Today on Women On Business, I’m happy to welcome guest blogger Jacquelyn Butler of JackiesBizBlog.com who brings us the following guest post, “Raising Entrepreneurial Children.”
I recently was reading a post on a forum about raising children to be entrepreneurs and I was grateful for the fact, that I, myself as a parent do NOT want to raise my child to think that she has to go and work for the Corporate world in order to make a living.
For those of us who were not raised to be independent from working outside the home, we now have that opportunity to mold our children into thinking for themselves and living their lives passionately and freely to do whatever it is they are set out to do. Educate them not only through school or what is right or wrong, but educate them to actually live their lives free from 9-5, time away from family and the morning commute.
Having a 4 year old, her independence already shines through. [Wink] Although when she is older, I would hope that she will follow in her mother’s footsteps and take on the challenge of running her own home based business and expanding her mind and skills by being an independent business owner.
A good way to get started is to have your child help you out with your business or your family business if you have one; for example, if you sell on eBay and need to mail packages, let them help you put the labels on the packages or the tape on the boxes (depending on how old they are). If you run an online site, teach them HTML or point them in the direction to get started.
Purchase some business books that are easy for them to understand and let them come to you with any questions that they may have.
If they have a product or service to offer, give them a list of marketing tips so that they can be consistent in their plan.
Create a Business notebook with them. Have them jot down all their ideas and goals for their business. Review their notebook with them weekly to see how they are progressing.
You can also do it the old fashioned way and let them run their own lemonade stand during the Summer months. Giving your child a hands on experience can expand their business education.
All of these little things that you can do together can help your child go a LONG way towards financial independence. They maybe able to pay for their own college education or have a substantial savings after they graduate from high school.
Remember, we always want to give our children more than we have ever had, now lets take that extra step and give them so much better than that. [Smile]
Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 30-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored a dozen books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).
Follow Me:
