One of my daughters is eight years old. But that doesn’t stop her from running her own business. We got the idea from the novelty catalog we get in the mail. You have to buy a minimum of $50.00 with any one order. But the items are so cheap, that she’s able to pick out several fun joke toys and candies, mark them up around 100%, and still sell them in her shop cheap. All of her items range from 25¢ to $2.00. She has a real knack for choosing items most kids want to buy. There are six in our family—we are all her customers. She also is an extrovert and easily runs around the neighborhood to all of her friends. All of her merchandise is kept in a plastic case which she can carry around.

Of course, my daughter had to borrow the initial $50 or so to buy her stock. She then keeps track of her inventory on a form we made, I help her with pricing and all other business aspects. She has to pay me back the money she borrowed, then build up enough money to cover her next order, before she can start paying herself. Last time she paid off her debt within a week or two, but later cashed in all the money to purchase a kitten. This time she’s trying again; hopefully she’ll stick with it. She’s very good at it and it could build into a successful long-term business. She could even eventually hire her brothers or sisters as employees, perhaps.

The other trick we do is go to the dollar store, especially right after a holiday. She can buy bags of candy for a quarter each, then open the bag and sell each individual candy for 10¢ each and make a nice profit. When we’re all cozy in our home in the middle of winter, we’d much rather pay her a few dimes for the chocolates rather than venture through the snow to the dollar store.

There are many novelty companies out there, but the one we’ve been using is called Rhode Island Novelty. What a great way for young kids to practice their math, business, financial and people skills, and make their own money too!