Some kids have a knack for building legos, some are musically inclined, some love sports, and some are natural born entrepreneurs. If your child shows the following signs, then you may want to consider nurturing that part of them early on.
Signs You May Have a Mini Entrepreneur:
#1 They are always trying to sell something.
#2 They show leadership traits.
#3 They love problem solving.
IDENTIFY THEIR CURRENT PASSION
Do they love drawing? Maybe they could paint on mini canvas boards and you could host an art show for them. Do they love inventing? Maybe you could buy the little invention kits (Dollar Tree has them). Do they like to write? You could encourage them to draw characters and write a book series.
FIND A YOUNG MENTOR
There are young people that are authors, activists, scientists, and artists who have already started local or sometimes national business initiatives. Research the right young person and contact the parent to see if you can schedule a phone chat so that your budding entrepreneur can talk to their more established entrepreneur. It’s a way to get your kid excited about entrepreneurship by seeing that someone their age is already making things happen.
VOLUNTEER FOR A DAY
Contact a local business and ask if you and your child can volunteer for a day and shadow the CEO or vice president.
PLAY AN ENTREPRENEUR GAME
For this you need to buy a little toy register and play money. Let them do this with a sibling or a friend so that it’s more fun. Have them come up with the type of business they want to start, a logo, a mission sentence, what they can make to sell, and how(where and to who) they will sell it. Come up with a realistic timeline for planning with the goal possibly being a little table at a local fair where they sell their items. They can even design business cards out of card stock with their name (a pretend one for safety purposes) with their title.
ATTEND A CONFERENCE OR FAIR
Acton Children’s Business Fair is the philanthropy arm of the Acton Academy and Acton MBA programs. It is the largest entrepreneurship event for kids in North America. The businesses created and launched are entirely by children, and these one day fairs happen all around the world. The purpose of the philanthropy is to promote entrepreneurial skills among children and to help them find their personal mission in life.
Lemonade Day helps prepare youth for life through fun, proactive and experiential programs infused with life skills, character education, and entrepreneurship. The objective is to help today’s youth become the business leaders, social advocates, community volunteers and forward-thinking citizens of tomorrow.