Get them the recently published book by Bill Rancic, the winner of The Apprentice, first season.
Bill's new book is a collection of his own stories of business making since he was 7, and business ideas of 20 children interviewed for the book.
When my 11-year old finished reading it (and I'll be honest, when I picked the book up at Borders, I had my doubts he'll have any interest), he really wanted to start his own business.
But the only business that really appealed to him was "homework helper" - not a very lucrative idea, considering how many kids and teachers are available to volunteer this kind of help.
So I suggested something different.
A "creative kids gazette".He loves to write, and would have fun collecting stories and poems by other children in his own school, and then other schools in the area, and publish them. Kids and parents would rush to brag about their writing published, and word of mouth would work its magic.
How would he make money?
He'd approach "sponsors" - local stores and companies who target children and their parents in this market - and charge them a sponsorship fee to advertise in the "gazette", which will be distributed to all the kids in the local school district.
(Of course, it will be interesting to find out if the local schools supports children entrepreneurship).Before I knew it, I was so excited about this idea, I wanted to start it myself!
Whoa!.... That's not what I want to be doing!
So, I made it clear to him that I will help, support and guide him, but HE has to be the one "burning the fire" in this business.
It'd be great if he actually went through with this idea, but I certainly wouldn't want to do this for him.
This conversation with him alone just made my day today!
The rest will be the icing on the cake.
