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Hi there! This is Scott Donnell, Founder of MyFirstSale. I want to show you how to choose good business ideas for kids so you can move forward confidently.

Lots of us have a limiting belief that says, “I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t even know what business I want to do.” Maybe you don’t know what you want to do. Or you have an idea, but you’re not sure if it’s the right idea. Well, here’s the truth. You don’t have to have the perfect business idea right now. You just have to choose one. The only thing you can’t do is nothing. The only action you can’t take is inaction. What I want to encourage you to do is take your first step. Choose a business from your list. The last thing I want is for you to be too paralyzed with fear to do anything because you can’t choose.

I’ve had almost a dozen businesses throughout my life, and not all of them have been successful. Failure is okay. Failure is actually a good thing. As weird as that sounds, it can be crucial to your future success. So don’t let fear cripple you. You don’t have to pick only one business idea and do that for the rest of your life. You can try lots of different things. Many of our entrepreneurs over the years have done three or four businesses. Every year they try something new to figure out what they love and what they enjoy and what works. Just pick one and get started.

Whatever you make, the world needs creators just like you. We need people like you to create things and release them into the world. You have something amazing you can give the world around you, something incredible. To create good marketing, you have to sell yourself. You can’t just sell a product. Make sure your customers know the story behind it, which is your story—why you’re doing this and why you love it and why it’s so important to you. You have something valuable to give. Never forget that. You have incredible gifts.

Choose a product. It’s time to narrow it down. Remember: it all comes down to passion. When you choose this product, choose carefully because you want to find a need and fill a need. Of course, you should choose a product that you love, but it also has to fill a need in your community or in the world. People want what you are going to create.

The Three Types of Businesses

Now that you’ve chosen your product, you need to decide which type of business you’re going to have. There’s three types of products or businesses out there: better, faster, or cheaper. These are the three different types of strategies that you can adopt as kid business owners.

 

• Better: A better product is one that is exceptionally high quality. You put a lot of time and a lot of money into it to make it the best quality possible. You might not be able to make a high quantity of products, but the price will be higher. You might not be able to sell as many of them because they take longer to make or they’re more expensive to make, but you can charge more. Apple is all about quality. They charge $1,000 for a phone, and they deeply consider quality and user experience.

 

• Faster: A faster product is one that is incredibly convenient and quick. You ensure that it reaches the customer immediately. Because of that, you usually can’t spend a ton of time on it. A great example of this strategy is Amazon. They want to get things to you quickly. They don’t necessarily focus on quality.

 

• Cheaper: A cheaper product is something that doesn’t cost you very much money to make, but you can make a ton of them. Your goal is to draw people to your business because they can save money. Walmart has cornered the market on cheap stuff like this. You can get cheap stuff there to fulfill your everyday needs. People do not need to get a really expensive thing all the time. Some people want to buy something at the lowest cost because it just fills a need that they have.

 

What kind of product is yours? Are you better? Are you faster? Are you cheaper? Which one do you want to go after? Is it better like Apple? Is it faster like Amazon? Is it cheaper like Walmart?

Here’s something you need to accept: you can’t have all three. We all want this magic formula where you make the best product that you can give to customers right away at the cheapest price in the world. You can’t have it. I know everybody wants it. I’m sorry to tell you the bad news. It’s impossible. In fact, if you try to do all three, you will struggle. It will not be a good business for you.

Pick one or two. You can’t have all three. Do you want to be cheaper and faster? Do you want to be better and faster? It’s hard to have better and cheaper. That’s tough to do. But you can have one or two of these as your strategy. Not all three. It’s time to lock down your marketing strategy so you can move forward.

Determine Your Price

Now for the question you’ve been dying to ask: how do you determine your price? Here’s what you need to realize. Everybody in the world is confused about price, whether you’re a world-class entrepreneur or you’re just starting out as kid business owners. Price is always tough.

Here’s the secret to having the right price for your product. It’s not about how much it costs. It’s not about anything that comes from your own heart or your own gut. Here’s how you find your price: you ask customers. Try to chase down as many people as possible, at least 5 or 10.

For example, imagine you’re selling jars of jam. You can approach someone with your idea: “I have this amazing strawberry jam I’m going to make. It’s 8 ounces, and it tastes great on toast. What would you pay for it?” Maybe the first person says $5. That’s your first price point. But it isn’t your final price yet. Next, you need to talk to a few more people, keeping in mind that the first person would pay $5. Say the next person is willing to pay $6. That’s awesome! Go through this process to find what the right price is.

It’s very, very important that you think about price in terms of what your customer wants. You don’t want to price based on merely listing your costs and then adding a little bit. You don’t want to just cover your costs. You want to ask people what they would pay for the product. You simply need to ask people. See if you can get yourself to a point where almost everybody says, “Yeah, I would love to pay that amount.” If you ever get to a point where more than half of the people are saying, “No, I don’t think I would pay that,” then realize you probably shouldn’t charge that. This is a really good gauge for you. If you’re selling a product or a service, ask people what they might pay for it. Then move it up and down the more people you ask. That’s how you find price.

All of these steps are essential in choosing your product and moving you further down the path to becoming a successful entrepreneur. Make a confident decision on what you’re going to sell, nail down your marketing strategy, and ask potential customers in order to find the perfect price. With these tips, your business will be unstoppable.