Running a Side Hustle with Your Kids

LInfiniteWee on 29/08/2025 - 15:04
Last edited 29/08/2025 - 15:39

Recently I started a lemonade stand with my 12yo daughter who wanted to raise some cash. I had empty kegs (I'm a lazy brewer) and the gear required to chill, carbonate & dispense it, so a $50 investment on FB Marketplace for a yellow gazebo and we were off to the races.

Made a bit of money and re-invested to buy an ice shaver for slushies, some battery gear to run off-grid if needed, and a popcorn machine. It's been great fun and she can't wait to get out there again once the weather warms up.

Aside from obviously making some cash, the goal was to give her something to work towards and feel rewarded for doing so. It's worked really well - we're learning about spreadsheets now.

I feel like this topic suits OzBargainers well. What side hustles have you run with your kids? How was/is your experience?

edit: removed the wanky reference to "entrepreneurial mindset"

Education & Work

Comments

  • BOGOF on 29/08/2025 - 15:24
    +40

    My children are skilled munitions workers. Their fingers polish the inside of shell metal casings. How else am I to polish the inside of a 45 millimeter shell casing?

    • carlJack on 29/08/2025 - 15:39
      +3

      If this factory ever produces a shell that can actually be fired, I'll be very unhappy.

      • Muppet Detector on 29/08/2025 - 18:42
        +1

        Oscar, is that you?

      • ArchangelBlu on 29/08/2025 - 21:05
        +3

        Best quote from the movie - "You need three things in life – a good doctor, a forgiving priest, and a clever accountant."

  • blldzd on 29/08/2025 - 15:29
    +23

    This is exactly why we need to ban LinkedIn. It's hurting so many young families.

    • InfiniteWee on 29/08/2025 - 15:38
      +7

      I probably shouldn't have used the term "entrepreneurial mindset", it's super wanky. Edited

    • p1 ama on 30/08/2025 - 21:30
      +3

      This is exactly why we need to ban LinkedIn. It's hurting so many young families.

      I actually strongly disagree - the reality is that the skills parents pass down to their kids tend to lag behind what's really useful for their kids later on.

      For example, for many kids of my generation, we would have grown up helping our parents with things like fixing cars, home repairs, building / woodworking…etc., which built some exposure and experience in working with our hands which we could then apply to working in a factory or in manufacturing. Unfortunately for many of us, we ended up working in office jobs.

      The reality is that now skills like customer service, Excel spreadsheets (and other things that OP is talking about here) are really important skills for many professions. At the end of the day, part of parenting is helping "prepare your kids for the real world", whether we like it or not, some of these "LinkedIn" things are important.

      FWIW, agree with you that certain posts on LinkedIn are wanky - the whole "I just wanted to share that today, my cousin's dog managed to pass first grade"…etc., but it seems like OP is doing a great job with parenting and if that's influenced by LinkedIn, then so be it. I think it's awesome - the kids are going to have great memories of doing this stuff with their parents.

      • InfiniteWee on 30/08/2025 - 22:22
        +7

        Appreciate that @p1 ama. For the record though, I cannot stand LinkedIn, it's a cesspit of masturbatory corporate self-congratulation.

        • p1 ama on 31/08/2025 - 00:39
          +2

          Yes, I also find LinkedIn annoying, but I also think that to say LinkedIn is "hurting so many young families" is ridiculous.

          • blldzd on 31/08/2025 - 13:19
            +9

            @p1 ama: Mate I was just having a little joke on internet. No need to get all "LinkedIn" on me.

            • Antikythera on 31/08/2025 - 18:17
              +4

              @blldzd: the internet is not a place for humor.

            • p1 ama on 31/08/2025 - 18:44
              -1

              @blldzd: I didn't question your motive, I questioned your statement. Just because it was a joke doesn't make it any less false.

            • kaleidoscope on 31/08/2025 - 19:19
              +2

              @blldzd: I expect a lengthy post about this on that professional gossip site in the nearby future

        • tenpercent on 02/09/2025 - 11:01

          it's a cesspit of masturbatory corporate self-congratulation

          100% this. It promotes egocentrism and brown-nosing.

  • smartialarts on 29/08/2025 - 15:30
    +11

    But what did it teach you about B2B sales?

    • InfiniteWee on 29/08/2025 - 16:15
      +34

      CEO grindset. Wake up at 4am. Scream-chug a coffee. Boiling water shower followed by ice bath. Backflips at 4:14am. Start daytrading. Buy Lambo

      • kaleidoscope on 31/08/2025 - 19:20
        +1

        How do i skip to that last part?

        • avseqcfc on 31/08/2025 - 23:02
          +4

          Marry a 85 year old billionaire

  • stuffandthat on 29/08/2025 - 15:34

    I sell my wifes second hand items on marketplace because she doesn't have any luck. Going to grow some chili plants this year and sell what I don't plant/need.

    • Jay43 on 29/08/2025 - 15:56
      +2

      Chili plants sell well at local markets. Mostly the common varieties like birds eye, cayenne, jalapeno, habanero. Good luck.

    • Clear on 29/08/2025 - 17:31

      Fresh produce is always good. Can make a fortune selling limes, lemons and everything else.

      • 87percent on 29/08/2025 - 17:56
        -1

        “Make a fortune selling limes, lemons”.. that’s a bit of a stretch. Every second house grows them

        • Clear on 29/08/2025 - 18:02
          +1

          And every 3rd house doesn't? Fresh produce goes crazy on marketplace and actual markets. It's not exactly cheap at the big supermarkets either or at least not anymore. So you can set yourself a higher price now.

          I shouldn't have said anything. I can't have everyone getting the idea when I'm making heaps.

          • Morggg on 30/08/2025 - 11:30

            @Clear: The third house acquires them from their neighbour.

      • public-secret on 01/09/2025 - 19:32
        +2

        selling lemons

        I think that's true. Have seen lots of people complaining about spending hundreds of thousands on 'lemons'. Dont believe me? Check this out.

  • mskeggs on 29/08/2025 - 15:53
    +4

    10c bottle returns can get good money.

    • InfiniteWee on 29/08/2025 - 16:14

      That's a good one - easy enough to collect them from from neighbours, school etc

      • serpserpserp on 31/08/2025 - 16:40
        +1

        Just steal from your neighbors bin. Don't worry about cleaning up

        • furyou on 31/08/2025 - 23:50

          and dump all the other recycling into the other bin while looking for the can/bottles.

          • serpserpserp on 01/09/2025 - 11:17

            @furyou: I find they just appreciate me just leaving it on the ground. They prefer to clean it up themselves.

    • onetwothreefour on 29/08/2025 - 16:20
      +23

      also teaches them the more beer you drink the more money you make.

      • altomic on 30/08/2025 - 10:42
        +8

        Win-win.

        Me crying and drunk - “i am doing this for the kids”

        • WhyAmICommenting on 02/09/2025 - 07:16

          The education value in this thread never stops!

    • ihbh on 29/08/2025 - 16:54
      +2

      In reality, this is really hard work. Admittedly, my kids were young (and probably a bit protected by mum), but we tried this last year for a couple of times to show the kids. Anyway, her Dad works at a restaurant and brought the cans and bottles in garbage bags, but they were mixed up with wine bottles and other items that were rejected. Then they pile up out the front until we had a trip past a R&E centre. We take a couple of bags to the R&E centre, if the machines were in working order, and we didn't have to wait too long, made single digit dollars or not much more than that, not taking the cost of petrol, depreciation and opportunity cost into account.

      I'm trying to work on something that requires deeper domain knowledge and requires value add. E.g. the kids when older buy a bulk Lego lot, rebuilt sets and sell. Like a specialist who haunts op shops for the cheap high value antiques or whatever.

      A slower, long term project, is teaching them about the characteristics of high quality business, how to value a business, the time value of money, etc.,…, so they become strong investors at an early age

      In addition, I want my kids to learn about (and do) face to face selling when they get older, deal with rejection, how to provide customer service, building a good rating, etc.

      • mskeggs on 29/08/2025 - 17:59
        +1

        I guess if you are taking fewer than 100 containers, it isn't going to be worth much.
        My late teens take ours and a neighbour's and get $20-$30 for 30mins work, though admittedly only once every couple of months.
        They only take ones marked with the 10c logo so get very few rejects.
        At our place it just means we have a couple of crates and a bin next to the yellow bin, and we toss the 10c containers in there when we take out the recycling.

        $25 buys plenty of junk food, heaps more than when I collected aluminium cans as a kid and would take a big bag of squashed cans and get $3.72.

        • jacross on 30/08/2025 - 09:09
          -1

          Is$20-30 net of costs?

          Is 30 minutes inclusive of the time to collect and transport?

          • mskeggs on 31/08/2025 - 19:18
            +2

            @jacross: The costs are the fuel I would have spent taking them myself.
            The time includes loading the car and depositing each item, and the 5min drive. Probably doesn't cover the drive home and visit to woolies to spend the $25.

            It isn't a business you can chuck your day job in to do. But it shows kids how to see where some money can be earned, that it takes a bit of organising and minor work, and pays much better than other jobs they are able to secure.
            If you wanted $25 a week instead of every 8 weeks you would need to set up a network to collect enough containers. I know a 16yro (well, his Dad) who did this for the streets around his house and made enough to buy his first car. He letter box dropped with a pic of himself and that he was saving for a car and plenty of people were happy to tick one item off their to do list for the benefit of helping a kid who was keen.

          • serpserpserp on 01/09/2025 - 11:20

            @jacross: The alternative is that they sit around and do nothing.

            Not everything we do in life has to have a positive ROI. You must be fun to talk to about solar setups and the like….

            • jacross on 03/09/2025 - 08:52

              @serpserpserp: I just wanted to get a better sense of the calculations and their rigour. I find that stuff interesting. You're reading a negative inference. That's on you.

              But I would suggest everything does need to have a positive ROI. If you include intangible costs and intangible returns. The individual clearly values the 'entrepreneurial lesson' and the 'character building of work'. That all seems very interesting to me. It seems interesting to me you've expressed it in a different way (talking about ROI in purely financial numbers). It also seems interesting you think the kids options are 'recycling cans' or 'nothing'. That seems doubtful to me. I wonder what the can parent thinks of all that. I would think they've pondered it.

              I'm having a great time. I love the recycling can story. You've raised so many new fun questions!

              Now let me tell you about how I have another 3 years before my solar panels payback…not including the joy from nipple twisting I receive when I look at them I suppose.

        • Antikythera on 31/08/2025 - 18:21
          +1

          collected aluminium cans as a kid and would take a big bag of squashed cans and get $3.72.

          as a kid my older cousin showed me how to fill cans with a bit of gravel before crushing them to bump up the weight and the profits.

          • mskeggs on 31/08/2025 - 19:12
            +1

            @Antikythera: Shh. If they catch on we'll be ruined!

            • tenpercent on 02/09/2025 - 11:06

              @mskeggs: They already caught on. Return and Earn don't accept crushed bottles or cans or even bottles missing lids or bottles with a few mL of drink leftover in them. Sometimes the machine just doesn't like the look of a certain bottle, that's identical to the 30 previous bottles you successfully fed it, no matter how you rotate or place it in. You can even try putting in a few others successfully and try again and it'll still reject that one bottle it took a disliking to.

  • JIMB0 on 29/08/2025 - 16:34
    +13

    Expand into hot food. To keep costs low and profits high, setup shop at the local park BBQ.

    • Antikythera on 31/08/2025 - 18:23
      +3

      bosses son, 18 when i was 21 both of us working at his dads pub, had run a hotdog stand since he was about 14 or 15 outside his dads nightclub at 3 in the morning as it was closing every fri / sat night.

    • serpserpserp on 01/09/2025 - 11:21

      Take a little trolley with condiments

  • Stealtho on 29/08/2025 - 16:34
    +6

    Just let them be kids

    • InfiniteWee on 29/08/2025 - 19:23
      +11

      I don't understand this. Selling lemonade is a quintessentially childlike thing to do, but my preteen wanted to crank it up to 11, so I've gone out of my way to make that happen for her

      • IcySpicyStew on 31/08/2025 - 03:49
        +10

        Quintessentially in America

        • InfiniteWee on 31/08/2025 - 13:55
          +2

          We're allowed to borrow good customs from other counties without adopting their culture as a whole.. It's what being a multicultural society is all about

          • IcySpicyStew on 31/08/2025 - 15:12
            -5

            @InfiniteWee: Linking making profit and reward values in early childhood learning will lead to a better society, sure thing….

            • InfiniteWee on 31/08/2025 - 16:09
              +6

              @IcySpicyStew: Do you expect her to buy her first car with good vibes instead? This isn't that deep mate. It's lemonade.

          • smartazz104 on 02/09/2025 - 07:45
            +1

            @InfiniteWee:

            We're allowed to borrow good customs

            Define "good".

      • Muppet Detector on 03/09/2025 - 12:10

        Thought about expanding into fairly floss on sticks and in bags? They're usually a crowd pleaser at market type outlets…

        Right up your alley if expanding empire is on the horizon. Next think add balloon animals and you'll have the whole sector stitched up!

        Don't forget school fete stalls, community centre activities.

        • InfiniteWee on 03/09/2025 - 17:24

          Yeah, either we go down the route of sugary carnival food, or improving the popcorn with various flavourings. Pros and cons with both

          • Muppet Detector on 03/09/2025 - 17:45

            @InfiniteWee: I guess it depends on the 'carnival atmosphere" too.

            I was thinking school or community fetes, Big Day Out kind of gatherings, Schoolies (during the day), Sideshow Alley at EKKA or RSS etc

            Hot dogs on those machines with spikes and rollers…

            Donuts

            Donut Holes

            It sounds so exciting. I just bet your little one is having an amazing fun filled adventure getting into all this.

            Guess it depends where you live and what you have access to…

            Local football games?
            Little kiddy sport teams - sell to parents whilst waiting => especially cricket => that takes like 4 hours in the stinking sun. Ask me how I know that..

          • Muppet Detector on 03/09/2025 - 18:14

            @InfiniteWee: Toffee Apples…

            Get a clown on board and your little one could branch out into kiddie birthday parties.

    • Muppet Detector on 29/08/2025 - 19:39
      +1

      I'll have to take a seat in the sin bin as well.

      • hangs head in pretendy shame *

      Some of the muppet kinder wanted to get their game on quite early as well. I too encouraged them and supported their goals where necessary.

      All of them were required to have a part time job as soon as it was legal for them to be employed (14 y, 3 months).

      They were also expected to do chores at home from an early age as well.

      • Ozbar Gain on 31/08/2025 - 06:00
        +2

        I hope they are okay.

        • Antikythera on 31/08/2025 - 18:25
          -1

          they arent. not from the above stuff. but their mother beats them.

      • serpserpserp on 01/09/2025 - 11:24
        -1

        I too encouraged them and supported their goals where necessary.

        "Encouraged" & "supported" by forcing them to get a job the minute they can work at a fast food/supermarket job.

    • V2L on 02/09/2025 - 06:58

      Just let them be kids

      having fun and learning skills from their parents? do we only get to do that after we turn 18?

      • Stealtho on 02/09/2025 - 07:49

        12 the new 18 is it
        Use your noggin

        • V2L on 02/09/2025 - 08:24

          sorry, I will make sure my 2yo doesn't have fun ever again, not until 12

  • Bruceflix on 29/08/2025 - 16:58
    +23

    Before entering the food and Beveridge industry, teach your daughter about liability insurance. Before one of her drinks makes someone sick and the resulting civil suit costs you your house.

    • JIMB0 on 29/08/2025 - 17:10
      +3

      I take it that they're proper entrepreneurs and are both licensed and bonded by the state.

    • InfiniteWee on 29/08/2025 - 17:22
      +7

      Yeah, we have public liability insurance.

      • AustriaBargain on 29/08/2025 - 18:18
        +1

        How much are you covered for?

        • InfiniteWee on 29/08/2025 - 19:21
          +2

          20mil I think. I consulted the local guv requirements for the license.

    • Clear on 29/08/2025 - 17:32
      +7

      I'd be more worried about the council requirements. Especially if you get into food.

    • Daabido on 30/08/2025 - 11:28
      +7

      She needs to incorporate the business inside a trust. That way, her Barbies will be safe.

      • serpserpserp on 01/09/2025 - 11:25
        +1

        Not if Barbie is a director of the trust

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 29/08/2025 - 18:41
    +6

    When do you introduce them to competitor sabotage and plant undercover agents ?

    • InfiniteWee on 29/08/2025 - 19:25
      +4

      I'm feeling villainous enough taking 10% of the profits back to recoup my investment!

      • Muppet Detector on 29/08/2025 - 19:34
        +1

        Hope that includes competitive interest as well…

  • AustriaBargain on 29/08/2025 - 20:07

    Owning a small business is for most people like trying to start a YouTube channel. Waste of time. But who knows, maybe she'll enjoy making money that way and end up rich. Or embroiled in some IPO scandal one day and have a Netflix drama made about her, that would be cool.

  • SmiTTy on 29/08/2025 - 20:58

    3D printing

    • sw00p on 31/08/2025 - 10:03

      Explain how.

      • SmiTTy on 31/08/2025 - 12:19
        +1

        Friends pay for items they want 3d printed
        For instance have sold a few supermarket trolley keys.

        • sw00p on 31/08/2025 - 16:44

          Interesting. And you were able to pay off the 3D printer in a matter of months, you say? (For when I present my case to the Minster for Finance).

          • SmiTTy on 31/08/2025 - 18:51
            +1

            @sw00p: I have no idea if the printer is paid off. I already had one. Child factors in their own expense for materials and do any required design work themselves, and works out what's an appropriate price to sell the item.

            The point, at least for me, was not to turn a profit. It was for them to have experience in going through the process and thinking about all the things they need in order to create, sell and make money (for themselves, not necessarily for me… As I already use the printer for other things)

            • serpserpserp on 01/09/2025 - 11:26

              @SmiTTy: Did you factor in the endless prototype's they'll print getting it just right?

              Plus you can't recycle 3d printed stuff unfortunately

      • InfiniteWee on 02/09/2025 - 09:16
        +1

        a 3D printer can print many peanuts

  • Gunnar on 29/08/2025 - 22:07
    +9

    With my son: grease recycling
    With my daughter: betting on football

    • Bruceflix on 30/08/2025 - 00:34

      D'oh

    • gamemaster on 31/08/2025 - 21:19
      +3

      Oh, I'll say! Look at that red-headed kid. There must be twenty dollars worth of grease on his forehead alone.

    • serpserpserp on 01/09/2025 - 11:27
      +2

      "grease me up woman!" "Okie dokie".

  • try2bhelpful on 30/08/2025 - 01:00
    +1

    Just wondering about the legalities of selling food? What will happen if a customer gets food poisoning or an allergic reaction?

    • InfiniteWee on 30/08/2025 - 01:08
      +9

      That's what public liability insurance is for - typically mandated by an event or venue you want to run a food stall in. I ended up needing to register a sole trader ABN and there are hoops to jump through as dictated by your state government regulations. Nothing too outrageous - displaying food safety signs, having hand washing facilities, applying for the right licenses.
      In my case we're selling popcorn which doesn't fall into the category of potentially hazardous (as opposed to meat) so there are fewer hurdles to jump through but someone trying to sell some snags in a park will have a tough time doing what we're doing here.

      • try2bhelpful on 30/08/2025 - 09:07
        +1

        Thanks for the update. Not sure why someone negged you so I gave you a plus.

        I think people tend to forget there are legal and health safety things people need to consider when their kid puts up their “lemonade stand”.

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