Your kid should start a business
Entrepreneurship teaches what textbooks can’t
What if we told you that there’s one project that could teach your child a laundry list of life skills? Far beyond the core academic subjects (though we love those, too!), this is an opportunity to instill:
Responsibility
Problem-solving
Financial literacy
Applied mathematics
Economics
Independence
Communication
Creativity
Goal-setting
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
So, what is this magical project that can teach our kids so many valuable lessons?! (Spoiler: it can’t be confined to a classroom.)
It’s starting a business — and it might just change your child’s life.
In fact, we believe in this idea so much that it’s one of our graduation requirements. To graduate from our high school, students must complete a year of either internship, entrepreneurship, or independent study.
Here’s why we’re so excited about this:
The benefits of childhood entrepreneurship
We commonly expect teenagers to choose a career path without any real-world experience. Unfortunately, they can’t truly know if they’d like to pursue a specific line of work until they’ve… well… worked.
Any job a teen gets will give them valuable intel on the type of work that resonates with or repels them — even if it’s not the career they pursue later. And this includes starting their own business.
Moreover, entrepreneurial skills are always in high demand, so they’ll benefit your child well into adulthood. The ability to take initiative, set goals, and work hard toward achieving them is a rarity in today’s world, which makes it hugely valuable.
Plus, don’t you wish you’d learned about financial literacy in school?!
We want our kids to possess these skills — and we know you do, too. That’s why we love childhood entrepreneurship so much.
When real-world skills are learned in the real world, they’re integrated more fully. It’s the difference between your child studying economics in a textbook and your child applying economic principles to turn a profit in their jewelry-making business. One is purely theory, while the other combines know-how with practical application.
Another reason we encourage our students to start their own businesses is because childhood is a low-risk time to do so. Without the pressure of being financially solvent or providing for a family, they can try different sales, marketing, and management strategies and learn from their mistakes without serious consequences.
Projects of this nature also look great on internship applications and college resumes. After all, how many kids can say that they learned the ins and outs of starting a business — and then successfully put those lessons to use?
Starting a business has the potential to transform your kid’s life, making them a more confident, pragmatic person who is poised for success. They’ll learn what they’re capable of and strive to continually push those limits, deepening their knowledge and experience. They’ll grow to see opportunities where others can’t and take their destiny into their own hands.
Here’s what this looks like in practice:
Entrepreneurs in our classrooms
When first embarking on an entrepreneurial journey, kids have to overcome challenges that they’ve probably never faced before.
For example, a group of middle schoolers at our Austin campus started a business called Railway Sandwiches. Their goal was to sell lunch to their school community (including students, staff, and even parents) on Fridays.
To accomplish their goal, each student first needed to earn their food handler’s license from the state — so that’s exactly what they did.
Can you imagine graduating from high school already knowing how to build a business from the ground up? It’s never easy — even for adults — but when kids gain this experience in childhood, they walk away with greater confidence and independence.
Plus, a project like this gives teens the agency to earn money and put it toward their big goals. Like when the middle schoolers at our Toronto campus wanted to take a class camping trip over the summer — to make that happen, they started not one but two businesses.
One, which they named Grass Busters, offered lawn maintenance services. The other, Treats N’ Tails, baked and sold homemade dog treats.
Eager to get started, the Grass Busters group learned how to use lawn maintenance equipment, which was donated by parents. They also learned how to use scheduling software, create flyers, and market their services to the Toronto community. Meanwhile, the Treats N’ Tails group consulted with a local dog expert and built a website to market their treats. By summertime, the class had earned enough money to take their camping trip!
It’s amazing to see this level of effort from students and even better to witness their joy in the process.
So, how can you encourage your teen to flex their entrepreneurial muscles and build a business for themself?
How to help your child start a business
Just as we do in our Montessori classrooms, you can help your child start a business by observing them and taking note of their interests. Then, discuss those interests together, reflecting on what they enjoy most and how it could translate into a viable business idea.
For example, if your teen loves baking, they might enjoy creating custom cakes for events or selling baked goods at lunch. Or, if they love to read, they could design and sell custom bookmarks.
And, as your child will learn, you have to spend money to make money. If your teen earns a weekly allowance or has an after-school job, encourage them to use that income to influence their business budget.
And if they need more startup capital to get things off the ground? Don’t just give them $150 to buy a Cricut so they can start designing stationery. Instead, encourage them to treat you like a real investor. Ask them to create a presentation with profit projections so you know you’ll make a return on your initial investment.
The goal is for your child to view their business as a real entity with real stakes and to encourage them to consider long-term plans and strategies.
Wherever possible, step back and let your child work independently. Of course, when launching a new business, roadblocks are inevitable. But instead of trying to fix things for your kid (even if you can see a possible solution), encourage them to keep trying or ask open-ended questions to guide them.
If they’re not selling, does something need to change about the product or the price? Should they start a new marketing campaign? Is their target audience appropriate? The more experiments they run, the more information they’ll have, and the more likely they are to figure out what works.
Once kids make their first sale, and they experience how capable they are, there’s no going back. They’ll want to keep learning, experimenting, and building — and the effects of their efforts will ripple into adulthood.
☀️ This week’s bright spots:
If you have one minute… Watch our video on everything kids learn at a Montessori middle school.
If you have five minutes… Learn more about the curriculum at our middle and high schools — including Montessori’s micro-economy.
If you have ten minutes… Read this newsletter by Ivy Xu on the two things your kid should do if they have a business idea.
Could the folks who write these posts stop using the word "should"? It's so hard being a parent, we really don't need that kind of messaging from an organization we're looking to for support.