I can’t wait to share this awesome conversation I had with Chris Smith, founder of the Campfire Effect and Family Brand. If you want your kids to develop values they’ll never turn from, you absolutely cannot miss this. Kid entrepreneurs, you’ll love hearing hilarious stories about Chris’s kids and the crazy things they’ve done.
Chris, tell us which business your kids are doing with MyFirstSale.
We have something we’ve said in our home for years, create or complain. We’ve told our kids that in any situation in life, there’s only two options: to create, which means look for possibility, or complain, which means you’re stuck. They took that value and turned it into an apparel business—and made over $3,500 so far.
Back when they first started, they had zero sales. I asked them why. They said, “Well, we’re nervous, kind of intimidated to make sales calls.” So I just dial up a buddy of mine, Brad, and I was like, “You’re going to make a sales call right now to Brad.” They’re like, “We’re not ready.” I’m like, “Well, he’s going to answer. If he answers, you better talk.” And Brad answers, “Hello?”
They both look at me with this petrified look in their eyes. And it was terrible. They were awful. And Brad’s a really good friend of mine, an entrepreneur. He gave them some amazing advice: “You’re not selling a T-shirt. You’re selling a mission. You’re selling a way of life. You’re selling an idea, something that can inspire people.” Anyways, it’s just been an amazing journey so far. We really strive to be intentional about the culture we’re creating in our home, and having kid entrepreneurs has this really special effect on the culture of our family.
What’s the origin story of your business, Family Brand?
We’re usually very intentional about what we stand for and what we want to be known for in our businesses, in our careers, as entrepreneurs, and we create missions, visions, values. But we don’t do it in our own families. And I started asking myself why. In the Campfire Effect, that’s what we do for entrepreneurs and business owners. We teach them how to create a message that allows them to grow their business from a really authentic, aligned place.
A few years ago, I had the idea to take our family through the Campfire Effect. The idea was to define as a family what we stand for, what we want to be known for, and the principles we live by. Those can all be wrapped up into mission, vision, values. We believe if we don’t define what it is our family stands for and plant our family’s flag, then the world will. Someone else is going to influence our children as to what they should believe. We have our family mission statement and our family values. We say them every morning at breakfast. Our 3-year-old can recite all of them.
What does it mean to be a Smith? Who are we as Smiths? When you look at what’s going on in the world today, at the amount of fear, uncertainty, division, hate and separation, I believe the way we fix that, or the way we begin to fix that, is through our families. The greatest leadership development opportunity in the history of the world happens in homes every single day. That’s where we stand to make the biggest difference in the world.
No matter how big my company is or how impactful it is, that pales in comparison to the impact of what happens in how I show up in my home and the type of leadership I demonstrate there and the type of culture we’re creating in our home as a family. We don’t share Family Brand with the world because we’ve perfected it and figured it out. We share it because it’s made a difference for us and we know it can make a difference for a lot of other families. We want to flip on the creation switch in homes. That’s what’s so powerful about MyFirstSale—it’s given kids and families a chance to see that they’re powerful creators.
One of the most powerful things we can demonstrate to our children and give them as a gift is going after things we want in life. They’ll be like, “Man, my mom went after that thing she wanted to do. She wanted to be the head of that board and she did it. She wanted to serve in the community and she did it. My dad always thought about starting a business and he did it.” That gives our kids permission to think that same way.
How exactly do you create a family brand?
Start with creating a brief sentence with “We believe…” And that “We believe…” is the thing you believe more than anything as a family. For the Smith family, it’s, “We believe you can be who you want to be.” That means every individual of our family can be who they want to be, and they’re going to be loved and accepted for that.
Next is your vision statement. Start with, “We are committed to…” It’s who we’re becoming. Ours is, “We are committed to elevate and inspire.” And our kids know what that means. What do we want to be known for when another family talks about the Smith family? The mission is what you stand for and believe, and the vision is what you want to be known for.
Put your last name in front of every value. Hellers can… Chans are… Garcias love… When your kids associate their last name with these values, it’s more powerful because that last name is like a brand. It becomes known for something. It has meaning. And so in our family, it’s this: Smiths do hard things. Smiths love and support one another. Smiths can talk about anything without judgment. Smiths are creators. Smiths are healthy and active. Smiths are a team. Smiths are fun. One of the ways we’ve made our values fun is we get up every morning at the breakfast table and we act them out.
If you were to ask any of our kids, “Do you feel like the mission, vision, values of your family are restrictive?” my hope would be that our kids would say, “No, they’re these guidelines, these principles that we want to live by. Having a mission, vision, values actually gives us more creativity and more freedom to be who we are within that.” I believe families and children really thrive off of structure, but not a structure of dos and don’ts and you should or you shouldn’t. It’s more a structure of this is who we are.
When we say Smiths are creators, our kids know that means they get to do the creating. And it doesn’t mean their parents won’t help them. But they’re not going to get Mom and Dad to do it for them. When any of us, my wife and myself included, face something difficult, the first place our minds go to is, “I can do this. I’m totally capable of this.” Create a culture where your kids can become who they really are inside of that. Give them space to make mistakes and try things out instead of rushing in and saving them all the time.
What’s it like seeing your kids become kid business owners?
Let me tell you what I overheard my oldest son saying during a sales call. He said, “I started doing jiu-jitsu about a year ago, and about eight months in, I hadn’t gotten a stripe yet. Other kids who had joined after me were getting stripes, but I was better than them. I started complaining, and I told my parents I wanted to quit. And then I remembered Smiths are creators, and I thought about Create or Complain. And I prayed about it, and I decided I want to stay in jiu-jitsu. I decided I was going to go more often and be more consistent. And I got my first stripe. And then I won a tournament, and I got my second stripe. Recently, I got promoted to a white, grey belt.” I’ve been telling my kids for years, “Don’t eat with your fingers,” and they still eat with their fingers. Sometimes you wonder if your kids are listening to anything you say. And then stuff like that happens.
What are some recommendations you have to inspire kid entrepreneurs in terms of podcasts and children’s book series?
We started letting our kids listen to How I Built This from NPR. We have talked about so many business principles and concepts and ideas from listening to that on road trips. We also implemented a rule in our family that’s worked out well. Our kids are voracious readers. They’ll read like two fantasy books at a time, which I’m all for. I love the creativity behind it. But we implemented this rule: for every fantasy book you read, you have to read a business or personal development book. Patrick Lencioni writes story-based books about business, and I’ve also heard great things about the Tuttle Twins.
Any last takeaways you want to share about the benefits of starting a business for kids?
As our kids have established their business of Create or Complain with MyFirstSale, it’s brought on a whole new meaning of our family values. They look at things differently now through the lens of being kid entrepreneurs. The last few podcast episodes we’ve listened to, they listen to them differently because they’re now listening to them as kid business owners. Before, my kids were just consumers. Now it’s, “I’m a business owner, and they just shared a really cool idea that I could apply to Create or Complain.”
Everything you want to accomplish in your family, your values, your mission, your vision, can actually be brought to the surface by your kids having a business and stoking that flame. It brings up so many cool conversations organically. I totally believe in everything MyFirstSale is doing. Dive in headfirst with your kids, and it will do so much for the culture of your home. It’s amazing. It’s been such a gift for us.
Chris, you’ve given us a unique glimpse into the values your family has cultivated. We’re so grateful. Everyone, don’t miss this incredible opportunity to build your Family Brand with Chris.