Our society today is filled with people who have an entitlement mentality. People who feel they need to be catered for by the government, employers and when they retire, their children. Almost everyone is content with doing almost nothing to make ends meet. The bare minimum seems to be good enough. Why is this so? It is due to the dearth of real entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is a skill that can be learnt and also developed. We are not supposed to wait till when a young person finishes his Youth Service and is unable to get a job to start teaching entrepreneurship. It can be learnt as a child. Follow me as we look at things you must do to begin to sow seeds of entrepreneurship in your children.

1. Allow your child to work
Many of us are now used to going to work and leaving our kids at home. We do all the work and meet all the needs without carrying our kids along on what the real world is all about. Let them start to work now. Charlie Hamilton, a serial entrepreneur and champion of Lemonade Day in Lubbock, Texas says most successful people worked when they were young. I agree. Most of the skills I have now were learnt as a child. I used to work for my dad from about 10 years of age. We used to leave the house as early as 7.30am and return after 10pm. From that tender age I knew that we could sell more when we get personal with customers. I knew that consistency is important. I knew about stock control. I learnt to be responsible. I learnt to manage my time well. I also had to learn how to manage people. Determine what your child can do. They can baby-sit, sell for you if you do, join the staff in your store, mow the lawns, keep the home, etc. Learning how to work hard, provide customer service, overcome challenges, understanding the value of money, etc are not lessons that can be gotten from books. They are priceless life lessons that are great building blocks for any entrepreneur and they can only be learnt while working.

2. Allow your child manage money
No one learns to manage anything by learning the theories. A child needs an allowance in order to demonstrate good money management skills. You can teach your child financial responsibility by giving him or her an allowance or making him or her work for money. The art of decision making, planning, responsibility, saving, sharing and charity are just some of the lessons that can be taught through an allowance. You should take your child through these and then watch him or her do it. No matter how young your child is, he or she should be able to exercise discretion to spend as they deem fit. You will be surprised that when children are told they will have to spend their own money on that toy or gadget they want, they might not want it as badly any more. Give your child the liberty to exercise some control now so you won’t have to bother when they are adults.

3. Spend quality time with your child
In addition to working and managing money, it is also good that your child spends quality time with you learning about life and business. Helping your child think through projects and face challenges while working will strengthen your bond. He will also be able to learn more skills that will be useful for both business and everyday life. This might be easier for a parent who owns his or her own business as the child is likely to work with them. Whatever the situation ensure your child has enough time to rub minds with you on his concerns about work so he can learn the right lessons from the start. The self-satisfaction and confidence that your child will develop as a result of these experiences will prepare him or her for adulthood.

4. Let your child learn from failure
In school we were all taught that failure is bad. As an entrepreneur failure can be a great thing if a positive lesson is learnt. As a parent begin to influence your child’s willingness to try, fail, learn, and try again. It is an essential skill for entrepreneurs. To do this, frame criticism as a learning opportunity by helping your child practice the skill or brainstorm what they could do differently next time. Don’t punish failure, instead discuss what factors lead to the failure and brainstorm ways to prevent it from happening again in the future. Always seek to find the “learning lesson” in each adversity and encourage your children to NEVER give up.

Watch out for the concluding part.

– Gbonjubola Sanni