Building a store for a 9 year old?

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ICEY

  • #1
    Hi

    My son would like to set up a webshop to sell pens and stationery. I would like to encourage him and have helped him find a supplier (and bought the initial stock!), and I think it would be an excellent start for him to learn properly about business and the principles of buying and selling - lets face facts with both his parents self employed I can hardly be surprised that at such a young age he is so enterprising.

    Anyway, I'd rather not spend a fortune on hosting etc for a while as he builds the site so wondered if anyone could recommend a good cheap (yes I did use that word!!) either ecommerce cart or wondered if it was possible to build a site with say paypal buttons in wordpress or something like that.

    I'm stuck between wanting to help him and nuture him to not wanting to waste too much money on this project until he shows real commitment. Obviously we will be guiding him alll the way.

    I also think it would help his English skills writing product descriptions and obviously his maths skills too.

    Any advice would be gratefully received.
     
    rachelandrew

    rachelandrew

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  • #3
    Shopify looks like a nice solution for those wanting to test the water. I can't post URLs but it is shopify dot com or just google shopify.

    I haven't used it myself and I'm not associated with the company, but I hear good things about Shopify and have bought via stores using it - seems pretty solid.
     
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    Beachcomber

  • #9
    Emcar Vending said:
    It does happen but if caught out the account is lost. Is that a good basis for starting a business? If somebody is going to blatantly trade where they shouldn't and ignore the rules, that speaks volumes about their trustworthyness.
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    I think thats a little harsh.
    If the business is conducted with parental supervision and with the parent taking ultimate responsibility for delivering orders, handling finances etc. then there is no harm done.

    You wouldn't consider someone a bad driver if they went 31mph in a 30 zone - even though it's strictly against the rules - nor should a suitably supervised youngster be excluded from streaching their entrepunerial wings.
     
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    tony84

    tony84

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  • #10
    Buy a hosting account with geeksrv or someone similar (thats who i use) for about £20 for the year.

    Install maybe prestashop or storesprite (I think prestashop is the better personally) but they are both free as are Magento, oscommerce (but that is dated now) plus many more.
    You can then accept payments using paypal.

    £20 hosting and paypals fees for processing transactions, thats what i do and should be good enough initially.

    The problem i think you have is that a website takes in my opinion 3-6 months to start getting sales, unless you pay for advertising.
    Can a 9 year old cope with that? I know i get bored if ive not had any sales within a month or two and im 24.

    Im not here to offer parenting advice as i can barely look after myself but - im trying to find a way of wording this without causing offense as i dont mean to. Do you not think a 9 year old should be out socialising, playing football, hide and seek and just generally getting into trouble and being a nuisence - in a good way - im not talking about robbing old ladies.
    I think getting a 9 year old to start a business in theory is a cracking idea as personally i believe in on the job training more than sitting in a class room, but i think it might be a few years too early - in my opinion anyway.
     
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    Deleted member 37814

  • #14
    Have you looked at the Mr.Site package? You can incorporate Paypal and you get free hosting for the first year. I found the process of setting up my website easy to do and I have the IT skills of a 9yr old!!!!
     
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    Beachcomber

  • #16
    Tej said:
    What a sad state of affairs.... money, money, money!!
    What happened to childhood?.. pocket money, comics, playtime, making friends, etc.
    spending time with the kids.. helping with homework, bonding with them.
    Click to expand...

    True - if the poor littel one is hunched over his PC runnign this business 24/7 then that would be wrong - but theres nothing wrong with this is done correctly.

    I'd personally rather see my kids involved with a project like this rather than rot their brains spening a similar amount of time playing an Xbox / Playstation / PSP game.
     
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    tony84

    tony84

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  • #17
    Tej said:
    spending time with the kids.. helping with homework, bonding with them.
    Click to expand...

    To be honest i think this would be being done in huge quantities. I also think it is a good idea in the sense that they have common ground and something both sides are interested in.
    I know if half of the population did something similar to this there wouldnt be any where near as many scally kids around.
     
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    Tej

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  • #19
    Beachcomber said:
    True - if the poor littel one is hunched over his PC runnign this business 24/7 then that would be wrong - but theres nothing wrong with this is done correctly.

    I'd personally rather see my kids involved with a project like this rather than rot their brains spening a similar amount of time playing an Xbox / Playstation / PSP game.
    Click to expand...

    Running a business is 24/7!!
    So, what is "being done correctly"?
     
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    benjamin_c

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  • #21
    i think it's a great idea, obviously the parants will be supervising the child, i can understand peoples concernes but if i had such an opertunity at 9yrs old i'd have been really pleased and excited, i think he;s lucky to have parants who understand business and are able to help him express his interest :)

    i bet he will soon be the youngest ukbf member haha. wish him good luck with his business :)
     
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    Beachcomber

  • #22
    Tej said:
    Running a business is 24/7!!
    So, what is "being done correctly"?
    Click to expand...

    Pardon my dyslexic fingers - the correct spelling would be"if the poor little one is hunched over his PC running this business 24/7 then that would be wrong - but theres nothing wrong with this if done correctly.

    'being done correctly' would mean in this case, being done with suitable parental supervision, with a pre-determined amount of time set aside for the running of the business on a day to day basis and an agreement that the parent will have overall responsibility for ensuring the business is delivering goods, honouring transactions and handling orders correctly.

    If you believe you need to work 24/7 to run a business then I'd suggest a quick search on Amazon for books on time management. :rolleyes:;)
     
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    ICEY

  • #23
    Thank you so much for the helpful suggestions and boy did some of the other ones make me laugh!!

    Lets give this a little context shall we, my husband and I already have a number of websites with several more in development. My son has always been interested in business - do you remember the kids in the playground that used to sell conkers or sweets - well that is him lol!! When we first moved to this house, we were the first ones on the estate, it was literally being built around us and at the grand old age of three he figured out that if we could sell wood to the builders, rather than them paying us we could keep a tally sheet and they could build us a bigger house instead!!

    Personally I'd much rather he tinkered on a little website rather than being hunched over his FIFA Playstation game which is his activity of choice right now, especially in this weather.

    Also to give a little more perspective he is in a soccer team, plays every week plus one evening a week for training, until recently he played golf, he also does swimming on a weekly basis too and has guitar and recorder lessons. All in all he has an active little life although I'm sure there will be those that state that the poor boy is being pushed too hard and that he should be hanging round on street corners with gangs instead!!

    Lets get this straight, I think it is only right that he understand that money doesn't grow on trees and that to make something a success he has to work on it, he struggles with academic subjects and I think this is a great way of him spending time thinking about adjectives and sentence construction - if school wasn't so traditional and boring and engaged him more then I think he would do much better when he is there!

    Right now my girls are on the computers playing Habo or chatting to their friends on Facebook, that concerns me far more than him wanting to set up a website!!

    Anyway thanks again for the suggestions.
     
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    Beachcomber

  • #25
    aaamusements said:
    I only wish that my own interest in business could have been better nurtured from such an early age, too.
    Click to expand...

    How very true.
    I wasted over 10 years of working life chasing non-existent opportunities and looking for a decent career before setting up on my own.

    Alongside the obvious benifits of money management and business sense, a project like this can also instill self confidence, teach them how to handle faliure as well as success and teach them that you make your own luck - the harder you work the luckier you get!
     
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    ICEY

  • #32
    OldWelshGuy said:
    A 9 yr old is not legally allowed to enter into a transaction of any kind. 10 is the minimum age of legality so you could be on rocky ground here.

    By the above I mean the DSR, the Ecommerce directive 2002 etc
    Click to expand...

    Oh well that is the end of that idea then. Shame as I thought it would engage him and help him with his English and Maths as he struggles.

    Never mind.
     
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    plymgary

  • #33
    ICE Gems said:
    Oh well that is the end of that idea then. Shame as I thought it would engage him and help him with his English and Maths as he struggles.

    Never mind.
    Click to expand...

    How close to 10 is he? It'll probably take him a month or two to sort out the website anyway. I'd still do it anyway....it's not like they're going to throw anyone into prison for it!
     
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    ICEY

  • #34
    plymgary said:
    How close to 10 is he? It'll probably take him a month or two to sort out the website anyway. I'd still do it anyway....it's not like they're going to throw anyone into prison for it!
    Click to expand...

    A few months off, I think we will still go through the process tbh as I know how long it is to build a website and make that first sale anyway, besides, I will be holding his hands through this all the way anyway and I think it would do him the world of good to realise that it isn't as easy as putting a product online and everyone queueing to buy it any way.

    We are a long way off any sort of sales anyway.

    Besides I will be handling all of the "business" side anyway - making sure that orders are dispatched and handling complaints and returns, payments and so on. He will be "working" on the photos, descriptions, I'll be showing him how to write a site and optimise it for the search engines, how to work out profits and how they relate to turnover, how much it costs to place say a google adwords campaign in relation to printing off leaflets and so on.

    As I have said this is more about trying to engage him academically as traditional school methods just don't work with him and he is so interested in business. Of course he won't be able to do anything until his homework is done - and for the first time today, he has sat down without a fight to do his homework because I've told him that if he gets that done first then we can do some work on his site later. If only I'd discovered this earlier it could have saved two years of tears and tantrums over getting homework done!!
     
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    SillyJokes

    SillyJokes

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  • #35
    Excellent! I'm so glad you are engaging with your kids this way.

    My eldest daughter comes and works with us at the weekends sometimes to earn extra money instead of a paper round. It is a great way for her to learn stuff they don't touch on at school. It's amazing just how useful she is too.

    My son loves business and although he hasn't started one yet we discuss it quite a bit and he is addicted to things like the Apprentice which is packed with business sense nd concepts which he is absorbing.

    Your nine year son makes mine at 11 seem like it's too late to start a business ;)

    You've given me an idea for a poll though - who here has self employed parents?
     
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    SpeakOutMedia

  • #36
    I think this idea is marvelous.

    The only thing I would do is take care that he doesn't get too disheartened if sales are slow, non-existent or infrequent. As adults we understand that things will hopefully pick up eventually, but I know that when I was 9 I wouldn't have understood this.

    Best of luck :)
     
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    James.Dunford

  • #37
    Mine were, but i am not sure if that influenced me. Personally i am shallow and have one goal out of any businesses that i set up, to get a Ferrari :lol:

    Speaking about that though, i was reading the Natwest business magazine earlier (It is actually pretty good!) and they were interviewing Rachel Elnaugh, and she said that growign up around people who were not self employed was best, because then you are detirmend to do better or something :|
     
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    Beachcomber

  • #39
    OldWelshGuy said:
    A 9 yr old is not legally allowed to enter into a transaction of any kind. 10 is the minimum age of legality so you could be on rocky ground here.

    By the above I mean the DSR, the Ecommerce directive 2002 etc
    Click to expand...

    Come on fellas, lets not get too curmudgeonly here - I pretty much took it as read that the parents will be responsable for business and the child will be allowed to work it as if it's their own project - I really don't think anyone is seriously suggesting a 9 yr old be allowed a free reign to go off and trade alone. I really don't think anyone is suggsting a 9 yr old make business calls, attend appointments with clients and approach the bank manager for a business loan:rolleyes:

    And if we stifle this budding entrepreneur with red tape and regulation what kind of message are we sending?
     
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    aaamusements

    Free Member
    Feb 19, 2008
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  • #40
    OldWelshGuy said:
    A 9 yr old is not legally allowed to enter into a transaction of any kind. 10 is the minimum age of legality so you could be on rocky ground here.

    By the above I mean the DSR, the Ecommerce directive 2002 etc
    Click to expand...

    I bet we all feel so much safer for all this essential legislation that increasingly takes over our lives.
    I for one will sleep much better tonight in the knowledge that no nine and a half year old is going to sell me anything on tinternet...

    Are they still allowed to wash cars for a few quid, or will the rozzers be along to cart them off to a Young Offenders Institute?
     
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