Teaching Our Kids Business Skills and How To Become Junior Business Leaders
I feel pretty flattered today. My 10-year old daughter says she wants to start her own business. Just like mommy. Even when she was just a little toddler, she would walk around with crayon and paper and say she was “doing business.” Wow.
When we are “doing business”, whether it’s from our home office, a rented flat, our car phones or our laptops, our kids are watching us and mimicking us. They want to be (some of them) just like us as business-mommies. When my daughter entered third grade, she and our little neighbor next door decided to start a “business” and save the world. They would go around throughout the neighborhood collecting trash, picking up cans and refuse and taking it to the town’s recycle bins. They just needed us mommies to drive them there and make the deposits. They had visions to start in our subdivision and work their way through all the subdivisions throughout the community until they reached the world! But, they didn’t have a plan for Monday morning when school started as to how they were going to continue collecting. Yep. They were going to try and do it all in one weekend. They had a vision. They had a plan.
When our kids are young and impressionable, like my 10-year old, that’s the prime time to teach them business and marketing skills. If they have a desire to start a business, just like they see mommy (or daddy) doing, take advantage of that moment and show them how to effectively start their own businesses and begin making a name for themselves. Here are some things to help your wee-preneur get started in the business world:
- Take him/her seriously when they say they want to start their own business. You never know what ideas you are cultivating and nurturing through your child when they tell you they want to “save the world”. You never know. They just might do it. A yound mind is a creative mind. Be a spark.
- Sit down with them and help them develop a business plan that is easy for them to understand. For instance, our 10-year olds needed to see how this plan of saving the world would be economically efficient for them as junior business leaders. They also need a realistic expectation of what is involved in making a business work, how much work is involved in doing so and what skills they need to sharpen in order to be effective business leaders. Such as…pay attention in math class!
- Have a “take your kid to work today” for your home business or your corporate job. Either is fine in order to show your child what and how effective businesses are operated. Let them help you add budget report numbers, prepare marketing reports, return (appropriate) telephone calls to clients, send emails, etc. This will give them a more realistic idea of how businesses are run and give them more hands on experience to brag to their friends at school!
- Answer their curious business questions honestly and frankly. Be careful of answers like, “oh honey, you can do any business you want to because you’re my baby”, or, “any product you sell will be wonderful because mom and dad will buy a lot of it”. Be honest (but gentle) with them. Selling popsicles in Alaska in December (or anytime) is just not a good idea! Help them think of more creative business ideas. And profitable ones.
Since my daughter and her friend have such a fire to start their own business, us mommies are going to really help them get started this summer with their ideas. We’re going to wait until school is out so they can really focus and put their energies into starting their own successful junior businesses. You never know. We may be cultivating the next great business women of the century. I’m sure we are. All because we took the time to teach them how to “save the world.”
Tags: children-save-the-world, junior-business-leaders, junior-entrepreneurs, start-a-business, take-your-child-to-work, women, women-in-business, Work-At-Home MomsRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Business & Parenting, Education, Professional Networking, Self-Employment & Entrepreneurship, Work-At-Home Moms
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