Starting a Small Business
A business provides something people want or need, and customers pay for it.
Simple business ideas
Always with an adult. Any real business idea should involve a parent or trusted adult, who can help with safety, permissions, money, buying supplies, dealing with customers, and any local rules.
Costs and profit
If you spend money making something, that money is a cost. What's left after costs are taken away from what you sold is called profit.
Value and pricing
Ask yourself: what are you offering that someone actually wants? Customers decide for themselves whether something is worth paying for. When it comes to pricing, think about how much it cost to make, how much work was involved, what someone might be willing to pay, and what similar things are priced at. There's no single "correct" price — just a reasonable one.
The car-washing challenge
Imagine you want to wash cars. What do you need?
A bucket, soap, a sponge, a hose, and maybe a cloth to dry the car with.
What will it cost, and what will you charge?
Add up what the supplies cost, then decide a fair price per car — maybe $10, based on the work involved.
How many cars would you need to wash to make $20 after costs?
If supplies cost $10 in total and you charge $10 per car, you'd need to wash 3 cars to have $20 profit ($30 earned − $10 costs).
Treat this as a learning activity, not pressure for your child to make money. It's really about understanding customers, costs, prices, sales, profit, and providing value.
Bigger ideas worth knowing: revenue/sales (money coming in), costs (money going out), profit (what's left), customers, competition, and simple record keeping — writing down what you spent and what you sold. No advanced business or tax knowledge needed yet.
Earning Money complete!
You've learned where money can come from and how people earn it:
Next up: what banks actually do with money.