyers, and run the shop for an afternoon for family, friends, and neighbours.

Takeaway: Use the mini business model canvas to spark big ideas, and then bring those ideas to life in a fun, low-stakes way.

Your Thoughts…

Use This

Part 2: Monetising Your Passions (Product & Customer Research)

In last week’s edition, you might recall we shared a resource: Monetising Your Passions, where kids could list the skills they’re good at (and what they are passionate about), and find a GOAT already using that skill and passion. 

(Psst. If you missed it, we got you: get it here!)

In this week’s free downloadable resource, we take it a step further with Part 2 of Monetising Your Passions with a condensed Mini Business Model Canvas to help your mini millionaire with their Product & Customer Research, and to take that next step of turning their skills into an income-generating business.

🧢 No cap: Our Mini Business Model Canvas is a condensed version of the one originally built by Swiss Entrepreneur Alexander Osterwalder in 2005.

Plus: Try This

Wanna help your learners unlock their Fintr Superpowers?

Fintr4Schools is our gamified, comic-style learning platform for schools.

We use it to teach kids to earn by creating value. Whether it’s a lemonade stand or a digital empire, they’ll learn to spot a need, solve a problem, and earn from it: the fundamentals of starting a business.

All while taking on the money villain Deceptacoin to unlock their Fintr Financial Superpower: Earning!

Whether you’re a teacher or a parent of school-going-aged kids, Fintr4Schools offers: 

🎮 Gamified learning with a superhero twist

📚 CAPS-aligned Economic Management Science curriculum

🌍 With a nifty lil 93% pedagogical rating from Education Alliance Finland

Turn your classroom into a financial learning adventure.

The Tribe Has Spoken

Last week, we asked what the best skill a kid can turn into an income, and it looks like we’ve got some digital products and services a-brewin…

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🐩 Pet sitting, dog walking, and cat grooming

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️  👨‍🎨 Drawing and painting pics for others

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 👩‍💻 Building a digital product or service

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️  🍳 Cooking, baking, and lemonade making

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️  🧼 Artisanal soaps, candles, and jewellery 

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️  🧰 Fixing stuff

What you said: 

“Pretty dependent on ages, but nice to see a good spread of options that can work for all ages. There's some soapmaking ideas getting kicked around in our house... Loving the learnings, guys - keep it up.”

Right? Some great ideas so everyone can join in.

“It's a responsibility, it's outdoors, and it offers physical movement.”

Jip! Cooking, baking, and lemonade making check a lot of key boxes, hopefully also make someone's life easier or better.

“The same as money skills, we have to get them started early with that AI training 🤖”

MiniMilliGPT here we go!

Let’s Connect

Have you tried any of today’s featured exercises yet?

What worked, what didn’t? Or did one of them get you particularly excited?

We’d love to get your thoughts so please hit reply to this email and share your thoughts.

PS: Did someone forward you this email? Subscribe here.