I am not going to give you a list of crap to sell for your school or pet project, but I am going to give you the gift of instilling confidence in kids. Always support your kids and the kids of others!

At one point we were all kids and had to help “raise” money for our school or sports team. I was one of those ground pounding kids that sold stuff to any and everyone I could find. I didn’t always win the competition because my parents weren’t loaded and buying all of my fundraising wears, but I did always do well and sold to tons of different people.

Parents and administrators have the ability to help kids gain tons of self confidence by building the little block of success. Eventually, those little successes kids have along the way on the path to their adult lives will greatly help them in their ability to sell themselves and their products, services or whatever.

Help them to get off on the right foot by NOT sitting in the car while they go door to door and show them how to properly take charge and convey the value of what they have to offer. After one or two of these little successes they’ll get how things work and be able to sell ketchup Popsicles to ladies in white gloves. That is when you go and sit in the car and wait for them to finish. See how this works now?

Be there for your kid in the beginning and impart the knowledge and confidence they need in order to go out on their own and knock them out of the park. The coolest thing in the world is seeing a kid that still contains the blind confidence in their ability to do and be whatever they want. I love seeing that! It gets me excited about all of the possibilities that kid will have in the years to come, if they keep their ideas alive.

I am very optimistic guy. I can’t help it, but when I see a sad kid trying to sell stuff to raise money for their school and possibly winning an xBox or Wii for their hard work, I want to cry. There is so much better stuff they can be winning like confidence, little successes and bonding with their parent.

The video above is on my new viddler account www.viddler.com/therealjosh as I continue to move in that branding direction and expand it across the net. If you want to watch the video, here is the original post School Fundraising Ideas for Kids and Adults.