Engaging the notions and ideas of entrepreneurship at a young age is a great thing. When you can get a child to become interested in business opportunities, and the possibilities that are out there, they learn skills that last a lifetime. Starting in business doesn’t have to be relegated to age, or status. Children can learn concepts fast, and use them to run real life businesses. There’s plenty of stories of young entrepreneurs that have gone out to make serious moves financially, all before they turn 18. Some even starting as young as 8 or 9 years old. Not everyone is going to want to start a full business venture, but there are things that can be done to get started. For instance, chores can help teach fundamentals in many ways.
Linking Allowances As Part of An Education in Entrepreneurship
The first major point of interest for teaching children about business is found in chores. Chores can be leveraged to show cause and effect. You can do one of two things. You can give a child an allowance for the chores that they do per week. This shows them that if they work hard, they will get paid a fair wage. It’s a simple process, and it stays with them for a lifetime
The second solution is found with investing. If one does their chores, they can earn a little money through an allowance. The progression there is to invest that money into a business opportunity. Whether it’s supplies for making lemonade, or it’s to buy raw materials for crafting, the allowance earned from chores can be used as startup capital for business options.
Creating Opportunities
There’s plenty of projects a child can work through, including some that allow them to earn through chores and learn about entrepreneurial endeavors. Working with them to find projects that they can build on their own, or focus on after the fact is the key element. Whether you want them to work through a lot of chores weekly, or a few things here and there, you can show a child the complex nature of what small business owners go through when starting up an endeavor.
To start on this path, set up simple chores first. A few chores for a small allowance on a weekly basis is enough to get started with learning about entrepreneurial roles, and more. Then progress slowly to larger sums, more work, and teach supply and demand. There’s many learning opportunities found with chores, and it all starts with simple weekly tasks.
This is a wonderful idea for teaching your child all about basic business strategies. I've always been a firm believer in paying them to do chores. They not only learn what real life is about, but they are also learning the concept of money. Would you also recommend that they set some of this money aside in a savings account?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, I encourage my son to set a portion aside for mommy to put in his very own savings account, even at the age of 7, the rest he puts in his piggy bank. I also show him monthly how much he's saved as it grows and he gets pretty excited and proud of himself.
DeleteI agree with Anya. If you reward your children with money for completing a task, you will teach them how to be independent from an early age. They will also learn that they need to work hard to achieve what they want in life.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I'm worried that they get the wrong idea of doing chores just to get the money, so I talk to them about what the reward means. I also give them 'bonus' in their own piggy bank, about which they compete for every month! I haven't thought about the saving accounts for them; thanks for the idea!
ReplyDeleteI only reward my kid when he completes the tasks well. I want to let him know that he will only be rewarded if he really puts effort into the tasks. Poorly completed tasks are not rewarded because I want him to understand the importance of working hard.
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