Published on December 2, 2020

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blog Entrepreneurship

Planting the seeds of Entrepreneurship

• Post author By tbrg
• Post date December 2, 2020
• No Comments on Planting the seeds of Entrepreneurship

‘I want to grow up and be an entrepreneur.’

At some point in your life, you might have had a brush with this thought. Maybe ever since you found out what that word means, the thought might have floated in to your head. Making big decisions, taking chances, getting rewarded in big cheques, being the boss, working out of beaches in Bali, and just having control over every aspect of life.

But it could remain as a fuzzy dream at the back of your mind. You go to college, experience more of life. Suddenly that entrepreneur dream gets pushed back a bit. Maybe you’ll do a job first, get some experience. Then you start making good money and start buying fancy stuff. Then you start travelling more and your expenses go up. You want a bigger house, a nicer car. Maybe you get married, so now you need to plan expenses with your spouse. Maybe you want to have kids. Before you know it, you’re in your 40’s wondering what happened to that entrepreneurial dream.

Now don’t worry, this scenario is a bit extreme to think about when you’re still in school. And it also doesn’t mean that you need to start a business as soon as you turn 18. The point is to start understanding what entrepreneurship actually means. Maybe you’ll realise that you don’t want to ever start a business. Maybe what you really want to do is have a great job and give your all to the company. But how will you know unless you test the waters.

So what does it mean to be an entrepreneur? Does it mean someone who has their own business? But if you’re running your own business, doesn’t that make you a manager. Is it about making money? But what if you dreamed of making ten crores and you make it. Would you stop working and just enjoy that money?

A true entrepreneur is someone who takes on the risk of a business, and doesn’t stop there. They dream of doing things that others would be too scared of trying. Elon Musk runs Tesla and also wants to create a colony on Mars. What do you think the risk with something like that is?

An entrepreneur doesn’t need to be that crazy, but they need to be that hungry. They can’t be greedy, because you could be in major debt and still start a new business. They don’t need to have fancy degrees, because many of the successful ones are college dropouts. Entrepreneurs risk speaking their ideas, to live their own dream. Age isn’t a factor because Richard Branson was 16 when he started his first company, and Colonel Sanders was 65 when he started KFC. They saw an opportunity for their dreams and took it. And the main thing they had in common, was failure.

Our school systems teach us how to pass, not how to fail. Which is a disservice to you. The mantra of any entrepreneur is to ‘Fail Fast’. You fail constantly, so that you can learn from your mistakes. You fail, and learn to pick yourself up. Twelve publishers told JK Rowling that her manuscript for Harry Potter was rubbish. She failed again and again, to finally make it.

And that’s the beauty of not knowing everything. You can’t know everything, and you will make mistakes. But if you create that mindset from a young age, you’ll be like ‘Ok I don’t know this, but I’ll figure it out’. You learn to be flexible and creative. Steve Jobs wasn’t an engineer, he was a marketing guy. But people still call him a genius, because he took the time to understand what an engineer did. You’re probably reading this on a device his company created.

So if you want to learn entrepreneurship, what will it teach you?

• To ask questions and lead others.

• To be creative and solve problems.

• To make money and to save money.

• To be a public speaker because you learn to sell.

• To ask for help when you need it.

• To learn from your mistakes and never give up.

People might tell you that you’re too young to think about starting your own business. Then when you get older, the same people will be after you to start it ASAP. People will tell you that Instagram influencers are entrepreneurs because they promote products. People say a lot of things. But being an entrepreneur means doing what you think works. Entrepreneurs see a problem and search for a solution. Maybe you want to solve the water crisis. Maybe you want to connect people across borders. Maybe you want solve global warming. Nothing is too big for an entrepreneur. If you have a dream, you work towards making it a reality.

And if you feel like dipping your toes in, join us for a week and challenge your assumptions about Entrepreneurship. Join our Ivy Early Entrepreneur Program.

Published on September 17, 2020

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blog Entrepreneurship

The Importance of Entrepreneurship

• Post author By tbrg
• Post date September 17, 2020
• No Comments on The Importance of Entrepreneurship

Learning entrepreneurship gives you the knowledge you need to start companies and the skills to think creatively and ambitiously.  We need the current generation of learners to create companies that will help to provide jobs.

The current jobs on the market may become obsolete as the population ages and technology advances.  We will need new, more advanced, and innovative roles for you as you leave your formal education.  Learning entrepreneurial skills will ensure that you gain skills in critical thinking, communication, and collaboration, which will help you invent new careers for yourself and future generations.

Teaching you entrepreneurship will help you to stimulate the economy.

How It Helps You If You Are A Minority Or At-Risk Learner

Entrepreneurship is something that can help tap into your creativity.  It is about creating an opportunity based on your interests and talents.  Anyone with an idea and the drive to see it come to fruition can be successful.

Entrepreneurship programs can help students of all races and socio-economic backgrounds become successful.  Helping to recognise your interests and talents can give you the drive that is needed to turn their ideas into reality.

You learn how to take risks.  Taking risks and learning from mistakes helps to cultivate ingenuity.  Risk-taking helps to teach you that it is okay if you fail the first time.  It teaches you to persist.  you will learn to be creative, innovative, and inventive to see success.

Results Of Entrepreneurship In Education

·       Economic growth

·       Job creation

·       Social resilience

·       Individual growth

·       Increased engagement

·       Improved quality of work

Educators are tasked with teaching you to build your version of success.  Each student has his skills and talents, which need to be cultivated and honed.

Entrepreneurship education prepares you for challenging opportunities that you will need to be ready for in the workplace.

Teaching Entrepreneurs

Learning how to be an entrepreneur can be done through scaffolding skills.  Being an entrepreneur means that you can use your imagination to envision things that may not yet exist.

You will use creativity and imagination to solve the challenges that you encounter.  You will be able to come up with unique solutions when you apply your creativity to the problems.

Learning entrepreneurship means that you are learning to engage with your surroundings and experiment with creative solutions for problems.  If a problem is complicated, you are taught to reframe it to see other options to make it solvable.

Entrepreneurial skills can be learned in the classroom and through involvement in extracurricular activities that encourage creative problem-solving.

Entrepreneurship teaches you to see opportunities, create opportunities, and then act on them.

The Mindset

There is a certain mindset in schools that needs to change to teach entrepreneurs properly.

We are so used to being taught that there is a right answer and a wrong answer.  If we don’t get the correct answer, we have failed.

Entrepreneurship teaches that there are several possible answers and several ways to find the solution.  If we do not get something right the first time, we have not failed.  We need to come up with a different answer.  That is the kind of thinking that needs to be fostered in you, our young learners.

The Benefit Of Entrepreneurship

Though entrepreneurial skills help people learn to start and run a company, there are other benefits to learning these skills.  You do not have to have your own business – you can be innovative and creative in your role within a company.

Learning soft skills will help you learn to think outside the box.  This is a skill needed to move any company forward.

Ways To Encourage Entrepreneurial Thinking

·       Teach financial literacy

·       Let kids work

·       Help them to set goals

Many kids grow up without knowing or understanding the value of money.  Learning financial literacy will help you to become an adult who is financially aware and capable.

Financial literacy for students can be taught in schools to some degree, but it is a skill that also needs to be addressed at home.  You need incentives to save money.  One way to do this is to save your own money for items you wish to purchase instead of asking parents to buy things for you.  This will teach you that you need to work to save money for the things you want.

You can also go to the store with your parents and help with the transactions.  Having some buying power at the grocery store so that they are managing small amounts of money will start you off in the right direction.

You can be taught the value of money by having to work for it.  If you are not old enough for a part-time job, you can ask to be paid for helping with small chores around the house.  If you are older, you can earn money babysitting or helping younger siblings with homework.

When you are old enough to work outside the home, you can get a job that will expose you to different things.  This exposure will help you to develop interpersonal skills.  You will learn how to deal with people from various backgrounds and cultures.

Working a part-time job also teaches you how to be resilient.  It can be stressful working with the public.  You will learn how to face challenges and persevere to earn your paycheque.

Entrepreneurial thinking requires the skill of goal-setting.  You will learn how to plan ways to reach your goals, which will make you a successful entrepreneur.  Students who can set goals and make a plan for achieving them are creating their path to success.

Start creating your own path today! Sign up for our entrepreneur workshop today.