If she really wants to become a fashion designer this really is the only useful thing she can do with her time. My little sister did the same sort of thing by selling her artwork. Her net gain over 4 years was probably less than if she had worked retail, but it was fun and informative. Few things are informative as looking at something you made that nobody wants to buy.
PS: I think my sister learned more about running a business doing this than most people get from an MBA. She paid for her own materials and would occasionally sell below cost to recover her capital, but she would also sell out of her more popular items, thus so forecasting future sales was important. She learned how to sell things one on one. She even got a taste for what people liked which is probably far more useful for an artist.
She even got a taste for what people liked which is probably far more useful for an artist.
IMO what people like is not what an artist should make, crafts people make stuff people like, artists make stuff that makes us think, if we like it then that's sometimes a bonus. It's a subtle difference.
Sometimes "artists" create things so ludicrous that no-one could possibly want to buy it because they think that it must then have a strong message, if they're famous already Saatchi buys it for a few million and the soul of humanity mourns.
When I first saw that $2500 figure, I was taken aback as well. But then I thought maybe she has a website and that could justify $2500! Alas, no! Did a quick google search for "Logi B. Designs" and nothing!
Now I really need to understand why she needed $2500 from her grandmother... that is a lot of sweaters!
Company registration, 2 sewing machines, table, costume jewellery, buttons, wages for the sewer, wages for Grandpa, attendance costs for Ohio show, liability insurance, other overheads, ... sounds cheap!
Her job would contravene child labour laws in the UK, http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/ParentsRights/DG_4002945 :
The youngest age your child can work part-time is 13 years old, with the exception of children involved in television, theatre, modelling or similar activities.
I had thought there was a family business exception but I appear to be mistaken.
Also recent (this year?) law changes mean that under 16s (IIRC) can't be company directors, previously it was either very low (5yo) or unlimited, can't quite remember.
And the lesson is that we should discard our obligations by moving back in with our parents and getting them to pay all our living expenses?
Kids make great entrepreneurs because the standards for success are pretty low. This kid is spending two hours making a scarf and then selling it for $18-$25.
I think hughprime's point is that the bar of success is set ridiculously low for this age group. Anything remotely resembling "real work" is praised as great success.
The only "lessons" to be learned are pat-on-the-back motivational snippets. There isn't anything practical to be gleaned from it.
The only "lessons" to be learned are pat-on-the-back motivational snippets.
You and hughprime both bring up valid points, but both of you still missed the lesson that jumped off the page at me. It's simple, but incredibly elusive. And included in my original post. Look again.
I was referring to being "beaten down". I'd be willing to guess that the biggest reason that this 11 year old was able to accomplish anything at all was because she didn't know that she wasn't supposed to be able to.
Most adults I know don't even try something they should because they have already beaten themselves down in their minds. It's so sad and such a waste. They could learn something from this child.
That's true, and in that sense being a little 'childish' (as in ignoring people who say 'you can't do that') can go a long way. After all, 'you can't do that' usually means 'I can't do that, so I think you can't do that'. But that's not always true.
The general case of kids optimism is that most of their optimism turns into realism (or worse) by the time they're young adults because most of their little schemes at world domination have failed.
The child from this story operates in a make-believe ecosystem set up by her parents and grand parents. In the real world, with bills to pay and going it alone she wouldn't stand a chance.
When I was 15 or so I had a little gimmick, people would throw out their old TVs, I would fix them and sell them on Queensday (the only day in the year when anybody can sell just about anything in nl), and I'd rake in a pretty penny.
After all, my 'source' was the garbage dump, my gain was 100% profits on everything I made because I didn't have to pay any taxes and there were no costs for parts (I'd just cannibalize another TV). My only real 'cost' was the solder (and it doesn't take much to fix a TV in terms of the solder you use) and some tools. I'd be kidding myself if I thought of it as a business though.
I certainly learned plenty and it was a useful experience but lets reserve the words for what they're meant for. Anybody that is not able to sign a contract in his/her own name should probably (but not always) not call themselves an entrepreneur.
Obviously, the term "entrepreneur" is used quite loosely in this example. But that does not discount the incredibly valuable experience this girl is getting. She has positive mental attitude, initiative, passion, a little vision, and gets off her butt to get work done. IMHO, that puts her in the top 1% of her peers in the things that will be important in her future.
It's easy for some of us to take these things for granted because we had to find our own way to success. But believe me, I know so many adults that could make their lives so much better if they were only this "childish". That was the lesson I was trying to cite.
Indeed. When I was a kid, I would have ideas for things and just do them. Maybe it worked, maybe it didn't, but I always learned something.
Now when I have ideas, I analyze most of them to death, out of concern that... what if it doesn't make money?... what if there's something better I should be working on instead?... etc. So many of my ideas die unused.
Sometimes I see someone else have the same idea and run with it. For example, I thought of the same basic idea as the AfterTheDeadline software, around the same time. I didn't implement it, but someone else did, to great success. Why didn't I do it? I couldn't think of how I could sell it, or who would even use it.
Of course, I applaud the success of AfterTheDeadline. But I gotta stop destroying my own ideas under the hammer of paranoid analysis.
I think it's more about opportunity cost. Look at startups: most first-time entrepreneurs are <25 because that age range generally have very low opportunity costs; they live with parents, in a dorm, or in low-cost apartments in less than ideal areas. Their mainstream earning potential is low, so entrepreneurship doesn't mean giving up (a chance at) a high-paying job. They have no spouse or kids, so they don't need to worry about how their choices will influence their immediate family.
Also, young people generally lack experience, which means their risk assessments are off--they think things are easier than they are, because they don't have similar experiences to compare to. When there is almost no cost, and the perceived risk is low or moderate, entrepreneurship is the rational choice.
This is all exactly reversed for the majority of people in my age range (30+). We have high opportunity costs, and we have enough similar experiences that we can make more accurate risk assessments--we know just how much work will be involved, we know the (low) percentage of companies that actually succeed. With high(er) perceived risk and high opportunity costs, it is rational not to go entrepreneur.
(And then there are those of us 30-somethings for whom entrepreneurship is enough fun that we are willing to structure our lives to make it possible. :>)
The moral? It isn't that the people you know are beaten down. It's that they are reasonably happy. Be happy for them.
PS: I think my sister learned more about running a business doing this than most people get from an MBA. She paid for her own materials and would occasionally sell below cost to recover her capital, but she would also sell out of her more popular items, thus so forecasting future sales was important. She learned how to sell things one on one. She even got a taste for what people liked which is probably far more useful for an artist.