About Us
BIZKIDZ.COM combines the fun of a game, the education of a business class,and the benefit of earning real money all in one place!
BIZKIDZ.COM is a website that provides the opportunity for a child to open a business, have some fun, and make some cash! The more effort you put into promoting your business; the more money you will earn - and the more fun you will have! It is a safe place to have fun, learn real life business skills, and earn money! THE ONLY VISITORS TO A BIZKIDZ.COM WEBSITE WOULD BE THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN INVITED!
BIZKIDZ.COM had its genesis in founder Linda Raasch's desire to teach her four children about financial responsibility. She wanted them to understand the value of a dollar and the hard work required to earn it. Linda helped her children open their first small business: a sophisticated lemonade stand. This venture helped teach valuable lessons about communicating with customers, promoting merchandise, and basic financial accounting. It wasn't long before all four children had learned that there was a correlation between effort and reward.
Linda realized that the power of the internet could be harnessed to extend these lessons to children across the country. Together with her husband, Ken, (who with partner artist, Thomas Kinkade, created America's largest art company and later started Creative Brands Group a brand development and management company), Linda created BIZKIDZ.COM to help children learn the basic fundamentals of business. BIZKIDZ.COM offers ambitious children the opportunity to create their own unique storefronts and to earn real money in the process. Our goal is to use fun as a guise to help teach children essential lessons in business, marketing, and accounting. Studies have shown that children learn more quickly, and retain more of what they have learned, when hands-on activities supplement and reinforce formal learning. There is no better way to help light a child's entrepreneurial fire than by opening a store on BIZKIDZ.COM.
Chief of BIZ (President and Founder)
Linda Raasch, best known as the CEO of her home, has two daughters and two sons, 19, 18, 13, and 11 years old. Her ability to juggle the demands derived from an array of school functions, sport teams, orthodontist appointments, play practices, music lessons, dance lessons, church activities, home repairs, car repairs, bone repairs, equitable allowance distributions, short order chef duties, personal shopper favors, fundraising obligations, chauffeur duties, and homework guidance - has given her the experience needed to launch a website directed towards educating children.
She developed a successful Thomas Kinkade art gallery business which became the business model of hundreds of other galleries nationwide. You need to catch her while running...multitasking is her specialty.
BIZman (Chairman and Founder)
Ken Raasch has had a successful career as a negotiator in the very treacherous world of sibling conflict resolution. "I am a cheerleader, banker, and coach for all things Team Raasch," says Ken, husband to Linda for 25 years and father to "the greatest kids in the world." In his spare time, Ken founded Media Arts Group with partner Thomas Kinkade and built the largest branded art business in history - sales of Thomas Kinkade product have exceeded 4 billion dollars. Ken is currently the Chairman and CEO of Creative Brands Group a brand development, management, and licensing company.
Chief BIZmaker (Chief Marketing Officer)
Marty Fahncke was born to be an entrepreneur. He started his first business at age 12: fixing up used bicycles and selling them to neighborhood kids. This led along to a meandering (but interesting!) path of careers over the years. For the past 20+ years, Marty has worked in the Electronic Marketing (Television, Internet, Telephone) business, where he has sold anything from vacuum cleaners to multi-million dollar companies. Marty thrives on working with great people, making deals, and creating fun and unique businesses from the ground up.
Marty is also the proud father of five kids. The two oldest, Nick and Brandie, have been infected with the entrepreneurial bug and will soon be starting businesses of their own. Maya and Noah, the two middle kids, are part of our “BIZKIDZ.COM Junior Board of Advisors” and have been invaluable in testing and offering feedback to make the website as fun and user friendly as possible. Ian (a.k.a. Schwinn), the youngest at age 3 is the family negotiator, never taking “no” for an answer.
Marty is excited and honored to be a part of BIZKIDZ.COM, where he can help kids around the world explore and develop their entrepreneurial potential.
Director of HappyKIDZ(Customer Service)
Gillian Hannagan was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, where she started her first business at age 7 as a lemonade stand guru. She learned the importance of working hard and continued to show her work ethic as she traveled west to California to attend Santa Clara University. In addition to studying French, International Business and Art History at SCU, Gillian had the opportunity to spend a semester studying in Paris. Throughout college she worked in the retail fashion industry and upon graduation accepted a position at the corporate offices of Pacific Sunwear, Inc., as a merchandise planner.
Gillian feels privileged and excited to be part of the BIZKIDZ.COM team as the Director of HappyKIDZ. She looks forward to seeing kids unleash their entrepreneurial spirit through the BIZKIDZ.COM website.
