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.

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If you do see an idea that you’ve been considering, listen carefully to the investor’s responses, but please don’t think that is how it is in the real world. Most investors are only interested in one thing (profit), but are not as cruel as you will see on Shark Tank. What you will learn are what investors are really looking at when an idea is presented to them. Old as well as young entrepreneurs can learn a great deal by watching this show.

Another learning resource you’ll like is the “Free Stuff” offered on the Shark Tank’s website. If you are teaching your teens business currently, there is an excellent Investment Glossary of Terms as well as a list of 150 of the best headlines ever. There’s many other goodies there, too, so it’s worth checking out even if you don’t watch the show.

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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…)

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