“How to Start Your Very First Business” by Warren Buffett’s Secret Millionaires Club (Downtown Bookworks, $14.99).
Get Instant Access to This Article
Subscribe to Hartford Business Journal and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.
- Critical Hartford and Connecticut business news updated daily.
- Immediate access to all subscriber-only content on our website.
- Bi-weekly print or digital editions of our award-winning publication.
- Special bonus issues like the Hartford Book of Lists.
- Exclusive ticket prize draws for our in-person events.
Click here to purchase a paywall bypass link for this article.
“How to Start Your Very First Business” by Warren Buffett's Secret Millionaires Club (Downtown Bookworks, $14.99).
Warren Buffet started his first business when he was six; he bought candy, gum and soda in bulk and sold the products individually. Capitalizing on Buffett's “You're never too young to start a business” theme, this book teaches kids the principles of entrepreneurship and financial responsibility. (There's plenty adults can learn, too.) Here are some key pieces of advice:
Turn something you love into a business. Nine-year-old Cameron Johnson loved to draw. In 1994, he created one-of-a-kind stationery and greeting cards for family celebrations. Family, friends and his parent's coworkers wanted to buy the cards. Word spread and his Cheers and Tears business prospered. Johnson became a tween-age entrepreneur; through web-based ventures (the first was selling Beanie Babies on eBay) he became a millionaire by the time he finished high school.
Find new customers for a popular product. When he was 13, Hart Main and his younger sister sold candles for a fundraiser. He saw an opportunity to develop candles that would appeal to men — with fragrances like gunpowder, hot cocoa, fresh-cut grass, bacon and campfire. He chose soup cans, not glass jars, for packaging.
Main saw a societal side to his business, too. His production workers were developmentally disabled. Check out bccandle.com/mancans.
The stories of kid entrepreneurs are seeded throughout advice and how-to templates. There's even a Square Reader included; plug it into a smartphone or tablet and kids can accept credit card payments. (Adults would find it useful for garage sales.)
