Biz Kid$ Season 1, Episode 14: How to Be a Smart Consumer

What Is a Biz Kid?

You’ll learn that anybody can be a Biz Kid with effort and the right attitude. Biz Kids identify a need, make a plan, and take action. Join us and you’ll meet a skateboard designer, a rap music producer, a boy who started a rock-a-thon to raise money for hospital rocking chairs, and more. You’ll also discover the entrepreneur who built a wildly successful garden products business on..…..worm poop. All successful.

26 min

What Is Money?

The Biz Kids say: ―Show me the money! Join us and you’ll take a grand tour through the history of money from the days of bartering, through the first coins and currency, all the way to the electronic transfers of today. Watch as the Biz Kids put on cowboy boots and get a crash course in the art of negotiation and exchange at a high-energy cattle auction in Colorado.

How Do You Get Money?

Join us and you’ll explore many ways to make money. Follow a Biz Kid on a job hunt—reviewing help wanted ads, filling out the application, and going through the interview. Hear from Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, as he talks about his first job. The Biz Kid$ also look at the many ways kids get and use allowances. Meet a young person whose love of animals turned into a profitable dog-walking business.

What Can You Do with Money?

Decisions, decisions! Join the Biz Kid$ and you’ll ponder the merits of spending, saving, sharing and investing money. You'll also learn how to create a financial diary and track spending. Meet a champion chess player who teaches kids how to build computers, and visit the New York Stock Exchange. Learn about an ambitious teen who opened a candy store at age 15 and, in the process revived an ailing business district in her small town.

Money Moves

When money moves between individuals or groups it is called a transaction. Join the Biz Kids and you’ll follow a single dollar bill as it moves from a depositor’s hand across the counter, down to the vault, over to the Federal Reserve, and finally out to a project the bank is financing. Visit the branch of a real credit union inside a high school where the students are the tellers. Watch the ebb and flow of money as the kids examine the concepts of supply and demand. Meet a young man who began collecting books to read to his grandmother and soon found himself as the head of a national book business.

Taking Charge of Your Financial Future

Join the Biz Kid$ as they set financial goals, and then make a plan to get there. Learn about opportunity costs and how achieving your goals requires a little sacrifice. Follow along as a Biz Kid sets up his first savings account. Meet an entrepreneur who turned jewelry into a dirt bike, and another who turned goat's milk into profitable soap.

A Biz: What Is It?

You’ll see that a successful business supplies goods or services and makes profit when it earns more money than it spends. Meet the junior high school boy who makes healthy dog biscuits, the high school twins with a cake decorating company, and the college student who made thousands from selling DVDs on eBay.

How to Succeed in Biz-Ness by Really Trying!

A business can be anything from babysitting to owning vending machines. You’ll discover the three key steps to success: identifying a need, making a plan to fill a need, and taking action. Join us as we meet the prep school boy whose new take on the old school tie caused a sensation. We also meet the young founder of Logan magazine, who overcame personal tragedy.

Cash and Credit

What's the difference between cash and credit? The Biz Kid$ explain the pros and cons to using your own money versus someone else's. Meet a young entrepreneur who used credit to start a bath salts business, and 15-year-old pro bass fisherman who launched his business with a loan Grandpa.

How to Achieve Your Financial Goals

Join us and you’ll learn how to track your expenses, get control of your spending, and invest what’s left over to reach your financial goals. You’ll see the importance of starting young, while time is on your side. Meet three Girl Scouts who sold soap to reach their financial goals, and Biz Kid who made clients out of furry friends.

Don’t Blow Your Dough

Biz Kids Beware. Protect the money you already have by putting it in a safe place. Beware of scams and schemers. You’ll discover ways to avoid the growing problem of identity theft. Meet with a state Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau. You’ll also hear the stories of young people who did blow their dough, and learn what that experience taught them.

Introducing Entrepreneurs

You’ll discover an entrepreneur is someone who sees a financial opportunity and acts upon it. Learn about qualities that make an entrepreneur successful. Meet a teen who turned his passion for music into a thriving business, and a kid who makes baseball bats out of bamboo. See how a simple lemonade stand was used to raise thousands for new playground equipment.

The Biz Kid$ Challenge

The Biz Kid$ learn the world of marketing through the ―Project Lemonade Challenge.‖ Two teams, two identical lemonade stands. It’s up to the kids to decide the price and promotion strategy to sell the most product. The proceeds go to their favorite charities. You’ll see the preparation and the results when they are critiqued by marketing guru Scott Bedbury, the force behind Nike’s slogan "Just do it."

Using Your Credit - Crazy or Compelling?

Don’t live on borrowed time. Join the Biz Kids and you’ll see the true cost of purchasing with credit. You’ll also have an unsettling look at credit scores and the increasing number of people and places (employers, insurers, colleges, etc.) who are using these scores to make major decisions that could affect your future. Meet entrepreneurs who have successfully navigated credit pitfalls.

Budgeting Basics

The Biz Kid$ learn the first rule of money management: you can’t manage what you don’t know. Join the kids and you’ll look at spending and expenses and examine several proven methods on how to gain control of both. Meet a demolition car racer who budgets for each crash, and a hip hop music producer who uses budgeting skills to keep his projects on track.

Understanding Business Ethics

Do the right thing! You’ll learn with the Biz Kid$ as they examine several aspects of ethics in business. You’ll also see the downside of not following ethical business practices. In this episode you will discover what it means for management to lead by example, and how employees must take responsibility for their behavior. Meet a former computer hacker who turned his life around.

Saving and Investing for Your Future

You’ll learn along with the Biz Kid$ about the power of starting a savings plan early in life. You’ll also discover various savings and investing options available to young people. See what a pro rodeo rider, a 12 year old inventor, and the most successful teen podcaster, all have in common. (HINT: they save $$$)

A Closer Look at Careers

When is a job more than a job? The Biz Kid$ look at what it takes to find your true calling. You’ll learn ways to start exploring careers. The kids talk to Nike's top shoe designer, and The Reptile Man to find out how they got their start and how they keep achieving their dreams. From firefighters to a glass blowing intern....you’ll see the range of possibilities is endless.

The Global Economy

Go around the world with the Biz Kid$! Join us and you’ll follow the flow of imports and exports that make up the interconnected world economy. You’ll also see how several entrepreneurs have relied on the global economy to build a successful business. Meet the filmmakers for the movie 'Outsourced' and find out what it was like to bridge the distance between India and America.

Bulls, Bears, and Financial Markets

Kids and bulls and bears, oh my! The Biz Kid$ examine stocks, bonds, commodities, and the markets where they are traded. You'll discover various ways young people can get involved with the transactions, aim for profit, and avoid risk. Meet a 12-year-old investing guru who teaches adults about the stock market, and a young woman who's already investing in her retirement.

Sell, Sell, Sell (The Science of Sales)

All sales final! Join the Biz Kid$ in sales training as they explore effective sales techniques. Discover the traits common to all good salespeople. You’ll meet several entrepreneurs who demonstrate superior sales skills, including a kid who sells cockroaches, and an entrepreneurs who's called the Gorilla Garage Salesman.

Understanding Income and Expenses

Go with the cash flow. The Biz Kid$ watch the ebb and flow of income and expenses. Join them and you’ll learn proven methods for getting expenses under control while growing income with new ideas, smarter work habits, and innovation. Meet a successful beekeeper, a clockmaker, and a teen who started her own cooking camp for kids -- all who have their income and expenses under control.

Building and Growing a Business

From start-up on up! Follow the Biz Kid$ as they learn the necessary steps for building and growing a new business. You learn how having the basics in place can make all the difference. Meet celebrity sneaker designers Angela and Vanessa Simmons, and a salad dressing company started in an inner-city high school, and learn what they do to grow their business.

Understanding Your Paycheck

What’s on your stub, bub? The Biz Kid$ use a modern American pay stub to explain all the deductions on your paycheck. From social security to workman’s compensation to the 401(k) plans of today—it’s all there on the stub. Meet a First Nations teen, a professional model, and an auto detailer who all explain what's on their paychecks.

Social Entrepreneurs

Join the Biz Kid$ and you’ll meet social visionaries who use business skills to make changes in their communities. Their focus is on people instead of profits. Meet a 12-year old who's helping orphans in Rwanda, a teen who's donated 40,000 teddybears to kids in need, and learn how $125,000 was raised in one night by high school students for Room To Read.