23 Sep 2010, Posted by Cris Buckley in New Entrepreneur, 4 Comments. Tagged creative thinking, entrepreneur, identity, strengths

How I Accidentally Raised 4 Entrepreneurs

I read Barbara Taylor’s article today on How to Raise a Business Owner and it got me thinking about my own kids. I didn’t purposefully raise them to be entrepreneurs—and yet all four of them are entrepreneurial!!

I did purposefully raise them according to their own individual bent though. I wanted no clones—and I didn’t get any. I got four delightful originals!

If you follow this blog—you know that I homeschooled my children—which gave me some advantages. Here are some things I was able to do with them that may have made the difference.

1. Believe in them absolutely. Believe in who each one is—and be able to structure their schooling around that.
2. Provide opportunities for—or just allow— “discovery learning”. This means they can try things on their own and learn from cause and effect. It fosters independence.
3. Encourage independent thinking (no clones!). When they are encouraged to think for themselves—they have more confidence—and are open to creative approaches and solutions.
4. Acknowledge and honor each one’s unique gift/strength mix. There are no expectations to be like someone else, but strong expectations that each will be remarkable in his own arena.
5. Let them play Robert Kiyosaki’s Cashflow 101 (How to Get Out of the Rat Race).

Here’s a hodge-podge of what that looks like:

Shannon is extremely social and loved doing hair. She also liked law—but hair won out. In high school, she had developed relationships at a high-end salon…followed and interviewed stylists…did a science project on the chemistry of hair…etc. Today she owns her own high-end salon.

Tim is kinesthetic (always moving)…right-brained…brilliant. When he was 15 and working in a window warehouse—he learned American Sign Language from the deaf foreman he worked for and translated back and forth between the foreman and everyone else in the company! Today he is building capital for real estate investment.

Michael is a structures and systems kind of guy—left-brained, solid. It was his idea…at 12…to start a lawn company with his younger brother, Pat. Pat was the aesthetic part of the team—he designed the flyers, the way the yards had to look, etc. Mike was the negotiator.

Together, they made thousands of dollars each year for about 8 years. They bought their own commercial equipment…did their own advertising—full page ads in the neighborhood newspaper—did their own scheduling…estimating…negotiating…banking, etc.

They read most of Robert Kiyosaki’s books…and books on lawn diseases, etc. They hired other kids when their workload was too heavy—matching skills to the job at hand.

Mike will graduate college this year with a double major—Business Management and Entrepreneurial Business. Pat is also in college and is exploring ways to make a significant impact through entrepreneurship.

Four kids—all different—but all entrepreneurial!

Have you raised entrepreneurs? What’s your experience? Do you want to expose your kids to entrepreneurial thinking? How will you do that?

Related posts:

1. Here’s to the Crazy Ones. The Misfits…