Useful resources for teen entrepreneurs
When I first started baking, not everything I made was good or even edible as a kid. Starting a baking business as a teenager not only allowed me to showcase my talent but also served as a platform to learn entrepreneurial skills and develop essential life skills such as budgeting, marketing, time management, customer service and decision making skills. Taking a Cornell summer Social psychology class and Emerging into adolescence class has been a transformative experience that significantly contributed to the growth and success of my baking business. The psychology class taught me effective communication techniques, which I have applied to improve customer interactions and build stronger relationships. Through the course, I gained valuable insights into human behavior, motivations, and decision-making processes. One of the many important things I learned was about popularity and unique liking as well as agentic and communal behavior. Popularity is being liked by a large group of people, whereas unique liking is when you are liked by one other person in a dyadic or pair relationship. Agentic behavior is characterized by dominance, whereas communal behavior is characterized by warmth. When dealing with customers it is essential for them to like you so they become a returning customer, so everyone should be as communal as they can if they want to be liked, and stay away from showing a high level of agentic behavior if they want to have returning customers.
Applying this knowledge to my business, I have been able to better understand my customers’ preferences and tailor my product offerings to meet their specific needs. I also took an Integrated Marketing Communications class at UCLA. We analyzed how big companies advertise themselves to gain brand awareness. How consumers view the products is essential for any business. One thing I never knew was the importance of packaging. Prior to knowing the importance of packaging, I would put them in little cellophane bags and attach a thank you note to them. Since then I have now upgraded to better packaging that is more pleasing to the consumer’s eye. Packaging plays a crucial role in influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions. It serves as the first point of contact between a product and the consumer, creating a lasting impression. Appealing and well-designed packaging can convey a sense of quality, authenticity, and trustworthiness. It has to look enticing and taste delicious if you want any hope to have that customer return.
Online platforms like entrepreneurship blogs, podcasts, and YouTube channels offer insights from successful business owners, providing valuable advice and inspiration. Here I have collected a few websites, videos, and blogs that have personally helped me create my own business and guided me through some struggles I had during the process.
When I first started baking, not everything I made was good or even edible as a kid. Starting a baking business as a teenager not only allowed me to showcase my talent but also served as a platform to learn entrepreneurial skills and develop essential life skills such as budgeting, marketing, time management, customer service and decision making skills. Taking a Cornell summer Social psychology class and Emerging into adolescence class has been a transformative experience that significantly contributed to the growth and success of my baking business. The psychology class taught me effective communication techniques, which I have applied to improve customer interactions and build stronger relationships. Through the course, I gained valuable insights into human behavior, motivations, and decision-making processes. One of the many important things I learned was about popularity and unique liking as well as agentic and communal behavior. Popularity is being liked by a large group of people, whereas unique liking is when you are liked by one other person in a dyadic or pair relationship. Agentic behavior is characterized by dominance, whereas communal behavior is characterized by warmth. When dealing with customers it is essential for them to like you so they become a returning customer, so everyone should be as communal as they can if they want to be liked, and stay away from showing a high level of agentic behavior if they want to have returning customers.
Applying this knowledge to my business, I have been able to better understand my customers’ preferences and tailor my product offerings to meet their specific needs. I also took an Integrated Marketing Communications class at UCLA. We analyzed how big companies advertise themselves to gain brand awareness. How consumers view the products is essential for any business. One thing I never knew was the importance of packaging. Prior to knowing the importance of packaging, I would put them in little cellophane bags and attach a thank you note to them. Since then I have now upgraded to better packaging that is more pleasing to the consumer’s eye. Packaging plays a crucial role in influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions. It serves as the first point of contact between a product and the consumer, creating a lasting impression. Appealing and well-designed packaging can convey a sense of quality, authenticity, and trustworthiness. It has to look enticing and taste delicious if you want any hope to have that customer return.
Online platforms like entrepreneurship blogs, podcasts, and YouTube channels offer insights from successful business owners, providing valuable advice and inspiration. Here I have collected a few websites, videos, and blogs that have personally helped me create my own business and guided me through some struggles I had during the process.