Podcast Introduction
Shawn Yesner 00:02
On this week’s episode of the crushing debt podcast, from allowance to assets. So welcome back to this week’s episode. My name is Sean yesner, owner and founder of yesner law, and I am joined remote today by your financial coach, George Curbelo, how you doing? George?
George Curbelo 00:15
I’m doing well. I have to say my kids are officially, you know, doing things and not bothering me. So school, thank you for that. But I’ve got two seniors. I’ve been saying we got two seniors, one in college and one in high school. So, you know, I’m getting relief for the college burden from one, and then I’m just adding another one. So this is, it’s a good time Happy Friday, brother,
Shawn Yesner 00:39
if only there was a podcast that you could listen to that would talk about how to deal with the financial struggles of having to put two kids through college.
George Curbelo 00:49
I don’t know we’ll find one. Well, this one is pretty good, but, you know, we’ll have to, we’ll have to think about that one. But yeah, how you doing, brother?
Shawn Yesner 00:57
Maybe a stronger Patreon push to help those kids.
Shawn Yesner 01:01
There you go. So, so one thing I realized, in terms of my own household budgeting and whatnot, you know, how happy I am when I get to the end of the week and I use the last of some, the last of the lunch meat, the last of the bread, the last of the, you know, whatever. I didn’t do that at all during the summer. And I guess what it was, it was because I wasn’t used to the summer schedule. And when did I need to pack the boys a lunch? Versus we have lunch, versus if, versus at so I finally today, when I made my boys lunch, and what, you know, packed my lunch and the boys lunch for the day, I use the last of about six different types of groceries, and I was so happy that I wasn’t wasting money again. I’m so glad
George Curbelo 01:47
that school kids are looking at you like, Dad,
Shawn Yesner 01:50
what is this, I guess. What does my life come to when I’m happy that I use the last piece of bread in the in the bag? It’s all good, man. It’s all but, yeah, no. Things are kids are back to school. We’ve started Boy Scouts has started. Soccer has started. My younger son is in a camp where an after school program where he learns computer programming and posting and editing. So I don’t know, maybe we hire my son.
George Curbelo 02:16
We hire him for Yeah, there you go. We’ll see.
Shawn Yesner 02:19
And then he’s also going to go into a robotics after school program. So I’ve got after school events, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
George Curbelo 02:29
I like it. Keep them busy. That’s a good thing. Keep them learning. I love it
Meet Our Guest: Kids Market’s Kelly Gersonde
Shawn Yesner 02:32
so. But speaking of kids, we we have a guest on on this week’s episode, so I want to welcome our guest, Kelly gersondi. She is with kids market. She’s been a business professional for over 15 years. Experience with marketing, business plans, sponsorships and partnerships. Her experience helps to grow kids market exposure and support the kids who can develop and focus on their business. She has a degree in marketing from the University of Wisconsin, and is a mom of a little boy and a fur baby. So welcome Ted.
Kelly Gersonde 03:09
Thank you so much for having me, having me today, George and Sean, I second everything you said with the back to school. I actually did my back to school board and said I’m free from eight until three to get everything done. But then, Sean, to your point, our evenings are packed with my five year old in activities, so I welcome the eight to three freedom during the school year, but it’s all work and laundry and, you know, using making those lunches and doing the grocery
Shawn Yesner 03:36
shopping. So Exactly, yeah, I had to, I have to leave the office by about three o’clock every day to get home, I have to pick up my boys at four. And the last couple of days, I’ve had to work from about five or 530 to seven or eight. And so either take the boys and bring my computer and set up remote, it’s just I had to set my my email to say, if you email me after three o’clock. I’m not gonna be get a be able to get back to you until the next day.
Kelly Gersonde 04:05
Yeah, you and everybody else in car line is probably doing the same thing. Yep.
Shawn Yesner 04:11
So I don’t I don’t have to be in car line. I have to pay a significant amount of money for a private bus to avoid but I’m hoping the the gaining some of that time back will help me make a little bit extra money. There you go. But we were exposed to you and the kids market, but I want you to explain real quick Well, before we get there, it, for those who want more information about it, it’s kids market.us, or you can reach Kelly Kelly, K, E, L, L, y at kids market.us. But real quick, what is kids market, right?
What Is Kids Market?
Kelly Gersonde 04:46
Yeah, absolutely. Kids market is helping young entrepreneurs aged seven to 17 grow their businesses. So we believe that kids have, you know, creative minds and are just, you know. Really good ideas, and we wanted to give them the platform to be able to put those ideas into practice. And so we actually provide real world, hands on experience at markets all throughout the Greater Tampa Bay area. And not only are they selling all of their homemade items, but they’re learning confidence. You know, they’re gaining confidence, public speaking, financial smarts with their money. And just like Hord, work all along, you know, having fun with other kids their age at, you know, these markets alongside adult vendors. So we’re really just helping our young, budding entrepreneurs throughout Tampa launch their businesses.
Shawn Yesner 05:33
And these are, these are actual legitimate. They make money. They have expenses. These are not theoretical or conceptual, these are actual people are giving them dollars for their products and services.
Kelly Gersonde 05:46
And Sean not just giving them dollars, but these kids are selling out. I mean it. We it’s not just the lemonade out of a picture anymore. They are infusing lemonades. They are bottling lemonades. They are rolling their own pastas and packaging them. They are doing their own big cookies with their own artwork on them. They’re doing woodworking, crocheting, jewelry, henna. And these kids, it’s all they’re handmade items. But yes, they are becoming a hot commodity at these farmers markets as well. Some of them are getting a following, and actually, the families that come out with the dogs and the kids are looking for, you know, where’s that rice ball? Where’s the pasta guy? It’s really cool to see.
Where Kids Market Events Take Place
Shawn Yesner 06:25
So, where did he? Where are the events held?
Kelly Gersonde 06:29
Where that great question. So we collaborate with our partner, Tampa Bay markets. Tampa Bay markets hosts, I think, 16 or 18 markets all throughout the Tampa and Pinellas, Hillsborough County, and Pinellas everything from the Hyde Park, outdoor farmers market, Water Street, Midtown. So we are consistently every month at the Carrollwood farmers market. It’s the second Saturday of every month. We’re also at Seminole heights, which is the second Sunday. We’re at Midtown sunshine. We’re out in Kenwood and St Pete, so we’re consistently in about five or six markets throughout the area a month. And we’ve also been invited to join several other pop ups, so we have our first one in land the lakes in September. And then we’ve actually started to get recognition. So the Junior League that hosts the big holiday fair at the fairgrounds, the big, big shopping experience. Before the holidays, we’re going to have an entire kids section there as well. So we’ve got our consistent markets where you can come and find all the young entrepreneurs. But, you know, check our calendar, because we’re always adding more one off opportunities. Wow.
Shawn Yesner 07:35
I know that where I live in in West Chase, they have a market on a regular basis. I also know Safety Harbor has a that’s
Kelly Gersonde 07:45
a big one leave.
George Curbelo 07:47
So I love that one. That one’s pretty cool.
Kelly Gersonde 07:49
Yeah, yeah. If we, if we had more, um, so my business partner, Regina Hord, and I, it’s just us right now. So if we had, you know, more of us, if we could duplicate us, we would love to hit up more of the markets. We have a lot of affinity for the the Wesley Chapel, Zephyr Hills area out to Trinity, the Trinity market over there. So we hope to grow in 2026 as we gain more kids and be able to reach outside. You know of these core markets in Tampa, we want to, we want to expand and offer all of the young entrepreneurs in the surrounding areas, the you know, the same opportunity.
How Many Young Entrepreneurs Can Participate?
Shawn Yesner 08:25
So is there a limit to the number of kids you can have in the program at any one time? No. So not in our program,
Kelly Gersonde 08:32
but at the markets? Yes. So we are right alongside all of the adult vendors. And so there can be space constraints. The beauty of some of the outdoor markets, such as Carrollwood and Seminole heights is it’s just a big open field. Same in St Pete, we’ve got an entire high school, you know, grassy area. We’ve had everything from three kids and actually, we just sold out our Carrollwood market earlier in August. We had nine kid entrepreneurs there. We filled up an entire row right alongside adult vendors. So we’re they can join our community. But yes, there can be some space constraint, constraints at the markets, just due to, you know, how the markets are set up.
Business Skills Kids Learn Through Kids Market
George Curbelo 09:11
So, I mean, as again, kids starting off, right? So you get seven, seven to teenage years, right? So skills is needed as part of this, as an entrepreneur, skills. What are some of the things, you know, what’s some of the skills that you your program offers to these kids to be better at, you know, these businesses, because you’re right, they can. There’s so much opportunity to be able to not only sell a product or sell a service, but being able to kind of, you know, put something, some structure in place. Because, again, you’re thinking money skills. It’s just, I just make it and I spend it. What do you mean? What other skills is there to have? So I want to that. I’d love to understand that, but then I’m going to do a little side too. Is like, what are the parents learning? Because I’d imagine they’re probably learning some things from you guys as well. So little, long question. But again, love to hear what kind of what you know, what? We what are we teaching out there? From the program standpoint,
Kelly Gersonde 10:02
George, one of my most favorite questions to answer, and I geek out on it, because what so what differentiates us from other just kid pop up markets, is that we do require the kids to submit a business plan before they become part of our community. So if you’re one of the older children, you might have had a business course, or did an after school program that you know Hord in on entrepreneur skills and just putting together a business plan. They already have it. They submit it to us. We review it, we approve them. But if you’re younger, 789, and you’re just selling bracelets or banana bread in the lunch room, because you just love to do it. You probably haven’t thought of a business name and the costs that go into it, and how to really, you know, turn this into something bigger. So we have a business course that the kids can take. It’s self guided. We’ve got animations in it, you know, really age appropriate, and it walks them through those exact questions. George, what you know? What do you want to name this? What are the materials you need to actually produce your product? And then when you sell it, what do you need, in regards to a storefront? You need a table to be able to put it on. You need a way to be able to take, you know, payment. And so they go through this course and then submit that to us. That helps us when we are in those markets with those kids, Hord back on to, you know, their business plan, and we can sit here and ask them questions to help develop, right, you know, right at the real market, or did you bring all the supplies that you had in your business plan? Do you have, you know, all the rec, you know, forms of payment that you wanted to take? So it helps us kind of check some balance, you know, in a really healthy, safe way at these markets to develop them in the real, real life. So the best thing I mean, being alongside these kids. You know, their first markets, they’re behind the table. They’re a little shy, some of them, but let me tell you, after four hours at a market, they’re in front of their table. They are literally going after kids in strollers, like, Do you want a rice krispie treat? And of course, then the families are like, Yeah, we’re gonna get a rice krispie treat. But they’re really gaining confidence, public speaking, working on their elevator pitches. I mean, I didn’t know what that was at 10 years old, but now these kids are literally capturing, you know, these shoppers as they walk by all on their own. We do ask the parents, obviously, to stay at the market, because, you know, they’re, you know, young kids, but we ask them to step aside so these kids are under there doing this on their own. Mom and dad might be there from afar watching, and all I see are just in here is just beaming parents. They say, how much the kids you know, enjoyed actually seeing people buy their products and experience with smiles on their face these
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