How Family Council and “Pay Jobs” helps Raise CEO Kids!

I talked to Ken Beutler (MB for Mr. Beutler) the father of Katelyn Beutler of Kate Care.  He shared some extremely insightful tips on raising young entrepreneurs – CEO Kids!  I think you will really like what he has to say about something called “Family Council”.  We have been doing “Family Councils” in the Cook home or years but I pick up a few tips from Ken that we implemented with great success.

Here is his entire interview and you can listen to it by clicking on Katelyn Beutler’s link in the Audio Section for Members.

Sarah – So, tell me how old was Kate when she first began to be interested in earning money and you thought, okay, this kid is probably going to start wanting to have a business a little bit down the line.  How old was she?

MB -    About eight years old.

Sarah – Okay.  And so what were some of the first things that she did to earn money?  Was it just around the house or did she do things for neighbors?  What did she do?

MB -    Of course Katelyn has three older sisters and a brother.  And we’ve been paying them allowance for years and so she’s been getting an allowance so she’s always known what money is and what she can do with it.  And the allowance is not tied in with their chores, they just get an allowance.  They get one dollar for every year old they are. And so in fact, we just cut Carl off.  We figured he has his own job, he doesn’t need $22.00 a month.  But Katelyn has always been interested in doing “PAY JOBS” which are jobs beyond her chores.  And we’ll determine up front what the the job is worth and it might be washing windows or doing something extra around the house that will earn her some money.  And then she’s also been doing babysitting since she was 12 I guess.

Sarah – Right.  So a little over a year then, a year and a half?

MB -    Yes.

Sarah – Okay.  So tell me a little bit about the, so you have an allowance at one dollar per year they are.  So that much per month or per week?

MB -    Per month.

Sarah – Per month.  Okay, and then they have certain chores that they’re required to do.  So what are some of the chores that they need to do?  Because a lot of people, a lot of parents have asked me this question.   Do you do allowance?  How do you structure that?  What are the best tips?  And I know that you and your wife have been really successful in what you’ve done with your kid’s allowances and their chores and things like that.  So how do you structure that chore system?

MB -    We hold Family Council on the first Monday of the month.  And in family council, we go over the calendar for the month, we also have a family council session where everyone has two or three minutes to bring any topic up and discuss it and we go around the entire family, do that.  And it’s structured with a person taking minutes and we go over the discussion from the previous month.  We get all that out, we can plan family vacations during that time.  And then right after that, Carolyn brings out the tithing.  And she goes to the credit union within the few days before and gets lots of one dollar bills and she just pass out their tithing.  Now at that same –

Sarah – Their tithing or their allowance?

MB -    Tithing.  Their allowance, but then at the same time, she will have them take out there savings, they’re required to take out 10% to put into their saving account and each child has their own savings account at the credit union.  And we match what they take out.  And so if they’re taking out 10%, let’s say they’re ten years old, they’re taking out a dollar.  We throw in a dollar and they put $2.00 in their savings account.  And then at the same time, they also take out their tithing.  And so that next Sunday, they’re able to pay their tithing.  We try to have them pay their tithing on the fast Sunday of every month.

Sarah – Okay.  Great.  That’s great.  And so then what are the chores that they do then?

MB -    As far as the chores, well that, they’re required to take care of their own room, that’s never a chore; making their own beds, keeping their rooms clean.  But the chores are washing the sinks, the showers, the toilets; taking care of the bathrooms.  Mopping the kitchen floor, vacuuming, dusting.

Sarah – Okay.  And so you just divvy those up during family council or does everyone have their specific things that they’re always required to do?  Do you rotate them?  How do you do that?

MB -    They’re rotated.  And those chores are given out usually on Saturday morning.

Sarah – Okay, got it.

MB -    Camille went off to stay with a friend last night and so my understanding she was given her chores last night before she left.  But we like to have all those things done by Saturday afternoon.

Sarah – Got it.  Okay, well that makes sense.  So what role do you play in Katelyn business?  I know she said you helped her design her website and just determine structuring on pricing and things like that.  But is there anything else that you’ve really helped to mentor her in as she’s begun this process of having her website and really kind of become a biz kid and become a kid in business?

MB -    Well, I gave her advice on how to find a free website service.  And of course with that free website service, we’ve noticed that, that company puts up at the top of her website babysitting and nanny service link.  And that’s interesting that there’s competition on her own website.

Sarah – Yeah, because it’s free.  That’s how they make it –

MB -    Because it’s free, yes.  I understand that.  I helped her design the website, decide what to put in each of the links, the rates, the photos that she would use and then we also decided who to send an announcement to to try to and get it advertised.

Sarah – Got it.  That sounds good.  So if you could share a couple tips with raising kids that want to be entrepreneurs.  What would you recommend to other parents that around the world because this will be listened to by other parents around the world.  So what would you recommend to them in encouraging young entrepreneurship because what you said about having them save and what you said about doing the paid jobs or extra jobs.  I think both of those things are really brilliant.  Is there anything else that you feel like you’d really, really recommend?

MB -    Well, Katelyn’s a lot like her sister Carmen and they’re both very responsible. I think if you are responsible, if you’re dependable, people will see that.  And whatever you want to do, they will go to you for their needs.  The important thing is to maintain that trust and find a need.  I know when we were looking for babysitters when all our kids were young that was my responsibility to find a babysitter.  Back then at least, there was always a strong push for date night.  We were always told couples should go out once a week.  And so I always had a very difficult time finding a babysitter and babysitters eventually grow up.  And once they hit 16, they’re doing other things and so we’d have to find a new babysitter.  And so I don’t know if there’s still that kind of need.  Katelyn has done quite a bit of babysitting but she’s had a little bit of a dry spell and so that’s why we decided to do some advertising to help her out.  She mentioned business cards.  And so I think the more visible you are, the more chances you’ll have.

Sarah – Right.  And I think too by having her have her website and getting business cards, people definitely take her more seriously I’m sure too.  They’re like, oh wow, okay, this is great.

MB -    Yes, because if I was looking for a babysitter I would have to think in my head well who have we used before?  I would go the ward directory and thumb through that.  Who has a daughter that could do something like this?  And yet if she had business cards and is actual talking to people and not just this one time but sending email remainders every couple weeks and then passing out her business cards, I think she’s going to do a lot better.

Sarah – So true!