We’ve already mentioned some of the many reasons why high school students today are ideally suited for entrepreneurship. As one of the most socially conscious, well-connected, and diverse generations in history, you and your peers make some of the best entrepreneurs the world has ever seen! But what does entrepreneurship have to offer you back? What’s in it for you?
There are plenty of reasons why entrepreneurship offers benefits for high school students like you. Let’s explore a few of them.
YOU LEARN HOW TO SOLVE PROBLEMS
The entrepreneurial journey brings many chances to learn creative problem-solving skills. Ideating, creating, launching, and running a business require skills beyond what you learn in the classroom. You need to take what you already know and apply it to real-world situations. This includes collaborating with people who disagree with your ideas, overcoming unforeseen roadblocks, and learning when to take no for an answer. Entrepreneurship is more than a business. It’s creation. It’s fixing. It’s networking.
Throughout your life, there will always be problems to solve. Successful young entrepreneurs learn how to identify, cope with, and solve a wide range of problems.
YOU LEARN HOW TO TAKE CONTROL
Entrepreneurs are people who take control of their lives. You’re not working for someone else. You’re working for yourself. The risks are your own, but so are the rewards. All the final decisions are up to you. You make the calls. You navigate. You run the entire show.
Many entrepreneurs take that path because they want control over their lives. They don’t want to depend on a paycheck from someone else. They want to make their own hours answerable only to themselves.
When you embrace entrepreneurship in high school, you’re teaching yourself how to be as independent as possible – with all the ups and downs that go with it. This will come in handy when you get to college and the only person you can count on to get you to your classes on time is…you.
YOU LEARN HOW TO MEET PEOPLE
We can hear you saying it: “But Kantner Foundation, I already meet people all the time!” Sure, you may know people from your school or neighborhood. But do you know how to meet people?
It’s important to understand that your business doesn’t exist in a vacuum. You may need investors, partners, mentors, or employees. That means going beyond knowing your classmates’ names.
Yes, we’re talking about networking.
Entrepreneurship teaches you the important and gentle art of introducing yourself to strangers who can help you. Of making sure they remember you. Of making sure they want to help you. This is a skill you’ll need as you make your way into your chosen field and dream career.
YOU LEARN HOW TO FAIL
If you’re reading this blog, you’re already a bright and energized young entrepreneur. And we don’t doubt that your future is full of success! That doesn’t mean there won’t be failures along the way, though. Failure is a fact of life for everyone. Few, if any, entrepreneurs are massively successful on their first attempt at launching a business. (If you know of some, do share with us.)
When you’re young and you fail, it’s a lot easier to pick yourself up and start over than it is when you’re older. Chances are pretty good that you haven’t invested your life savings in this enterprise. We doubt you have dependents who’ll be directly affected if this doesn’t work out. Entrepreneurship as a high school student is a safe place to learn how to fail.
At this stage of your life, entrepreneurial failure is a life lesson and not much else. Learn how to roll with it and move on so that when the stakes get higher, you’re already a pro at rolling with the punches.
YOU LEARN ABOUT YOURSELF
You may think of yourself as a natural-born leader. Maybe others see you that way, too. Your friends turn to you for advice, your parents depend on you for help, and your teachers know they can count on you to take charge of group projects. That doesn’t mean you can lead a business, though.
The entrepreneurial journey is full of detours, obstacles, forks in the road, and dead ends. A true leader knows how to navigate this journey without losing focus or having a complete meltdown. Entrepreneurship is a wonderful way to do some honest introspection and discover what it is you’re good at, what you love to do, and what you need to work on.
YOU LEARN SELF-DISCIPLINE
As business moves increasingly online, global spaces, it’s more important than ever to be self-disciplined. That means knowing how to prioritize tasks, meet deadlines, deal with consequences, and take responsibility.
Since young entrepreneurship is often a solo journey, it’s a great place for you to learn how to hold yourself accountable. If you forget to build a website for your enterprise, there’s no one to blame but yourself. And no one has to deal with the consequences but you. No website = no customers = no profit. Now you know. And now you can do better.
YOU LEARN REAL-WORLD SKILLS
Balancing a budget. Marketing. Web design. Product development. Customer service.
These are all real-life skills that employers look for in candidates. Learn these skills in high school, and you’ll set yourself up to be a top applicant for any job you want during or after college! Companies love when they don’t need to waste time teaching basic skills to a new hire. Be the candidate of their dreams by already knowing how a business works.
The benefits of entrepreneurship for you as a teen go well beyond earning extra cash or looking good on scholarship applications. Throughout college and into your adult life, you’ll take with you everything you’ve learned. While other young adults are just starting their entrepreneurial journeys from scratch, you’ll already have a map to follow. Young entrepreneurship is like giving your future self a shortcut to success!
Will you be one of the next recipients of a Kantner Foundation college scholarship? If you are a Florida high school entrepreneur, click here to learn more!