I recently came across a video of Cameron Herold giving a speech entitled “Raising Kids to be Entrepreneurs.” Cameron is a business coach, mentor and CEO coach who is passionate about recognizing entrepreneurial traits in kids and developing those traits into lifelong skills.
While I don’t agree with everything in this video, Herold makes several excellent observations about kids and entrepreneurial traits. Creativity, enthusiasm, thinking outside of the box, an abundance of energy and a desire to make money are traits that are common to successful entrepreneurs. These same traits are often not desired in a typical classroom setting and unfortunately, are occasionally discouraged. Herold also points out that kids can be raised in an environment of entrepreneurship by parents who encourage and enable business adventures from a young age. He gives several examples of jobs that he created when he was a kid that ultimately taught him many business lessons.
After I watched the video, I spent some time thinking about what I do to encourage entrepreneurship in my own kids. I have discovered that I have a lot of room for improvement! Too often I adopt the attitude of “I’ll just do it myself” because it saves time. What I should strive to do is look at the strengths, ideas and dreams of my kids and encourage them to look beyond the expected. My daughter has a quote on her Facebook page that I just love. “Those who are great didn't become so by confining themselves to the expected and accepted.” I’m not sure where the quote originated but I love the message.
In part two of “Encouraging Entrepreneurship in Kids & Teens”, I will tell you about an amazing young adult book whose main characters are two middle school kids that embody the entrepreneurial spirit. It’s a great read for both boys and girls.
Just had to add a note...I asked my daughter where she got the quote that I mentioned above. She wrote it herself! Wow...proud mom moment!
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