Junior Entrepreneurs-
You may know that we started Wendy&Co in 2015 to educate our daughters Charis & Emi (then ages 11 & 8) in the art of entrepreneurship.
How in the world do you teach BUSINESS, much less entrepreneurship to two children?
Let's look at that in theory- here is what our homeschool mentors at the Moore Foundation say.
"Constructive, skill-building, entrepreneurial work builds children's self-confidence, creativity, and self-control, and does it more quickly. It is the most dramatic and consistent cure for behavior and personality problems. If you give children authority to manage your home to the extent that they can accept responsibility, they mature rapidly and naturally."
Back in 2015 that sounded easy peasy as 1-2-3! Start a business, involve your kids a much a possible, end up with responsible, mature young adults. "Sign me up!" I said.
Now lets take a look at that in reality- you see the words WORK and BUILD in the quote above? Let's break those down.
- Work- activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result.
- Build- to create and develop something over a long period of time.
Those two words should have been in bold font and underlined to give a realistic vision of the journey we had ahead of us in 2015!
It takes so much MENTAL & PHYSICAL effort to include the girls in every aspect of our entrepreneur endeavor. As a parent, you know it is always easier to do things yourself! But then our girls wouldn't "mature rapidly and naturally". So we are taking time to break down and teach different business situations. Things like
- designing packaging for a product
- how to speak clearly & coherently at live events
- how to conduct business ethically
- how much money we should invest in supplies
- how to get work done, when all you really want to do is lay on the couch ;)
We are teaching these things over a LONG PERIOD OF TIME. Sometimes there is whining and complaining. Sometimes there is laughter and hugs. Gradually the girls are developing into creative, hard working and self-confident budding business women.
We still have a way to go, but after five years of being mentored, Charis and Emi are ready to branch out on their own a bit. We are calling their endeavor Wendy&Co's "Junior Entrepreneurs".
jun·ior adjective (denoting young or younger people)
en·tre·pre·neur noun (a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so)
The products they create under this title will be-
- funded by the girls
- created by the girls (they allow me to help a little if needed)
- the girls receive 100 percent of the profit. (That is the part they are most excited about!)
The girl's are launching their first Junior Entrepreneurs project- trendy buffalo plaid Christmas ornaments! (Of course we had to pick a project that involved fabric!)
Here is Emi working on a special order of black and white check ornaments.
The girls’ beautiful holiday creations are sold locally at Nina Belle's Rustic Decor, a local, farmhouse style shop owned by a dear friend of mine, Carrie Church. Carrie’s hand painted signs and wooden home accents create the perfect backdrop for the girls' ornaments. And Carrie is so sweet and supportive, she gets just as excited as the girls when an ornament sells!
One Of a Kind Cards
In a solo endeavor, Emi has started her own card company "One Of a Kind Cards". She creates hand drawn greeting cards, each one an original work of art. She has worked hours and hours researching designs and practicing her drawings. She specializes in cards that are specific to the recipient...she has made cards featuring baby Yoda, Fox Racing, character portraits, and dragonflies.
Here are a few of her Christmas card designs. This is a set of 3 cards.
Rodolph!
And a shimmery snowflake!
Emi’s cards can be picked up locally or shipped and usually cost around $2 per card. To get your own "One Of a Kind Card" visit Nina Belle's or email us at wendy@wendyandco.co.
Thank you for your wonderful support and patience as the girls bravely put their creations out there for everyone to see. They hope you love them!
We are so proud of our girls!
Moore Method of Homeschooling