Why Children Should Be Taught Entrepreneurship

Our education system is put in place to prepare young people to build successful lives. They should be ready for the broad range of possibilities ahead of them, which includes working for others, starting their own ventures, and doing a whole lot of things in the community. All of these options require a depth of knowledge in their chosen discipline, as well as creativity, problem-solving ability, leadership skills, experience in working with effective teams and being adaptable to an ever-changing world.

It is not a coincidence that these are the same capabilities that employers say they want in college graduates. According to research, they are also the deciding factors when employers compare candidates with equivalent backgrounds. Entrepreneurship education will prepare to identify a problem, address challenges and opportunities. It is clear that the world needs more innovation and more entrepreneurs. And the skills of entrepreneurship are also good life skills. So how do we teach kids business to nurture that next generation of dreamers?

Does the World Really Need More Entrepreneurs?

Small businesses are actually the back bone of the economy. Almost half of the private sector workforce is employed by small business and in recent years, small businesses have created a lot of jobs. Two out of three jobs are created by small businesses. Most of the innovations and technology in this century have come from sketchy entrepreneurs. For example, Steve jobs started apple in his basement and it is now one of the world’s leading tech companies. The world sure needs doctors, accountants, and lawyers but we also need entrepreneurs too, they are the ones that play a vital role in developing the world. This is why we need to think about how we can pay it forward and help inspire, mentor, and empower young girls and boys to think like early entrepreneurs.

The Issue with School

Grading is one thing that highly discourages entrepreneurial thinking. The school system wants students to focus on the task assigned, not go off and dream up their own projects or become child entrepreneurs. The school system forces the kids to follow on direction, it limits their ability to explore and look beyond things to find opportunity following direction is rewarded, and deviating from it or coloring outside the lines is met with punishment. The kids are encouraged to pursue traditional caress, ones that will require a university education or some type of institutional training. I am not saying education is not important, or that I’m representing every teacher in every school system in the world. Math, English, and science are important, and of course, plenty of teachers inspire kids to follow their dreams. I just think that the school system discourages entrepreneurial thinking, I think that all they do is prepare students to grow up and become employees and this is not bad, I mean not everyone can be an entrepreneur.

How Do We Teach Kids Entrepreneurship?

Teaching your child to be an entrepreneur will take patience, time and you will have allowed them to think freely. Here are some of the things to teach your children to be entrepreneurs:

1. How to Solve Problems

People that own businesses know that having to solve problems is a daily activity, customers are going to come with problems, employees also have problems and the devices that you work with can also have problems. You will not be able to bury your head in the ground, instead, you will have to evaluate your options and choose a path to go down, and it might end up being in the wrong direction. Children are generally more impulsive than the adults due to their lack of experience when it comes to the consequences of making bad decisions or choices. Problem-solving requires them to identify problems and talk about it, coming up with ideas for the best solution possible. They should learn to list possible benefits or consequences of each approach taken. They will also have to learn to be decisive in taking action, You should allow them to experience any negative consequence of their decision.

2. The Will/Desire to Make Money

When the kids are old enough, teaching them to want money isn’t difficult, all you have to do is advertise and they will learn how awesome money is. There is a difference between wanting money and wanting to make money and you will have to make that clear to them. Money making involves work. Children appreciate money when they’ve worked for more than they have been handed.

3. How to Sell

Most of the time, we start teaching kids about business by assigning them chores and this is actually teaching them to become employees. You can even find a way to sell things to your kids and get them to sell stuff to you. I know it’s tricky but you can find a way. There is a difference between selling to your Dad and selling to Strangers. Door to door sales is one of the best ways to teach them about selling, for example, you can buy them a box of chocolate or cookies and have them sell to others. They’ll benefit from it and it will be a great training ground for young entrepreneurs because it also teaches them how to speak to grownups and other people. It will enable them to get over the fear of rejection and to use other means to get what they want.

4. Customer Service

Customer service is something that is required from every business and it goes hand in hand with sales. Once you have convinced someone to do business with you, you become responsible for keeping that customers happy by fulfilling what you promised.

5. Determination

Entrepreneurs go through a lot of trouble at some point. I am talking about some real struggle especially in the early stages of starting a business. That is why you need to be determined; you must be stubborn and have the tenacity to keep pushing ahead despite the setbacks. As a parent, you don’t want to see your kids upset, frustrated or struggling but it is important to teach kids that nothing good comes easy, and to keep trying even if they failed the first time. It is important that they learn to have grit at a young age.

6. Creativity

Creativity is mostly associated with art. Entrepreneurs are some of the most creative people on earth, as I mentioned earlier on that most of the innovation and technology in this century were inspired by entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are the only people in the world that create their own job. Entrepreneurs have to be very observant and be able to notice what people want or need, then find a way to market it and make profit of whatever the product is. Children should be allowed to use their imagination. People think that technology hinders creativity but it can actually unleash a lot of creativity and it allows kids to let their imagination run wild.

7. Leadership

When you talk about leadership lot of people think of simply bossing people around. To be a leader, you have to be able to inspire, teach and motivate your employees to do their best. You will have to set an example for them by being a good leader yourself and they will learn from you. They’ll have to take part in team activities and learn to interact with other kids this will help them with their communication skills.

In conclusion, I will like to remind you that kids are the future and it is important to think of how we can help shape them into becoming leaders, job creators , nd successful entrepreneurs.