5 Basic Lessons Your Children Will Learn By Starting A Business
Our children are growing up quickly, and with that, also comes learning their responsibilities.
Yes, kids should enjoy their precious time as kids, but as they get older, they grow to be young adults with responsibilities, or more specifically, making and managing money.
“The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” – Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook
In many cases, they get a small part-time job at a café or restaurant, where they learn to take orders and work with others, but then they end up giving up study time, extracurricular activities, and time with family and friends.
Helping your child to start a business will ensure that they don’t have to give up anything important to them.
And, here is a comparison between working at a café versus starting a business.
“I find it best to dive right in and learn the hard way.” – Pete Cashmore, Mashable
- Responsibility.
Café: Working at a café does exercise a lot of responsibility – you have to show up to work on time, and always make sure that your tasks are completed to the best of your ability.
Business: A business teaches you responsibility too. Working hard is the main necessity when starting a business. You have to be responsible and make sensible decisions or you won’t get paid.
“If you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress.” – Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook
- Money Value
Café: Time is money. The longer you work, the bigger the paycheck.
Business: Hard work is money. You’ll need a lot of creativity and original ideas, as well as responsibility, to earn your money.
“If you’ve got an idea, start today. There’s no better time than now to get going. That doesn’t mean quit your job and jump into your idea 100% from day one, but there’s always small progress that can be made to start the movement.” – Kevin Systrom, Instagram
- Marketing Yourself
Café: You have to fill out an application to apply for the job, and attend an interview to market yourself.
Business: You have to market yourself and your business on an ongoing basis if you want to make any money.
“I don’t have big ideas. I sometimes have small ideas, which seem to work out.” – Matt Mullenweg, WordPress
- Customer Service
Café: The customer is always right. You have to make sure your service is always delivered with a bright smile!
Business: With a business, it’s the same. The customer is always right, and although they may not be able to see your smile through their computer screen, a smile can be detected in your tone. Always smile is you want repeat business
“There’s no committee that says, ‘This is the type of person who can change the world – and you can’t.’ Realizing that anyone can do it is the first step. The next step is figuring out how you’re going to do it.” – Adora Svitak, Flying Fingers
- Banking Skills
Café: You learn how to collect a paycheck and deposit it into your bank account.
Business: You learn how to budget for many things, such as advertising, expenses, and taxes. You also learn to take your profits into account and deposit your earnings into your bank account.
“If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not making decisions.” – Catherine Cook, MyYearbook
Both café and businesses have advantages over the other. It is mainly down to preference and availability. The big question is whether you want to be the employee or the employer.
Now it’s down to you and your child to choose the option that’s best suited for your child.
16 Comments
Nkem
Sooner is certainly better when teaching children responsibility. The pick it up rather quickly and the sense of achievement for them is very important when it comes to them developing self confidence. I also love the quotes you plugged in here. As a child, I always played with fake money and hotel key cards like they were credit cards and, sure, now as an adult I like to shop, but I also have a very distinct understanding of the use of money. So important!
Mandavi Jaiswal
Those are some amazing ideas, perfect for summer break.
Collins Michael
Your children also learn to be frugal and about saving money. Overall you made some really terrific points.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful piece of information online.
Sankhamala
It’s true that business can teach important life lessons to kids..but in my opinion it will snatch away their childhood..
Audrey
This is so very true. It is such a good idea for parents to have their child start a business even if it’s just a small lemonade stand.
Jennifer+Van+Haitsma
I would love for my kids to be entrepreneurs. It definitely teaches a lot of really important lessons! Thanks for sharing this.
Lori
Running your own business is so satisfying and to me is the only way to go. My children have seen me run my business and my one son started his own business at 19 and is doing very well. With hard work and determination anything is possible.
Megan Ashley
I love how simply you explained these 5 basic lessons for children to learn by starting their own business. They are all so practical yet important! Teaching children responsibility and allowing their creativity to flourish at a young age only sets them up for success!
ghada
my little girl always try to make small business and i try it to give her a chance to make good thing in her life , thank to share good stuff like that
Melinda Cummings
Great post.
When my son was younger, he had a lemonade stand one summer to save money to buy video games. It helped him learn the value of money.
Tana
This is so awesome! I love the idea of fostering entrepreneurship in children. And if they research and choose a charity to donate some of their profit, you can add empathy to this skill list! 🙂
Kimberlie
I agree with and believe in the value of children starting businesses. In my classroom, we do a unit where children create a business and then have to follow through to providing a product or service and trying to earn income from it.
sophia
great ideas! thank you
Sara Kipp
I will definitely be taking these ideas and using them to help teach my daughter responsibility and money management and the likes. She may only be two, but I’m sure she’s gonna be wanting to do something like this sooner or later. I can see her wanting to own her own business someday, so we gotta start somewhere 🙂
MBF blog
Kids are getting more and more entrepreneurial minded! This list will be a great start for them!
Raisa Mia
This is really interesting, and a great exposure for the little ones too.