Should a Kid Be In Business - Or Is It Just For Dragons?

December 16, 2007

My daughter wants to go on Dragon’s Den to raise the capital to open a spa. Now, she’s gone on and on about wanting to open this spa for the last year or so. But, the trouble is, she only 10 years old. Yet, she doesn’t see why some of the people with truly awful business ideas should be allowed on the program instead of her.

If you’ve never watched Dragon’s Den before it’s a program where potential entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas. And a select few will receive an investment from one of the celebrity entrepreneurs in return for a huge chunk of their business.

Now, I think my daughter would give the Dragon’s a brilliant pitch. She’s done it on me, and she has some great ideas on making her spa different. Plus she says it will open in the evenings (when she’s finished school) as opposed to during the day, which will be better for her customers as they can come after work.

The trouble is, even if she does manage to get on the show, I don’t think she will be satisfied with the Dragon’s offerings. She’s already asked grandad to put up the capital, but in return, she wasn’t willing to give him more than 10% of the business.

Also, there’s the ethical issue. I know there’s a lot of young entrepreneurs out there. But, should we really be encouraging kids to set up in business when they really should be spending a few more years just being kids?

In an earlier post, I mentioned the teenager Ashley Qualls, who recently turned down an offer of $2.5 million for her business. But the business has also caused a rift between family members.

And Rosalind Gardner recently blogged about Carl Ocab, a fourteen year old who is currently number one on Google for the phrase “make money on line.”

Make money on line is a difficult phrase to get a high ranking for and it’s also an extremely lucrative one. In fact, you would expect it to take years, but Carl did it in just a few months.

Of course, age doesn’t matter on the Internet and kids tend to be more technically savvy than us adults. Plus many schools are now teaching students about business, which is great.

But, do you think kids are too young to be in business? One one hand, I feel that kids should spend more time just being kids. Yet, on the other hand, I remember too well when people were telling me I was too young to do certain things. Then, before I knew it they were telling me I was past it!

What are your thoughts (on kids in business - not on whether I’m past it or not)? Please share in the comments section below.

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Comments

4 Responses to “Should a Kid Be In Business - Or Is It Just For Dragons?”

SEO Optimization on December 17th, 2007 7:01 pm

Hi Cath,
I like the idea of kids being kids, but after all we halt that process when we send them to school, where they start having responsibilities of doing homework, waking up to go to school, not miss in school etc, okey thats all part of the basic educations for a kid but it is still cutting to a certain point that “being a kid” point of view. Give a kid a ball or doll and he/she will play all day long, give them a book you will already see their pouty lip which apparently tells (at least to me) that thats not what is a part of being a kid, but it is something they need to do.

So if a kid has passion to run a SPA and start his/her own business let them be so, but make sure they understand which are the priorities and what is going to be the good side of running a business and what is going to be the bad side? After all, I have been a kid (i think, or no wait, I was a robo which had to follow the rules), but if I had no rules to follow would of I be better than what I am or worst?
cathlawson on December 18th, 2007 7:24 am

Hi Astrit - great points. Not all kids dislike books though! I could not wait until I started school to learn to read, so I went on and on at my mother until she taught me.

The rules part is interesting and it is difficult to know what we’d be like if we didn’t have certain rules.

The effects must vary from person to person, as most of our views etc are shaped by others and the world around us - especially the media we choose to read and watch.

It is scary really as probably v few of our thoughts are our own!

Maybe you are right and it would just be better to let kids get on with whatever they want.

I know that in some schools over here - but not all of them, they actually have groups of kids setting up a business whilst they are at school and many of them do v well.
SEO Optimization on December 20th, 2007 12:32 pm

Hi Cath,
The main reason why I said that is because sometimes we can’t really know at what kids could be really good if we don’t give them the chance to try it.

Just as example, when I was at age 10 I wanted to go on a computer course, and even tho my father as a old-style journalist with the old machine didn’t liked the idea he thought it would be distracting me from school (and heck, the ball and videogames were the only things distracting me from the book), but after all he agreed.

My passion for the computer started since the first day in the course, but after a year doing the course dad did not thought it was wise to buy me a computer as of yet, and hence i decided to stopped going to computer course (not having a computer to place in practice what you learned, it is wasted time to keep going on courses). Instead they insisted that I follow art courses, dancing, drawing etc (things which I found boring, I did even acting at that same age and we managed to bring up a successful drama tour through all over the country, and some contracts started to fly my way, but as i said, it was a boring thing for me, so boring that during the drama just to piss everyone off I would go improvising out of the text but keeping in topic). But forget all that, and lets get back to present.

I had a friend with which I was going on the computer course, whos dad bought him a computer and he continued following the course and I stopped. That friend of mine is now a great programmer of several programming languages and a great server administrator which managed to build a network for a internet club with 32 pentium 422 process, cracked windows 2000 and made so those machines could handle that windows (just trying to draw a picture of his talent) and he now lives in the same country and place where we were born working as programmer and worked for several government projects, published several softwares that bring a decent income while he can sleep just as much as I sleep (heck we love sleeping, after all we are friends) and is making as much money as I live, just that, I am in Italy (more developed country but more expenses) while he lives where we both were born (less developed country but the cost of life is ZERO).

The overall picture, I am back doing what I like, sticking my fingers on my keyboard, and so is he, the only difference is that he got more dedicated to his passion while I did not, he is now more successful than what I am and has way much more knowledge than I do, and all thanks to his parents that gave him the freedom to follow his passion.

Not complaining, my parents raised a good brat (yeah, that’d be me) but just trying to draw a picture of how some times parents can’t really determine the feature of their own child, what they can do is slow down or deviate slightly their kids from their dreams and passion.

What I am saying, give her the freedom she needs, but as parent monitor her like the NASA servers
Barbara on January 5th, 2008 9:47 am

Hi Catherine,

I have to agree with the comment from SEO Optimization. Kids can develop a passion early in life, and often, parents do squelch it….only for them to take a path they are not happy to be on. Years later, they find themselves working at jobs they hate, and when they stop to figure out what their passion is, their thoughts take them back to childhood dreams.

Sometimes, what children find fascinating or fun, may not last either.. We have a granddaughter who was loving gymnastics and was doing great at it. For some reason, she lost interest in it, and now likes dance and cheer leading.

Then you hear the stories of parents who push their children into becoming actors or into another field, so that the child’s income can support the family…….that’s not good either.

I think if your daughter is truly interested in starting a business, she should be encouraged, however, she should also be taught that she has to figure out a way to earn /borrow the capital to start it, figure out her budget, hire employees, managers, accountant, etc….just like a real business (and she has a great teacher in you). She may not be looking at the whole picture, mainly because she doesn’t realize what goes on behind the scenes.

This may not be what you want to hear, as I know you will probably end up being the one to sit with her and “figure it all out”. But, I do think, if she knows you are taking her “dream” seriously, she may also back down and realize it’s just a fun “game”.