out how much to charge. Search online to see what others charge for the service you plan to provide. Teens often have an advantage: Less experi-ence means you may be able to

charge less, making your business more competitive. 3. Advertise. Print flyers describing the services your business offers. List

your rates and your phone number or email address. (Check with your par-

ents before you do this, of course!) Drop off a flyer at every house in your neighborhood. Give some to parents to take to work. Ask local stores or coffee shops if you can post a flyer on their community notice board

You also might be able to use sites like Facebook to advertise your services — as well as look for customers who might need you. If you do look for op-portunities online, though, keep a par-ent involved in what you're doing.

4. Organize your work. Once you have clients, you'll need to keep track of them. You don't want to forget to walk someone's dog because you were feeding

someone else's fish. Buy a calen-dar and write down every job you do each day and the time you'll do it. Keeping a calendar also reminds you of how many times you pro-vided a service so you can bill your

clients. A parent, teacher, or

school counselor can help you get started on business planning. 5. CYB: Cover Your Business. If you drive for work, you'll want to be sure you have insurance — es-pecially if you'll be driving other people's cars or transporting their

kids. You'll also need to look into any coverage you might need for taking care of other people's prop-erty or pets. Ask a parent, school counselor, or teacher for advice.

It's harder to find jobs in today's tough economy. If you need to earn money over the

summer or after school, why not become your own boss? Here are 5 tips on

starting your own business: 1. Identify a need. Think about the

kinds of services that might do well in your area. If you live in a suburb and your neighbors commute long dis-tances to work, they may need dog walking help. Pet sitting is another good line of business during the sum-mer or over the holidays when people

travel. If there are lots of senior citizens in your area, a computer help business might do well. 2. Set a price for services. Once you know what you want to do, figure

Page 1

MAY 2012

5 Tips for Teen Entrepreneurs

Voice, Health & Safety Newsletter

MAY 2012

Summer Teen Summit

Free hip-hop tickets for getting an HIV test

Free hip-hop concert tickets are being used to try to lure thousands of Houston young adults to get tested for HIV. The Houston health department, along with community health agencies, will try to screen a record 7,500 people during a marathon testing event over the next three weeks. Testing period will be from May 4, 2012—July 21, 2012; concert is scheduled for July 21, 2012.

Page 2

Youth Engaged in Assets (YEA) Ambassadors are hosting a Teen Summit to highlight all service learning projects that youth and youth servicing organizations produced with a micro grant awarded by the City of Houston Health and Human Services.

The Teen Summit is set for Friday, June 8, 2012 at the Third Ward Multi Service Center. This will be a true example of youth voice at its best! Our young people worked really hard on their projects and we are extremely proud what they accom-plished.

In 2012, Gilead Sciences in conjunction with KBXX-FM “97.9 The Box”, The Houston Department of Health and Human Services and AIDS Foundation Houston will partner to test some 7, 500 Houstonians under the aegis of The sixth Annual Hip Hop for HIV Awareness Campaign.

As the nation’s single largest testing initiative, KBXX-FM uses on-air, on-web and on-site events to reach out to its 1.3 Million listeners and provides our Partner/sponsors the opportunity to be “one-on-one with 7, 500 testing Volun-teers. This out reach includes sponsorship exposure, HIV informational messages, sponsor videos on the web PLUS photo/video from local/national recording artists. MTV, BET, Giant Magazines and local TV stations also provide coverage to support this huge community outreach!

In 2010, the concert was held at Reliant Center (one of Houston’s largest convention/event venues on Saturday, July 31

st to a “sell-out” crowd of 15,000 bringing huge exposure to our initiative AND our partner/sponsors. In 2011, the

event tested over 7500 people making the concert ticket even more in demand! The campaign culminates with an exclusive concert for our testing volunteers. Al seventy-five thousand (7,500) volun-teers (between ages of 15 and 40) receive an HIV test, HIV education AND the incentive of a free ticket to our exclusive HIP HOP for HIV concert!

Page 3

SUPPORT

e m c l h n e c x s

c o o o e o n o t u

n t u v l i c t r g

a i n e p t o e o g

d v s t f c u r p e

i a e o u e r i p s

u t l m l n a p u t

g e e o m n g s s i

e v a r b o e n t o

i y y p j c z i y n

To add an article in the next newsletter provide your information to 4youthvoice@gmail.com

www.tooimportanttofail.com and www.youthtoleaders.org

MAY 2012 Page 3

Upcoming Summer Events

◄ April ~ May 2012 ~ June ►

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8 Teen Summit

9

10

11

12 “Too Important to Fail” Parent Education Sum-mit @ HCC

13 Mother’s Day

14

15

16

17

18

19 Armed Forces Day

20

21

22

23

24

25

26 Third Annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Celebration @ HPL

27

28

29

30

31 Reel Teen Winner Reception @ MFA

Notes: Asian Pacific Heritage Month

Voice, Health & Safety

CONSTRUCTIVE USE OF TIME—Word Search