Kidpreneurs have been dominating the headlines, with the usual ‘30 under 30’ lists for entrepreneurs now being dropped to the top ‘18 under 18’ to accommodate the ever-growing number of childhood business stars.
Shows like Pocket Money Pitch have inspired a younger generation who are more confident with technology. They’re getting their name out there better than most high level PR executives, launching hugely successful businesses before they’ve even started college.
So how do you nurture your child’s entrepreneurial spirt, if they have one? And how do you keep them interested in education along the way?
It’s all about the figures
If you can’t balance the books you haven’t got a business. Ideas will only get you so far, but without capital and the knowledge of how to invest your profit you’ll be out of business within the first year.
This is where maths plays a huge part and if your child’s brain is working at a thousand miles a minute with ideas, it can be a great way to get them to knuckle down and focus.
If business is their thing, give them business examples to solve maths problems, by using the thing they love and inspires them, they’ll be working on their figures without even knowing they’re still studying.
For example, if they want to sell friendship bracelets, get them to work out how much the materials cost, factor in the time it takes them to make them and how much they will sell the final product at. Will they make a profit?
How much of that will they keep and how much will they reinvest?
Give them role models to look up to
In our celebrity-driven society, where it can feel like anyone with an Instagram account or YouTube channel can have a business and make money simply from being online, it can seem like an easy way out of doing the basics. Give your child role models that actually show your child how hard they’ve worked. Take them back through history, pick out politicians and influencers who have changed the world.
Inventors like James Dyson are a great place to start. In order to invent you need to know how something works and you can only do that if you study hard and learn your craft. From science for inventing, to textiles for designing. It’s never too early to take them along to a University open day, to get inspired by the topics they could study.
Find their passion
As the saying goes, do a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. Being a kidpreneur is as much about mindset as it is about action.
If your child has watched you work and achieve, they may want to follow in your footsteps, or they may dream of something totally different.
Whatever their dream is look at the educational back-up to that vision. If they want to be a golf pro, look into the coaching side and the qualifications needed to support that.
By giving them a focus, you’ll help them to work towards their dream and if they don’t reach the stars, maybe they can still have the moon.
