Parents

Greetings from the trenches of parenting!  Whether you are reading this in the wee hours after you have put the kids to bed, or from your seat on the train or in carline at school, I want to share with you my motivation for starting this business, my philosophy and some helpful hints you may want to keep in mind as you embark on this journey with your children.  Just like you, I love my family and I think that my kids are awesome – truly a gift from God.

Thank you for finding FranChild™ and taking steps to facilitate your child's first business venture.  It is an exciting path and will lead to many future successes!

What’s That You Say?  You’re Busy?

I know.  Oh man, do I know.  I’m right there with you: boy scouts, soccer, tennis, little league – it’s crazy.  The beautiful thing about FranChild™, is that you don’t need to put a lot of time into it.  Here’s an example:  In September, my kids rolled their candles for one  hour at an open house at a furniture store and one hour at a craft fair (I spent 30 minutes cutting the wax and wicks for them).  That’s all they did the entire month and they each made $50 profit!  In January they found a gift shop that wanted a dozen of each soap scent under the store's private label.  So, for printing out and wrapping 84 bars of soap in about an hour, their profit was $42.   In both examples - it's a terrific hourly rate.   

Knowing that all families struggle with the time crunch, I did all the legwork for you. It’s all done. I sourced and negotiated the best prices for the products, and I will continue to do this. Professional designers develop the logos and put together the marketing packages that requires you or your child to simply type their name and press print – and they get business cards, letterhead and product packaging.  It’s important to teach our kids about business so I created the easiest way to help you do it.  

Life Lessons

Initially, I created business models to help my kids build a foundation for business knowledge and future success.  FranChild™ is a way for me to share that success with your family.

Like most kids, mine always had a ready list of toys that they wanted.  After paying for a great many toys that ended up broken on their floor, I figured I had a choice.  I could have either kept the toys/money flowing from my pockets, thereby teaching them to rely on me; or I could help them start their own business and teach them to rely on themselves and God. I chose the latter.  Huge success for my boys soon followed.           

FranChild businesses will likely generate profits for your children – but please, do not join the FranChild family if this is your sole motivation.

In our family, playing outside, doing homework and helping friends are all way more important than launching a successful business.  At this stage in the game, business should be fun.  So my best advice is to take it slowly.  Plan for time each day or every few days to work at their business. Before they make a single candle or package jewelry or soap, your kids can think of people or stores they want to sell to and decide how much time they want to put into it.  Organization is very key, here.  All the while keep in mind that bike riding, general merriment and homework all take precedence over FranChild.

Meaningful Conversations --  Really!

Look for opportunities to coach your child; there will be many!  While you are making a candle from scratch, recognize that you are demonstrating the manufacturing process; and concepts like raw materials, quality and production can be discussed.  When a candle is made and you are deciding to finish with raffia or craft paper, you are discussing key concepts such as strategy, packaging, display, merchandising, market appeal and presentation.

When my kids watch the show, How It’s Made, they often comment, “Hey Dad, that’s just like our business.”  It is so cool to have a kid think of their business as similar to Fortune 500 companies!

Look for opportunities to be coached by your child.  FranChild exists because my son said, ”Hey Dad, wouldn't it be great if we could help friends from all over the country start their own business?”

Giving

Gimme never gets.  That was a big line in my wife’s family.  I’m sure you all have dealt with kids’ never ending stream of wants.   But what about teaching our kids to focus their energy and resources on others and be cheerful givers?  Whether to your church or a local or national charity, it is my hope that FranChild will encourage you to teach your kids to donate the first 10% of their profits to a worthwhile cause – an organization that feeds your spirit.  Please, please, do not underestimate the powerful lessons this part of your business can give to you and your family.

What I taught my kids, through FranChild, and I hope you will, too, is that with money comes responsibility.  In our family the first 10% of our profits go to church.  This is an important principle that is best taught by doing rather than talking about it.  I have taught my kids that by giving the first 10%, we are helping others first, and lets face it, a church or a charity can do more good for more people with that 10% than we ever could.  And in donating, we will be blessed with more.  Today I have two young boys who have seen people in need and, without hesitation, have emptied their piggy banks or raided the pantry of all the non-perishables, or who have stated, “The babies in New Orleans need diapers.  C’mon.  Lets buy them some.”  How totally cool that they have the heart to do what is right, the financial means to make it happen, and the confidence to know that they can replace the $30 spent on diapers with just one order of candles – or about one hour of their time.

Have fun!  If you never sell a single product, but you spend an extra two hours with your child that you normally would not have – you are successful.  I invite you to share your ideas to make FranChild a better resource for all of us.  Drop me an email and share what your kids have learned or suggested.  We are all in this together.  --Ralph

Looking forward to meeting you in THE HIVE - our members-only forum where you can share ideas with other like-minded parents around the country!

Ralph Williams

FranChild, LLC