BROOKINGS Entrepreneurship knows no age limits. The Brookings Economic Development Corp. and the Downtown Brookings organization are teaming up to offer a kidpreneur market later this month where kids ages 6 to 18 can sell products and services.
Kids set up a booth and sell their wares, service or whatever their business is and promote it to the community, Kirsten Gjesdal, executive director of Downtown Brookings, said. In the past, kids have done everything from snow cones to jewelry to bookmarks to self-published books. On the service end, theyve done dog walking, weed pulling, snow shoveling and that kind of thing.
Matty Kerr is a business development specialist at the BEDC and said the kids are impressive.
I can think of a few who were vendors last year a group of kids selling scented car air fresheners, and they were little hustlers, she said. They had put together their sales pitch, had no problem interacting with folks and the overall quality of their product was good. One of the things that genuinely surprised me is the number of kids who want to be involved and the amount of excitement you see from them.
This years market is June 28, as part of the Brookings Bonanza. Registration is due June 16 so kids can attend a workshop June 17.
They come in and learn about being an entrepreneur how do you decide how to price your product, what sort of marketing should you do, and what are the various important things to consider in a business plan, Gjesdal said. Well break into smaller groups and work with a number of local business owners coming to help the kids with some one-on-one coaching.
Kerr is one of those coaches.
Last year, we used an example of baking bread and walking through how much ingredients cost, she said. Lets say each loaf costs $1.50 just to keep the numbers easy for the kids. If it costs you this much, how much do you sell it for? You probably dont want to sell it for $1.50, but if you sold it for $2 then youd have 50 cents. Then the same on the service side. Youre not losing anything in ingredient costs, but you have to ask whats your time worth?
Gjesdal said theyre expanding this years kidpreneur market.
Last year it was only from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., but this year were open from 9 a.m. to noon, she said. Previously we had all the kids in the same area in a kidpreneur market. This year, were moving them onto Main Ave. and having them set up booths in front of businesses. That should make their booths a little more visible. We want it to be a positive experience for the kids, and were very grateful to the business partners hosting a kidpreneur booth in front of their businesses.
Kerr said this is about planting seeds for the future.
Its about providing opportunities for youth to learn, grow and have experiences, she said. Its important that we pay it forward and prepare the next generation that will be stepping into all sorts of roles business leaders, contributors in organizations and community leaders. You dont know where these small moments lead to and what spark that will create in an individual.
Last years Brookings Bonanza featured 25 kidpreneur booths.
Registration is free, but we request people pre-register so we have enough spots, Gjesdal said. Sign-up is available on the website downtownbrookings.com. Its basically just a form that you fill out with name, contact information and that kind of thing. The training is Tues., June 17 at 10 a.m. at the Childrens Museum. The deadline to sign-up is June 16 at 4 p.m.
Contact Jay Roe at [email protected].
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