Teaching Kids the Entrepreneurial Spirit

When I was in 6th grade, I started my first “business”. I LOVED to babysit and had a ton of experience, but after reading all the “Baby Sitter’s Club” Books (By Ann M. Martin) my friends and I thought we could create a babysitting club of our own. But, alas, it was a flop. No one ever called. That didn’t stop me from trying to find other get rich quick schemes (I also got some great ideas from Zack on “Saved By The Bell”. He always had a plan up sleeves to make money quick!) or other kid-friendly business dreams. Fast forward to High School when I took a DECA class (DECA is a national marketing education club) and we also participated in Junior Achievement where we had to create a product, sell it and account for all our costs, profit and losses. It was a great experience. I never would have started my first “grown-up” business, Doodads Promotional Products, if I hadn’t found my love for marketing in High School and then studied it in college, which led me to work at an advertising agency that had promotional product needs.

Where did you first catch the entrepreneurial bug?

What inspired this jaunt down memory lane? I just watched this fantastic TED video and couldn’t wait to share it with you! I love the ideas Cameron Herald offers of ways to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit in kids, and especially love that he’s taught his kids to look for opportunities to make something better or cleaner in their own home for pay. How powerful is it to teach your children to LOOK for what needs to be done? I also love Herald’s reminder to give your kids opportunities to learn how to speak, because communication skills are so important in business. I really couldn’t agree more. From a really young age, mom used to make us give talks and learn to put lessons and presentations together on religious topics to share with our family. I attribute that (and 5 years of competitive debate) to my feeling comfortable speaking in front of audiences and actually really enjoying it.

Click here to see this video

Thanks HP for Small Business (@HP_smallbiz on Twitter and HP for Small Business on Facebook) for sharing this link with me. It enlightened my day! My kids are only 3 and 1 months, so I’ve still got time, but I’m already thinking of ways to implement some of these ideals at a young age.

Check out the video, and let us know what ways you help your kids foster their creative business juices or better yet, what things did others teach YOU as a kid that made you the savvy business person you are today?

Previously posted on StartupPrincess.com I’m a partner and Fairy Godmother there!