You’re Never Too Young To Play With Your Business Ideas
Good work ethic, passion for making dreams a reality and tenacity are the stuff entrepreneurs are made of. And it’s never too early to start solving problems. If you can solve an existing problem before your ninth birthday or even before your 16th birthday then you are fantastically driven and motivated.
Now, more than ever, youth are in control of their futures. Exploring entrepreneurship as a career path is healthy not only for determining your economic future but also because the skill set you develop as a young innovator is transferrable, according to Frank Pobutkiewicz, founder and managing director of Whiteboard Youth Ventures. Whiteboard Youth Ventures creates youth entrepreneurship programs for high school students.
“Money management, team work and collaboration, technology proficiency, public speaking, pitching new ideas, and critical thinking are essential skills needed to thrive in the 21st century,” Frank says.
And he’s right. Children are kicking butt and becoming millionaires even before they reach high school.
17-year-old Raymond Wang, for example, won the world’s largest high school science competition in May 2015, taking home the $75,000 prize money for inventing a new way to keep germs from spreading in airplane cabins.
Jan. 17 is Kid Inventor’s Day, which is why I’m going to share with you why it’s important to instill an entrepreneur spirit in your child.
What Child Entrepreneurs Do Differently
Massachusetts-based Whiteboard Youth Ventures is not a one-time stop. The organization recently launched an advanced four-week summer program to help students bring their product to market earlier and start their companies sooner.
“Our students’ success is our only definition of success,” Frank says.
The biggest challenge of working with youth entrepreneurs is “unteaching” them what they think is expected or right, according to Frank. Yet, the students aren’t afraid when it comes to taking risks or testing different concepts. They may take failure personally but they bounce back quicker than most adults do.
To be a successful innovator and entrepreneur you need to ask the right questions and believe in your ideas.
Child Entrepreneurs Making Headlines
And that’s exactly what these child entrepreneurs have done. At 17 Leanna Archer is a seasoned entrepreneur. She started her full line of natural hair products based on her Haitian great-grandmother’s secret recipes. Her company’s annual revenue is more than $100,000 and she sells her products to customers in 80 countries. Her net worth is pegged at more than $3 million.
Robert Nay’s Bubble Ball mobile gaming app made him an overnight millionaire when he was just 14-years-old and three years later, his first game has been downloaded more than 16 million times. Now, at 17, he is a successful businessman.
Strategies To Foster The Entrepreneur Spirit In Your Child
Starting a business at a young age helps children to build leadership and critical thinking skills. It also empowers them to turn their ideas into actionable problem-solving solutions.
Here are my strategies to instill the entrepreneur spirit in your child:
* Make them realize the importance of solving problems
* Help them take risks, take those chances otherwise they will never know what it’s like to fail and get back up on your feet
* Motivate them to pursue their passions and turn those passions into projects that can help solve real-world problems
* Show them what hard work looks like and what the rewards of that hard work feel like
* Build and develop their confidence one step at a time
* Encourage them to try new things and be explorers at heart
* Money management is an extremely important life skill
Youth Entrepreneurship In 2016
“Entrepreneurship needs to enter schools,” Frank Pobutkiewicz says. “For too long entrepreneurship and business have been dirty words within the school setting. In my opinion schools need to open their doors and let the world into the classroom.”
Now, what are you doing to help your child turn dreams into reality?