Best Ways to Encourage Youth Entrepreneurship
About 30% of jobs will become obsolete in the next 20 years due to changes in technology and society. This provides opportunities for kids and future generations to become entrepreneurs.
There are many benefits to encouraging entrepreneurship in youth, including the vast experience they gain and the huge advantage for those who start learning about businesses in their teen years. Sometimes adolescent traits can signal a future entrepreneur, and it is best to channel those traits into success.
What Are the Benefits of Entrepreneurship?
There are many benefits to entrepreneurship, especially for youth who have not yet entered the workforce. Whether your child is an adolescent or an older teenager, mastering an entrepreneurial skillset can help them in many areas of their life.
Aspiring entrepreneurs who embark on the journey of entrepreneurship can gain a lot of knowledge and skills, and learn to tackle real-world problems confidently. This is an excellent way for young people to explore their interests and talents, and see how they can use them to their advantage in their future careers.
Entrepreneurship will help teens to think creatively, and develop their analytical and problem-solving skills. It will also allow them to learn, evaluate and improve their craft.
Independent Thinking
One skill that is often overlooked in schools is independent thinking. High school largely trains students to memorize information and giving them the right answer for the test. However, in the real world, problems usually don’t have just one correct answer, and sometimes the best way to solve a problem is not what is commonly believed. Employers and colleges seek out candidates who can think independently and come up with innovative solutions for common problems.
This is what entrepreneurship does for teens, it helps them develop a skill set that is different from what everyone else has. In order to be a successful entrepreneur, you must be able to offer something unique that other people are not, and this makes you stand out to potential employers and those who are making decisions about your future. Having these skills early on in life will help you be successful later down the road.
Financial Freedom
While it would be irresponsible to say that every entrepreneur becomes rich, it is accurate to say that entrepreneurship is the one avenue with limitless earning potential. Most jobs have a capped salary, and employees can only increase their earnings slowly over time, even with annual raises and bonuses. In contrast, entrepreneurship has no limit to how much money one can make.
The potential for financial freedom is limitless for entrepreneurs. They can make as much money as they want and increase their earnings quickly. This allows them to build businesses that create passive recurring revenue or location-independent businesses that bring in sales every day. This type of life would be ideal for our kids so that they can pursue their dreams without worrying about money.
Lifelong Skills to Succeed
The skills that entrepreneurs gain are not only useful in business, they can be transferred to many other areas of a person’s life and career. These skills include time management, delegation, perseverance, critical analysis, and many others.
Teach Them About Money
Teaching children about money is a great way to encourage entrepreneurship and prepare them for success in the real world. A great way to encourage entrepreneurship and teach kids about money is to let them be integral decision-makers in their own finances.
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You could allow your child to propose what chores and activities they could help out with, and suggest their starting wages, rather than just giving them an allowance for a predetermined list of chores. This would help develop their presentation, communication, and negotiation skills, and would make money a two-sided conversation.
In order to teach your kids the value of money, you should have conversations with them about how they plan to spend and save their money. Most business owners are aware that their income can fluctuate, so they save money to reduce the risk during slower months. Kids should understand that a dollar is valuable and that they can’t always count on a steady stream of income. Helping them invest their money in something that will offer a greater reward than a video game or shopping spree is a good way to teach them this lesson.
Talk to Them about Market Opportunities
To develop an entrepreneurial mindset, teens need to be constantly searching for current problems or opportunities and try to come up with unique solutions. This is a mindset that kids won’t necessarily develop following a standard curriculum in school.
As parents, it’s our responsibility to help our kids develop the skills they need to be successful in life. One way to do this is by holding brainstorming sessions with them to identify problems and potential solutions. Once they learn how to analyze their surroundings, identify problems, and come up with solutions, they’ll be well on their way to a successful future in entrepreneurship. In fact, this way of thinking may cause them to accidentally start their own businesses during their youth – which is how many great entrepreneurs got their start.
Talk to Them about their Goals and Wishes
Most adolescents and teens have goals, hopes, and wishes for the future. To help them achieve these goals, as well as to help them learn about and master goal-setting and preparation, it’s best to begin talking to them about these goals as early as possible.
It is more likely that our teens will be set for success if we talk to them about their future goals, options they may not have considered, and how to engineer a path to get there. Teens who aspire to become entrepreneurs should break down their goals into bite-sized pieces, like first identifying a problem or getting a certain number of friends to opt into their offer. Starting small allows teens to hone in on each step of the goal-setting and achievement process, and when they are looking towards bigger goals, like getting into an Ivy League university or running for student body president, they will know just where to start.
It’s important to help our kids realize that there are many options for their future. If they are not exposed to these options, they may settle for the job that their friends or peers go after. For teens with the world at their feet, it’s our job as parents to have the open discussions that let them know that their dreams and potential have no limit.
Let Kids Solve Their Problems Independently
As difficult as it is for parents to see their children struggle, it is actually beneficial for them to do so. It allows them to explore their creativity and develop their problem-solving skills. Moreover, it encourages them to be more entrepreneurial. If children are given the opportunity to find solutions to their problems on their own, they will likely be successful.
Necessity breeds solutions. If kids know they can come to their parent for the answer, they have less incentive to try to solve problems on their own. fostering skills early is in their best interest.
It’s important to be present for your kids and offer them perspectives and feedback, but it’s also important to let them be independent and find their own way. If they go astray, you can nudge them back in the right direction.
Emphasize Learning Where Challenges Arise
When someone is starting a business, they will face some challenges and obstacles. What separates those who will succeed in business and in life is their ability to learn from and respond positively to those challenges and obstacles.
We need to help children and teens learn from the challenges and obstacles that do arise in order to foster an entrepreneurial spirit. Talk to your child about the issue at hand, ask them why it occurred and what they can glean from it, and help them brainstorm ways to mitigate similar problems in the future. These experiences and lessons will help children blossom into successful entrepreneurs, and more importantly, learning from and overcoming these obstacles will give them the confidence to tackle the future challenges they face in life and business head-on.
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Meet Successful Young Entrepreneurs
The results of the Investopedia Financial Literacy Survey show that adults aged 18-25 are more financially savvy than any previous generation at the same age. Some young entrepreneurs have found success by starting their businesses at a young age. These entrepreneurs may be inspired by their family, outside events, or simply a desire to have fun. Whatever the case, they have set out to achieve success in the business world.
Hart Main
At age 13, Hart Main came up with the idea of manly scented candles after teasing his sister about the girly scented ones she was selling for a school fundraiser.1 It wasn’t until Hart set out to purchase a $1,500 bike that he reconsidered what he suggested in jest.2 Hart Main came up with the idea of manly scented candles at age 13, after teasing his sister about the girly scented ones she was selling for a school fundraiser. However, it wasn’t until he set out to purchase a $1,500 bike that he reconsidered his earlier suggestion.
Hart and his parents put in a small amount of money to start the business and worked together to come up with the idea for candles in tin cans, cleverly named ManCans. 2 They are now handmade by the Beaver Creek Candle Company in Lisbon, Ohio, by a developmentally disabled workforce.
Kamaria Warren
Kamaria Warren, who was seven years old, and her mother Shaunice Sasser, who is a graphic designer, went shopping for a birthday invitations for Kamaria’s upcoming party. They were disappointed to find that there were no products that represented Brown and Black girls. This necessitated the creation of Brown Girls Stationery.
The McDonough, Georgia, native created party and school supplies, stationery, vegan purses, and accessories for girls, most of which feature a cheery illustration of a Black or Brown girl. She also sells dolls.
“Our unique images and offerings help us make money while also having an impact,” says Warren, who is now 13 years old. The business, which has five employees and five volunteers, sells its products on Shopify, Faire Marketplace, wholesale, and at local events. Warren estimates that, on average, they sell 10,000 notebooks, 2,500 notepads, and 1,500 backpacks each year. They are now adding 1,000 packs of party supplies and 1,000 new lip glosses to their inventory, and they plan to release a new purse with an affirmative message each month.
Her motivation is seeing other girls wear her stuff and being proud of who they are. Her motto is “Dear Brown girl, you have the ability to change the world.”
Ryan Hickman
At three years old, Ryan Hickman became aware of the amount of bottles and cans thrown away and left on the ground. This motivated him to start collecting his family’s recyclables and then exchanging them at the local recycling center for money. After seeing how much of an impact he could make, Hickman then started going door-to-door in his neighborhood to collect recyclables from his neighbors. By seven years old, Ryan had turned this into a business called Ryan’s Recycling Company.
Hickman is 13 years old and has been praised by news organizations for his efforts to clean up the ocean. He has sold t-shirts that say “Make the Sea Trash Free” and has raised over $14,000 to help the Pacific Marine Mammal Center. So far, he has helped recycle 1.5 million cans and bottles.
Hickman has also started a new nonprofit, Project 3R, to educate kids and adults about recycling and manage community clean-up efforts.
Hickman believes that anyone can make a difference, no matter who they are. He believes that when everyone does a small part, it creates a large impact. He is thankful for the help in keeping the planet clean.
Final Word
It is beneficial for kids to learn about entrepreneurship and pursue it, especially from a young age. Building businesses can help them develop skills that are valuable for their future career. However, we can’t assume that they will find and be interested in business classes at school.
We need to help children develop a perspective where they are constantly questioning, exploring and thinking outside the box. We also need to provide them with the resources they need to channel these skills into entrepreneurial success. Even if you’re not sure if your child will grow up to be an entrepreneur, it’s important to expose them to entrepreneurship early on, as today’s youth have the potential to excel in this area.
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