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What Parents Should Invest In Their Young Entrepreneurs

Are your young entrepreneurs ready for the challenges of being in business and being a kid? We are all aware of the phenomenal influx of success stories involving young entrepreneurs in the last decade. Thanks to the Internet and the accessibility of computers, young people have more opportunities to make money than ever before. YoungBiz recently ran a feature about two youth-owned businesses that sold for several million dollars; the owners weren’t even out of high school. While the majority of young entrepreneurs will never see that kind of payoff, most do see enough reward to thrust a new sense of independence upon them. Are your kids prepared to handle this success and independence?

Take a trip to the business section of any bookstore and you’ll find shelves of books with sections on character and integrity. In fact, character ranks higher than any other trait in successful business people. So, while your kids are investing in their business, what should you be investing in them? An investment in character is the most important gift you can give them. After all, we have to remember we’re dealing not just with business owners, but also our children.

A good way to look at character is to imagine how your child will handle a situation when no one else is around to pass judgment. How will they be able to cope with failure in their endeavors? Are you instilling traits that will enable them to make strong decisions and overcome burdens? The old saying "It takes a village to raise a child," isn’t dependable in this day. If you want the job done properly, you must do it yourself.

Character traits in children and business leaders:

• Compassion: Teaching children to love, care, possess kindness, self-esteem, and obedience
• Integrity: Realizing the value of truth, honesty and discernment
• Responsibility: Having discipline and self-control, achieving dependability
• Cooperation: Working with others, possessing authority with generosity, kindness
• Forgiveness: Humility, understanding, showing love, peace
• Respect: Loyalty to others, patience, honoring value and tradition
• Initiative: Courage to start, motivation, and moral strength
• Perseverance: Endurance, diligence, and optimism

It’s common for a young entrepreneur to build a good sense of self-esteem, but we must be careful that they have respect for others. With siblings this can be critical. Invest in your children a mutual concern for one another. Businesses are wonderful challenges, but family will be vital when troubles arise with the business, as will friends. Respect not only opens doors, it prevents them from closing.

Honesty can overcome wrongdoings and open respect for admittance of fault. It is an essential trait. It also negates inflation of ego. The feeling of integrity in a child is priceless. With honesty, forgiveness and respect of others are harmonized. This builds upon the realization that cooperation with others is valuable and necessary to achieve success.

There is a famous quote which states, "The harder I work, the luckier I get." When a child is given the traits of respect, honesty, integrity, and compassion, then initiative, perseverance, and responsibility will follow. Once a child has a foundation of solid character, the "luckier" they will be in life. They won’t be afraid of working hard and they will be able to ride the waves of success and failure and remain strong through it all. Encourage your children in their business projects, teach them how to work finances and handle money, but remember that a much greater investment can be made.

Related texts:

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens: The Ultimate Teenage Success Guide, by Sean Covey (Simon and Schuster, 1998)

What Do You Stand For?: A Kid’s Guide to Building Character, by Barbara Lewis (Free Spirit Publishing, 1998)