In today's world, how do you safely and creatively teach kids about business Ralph Williams, a father of two sons Patrick, 8, and Joe, 6, believes he has found the solution. When Williams' son Patrick wanted to make more money in addition to his allowance, Williams shared a story of making beeswax candles as a boy and selling them in his family's restaurant, offering them the idea of creating a candle-making business.
Their first clients included family and friends and soon expanded to area businesses. Their product line has expanded to honey soap and other bee-related offerings. When they realized
this was a fun and easy way to earn a little extra spending money, the brothers wanted to share this opportunity with children around the country, giving Williams the idea to create
FranChild and the "My Kids First Biz" experience. Now they work with families from coast to coast and even internationally.
FranChild is a company that makes 'franchise-like' businesses available for children to operate. Like a franchise, kids and parents get marketing support, including an online community
for the benefit of members called 'the hive." The cost to start-up a FranChild business is $25 for a standard annual membership which includes a FranChild Company Certificate
acknowledging the child's business launch; ready-to-print business cards from FranChild business templates; how-to instructions and ideas for marketing and selling products; access to the
My Kids First Biz Resource Center, a $75,000 marketing system for creating customized packaging products; below wholesale pricing on materials; and access to the "hive" to share ideas
with the FranChild Business community. A Web site is available for young entrepreneurs for an additional $2 per month.
There are four FranChild product categories that carry the bee theme: beeswax candles, organic soap, apparel and jewelry. All natural in the materials they are made of, each FranChild
line is "green-friendly". In most cases, FranChild offers 'below wholesale' pricing, so kids can experience wholesale and retail sales of their chosen product line.
FranChild Candle Company - Children have the opportunity to make and sell candles made of 100% beeswax. Included in the candle start-up kit are 50 sheets of natural colored beeswax, 36
feet of wick and instructions for making candles. Additional colors are available seasonally and voted upon by the "hive" as to which ones are brought to the market.
FranChild Soap Company - Hand-made organic soap is available in a variety of refreshing scents including citrus, honey and peppermint. Kids are able to make their own custom labels,
including private labels for businesses to sell their own brand of organic soap.
FranChild Apparel Company - Two collections of organic cotton t-shirts made in America by Stinger ApparelTM feature the FranChild logo and BEEmotionsTM featuring bee-themed expressions
such as "Bee Happy" and other seasonally themed sayings.
FranChild Jewelry Company - The Royal Jelli Jewels line includes rings, earrings, bracelets and necklaces. The themes include butterflies, dolphins, flowers, hearts and starfish. More
designs will be added as the community of FranChild Jewelry votes and decides which item to bring to the marketplace next, including of course, a bee. Jewels come finished and are
purchased in quantities of six of the same type and style in assorted colors.
In addition to learning the basics of business, young entrepreneurs can experience concepts like manufacturing (candles), marketing, packaging, branding, private labeling, sales and money
management. FranChild allows kids to set their own pricing giving them the control to set the profit margin. In turn, they learn about spending money, earning money and hopefully saving
money.
FranChild, LLC is an online community of parents and children sharing a fun project with an applicable and valuable life lesson, learning the basics of business. For more information on
the company or to launch a FranChild business with your child, visit www.FranChild.com.