A Story Of A Successful Entrepreneur Making Money As A Kid

If you're like most parents, you like the idea of your kids making money as it teaches them responsibility and allows them to have their own money. When thinking of the different ways for kids to earn an income, the concept of whether they like the job or not doesn't usually come into the equation - just as long as it makes money right!? This is what most parents think; that it's only pocket money. Instead of this way of thinking, what if we encouraged our kids to only look for jobs that were in line with their passions and interests? Could this be a clue to what other successful people have done? Below is a quick outline of Richard Branson's story:

Richard was born on July 18, 1950 in Shamley Green, Surrey England. He was not a stellar student and actually struggled through school. Part of the reason was that he had an undiagnosed case of Dyslexia. Though he performed brilliantly in athletics he got bitten by the entrepreneurial bug early in life. His first two ventures were growing Christmas trees and raising Australian parrots. While these weren't successful, it didn't stop Richard from his dream of having his own business. At age 16 he dropped out of college and moved to London and started another business that saw moderate success. This was the Student magazine. At the age of 19, only 3 years later he started a mail order record company. Today Richard is the founder of Virgin enterprises and is one of the wealthiest men alive. You see his brand in the sky, on TV, in music and is even looking at car insurance and has many other business ideas.

How do you know if your child is the next Richard Branson? Here are 3 clues:

1. Teach your kids to do what they love
2. Teach them to work hard at what they do and
3. Teach them failure doesn't mean failure

The first two clues go side by side. For example, when your child gets a new video game do they spend hours trying to master that game? Well guess what, they are essentially working hard at that task but because it's amusing to them it doesn't seem to be like work! Work only feels like work when you're doing things you don't enjoy doing. Take time to inspect the things your kids likes to do and encourage them in that area. The last clue is that failure does not imply failure. What if Richard stopped because his first 2 ideas failed? He wouldn't be where he is today. Does it hurt you as a parent to see you kids fail? While you may have answered 'Yes', remember that there are great lessons in failure that will shape your child's successes down the road. Did you ever notice that all that it takes is for your kid to touch a hot stove one time to know don't do that again? Failure teaches us what not to do so we then find out what we should do.

So parents, a new great business mind of the 21st century might just be living under your roof. Help you kids to make money by looking for methods to interpret their passions into revenue possibilities. Do not simply have your child accept the job at the local mall, but try to find various ways for kids to earn money mixing the things they like, because that is one of the great clues to success.