Entrepreneurial skills and our children

The above meme is doing the rounds on Facebook currently.

A friend posted it and I replied:

We were talking yesterday about a certain mega business who is selling a product we'll be selling - they have it for sale at $1 less than the trade price. 😑 The supplier says he has no control over what retail price people put on the product. We are going to be giving our customers information, sharing our experience and we care that they get the best product for their needs. We will do a happy dance when people place an order. Will the staff at the mega company? People in general expect so much, for so little ... let's hope we find the gems - the genuine, respectful, kind people who will pay $3 more because they care about supporting families directly. And the knock-on effect of small businesses is MASSIVE for the economy and mental health of our adults BUT especially our children.

❤ Rant over.

Blatant plug www.willowcottagenz.com

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Then I felt passionate about sharing my thoughts with my unschooling community - so I posted this on a very supportive unschooling FB group I'm on:

Ever since we began on this home ed/unschooling journey back in the 1990's the message about small businesses and finding a place in the world according to one's specific gifts and talents has been repeated over and over through many different sources. When groups like this unschooling group have a "share your business here" post, it always AMAZES me what people in this tribe are doing! Don't forget to show these small businesses to your children - because sure as anything the mega retailers, the big player, the celeb brands are pushed into their faces every day from each quarter. Help your children find their passion, to accept that sometimes a bread-and-butter job might be necessary for a while, talk about marketing, advertising, businesses, shifty or illegal practices, successful respectful employers, flashy exteriors (buildings, vehicles etc), talk about loans, partnerships and personalities, manufacturing, buying stock, storing stock, mark-ups, competition ... we have the opportunity to cover SO much more than regular education can. PLEASE COMMENT ON THIS POST if any of your children have gone on to become entrepreneurs in any way - selling seedlings, or having a market stall etc, right through to earning a full income.

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And people DID comment - and it was heartening, exciting and wonderful to read their comments.

Then, one very eloquently-worded comment from MW made me think very deeply. I have permission to share it:

Debbie, I love your post and the repost you included. I grew up with not a lot of money around, but with parents who farmed, set up or bought and ran little businesses, bought properties and rented them out, every venture paving the way for the next one. None of it was lucrative, but I learned about risk and self-determination, about having vision and a bit of guts to make things happen, about working hard and things working out or not, and what you then did about it. It definitely shaped my view of the world, including knowing when to judge something as not right and time to move on. So many skills learned, simply being around the family conversations related to it all. Such a good reminder, thank you.

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I encourage every parent - every person who cares for children - to re-read that, and, appropriate to their maturity, discuss those gems of REAL LIFE - the gems that build integrity, sympathy, empathy, patience, determination, wisdom - so many VALUABLE character traits with the children.

Maybe they'll take them and run, maybe not - but they deserve to know about them.