In the Beginning

My children were another aspect of what inspired us to start the jerky business. The inspiration was found in the fact that we thought it would be a great way for our family to learn together. Of course ,we don’t abandon or substitute good parenting practices with a CEO mindset to manage our children, but we do include them in decisions that we make about the business. There is an empowerment quality in including them along the way. From their perspective and in the future, there shouldn’t be summers without a job and Christmas breaks with nothing to do. No more statements like “I’m bored, there is nothing to do”.

Business ownership as you may or may not know requires an array of skills. From self management skills to leadership and interpersonal communication skills. I’m talking about basic emotional intelligence (EI). We thought, “what a great way to teach the kids basic EI- business ownership and practical parenting”.

Another aspect of the dream was to have the business support my children’s dreams beyond high school, whether it be college, business startup or both. In either case, they would be involved along the way. Empowerment to earn and to own their educational pursuits was the model that we sat out to develop. My beautiful kids are in middle school at the present, but already have achieved a basic understanding of “accountability” as it applies to school work, business ownership and self. So much more to learn, but the idea is already more of a success than I could imagine. Onward we go…