In 5th grade, my oldest son, Mackenzie, started his own business. He drew his own graphic arts books and sold them. First, he sold them to classmates, then I brought him to business networking events and he sold advertising in the books.
His hopes, dreams, and career were crushed by the public school system when he was told he couldn’t sell his books in school any longer.
True story. I’m not creative enough to make this stuff up.
Before his career was ended, he made over $300 as a 12 year old building his own business. He was learning sales skills, marketing, basic financial management, interpersonal skills, and negotiation along with his artistic talent. He had great pride in his work and the relationships with the adults he met and learned to converse with at their level. He was treated as an equal at business events and congratulated for his initiative by those who understood the work it takes to build a business.
Coming from a family of self-employed business owners, this experience hit me deep. I taught in the public school system for many years and was always amazed that entrepreneurship was never taught as a class. In fact, it’s discouraged in favor of the traditional 40-40-40 mindset. You know, get a good education, work 40 hours a week for 40 years and try to retire on 40% of what you couldn’t afford before. Anytime I offered to teach a course on business ownership, I was shot down. After all, I’m third generation in the family business since 1926, what do I know? As a local business owner, when I tried to offer my assistance in the schools, I was constantly told “we can only accept your help if you’re a non-profit organization”. Seriously?
If you feel that you’ve been stuck in a box by the limited mindset that public school has to offer and want to escape, let me help you. Escape the Rat Race, the 40-40-40 scam, the trap that is considered normal. Contact me to learn how you can build a business to be proud of. It doesn’t take a lot of money and it can be done part time. All it takes is the desire to want to be more and to put in the effort to be successful.
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