Rob Weaver’s son met his business partner in daycare.
Weaver is working to encourage his son — and other children up to age 16 — to be their own bosses with his Kid Boss LLC Initiative.
The program is seeking to provide 100 children across the U.S. with their own LLCs, and in order to fund the program, he’s hosting the Kids Sneaker Ball in March.
"The Kids Sneaker Ball is a celebration of all those kids who are taking it on themselves to become something great as early as possible," Weaver said.
For Weaver, this endeavor is personal. As an entrepreneur himself, he knows how crucial the skills gained can be later in life. He also has been teaching his son those same skills by helping him start his own LLC.
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"For me, it was my opportunity to say, ‘Son, you don't have to wait to be great. We can start something together,’" Weaver said.
That's where the idea for Milk Money brand clothing stemmed from – a collaboration between Weaver, his six-year-old son, Duke, Duke’s best friend, Cristian Quiroga, and Cristian’s father, Jose Quiroga.
While Weaver and Quiroga partnered up to help their children develop the line, they wanted to let their kids drive its direction.
"I think a lot of times, we put children on the pathway too early in life, to say that they're going … (to be) working for someone else, doing what that other person wants them to do," Weaver said.
"We're trying to use entrepreneurialism as the conduit to let kids know there are tons of possibilities that they may not even understand yet. We want to give them the best head start skill-wise, so that no matter what they decide to do, they'll be prepared to do it,” he said.
Weaver doesn't want to drive the children’s projects in the Kids Boss Initiative because he wants the program to support and enable the children to be successful entrepreneurs. In addition to helping kids start the LLCs, the initiative will provide each child with a mentor.
"We're trying to pull those folks out the woodwork and give them the support that they need in order to be successful," Weaver said.
He believes supporting kids at such a young age can have an impact on discipline, responsibility, research and budgeting skills.
"We very much believe in entrepreneurialism as a way to not just earn money, but build certain transferable skills that will be appropriate for any avenue of work," Weaver said. "Being an entrepreneur allows you to build those skills necessary to succeed in all of those arenas."
While Weaver has no hard deadline for the initiative, he plans to get LLCs to all 100 kids by the end of the year. The Kid Boss LLC program is still accepting pitches from children across the country.
As for the Kids Sneaker Ball on March 28, supporters can expect a family-friendly celebration of shoe love that will include a red carpet, a dance floor, live Fortnite play and kid vendor booths, according to the event's website.
Proceeds from the tickets, which are $10 per person with packages available for families, will go towards raising the $40,000 needed for the LLCs.
