What if someone completely new could be set free inside your child?
This summer, watch them show up in your own backyard.
What if someone completely new
could be set free inside your child?
This summer, watch them show up
in your own backyard.
Lizabeth Phelps, a professional with 25 years of entrepreneurship,
public speaking and education expertise brings fun, bespoke enrichment programs to tweens and teens in Montclair backyards!
Backyard Business School was created
for the 10-15 year-old who
doesn’t want camp.
They’re not a theater kid or athlete;
they don’t love STEM, outdoorsy day camps or sleepaways.
And it’s for parents who are kind of at their wits end about that.
They want kids engaged, socializing and having adventures.
Backyard Business School is all that – but it also serves their future.
They learn real-world skills schools don’t teach.
It’s hands-on, private, tailored. Taught by an expert.
Who’s also a mom. And long-time resident of Montclair.
I’ve built businesses and coached and trained leaders, but I teach entrepreneurship to young people because building something of one’s own, and working to perfect it to be valued by others, carries more lessons about life, uncapped potential, creativity and personal agency than anything else I could imagine.
In these small-group project studios, they learn to think, create and strategize, to speak up and sell ideas – but more important than any of that, they learn to believe in themselves.
That’s why I do this.
How It Works
Because of this course and you, I have learned the best thing that I could ever learn in my life: to fundamentally believe and trust in myself. Thank you, thank you! I have discovered strengths in myself I did not even know I had. And thank you for showing us everything you know about business. I have achieved things that I never thought I would, such as doing the TED talk, the presentation and creating a business idea!! I improved my communication so much but this course is special because it is where you take off the mask you hide behind and become who you really are. Thank you for arriving every morning with such energy and positivism and for believing in me and always having a smile, telling me, "You can do it!”
Because of this course and you, I have learned the best thing that I could ever learn in my life: to fundamentally believe and trust in myself. Thank you, thank you! I have discovered strengths in myself I did not even know I had. And thank you for showing us everything you know about business. I have achieved things that I never thought I would, such as doing the TED talk, the presentation and creating a business idea!! I improved my communication so much but this course is special because it is where you take off the mask you hide behind and become who you really are. Thank you for arriving every morning with such energy and positivism and for believing in me and always having a smile, telling me, "You can do it!”
Summer 2026 Programs
Choose from fun, gamified, hands-on programs focused on 2 areas:
Building a Business and
Persuasive Speaking
Tap images to see course descriptions.
In this fast-paced, immersive program, your teen daughter will dive headfirst into building out a business that could change the world. Following the design thinking process with friends, she will deeply empathize with a social need, ideate a sustainable solution, build a prototype, and pitch their final concept to you and neighbors on Friday.
In 5 days?
Intentionally compressed timelines spark unexpected brilliance. This week is a masterclass in "clutch performance"—the invaluable skill of delivering high-quality results when stakes and time constraints are at their peak.
Grounded in Google X’s legendary innovation methodology, "Moonshot Thinking," this fast-paced, mastermind teaches teens that making mistakes is, contrary to school philosophy, the fastest path to a great idea.
Teens break into two teams to design an industry-disrupting 10x business model. Using results from their CliftonStrengths Finder assessment, they use their natural talents to build out a complete business strategy, sharpening their ideas through real-time feedback, strategic problem-solving and the demand to think audaciously, teams present their final concepts to parents and neighbors in a not-to-be-outdone showcase.
Your teen will leave energized, thinking 10x bigger and more boldly - but best of all, they'll have 10x more confidence in who they are and what they can achieve.
In this fast-paced, immersive program, your teen daughter will dive headfirst into building out a business that could change the world. Following the design thinking process with friends, she will deeply empathize with a social need, ideate a sustainable solution, build a prototype, and pitch their final concept to you and neighbors on Friday.
In 5 days?
Intentionally compressed timelines spark unexpected brilliance. This week is a masterclass in "clutch performance"—the invaluable skill of delivering high-quality results when stakes and time constraints are at their peak.
Grounded in Google X’s legendary innovation methodology, "Moonshot Thinking," this fast-paced, mastermind teaches teens that making mistakes is, contrary to school philosophy, the fastest path to a great idea.
Teens break into two teams to design an industry-disrupting 10x business model. Using results from their CliftonStrengths Finder assessment, they use their natural talents to build out a complete business strategy, sharpening their ideas through real-time feedback, strategic problem-solving and the demand to think audaciously, teams present their final concepts to parents and neighbors in a not-to-be-outdone showcase.
Your teen will leave energized, thinking 10x bigger and more boldly - but best of all, they'll have 10x more confidence in who they are and what they can achieve.
Next Step :
We talk by phone.
I answer your questions
so you can decide which course is best.
July and August are nearly here, so if you’re curious,
reach me at
201-396-7413.
Lizabeth Phelps has built and scaled two creative consulting businesses, led and designed over 40 proprietary courses on entrepreneurship, innovative thinking, and persuasive communication, including at Seton Hall University and a 3-week innovation enrichment course for international students on Columbia University’s campus. She has brought strategy expertise and private sector marketing and sales experience to over 45 nonprofits through Catchafire.org and currently teaches entrepreneurship to young women through GirlsWithImpact.org.
She’s a wildly proud mom of a daughter working as a marketing maven at Sirius XM and living large in SOHO with her brand new husband.
When she’s not advising or teaching, Lizabeth can be found on walks in Mills and all the parks, querying agents for her novel, Hewitt and Ophia, and counting her blessings that she lives in the greatest town on earth!
Lizabeth Phelps has built and scaled two creative consulting businesses, led and designed over 40 proprietary courses on entrepreneurship, innovative thinking, and persuasive communication, including at Seton Hall University and a 3-week innovation enrichment course for international students on Columbia University’s campus. She has brought strategy expertise and private sector marketing and sales experience to over 45 nonprofits through Catchafire.org and currently teaches entrepreneurship to young women through GirlsWithImpact.org.
She’s a wildly proud mom of a daughter working as a marketing maven at Sirius XM and living large in SOHO with her brand new husband.
When she’s not advising or teaching, Lizabeth can be found on walks in Mills and all the parks, querying agents for her novel, Hewitt and Ophia, and counting her blessings that she lives in the greatest town on earth!
© 2026 Lizabeth Phelps | Inspired Leaders’ Academy (ILA).
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