Great business ideas don’t just come from adults—more and more kids are getting their feet wet in entrepreneurship with big success. As your children see these models, these are the most important things you need to tell them.
Being a successful entrepreneur requires you to stick with it.
Adult entrepreneurs face a big problem: Even when they have great ideas, there are always people telling them they can’t succeed. There are always individuals who see things negatively, who try to convince entrepreneurs that it’s impossible to move forward. These people might even tell entrepreneurs to give up or that they’re stupid. As a kid, this issue is magnified for you, because you’re still listening to mom and dad, figuring out what you can do and discovering who you are. Some people also think kids are too young or little to do big things. To be successful as an entrepreneur, either as a kid or an adult, you can’t let this criticism get to you. You have to believe in your dream and take it to the furthest possible point you can, understanding it can take time to reach your goals.
A lack of experience does not determine whether your ideas are good or bad.
A lot of the time, people think that you have to have a lot of degrees or years in the field to start a company. It’s certainly true that those things can give you insights, but even very experienced people with plenty of certifications can fail to be creative. It’s being able to recognize a need and then address it in a unique way that really makes an entrepreneur shine, not how much time he’s spent working or how much schooling he has. In fact, some of the most successful entrepreneurs came up with their first major business ideas before they had their first real jobs or graduated. This is not to say that you should drop out of college like Bill Gates did, but rather to say that concepts are way more important than your credentials.
It’s okay to be different.
When you’re a kid, you probably think a lot about fitting in. That’s okay—everyone wants friends and to belong! When you’re an entrepreneur, though, the last thing you want is to be just like everyone else. You want your ideas or ways of doing things to stand out so they get noticed. If you see the world a little differently or ask questions others don’t, you’re doing exactly what you should be doing to be a good business innovator. Your individuality is what will keep you successful through your whole entrepreneurial career.
No matter how good your business idea is, it’s people who make it work.
Entrepreneurs are fantastic at coming up with good ideas. That’s what they do best. They are not necessarily experts, though, and even if they are, eventually, there’s just too much to do in a business for them to handle alone. As much as you might want to prove yourself, you’re going to need to accept some help at some point. You’ll also need to work on how you interact with others. Being able to communicate well is what keeps everything cheap to do and time efficient.
Entrepreneurship is a long-term investment.
If a business idea pans out, an entrepreneur can make thousands or even millions of dollars. Even so, they generally don’t pay for everything out of their own pockets to get started. They often get money from friends and family members, and even that’s typically not enough. They have to convince other people the business will be successful and get them to invest. Some still have to go to the bank to get a business loan. It can take a long time to pay all these people back and start earning a profit, so whenever you start a company, you have to look down the road, understanding that your efforts likely will pay off later rather than sooner. If you do your job well, your company will stand the test of time and you’ll be involved with it for decades.