OFI 995: What You Can Learn About Business From A High School Freshman | FFA SAE Edition | Kenzie Brown | Mound City R-2 High School FFA
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SHOW NOTES
INTRODUCING KENZIE BROWN:
Over the past six years, I have interviewed a lot of incredible guests on this show, and I have talked about a lot of different business concepts. One of the things that I learned when I became an entrepreneur and one of the things I try to convince people of is how you see things differently once you start your first business. 
There is a real keyword in the final sentence of that first paragraph, and that is “start”. So many people get caught in the loop of dreaming, researching, and then back to dreaming when it comes to their first business. They have a vision, but they don’t know how to make it come true. They want to work for themselves, but they don’t know what type of business to start.
Our guest today is a freshman in high school, but she has a lesson for all aspiring entrepreneurs, and that is to start. Kenzie just started high school in September, but she was lucky enough to have a mom who had been an FFA advisor and could tell her some of the things she was going to be doing in high school. So, instead of waiting for when her ag teacher assigned her to develop an SAE, she just started one.
Kenzie saw something on Pinterest that she thought would work as a side business, making dog treats. So, she started researching and then starting making the treats and experimenting with her own dog back in September. By Christmas, she already had a business name, Pepper’s Pup Treats. And, she had orders for 100 dozen dog treats! Now, Kenzie is looking into the future and the next 3.5 years of being an FFA member, and she sees a growing business with an expanding array of products.
This is all happening so fast for Kenzie because she started. She did not sit around and wait for the perfect moment or to be told by her advisor that it was time. She just jumped right in. This has done two things. First, she is up and rolling and her business development is way ahead of most students, even FFA students, at this stage of high school. Second, she has been exposed to a very legitimate way of making a living. She will never again wonder if she can operate her own business. Now, she will see the world through the lens of an entrepreneur. The world looks differently this way because you see business opportunities and ways to serve other people around every corner.
If you have a dream of a different lifestyle or of self-employment, I want you to follow Kenzie’s example. I don’t care if you start the same exact business. It doesn’t have to be anything huge or take a lot of money. Just start creating a product or offering a service and try to make money from the idea. Just like what Kenzie and I both experience, you will start to see opportunities that you did not know were there, and you will find energy reserves that you did not think were possible!
Follow Peppers Pup Treats Here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pepperspuptreats
Instagram: Pepper’s Pup Treats (@pepperspuptreats)
SUPERVISED AGRICULTURAL EXPERIENCE: Pepper’s Pup Treats
MASCOT: Panthers
FFA ADVISOR: Conor Dignan
CONTACT INFORMATION FOR KENZIE BROWN:
Click on the picture below to be taken to the Mound City R-2 High School website:
Kenzie’s FFA Advisors’ Email Addresses: STAFF PAGE
Mound City R-2 High School’s Telephone Number: 660-442-3737
FFA LINKS:
Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE’s)
Donate to FFA – One way that FFA students are able to start small businesses is through an FFA grant of $1,000. In 2014, 141 FFA students received these grants. With your donations, more students can get this head start – pay it forward.
REASONS TO DONATE TO FFA:
- Only 2% of Americans grow and raise most of the food and livestock consumed by the other 98% as well as the rest of the world. FFA is providing the needed education, training, and resources to Americans that will carry that torch forward and ensure that America continues to have inexpensive, quality food.
- Rural Communities will rely on entrepreneurship in the future for population growth and job creation. The FFA is a major catalyst to that entrepreneurial growth.
- Farmers, ranchers, and those working in agriculture give the rest of America incredible amounts of freedom because the search for food is as simple as going to the grocery store:
“The future of American agriculture depends on the involvement and investment in America’s youth, In order to prepare for the population of tomorrow, we need to encourage America’s youth today, and show that careers in agriculture are profitable, rewarding, and vital.”. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue
More Places You Can Listen to Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald:
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