Owning a business is a great way to express ourselves and take control of our lives. It helps us to build confidence and to flex our entrepreneurial spirit. That same spirit can be alive in kids with some encouragement. There are many ways to help kids to develop a business mindset so that they see owning a business as a possibility. This can help them at many stages of their lives to build an income and to learn new skills.
Engage Kids in Business Talk
As you run your business, it’s helpful to talk about it to your child. Tell them the steps that you are taking to run your business and to improve it. Talk to them about why you own a business and how it has helped you and the family. When kids start to see owning a business as a normal part of life, they can better picture owning their own businesses. Talking about your own business values as well can help them to understand how to approach running their own business.
Talk About Their Skills
Kids may not immediately see their skills as being valuable, so it’s important to talk up those skills and suggest ways that they can improve them. Every kid today has a range of digital skills, and those can be used to start a business. Your child may also have skills at crafting, cooking, building, and more. Talk to them about ways that those skills could be valuable to them as the basis of a business.
Discuss Business Ideas
The business that your child starts may be based on the skills that they have, or it could be based on something that they learn to do. There are countless businesses that kids can learn the skills to do, including things like mowing lawns, pressure washing, dog sitting, interior painting, bush trimming, etc. If they have interest in any of these businesses, you can then discuss how to practice and hone those skills so that they are valuable to others.
Help Them Find Resources
There are now many websites that can help kids to understand starting a business and to give them the information they need to get started. There are also books they can read to help them with both their skills and the starting of the business. Some teach younger children about economics while other sites go into depth on the business aspect. You may also want to pay for them to take online courses that can help them to hone their skills or to better understand money, marketing, or entrepreneurship.
Keep Encouraging Them
Virtually every business owner has some failed ideas in their past, and this shouldn’t discourage them from moving forward with new ideas. Teach your child about resilience and how to keep going even when the going is tough. It may be that the first business idea doesn’t work out. Your child should then be told that most business owners do have failures before they come up with better ideas. Encourage them to keep going.
Owning a small business can help kids to develop confidence as well as provide them with an income stream. It teaches them about money and how to use it wisely.