We, as parents, try to make our kids understand the value of money. Remember how your mom asked you to wash dishes and pay you some coins for doing it after complaining so much? Chores and little pays taught us the value of hard work, earning, saving, and what it’s like to have one’s own money to spend. Some of us even sold cookies and lemonade in the summer. 😉
Aside from teaching kids these concepts, you can make them see how thinking of solutions to problems are viable business models.
Take the example of Daniela Titiun, a certified Tea Sommelier, fashion lover, crafter and travel addict. Daniela works in the business and fashion industry, but she has always loved tea, this passion birthed a website called Tea Cachai. She has loved tea as a kid, and it is in this love for tea that she founded a business she loves.
Support Your Kids’ Passions
What do your kids like to do? Illustration? Sports? Writing? Video games? Baking or cooking? No matter what they are interested in, you can make them see the business potential behind those. Make your child think about how today’s businesses or companies make money from such interests or hobbies.
This doesn’t mean you need to make them program codes (unless they are into such developments) or sell equipment, but making kids see how money flows through an industry will make them realize where opportunities for business exist.
Nowadays, influencers both in the written side of social media and the vlogging world were brought about by their love of something. And even in the midst of pandemic, micro and nano influencers are rising – whatever niche they are in.
Our daughter loves to bake, while our older son loves to cook. We thought these would be what they would still be in love with years later but not. Dawty loves to draw, and the two boys enjoy gaming and programming that these are the direction they are leaning in into the future. So make sure that you know what they like in the present.
Make Them See Solutions to Problems
Childhood is definitely like a puzzle. Some areas have more pieces to them to be finished, others lesser. In the same way that you help the kids finish puzzles, identifying which would fit the picture best, is the same way with finding solutions. Teach them to look into the pros and cons of decisions – making them look at the outcome of situations before deciding on.
As parents, it’s normal for us to just tell kids what to do when faced with difficult situations. Doing so won’t shape their mind to think critically. Making them see all their options is good when it comes to having a business. They can think out of the box and create solutions that might not be visible to others.
Teach Them The Value of Money
Can younger kids actually earn money? We’ve seen small kids make big names and whose bank accounts blew up by being famous. We’re not just talking about actors like Macaulay Culkin, remember Charlie and his brother Harry in the video “Charlie bit me”? The family made over £100,000 in advertising revenue from the video in 2011, fast forward to today – Charlie is 11 and Harry 13, the money earned has been invested in private education for the boys.
Sure some of the kids who found a lot of money on their hands could not manage them well enough, and parents should be sound when it comes to deciding what the kids can have or not and what should be done when it comes to finances.
Encourage kids to learn the benefits of saving or investing. We have at some point started trading, and we have shown the kids its potential, as well as the risks it entails. Along with financial freedom, it is good to make them see that long-term goals come with wins and losses, and that if they want something, they need to work hard to attain it. (Example: The daughter was able to buy herself a switch after saving up, a gift to herself. She never asked us for extra money.)
Let them Experience Failure
Seeing our kids heartbroken hurts. Seeing them fail at something is also difficult for us. But if we teach our kids how to deal with failure, we’ll both be alright. Recovering from failure, coping with it, is an essential life skill, and is crucial in business. Teach your child “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but rising every time we fall.”
When you succeed at first try, you only learn once, but when you fail and try again, you learn a lot more. Failures are what makes us grow and develop critical thinking. In any case, help your child see what went wrong and then encourage them to try again and avoid such mistake.
Raising Business-Minded Kids Takeaways
Business skills are also skills that kids can use in many aspects of life. For those of you who are considering to put up a business or start raising business-minded kids, you just need to know the 2021 marketing trends to get motivated. When you’re out, ask them questions about everyday things that you encounter, like “how much do you think the ice cream salon earns?” or “do you think a pizza house would be a good business?” Such queries might pique their interest enough to look into the makings of such businesses.
Instil in your children the value of working hard, taking risks, solving problems, and being persistent when failures happen. As parents, raising business-minded kids may not come easy. There are so many things that we do everyday – raising them to be God-fearing, being kind, helping them with school – that adding this task may be difficult. But these skills will help the kids in many other situations – knowing their interests, teaching them the values of not only money, but failure, thinking, and outcomes will make them grow, and they will also develop an entrepreneurial way of thinking.