Hi everyone!  I'm Heather DeMarco at the business desk, and as a follow-up to my blog of last week where I discussed various possibilities for kids, I am going to give you a kids success story.

Meet two very successful entrepreneurs who go by the names of Ken and Barbe but their real names are Sheldon and Maya and these two teenagers live in San Mateo California.  After reading the first edition of "Untapped Wealth Discovered" written by Jeff Marquis and Kerry Harrison they decided to look for an idea that would help them to make some money for their college education.  They read this book from cover to cover and were quite taken by the niche market concept.  So they put on their thinking caps and after much thinking and a bit of research they came up with a novel idea to offer a barbecue business which they started last summer.  I have to tell you though that these two youngsters were quite determined to make this work and before they even started they did their homework.  They did most of their research on their own and only consulted their parents when they felt it necessary to do so.

They started by canvassing their neighborhoods going to seniors homes, households, and even to some smaller restaurants to see how people would feel if they were to offer a service whereby they would throw barbecues on behalf of those who wanted it.  They pitched their services as follows:

They would throw barbecues on behalf of their clients.  They would go to the intended place of the barbecue and there they would prepare a very sumptuous meal as per what was required.  They would shop for the food stuffs, cook, serve, and clean up.  Their services would also include the provision of all utensils and condiments.  

Sheldon and Maya who by the way are friends approached their parents for help with the financial side of things and both sets of parents decided to take a chance on their kids because they felt that their kids had done enough research and read a book that was very telling in strategies. 

Sheldon and Maya got started in late July of last year and by the end of August they were starting to do a brisk business with the help of their parents and other friends.  They took their business well into the fall and were quite surprised to discover that customers were asking for their services well into December but more than this many of their customers were repeat customers.

It was fine enough to do a fulltime business when school was out but during the semester they had to limit their business to weekends.  However, they were determined to make a go of this and so they organized their friends and with the help of their parents they were able to keep the business going during the so-call cooler months of January/May.

Sheldon and Maya AKA Ken and Barbe have managed to offer their services to such clients as families, seniors homes, small restaurants, beach picnickers, and now they are going after pool parties and small office parties.  They even dram of going after golf club parties and overall social club parties.  Their parents are behind them all the way and their peers are also supporting them.  They and their parents do most of the work re the planning and scheduling, the buying of the food stuffs, the utensils, and the condiments  and the cooking of the food.  Sheldon and Maya have taken cooking lessons to help them along and are also planning to sell their own brand of barbecue sauce some day soon.   Their friends help with the serving and cleaning up.

These two vibrant and go getting youngsters have used their imaginations and creativity to build a very interesting kids business.  They are smart and determined and their parents are just as eager to help them.

"We are really happy that we decided to go in to our own business.  We came up with the name of Ken and Barbe because we felt that it would suit the type of business that we were going into and the authors of Untapped Wealth Discovered did talk about the importance of choosing an appropriate name to suit the type of business.  We really believe that kids can succeed at their own business but it's lots of hard work and determination."

To pick up a copy of Untapped Wealth Discovered please visit www.untappedwealth.com/order.htm.