Homeschool Student Makes a Top 25 Young Entrepreneur List

About a year ago we published an article from JuniorBiz.com, Look at Junior Biz For 18 Good Teen Business Ideas. Since then, Nick Tart’s blog has grown tremendously. Now you can find over 100 ideas and they are arranged in what I think was very clever and helpful, too. His most recent post was The Top 25 Young Entrepreneurs, and lo and behold, the third one down was a homeschool student! Not that being homeschooled makes him special…well, uh… maybe it does-at it’s very relevant to us at  Homeschool Entrepreneur!

Philip Hartman won the 2008 Inventor of the Year and was featured in Entrepreneur Magazine. His invention is called the Fiberlight, and “is a new and unique way to fuse optical fibers”. I have no idea what that means, but I do know he was only 14 at the time, and he is working on new projects as we write.

You can read the interview that Nick did with him on his site at http://juniorbiz.com/interview-philip-hartman. While you’re there, be sure to look at all the amazing resources JuniorBiz has available.

If you know of any other homeschooled teens that have a successful business, let us know and we’ll compile a list of our own. The business doesn’t have to be big to be successful, and we all know that success is measured in many ways. Comment below with your nominations, or email us at  deb at HomeschoolEnt.com.

Thanks!

How NOT To Encourage Young Entrepreneurs

If you have been reading this blog for long, you know that one of my favorite entrepreneurial blogs is Business Opportunities.biz. Written by Dane Carlsen, a  Christian homeschool dad, you will find a endless supply of ideas and useful information for starting a home business. Today’s post, “Please Sir, Don’t Kill My Dream” is a story you may have heard before. It’s about a man who shut down a lemonade stand started by neighborhood children on the technicality of an ordinance that any sale of food requires a permit. You and I both know that ordinance was not intended for children’s lemonade stands, but there is no provision for that in the law. It’s hard to believe there are people out there that will do things like this, but it’s even more absurd that such an ordinance hasn’t been amended.

The editor of this article had an excellent point: How will this affect them when they grow up and want to start a business? Encouraging entrepreneurship in our youth is the future of our country… this isn’t helping! Taking steps to have that ordinance changed would be a good place to start.

Read more: http://www.business-opportunities.biz/2010/08/05/please-sir-dont-kill-my-dream

Business-Opportunities.biz – Take One Daily

As one of my favorite blogs, if you are interested in starting a home business or teaching your children to do so (which is why you are reading this blog, I’m assuming..) this is a blog you will find very useful. I thought I’d show you just a small sample of what you will find relevant to teaching your teens – or yourself – how to start a business:

14 Year Old Sets Up Coffee Shop – if you have a business already and have been trying to think of a way to also set up your teen in business, read this.

Teens Sew Up Duct Tape Contest – add this to your list of uses for duct tape!

A College Student T-Shirt Entrepreneur - inspiration for dorm room entrepreneurs

August is National Inventor’s Month – now we know…let’s get inventing!

Family First – Making At-Home Businesses Work – a must read.

Working Moms and Little Helpers Helps Moms Work at Home – there are more articles like this to read.

Don’t forget to check out their..

CLASSIFIED ADS

After you have read your fill, check out their CLASSIFIED ADS. If you have a business, you can buy one for just $5. When you sign up for their newsletter, you often receive coupon codes for a free one. Not a bad deal.

Last, but not least, if you have a blog, check out the  “How much is your blog worth” widget. You never know-too bad it doesn’t include a check for the projected  amount! Business Opportunities.biz is worth almost 10 million. Perhaps we can think of blogging as a retirement account?

Do YOU have a blog you’d like us to feature?

If you are a home school parent or teen that has a blog, email me at deb@homeschoolent.com with your details and I’ll get back to you promptly. The widget above that predicts what your blog is worth is primarily based on back links to your blog, which is what  featuring your blog on this blog will give you!

3 Ways To Test Your Business Idea

Do you have an idea for a business, but aren’t sure if it would really make it? Here’s 3 ways to test it out for free:

1. Send a survey to everyone you know. Zoomerang has a free survey creation tool that you can put together in minutes. Just ask the questions like you would if you were talking to your friends…and then send it to all your friends and relatives. Everyone loves to be asked their opinion.

www.zoomerang.com

2. Ask a SCORE representative. It still surprises me how many people don’t realize one of the best free business tools is only an email away. Receive counsel and opinion from experts in your idea’s field.  www.Score.org

3.Google’s Keyword Tool is an excellent way to determine the popularity of your idea. Not sure how to do this? Entrepreneur.com has a great article on testing business ideas with Google’s keyword tool-

http://www.entrepreneur.com/ebusiness/ebusinesscolumnist/article206188.html

Now, once you know your idea is a good one, what do you do next? Most would say write your business plan. You can find all the info you need on writing a business plan including a free online workshop at http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/plan/writeabusinessplan/index.html

Or-you could ask your SCORE representative….

Just do it.

More From HomeschoolEntrepreneur

• 99 Business Ideas For Kids
• Bring Lemonade Day To Your City!
• A Free Way To Set Up Shop & Sell Your Products

Ask HomeschoolEntrepreneur To Recommend Your Posts

Starting a Business As a Missions Project

Have you ever made a tent? Probably not. You may have put one up in your backyard or even gone camping and put one up. However, actually making one…well, that’s not something 99% of us would know the first thing about. You would know, if you have done your Bible study, that Paul would make tents as a means to support himself during his missionary journeys.

Today, “tentmaking” in evangelical circles is not a foreign term, but usually brings to mind a person supporting themselves while doing missionary work. The Business as Missions movement is working to re-define tentmaking as not just a means to support yourself, but as a means of evangelism by bringing paying jobs to a village and setting a remarkable example of Christian entrepreneurship. The daily exposure to a boss that personifies Christ is changing lives all over the world.

An article you can read at Tentmaker.com offers a description of tentmaking in today’s terms and why you and your church should consider it as a vehicle for missions work. Their definition of ‘tentmaker’ is:

A tentmaker is a professional, a skilled craftsman, a student, or some other person who uses professional, vocational or academic skills to support themself while they share the gospel of Jesus in places or with groups of people otherwise inaccessible to traditional mission approaches. That currently describes a large portion of the unreached world.

(see a whole list of ‘Tentmaker’ articles at: http://www.tentmakernet.com/articles/index.html)

Meeting needs as a way to be the hands and feet of Jesus can take many forms. In the past, businessmen, despite large donations to missionary efforts, have often been put at the bottom of the spiritual totem pole. The fact that their primary aim for doing business is profit somehow carries with it a negative spiritual image. Granted, there are many, many, greedy businessmen (and women) whose focus is only on the bottom line, but let’s put them aside for now. Let’s talk about the people that deeply love God and have a gift for creating jobs and meeting needs through business. I have personally known pastors that have left successful businesses to become a pastor of a church or a missionary, thinking it is the only way to truly serve God. These same men found they weren’t cut out to be a pastor or missionary and returned to their businesses – unfortunately with a deep sense of failure.

Are you called to pastor a church business?

If those same businessmen could have networked with other men like themselves, they might have discovered their calling was to pastor-not a church, but a business.  Think about it, not only are they using their gifts for the glory of God, but they can meet some of the deepest economic needs of an individual while giving them opportunity to offer the gospel to people that would never set foot in a church. Called to be a pastor of a business – quite a paradigm shift, isn’t it?

The Business as Mission Network, started by Justin Forman, is at the forefront of this movement, and we have featured several blog posts on the BAM Network. I believe Justin said it best:

The most overlooked opportunity in the Church today is for Pastors and business leaders see work as an opportunity for worship. And sadly, I think too many business leaders have grown accustomed to “outsourcing” their faith to “professional pastors” and paying the pastor to do “real ministry”. We’ve lost sight of the simple idea that God is glorified when we use our God given passions and skills with excellence.

The essence of Business as Missions has been (so far) starting businesses in areas overseas, bringing the gospel along with much needed jobs and commerce. The day to day exposure of a town to a business that is run by Kingdom Principles for the purpose of bringing glory to God will appear nothing short of amazing to the locals.You will have evangelical opportunities that often take traditional missionaries years to develop.

How does this apply to me?

By now I am sure you are wondering how this applies to you and your homeschooling family. No, I’m not asking you to go to Uganda with your family and start a business. How many of you have shied away from doing missions work because you can’t bring yourself to the necessary “business” raising of funds? I thought so. You are not alone. However, have you considered starting a home business for the sole purpose of raising funds for missionaries of your choosing? Consider it an ideal homeschool project, teaching entrepreneurial skills while raising funds for spreading the gospel-and giving your family an experience that they will never forget.

As Christian parents, one of our main objectives is to raise children to the glory of God. Entrepreneurial training will give them tentmaking skills in whatever path they follow. Starting a small home business to raise funds for any worthy agency or church will ‘train up’ their view of business with a new focus. A focus on all work as “Kingdom Work”.

If your family isn’t ready to start a business yet, doing a unit study on the Business as Missions concept is a great alternative. The Business as Missions Network has an excellent list of the top 25 books on the subject and can be found at http://www.businessasmissionnetwork.com/2007/07/top-25-business-as-mission-books.html

Also, I highly recommend you read this brief: Why have a course in Small Business & Missions?

I plan to continue this discussion tomorrow with ideas you can use to start a BAM and tell you about some of the work that Youth With a Mission is doing in this arena.

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I would love to hear comments on this paradigm shift in evangelism – do you think it’s a viable means of spreading the gospel?

Amazon’s Web Store

I just noticed Amazon’s Web Stores and thought I’d mention it because it looks like it could be an ideal way for families to start a business with very low overhead. For as little as $10/month, you can design and stock your store with items from Amazon or items of your own. I haven’t actually gone through the entire process, so you’ll have to let me in on it’s pros and cons if you try it.

Now, this isn’t the same Amazon store that you may have seen in the past that affiliates can sign up for and post ready made code for free. This is very professional looking and (unfortunately) isn’t free. However, we have found out that FREE often doesn’t offer very substantial returns.

As always, Amazon has outdone itself. Check it out at: http://webstore.amazon.com/