Teaching children how to be entrepreneurs from an early age is not a good idea, it is a must! The one thing that we can all agree on is that the world is changing and we are raising children for a future we don’t know. Children who are self learners, passionate about a cause, thrive in their gifts and talents and who are comfortable with technology and able to work in a team are ready to be entrepreneurs. These children are poised for the future.
One estimate suggests that 65% of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in completely new job types that do not exist today. So let that sink, we can no longer raise children for the jobs or roles we knew.
Many jobs you hear about today were not around 10 years ago, the digital age is causing changes faster than we can keep up. Some of these jobs are app developer, social media manager, Driverless car engineer, uber driver, Big data analyst, digital media marketing, YouTube content creators and even Millennial generational expert among others.
Not only do we have humans to compete against we increasingly have robots to compete with too. More companies are reported as now using bots for their virtual assistants and front desk. There are even applications that would write an article almost better than you can 🙂
The reality is that we can no longer raise children just to be a good employee, Companies expect more for their teams. Every employer wants people that think out of the box, people who are creative and who have digital media skills. So what can you do? Teach your children these top skills to be in a good position for the future.
Marketing Skills
This article about teaching kids to be marketers was spot on! Marketing is an important skill that we mistakenly leave to the experts. Rather did you know everyone needs to be able to market themselves? Kids are natural salespeople. They aren’t afraid to fail, they’re big dreamers, and their young minds know no boundaries. Regardless of whether or not you work in marketing as a career, marketing has become an essential skill in business and life. So why not learn it young? Imagine how much farther along they’ll be if they grasp these concepts early
Be the customer. Teach your kids to apply what they’ve learned in the family. If you’re the customer, they’ll start wondering how they can “sell” ideas to you. For example, they may want to convince you to let them go to a party. To appeal to you, they’ll have to learn to think from your perspective. After all, you’re now the customer.
Financial Skills
Allowing your kids to decide what to save their money for, or letting them decide what they spend their money on is a great way to teach them about money. Teaching kids to strengthen their willpower and giving them age-appropriate independence when it comes to saving and spending will provide a foundation that allows them to grow into responsible, successful adults.
While your child will naturally ask for the latest devices and toys, making them understand the difference between needs and wants will help them make sensible spending decisions from a very young age.
One way to do this is to put it into a context that your child can understand. So if you make your child earn for a summer job for example, help them measure how long it would take to earn that amount of money needed to buy what they asked for.
Read more on How to Raise Entrepreneurs, Let them be Creative.
Help your child open a small business. This is a great way for you to raise children to be entrepreneurs and for them to learn financial skills. The adventure of starting a small business is a great financial and confidence-building lesson for kids. Children will learn how to set and achieve goals, understand profit and price, and further develop basic math skills.
Embrace Technology
STEM is not the future, it is here. STEM which stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics seems to be a buzzword everywhere you go. PwC’s A Smart Move report forecasts that 75 per cent of the fastest-growing occupations will require skills in the STEM fields.. The earlier the better, according to a recent study, it is recommended that the STEM education is implemented as early as elementary schools. “Teachers can foster critical thinking through problem-solving and provide students with an academic edge over the competition.”
The reality is that no matter what career your child will choose, the advantage of being able to think critically and embrace technology will be unquantifiable. Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a far off concept. For example, there are already certain robot companions that can keep people who feel lonely company, such as Jibo or Buddy. What about Alexa? or Siri? these are all examples of how AI has moved closer to our everyday lives.
The best way to equip your children for the future is to train them to be ready for a changing world.
Teach Them Not to Give Up
According to Bill Gates, his parents wouldn’t let him give up just because he didn’t excel at something. His parents certainly know something about raising children to be entrepreneurs.
When you’re raising a smart kid who’s good at a lot of things, it can be easy to let them drop out of activities where they don’t excel. But that’s not what the Gates parents did — they made sure he continued to participate in swimming, soccer, football and playing the trombone — even if he wasn’t the most gifted in those areas. Though it probably would have been easier not to attend kids’ soccer games or have someone in your house learning how to play a brass instrument, Bill’s parents understood that it was important that he learned that he didn’t have to be good at everything, and that failure is perfectly normal and acceptable.
“At the time I thought it was kind of pointless,” Bill Gates said of these activities in an interview with Fortune, “but it ended up really exposing me to leadership opportunities and showing me that I wasn’t good at a lot of things, instead of sticking to things that I was comfortable with.
It was fantastic, and now some of those activities I cherish.
