Welcome to Session 4! Let's play a game!
Active Icebreaker!
“Never Have I”: Set up a circle of chairs. The student standing in the middle of the circle calls out “Never have I ____________”. Anyone in the chairs who agrees (who has never______) will get up and try to find an empty chair. The student who was in the middle will find an empty chair. The one without a chair would go stand in the middle and the game starts again. Play for 5-7 minutes.
Session 4:
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This is just an introduction. You won't start building your new store until Session 9!
Class Activity: Open/CREATE an account at www.Canva.com Students will need to access the Canva design web program (www.canva.com). The basic account is FREE. The free version is usable but I recommend using EDU or PRO version if possible. IF this is a LIVE CLASS….An instructor may be able to create a FREE EDU/PRO account. Instructor Account (https://www.canva.com/education/). Once the Instructor/teacher account is created, instructors can invite students (Using their personal email accounts) to use Canva Pro/EDU. NOTE: STUDENTS who do not have their own email addresses can log into our Canva CLASS with our email account: Preteenlab@gmail.com Password: eteen1234. |
Note: If any of these ideas really interest you, subscribe at www.eteenlab.com to learn more! You can try out these other business models after you learn all about Print-On-Demand.
SESSION-End Worksheet (if printed) or as CLASS ACTIVITY to review together
VIDEO NOTES AND TRANSCRIPTION
Print-On-Demand
Note: During this session, you will learn about POD and about other ways people make money using the internet. We are all still in learning mode. We won’t be creating your print-on-demand business just yet.
Print-on-Demand is a retail fulfillment method for printing products only after the customer buys them. All you need to do is create a design and then upload the design to a website called REDBUBBLE. We love print-on-demand because it’s fun and free. Your parents will need to create an account (with you) so you can get paid! It’s really easy!
The first objective is to create a design (it’s easier than you think!) and upload it to an online selling platform. Then, when customers buy your products such as t-shirts, sweaters, phone cases, mugs, yoga pants, socks, hats, water bottles, canvas prints, stickers, tote bags, aprons, face masks, bath mats, show curtains, and many other goods in the eCommerce shop, the order goes directly to the print provider (REDBUBBLE). The print provider charges the customer, fulfills the order, and ships it directly to your customer. The print-on-demand provider then pays YOU a commission from the purchase. Commissions can range between 15% and 30%. If you sell a T-shirt for $20 online, how much of a commission would you make at 30%?
Many print-on-demand providers exist (i.e. Merch By Amazon, TeeSpring, Printify, and Printful), but we really like using Redbubble (www.redbubble.com). The greatest benefit of using Redbubble is that it’s not just a design site. People visit Redbubble to make purchases, and this is important because it generates free organic traffic for you!
You can create designs for t-shirts and other merchandise on other sites like Printify, and TeeSpring, and the commissions/profits will be much higher, however, you won’t get any traffic organically. I would highly suggest starting your Print-On-Demand Business on Redbubble and then eventually transitioning over to one (or more) of the other platforms after you start gaining a following on your (or your parents) social media accounts!
To gain traffic to your store, it’s important to use SEO strategies (Search Engine Optimization). SEO includes using very specific keywords that describe your designs and products. . Let’s say you create a cool dog design for a T-shirt. If your niche is German Shepherds, you should definitely include that in the title and description. You have much better success.
Be specific! For instance, if I created a Yorkie design with New York City as a part of the design, I may title it New Yorkie City and also include that in the description. Now, when someone searches on the internet “New Yorkie City” my product may pop up as a top result. Do you see how that works? Don’t forget to share your new Redbubble store and products on your website/blog and social media accounts. You should also share your product links with everyone you know!
How do you create designs? You may say, “I’m not a graphic designer!” Many very successful shirt designs are surprisingly just.. “text”. Canva (free digital design software) offers many awesome fonts and element/photo designs that can be utilized to create fantastic designs. If you subscribe to the paid version, it will open up many more design options. If you’re creating many designs, I would suggest opting for the PRO version. Experiment and have fun!
Class Activity: Just Open an account at www.Canva.com NOTE: Students will need to access the Canva design web program (www.canva.com) The basic account is FREE. The free Version is ok but I recommend using EDU PRO version if possible. IF this is a LIVE CLASS….An instructor may be able to create a FREE EDU/PRO account. Instructor Account (https://www.canva.com/education/). Once the account is created, instructors can invite students to use this account. Don’t open a REDBUBBLE ACCOUNT YET! Once the Instructor/teacher account is created, instructors can invite students (Using their personal email accounts) to use Canva Pro/EDU. NOTE: STUDENTS who do not have their own email addresses can log into our Canva CLASS with our email account: Preteenlab@gmail.com Password: eteen1234. |
Intro To Digital Marketing
Stick with a niche, create content, and use digital marketing strategies to grow your business and your income. What does digital marketing mean? In simple terms, it just means that you will be sharing your products or ideas on the internet. For our purposes, our students (or the parents/guardians if the student is under 13 years old) will mainly be utilizing social media (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Youtube, TikTok, others), email, and using keyword strategies across all platforms to sent online traffic into their eCommerce store.
Exploring 4 Other Popular Business Models
This is just a brief introduction to a few other super popular online business models. We thought you’d like to know about them!
Local/offline business (neighborhood service based -marketed online)
Online instructional business (online lessons, skill-based content)
Affiliate Marketing (recommending products/services)
Ecommerce (selling your products on your website)
1. Local-Offline Business
The first business model is a Local-Offline Business where teens can venture into the community/neighborhoods and provide a service, in-person and for a fee. Can you think of some examples? Here are a few: dog walking, lawn care, tutoring, babysitting, sports training, music lessons, snow shoveling, fitness support, selling water bottles, errand running, or whatever else you can provide.
2. Online Instructional-Tutorial Business
The second business model is an Online Instructional-Tutorial Business offering tutoring, lessons, or workshops all online. You can facilitate your lessons/tutorials/ workshops virtually by pre-recording them (and posting on Youtube/Vimeo/etc.) or running live sessions on sites like Zoom or platforms like Google Meet. An income would be generated from paying customers.
3. Affiliate Marketing
The third and possibly the simplest concept to get started is something called Affiliate Marketing. Affiliate marketing is an advertising model in which a company pays you to find customers to click on their links. And then you get paid a commission. For example, Amazon offers an affiliate program. If you recommend an Amazon product to your friend, and then your friend buys it, you get paid a small amount of money. That program is called Amazon Associates.
Young entrepreneurs simply refer customers to someone else’s product and then get paid a commission. Your job/objective is to figure out how to create a way to market those affiliate links.
Here are some recommendations for starting an affiliate marketing business:
Build a blog/website as your “sales page”(collect customer emails as often as possible),
Create Facebook page/group, Instagram, Youtube, TikTok, Pinterest, etc. (or whatever social media platform you prefer to use).
Create/POST often… lots of great content (photos/videos/articles)
4. Ecommerce Store
The fourth business model is an eCommerce store, where young entrepreneurs can create and earn money selling things that revolve around their passion/interests. Whether they sell hand-made creations, clothing, or drop shipping products from manufacturers, this can be a very successful business model.
There are many free ways to start online businesses.…selling products or services. Most can be started for a fraction of what it would cost to open up a physical business (like a local florist, computer repair shop, clothing boutique, convenience store, etc.). The E-Teen Lab encourages users to start by using a free web-building program like WIX and then at some point use a program called SHOPIFY. Shopify caters to entrepreneurs who specifically want to sell stuff online.
If any of these ideas really interest you, subscribe at www.eteenlab.com to learn more! You can try out these other business models after you learn all about Print-On-Demand.
SESSION End QUIZ (if printed) or a CLASS ACTIVITY to review together