Can kids follow their dream career right now? What skills do kids need to learn in order to be an entrepreneur? Read along to see how kids are already learning entrepreneurial skills that they can apply to their dream job.
At our local public school, my ten year old and six year old regularly recite the school motto:
I am respectful. I am responsible. I am ready. I am safe. Willing to work, grow, and learn for a better tomorrow
As a school motto, it’s intent is clear: to raise responsible, safe, hardworking, and intelligent children. While it is a great foundation for life skills, it also builds the foundation for entrepreneurs. This gives us the chance to accomplish two things at once: teach our children real life skills to make them into amazing adults and give them the opportunity to apply those same skills to their entrepreneurial endeavors. Let’s dissect these entrepreneurial skills a bit more:
Entrepreneur Skill #1: Respect
Respect is a very important characteristic of successful entrepreneurs. Not many days go by where I don’t remind my ten year old of the importance of respect.
Just the other day, I was on the phone with my boss when my daughter walked in, yelling at me about her upcoming dance class. My boss could clearly hear her and responded by saying he would call me back. Yes, we work in a remote work world now, so thankfully, employers are more understanding of family encounters during the work day. However, I was very embarrassed, because I have not raised my daughter to speak to me in such a disrespectful tone, let alone in front of someone who I respect and who’s respect for me I value. I hung up, lectured and grounded my daughter, texted an apology to my boss, and considered ideas for teaching my daughter how to practice respect.
Why is respect so important as an entrepreneurial skill?
It is important that entrepreneurs know how to respect others because people are at the core of everything. Entrepreneurs grow their businesses by building relationships. In order to build relationships that are positive and helpful, mutual respect has to be established. I cannot yell, order, or try to control someone else. Respect results from valuing each other.
Kids who want to build their dream job must learn how to value and respect others. If I value you, then I will respect your time, your opinions, your feelings, and your actions. I will seek to understand where you are coming from and how I can help. You will, in turn, do the same for me. This builds a business relationship from which can grow partnerships, joint ventures, connections, ideas, and more.
Entrepreneur Skill # 2: Responsibility
Responsibility is directly related to decision making and taking ownership of one’s actions.
It is our responsibility (ahem…pun intended) as parents to teach our children how to be responsible. School teachers reinforce this. Responsibility is an important entrepreneurial skill to learn, because every day we have to make decisions. From what to eat to the steps to take toward accomplishing a project, decisions gradually become bigger and require more thought the older we get and depending upon the activity. What should I eat isn’t necessarily equal to what safety requirements I should take while climbing a mountain; though I could argue that my eating choices are as important, considering they determine my lifelong health.
Responsibility as an Entrepreneurial skill: Ownership of the Good and the Bad
As an entrepreneur, you are the independent decision maker for your business. You decide what to spend money on, who to partner with, what your product is, who your audience is, etc. When something goes great, you get the praise. When something goes wrong, you get the blame. Learning how to accept this ownership of the good and the bad is not always easy. One has to lower his/her pride, accept the consequences, and try to remedy it.
Kids practice ownership every day, especially if they have siblings or close friends at school. Something happens and no one wants to take the blame. Usually the incident was caused due to a poor decision or lack of consideration of consequences. So the education resulting from an accident includes not only growing in responsibility, but also in honesty, humility, and problem solving.
Kids are learning the skills necessary to be entrepreneurs
You can see that kids are already learning entrepreneurial skills. Combining these skills and kids’ natural creativity results in the perfect storm: the Kidpreneur.
Notice that each of these character traits are closely linked. Not only are they great for entrepreneurs, they are great for building good people.
Continue reading for 3 more Easy Skills your child is already learning in school that will help him follow his dreams!
