>> Production funding and educational outreach for Biz Kids is provided by a coalition of America's credit unions, where people are worth more than money.

A complete list of individual credit union funders is available at wxxi.org.

>> Every day, America's credit unions help members with their financial needs and with programs like Invest in America.

It's only fitting that credit unions support Biz Kids because financial education is what we do.

Learn more at lovemycreditunion.org.

>> So you want to start a business, that's what you say?

>> That's right.

I could start any day.

>> Over time, your business will grow.

>> Oh, yes, my friend.

That much I know.

>> You've got to get the word out.

>> With some promotion, no doubt.

>> Got to raise money to expand.

>> It's all part of the master plan.

>> Got to paint your business orange.

>> Yes, then I'll... >> Aha, no rhyme for orange.

>> Thank you for identifying an area for growth.

>> What?

>> As you know, I've taken an oath.

>> This is crazy.

>> Growing a business is not for the lazy.

>> What are you, a poet?

>> No, I'm a Biz Kid.

>> ♪ When making money is the aim ♪ These kids they bring their game ♪ They're the Biz Kids Can you dig it?

♪ They know what's up and let you know ♪ Just how to make that dough ♪ They're the Biz Kids Right on ♪ So learn a little more about bringing money through the door ♪ They're the Biz Kids Right on.

♪ >> The plan?-- business.

Plan?-- business.

Plan?-- business.

Plan?-- business.

Plan?-- business.

Plan?-- business.

Business plan.

>> Business plan!

>> So you've got an idea for a business, but you don't know how to start.

Well, starting a business is a lot like growing a plant.

You begin with the business plan.

>> I don't see why you need a business plan to grow a plant.

>> It's an analogy.

Just follow along.

So this business plan outlines what your business does and how it will be operated.

You may need a loan, which is some start-up money to get things going.

That's called capital-- capital, which is some startup money to get things going-- capital.

So now you've got the plan and the capital.

Could you hit the light, please?

And voila.

So as your business grows, you need to hire more people to keep it growing.

And once you've got all the ingredients, there's no telling what kind of growth you will get.

Now, that's a beautiful business.

>> Little Annie's flower business.

>> It's a world of a growing business.

>> Look, Gretchen!

They accepted my business plan!

>> Oh, I'm so excited for you.

Whoo-hoo!

Okay, you can let go now.

Okay, let go.

>> In order to start or grow a business, it's essential to have a business plan.

A business plan will help you stay organized.

It will help you plan the growth of your business and answer questions like how to raise capital, hire employees, stuff like that.

>> ♪ If you're gonna have a business you gotta have a plan.

♪ Grow your business grow your business ♪ Employees and vacation staff communications ♪ Grow your business grow your business ♪ If you're going to have a... ♪ >> We love sweets and stuff like that, so that's where the idea came from.

>> Exactly.

>> So when starting a business and making a plan you should look at all the things that you enjoy doing and love doing.

>> You took the words out of my mouth.

Whatever you love to do, that's your business.

>> I'm Vanessa Simmons.

>> And I'm Angela Simmons.

>> And we've started our own sneaker line called Pastry.

We're going to give you guys a tour of everything we have.

This is our wonderful, wonderful world of Pastry.

>> This is our bakery.

>> Yes.

>> The high top.

>> Marshmallows.

Pink sugars.

>> Lemon Meringue >> Sugar Wafers.

I've always wanted to start a business.

Since very young, I've always wanted to do something and have something of my own.

So me and Angela got together and collaborated, and we came up with Pastry.

We started with a concept board.

>> And now look.

It's like we have a whole empire growing.

>> The sneaker line actually only started with four sneakers.

Strawberry Shortcake.

>> Chocolate Mousse.

>> Sprinkles, and Red Velvet.

>> Hello, Sprinkles!

>> And then from those four, with the success that we had from that, became many.

>> We have it at Underground Station, Sheik Shoes, Finish Line... >> Dr. Jay's Brooklyn USA.

>> And we're still working on getting more stores.

>> DTLR.

>> Yes.

>> Just major expansion.

Angela and I are the spokeswomen for Girl Scouts of America's Financial Literacy and Entrepreneur Program.

We're making a Thin Mint Cookie sneaker.

>> That's going to be so cool.

>> The inspiration behind it is going to be the Girl Scouts and the cookie.

>> Probably going to have them help us design it.

>> We have set it up so that parts of the proceeds will go back to the organization.

Thin Mint Cookie, look for it.

>> Did they do this?

>> Yeah, sure did.

>> Since our sneaker company did so well, we've been privileged to actually start our own apparel line.

Angela's our model today.

>> When making a line, you have to have these boards, and you also have to have sketches and fabrics to go with it.

And it has to be the same throughout the whole line, because if not, then it doesn't look consistent.

>> Know what you're doing, planning.

>> And you also have to be ahead of the game.

Like, these lines are ahead.

These lines aren't coming out for awhile.

But you have to be planning ahead of time all the time when it comes to fashion.

>> Four, five, six months at a time ahead.

>> We have a bunch of people who work with us for Pastry.

So they're definitely like our foundation when it comes to organization, because they're the ones that are helping us run everything.

When we have any ideas or anything, we're calling them, and they're helping us put everything in order.

>> They're are a lot of people that work with you, and you have to be able to just, you know, listen to their opinions as well as they're listening to yours.

It makes things better with other people's opinion.

>> Anybody can start a business.

>> Starting a business is all about you.

>> You like to make lemonade.

You better make lemonade and go stand outside until your business gets big, you know.

>> That's how it all starts.

>> It all starts from something small.

You don't have to have the immediate resources, but if you're doing what you like to do-- like, let's say you like to sketch-- go and get you a little drawing book, start drawing.

Sell your sketches.

Do whatever you have to do make it to where you want to go.

Nothing starts off big.

>> With small beginnings come great, big, huge realities.

Anyone that has a billion-dollar company started with something that started with five or ten dollars or something.

>> It's okay to start small.

That's what everybody has to know.

And it's not going to be overnight.

It's going to take time.

>> It's going to be mistakes.

There's going to be bumps.

There's going to be a little bit of pain.

But at the end, it will all be worth it.

>> Be a Biz Kid.

>> Billions and billions of businesses.

Billions of... >> All right, what's our business going to be, people?

>> Sports drinks.

>> Toy trolls.

>> No, wait, spy stuff.

>> Of course.

>> Because we're spies.

>> Spy stuff it is.

Okay, people, I need the who, the what, the where, the when, and the how of our little operation.

>> Who?

>> Spies.

>> What?

Spy stuff.

Where?

Our secret store front.

When?

I don't know, two months from now?

>> Yeah, sure.

>> Two months is good.

>> How?

We buy from a secret spy wholesaler and only sell to people who know the special code word.

>> That's good.

But what about our competition?

>> I'm on it.

Got it.

The only other action in town is Alpha Force, and they specialize in night vision.

>> Then let's specialize in listening devices, people.

Now, how are we going to market this?

>> I'll leak the information to some of our informants.

>> A secret leak, that's good.

But one more thing.

What about funding?

>> Swiss bank accounts.

>> Hello, I'm Eric Foster.

I'm a poet, an entrepreneur, and a student, and I'm a Biz Kid.

Right here is the barber shop where I fist told my partners the idea of All High Sports, which is an online mailing system for athletes.

You know, instead of having to send out the tapes to all these different colleges, he uploads his video onto a page.

He puts out all his information.

And then he'll have his own profile, which would have his stats, his picture, which school he goes to, you know, things like that, and his highlight tape.

After that, he chooses what colleges he would like to send his highlight tape to, and it goes directly to those coaches' inbox.

It doesn't matter if you're volleyball, lacrosse, swimmer.

Whatever you do, we want you to be able to play a sport you love and be able to get an education.

This here is my dad.

In the business world, he teaches me to keep my guard up.

>> Business game is like a basketball game.

You got to keep your head in the game and keep the game in your head.

>> When starting a business, having your numbers are very important: your balance sheets, your income statements, your cash flow statements.

All those things are very, very essential.

In order to start a business, you guys need to get incorporated with the state, get the necessary business license, obtain a federal tax ID number, open a business bank account, and buy business insurance.

A Biz Kid ought to be able to make that one.

>> Air ball.

>> When you're talking to different people about your business plan and your business idea, you have to be excited about it, because everything is energy and emotion.

You know, if you're just dull about it, a lot of people are not going to really be interested in your idea.

But if you're excited about it, you really care about it, you love it, then people are going to get that vibe, and they're going to really appreciate him, like, "Ooh this is something that I, that I can invest in."

What's up?

So it's important to just be excited and be a good person, because people invest in you and then your idea.

>> We're a growing business.

>> When starting or growing a business, there are a few things you might want to consider.

First have a plan.

A plan will keep you organized.

Next, be a good communicator, like me.

Good communication can lead to success.

And if you are successful, plan on hiring employees.

Are you listening to me?

>> I got an idea.

I'll make a business plan, and then I'll... >> ♪ Gently down the stream grow, grow, grow... ♪ >> Now, that's a business plan that you can... >> ♪ Grow, grow, grow your business... ♪ >> Don Ducket, thank you very much for coming this evening.

>> Of course.

I am always willing to come talk the business with you, Don Dinero.

Of course you remember our attorney, Tom Haggle.

>> Yes, Tom, good man.

>> Now, gentlemen, our coffee shop venture is going well.

We have location, and we have the Colombian bean account.

But employees are the future.

If we don't have a happy staff, we risk everything-- maybe not now, but a year from now.

>> My associate and I are in aggreeance on this matter.

We believe we must treat our employees with respect.

>> See, we started by making them an offer they couldn't refuse.

>> Yes, yes.

>> Good, offering employees higher wages than the competition is a good way to ensure worker happiness.

>> My associate and I also feel that it is important that our employees are properly trained.

>> They getting paid when they're being trained?

>> What are you, a sempliciotto?

Of course they are.

>> I mean no disrespect, Don Ducket.

I'm simply looking out for you and your interests.

Are you doing anything to make sure workers stay interested in their job?

>> Well, with this coffee shop of ours, you can only go so far in the shop, so we encourage our employees to look at different options inside the coffee shop.

>> That's fantastic.

Sounds like you two are working very hard to make sure your workers are happy.

>> Well, you know, we do what we do.

This business of ours is not business.

It's family.

You're in the family now, Tom.

Welcome home.

>> Hi, we're the Hot Spot!

>> And I'm the boss.

>> Ooh!

>> Everybody needs to go back to work.

>> Aw!

>> My name is Raven, and I'm a manager at the Hot Spot.

The Hot Spot is an espresso stand at our school, Global Connections.

Being a boss at the Hot Spot means that I am in charge of all of my employees.

I make sure that they do their job.

I make sure that everybody is on task and all the teachers and students are happy with their drinks.

>> Ah!

>> For our Hot Spot, we have personal sales goals for each of our employees.

If each of our employees solve or complete one of their goals, then it will probably help the Hot Spot.

So, Tovan, I've seen that you have changed your sales goal for this week.

>> Yeah, my goal is to get at least one or two new people to buy at the Hot Spot in the morning, because I believe that in business, you have to continuously build new clientele.

>> Nikki Hem, she has come up with a personal goal to master the cash register.

She has gotten these stickers for her cheerful spirit.

>> H!

H-O-T!

H-O-T S-P-O-T, Hot Spot!

>> Hi, we're the Hot Spot!

>> It's "Hi, we're the Hot Spot" >> Is Joe there?

>> Hair?

We don't cut hair.

>> Air?

Anybody here know about air?

( phone ringing ) >> Hello.

Uh-huh.

Pears?

You want produce.

( phone ringing ) >> Hello?

I'm here for the meeting.

Hello?

Hello?

Well, I guess nobody's there.

( dial tone ) ( phone beeping ) >> What's going on?

>> What are you doing?

>> Well, my auto schedule says that there's a meeting right now, and the GPS says it's here.

>> Let me sync up and see if that's right.

What?

Why is the network so slow?

>> Are you guys having the same problem?

>> How are we supposed to work?

This guy says there's a meeting.

>> Who?

>> Him.

>> Well, my auto-schedule clearly... wait, where'd the page go?

>> What's the meeting about?

>> Improving communication.

>> Oh, I don't have time for that.

I'll check my schedule, my spreadsheet, then I'll text you.

>> I'll cc you on my e-mail later.

>> Am I late for the meeting?

>> I guess it's already over.

( phone ringing ) >> Nobody told me.

>> Hello?

I'm back for the meeting.

Hello?

What time was this scheduled for?

Hello?

>> The most important factor in growing a business and keeping it healthy is good communication.

>> You make the vegetarian desert, and I'll make the vegetarian entreé, okay?

>> It takes time, but the benefits are huge.

>> Employees feel more committed and satisfied with their jobs when they fully understand their goals and the value of their contributions.

>> Hey, give me some of that vegetarian grub.

I heard you won the Vegetarian Food National Championship.

Congratulations.

>> It increases business morale, and managers can make better decisions when they get regular feedback from employees.

>> Joe, you know the only reason this vegetarian restaurant is so good is because you're the best prep-cook around.

>> On the other hand, poor communication can lead to low morale, lots of misunderstandings, and mistrust.

>> I would have never cooked all this beef brisket if someone told me this was a vegetarian restaurant.

>> A lack of communication can cause workers to mess up on projects without meaning to.

>> You'd think that with so much at stake, businesses would make good communication a high priority.

>> You'd think so, but c'est la vie.

>> Huh?

>> Just how the ball bounces.

>> What ball?

>> There's no ball.

It just means whatever, like ( audio played backwards ).

>> Huh?

>> ( speaking gibberish ).

In other words, ( audio played backwards ).

>> Huh?

>> ( audio played backwards).

>> ( audio played backwards).

>> ( audio played backwards).

>> ( audio played backwards).

>> Huh?

>> Here, customer, is the fire you ordered.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you.

Come again.

>> Our fire business is growing.

We're going to need more fire.

>> Hmm, how do we grow our fire business?

Must think.

>> Oh, too big, too fast, must run.

>> You need to reinvest.

You need to reinvest.

You need to reinvest.

You need to reinvest to grow your own business.

>> Oh, man.

Doing all this by hand is becoming quite a drag.

I got to invest some of my money I made from this crop into some new equipment.

Yeah, now, that's more like it.

>> Um, what happened to you?

>> It's my lawn-mowing business.

I have to use my dad's old, really heavy lawnmower.

And now I am wiped.

>> And you do a lot of lawns, don't you?

>> Exactly.

And the thing is I keep on getting more and more customers, but I can't do any more lawns with this lawnmower than I already do.

>> Sounds like you've got to reinvest in your business and buy a new lawnmower.

>> What?

>> You want your business to grow, right?

>> Well, yeah.

>> Then you need to reinvest some of your income in your business and buy a new mower.

>> So you're saying I should take some of the money I've already earned and use it to buy a lighter, more efficient lawnmower?

>> If you reexamine your goals, maybe you can buy two lawn mowers-- maybe one for another employee.

>> Yeah, wow!

>> You may be entering a whole new phase of your business.

>> Yeah!

And if I'm starting a whole new phase, I should probably go take a shower.

>> Yeah, you really need to take a shower.

>> All right.

>> I thought strawberries grew on trees.

>> No, it's okay.

What you do, just rip it apart right there.

>> Welcome to Food from the Hood.

Essentially, Food from the Hood is the nation's first student- owned company.

>> It started off by a group of students getting together and saying, you know, "How can we make a change in our community?"

So they got together with one of the teachers at Crenshaw High School, and they said "You know, why don't we just start a garden?"

From there, the original vegetables that they grew they actually donated to local homeless shelters and elderly centers.

And eventually they said, "Well, you know, it's good that we're helping them, but how can we help ourselves as well?"

So what they did was they decided to sell them at the local farmer's markets.

>> Yummy!

>> And from there, they said, "Well, you know, we're making money, but not a lot of money.

So how can, you know, we help ourselves?"

So from there, they did some research and found out that salad dressing was actually the number-one seller at the time.

So they said, you know, "That's a perfect product.

We're growing vegetables.

Why don't we produce a salad dressing from there?"

In 1994, we came out with our first salad dressing, which was creamy Italian.

In 1996, we came out with honey mustard, which is our number-one seller.

Later on, in 2001, we came out with ranch.

So we've been able to grow a lot since then.

>> This is our reception desk.

This is where we file.

This is customer care, where Cindy is performing a UPS label for Amazon.com.

Over here in our sales and marketing, we are able to keep track of all of our sales for the year or the week.

This is our accounting desk.

Deron is currently filling an invoice on Quickbooks for our Amazon.com orders.

>> The way we actually find our staff or our students is actually through ourselves.

We go out and recruit to different schools.

They go through a session where they have to figure out what the interest of the student is and how we can help them, and we basically match them up with the right department that they want to work in.

Some of the challenges that we've faced in the past are actually with our salad dressings.

Actually, one of the things that we're addressing right now is removing the high fructose corn syrup out of our honey mustard and replacing that with sugar cane.

So that's... we're actually going to have taste test today, and we'll see how that turned out.

>> We're going to do the taste test.

We got the formula back from our chemist.

>> I actually like this one.

>> This one was sweet.

>> This one has a prettier color.

>> I liked the first one.

>> You liked the first one?

>> Yeah.

>> Do you think we need to run some more tests?

>> I think so.

>> I think it'd be better if we just changed the color.

>> Change the color?

>> And possibly the texture.

>> So we're going to write all these notes down, and we're going to take it back to the lab, and we'll come back with another flavor and different texture and color the next run.

>> From growing a business, Food from the Hood has taught me that it will not always work out as planned, and you always have to have a plan B and a plan C and a plan D. >> And now it's time for another Biz Kids Biz Quiz.

Oh, Let me guess the answer.

A plan?

Of course you need a plan.

You need to think about organizing, staffing, keeping employees happy, good commu... >> Hey, bossy.

>> Ah, it's my assistant, Brian.

What's it now, wonder boy?

>> I've been thinking of ways to grow the business.

Yeah, I was thinking you should put in a hot tub-- you know staff communications, increase employee morale.

>> Yes.

And any other big ideas?

>> Well, we could have valet parking and a disco.

I'm telling you, the employees will really love it.

>> Brian, you're my only employee.

Now put a hat on it.

>> I love crochet parties, by the way.

>> I'm Cole.

>> I'm Travis.

>> I'm Ryan.

>> And we're Biz Kids.

>> Krochet Kids is a nonprofit company, and we're teaching women in Uganda, Africa, how to crochet hats as a means of economic development and empowerment.

>> We learned how to crochet in high school, kind of fell in love with crocheting, which is kind of comical.

>> So we initially started crocheting as a get-rich quick scheme.

We thought we could crotchet a bunch of hats and sell them to our friends and other people around our high school.

>> Perfect!

>> What do you guys think?

That all right?

>> I like it.

>> Sweet!

>> That's a seller.

>> Custom colors, whatever you'd like, and we got 50 orders the first day.

>> We even put some in a local board shop and were selling quite a few hats.

>> In the beginning, it was just something that we were having a fun time with.

>> We're even in Crochet Today magazine.

See?

"Crochet Champs."

>> Hats are kind of what we're starting with, but... >> We've also been experimenting with some new products, such as the computer case.

>> iPod cases.

>> Not to mention our new line of slippers.

In terms of growing last year, Travis and Cole and Stewart really spearheaded it and were like, "Hey, we've got a dream.

We can make this happen."

>> This last summer, there was a group of 12 of us that went over to Uganda, Africa, to lay the groundwork for our organization there.

And we trained a group of women there how to crochet.

The women were so great with crochet.

By the first and second days, they were making almost flawless hats.

This is all the yarn that we packed over to Uganda.

One of the women crocheting.

Here is Travis and I training our first group of women.

And the women were incredible at crocheting.

Currently we're in Uganda, and we're employing ten women.

And then those hats that are made in Uganda are shipped back here to the United States.

All our current hat styles that are just coming back from Africa right now are a sherbet hat with the white stripe.

We have an off-white hat with a sherbet stripe.

We have an orange hat.

We have a red hat.

We have a brown and pink beanie and a few black hats, as well.

Through the hat sales, when we make revenue from the hats, that will eventually be put back into programs and continue... being able to continue to pay the wages of the women and to grow.

We have 12 people involved, and they're scattered all across the West Coast.

>> As you can imagine, too, that makes operations difficult, when you don't live in the same towns.

>> Communication has really been a challenge in making sure that everybody is on the same page.

>> And we meet weekly through Skype online.

You know, we're using our computers.

And so rarely are we all together to get to actually talk through things, but it's all through the Internet.

>> Look how good that is.

>> That is good.

>> We have huge dreams.

I mean, we'd love to obviously continue this, put full effort.

We'd love to do it full time.

That's a huge goal.

"Hey, let's do this full time."

Because we really believe, like, if we could fully commit, then we could, you know, really make... ultimately help more people, you know.

That's our ultimate goal, is to impact more and more lives.

>> That's Krochet with a "K".

>> And now another user- submitted video!

>> ♪ My shoes are nice and shined my hair is nice and neat ♪ I've got a product I believe in.

♪ Now it's time to hit the street ♪ I'm knocking door to door but will you let me in Because if you let me in your home then you have just made a friend I listen to my customers and what they have to say ♪ I never rush a sale it's not the natural way ♪ I'm focused on my goals anticipate success ♪ The All Natural Toothbrush will make your breath so fresh ♪ Feel the love of the All Natural Toothbrush ♪ It's all natural which means that there's no chemicals ♪ Feel the love of the All Natural Toothbrush ♪ Yeah, I'm a Biz Kid I sizzle in the wind ♪ I'm a Biz Kid I sizzle in the wind, baby.

♪ >> We've seen a lot of Biz Kids talking about a lot of business.

>> One thing they all had in common: they all really understood the businesses they started.

>> They saw a need.

>> They made a plan.

>> And they took - >> Quiet!

>> Action.

>> Speed!

>> Hey, that was my line.

>> Oh.

Cut.

>> Come on!

>> ♪ If you're going to have a business you've got to have a plan.

♪ Grow your business grow your business ♪ Employees and vacations staff communications ♪ Grow your business.

grow your business.

♪ If you're going to have a business you've got to have a plan ♪ Grow your business grow your business ♪ Training, staffing organizing, selling ♪ Grow your business grow your business ♪ If you're going to have a business you've got to have a plan.

♪ Grow your business grow your business ♪ Grow your business grow your business ♪ Grow your business grow your business ♪ Grow your business grow your business.... ♪ >> Whoa!

>> Now, that's what I call growing a business.

>> All right, so now you've heard some of our stories, and we want to here some of yours.

>> Maybe you or a friend have started your own business or thought of some ideas to help the community.

>> Yeah, we want to hear about those.

So go bizkids.com and share the good news.

>> Who knows?

Maybe you'll end up right here on the show.

>> Well, not exactly right here, but yeah, on the show.

>> How about right here?

>> Mm, no, not really.

>> How about right here?

>> No, not there.

>> How about right here?

>> Production funding and educational outreach for Biz Kids is provided by a coalition of America's credit unions, where people are worth more than money.

A complete list of individual credit union funders is available at wxxi.org.

>> Every day, America's credit unions help members with their financial needs and with programs like Invest in America.

It's only fitting that credit unions support Biz Kids because financial education is what we do.

Learn more at lovemycreditunion.org.

Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org