» Teaching business

Faith Based Entrepreneurship Program is Sweeping the Schools in America!

Deb — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:37:46 +0000

Global Entrepreneurs Institute, GEI, is a certified faith-based, mentoring training course through La Red Business Network. GEI is a specialized one year course using the 40 La Red principles and La Red Kingdom Concept booklets during the year with an experienced GEI coach. This course will take you deep into the meaning of what it means to live a principled life and how you can effectively impact others around you. Both websites have an enormous amount of information for learning and/or teaching entrepreneurship.

For more information, go to:

http://www.lared.org/online-training/

http://www.gcase.org/

Check this out…

Anti-Virus Youth Program:

Anti-Virus is a workbook that has been designed by the youth for the youth in America to bring values and principles into their lives. Also done by the La Red group, this youth workbook is a values-driven curriculum for the youth of America. The target ages for this workbook are grades 7-12. They do on-line trainings for schools, youth centers and athletic groups via the internet.

Very Affordable

The AntiVirus book is only $10 and the The Wisdom of Ben Franklin is only $5. I have not personally seen these books yet, but would guess they are worthwhile to check out at this price. While other titles such as Kingdom Concepts-How God Rules, Wisdom For Today’s Leaders and It Is Time, described “This book is for people who have ears to hear, people who God has prepared to participate on what is taking place on the earth in this generation” are just as reasonably priced and available instantly as a download.

Contact Tanya Miller, tanya@lared.org or 330-231-8060 or go to the below website for more information.

http://www.lared.org/online-training/online-training-courses/

Homeschool teachers: I need your honest opinion.

How easy do you think these courses would be to integrate as a semester course for your high school homeschooler? Are you normally one to adapt courses to what is needed? Do you think the courses listed here would be better integrated into a larger entrepreneurship course or are fine as a ‘stand alone’ course?

A Virtual Library of Resources For Entrepreneurs

Deb — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:18:41 +0000

I just signed up for Mind Tools newsletter, which offered to send me “New Career Skills” twice a month along with a personal development planning workbook they say is worth $19.99. Their tagline is “Essential skills for an excellent career“, but it looks to me like so much more.

Leadership skills, problem solving, decision making, project management, practical creativity, time management, stress management, information skills, communication skills and career skills are their main categories with a hefty list of articles under each one. Each article is a concise, but thorough, overview of important skills that every entrepreneur can use in their development of necessary business skills.

Using This Site To Teach Your Homeschool Entrepreneur

Providing an overview of skills that are needed in the workplace is a valuable part of any education. Taking this website as a base of operation, it looks like it could be a convenient way to methodically cover a multitude of subjects. Covering one article each day and discussing how that skill might be used will insure that your homeschool entrepreneur has a well rounded overview of essential business skills. If (when) a weakness in a particular area is revealed, you’ll know to pursue that area more thoroughly. I’m sure you’ll come away with several ideas to further explore essential skills your teen needs for the career(s) they are considering.

Naturally, you will see many products* offered for sale that relate to each category, but I did not see anywhere a requirement to make a purchase to view any of the materials. I’ve yet to completely go through all they have to offer, but I was so excited to share this potential resource with you I couldn’t wait! Isn’t the internet marvelous for homeschooling?

Anyone else have a favorite resource for homeschooling their teen entrepreneurs? Surely your mother taught you to share…:-)

Thanks!

*This is NOT a paid endorsement – in any way. Just one homeschooler’s opinion. And we know there are a lot of them!

“Teach Them While They Are Young” -Inc Mag’s Revitalization Program

Deb — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:54:05 +0000

When I received the July/August 2010 issue of Inc Magazine, I could hardly contain the excitement when I read their feature article, “Bring On The Entrepreneurs! Our highly practical, eminently doable, totally reasonable plan to revitalize the American dream and create thousands (upon thousands) of new companies and millions of new jobs”. Why the excitement? (other than being a total business-geek) While I thought all the ideas in their plan to revitalize America via entrepreneurism (there’s a new word for Wiki…) had value, I was ecstatic when I read that two of the ideas at the forefront of their plan involved entrepreneurial education.

For those of you new to the site, Homeschool Entrepreneur started with a dream of seeing entrepreneurial education as a required part of every balanced educational program. As a veteran homeschool parent, naturally I saw the homeschool environment as an ideal springboard for this ‘out of the box’ idea. The flexibility of homeschooling coupled with the progressive nature of most that embrace this alternative educational environment, seemed to be a perfect fit. I was sure others like myself would see the benefits. What I didn’t realize was it turned out to be an idea before it’s time. Inc’s article encouraged me that maybe that time is finally here. Now, that’s exciting!

Education, much like religion, is fraught with tradition. Many homeschool parents will tell you they have had a hard time breaking away from the traditional model of “school” and ended up simply doing ‘public school at home’ – especially at the beginning. I’m not saying that is a bad thing, but when the true nature of homeschooling is embraced, the experience is so much richer. Likewise, entrepreneurial education has yet to break out of it’s stereotype and become the educational tool it can truly be. (more on that soon!)

Maybe, just maybe, the understanding that entrepreneurial education isn’t just for business geeks has finally made it to the big presses. Inc Magazine is one of the first I’ve seen to embrace this possibility. I’m not talking about those that deal directly with entrepreneurial education like The Kaufman Foundation and our own Homeschool Entrepreneur. The number of college-level entrepreneurial programs has certainly increased substantially, as well as a sprinkling of high school level programs. However, it’s still considered education solely for the imminent start-up. Think of all the courses you have had to take throughout high school and college that had nothing whatsoever to do with what you were aspiring to do in life. All in the name of a balanced education. Somewhere along the line the entrepreneurial mindset was completely washed out.

Several years ago it was the chatter among entrepreneurs and some economists that small business would be the key to America’s economic recovery. So, why hasn’t America quite recovered yet? I think Inc’s Reviltalization Plan included a few statistics that might shed a little light on why the power of free enterprise hasn’t quite lifted us out yet.

Why entrepreneurs have not pulled us out . . . yet:

A quote from this Inc Magazine special report:

Young companies — those younger than six years old — provide the bulk of new jobs; in 2007, they accounted for 64 percent of them, according to a 2009 survey by the Kauffman Foundation that looked at start-up formation since the 1970s. (italics ours)

. . . Unfortunately, creating new companies is easier said than done. The rate of business creation has remained stubbornly constant over the years. Since the early 1990s, the number of start-ups has hovered at about 500,000 a year, according to a survey by the Kauffman Foundation. This has been the case during booms and busts, whether taxes were rising or falling, and whether venture capitalists were irrationally exuberant or largely recalcitrant.

“Clearly, some new thinking is required.”

OK, so what is this new thinking? It’s proven out that increasing the availability of entrepreneurship courses in universities has had no effect. The fact that the increase of schools offering relevant courses from 500 in the 1970′s to over 2000 schools in 2005 resulted in little or no increase in the number of start-ups speaks for itself. What Inc did point out were two programs that offer hands on training that are making an impact: The Launch Pad at the University of Miami and MIT’s Entrepreneurship Center.

Simply offering more practical training is only part of the solution to this ‘new thinking’ to encourage business start-ups, but I believe Inc hit on something that even they may not realize the impact of – Get them while they are young.

Finding the Bill Gates of the sixth grade?

Inc’s report targeted middle school aged students as the ideal age group to teach entrepreneurial principles. Personally, I think the younger the better, while appropriately increasing the level of education as the child grows. While Inc’s ideal is to find the Bill Gates of the sixth grade, I think we need to find the hidden gold in each of our children at the earliest possible age. Creating real life work scenerios in the form of mock or real business as educational projects can reveal a child’s inner talents faster than any other extracurricular activity. Why? Because the rewards of such activities are very real, measurable, and are directly related to what they see in their everyday life. A boy may love cars, but how does he translate into productive, real life work?

Inc’s bottom line on educating young entrepreneurs:

“Putting ideas into action may be the biggest challenge for entrepreneurs. Teaching youngsters how to do it is among the best investments we can make.”

Homeschool Entrepreneur’s bottom line:

Making practical entrepreneurial education a relevant part of every child’s education from a young age does much more than teach them how to create a new business. It provides children with an understanding of how the economy actually works, because every job either involves running a business, or working for someone that does. Would it make a difference if everyone understood how business success or failure affects everyone, especially our economy? We study history to learn from the past to avoid repeating historic mistakes. To study entrepreneurship in the same manner will encourage a new mindset – a mindset that is mindful of building America’s economy by either building strong businesses that create good jobs, or being an employee that does the best they can to help their company grow resulting from the belief that their contribution really does make a difference. Entrepreneurship education isn’t just for business owners, because a strong economy also relies on good employees supporting those businesses. When everyone understands what is at stake, some ‘new thinking’ will naturally take place. Then, if a time comes that anyone wants to start a business, they will know exactly where to start and success will be much more likely. Replacing the ‘worker bee’ mentality with a dedicated attitude towards success. Creation of business incubators, launch pads and practical start-up resources will be encouraged and common place, easy to find, and a valid tax deduction. The knowledge void that currently plagues many would-be entrepreneurs will be a thing of the past.

Please read the entire article on Inc’s Revitalization Plan. I realize I was a little biased by only elaborating on the educational aspects. Their take on providing more practical tools to encourage start-ups are inspirational. Matching ideas and investors, tax incentives to help all involved, and wait till you read about the TechShop in Menlo Park, California. We could use one of those in every major US city. Let me know what you think of the article, and your ideas about how we can start teaching our children now how they can impact our economy by thinking entrepreneurially.

How a Night at the Holiday Inn Teaches The Entrepreneurial Mindset

Deb — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 12:01:56 +0000

Many of you out there will wonder if I’ve gone a little looney, and others will know exactly what I’m talking about. After a few years of homeschooling, it starts to become second nature to see learning opportunities in everything you do, and developing the ‘Entrepreneurial Mindset’ is no different.

Teaching the entrepreneurial mindset is often as simple as noticing when a business is doing an exceptional job. Pointing out many of the details you might take for granted trains them to see how things are run from an owner’s point of view. This was an excellent example.

Last week we took a trip to my son’s college to watch him play soccer and spend a little time with him. He happened to be playing on a Tuesday night, and we returned home the next day. That evening we learned that my oldest daughter’s 2 year old, who has a rare condition called MPS1, or Hurler’s, had been approved for a bone marrow transplant. I’ll spare you all the details, but it involves a four (4) month stay in the hospital and the best hospital to do this procedure is 18 hours away (Minneapolis, MN) from our Tennessee home. This will put their family (my oldest daughter, her husband and MY 5 grandchildren) 18 hours away – in a hospital – over Thanksgiving AND Christmas.

Like many homeschool families, we are very close, and all live in the same area in Tennessee. Josh is the farthest away in college, a little under 3 hours away. So the thought of everyone being separated at the holidays was hard, but if it gave little Josiah a longer life, it was worth it, of course! Immediately we tried to plan a time the entire family could get together before they left for Minnesota.

So when the prospect of everyone getting together at Josh’s college, the only weekend that worked for everyone was the coming weekend. Yes, only 3 days after we had just visited. Sparing you all the details, it was the only time it worked for everyone before they had to leave for Minnesota. But there were still lots of details to work out… and it depended largely on if the hotel would work with us or not.

Long story short, we contacted the Holiday Inn in Dayton and explained the situation to them and made our requests. They replied promptly and were extremely gracious in their accommodation. I mean really gracious. I don’t want to tell you everything because I don’t want them to have to deal with all the extra requests they might encounter as a result, but I wanted to make a point that customer service is truly the commodity of the century-and they get an A+.

I know that hotels are supposed to be hospitable, but we have stayed in several places in the area, and that isn’t always what we have found. If you have stayed in many hotels, you know that quality varies widely – even in the same chain and star-rating. There were 12 of us that stayed in 4 rooms, and everyone noticed the service, the cleanliness and the AMAZING breakfast. However, the most outstanding feature was how nice and helpful ALL the staff were. It was definitely one of the best run hotels we have stayed at.

My point is that not only have they secured all of our families’ loyalty, but we’ll tell everyone. So they invested a little time, gave us a small discount and, IMHO, received a great ROI in return. One of my (grown) children even commented that they wouldn’t mind owning and/or running a hotel like this.

So next time you experience a company giving you extraordinary service and you have your children with you, point out to them how that makes you feel. Then ask them how that kind of service might affect a business. One of the best ways to teach the ‘Entrepreneurial Mindset’ is to make it a habit to notice how different businesses are run, and how it might be improved, and why. Sometimes exceptional experiences in certain establishments have even inspired young (and old!) people to go into that particular business.

By the way. . . that Holiday Inn is in Dayton, TN. Tell them the Maubach’s sent you. (They might even leave the light on for you…)

Are You Teaching This Life Skill?

Deb — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 04:46:28 +0000

Recently I read an article on The Open Forum, 101 Tips from Small Business Bloggers and was particularly impressed with a quote from Seth Godin:

“Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead. It’s uncomfortable to stand up in front of strangers. It’s uncomfortable to propose an idea that might fail. It’s uncomfortable to challenge the status quo. It’s uncomfortable to resist the urge to settle. If you’re not uncomfortable in your work as a leader, it’s almost certain you’re not reaching your potential as a leader.”
— Seth Godin, Seth’s Blog

I got to thinking, are we teaching our teens leadership as part of their homeschool? As a part of teaching the entrepreneurial mindset, there are few traits more important than leadership.

According to this definition, if our children are comfortable with being uncomfortable, or at least understand that it’s normal to feel that way in leadership situations, then they will also have the tools to continue to stand for what they believe, long after they’ve left the nest.

Its so easy to get focused on learning all the facts and figures that brings those surreal ACT and SAT scores home, but do they have what it takes to succeed…on their own terms? Or will they end up doing what ever is necessary in life under the popular ‘feel-good’ theology of the day? Hopefully not, but as a parent of 3 grown children, hindsight is definitely best sight. There are so many situations that have presented themselves that this momma thinks, ‘we never talked about that…what if…” that it’s easy to see what I missed – after the fact. Thankfully with my children, so far- so good, and arguably a solid foundation tends to cover a lot of territory, but sometimes the winds blow hard, and really tries those weak spots!

Teaching leadership as a part of your homeschool may not be something you’ve thought of, or maybe you have. It is so much more than simply a good business skill. The ability to take the reins in a situation that requires them to step out of their comfort zone isn’t easy. If they know ahead of time that those uneasy feelings are perfectly normal, and have had the opportunity to practice, even once, to experience the deep satisfaction that comes from pushing through, then they are much more likely to try it again. In this generation that has been raised by the radical baby boomers, chances are there will always be someone else willing to step up, but not always with the desired outcome.

As a part of teaching the entrepreneurial mindset, keep it in the back of your mind to recognize that life event that could provide them with a chance to push through uncomfortable feelings and step up to a challenge that will stretch them. They may need a great deal of encouragement and you may even need to push them, just don’t push them down. If they aren’t ready yet, there will be another time, I guarantee it. Life tends to present more ways to move outside of our comfort zones than we would like!

One way to create an opportunity is to enroll in a Toastmaster’s class for teens. Several years ago my daughter had the opportunity to be in such a situation, and it was great. Communicators for Christ is very similar, and can be found in most areas. However, since some of the best leadership opportunities for a Christian often involves a group of non-Christians, Toastmasters is a good testing ground.

Anyone else know of a situation that taught their teen how to push past those uncomfortable feelings into a leadership role? How did it turn out? What would you have done different?

Multi-Tasking Mompreneurs-You’re Being Watched

Deb — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:48:17 +0000

I read an excellent article this morning by Gina Blitzstein, a guest blogger on Work-it Mom! called “A Unique Education: Lessons Children of Mompreneurs Learn”. Next time you are tempted to feel guilty, moms, about all the time you are spending on your business, remember you are also teaching your children. You ARE being watched.

You are also teaching your children many valuable life lessons that are rarely learned anywhere else. Lessons like the value of hard work, how to work as a team, business ethics, and how to find that delicate balance between home life and work (that’s a tough one!).

You’ll need to read the article yourself to be fully inspired, but once again I want to encourage everyone to start a family business. Even if you are one of the blessed that doesn’t need extra money, start a business and donate the proceeds. The lessons learned cannot be found in any book, and the family bonds created are priceless. Don’t worry if you don’t know the first thing about business, you can learn together. You have already noticed how fast they are growing up, so seize the moment and get started today!

Read the article at: http://www.workitmom.com/bloggers/entrepreneurmom/2009/07/06/a-unique-education-lessons-children-of-mompreneurs-learn/

» Teaching business

Faith Based Entrepreneurship Program is Sweeping the Schools in America!

More From HomeschoolEntrepreneur

A Virtual Library of Resources For Entrepreneurs

More From HomeschoolEntrepreneur

“Teach Them While They Are Young” -Inc Mag’s Revitalization Program

More From HomeschoolEntrepreneur

How a Night at the Holiday Inn Teaches The Entrepreneurial Mindset

More From HomeschoolEntrepreneur

Are You Teaching This Life Skill?

More From HomeschoolEntrepreneur

Multi-Tasking Mompreneurs-You’re Being Watched

More From HomeschoolEntrepreneur