Calling All Business Owners!
Please comment on this blog entry, if you're interested in helping with the Young Entrepreneurs Idea I had in any of the following ways: Sharing business experience Connecting child-owned businesses with clients, vendors or marketing resources Helping lead the group Mentoring child entrepreneurs Expertise in a specific industry Donating money
My goal is to find 50 business owners who are willing to help in at least one of the ways listed above. I beleive we can really make a difference to these kids and the world-at-large!
I agree that you would need a big committment from the parents - if you are pulling in other business owners they would really want that (as I would/will). A good example of this are the "robotics" teams in high school. If the parents are deeply involved, the kids can do some great things. If not, the few parents that are coaching them end up doing 90% of the work themselves just to get something out the door for the competition.
Let me know what the next step is...
-tj
I agree with your comments: Parents will ABSOLUTELY need to be involved in the process in a very real way. They will have to be committed to helping their child(ren) succeed. Sometimes that will mean encouraging, supporting, helping, motivating, reminding, consoling, and probably even driving! But parents CAN'T do it FOR their kids. This will have to be something the children do themselves, with lots of support!
When I was teaching 6-8 grade, I taught a unit on Business Ownership. I tried it with 6th graders, but generally speaking, they were not ready for the comcepts. By 7th grade (approx age 12-13), again generally speaking, the children were much more ready to embrace the concepts and more motivated to make a difference in their own live (and even in the world!) I would say that we probably want to work with kids age 13-18. However, there are certainly kids younger than this who could be interested and benefit tremendously also.
I think we'll be able to tell quite easily which children (and parents) are serious by seeing their effort and results. Since there is no benefit in carrying anyone, those who aren't serious will need to leave the group and return when they are ready.
HURRAY! WE HAVE ONE BUSINESS OWNER COMMITED TO HELP! 49 to go!