Why Teens Need Entrepreneurs as Mentors

Several months ago I felt honored to be invited to mentor a 17 year old high school senior.  As a requirement for graduation, each student chose a year long community service project, which culminated in an awards program. Yesterday, I had the privilege of attending the presentations and came away with an optimism about our future leaders.

Naturally, some of the students thought the project was “lame” and did only the required work with little enthusiasm. But what delighted me was seeing the pride on the faces of many others who were so inspired by the work that they far exceeded the obligatory hours. Their Power Point presentations, story boards, scrapbooks, oral or written reports showed they’d put far more time and energy into the project than was required.

I’m aware that young people often do volunteer community service because their churches encourage benevolence or they know it looks good on a college resume, but whatever their initial motivation, some of these kids discover empathy and purpose that hopefully will give their lives direction. Of course they feel the satisfaction of helping others but they also learn that goodwill and philanthropy isn’t just about volunteering and making charitable donations. That beneficence can be a way of life and a livelihood.

A proponent of socially responsible business, I found it encouraging that these young people gained an appreciation for and interest in environmental,  elder care and youth services careers.  As a life-long entrepreneur and self employment advocate, I was elated that they not only volunteered in civic and  social service agencies but also witnessed adults gleefully earning their livelihood as proprietors of private recycling services and sports camps for disabled children. They discovered that they could be self employed elder advocates, or environmental lobbyists in the private sector. One young man exuberantly reported on his work with a rock band who did a playground improvement project in each town they performed on tour. Another student, a pitcher on the high school baseball team, when asked if he hoped to play professionally, said his project coaching an inner city basketball team inspired him to maybe start a baseball camp for less privileged kids.  A girl whose project was testing river water for impurities, when asked if she wanted to be a researcher said, “No, I’m going to be an author.  I’ve already started writing fictional stories that teach a lesson about our precious natural resources.”

Sure, many of these kids will be job seekers but I’m ecstatic that some are already thinking like entrepreneurs. They know that they don’t have to have a job to do well financially and that volunteering or check writing aren’t the only ways to do good. These grads are heading out into the world knowing that they can make a difference by making a living as a social entrepreneur.  I’m still smiling.

How to Feel like a Genius

When was the last time you were in an Apple Store?

 Even if you aren’t a Mac owner, (and if you aren’t, you don’t know what you’re missing) check out your local Apple store. 

There are few retail stores where the staff seems to be having so much fun. Note the t-shirts on the Genius Bar staff:  “I could talk about this stuff all day.” Their genuine enthusiasm makes it obvious that they love what they do.  Can you imagine feeling like that about the way you spend your work day? I can- because I do and so do most of my self employed friends and you can too. In fact, when you’re doing the work you were born to do, you don’t even differentiate between work time and playtime because when you love what you do it’s seamless.  Now if you’re thinking that your friends and family will find you boring if you talk about your business so much, you’re hanging out with the wrong people. Start surrounding yourself with entrepreneurs and you’ll find the enthusiasm inspiring. Try it-gather up an unlikely group of happily self employed friends: an artist, a geek, physicists and a financial planner. Difficult to imagine this foursome having anything in common, right? But assuming they’ve all created work they love, even if their specific fields are foreign to one another, there’s a passion in the air so powerful you find yourself longing to feel what they feel. If you don’t feel like an Apple Genius, it’s time you start doing something you “could talk about all day.” 

What Recession? eWomenNetwork survey says NOW is a great time to GROW your Small Business

In a recent edition of eWomen eMagazine, Sandra Yancey, CEO of eWomenNetwork says, “The fact is, for small business owners, nothing has really changed that much from what we normally encounter day-in and day-out. Entrepreneurs already know that in good or challenging times we have to expend lots of energy and invest the time to cultivate new relationships, network and transact deals. To survive and thrive, successful businesswomen are not allowing negative news to permeate their thinking,”

The February 2009 Women’s Economic Business study is based on an U.S. (85%) and Canadian (15%) representative sample of 3,964 women business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals of companies with fewer than 100 employees. This was an online survey that represents over 600 different business categories in North America. The survey was conducted from February 16 – 24, 2009 by eWomenNetwork, Inc., an organization recognized as one of the premier women’s business networks with more than 500,000 businesswomen connected to the network in 113 chapters across North America. The article states that when asked how businesswomen are feeling about the current economic situation, 72.5% replied that they are “charging ahead and keeping a positive outlook and 73.8% of the women surveyed felt this isa good time to grow their businesses. These are highly successful women who didn’t get where they are by being “Pollyanas.” This isn’t about denial. It IS about staying positive and focussed and flexible.

I’ve found the same attitude among my self-employed friends. Many are not just surviving but are thriving. Yes, in a time when people are losing their jobs and homes, small business owners are having to get more creative. I think of an economic downturn as a colander in which the complacent will slip through the holes and those who embrace change and re-align rise to the top.

Now, I’m not saying this is strictly a female entrepreneur attitude. I have met men in some of the hardest hit segments who are facing on the challenge head-on. While the construction of new homes is down, some ambitious contractors can do very well by marketing themselves as re-model experts, and while many realtors have thrown in the towel because they have to work so much harder to make a sale, those who are willing to do the work can connect with prospective buyers who weren’t willing to pay inflated prices and present them with a portfolio of “great deals” right now. Even with the mortgage industry in such a mess, a broker who’s willing to work harder can have a hay day with refinance now that rates are low. I believe in any small business, it comes down to observing the problems and finding creative solutions that people will pay you for. 

According to Sandra Yancey, ” Now is the time to re-tool, re-think, re-design and re-align your business.”

Lose Your Job, Find your Passion…and Financial Security

In an article in yesterday’s New York Times, reporters Matt Richtel and Jenna Wortham featured several twenty-something college grads who turned what could have been the misfortune of losing previously coveted jobs into an opportunity to make their own fortune. 

Truth be told, I don’t normally read the technology section-for me it would be like reading the Shanghai daily news (and not the English version), but the headline, “Weary of Looking for Work, Some Create Their Own” obviously caught my attention. Being an avid self employment advocate, I thrive on any proof that entrepreneurs are more secure than employees. 

Richtel says that Alex Andon, a graduate of Duke University, was laid off last May from a biotech company. After months of looking for work, he started building jellyfish aquariums in his San Francisco apartment. Using new technology to keep the fragile jellyfish alive, he’s already sold some tanks, one to a restaurant for $25,000. He’s also selling desktop versions on his website. 

Four of Andon’s roommates have caught the entrepreneurial fever and started businesses of their own, including laminated, fold-out language guides for travelers. 

The Times article also mentions 25 year old Monica Zaminska who was laid by her PR firm and after meeting with several recruiters and sending out countless résumés, started a restaurant review website for food enthusiasts Zaminska says, “I love working so I made work for myself.”

While the headlines are filled with reports of Doom and Gloom, whether you have been laid off or are losing sleep over the next round of job cuts, you can either join the negativity or see this as the perfect time to get started on those entrepreneurial dreams. If you don’t have any idea what you’d like to do, you probably ought to spend an hour with a  life coach and unearth those interests. If you know what you love, but can’t see how you could possibly make a living doing it, or you know what it is you’d like to do but don’t know where to begin, send me an e-mail at themuse@inspiredlivelihoodcom. We’ll look at your idea and figure out how to make it happen. 

As one of Andon’s roommates, Erin Kitchell said, “This is a good a time as any to try something entrepreneurial. There’s not a lot of opportunity out there right now” (for jobs). And as the self-employment muse, I’m telling you, there sure are lots of opportunities out there to start your own little empire.