Welcome to our Bear Cub Spotlight, introducing kidpreneurs that rock in business!
Business Ideas for kidpreneurs.
Today we spotlight:
Arianna Fox, Kidpreneur
Arianna Fox: Author, Motivational Speaker, Actress, Voice Overs and Kidpreneur. You wear many hats as a kidpreneur, do you have a favorite and why?
Wow, that certainly is a hard question, haha! I love all the things I do and find it very hard to pick a favorite. However, if I had to pick, I’d probably say the “author” hat. I love writing and always have – it’s always been my passion. 🙂
How do you juggle wearing so many kidpreneur hats while going to school and being a kid?
As I’m homeschooled, I do have a lot more flexibility than usual, but a balance is still required to do all the things I need to do. One of the biggest and most important things I do to maintain a healthy balance of work, school, and play is to have a planned schedule and a to-do list of priorities. Whether you like lists or not, priorities are so important if you want to get any kind of job done.
You Rock, Dream Big & You got this; what does that mean to you?
Wow, what an excellent question! My parents and I came up with the mantra “You Rock, Dream Big, and You Got This!” years ago when we were trying to think of something that would inspire others. I love that mantra because it means so many things in one small sentence. First: “You Rock.” That means that even though you may not feel like it, you are an awesome person. Then: “Dream Big.” This part is so important because no matter how awesome a person you are, life is just sad without dreams. But when you start to think and dream big, so many opportunities open up. And finally: “You Got This!” As self-explanatory as that may seem, it means a lot to me personally as it means that whatever you set your mind to, you can achieve.
You also hold the title of Jr. Marketing Director under your families company Splash Designworks, LLC, can you talk a bit about what your job duties entail?
As both a Jr. Marketing Director and a Social Samurai and Splash Designworks, I do many things. My family started Splash Designworks (a graphic design and social media marketing and management company) a long time ago, and ever since I was six years old, I would go to chamber mixers with my parents and give other professional businesspeople our spiel, thus earning me the title of “Jr. Marketing Director”. A few years later when we branched out into doing social media management and digital marketing, I instantly wanted to help with social media for us and our clients, and my parents let me help with posts, articles, etc., earning me the title of “Social Samurai”. Hi-ya!
As a teacher of social media management, what are three tips you would give for other kidpreneurs starting a new page?
1. Be consistent. If you post three times in one week and then completely neglect posting the next week, it won’t get you a lot of engagement or recognition. But if you constantly and consistently post things every such-and-such time (e.g. “GIF Friday!” or “Motivation Monday!”, etc.), then you will get a lot more engagement.
2. Be engaging. If you do get comments (even something simple like “Nice!” or “Cool post!”), then it’s very good to interact and engage with those commenters, even if it’s a simple “Thank you!”.
3. Be visual. The brain processes images 60,000 times faster than it does text, so a simple text post on Facebook saying, “Hey, what’s up?” just won’t cut it. Fun, vibrant colors on a well-sized image (horizontal/landscape for Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn; square for Instagram) will definitely help others to check out your post and profile further rather than just scrolling through the timeline.
Did you always want to do voice overs or was this introduced under the Actress umbrella?
For the most part, doing voice overs wasn’t introduced under the acting umbrella; I just loved doing voice overs in general ever since I was young. Ever since I saw my daddy (an amazing and professional voiceover artist) doing incredible voices in front of a microphone when I was who knows how young, I always knew I wanted to follow in those footsteps and do voiceover acting as well.
What was your big break that landed your foot in the industry door?
As for speaking, I would probably say the amazing DigiGirlz event (two years in a row!) that my daddy was able to book for me. It was sponsored by Microsoft, DELL, DelTech, and the Department of Education. For the first year, I was a keynote speaker and the video spokesperson for the whole event, and on the second year, I reprised my role as the video spokesperson and also was able to be a panel facilitator and even interview the president of DelTech (Dr. Mark Brainard) and the governor of Delaware (John Carney). 😀
Related article: Five Skills my Son taught me that apply to Blogging
How do you train for a role?
It really depends on the role. If it’s a role as an actress for a movie, I’d be working on memorization techniques and delivery with my parents. If it’s a role as a keynote speaker for an event, I’d be working on the same thing but also working on the content myself (e.g. inspirational stories, fun activities, etc.). If it’s a voiceover role, there are plenty of things I do to make sure my voice is ready for the microphone, like avoiding certain dairy or acidic foods, drinking lots of water and even some herbal, non-caffeinated tea as well.
Describe a day in life like for you?
That’s such a hard question because my days are so different from each other! Unlike most teens’ routines, my schedule is constantly shifting and changing to fit other things in here and there. But nonetheless, a normal day in my life might be something like this: I wake up in the morning and get a snack, then check emails and make social media posts, then have lunch, then do what my parents and I call “Xtreme”, which is basically intensified P.E. (Physical Education) to get all the extra energy out, and then start homeschool and my normal curriculum. Oftentimes I’ll have other things to do, like interviews and such, but that’s a general day in the life. 🙂
Being such an internet sensation, do you ever experience jealousy from your classmates or friends; if so how do you handle this?
If you would have asked me this a while ago, I would have said no, but now that I’ve experienced this, I would definitely say yes. About a year or so ago, I had a friend at the time who was a fellow writer and liked to write stories with me. However, when I started telling her about the many things I was doing, she told me how she felt jealous and that she didn’t accomplish nearly as much as I did. I dealt with it by explaining to her that you don’t have to do countless endeavors to be an amazing person; all you need is a good attitude, a good personality, and a good mentality. I also explained that instead of being sad and jealous of those who have succeeded, I firmly believed that she could muster up her strength, work hard, and share her talents so she too can succeed. 🙂
What would you tell a peer or kidpreneur if they were getting cyberbullied?
Firstly, if it’s someone you don’t know, simply block them and/or report them. Cyberbullying is against the rules in many online places, so if there is a way to report them, then do it: There is a high chance they will get kicked off if it’s an online game, or will receive a warning if it’s a social media platform.
If, however, the cyberbullying is coming from someone you do know, and the situation isn’t as simple as “Block > Report > Be happy,” then there’s a bit more involved. I would need to know the peer’s/kidpreneur situation if I could help out if it’s a complicated online discourse. I would suggest trying to work things out if it’s simply a misunderstanding; however, if the other person is being toxic and won’t let you work anything out, then it’s important to (gracefully, not rudely) leave the toxic friendship and stop communicating with this person. I have been through a whole lot of those myself, LOL.
You’ve written two books False Awakening and The Princess Chronicles; do you have any other writing projects coming down the line?
Indeed I do! I just finished the second draft of my YA (young adult) fantasy novel, Sabre Black. We’re super pumped for this!
Can you tell us the inspiration to write books?
I’ve always loved writing ever since I knew a book was a thing. I wasn’t always a reader – my journey of transitioning from a girl who said “meh” at the thought of reading books to a teen who jumped up and down at the thought of Sherlock Holmes was a very long and drawn-out transition, LOL – but I was always a writer, 100%. One day when I was around six years old, I told my parents I wanted to be an author when I grew up. And one of the most impacting things anyone has ever said to me was what my parents said next: “Why when you grow up? Why wait? Why not start now?” And that inspired me to start writing books at a very young age.
Is there a lane that you would like to tackle that you haven’t done as of yet?
Absolutely! One day in the hopefully soon future, I would love to have an additional career as an editor for kids, teens, and young adults. I’ve always loved proofreading in my English and language arts assignments in school ever since I was young – actually, that was my favorite assignment in school! – and ever since I went through a nightmarish experience with an editor for my own book, I want others to have a more fun and exciting experience with the editing process.
Related article: 6 Ways to Start a Business with your Kid
What’s next for the Arianna Fox brand?
Hopefully doing more speaking events, performing more acting and voiceover acting gigs, and of course writing more books! On the speaking side of things, I am open for all speaking events and hope to speak to thousands, tens of thousands, and maybe even hundreds of thousands. 🙂
5 Questions for our Cub Bears Kidpreneurs!
One word to describe you best…
Energetic. 🙂
Your favorite color?
Yellow! I’ve always loved yellow as it 1) reminds me of the sun; b) is bright, cheery, and happy; and c) is a unique favorite color – most people my age like other colors like blue, purple, green, etc.
One place you would like to visit?
Paris, France! I would also love to visit any city in Andorra (a country in between Spain and France), and London, England, and maybe even some place in Ireland! 🙂 I would love to travel all over the world, and as a polyglot-in-training, I love learning about different languages and cultures. I am currently learning Spanish, French, and Italian. (By the way, a “polyglot” is someone who knows and uses several languages.)
First thing you want to do when you turn 21?
There’s really nothing I’d want to do when I’m 21 that I can’t do now, LOL! I’d probably just want to keep writing, learning languages, speaking, acting, and all the other things I’m doing, haha.
The best thing about being a kid?
Imagination. I say that not because kids are the only ones with imagination – in fact, some adults have exceedingly amazing imaginations! – but because we often have more capacity in our brains to worry less about the future and simply enjoy fancying our own creations. I think we kids take life a bit less seriously, and that’s both good and bad, LOL! But I definitely do believe that life is so short that we must enjoy the time we have, and of course, use our imagination. 🙂
Estimated reading time: 10 minutes