At COMPUCHILD, we believe that strong entrepreneurial skills can help children become confident, capable, and successful learners. When students think outside the box and push conventionalism to the side, they pave the way for inventive, innovative, entrepreneurial, and revolutionary ideas that can change society for the better.
In this blog, we’ll offer a closer look at five noteworthy characteristics of entrepreneurs who created outstanding businesses. While we don’t condone all their activities and thoughts, we appreciate these specific skills and value their contributions immensely. Let’s begin!
1. Innovation
There’s one key characteristic that all entrepreneurs share: innovation. From Steve Jobs to Henry Ford to Andrew Carnegie to Sam Walton, every entrepreneur that has ever tasted success has demonstrated an exceptionally high level of innovativeness.
This skill must be taught to children from a young age. When students are taught to think outside the box and go against the grain, their creativity takes over. Children are not held back by any constraints or barriers. They let their imagination run wild, develop exciting new ideas, and support them with complete faith.
Yes, pragmatism and matter-of-factness are also pivotal. However, these characteristics shouldn’t be replaced with innovativeness. Instead, they should be added on top. When children devise new ideas and retain rationalism at the same time, they can achieve excellent outcomes that are exceptional yet realistic, not far-fetched and impossible to achieve.
2. Communication
Entrepreneurs have exceptionally strong communication skills. If you have an idea, but you’re unable to communicate it, you’ll face a lot of barriers in life. Exceptional communication skills help children communicate their thoughts with clarity and cogency.
Confidence goes hand-in-hand with communication. Students can only communicate passionately when they’re confident in themselves, their ideas, and the direction they want to head in.
At COMPUCHILD, we teach students how to communicate confidently. When these two skills are instilled in students, they learn how to propel themselves forward in a society that requires self-confidence and communication that stands out.
Children must learn how to communicate their ideas in a way that sets them apart from the crowd. Kidpreneurs (young entrepreneurs with exceptional ideas) stand out for their stellar ideas, pitches, and confidence. When each of these boxes is checked off the list, magic can happen.
3. Marketing
No, strong marketing skills aren’t a requirement. Even if you don’t know the basics of marketing, you can take your ideas to the big stage and succeed.
Yes, marketing knowledge will help, but it’s not a pre-requisite. What is a prerequisite, however, is self-marketing. Students must master the art of marketing themselves and selling their ideas with confidence.
Self-marketing is the process of promoting a person’s ideas and sense of direction. Once you make other people feel confident about what you bring to the table, you have a higher chance of being taken seriously.
If you lack strong self-marketing skills, your ideas may be neglected, no matter how great they may be. Self-marketing is very different from self-confidence. Think of this as personal branding; you must enhance yourself, strengthen your personal characteristics, and sharpen your professional aura to get a word in edgewise and walk away with a contract.
This happens much later. However, educators can start off slow and instill this skill in young students. Children must be taught the importance of marketing and self-branding. When they mix the two, they can equip themselves with the tools needed to succeed.
4. Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is the ability to objectively analyze/evaluate a situation or issue to form a clear judgment. Perfection is an illusion. No matter how exceptional an idea may be, it cannot be free from faults. There will be a chink in the armor somewhere along the way.
There is where a rational approach and critical thinking can help students immensely. At COMPUCHILD, we help students develop strong critical thinking skills. As a result, they can critically analyze their own ideas and activities, identify errors and shortcomings, and iron out the kinks in a streamlined manner.
Arrogance is a common characteristic found in many children today. They may develop a sense of self-righteousness and feel that their ideas, work, activities, and belongings are superior to others. When this attitude is enabled, a sense of superiority may develop.
This must be nipped in the bud and replaced with the ability to self-criticize (not in a negative way but in a realistic way). Students must understand their shortcomings and improve their ideas accordingly. This is the bedrock of good entrepreneurship.
Recommended Read: Nurture Critical Thinking Through DIY Games
5. Networking
Entrepreneurs are known for their strong networking skills. Once you have a good idea, you cannot proceed with it until you meet the right people who believe in you, provide funding (if required), and help you kick-start your project.
In some cases, you may be fortunate enough to fund your own ideas or start your own venture without any help. However, in most cases, some form of help is required.
Excellent networking skills will help you reach the right people, make the right calls, and steer your brainchild in the intended direction. When children are taught how to network from a young age, they understand the importance of socializing for self-improvement and community building.
When this habit is sustained (along with the rest of the characteristics we highlighted above), a child’s entrepreneurial vision can turn into reality.
Teach Entrepreneurship to Children with COMPUCHILD
If you want to teach entrepreneurial skills to children, COMPUCHILD can help. As an after-school children’s education franchise, we leverage the power of science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, ethics, communication, and innovation to help children become well-rounded learners who progress exceptionally well in school.
Our students enjoy the benefits of excellent academic, personal, social, and ethical growth. If you want to support our educational franchise, become a franchise owner today!
Our STEAM franchise is trusted by thousands of teachers, parents, educators, and education specialists across the US and Canada. By equipping children with the skills they need to succeed, we help them become capable, confident, creative, curious, and talented learners. Let’s take the first few steps toward securing a brighter future for the leaders, revolutionaries, and thinkers of tomorrow. Explore our STEAM education franchise locations to get started.
