You’re tired of wearing concrete boots to a job you hate. And just as you’re cursing the boss in your mind, your little one runs into the room waving a Junior Achievement magnet from a class visitor today. JA is a volunteer organization that teaches kids how to be workforce ready, to be entrepreneurs, and to be financially literate.
If you want your child to BE the boss, not work for him. It’s time to get started teaching your kids about money.
You took Econ 101 in high school, but it taught you exactly nothing about personal finance or business. And while it’s important to know the interconnectedness of the government and global economies, it’s more practical to teach them how to run their own businesses first.
The excuse that “my parents never taught me about money” is tired. This is your chance to get the younger gen’s in your life excited about earning their own money, possibly owning their own businesses, and definitely building the life you never built, long before they feel like they’re too behind to catch up.
Dig into the Junior Achievement site and you will find pixelated gold.
It isn’t just for parents. If you’re a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or anyone with a young one in their life, you could make a world of difference in theirs by encouraging them to get into a group like JA or..even better than that…doing JA-type projects together.
The New Business Model
There is a revolution in business happening all around you. Giving the kids in your life a head start can endow them with the power to become millionairepreneurs at a young age.
Give your child the tools they need to become the “Digital Nomads” of tomorrow and they’ll be able to live the life you want for them, and that they’ll surely want for themselves.
Digital nomads are entrepreneurs who make their living online wherever they want. If they want to sip the good life overseas, being a digital nomad gives them a way to do it. This is the business model of tomorrow already being enjoyed by many smart entrepreneurs today.
There’s an army of young entrepreneurs out there either on their way to becoming, or who already are, millionaires. Check out people like Laura Roeder and Shama Kabani, both 26 year old millionaires who help businesses make the most of Facebook and social media.
What do digital nomads and young millionaire entrepreneurs have in common?
The Internet. Businesses aren’t built from brick and mortar, they’re built with relationships. Teaching kids to manage businesses by putting relationships first, with hands on experience through specific projects and tangible lessons, the way Junior Achievement does, will bolster their confidence, savvy, and business smarts.
Here are five projects to help get your child started down the road to becoming a true Junior Achievement Digital Nomad:
1. Have a Discovery Week. Help your child find activities they excel at, and love, by getting them involved in different projects throughout the week. Watch for the fire in their eyes as they tirelessly see the project to its finish. That’s the gold at the end of their rainbow.
2. Design A Business Week. Sit down and talk to your little one about businesses and how they work (and how much work they can be). Then, discuss designing a business around the passion you’ve already helped discover.
Note: Research modern ways businesses are being run before you tackle this so they are being groomed for the future.
3. Go on a Business-Mistake Scavenger Hunt. Visit different businesses and teach your budding entrepreneur how to spot the things businesses are doing wrong.
Hint: “Visiting” isn’t limited to brick and mortar stores. Take your safari online. Finding these mistakes will come in handy with the next activity.
4. Have a Brainstorming Week. Come up with problems that you and your little one could possibly run into with their business (don’t forget the ones you found in #3) and brainstorm creative solutions. Let your child come up with some creative ways to make connections and solve problems. (Again, study what’s going on in the business world today before doing this.)
5. Have a Multinational Business Culture Week. Business is getting more global by the day, so knowing how to handle situations from major world cultures with business and cultural sensitivity will take your future Digital Nomad anywhere they wish to go.
Teaching the young ones in your life about owning their own business, the future of business, and how to make the most of a life online can teach them volumes about surviving, and thriving through their financial life.
{ read the comments below or add one }
I’m not sure you can really affect this. Have you ever notice some kids are just hustlers from the beginning? I used to have my mom pack me extra food for lunch, and sell it to my friends in middle school! haha No one taught me this, I just did it on my own. My parents aren’t like this at all, so who knows?
While I am a proponent of teaching financial literacy to kids at a young age I am wary of pushing them too hard as Marbella also mentioned. Kids shouldn’t feel encumbered at a young age. I think it would be better as opposed to designing obvious activities teach them to lean about online businesses in a less obvious and fun way like through games.
I wish I had got more involved with business at a younger age. It’s not for all kids though. You have to find out if that is something that your child would actually want to pursue. Some parents force their own goals and plans upon their children without stopping to think what’s really best for them.
I agree that successful businesses are all about people. Surrounding yourself with and knowing how to work effectively with the right people is key and that is something that in part dependent on the leadership qualities that you are born with but also in large part to how young you start approaching everything with a business sense.
-Jean
Lots of good advice, but do not push too hard on your children as many parents do in sports. They must like what they do and sometimes they maybe want something different.