Posted on by Assata

Kids and Entrepreneurship

The term entrepreneur was coined by Jean-Baptiste Say, a French economist and scholar.

The word originally came from the French word entreprendre, meaning: undertaking. In English, the term entrepreneur is often translated to an adventurer.  Whether you identify entrepreneurship as a necessary undertaking of some sorts, or a bout of adventure, becoming an entrepreneur takes bravery as well as skill.  As an entrepreneur, I did take a class one summer when I was in grade school at the Belin-Blank Learning Center at the University of Iowa, but most of what I learned about running my business was by running my business.  I googled and asked for help, I found mentors and support, but for the most part, my formal education was all in science and art, not business.  I already knew about supply and demand and profit and loss, but I had to learn about the characteristics of a person running a business and the grit it takes to have success.

Junior Achievment!

That being said, I stumbled upon an opportunity to teach what I have learned to potential young entrepreneurs.  Iowa has a program called Junior Achievement who’s goals are to educate school children in business literacy so they can be informed members of the workforce or even START or RUN A BUSINESS.

The first day of class was amazing!

All the kids had great ideas and goals AND some of them had parents that were either in the middle of or beginning of starting a business.  One girl with brightly colored, braided hair shared with me that her mother was trying to start a hair salon.  She was very excited to learn and she ALWAYS had her hand up and ready to participate in class discussion.  JA (Junior Achievement) had a great lesson plan put together for me the build the foundation of understanding how to run a business by way of a hotdog stand.

As expected, not all the kids were excited about the structure and rules of the lessons, but allowing the students to apply the ideas and concepts to the business they wanted to brainstorm provided an even better understanding of the things I was trying to teach, which was wonderful to witness.  Beyond the coolness of these kids learning the vocabulary and concepts I was teaching, it was amazing hearing about the business these kids brainstormed on their own. Business and careers that I was definitely not thinking about or heard about when I was that age.

I was really glad to have the opportunity to work with these kids and be someone that hopefully, they will think about some of the I said even as adults as I do with people that impacted me in my own youth.  The best part of the whole experience was all the kids telling they were going to take their handouts home to teach their families and help their parents with their businesses.

If you ever get the opportunity to work on projects like this,

be bold and go for it!

The kids are nice, the teachers are helpful and you’re doing something good and beneficial for the kids you work with.

Junior Achievement thank you letters

Are you interested in volunteering?

Contact Junior Achievement to see how you can share your entrepreneurial and business knowledge.

Contact JA Now

Looking for more on financial literacy?

Check out these link for information about how to talk to kids and teens about earning, saving, and investing money.

CreditCards.Com's Financial Literacy

Reviews.com's How To Build Credit

113 Replies to “Kids and Entrepreneurship”

  1. First off I would like to say awesome blog! I had a quick question in which
    I’d like to ask if you don’t mind. I was curious
    to find out how you center yourself and clear your head before writing.
    I’ve had a difficult time clearing my mind in getting
    my thoughts out there. I do enjoy writing however it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are generally wasted just trying
    to figure out how to begin. Any suggestions or tips?
    Many thanks! https://www.keoc1.com

  2. First off I would like to say awesome blog!

    I had a quick question in which I’d like to ask if you don’t mind.
    I was curious to find out how you center yourself and clear
    your head before writing. I’ve had a difficult time clearing my mind
    in getting my thoughts out there. I do enjoy writing however it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are generally wasted just trying to figure out how
    to begin. Any suggestions or tips? Many thanks! https://www.keoc1.com

    1. Thank you!

      My best advice would be don’t force it. Sometimes I will think about writing a post and I won’t actually start until a week later when I have chewed on the idea long enough that I actually know what I am trying to talk about. I also suggest brainstorming and compiling as many ideas as you can so you can work through the bad ones and really build on the ones you think people would like to learn about. I usually have at least 4 to 6 blog ideas at any time.

      I hope that was helpful!

      Happy writing,
      Assata

  5. I absolutely love your blog.. Very nice colors & theme. Did you create this site yourself?

    Please reply back as I’m looking to create my very own blog and want to learn where you got this from or just what the
    theme is named. Many thanks!

  6. Hello there! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be ok.
    I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to new posts.

  7. Howdy, There’s no doubt that your site might be having browser compatibility
    issues. When I look at your site in Safari, it looks fine however,
    when opening in I.E., it has some overlapping issues.

    I merely wanted to give you a quick heads up! Apart from that, excellent blog!

  8. What’s up, this weekend is nice for me, for the reason that this occasion i am reading this wonderful
    informative piece of writing here at my house.

  10. I have learn several excellent stuff here. Definitely
    value bookmarking for revisiting. I wonder how so much attempt you
    set to create this type of magnificent informative web
    site.

  11. It is really a great and helpful piece of info. I’m happy that you just
    shared this useful info with us. Please keep us up to date
    like this. Thanks for sharing.

  12. Magnificent beat ! I would like to apprentice while you amend your site, how can i subscribe for a blog
    website? The account aided me a acceptable deal. I had been a little bit acquainted of this your broadcast provided bright clear idea

  13. Wonderful site you have here but I was curious if you
    knew of any community forums that cover the same topics discussed in this
    article? I’d really like to be a part of
    community where I can get opinions from other knowledgeable people that share the same interest.
    If you have any recommendations, please let me know.
    Thanks a lot!

  14. Hi there to every body, it’s my first pay a quick visit
    of this weblog; this web site consists of amazing and really excellent data
    for readers.

  15. Howdy! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers?

    I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any tips?

  16. If some one needs expert view on the topic of
    running a blog then i advise him/her to pay a quick visit this website, Keep up the good
    job.

  17. Howdy would you mind letting me know which web host you’re working with?
    I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different browsers and I must say this
    blog loads a lot quicker then most. Can you recommend a good web hosting provider at a reasonable price?
    Kudos, I appreciate it!

  18. Hi terrific website! Does running a blog similar to this take a large amount of work?
    I’ve virtually no expertise in computer programming but I had been hoping to start my own blog soon.
    Anyway, should you have any recommendations or tips for new
    blog owners please share. I understand this is off topic however I simply wanted to ask.
    Thanks a lot!

  19. Have you ever thought about including a little bit more than just
    your articles? I mean, what you say is valuable and everything.
    However imagine if you added some great visuals or videos to give your posts more, “pop”!
    Your content is excellent but with images and clips, this website could certainly be one of
    the most beneficial in its niche. Terrific blog!

  21. Excellent blog here! Also your site loads up very fast! What web host are you using?
    Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish
    my website loaded up as fast as yours lol

  22. I was suggested this website by my cousin. I am not
    sure whether this post is written by him as nobody else
    know such detailed about my difficulty. You are
    incredible! Thanks!

  24. I’d like to thank you for the efforts you have put in penning this site.
    I am hoping to view the same high-grade content from you in the future as well.
    In truth, your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own, personal website now 😉

  25. Thank you for sharing your info. I truly appreciate your
    efforts and I will be waiting for your further write ups thank
    you once again.

  26. I loved as much as you’ll receive carried out right here.
    The sketch is attractive, your authored material
    stylish. nonetheless, you command get got an impatience over that you wish be delivering
    the following. unwell unquestionably come further formerly again since exactly the same nearly
    very often inside case you shield this increase.

  27. Thanks for your personal marvelous posting! I truly enjoyed
    reading it, you’re a great author.I will make sure to bookmark your
    blog and may come back sometime soon. I want to encourage one to continue your great job,
    have a nice day!

  28. Hi I am so happy I found your blog page, I really found you by mistake,
    while I was searching on Google for something else, Anyways I am
    here now and would just like to say many thanks for a marvelous post and a all round thrilling
    blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read through
    it all at the moment but I have book-marked it and also added your RSS feeds,
    so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the awesome job.

  29. I was suggested this web site by my cousin. I’m not
    sure whether this post is written by him as nobody else know such detailed
    about my trouble. You are wonderful! Thanks!

  30. I feel that is one of the such a lot vital information for me.

    And i’m happy studying your article. But wanna remark on some normal issues,
    The site taste is perfect, the articles is in point of fact nice :
    D. Good job, cheers

  31. Simply wish to say your article is as amazing. The clarity in your post is just
    excellent and i can assume you’re an expert on this
    subject. Well with your permission allow me
    to grab your feed to keep up to date with forthcoming post.

    Thanks a million and please continue the gratifying work.

  32. naturally like your web-site however you have to take
    a look at the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling
    issues and I find it very bothersome to inform the truth
    on the other hand I will surely come again again.

  33. Hello everyone, it’s my first go to see at this site,
    and paragraph is genuinely fruitful in support of me,
    keep up posting these content.

  34. I am really impressed together with your writing talents as neatly
    as with the structure in your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify
    it yourself? Either way stay up the excellent quality writing, it’s rare to peer a great blog like this one
    these days..

  40. You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this matter
    to be really something which I think I would never
    understand. It seems too complicated and very broad for me.
    I’m looking forward for your next post, I’ll try to
    get the hang of it!

  42. hello there and thank you for your info – I have certainly picked up
    something new from right here. I did however expertise some technical points using this web site, as I experienced to reload the site a lot of times previous to I could get it to load properly.
    I had been wondering if your hosting is OK? Not that I’m complaining, but slow loading instances times will sometimes affect your
    placement in google and can damage your high quality score if advertising and marketing
    with Adwords. Well I’m adding this RSS to my email and could look out
    for much more of your respective interesting
    content. Ensure that you update this again soon.

  43. I’ve been browsing online more than 3 hours today,
    yet I never found any interesting article like yours.
    It is pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all webmasters
    and bloggers made good content as you did, the net will be a lot more useful than ever before.

  45. Hello, Neat post. There’s a problem along with your
    site in web explorer, would check this? IE nonetheless is
    the market chief and a big component to people will pass over your fantastic writing due to this problem.

  47. Wow, wonderful weblog structure! How lengthy have you ever been running a blog for?

    you make blogging look easy. The overall glance of your site is fantastic, let
    alone the content!

  48. I must thank you for the efforts you’ve put in penning this blog.
    I am hoping to see the same high-grade blog posts from you later on as well.
    In fact, your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my very own site now 😉

  49. My brother suggested I might like this blog. He was totally
    right. This post actually made my day. You cann’t imagine simply how much time I had spent for this info!
    Thanks!

  51. Hi i am kavin, its my first occasion to commenting anywhere, when i read this post i thought i could also make comment due to
    this sensible article.

  53. wonderful points altogether, you just gained a new
    reader. What could you recommend about your publish that you simply
    made some days in the past? Any sure?

  55. There’s been a lot of changes since I last left a comment about my
    site. I’m starting to add the new features that I’ve wanted
    to. I hope in the next few weeks that all of it will be up and running.
    It’s going to take time and I haven’t had much of it
    to dedicate to this project. I thank you all for
    visiting my site and I hope you have a great weekend!

  58. Hello! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I
    could find a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the
    same blog platform as yours and I’m having trouble finding one?
    Thanks a lot!

  59. Link exchange is nothing else but it is simply placing the other person’s
    web site link on your page at appropriate place and other
    person will also do similar in favor of you.

  60. Hey There. I found your weblog using msn. This is a very well written article.
    I will be sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful info.
    Thanks for the post. I will certainly comeback.

  61. Hello are using WordPress for your site platform?

    I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and set up my own. Do you require any html coding expertise to make your own blog?
    Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    1. I do use WordPress. You don’t really need any HTML expertise, because there are so many plugins that you can use. Good luck!

  62. Wow that was strange. I just wrote an really long comment but
    after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr…
    well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyway, just wanted to
    say excellent blog!

    1. My blog has a buffer so I can check comments before they go public. This way I can keep my blog family friendly. I admit I need to check my comments more often. Thank you for commenting!

  63. Hello, i think that i saw you visited my weblog thus i came to “return the favor”.I am trying to find things to improve my
    web site!I suppose its ok to use some of your ideas!!

  64. Oh my goodness! Impressive article dude! Thank you so much, However I am experiencing issues
    with your RSS. I don’t understand why I cannot join it.
    Is there anybody having the same RSS issues?
    Anyone who knows the solution can you kindly respond?
    Thanx!!

  66. My brother suggested I would possibly like this web site.
    He was once totally right. This publish actually made my day.
    You cann’t imagine just how a lot time I had spent for
    this info! Thanks!

  67. Thanks for your marvelous posting! I genuinely enjoyed reading it, you might be a great author.
    I will make certain to bookmark your blog and will eventually come back
    in the future. I want to encourage one to continue your great job, have a nice
    evening!

  68. Good day! Would you mind if I share your blog with my twitter
    group? There’s a lot of folks that I think would
    really enjoy your content. Please let me know.

    Thanks

  69. I am really enjoying the theme/design of your weblog.

    Do you ever run into any browser compatibility issues?
    A number of my blog visitors have complained about
    my blog not operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Chrome.
    Do you have any tips to help fix this problem?

  73. Heya this is somewhat of off topic but I was wanting to know if
    blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML.
    I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding know-how so I
    wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

  74. I don’t know if it’s just me or if everybody else experiencing problems with your website.
    It appears as though some of the text on your posts are running off the screen. Can someone else please provide feedback and let me know if this is happening to them as well?
    This could be a problem with my web browser because I’ve had this happen before.
    Many thanks

  78. A person necessarily assist to make seriously posts I’d state.
    This is the very first time I frequented your web page and thus far?
    I surprised with the research you made to create this particular publish
    incredible. Great job!

  79. Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew of any widgets I could add
    to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates.
    I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite
    some time and was hoping maybe you would have some experience
    with something like this. Please let me know if you run into anything.
    I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to your new updates.

  80. I was curious if you ever thought of changing
    the structure of your website? Its very well written; I love what
    youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more
    in the way of content so people could connect with
    it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two pictures.
    Maybe you could space it out better?

  81. Greetings, I do believe your blog might be having
    web browser compatibility issues. When I look at your web site in Safari,
    it looks fine however, when opening in Internet Explorer, it’s got some overlapping issues.

    I simply wanted to give you a quick heads up! Besides that, wonderful website!

  84. Heya i’m for the primary time here. I found this board and I find It truly useful & it helped me out much.
    I am hoping to offer something back and aid others like you aided me.

  85. Good site you’ve got here.. It’s hard to find high quality writing like yours nowadays.
    I seriously appreciate people like you! Take care!!

  86. I’m really enjoying the theme/design of your site.

    Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility issues?
    A few of my blog audience have complained about my blog not operating correctly
    in Explorer but looks great in Chrome. Do you have
    any recommendations to help fix this issue?

  88. Unquestionably believe that which you stated. Your favorite reason seemed to be on the internet the easiest thing to be aware of.
    I say to you, I certainly get annoyed while people consider
    worries that they plainly don’t know about. You managed
    to hit the nail upon the top and defined out the whole thing without having side-effects , people could
    take a signal. Will probably be back to get more. Thanks

  96. Everyone loves what you guys are usually up too.
    This kind of clever work and reporting! Keep up the awesome works guys I’ve
    incorporated you guys to our blogroll.

  98. I think this is one of the most vital information for me.

    And i am glad reading your article. But want to remark on few general things,
    The site style is perfect, the articles is really great
    : D. Good job, cheers

  100. Thank you for your support. This topic was one I chose. I volunteered with Junior Achievement, and because I saw how beneficial it was for the students, I needed to share with others.

  101. Greetings! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could locate a captcha
    plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having problems finding one?
    Thanks a lot!

    1. I haven’t tried to put one it yet, if I do, I will let you know. If there is a captcha already set up, it came that way.

      Best!

  102. Its like you read my mind! You seem to know a lot about this, like you wrote
    the book in it or something. I think that you can do with some pics to drive the message home a bit,
    but instead of that, this is great blog. A great read.

    I’ll definitely be back.

  103. This is a good tip particularly to those fresh to the blogosphere.
    Short but very accurate information… Many thanks for
    sharing this one. A must read post!

Comments are closed.