Volume 17, Number 1, Fall 2006

4-Hers Learn Business Principles

Dixie Sandborn

The “Be Your Own Boss” session at 4-H Exploration Days taught kids about becoming entrepreneurs. Twenty-three kids participated in setting up their own businesses and learning about business practices. This hands-on approach to business ownership gave the 4-Hers opportunities to create their own jewelry and explore marketing, target markets, pricing, advertising, competition, networking, fiscal management and lots more.

During the session, kids worked in teams to set up businesses selling the jewelry they made. The teams had the opportunity to pick their target market and to decide how much they would sell their jewelry for. Using a computer simulation to enter the information about each company, the teams could see their profit and losses for each quarter.

Be Your Own Boss is similar to a computerized monopoly game, with the companies having the opportunity to invest in insurance and contribute to charitable organizations. Wild cards spice things up a bit. For instance, businesses may have fires or other natural disasters, or may even be rewarded for their generous contributions to their favorite charities. This information is also factored into the profit and loss statements for each company, each quarter.

This was a great session for kids to learn about running their own businesses, in addition to being team players making decisions affecting the success of their businesses. One participant stated, “I’ve attended Exploration Days three times and this was by far the best class yet.”