So, your littlest loves want to make some extra money, here’s how to make money as a kid

When I’m not working online or wrangling the kids, I’m sewing. It’s something that I have been doing for 10 years and the kids often see me doing it. Over the last few months, my 6-year-old daughter and her 8-year-old BFF have been asking more and more questions about it and have wanted to learn.

I love being able to support their interest so we have been spending time behind the sewing machine together. It’s been so great!

What it has led to is them asking questions about sewing for others and making some extra money. I was so excited to see them thinking about making extra money. Their minds were blown when they realised how it all worked!

After plenty of discussions, they decided they wanted to make scrunchies and sell them for $2. I know, I know, they totally underpriced them but that was a lesson itself! They’ve learnt so much and loved the process!

They even came up with a business name, BFF Sewing and have been asking me to make them a website!

It really got me thinking though. Has your child asked you about earning money but you have no idea how to help them?

Let’s dive in and learn how to make money as a kid

Help them brainstorm their ideas

Ok, they want to make money but where do you start? It

can be hard to not take over this part but it’s super important that you allow them to get creative, make some mistakes and learn some lessons. Get a pen and paper out and write down all of their interests and skills. You can then start to match up their skills with their interests.

Find a common theme

Can you see a common thread through all the ideas? Do they keep coming up with video ideas? Or are they interest in sewing? Or maybe art? Do they like writing?

There are many ways to make money in every area of interest! Going through their suggestions will hopefully give you an idea of what skills they have or want to learn and the niche that they want to get in to.

Gather resources and supplies they might need

As an unschooling family, we are well versed in gathering resources to help the kids learn about what they’re interested in. This is no different.

Start by finding other kids that are making money in a similar way. See if they have any resources listed or just reading about how to make their ideas work. Here are some amazing YouTubers, they’ll show you how to make money as a kid and that it’s possible!

If they want to learn how to make videos, ask around for a camera if you don’t have one. Search for YouTube channels that will help take photos and make videos. How to edit them and load them onto YouTube.

Are they wanting to sew? Can you source a second-hand sewing machine? Or a cheap sewing machine? What supplies to you need to make the product they want to sell? Do you need a tutorial or a pattern?

There are so many resources out there to show you how to make money as a kid! A great place to start is Skillshare, click here to start your 2 month free trial.

Related post: How To Make Money As a Stay Home Mom

Support them in the creation phase

It’s so tempting to jump in and take over here but resist! Let them guide the process and play with it. We all learn by playing so let them dive in and make mistakes. They will learn so much and be able to take those lessons with them in future projects.

Keep encouraging them in this process and help them when they feel they need it.

The other side of the business

It’s one thing to create a product but how are you going to get that product out there?

There are so many aspects to starting a business and it’s a great opportunity for them to see what happens.

With my daughter and her friend, they were amazed that they then had to purchase materials to make more scrunchies from their profit. They also learnt how to record their income and how to divide the profit. They thought about packaging and how to reach their customers.

This stage was full of planning, discussion and teamwork!

How to reinvest their money

Once they’ve made their first few sales, they will now want to reinvest their profit to make more products so they can make more money. This is business right?!?

It’s great to have them realise how this works. We also guided them to save some of the money in their bank account.

This is where they also realised that they needed to up their prices slightly so they doubled them and made a bundle. It looked like $4 for one scrunchie or $10 for 3. Marketing gold!

The most important step

I believe the most important thing to remember is to encourage them and help them see that they can be successful at whatever they want to pursue. Even if their plan doesn’t work, help them tweak it and get them to try again.

The more that you can encourage them here, the better their money mindset will develop. Such an important skill and one that I think many of us moms are missing!

There you have it, hopefully, that will give you some insight to help your kids valuable skills, all the while showing them how to make money as a kid!

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