Starting our kids down the path of Foundership

[View this email in your browser]( What should we Teach Kids about Startups? TL;DR: “We're all growing up in a brave new world of entrepreneurship, yet our kids are still being prepared for the workforce of 1950. What can we do to teach our kids the fundamentals of becoming a startup Founder at an early age? Imagine what would happen if we spent as much time trying o teach kids to become entrepreneurs as we did trying to get them to prepare for the SATs? Let's remember that a disproportionate amount of our academic focus is around a series of standardized tests designed in an era where homogenizing the workforce was our number one goal (side note: it worked). Now our goal is the polar opposite: differentiating our workforce. The only way our kids will succeed is if they can stand apart from others and chart their own course. That's the essence of entrepreneurship, and it's something we can absolutely teach. Today’s Advice Sponsored by Brands]( Why should we start with kids as entrepreneurs? Kids are natural entrepreneurs. They possess the most powerful skill any of us can have which is a natural tendency to question everything (a fact that is often less endearing as a parent!) Their natural inquisition is exactly what we want to cultivate as early as possible into a skill that translates "Why can't this work?" into "Let me go make it work." Kids haven't learned that they can't do things yet, which is fundamentally what separates entrepreneurs from everyone else. The most valuable lesson we can teach kids is "ownership" We need to teach kids the value of working on something that they own. As Founders, we've all gone through the process of "birthing a company," much like a child, where we feel total and complete ownership of something. It's part of us. We're not just talking about equity ownership (although that's nice), we're talking about emotional ownership — a fundamental attachment of pride toward something we have created. We need to give kids a taste of that ownership early and often. We need to teach them that the world can be something of their own creation, not just a prescribed job at a company that was someone else's passion 50 years ago. Are we saying every kid should become a startup Founder? Definitely not. Our job should be to open the Pandora's Box of entrepreneurship for every child. The goal isn't to make every kid a startup Founder any more than the goal of teaching music or athletics is to make every kid Beethoven or Serena Williams. Teaching kids about startups is about showing them a path to personal creation, emotional ownership, and, let's just get crazy here and say...a job that they might just actually be insanely passionate about. The world already has plenty of bored employees. The world needs more passionate Founders. Start building customer relationships that last As an early-stage business owner, creating a brand identity is probably not at the top of your list. However, you’re losing out on forming important connections with customers - connections that will get them to keep coming back. “A brand for a company is like a reputation for a business. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things right.” Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO. It doesn’t matter if you lack design skills or financial resources; your business needs a visual identity. Learn why everyone - from first-time coffee shop owners to John Mayer - comes to Tailor Brands to make their logo and build their brand. Tailor Brands’ AI-driven platform makes it easy to create a logo, website, and on-brand designs yourself, for the price of a cup of coffee. Oh, and to kick things off, they’re offering 40% off all plans with promo code: Startups. [Check it out!]( In Case You Missed It [How to Mix a Family and a Startup.]( Given that our time is so scarce, what can we do to be best prepared to be a good spouse and parent while also being the best Founder we can be? [How to Set Your Entrepreneurial Kids Up For Success.]( If our kid is interested in launching their own business, there are three ways we can provide the support they need. [Build Your Startup Around Your Passion.]( Instead of starting with, "what will make the most money?" and hoping we like it, how do we start with what we're most passionate about and figure out how to do that profitably? Thanks from the Startups Team, Wil Schroter Founder, CEO and Startup Sensei Ryan Rutan CMO and Man with the Golden Podcast Voice [Share]( [Share]( [Tweet]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Forward]( Copyright © 2020 Startups.com, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you joined Startups.com. Our mailing address is: Startups.com 1322 Manning PkwyPowell, OH 43065-1100 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. [Mailchimp Email Marketing](