Early Youth Entrepreneur and Business Education: Overview and Advantages

Creating a successful enterprise can feel like conquering the world.
Creating a successful enterprise can feel like conquering the world.

When kids learn to run a business, they learn a number of valuable skills and life lessons. Starting and operating a business involves planning, ambition, execution, and patience. No one expects a child to immediately learn these lessons or instantly see the value in enterprise. Over time, however, a simple childhood experience  such as running a lemonade stand or selling candy door-to-door can help create productive and financially responsible adults.

Benefits to Kids Business Training

Entrepreneurship is central to the American identity. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the number of new businesses directly correlates to the strength of the economy. Why? Small businesses employ the majority of Americans. Even more importantly, almost 25 percent of the American workforce is employed by a business less than one year old. The entrepreneurs taking risks to start new businesses drive the economy and make larger contributions to their communities. Entrepreneur and business education trains a segment of the workforce that employs the rest of the us.

Entrepreneurs Tend to Be Better Educated or Skilled

When thinking about great business leaders, it can be too easy to focus on those without education. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and John D. Rockefeller created their fortunes without going to college. Of course, these entrepreneurs were highly skilled and motivated in other ways. Rockefeller even completed a ten week business course in bookkeeping to secure his first job. And for every well known, wealthy college dropout, there are 20 equally rich entrepreneurs with college degrees. Warren Buffett and Carlos Slim Helu both attended college and each hold some of the largest fortunes in the world. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that 70 percent of entrepreneurs have some college, compared to just 55 percent of the general workforce.

Entrepreneurs Are More Charitable

Most entrepreneurs have endured hard times. They understand what it is like to worry about making the next payment on rent or utilities. On top of those concerns, they are also responsible for the livelihood of many employees. As a result, when entrepreneurs succeed they are far more likely to be charitable than the average population. One study conducted by financial services firm Fidelity, shows that 90 percent of entrepreneurs donate money to charities. Another 70 percent also donate their time to causes by sitting on boards, helping manage operations, and more.

Entrepreneurs Were More Likely To Get In Trouble As Kids

Youth with criminal records have a surprising tendency to become successful entrepreneurs. This might not seem like a plus but guardians and mentors dealing with troublemaking kids, take heart! Adults who got in trouble early in life tend to think independently of authority or existing models. Such an approach can yield success in business by identifying new markets or products. In fact, scientists have even documented the phenomenon, stating that delinquent behavior in youth is the single biggest predictor of adult entrepreneurship.

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