My 12-year-old daughter is an entrepreneur. She built her own website and reinvests earnings into her business.
My 12-year-old daughter is running her own handmade goods business.
She's built her own website and attends local makers' markets.
There has been some trial and error, but letting her make her own mistakes has been crucial.
It's a parenting rite of passage when a child first becomes interested in making their own money. At our house, it started with a lemonade stand, as it often does. But then, I blinked, and my 12-year-old was somehow running a full-fledged handmade goods business.
This journey has been largely self-driven. She's built her own website, participates in local makers' markets, and reinvests her profits into expanding her business's offerings. My spouse and I support her interests with tools and encouragement when needed, but we've discovered that often, the best way to support her as a young entrepreneur is to step back, providing her the space to explore, make mistakes, and figure things out on her own.
We've given her space to learn through trial and error
I won't lie; her process can feel unpredictable, which is sometimes uncomfortable and hard to watch as a parent. For example, when she launched her website, all shipping costs were the same. Then she received an order (from a very kind friend of mine) in Canada. As anyone who has shipped something out of the country knows, it's an entirely different process — and a much higher cost. My instinct was to step in and smooth things over at the post office. Perhaps cover the extra cost. But I held back.
By staying quiet, I gave her the space to problem-solve. She covered the extra costs with another source of money, filled out the customs forms with help from the postal worker, and immediately adjusted shipping prices on her website to prevent future problems. This experience helped her further consider costs and work to ensure her business remains sustainable — while also building her resilience and ingenuity.
The lesson for me was the reminder that entrepreneurship isn't about perfection; it's about learning and adapting. And that the financial lessons she's learning now — how to budget, plan, and adjust — will serve her well into adulthood.
External resources have helped her grow
Thankfully, my spouse and I aren't the only resources our daughter has. Early on, we found classes geared toward kids who want to start or run a business on Outschool. From 1:1 business coaching to group camps, our daughter has learned about marketing, competitive analysis, and more.
She also participates in Youth Biz, a local program that runs seasonal markets and business camps. Through their workshops, she's created a business plan, built a mobile app, and learned the basics of small business finances, including how to pay sales tax to the state.
She has also experienced the power of networking with other young entrepreneurs and local market vendors. She walks around at every makers' market she participates in, observing pricing, product displays, and customer interactions. She takes mental notes on what works and what doesn't, constantly refining her approach. All of this is a continuous learning experience that helps her improve her business acumen.
Letting the process unfold takes patience and trust
While a lemonade stand seems like a small thing, it can be the start of something bigger. I quickly realized that helping my child learn about running a business is teaching her lifelong skills in financial literacy in a tangible and meaningful way. While, initially, she was excited to spend her earned money on typical kid things like candy or Target runs, she started looking at money differently after a couple of months and after an experience selling at a holiday market where she made around $200.
These days, she's more thoughtful; instead of spending it all right away, she puts about half of the money she earns either into savings or back into her business by buying materials to create new items or investing in things like a card reader. Over the past year, she's grown so much, both as a business owner and as a confident, resourceful young person. When she comes up against a challenge, she's more likely to consider various angles and try to solve it these days. Best of all, she approaches it with curiosity and by asking for help from the many resources she's gained.
Parenting a young entrepreneur has been just as much a learning experience for me as for her. I've had to fight the urge to step in, fix things, and make her path easier. But I've learned that true support isn't about removing obstacles — it's about giving her the confidence to navigate them herself.
Read the original article on Business Insider
