Why Start a Business?
Why should children and young adults start their own business rather than just learn about business?
We think there are several good reasons to start a business.
1) Students learn experientially.
By teaching students how to start their own business they learn experientially. They will gain valuable insights into how a business functions and how goals can be achieved through effort. A business takes effort, but if a student is motivated to make their own money, they learn to put in the effort.
2) Business skills are important to life.
Students will either work for a business or interact with businesses all their lives. It is important for them to understand how they work.
3) Children and Young Adults alike want things and owning a business gives them the opportunity to set goals and work toward them.
Setting and reaching goals provide a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. In a quick gratification world, having a business and working toward a goal teaches delayed gratification and perseverance which comes through commitment, hard work, patience and endurance.
4) It exposes and encourages students to be socially-minded.
Starting a business teaches that working for money is not a self-service endeavor. Just like life, businesses exist with the help others. Having coffee to sell depends on the farmers in Colombia. Likewise, having supportive family, friends and customers makes a business profitable. In return, children learn that they need to give back through charitable contributions. In our case, our coffee roaster leads by example supporting coffee Kids, an organization that help families in coffee-producing regions around the world improve their quality of life. To find out more, go to www.coffeekids.org.
5) No matter what a child's age, owning a business looks great on a college application.
Here is a quote from www.WikiAnswers.com : "The top schools in the nation -- I'm thinking the Ivies here -- aren't interested just in well-rounded individuals...they are looking for EXCEPTIONAL students. It is far better to be, say, the president of a club than a member of many disparate ones. It is better to be an all-state softball player than an unexceptional player in three sports. It is better to have had one essay published in the New York Times Sunday Magazine than a hundred articles printed in local newspapers. It is better to have made $100,000 for yourself with some sort of clever innovation than volunteering a few hours a week at the local hospital. Ivy league schools want tomorrow's leaders and world-changers, not well-rounded get-alongs. Make a mark for yourself in something or somehow and you will stand out from the others in the admission process."
"...focus on joining organizations (school clubs or otherwise) where you can demonstrate something in the way of leadership or constructive life experience."
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