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Book Details:
Book Title: KidVenture: Twelve Weeks to Midnight Blue by Steve Searfoss
Category: Middle Grade Fiction (ages 8 - 12)
Genre: Fiction (Business Adventure Story)
Publisher: Self-Published/KDP, 125 pages
Release date: January 2020
Content Rating: G - I am a parent and pay close to attention to the media my children consume.
I set out to write a book series that was clean and family friendly.
KidVenture teaches the value of hard work, the importance of saving money,
how essential it is to keep your word, and the need to find cooperative
solutions with partners in order to be successful at business. This is a
book that entertains but also educates and inspires.
Book Description:
Chance Sterling launches a pool cleaning business over the summer.
Join Chance as he looks for new customers, discovers how much to charge
them, takes on a business partner, recruits an employee, deals with
difficult clients, and figures out how to make a profit. He has twelve weeks
to reach his goal. Will he make it? Only if he takes some chances.
KidVenture
stories are business adventures where kids figure out how to market their
company, understand risk, and negotiate. Each chapter ends with a challenge,
including business decisions, ethical dilemmas and interpersonal conflict
for young readers to wrestle with. As the story progresses, the characters
track revenue, costs, profit margin, and other key metrics which are
explained in simple, fun ways that tie into the story.
Buy the Book:
Amazon
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Guest Post
KidVenture books are interactive stories for
middle grade readers who want to learn how to start a business. Kids learn
practical business math, economics, marketing, negotiation, problem solving,
and resilience through characters they care about.
Twelve Weeks To Midnight Blue is about Chance and Addie, a brother and sister, who start a pool
cleaning company in their neighborhood over the summer. After landing their
first client, they are struggling to attract more
business. No one seems to be responding to their advertising.
Chance goes to his dad for advice, who tells him he needs to do some customer research. The way to attract new clients is to
understand what your existing clients like about your service. In the excerpt
below, Chance goes to talk to his first client, whom he has nicknamed Sir
Larry, to try to better understand why he chose his
pool cleaning service.
***
I got to Larry’s a few minutes early
so I could pick his brain. We had a routine now, I would get to his house five
minutes early and he would give me any special instructions as he was walking
out the door to work.
“Can
I ask you a question, Sir Larry?” He was cool with the nickname now. It was
easier than always trying to remember not to call him sir.
“Sure
thing.”
“Why
did you pick me to clean your pool?”
“I
told you the first day we met. You remind me of my son.”
“Hmm,
I’m not sure that helps.”
“What
do you mean?”
“Well,
I created some flyers to try to get new customers. But it doesn’t seem to be
working so well.”
“What
does the flyer say?”
“It
says clean pools, peace of mind, low price of $20.” I sang my jingle.
“None
of those reasons are why I hired you.”
“They’re not?” I was surprised
to hear him say that.
“No.”
“Why
not?”
“They
sound like any other pool cleaning company, right? There’s nothing special
about them.”
“What?”
I
must have looked shocked, because right away he said, “Don’t get offended, I
mean they’re perfectly good selling points. So good, in fact, that you have successfully
made yourself sound like a real pool cleaning company.”
“But
we are a real pool cleaning company.”
“I
know you are.” Sir Larry smiled. “But you’re not your typical pool cleaning
company. At least not one run by adults.”
“What’s
different?”
“If
I call ABC pool cleaning company, first I have to talk to a receptionist and
schedule a time when someone can come out here. And usually it’s a big four
hour window so I’m not sure exactly when someone is going to show up, so I have
to waste half a day waiting for them. And whoever shows up on one day, may not
be the same person who shows up the following week. And they probably don’t
care about my pool as much as you do. And they’re certainly not as friendly.
And I guarantee you none of them call me Sir Larry.”
We
both started chuckling at that.
“So
you see, I really did hire you because you remind me of my son. You’re a
hard-working boy, and I want to support you. You show up when you say you will,
and you take pride in what you do.”
“I
think I’m starting to understand now.”
“Don’t
make yourself sound like a big professional pool cleaning company, because then
you’re competing with all the other big professional pool cleaning companies.
We’re deep into summer, I doubt anyone is looking to switch pool companies
right now. But there may be more people like me, willing to give a kid
like you a chance.”
“Wow,
that makes sense. Thank you Sir Larry!”
Meet the Author:
I wrote my first KidVenture book after years of making up stories to teach
my kids about business and economics. Whenever they'd ask how something
works or why things were a certain way, I would say, "Let's pretend you have
a business that sells..." and off we'd go. What would start as a simple
hypothetical to explain a concept would become an adventure spanning several
days as my kids would come back with new questions which would spawn more
plot twists. Rather than give them quick answers, I tried to create
cliffhangers to get them to really think through an idea and make the
experience as interactive as possible.
I try to bring that same
spirit of fun, curiosity and challenge to each KidVenture book. That’s why
every chapter ends with a dilemma and a set of questions. KidVenture books
are fun for kids to read alone, and even more fun to read together and
discuss. There are plenty of books where kids learn about being doctors and
astronauts and firefighters. There are hardly any where they learn what it’s
like to run small business. KidVenture is different. The companies the kids
start are modest and simple, but the themes are serious and important.
I’m
an entrepreneur who has started a half dozen or so businesses and have had
my share of failures. My dad was an entrepreneur and as a kid I used to love
asking him about his business and learning the ins and outs of what to do
and not do. Mistakes make the best stories — and the best lessons. I wanted
to write a business book that was realistic, where you get to see the
characters stumble and wander and reset, the way entrepreneurs do in real
life. Unlike most books and movies where business is portrayed as easy,
where all you need is one good idea and the desire to be successful, the
characters in KidVenture find that every day brings new problems to
solve.
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KIDVENTURE: TWELVE WEEKS TO MIDNIGHT BLUE Book Tour Giveaway
My grandson would enjoy this book
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteLovely new book, neat business theme. Quite the adventure!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the guest post, Steve and Twelve Weeks to Midnight Blue is a great book for kids! Thanks for sharing it with me and have a fantastic day!
ReplyDeleteThe kids will love this! I appreciate the share!
ReplyDelete