How to Start Your Own Business: For Families and Teens! is a complete eight-hour business workshop on four DVDs and one CD-ROM! I started my review of this product sitting at my computer, by myself, and was continually interrupted as various children stopped to listen to what Stephen Beck was teaching. After about ten interruptions and umpteen questions concerning the DVDs and starting a business, I finally asked if we should review this particular product as a family.

After setting things up so everyone could watch, I started the DVD again, only to find that I had to stop while everyone ran back to their desks to get paper and pencils to take notes. Then, as we progressed yet again, I had to stop because the kids felt that we should wait until dad was home to watch with us. Later, we were finally able to sit as a family, with notebooks and pencils in hand, and listen to Stephen Beck's teachings concerning starting a business and all the variables that need to be considered when embarking on such an adventure.

Mr. Beck's presentation was excellent and much more extensive than I expected. He covered the Biblical principles of business and the pros and cons of having your own business. He then discussed how one generates business ideas and markets a new business. We all agreed that the way Mr. Beck presented the materials, drawing from his own experiences, really helped us understand the concepts. His experiences also served to dispel the "romantic" notions, if you will, of starting your own business and immediately being successful while hardly having to work. On the contrary, he conveyed that starting a business involves much prayer, preparation, and hard work.

Mr. Beck also discussed the areas of finances and personnel, and then he culminated in presenting how one would take their new business concepts online.

Overall, this was an excellent product, and I would highly recommend it for anyone interesting in starting their own business. All of our older children, ages 14, 12, and 9, loved Mr. Beck's presentation of the materials and are working to come up with their own business ideas as a result. My husband and I are also working to see if we can put into practice what we learned. I hope you too will benefit from this product and others offered by Stephen and Kerry Beck. I'd definitely recommend adding this product to your homeschool library.

Product review by Dr. Heather W. Allen, Senior Analytical Consultant, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, January 2007