Friday Fun: Entrepreneurship For Children
04/20/2012
Friday Fun is Diva Marketing's virtual happy hour from cosmos to Jack to lemonade. A waiting for the weekend playground time to be sophisticated-silly. Or sometimes just plain silly. A time to go off topic.
Truly wonderful the mind of a child is. - YODA, Star Wars
What do children have to do with social media marketing? Nothing. Everything.
When was the last time you attempted to try something new without benefit of strategy, research or group consensus? Even outside of a work environment adults incorporate these three safe guards to make decision. Stay with me on this one.
We even use these safe guards when we're taking a fun family trip. Strategy: What will you pack? We need a (planning) list. Research: Are the reviews on Yelp more credible than on Trip Adviser? Group Consensus: Let's vote. Who wants to go to the beach and who wants to go to the mountains?
I know what you're thinking. "Hey, Toby you've been talking to us for the past 27 billion years about the importance of planning and strategy." Well, it's really been only 8 which in social media years is just about 27 billion years so I guess you're right.
Sometimes I think we think too much and the innovative ideas blow by us like danilion seeds.
Our friends at MSN Business on Main have some interesting content posted about young adults who dived into business. One is a video about how two college pals created a summer job, College Hunks Moving Junk (love the name!), that morped into a mulit-million dollar business.
At the time their risk was small .. a start-up for the summer. Sure there were learning and growing pains that might have been avoided if a plan and research had been in place but would the business exist?
The other is an article fostering entrepreneurship in young children and quotes Dr. Cathy Ashmore, founder, Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education. I had the pleasure of taking part in the intial planning session (oops! that word) for the Consortium Forum 2012, 30th year education in entrepreneurship conference, taking place in Atlanta in November. Truly an amazing event that I encourage anyone who is involved in teaching children about entrepreneurship to attend.
I can't help but wonder how many children might have followed a different path if they had been given the confidence and told it was okay to catch a few danilion seeds blowing in the wind. Innovation first. Planning second.
If you're interested in helping children explore the path of owning a business skip over to Lemonade Day a nonprofit that offers an ".. experiential learning program where communities across the nation unite to teach youth how to start, own and operate their own business through a lemonade stand."
Let's circle back .. what do dandilions, summer jobs, lemonade stands and children have to do with social media marketing? You connect the virtual dots and tell me!
That’s the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. - Walt Disney
Diva Marketing is part of an online influencer network for MSN Business on Main. I receive incentives to share my views on a monthly basis. All opinions are 100% mine.
