In part one, we looked at making money by doing what makes your heart sing - combining the activity, environment and people you most enjoy, to find a project or idea to make a little extra money. That got the creative juices going for some, others needed more encouragement, so we took another step on this entrepreneurial journey by carrying a small amount of cash around for a week and asking how we could use it to make more. That began to give more shape to people’s ideas and practical projects emerged. Last week, the exercise was about adding value to something we could source. This series began as a way of introducing children to the basics of entrepreneurship and doing projects together as a family, preparing children for adulthood in a rapidly changing world… Continue reading »

Last week, in the Entrepreneur Challenge, the exercise was to carry some money around ($20 or £10 for adults and less for children) and just to become aware of opportunities, thinking and noting any ideas that come during the day. So that I can track the results of these exercises, I have enrolled a few people into doing them and recording the results during the week. This has been very interesting and not at all what I would have expected.

Different families and groups of people have very different ways of doing things and place value on different things. Of course, I knew this before we started. What I didn’t realise, coming from a family that places a high premium on ideas and innovations, was the emotions this exercise would bring up… Continue reading »

Last weeks post in my Thursday Entrepreneurial Family series, Entrepreneur Challenge, sparked off some interesting results. I asked people (including children) to carry some money around with them all week. $20 or £10 for adults, less for kids. I have been getting some people to actually do the exercises in the series to track the results we get. My business partner’s 11 year old niece, S (don’t yet have her permission to use her name) said she would like to be included but she didn’t have a £5 note to carry around with her all week.

So she set her mind to solving this problem. She came up with two solutions… Continue reading »

Last week, I wrote about making money from your heart. This week, I want to focus on actually being an entrepreneur. The word entrepreneur comes from French and means, literally, one who undertakes, so this week, lets begin to look at what we could undertake.

In this series, I have included children, because the earlier entrepreneurial seeds are sown and lessons learned, the more self sufficient and financially savvy your children will be. That should help you in your old age too! Continue reading »

No, this post isn’t about organ donation - more about finding money in the pursuit of joy. Thursdays are Entrepreneur Days on this blog. Today is only the second in the series, so we’ll start with the very first move you need to make.

There are different ways to make money, some are quick in-and-outs, (clearing out your old junk and selling it to someone as treasure, for instance) and some are longer term. All entrepreneurial activity, though, starts with a good idea. So, what are the elements of a good idea? Continue reading »