The Story of How I Taught My Son the ABCs of Business and He Started a Business at School

To start with a disclaimer, I am a business novice.

Since graduating, I have worked in government agencies. I have lived in a world far removed from business.

A while ago, I talked to my children (aged 7 and 5) about business.

The reason I brought it up was that my children seemed to think that they could get anything they wanted indefinitely as long as Mom and Dad said it was okay. That bothered me.

In America, we shop almost entirely cashless, so children rarely have the opportunity to see money changing hands. At supermarkets and restaurants, you just swipe a card and that's it, and if you click on Amazon, items arrive at your door.

I wanted them to realize that goods and services come with a price and that money runs out when you spend it.

And so, when it came to how to make money, I talked about what business is. I used the piano school I currently run as an example.

The children listened to my beginner's business lecture with a 'hmm'.

I don't know how much of it resonated with them. Regardless, the idea of trying to think about what makes people happy might have stuck with them. After that, my son created a service where he would brew coffee for me and my husband in the morning, and he earned a few dollars.

One day, while things were going like this, my son came home from school and started talking with his eyes sparkling.

“I’m making lots of weapons at school.”

Don't worry. They are weapons made of paper.

My son has been working hard on making weapons for months now.

It started with origami. My son got hooked on origami, and every day after coming home from school, he would do origami with me. As someone who was looked up to by my son as an origami master, I even bestowed upon him the title of 'Origami Master' to praise his enthusiasm and improvement.

He quickly grew dissatisfied with children's books like 'Fun Origami.' So, for my son, I searched for more complex origami instructions on YouTube. He would make characters from Pokémon, which he liked at the time, by combining multiple sheets of origami paper, or recreate a kitchen by making miniatures of kitchenware and food.

While looking for videos, I found a ninja weapon series. It was about making shuriken and daggers out of origami. My son, who showed interest in this, kept making them on his own. It seems he liked that it was a double treat: not only the process of making them, but also being able to play with the finished weapons.

After going through the ninja phase, he moved on to samurai swords. By that time, he had gone beyond origami and entered the realm of crafts. Origami was too small to play with the finished swords.

Long swords, short swords, slightly curved swords. Swords were mass-produced in our home every day. At first, he made them out of copy paper, but gradually he combined them with stiffer drawing paper and craft sticks to increase their strength and shift to more practical ones.

Furthermore, they expanded to weapons from all times and places. Relying on an encyclopedia of world weapons borrowed from the library, he expanded his ideas and increased his repertoire to include Chinese martial arts nunchucks, Viking axes, and ancient Roman swords and helmets.

Even though he is my own child, his level of immersion is quite something. He wakes up early in the morning and works silently by himself. When the weekend comes, he begs me to go buy materials for his crafts. As the saying goes, 'what one likes, one will do well,' and my son's skills have improved rapidly, and he has now become a little craftsman.

Anyway, back to the story, my son started making weapons at school.

"When I made a sword, there were a few kids who wanted one, so I made them for them. Then, after seeing that, even more people came asking for one."

Wow, that's amazing. You're starting a trend, aren't you? "It's hard to make them alone, so I made Michael my assistant. And Logan is in charge of taking orders."

To my surprise, my son had hired an assistant and a salesperson and started a small company. Although it seems he hasn't gone as far as receiving money or goods in exchange, my son seems to be providing 'new value' to his classmates. This is, by all means, a proper business.

That's my boy. He keeps making things he thinks are cool, which resonates with others, and he's involving people to make and spread them even more. He's causing a whirlwind. That's really great.

The sword business continued to increase its customer base, and orders started coming in from other classes as well. My son, Michael, and Logan used their teamwork to keep up with the orders. However, every business, no matter how smooth it looks, will eventually face difficulties.

One day, a complaint came from within the class: "Those guys are using too much paper." It seems they were using the copy paper provided as classroom supplies, and my son and his friends were using it to make swords at an incredible pace.

In response to this, the teacher took action. A limit was placed on the amount of paper that could be used for sword-making. My son's company faced a material procurement crisis.

Furthermore, another blow was dealt. It seems there was a scene where a sword tip hit someone's face while the children were playing with the swords my son's team had made. Since they were made of paper, they were soft and didn't cause any injuries, but because it was dangerous if it hit an eye, sword play was banned.

Legal regulations considering safety. This happens in real business, too, doesn't it?

My son told me the outcome of the situation with a gloomy expression, disappointed that his business, which had finally been on the right track, had been shut down. Well, it couldn't be helped. I thought that if I were in the teacher's position, I would have had to do the same.

However, there is more to this story. A few days later, as soon as he got home from school, my son said this with excitement.

"Since I can't make swords anymore, I decided to make helmets."

My son hadn't given up. If swords were a no-go, he started making helmets and shields instead.

Ancient Greek helmets, Japanese samurai helmets—he could do it all. It was within his repertoire. Since the level of craftsmanship was quite high, it seems they were favorably accepted by existing customers as new products.

By the way, regarding the paper for materials, he said he decided to use old paper that was going to be recycled by asking the teacher. Perhaps the teacher suggested it, but the problem of material procurement had been solved.

Even now, my son's skills, which he continues to hone alone on YouTube, are second to none. As a hidden patron, I am fully backing my son's business.

This is because I believe my son is learning essential skills that he can use for the rest of his life through hands-on experience.

To me, my son looks like nothing but the next Steve Jobs.

Thank you for reading this far.
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