Interview with Steve Searfoss, author of KidVenture Series

KidVenture Vol. 3

Middle Grade Fiction

Date Published: 03-30-2023

Chance, Addie and Sophie launch a new venture when they get lost in the
country and stumble on the idea of starting a corn maze business. They
quickly discover that while it’s easy to rush into a maze, finding
your way out is hard. They will need to convince an investor to fund the
venture, persuade a reluctant farmer to let them build their maze on his
corn field, and figure out a way to work with his headstrong nephew. Along
the way they will realize just how little they know about planting corn,
designing mazes and writing business plans. Through many twists and turns
—and dead ends— they will learn how to keep a partnership
together and what the true job of a leader is. There’s only one thing
harder than finding your way out of a maze: creating a maze people want to
get lost in.

Interview

BZR: Have you published any previous books?

SS: Yes. Through The Maize is the third book in the KidVenture series. In every KidVenture book a group of kids start a business and learn about being entrepreneurs. Twelve Weeks To Midnight Blue, the first book in the series, is about Chance and his sister Addie starting a pool cleaning business over the summer and figuring out how best to market the business, how much to charge for the service, and how to manage their first employee Amit.

There’s No Plan Like No Plan, the second book in the series, takes place the following winter. Chance and Addie are feeling confident after their pool business earned a profit and decide to start a snow shoveling business. They think they have everything figured out —they are seasoned entrepreneurs after all— but nothing seems to go according to their plan. They’ve hired a bunch of friends to shovel snow, but the weather is just too unpredictable, and they are losing money fast. They have to learn to ditch their old business plan, be more flexible and figure out a whole new way to run a business. They’re helped along the way by their younger sister Sophie, who they keep ignoring for asking “obvious” and “dumb” questions — until they realized asking the obvious questions to take a fresh look at problems is exactly what they need to be doing if they ever hope to turn a profit.

BZR: Tell us about your current release.

SS: Now in book three, Chance, Addie and Sophie launch a very different business. On a whim, they decide to start a corn maze. This time it looks like they might have bitten off more than they can chew. They have to convince a nearby farmer to let them use one of his fields, they need to raise a lot of money upfront to build the maze, and there are all sorts of hidden costs that keep coming up, such as getting a professionally made maze map. Corn is growing fast, investors are getting nervous, and tempers are flaring. They are lost inside this labyrinth of their own making.

Finding a way out of their predicament will require a lot of savvy negotiation and coming up with creative offers and counteroffers. Can they offer the farmer equity in their business, instead of paying in cash for the use of the land? Who can they turn to for a loan? What else can they offer the farm supply company in exchange for a map? Do they have other assets to trade? And what of their old pool cleaning business? Building the maze is way harder and more time consuming than they first imagined. Do they just abandon their first business? Won’t their customers be disappointed? Maybe they can cut a deal with their employee and sell the business to Amit.

BZR: What do you hope your readers get from the book?

SS: KidVenture books are meant to inspire kids, not just to start their own business, but to believe they can tackle complicated problems and have fun along the way. Specifically in this book, readers will see a variety of ways a negotiation can go well, or not well. During the course of the story the characters face setbacks and unexpected challenges and young readers will be able to experience what it’s like to face all kinds of dilemmas and come up with inventive solutions that weren’t immediately obvious. And in every KidVenture book there are also deeper moral lessons to be learned in order to solve the business issues. In this case, they need to learn humility and empathy if they’re going to be effective negotiators.

BZR: What can we expect to see from you in the future, any books on the backburner?

SS: There’s a fourth KidVenture book in the works. This one’s taking longer to write, but it’s coming!

Thanks for joining us here on Book Zone Reviews.

More About the Author

KidVenture stories are business adventures where kids figure out how to
market their company, understand risk, and negotiate. Each chapter ends with
a challenge, including business decisions, ethical dilemmas and
interpersonal conflict for young readers to wrestle with. As the story
progresses, the characters track revenue, costs, profit margin, and other
key metrics which are explained in simple, fun ways that tie into the
story.