Two brothers earn while they
learn. By Benjamin and Joseph
Watson
http://www.motherearthnews.com/arc/1248/
Three years ago, when we
were nine (Joseph) and eight
(Benjamin), we met a lady
who sold homemade bread at
local fairs and meetings.
We liked the idea, so we asked
our mom if we could get a
Bosch bread maker and start
our own business: Watson Bread
Brothers.
We made some mistakes at
first—like on the first
batch when we poured all the
water into the bowl of flour
instead of the other way around.
One time we forgot to put
the yeast in the dough. The
bread looked sort of funny
in the oven—it wouldn't
rise! We tried sprinkling
a little bit of yeast on top
of the loaves, but that didn't
work.
We worked out our problems,
though, and now we're doing
swell. We grind our own flour
with a flourmill and make
four to six loaves of honey-sweetened,
whole wheat bread at a time.
We normally sell 16 loaves
of bread a week at $2 each
(we could probably sell them
for $2.50). One time we baked
100 loaves for a school fair
(it took us two weeks) and
made $200 in one day! We deposited
more than $1,000 in our savings
account in our first year
of doing business.
We're also Bosch dealers,
earning commissions from selling
the company's flourmill, bread
maker and other kitchen machines.
We school at home with our
mom, so our bread business
is an important part of our
education. We do our own bookkeeping,
ordering, banking, promotional
planning and tax reporting
as well as our regular school
lessons. And we still find
time to ski, bike, fish, camp
and play touch football.
Having your own business
is fun. You can make a lot
more money than most kids
get in allowances, and it
makes us happy to know people
are getting good nutrition
from eating our 100% whole
wheat bread. We realize most
kids can't afford $500 for
a bread maker and flourmill.
Maybe you could do like we
did—our mom bought the
machines and, in exchange,
we give her at least two loaves
of bread each week. [Editor's
Note: Emily Murphy —
see the sidebar — runs
a home baking business without
either machine.]
After three really great
years, we're convinced: A
home bread business really
is a great way to earn while
you learn.
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