Teaching kids to be entrepreneurs can be done easily. Before we look at how this can be done, I would like to challenge this thought…
Most people would consider a small business owner to be an entrepreneur; however, I’d argue that small business owners are not true entrepreneurs.
The key differences are…
Self employed or small business owner’s core value is the need for independence, a need to be their own boss and quite often they are perfectionists. Therefore they like to run the show and will devote all their time and often money to have a successful business. Business growth will be determined by the number of hours the owner puts into it.
Whilst an entrepreneur owns a system and it is the system that does the work with or without the owner. An entrepreneur’s focus is in the development of a great system and finding great people to run it. They use other people’s time and other people’s money to do the work for them. Their systems will continue even after they pass from this world. An excellent example of an entrepreneur is Thomas Edison and his formula for General Electric. He is no longer with us, but his empire continues. Other examples are Henry Ford’s world famous Ford motorcar company and more recently Steve Job’s company Apple.
However, before you can become an entrepreneur, you need to come up with an enterprising idea and hone your skills running a small business. Start kids off as small business owners, then coach them on being entrepreneurs. As their understanding and confidence with running a small business grows they will then develop the mindset required to be an entrepreneur.
It’s not easy to be an entrepreneur! Unless you were fortunate to be born into a family of entrepreneurs, you would likely have been conditioned to be a worker, or small business owner, not an entrepreneur. Most people (including family and school teachers) don’t have the knowledge, skills and most importantly, a mindset of an entrepreneur, so it is very unlikely that you will become an entrepreneur from family and school. Entrepreneurs need to educate themselves!
So how does one do that?
The earlier you start the easier it is. Children can build an entrepreneur mindset easier than grown ups. Having a good entrepreneur mentor is very important and children need to have opportunities to practice being an entrepreneur. Teaching Kids to be Entrepreneurs can most certainly be achieved.
As a prerequisite to becoming an entrepreneur, adults must learn about their subconscious conditioning around enterprise and money before they can really progress. Once understood, they then need to change that conditioning. This is a slow process and can be achieved through self efficacy.
By being focused on working through the process of running an enterprise, then celebrating achievements and successes, a person (adult or child) will develop self efficacy. By repeating this practice over and over again and increasing the challenges, then gradually a person will see themselves as a person who can run an enterprise.
To move to the level of entrepreneur, it is then about creating systems. This would mean finding the right people to build your enterprises into growing assets that produce passive income.
Being an entrepreneur is not an inherited trait, but a learned behavior. Giving your kids a financial education will empower them for life!