Unlocking Why Kids Are Braver Than Us (And Why That Should Worry You) With Leah Ellis

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Timestamps:
00:00:00 – Cold Start & Intro
00:04:48 – The Porch Pirate Problem (Kids Solve It Better)
00:08:41 – Why Pushing Back Builds Stronger Thinkers
00:10:42 – When Kids Start Believing “I Can’t”
00:13:16 – Why Asking “How?” Changes Everything
00:16:35 – The Tree Story: What Happens When You Don’t Say No
00:28:55 – Confidence Killers & Leadership Lessons
00:29:37 – The “Children Are the Future” Lie
00:30:24 – The Leadership Mistake Adults Make Daily
00:31:12 – What Adults Can Learn About Fearlessness
00:32:48 – Kids, Confidence & Taking Bigger Chances
00:34:37 – Why Teaching Kids Leadership Actually Matters: The Society of Child Entrepreneurs

Leah Ellis (00:02.00)
So, I had a 12-year-old come into my class and she was like, my mom signed me up for this and it’s stupid because children can’t be entrepreneurs, we’re kids. And I was like, holy cow, you’re this jaded and skeptical and you’re only 12?

And that is the opportunity where kids set up their businesses. We open it up to the public and the kids sell real products to real customers, make real money, and then they keep their money.

Skot Waldron (00:28.00)
When I’m not hosting Unlocked, I’m speaking at events all over the world. I’m helping leaders and I’m helping teams communicate better. I’m helping them build trust faster and actually enjoy working together. I’ve spoken for companies like The Home Depot. I’ve spoken at national architectural firms. I’ve spoken for pharmaceutical company offsites. I’ve spoken at associations, you name it.

With 99% of attendees of all those events, over 1800 people have reviewed me at this point. 99% of them saying they got some value. That’s pretty awesome. Even the caterers have thanked me. And if they are thanking me and they’ve heard a lot of talks and they’re busy doing their jobs, that’s saying something. If you’re an event planner looking for a speaker who’s really easy to work with, trust me, I want to be the last thing you’re worried about on event day. I’m going to take care of you. And who actually delivers value for your audience that they are going to use on Monday morning when they return to the office, then let’s talk.

You are all going to be taught today to look at things and to lead like kids, because you know what kids are pretty great. And kids are pretty awesome and kids have something still in them that we as adults have probably lost a little bit of. And those of you that hang around kids, you probably know what I’m talking about.

Leah Ellis is the executive director from The Society of Child Entrepreneurs. And this is a pretty cool organization she’s running. And I’m really proud to have her on the show today. Leah, she’s a mom of four, she’s a writer, she’s a wedding officiant, she’s a Girl Scout volunteer, and founder of The Society of Child Entrepreneurs. Her life blends family, creativity, and leadership, from giggling over business plans at the breakfast table to mentoring kids through hands-on leadership. With her children as her compass, and you’re going to hear about her daughter who is quite the girl.

Leah is reminded daily that growth is messy, love is work, and compassion changes everything. Through SoCE, Nerdy Nuptials ICT, and Girl Scouts, she creates spaces where kids, couples, and communities are empowered to lead with authenticity. She believes in making room for both the mess and the magic of becoming.

There’s some really cool insights that we have about how we can learn specific things from kids and what we need to be taking away from things that we’ve probably lost and not really thought of lately. So, listen up. It’s a humbling episode. Here we go.

Welcome, Leah, to the show. It’s good to see you.

Leah Ellis (03:24.00)
Hi. I am excited to be here.

Skot Waldron (03:27.00)
This is a little bit of a departure from my normal guest list that I have. and when you, like I said earlier in the show, like when I saw your name come across, I had second thoughts, right? I was like, no, you know, I get a lot of inquiries and I’m just like, no, no, yes, no, no. And my first instinct was like, no, it’s not really like child entrepreneurship. Not really my thing, right? But then I thought, ahh wait a second. You teach these kids how to embrace their leadership potential and their entrepreneurship potential and their potential as people. I said, that’s what I try to do on this show. So here you are, Leah, because I want to dive into that.

Leah Ellis (04:19.00)
Yeah, it’s amazing what these kids do and tell me on a regular basis.

Skot Waldron (04:25.00)
I’m sure, I’m sure. Can we, I want to start out with a little story. I want to set this whole thing up with, about what you do at your nonprofit and help people really. Give me an example. We have this porch piracy thing that you brought up earlier and I don’t know the whole, all the details, but I’m very intrigued. I want to hear about this.

Leah Ellis (04:48.00)
So last summer, last spring, sometime in 2025, when the days were all blending together, I did a workshop on problem solving. And I was teaching these kids, like the basics of entrepreneurship is identify a problem, solve the problem, monetize your solution. That’s the basics of being an entrepreneur. And to make things easy for you guys, I’m going to go ahead and give you a problem and you’re going to have an hour to brainstorm a solution to this problem.

And so told them, we’re all tired of porch pirates. I’m tired of having packages stolen. Your moms are tired of having porch pirates steal their stuff. We’re all tired of seeing the videos on next door of, do you recognize this person who stole the package from my porch? Like, fix it girls. What are you going to do? And the room ended up being, because it was very small, one of our first workshops, a seven-year-old, a 10-year-old and a 12-year-old girl. Just the three of them were alone in their room with me. And they were like; this is a dumb problem. Just put a locker on your porch.

And I was like, great idea, except for those delivery people are on really tight timelines and there is no way they’re going to waste their time trying to figure out how to use my stupid locker. They’re going to be like, nope, see you later. Bye. That’s not going to work. Keep going. So, they’re like, well, what if we put extender arms on the locker? So, we put a box on your porch, it extends its arms and the delivery person leaves the box wherever. The package is then lifted and put inside by the robot by itself. I’m like, oh, cool.

So, then the delivery person is going to drop off my package and the porch pirate following him and is going to steal my whole robot. And then they’re going to destroy it and leave it on the side of the road somewhere. It’s going to have a serial number linked to me and I’m going to get fined for dumping. This is still not helping girls. And you will notice that when we’re doing these problem-solving workshops, I am incredibly cynical. I poke as many holes in their plans as I can. I’m like, nope. Everything fails, keep going.

So, they’re like, okay, fine. Well, we’re just going to put two bolts in the bottom of it so that it doesn’t create permanent damage and you can still move it, but it’s too hard for a thief to steal quickly. Okay, fine. You girls have got me there. You’ve got a box with extender arms bolted to my porch, so my packages don’t get stolen. So now I got home from work. My grandma sent me a birthday present. I didn’t know there was a package on the porch. How am I supposed to know that there’s something in there for me to get out? And more importantly, if I do know there’s a package in there, what am I going to do when my hands are full? I’ve got coffee, mail, the kids, like, I don’t need one more thing before I can walk into my house.

And they’re like, no, no, no. It’s going to have facial recognition software. So, when it sees you walk onto your porch, it will open and give you your package. So, you don’t ever have to be checking for if there’s a package or not. It will just give it to you. Oh my gosh, you girls, you’ve solved every problem. It’s been 50 minutes of our hour workshop. This is amazing. You’re so creative. I have one more big concern. I think this is too complicated for you to make. You’re all in elementary school. 12-year-old looks at me dead in the eyes, like I am the dumbest thing she has ever seen in her whole life. And retorts with, I’m in robotics club, I’ll figure it out. Okay, fine, fine.

Skot Waldron (08:17.00)
That’s amazing.

Leah Ellis (08:18.00)
Yeah. The mic drop definitely came from the 12-year-old that day.

Skot Waldron (08:22.00)
You tell me how much you’re pushing back on these kids. And I’m like, oh, no. Like, are you making them cry? I was like, aren’t you being sensitive? Because what we tend to do is, oh, that’s a great idea. And then we move on.

Leah Ellis (08:37.00)
Yep.

Skot Waldron (08:38.00)
So why do you push back so much?

Leah Ellis (08:41.00)
Because I want this to be something sustainable for the kids. If I’m going to sit there and make them come up with a product or make them solve a problem, I want to know that they’ve thought through the hiccups, that they’ve thought through what could go wrong in the market, and they’re ready to actually practice something. We’re not doing our kids any service when we pat them on the head and say how cute they are and then gloss over their ideas. That doesn’t help them learn anything.

Skot Waldron (09:06.00)
So, in doing this with kids, what are the age groups right now that you work with?

Leah Ellis (09:12.00)
So, we work with kids 6 through 17. So, I tell parents if their kids can add and subtract within 20, I can teach them to run a business. Primarily our kids are 8 through 13, because those are the kids who really care about what brand water bottle they have and are too young to go get a job in a fast-food restaurant.

Skot Waldron (09:32.00)
Okay. All right. So, you’re working with these kids, and kids are amazing. You know, I used to I would well I used to I just did it this morning actually my with my sophomore but I’ve been taking them to what we call daddy breakfast every week since they were you know, 2 or 3 years old and we have this time and I would always ask them three questions.

What’s your question about life? What’s your question about love or relationships? And what’s your question about faith or religion or spirituality? And the questions they would ask blew my mind. Like I’ve thought about just making a book about these, the answers to whatever they would say, because it is so surprising.

So, I want to know from you. What’s some of the like most surprising thing? What surprised you the most while you’re doing this? You had no idea what you were probably going to hear out of these children and experience out of this whole effort you’re making. What has surprised you the most?

Leah Ellis (10:42.00)
I think what surprised me is how young kids start believing they can’t do things. So, I had a 12-year-old come into my class and she was like, my mom signed me up for this and it’s stupid because children can’t be entrepreneurs, we’re kids. And I was like, holy cow, you’re this jaded and skeptical and you’re only 12? Geez, kid. Thankfully I changed her mind within like an hour and a half and now she’s launching a really cool business that’s a cell phone accessory company and it’s really cute. But it started with like no. I can’t do this. at 12.

I talk sometimes about what we do to our kids. And it’s cultural and it’s not intentional and it’s just kind of happened. But I’m sure you’ve been this kid because you’re a leader in it. We’ve all been this kid where you’re sitting in a room full of people and there’s some kind of problem and you know how to solve it. You’re like, I got this. And then the grownups tell you, “Shhh, let the grownups take care of this, don’t interrupt. You know go do kid stuff. This is not a child’s conversation.” And then you get sent away. And then you just learned, my opinion doesn’t matter, I’m not smart enough. And then they do it again and again and again and again in tiny moments throughout your entire childhood.

Then you reach adulthood and you don’t speak up. You don’t go outside of your comfort zone. You don’t believe in your own ideas. And then society looks at you and says, this generation is so apathetic, they just don’t care about anything. And you’re like, but you told me I wasn’t supposed to.

Skot Waldron (12:19.00)
Yeah, I was thinking about the same thing. You told me, like we teach them to sit and watch, and we don’t integrate them as much into the process because it takes patience, because we don’t necessarily trust the output yet, because we don’t want ourselves to look bad in front of others. So, we go ahead and take care of it. I’m talking about with our children, but it sounds exactly like I’m talking about the way that leaders treat their employees and their teammates.

Leah Ellis (12:56.00)
Because that’s what it is. I mean, parents are the leaders of the home, right? And in the most cliched form, teachers are the leaders in the school. We are the community as the leaders of what we want our next generation to look like. And so, we are leading them. And right now, we’re terrible leaders. We are doing an awful job, leading our children into becoming the types of leaders we want them to be. And I have one trick that you can practice at home with your kids and at it work with your subordinates.

And this is when they come to you with a hair-brained idea or an off-the-wall thought, and you’re like, I don’t see that working, instead of saying no, ask them how. Because then they immediately have to go into the problem solving and building the system to do what they wanted to do. And that one word can change how you lead any group of people.

Skot Waldron (13:52.00)
I love that. I often will tell people that, you know, my wife, for example, is one of those idea generators. And my brain, I like ideas, I like generating ideas too. But I’m the one who has to play the, I don’t know, the cold water pours sometimes in our family. So, I am the one who sits there and processes, well, does that mean how many more jobs do I have to get to make sure that we can accommodate that thing you want to buy? And wait a second, you want to do this, but we haven’t finished this yet.

And so, I start scrambling and start like poo pooing all the ideas, right? And then she feels one day she said to me, and this was years ago before I’ve become much more mature, Leah, and how I communicate with my wife, but she said, “I just feel like I don’t want to share anything with you anymore. Cause it’s just like, just talk about why we can’t do the thing.” And I just felt horrible. Because she is a dreamer. She is a natural like idea person. And I am crushing them all.

So, I’ve learned to say things like, “oh that’s an interesting idea. Tell me more about that.” So, the tell me more about that. How do you think we can make that happen with all the other stuff we have going on right now? Like bring out the idea. Because I think it’s okay for people to have ideas. But I also think it’s okay for them to also understand the reality and the practicality of their ideas. Like you’re pushing these young girls of like, hey, well, that’s not practical. I don’t understand. Because some people would be like, oh, that’s a great idea. We’ll just put a box on the porch. And you’re going, well, hold on a second. You need to think about this a little bit different. What about this problem?

Leah Ellis (15:46.00)
What about the implementation of the idea? Because having an idea is one thing, implementing the idea is another, and then selling the idea is a third. And you have to be able to communicate how to do all three steps. And by asking the kids how, you get them fleshing through. And then it works on wives and it works on kids. If they decide not to do that, you’re not the bad guy who told them they couldn’t do that. You’re the partner who helped them flesh it out to determine that now wasn’t the time.

Skot Waldron (16:15.00)
Tell me another thing that we need to learn from kids. As adult leaders, what do you think that kids do really well that we just kind of suck at?

Leah Ellis (16:31.00)
Well, they’re really good at taking chances. I mean, this is one of my favorite stories. It’s very funny to me because I’m the one who had to deal with all the chaos that it brought on. But we are in a Girl Scout troop, and they were planting a tree at the park on Earth Day. And I was like; that’s a huge celebration. Like we’re celebrating Earth Day with people around the world. We’re planting this tree. This is a big deal. And my daughter at 8 years old was in the back of the car and she’s like, “you know, mom, I really don’t think we’re celebrating our tree enough. Can you call the Chamber of Commerce and ask them to do a ribbon cutting?”

Skot Waldron (17:05.00)
Hold on. How does she even know what the Chamber of Commerce is? I didn’t learn that until I was like 40.

Leah Ellis (17:12.00)
Like two weeks before that, I had taken her to the ribbon cutting for a new tattoo shop. So, she had just seen them do their ribbon cutting. And so, she was familiar with it. And so, she was like, “I want to do a ribbon cutting for our tree.” And I was quite skeptical. It’s like this doesn’t sound like something feasible, but I didn’t want to damper her ideas. So, I told her I will call the Chamber of Commerce and see what they say. That way I could kind of pass the buck on being the bad guy to the Chamber of Commerce.

I called the Chamber of Commerce, and they were like, we love that idea, but also we want to bring golden shovels and do a ceremonial groundbreaking. And I’m like, okay, I’ll tell my daughter that this is what she’s getting. She’ll be thrilled. So, I told her the Chamber said yes and they want to do the groundbreaking. And she was like, you should call the newspaper, and I want to read a book. Like, okay, we’ll go find a children’s picture book on planting trees. I mean like surely this will be easy enough.

We go to the library; we check out every single book they have on planting trees. None of them are good enough for her. She doesn’t like any of them. Some of them are too long, some of them are too short. Some of them don’t really understand the emotion behind this importance of this big tree we’re planting. So, I wrote a poem for her to read. But then she was mad that there was nothing for people to look at while she was reading the poem. So, I hired an illustrator to illustrate my poem.

So by the time we get to Earth Day, instead of 10 little girls plopping a tree in the ground and going home, which is what the original plan was, we have the local newspaper, the Chamber of Commerce, City Council, the CEO of Girl Scouts, Kansas Heartland, a ribbon cutting, a poetry reading, a ceremonial groundbreaking and custom art made the front page of the newspaper because my daughter was like, how big can we go?

And everybody was like, well, what can we do? How can we support this idea? And ended up being, it’s absolutely a core memory for every single one of those girls. They’re going to be able to go when they’re adults and take their kids to this tree and be like, I planted this and here’s the story of the day I planted it. And it all started with Melody saying, what if we called the Chamber of Commerce and me through my skepticism, saying what happens if we follow the next step rather than saying, I don’t know, that seems like a lot of work. No.

Skot Waldron (19:38.00)
That’s incredible. I love that so much.

Leah Ellis (19:41.00)
It was so cute.

Skot Waldron (19:43.00)
I mean, sometimes kids just don’t know what they don’t know. You know, and that innocence is the thing that I think that we have, you know, let’s seep into our world and it’s not let, I mean it’s just what life is you gain more experience, you understand how things work a little bit more. And the limitations that come with that and the belief of what’s possible.

Kids just don’t know. And so, they just say, whatever sky’s the limit, we’re going to go after it. And why not? Who says. There’s a phrase who says we can’t that whole phrase of like, that limiting belief of like, hey, we’re going to go for it. Go for it, mom. Call them, you know, and you’re like, okay, you know. But I applaud you too. And I want to applaud the leaders out there that do the same thing for their people that take an idea that maybe makes them uncomfortable, that maybe in their experience they know is probably not going to work just because that’s not how the world works or business works or whatever. But you know what? Embracing the who says we can attitude is pretty awesome.

Leah Ellis (20:55.00)
Well, and then you end up with amazing things that you never in a million years thought could happen. I mean, we’re working on changing legislation in Kansas now. And my 7-year-old, we’re pretty sure that she is the youngest person to have ever testified in front of the House Committee on Taxation. And she read her testimony to the representatives on why they should change the law.

Skot Waldron (21:18.00)
So, what law? What are you working on? That’s a big deal for y’all right now. What is it?

Leah Ellis (21:24.00)
So, there is some states have what they call a lemonade stand law. And it is essentially a removal of restrictions for kids who want to have small businesses like lemonade stands. And Kansas does not have a lemonade stand law. So, if a child wants to run a lemonade stand or formally make money mowing grass or sell their products, they can only do it two times per year. And once they hit the third time, they have to remit sales tax. They have to apply for all the local licenses and permits. They have to establish themselves as a legal business, potentially 7 years old.

Skot Waldron (22:07.00)
First of all, who even knows about this? Like my kid was going to go sell some stuff on the curb. I’m just going to put them up and sell some stuff on the curb. How do you even know about this?

Leah Ellis (22:17.00)
Part of us founding our nonprofit was me doing research on what the laws were so that I could make sure that I wasn’t teaching kids to break the laws. And then I found out that I was teaching kids to break the laws because we do four to eight children’s business fairs a year and our kids can only do two of them. Do you know how hard it is to practice a new skill if you’re only allowed to practice it two times a year? You can’t learn anything in two times a year.

So, we wrote a draft of a law that removed the restriction for the kids to be allowed to sell multiple times per year with an income cap. And the current draft is that kids can earn up to $10,000 per year doing seasonal or intermittent businesses as long as it’s completely minor owned. And then once they hit that $10,000 mark, then they have to pay for all the licenses, permits, and remit sales tax. Because at that point, they’re making good money, they can follow grown up rules.

The big thing that we’re looking at right now is they’re probably going to change that $10,000 limit to something lower. My original draft was $6,000. So, I don’t know, it’s going to end up probably somewhere around $5,000 to $8,000 that the kids are going to be allowed to earn without having to register as a real business. But that is still a ton of opportunity for the kids to be able to do these six to eight children’s business fairs a year without having to register as a small business and they don’t have to remit or collect sales tax at this point either, which is going to be a massive convenience for these kids. They won’t be, no cities will be allowed to require special permits or licenses for kids to have lemonade stands or pop-up shops or anything like that.

So, it gives the kids the opportunity to really practice being leaders and really practice being entrepreneurs. And then part of what we teach the kids is once you’ve built your business and you start making money, you have a social and community obligation to then use that to better your community and become a leader in your community. So, what are you going to do? We teach, are you familiar with Kansas Leadership Center?

Skot Waldron (24:23.00)
No.

Leah Ellis (24:24.00)
So, KLC wrote a book called “When Everyone Leads”, and it’s adaptive leadership. It says that leadership is a behavior, not a title. Anybody is a leader if they want to be. It is an action that you take. It is not a title that you hold. And so, we teach adaptive leadership to all of our kids. So, we tell every one of them that the minute you stand up and say, “I want to solve that problem,” you are the leader solving that problem. What is the team you need to go do it?

Skot Waldron (24:50.00)
That again is something very important for all the adults listening to hear. Because I will often hear, I’m not a leader. This isn’t for me. Right? I’ll get up and talk about leadership. And they’re like, I’m not in a leadership role. And I’m going, hmm, you lead yourself, right?

And the way you behave throughout your life is a form of leadership and people will look at that and take cues from that about who you are and what you do and how you do those things. That is so critical. And I love that you’re teaching that to these kids so that when they start going into the “real world”, they already are in the real-world selling things. But when they get jobs and maybe starting their own companies and doing things as “adults”, that they already have that mentality, that they already have this ability to think that way. And I think that’s really powerful for them.

Leah Ellis (25:55.00)
Yeah, it’s so much fun to be able to sit with the kids and say, like what is a problem that you’ve noticed and what can you do to solve it? My daughter, again, I spend a lot of time with her, so I talk about her a lot. She walked into my office the other day and told me she needed to go to city council. She didn’t say hello. She didn’t say like how was work, literally greeted me with I need to go to city council. We talked for a few minutes and discovered that she was mad that there’s not a crosswalk between where she wants to cross the street and where she crosses the street is the most sensible place to cross the street and there really should be a crosswalk there.

She was like, I’m just going to go to city council and tell them to put a crosswalk there. So, she did her three minutes of citizens comments, and she read her letter on why they needed to put a crosswalk at the intersection that she wants to crosswalk on. And now then they invited her to a main street meeting and discovered the crosswalk is going to be $20,000. It’s crazy, $20,000, because they have to rebuild a section of the sidewalk and extend it out. It’s a big project. But they’re putting it in the 2027 city budget because she brought it forward.

Skot Waldron (27:08.00)
Again, I am extremely impressed that she said we need to put in a crosswalk. And she knew that she had to go to city council to present that idea. Like, I would be like, we need a crosswalk here. Who do I call? I guess I’ll ask ChatGPT because I don’t know, you know, and your kid, I mean, the community and the knowledge of local government that you are instilling in your children is insane and very cool.

Leah Ellis (27:42.00)
It’s really cool because they kind of know like if I have a problem with the city, I go to city council. If I have a problem with the state, I go to the House of Representatives. If I have a problem at school, I go to my principal. If I have a problem at home, I go to mom. Like who is the main person who’s the decision maker in that space? I’m going to talk directly to the decision maker.

Skot Waldron (28:02.00)
So cool.

Leah Ellis (28:03.00)
And they have no fear. They’re willing to just go do it. And I think that’s the biggest thing that I want people to learn about child leadership. Our kids are already amazing leaders. I truly hate the phrase, our children are the future, because it’s a scapegoat not to give them any power now. So, our children are the present. And if we start asking them more questions, you will be amazed at the leadership information you can learn from them.

Skot Waldron (28:30.00)
So cool. Thank you for spinning that for me. I think that’s really cool. That’s a cool way to think about it. Let’s go through some, what I call slow lightning round questions because I like to talk about the questions. So, they’re not super lightning, lightning round, but I want to know from you that what is the biggest you think confidence killer in kids?

Leah Ellis (29:00.00)
People saying no. Every time we tell them no and every time we tell them to be quiet. Because then we’re telling them, we’re not going to listen to you. And every time we tell them no, we’re not going to listen to you, they learn that they’re not worthy of being listened to.

Skot Waldron (29:16.00)
That I mean, I could ask you, are you talking about kids or are you talking about adults? It is the same thing. And as leaders, what are we teaching them about our culture and who we are?

How about this one? How about, well, this might go with that, but I’m going to push you a little bit. What’s a phrase that we should stop using with kids?

Leah Ellis (29:40.00)
So, I kind of already said it, that children are the future thing. Don’t tell me children are the future because I want to know what are you doing to help kids now? Yes, they’re the students of leadership now. They are the leaders of tomorrow because they’re learning it today. So don’t tell me about them being the future.

And then I think the biggest one is shutting them down in any way and not asking questions. Anytime you have a conversation where you’re just providing tons of statements you’re teaching them, you’re not curious about who they are.

Skot Waldron (30:14.00)
How about something that kids understand that you think leaders as adults miss?

Leah Ellis (30:25.00)
You don’t know until you ask. Because I mean, like a kid, if they have an idea, they’re going to ask about it. Like, I want to ask, I’m going to ask, will you buy this? Will you show me this? Will you teach me this? Think about how many times your kids beg for a toy in a store. But once we reach adulthood, we’re afraid to ask because we’re afraid to be told no. So, we don’t ask for promotions. We don’t ask for the sale. We don’t close when it’s time to close because we’re afraid to be told no.

Kids, no fear of the word no, they just keep going and move on to the next thing because eventually they’re going to get a yes.

Skot Waldron (30:57.00)
I heard this yesterday. I was at an event and there were a group of women leaders, mostly C-suite, I believe that they were all, there were a couple of you know, VPs and things like that in there too. But one of the women spoke up and somebody asked her, what was one thing that you’ve learned as a woman leader growing up in this environment? And she said, that’s different or that you have learned from like watching men in leadership roles that you’ve taken on as a woman.

And she said that I’ve learned that I need to ask for things because I saw the men just asking for it and getting it. And I always felt like I couldn’t ask for it. I always felt like I needed to build a case or I needed to make sure I knew like 95% of the information or I needed to make sure I earned it through my actions and etc. But it’s like, I’ve learned to just ask because that was something that was really important and she’s started to learn that it works.

Leah Ellis (32:00.00)
Yeah, and it’s the same with kids. Kids, they are not afraid to ask. And that’s the other thing. And like when you’re in sales, you can’t be afraid to ask. You have to. You’re not going to know anything if you don’t ask.

Skot Waldron (32:13.00)
What’s a better leadership trait, curiosity or confidence?

Leah Ellis (32:18.00)
Curiosity. A thousand times over. Curiosity, ask questions because then the people know that they’re safe for you to lead them. Because confidence is, I already know I have the answers, I know I can walk into this space, I know I’m the leader. Curiosity is, I know we’re a team, how can we do this together?

Skot Waldron (32:36.00)
So good. I knew I was going to have you on the show, Leah. So, all right. If adults led more like kids, they would do what?

Leah Ellis (32:48.00)
Ask more questions and take more chances. They would ask, I mean, think about a 4-year-old. My daughter started her business at 4 years old. And the reason she started her business is because she got really good at asking why. Like ask, ask why, ask how, ask who is responsible for it. Because I think that’s one thing is kids always know who’s doing what in a group because they lay it out.

And as adults, we sidestep things and we’re like, well, it’s not really in my box. So, whose box does it fit in? And kids are like; I want to do that project. So, I’m going to do that one. And this part you’re going to do and being able to build a team by communicating instead of expecting everybody to read your facial features and the way you lean sideways to know that you disapprove of that idea.

Skot Waldron (33:43.00)
Mmm, you sound a little jaded, Leah.

Leah Ellis (33:46.00)
Sometimes I don’t teach a lot of adults because a lot of times when I work with adults, I feel like they come into it with their eyes very much like my way is my way and I’ve built this system. And I like teaching kids because they are curious and they’re excited to learn. And I think if we want adults to be better leaders, we have to get back to being curious and exciting to learn.

Skot Waldron (34:07.00)
Amen. That’s really good. All right. Tell me a little bit about the organization. Tell me what you’re trying to do right now. You have these fairs that you’re doing. You have an online community you’ve launched. You are growing up in this nonprofit space. There’s a lot of potential and a lot of growth ahead of you. You have new board members coming on board. You have all kinds of things, exciting things happening.

Tell me more about the organization. If people want to get involved or support you somehow, what do they do?

Leah Ellis (34:43.00)
So, it is officially called The Society of Child Entrepreneurs. And because of that, we have both a board of directors and a junior board of directors. So, we actually have kids who come on board. They come and tell us what they do and don’t want us to see in our organization what their non-negotiables are. And time and time again, one of the non-negotiables is our children’s business fairs. And that is the opportunity where kids set up their businesses. We open it up to the public and the kids sell real products to real customers, make real money, and then they keep their money. I don’t take a percentage, I don’t charge them a bunch of extra fees, they pay $15 for their booth and then everything else they make is theirs.

And so the children’s business fares are the opportunity for the kids to really practice that The Society of Child Entrepreneurs is teaching them financial literacy, leadership and entrepreneurship, because they have to be able to be a leader in their booth, talk to the other people who might be working in their booth, they have to be able to talk to their community, they have to be able to give a pitch. They have to sell their product. They have to know how they’re pricing their product. And really, I’m teaching them how to be business owners. They’re just doing it without the pressure of can I pay my mortgage this month?

So, our online community is called the SoCE Circle. And at the SoCE Circle, you can get weekly challenges that I publish every Monday on skills that you can teach your kids at home to develop their financial literacy, leadership, and entrepreneurship skills.

So recently, one of our leadership challenges was on ownership. And it was like, if you really want your kid to learn how to be a leader in the house, give them ownership of a task completely. Do not check in on them. Do not assist them. Do not remind them. Give them complete ownership and see what happens. And then help them get better at it.

So, there’s these weekly challenges. And then if people are like, I love this and I want to be a part of it, you can download our curriculum online and teach it in small groups wherever you live, and you can donate to our organization through one of the links on our website so that I can keep writing curriculum and I can keep teaching.

Skot Waldron (36:48.00)
Can you give me, leave us with one last kind of inspirational story that helps you realize that you’re doing the right thing. Cause I know that sometimes you probably doubt. You go, “gosh, am I doing this? Oh man, is my husband going to be annoyed that I’m putting more charges on our credit card?” It is like, you know, there’s doubts that seep into your mind when you’re launching this thing. Yes, it’s for the children, but you got to you know practicalities and making sure that it’s sustainable for you. And that it’s worth the energy and effort you put into it.

What’s the story of a kid that is doing the thing and you’re like, that’s why I do what I do.

Leah Ellis (37:30.00)
So, we have this girl named Brooklyn and Brooklyn makes custom beaded pins. So, you know like the silicone beads that people put on pins. They’re super cute and very personalizable. And at her first children’s business fair, she did not want her dad to go very far. She wanted him to be talking to the customers. She didn’t really feel that she should be a business owner. She just wanted to make her craft and have dad handle the sales.

At her second business fair, our local, like exotic pet place saw her booth and was like, could you make some of these and consign them to us and have them in our gift shop? And then she had to have a discussion with this legitimate business owner about consigning in their business so that she could sell her product permanently. And now a year and a half later, she’s a member of our junior board of directors. She joined our pitch contest. She pretty much tells her dad he doesn’t need to be in the building with her while she’s selling anymore. And she’s completely confident running her business. And the difference between her at 10 and her at 11 and a half is night and day. And it’s because she’s had a platform, an opportunity and other kids who are learning it with her. And it’s amazing to see.

Skot Waldron (38:49.00)
And what do you think that’s going to do for her as she grows into adulthood?

Leah Ellis (38:55.00)
I think this is another one of those things where I’m very jaded. We know that statistically seventh and eighth grader are incredibly hard on girls. And there’s just so many things that happen in those years. And I think she’s setting herself up now so that when she gets to that seventh and eighth grade point, she’s going to be emotionally prepared. She’s going to have already built in that self-esteem so that when she reaches adulthood, she’s not battling imposter syndrome because she’s already proven to herself that she can do it at 10.

Skot Waldron (39:25.00)
Well done. Leah, this is awesome. I love that you were on the show. It makes me want to bring more people like you on this show.

Leah Ellis (39:33.00)
Thank you.

Skot Waldron (39:36.00)
Because sometimes we adults are so boring. But when we get the opportunity to hear about the kids and what they’re doing, it can be pretty inspiring. And that, I mean, I’m kind of jealous that you get to be around that all the time. That’s super cool.

Leah Ellis (39:51.00)
I really, so I was in education and then I was in entrepreneurship and then the two of them blended together into now this nonprofit teaching entrepreneurship. And I tell people, one, I absolutely found my life purpose. This is absolutely what I was meant to be doing. And I’ve never been happier than I am when I’m doing this. But two, I work with the coolest kids and they all like me and it is the best thing ever.

And so, I do think anybody who has the opportunity, if they want to work with me, if they want to run a program similar to mine, it is hands down the best job ever.

Skot Waldron (40:25.00)
Very cool. Well, thanks for being on the show. Thanks for doing what you do because the kids are the present, right? And as we embrace that idea, we invest in them and pour into them and learn from them. That’s I think, a really important takeaway for me is how much we have to learn from them, not thinking that we have all the answers and they should just sit, be quiet and learn from us because heaven knows we’re a mess, you know at times and we’ve been jaded and we’ve been, you know, twisted and turned and told what we should know and not know and they’re pretty clean slate, you know, for the most part. They have their experiences and their traumas and all kinds of things in life, but I think we have a lot to learn. So, thanks for doing what you do.

Leah Ellis (41:17.00)
Thanks for taking a chance and letting me come on here even though it was outside of your norm.

Skot Waldron (41:25.00)
Our children are not the future, despite what the song tells us. Okay.

Now, I get the idea that yes, they’re going to one day become adults. They’re going to one day be running our country and running businesses and running communities and societies and our families and whatever. But the children are the present and what we do with them now will shape who they become and who they are and how they think about themselves. And what are we teaching them now that is going to impact that?

This not no, but how concept is really powerful. Just take that away from this whole thing, y’all. That one thing. Take that away. Be more curious. Not no, but how. How do you see that happening? How do you see that playing out? How do you think we can make that work? Etc. etc. I think that we cause them to think critically, and I think thinking is something that we have outsourced. And as AI becomes more prevalent in our culture and society, we are going to outsource our thinking even more to AI. And there’s some danger there. I get it. But we also need to understand where that thinking is going to come from in the future.

If we teach our kids to think now, they will be more empowered to think later. And that is going to do us all a lot of good. So, I really appreciate Leah. I appreciate the work she’s doing and all those kid entrepreneurs out there, crush it. I hope you break through whatever that $5,000, $6,000, $10,000 limit is. I hope you crush that super soon and start paying taxes because not because I want your taxes, but because that means you’ve accomplished something and you’ve hit that milestone that, you know, all of us, I think, desire to hit one day. So, congratulations. Keep fighting out there.

If you want to find out more information about me or check out the show notes where there’s going to be more information and links to the things referenced in this episode, visit skotwaldron.com. And lastly, I’m asking for a little bit of love, just a little bit. So please take a moment, follow, rate the show. The algorithm is like that; it helps me get the word out. I really appreciate it.

Thank you. And until next time, stay Unlocked.