Raising kids must involve building them with the ability to discover, evaluate, and explore opportunities. In the 21st century, more societies stir towards integrating entrepreneurship skills into children’s education.
In other words, correct parenting should raise children who will create future goods and services for the betterment of humanity. Moreover, that achievement is a crucial competence that gives them lasting joy from doing what they love. Parents must, therefore, be committed to raising their kids with entrepreneurship skills.
Entrepreneurial skills are also needful in society as they shape thinking and behaviours at all levels. However, research shows that developing these skills has a genetic component with 50-60% coefficients.
Fundamental Entrepreneurial Abilities in Kids
Children show different signs that indicate their flair for entrepreneurship skills as they grow into adulthood. Some of the examples of such competencies include
- Invention: when children show innate abilities to design little objects at a tender age, it is an entrepreneurial skill. They may do some of these things at their playtime. So, a parent must relate with their kids at these leisure times.
- Leadership: kids who readily engage in leadership positions, including serving as club or class captains, are promising potential entrepreneurs. It may come with their ability to make friends or profitably persuade others.
- Commerce: parents should watch out for another crucial competency in their kids: their ability to trade. Some children understand the value of what they have and can make good exchanges with their friends. When this happens, often, such a child may hold the ability to be successful in commerce.
Notably, these factors that show early in a child’s life can be nurtured as they grow. Then, it will help them develop the required skills, motivation, passion, knowledge, and network for starting businesses.
Above all, entrepreneurship skills are also parallel to social skills and, therefore, nurses these behavioural patterns. The social skills may include the following.
- Taking perspectives
- Confidence
- Willingness to learn
- Quick adaptation to changes and challenges
- Effective verbal and non-verbal communication
- Networking with other people
Benefits of Teaching Entrepreneurship to Kids or Teens (3-P’s)
With the demand for more competent leaders worldwide, parents must raise their kids to become capable adults. A vital part of this process includes raising these kids to become competent adults through needed entrepreneurship skills. But what are the benefits of teaching them entrepreneurship skills? I call them the 3-Ps of Kids Entrepreneurship Skills: Passion, Positive Influence, and Poise.
1. Passion
Every parent needs to realize that sustaining their kids’ love is one of parenting’s main jobs. However, they must identify their passion areas before they can maintain their passion. Although these processes are not as natural as they sound, they are achievable.
For instance, parents and teachers should create an environment that triggers various faculties of a child. These faculties may generally include arts, sciences, or social sciences, while the atmosphere must contain helpful tools and resources.
Children must first learn to follow their passions to grow into adults with impact and fulfilled lives. In other words, the fulfilment of careers determines overall success, happiness, and satisfaction.
On the flip side, kids or teenagers should not be motivated by money or self-security but by the impact on others. Similarly, kids should not be trained to make career choices based on passion rather than cash. By so doing, raising kids will produce the proper stature towards valuable entrepreneurship skills.
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2. Positive Influence
The simplest way that kids learn is by imitating the influences around them. Therefore, it is essential to create an atmosphere that is saturated with positive vibes. Relevant stakeholders like the parents, educators, and peers.
In other words, if you surround your kids with a business-minded orientation, they will grow with the same. Ideally, his friends will share their experiences, habits, interests, and more. In other words, that step directs them into the path you want them to follow.
It is also easy for them to achieve great entrepreneurial success through the influence of successful people around them. Also, starting early for kids will enable them to master the art of sustaining a successful business. A set of result-driven mentors will be a powerful force in a child’s life.
3. Poise
The third benefit of raising children with entrepreneurship skills is their poise. Poise is self-confidence or the ability to overcome the fear of failure. In other words, parents should prepare kids or teenagers to expect success and failure.
But instead of being set back because of failure, they can forge ahead on the wings of success—besides, the higher the level of wise preparation, the lesser the risk of failure. And the less the risk of failure, the less the fear of failure. Raising kids of different age groups takes correct entrepreneurship skills, significantly when the kids are growing fast.
Get your teenagers familiar with life challenges and a good grasp on the standard cycles of life. Let them learn that failure can be a precursor to success. And instead of doing nothing for fear of failure, they should push through irrespective of constraints.
These kids and teens learn more quickly than adults, indicating they can grow faster. Don’t shield them from failure, but guide them through one until they become functional again. The fear of failure may be costlier than the crash itself.
8 Steps to Build Entrepreneurship Skills in Kids (Teens)
There has been a vibe around young entrepreneurs who have been able to do tremendous things in the world. From building an online boutique through eBay, owning a clothing line, and engineering cars, teens rock. Raising kids is work, but entrepreneurship skills will teach them to stand independently.
The times have passed when parents could discard any idea of a young one as being ‘childish.’ Instead, parents, guardians, and educators should harness this potential that may raise the next successful entrepreneur. Here are a few things to start with building kids’ entrepreneurs:
1. Find a Mentor
The first step to take in helping a child who shows business potential is to connect him with a mentor. This step includes carefully studying successful adults passionate about improving the younger ones. Parents can start from the immediate or distant family or find a suitable mentor on social networks.
LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook may be excellent places to find ideal models. Also, you may connect with higher professionals based on the recommendation of friends or family members. In short, don’t assume you know everything – seek help to nurture your dreams.
2. Build a Viable Network
Following the need to find a mentor is another essential point of building a viable network. A young entrepreneur must learn teamwork with other entrepreneurs. Also, other people like you are making something, and you can gain from each other.
So, if you stick to the right network of people, you can travel far to achieve great things. However, as necessary as this step is, it must be done gradually. Also, entrepreneurs must cultivate this strategy as a long-term habit to achieve great things.
3. Communicate Effectively
Invention requires proper communication of the steps alongside other essential skills. You need to sharpen your communication skills to get people to believe in your dreams, plans, and aspirations. Effective verbal and non-verbal communication requires feedback.
Furthermore, I learned to give speeches and presentations to convey an exciting ideas and practice this skill. Also, engage other professionals one-on-one by sharing your ideas and listening to them. One benefit of communicating with others is building trust faster to enhance your business integrity further.
4. Gain Credibility
Young people often have to contend with roaming about several ideas and strategies. At the same time, they have to prove their worth through profitable work. More so, they must convince the adults they are serious about their business ideas. And that it is worth their investment of time and other resources.
Besides, since young people are often tech-savvy, they can start to build an online business brand. People will take such ideas more seriously when the goal is set and the strategies are carefully implemented. Adhere strictly to discussing the main topic and be disciplined in your interactions.
Also, remember always to put the benefits of your target audience or potential clients at the forefront. Remember that they respond to what benefits them by what you demonstrate, talk about, or render services. You will also acquire recommendations and followership as you improve on these things.
5. Innovate and Adapt
Change is part of life. And any successful entrepreneur has many stories of adapting to unforeseeable changes. Ideally, this ability to adapt and innovate new approaches should not be difficult for teens and kids. Another benefit of innovation is maintaining a uniqueness that makes people choose your brand over others.
First, you must know your competitors well and learn ways to beat them. What do they lack that you can bring to the table? What have you identified as your customer’s needs nobody meets yet? Please don’t underestimate your innovative idea; it may be your key to the limelight.
Besides, the little things can make all the difference in the customers’ brand choice. Have a team that brainstorms new ways to achieve better results. Remember also to respond to market changes and policies to your advantage quickly.
6. Be More Organized
Parents, guardians, and educators must help young people to be more organized. This skill is ideal for maintaining a comfortable and productive life. Lack of organizational skills does not just affect objects around you; it also depends on the productivity of your leadership.
Organizations and businesses run on certain principles that put many essential things in their rightful places. Also, different age groups can learn organizational skills as long as they have the flexibility to adapt to changes. Being organized helps assign tasks to team members and the received responses.
Organized entrepreneurs also find it easier to gain the trust of partners who readily believe in their vision. On the contrary, a lack of organization wastes many resources, including time and money, even with great ideas. Parents and guidance must ensure kids gain entrepreneurship kids while raising them.
7. Manage Your Stress
As a kid or teenager grows, life continues to place more demands on them regarding school and family. All these things might amount to stress if proper management skill is not in place. Also, a business idea can make it more challenging to maintain focus on other things. However, it is not impossible to do all profitably since they are all essential.
Uncontrolled stress can destroy one’s health and affect school and business performance. So, an option may be to enjoy your hobbies, especially when stressful. Also, ensure the time set is constant so the body can look forward to it. Pick a Saturday to either rest or take some time out.
Stress may also be due to doing too much, and then you can manage. So, you may have to review your present workload and consider shedding some on team members. After all, a good leader must also learn to designate tasks to competent hands to achieve more productivity. Then, rearrange every activity on a scale of preference and assign a time for every essential item.
8. Build resilience
Achieving success without strong resilience is a mere gamble and, worst still, a mirage. Resistance is the courage to push through difficult circumstances or setbacks to complete the goal. Business, by nature, will demand much resilience from entrepreneurs, and kids need a lot of it.
This process begins by building the strength of character in teenagers to manage situations. Research has shown that delayed gratification can help parents build this character. Let them learn to wait and keep pushing until they achieve what is right for them. Don’t forget to reward them at the end of every process and encourage them if they encounter any failure.
However, resilience will also develop with age and more social interactions with the correct set of people. You can enhance this resilience by:
- Help them develop problem-solving skills
- Watch over their social network community
- Teach them to honour the uniqueness of other people
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Conclusion
An envisioned society must do its best to raise young entrepreneurs who can put more productive years into lucrative ventures. However, parents, guardians, and educators have tremendous roles in achieving this feat. Raising kids with entrepreneurship skills is how to adapt to the ever-changing world.
So far, we have discussed:
- Fundamental Entrepreneurial Skills Parents and Educators Should Identify
- 3-Ps: The Benefits of Teaching Entrepreneurship Skills to Kids and Teens
- 8 Steps to manage the entrepreneurship skills of kids and teens
On the part of the kids, they can still learn to build sustainable business strategies because they may find some of the old approaches no longer applicable. Generation X must invent better ways to do more incredible things and need all the help they can find.
What entrepreneurship skills have you observed in your kids?