CAREERS NOW 05-04-07

Is Your Child a Born Entrepreneur?

DEAR JOYCE: I am now divorced with three adolescent sons. I've worked hard and been fortunate to provide a good income running a business I started 20 years ago. As I look around at layoffs and disappearing jobs, and vanishing pensions and age discrimination issues, I worry about my sons' future. I hope they will grow up to become entrepreneurs, responsible for their own success, and plan to devote time guiding them in that direction. Their dad, a lawyer in a small practice, isn't convinced that entrepreneurship is the answer. Your viewpoint? - G.H.

I start with "Yes, entrepreneurship is an attractive goal." But then I have to move on to the "maybes" and the definite need for hard-core information.

BORN OR MADE? Although entrepreneurship as a dynamic economic force has been ballyhooed over the last several decades, inspiring an explosion of college courses, another issue has been debated much longer: Is entrepreneurship an innate ability or an acquired skill? Unless your sons are obviously showing themselves to be mercantile kings of the neighborhood, avoid a risk of square pegs in round holes: Sign them up with a career counselor - not a career coach or consultant but an academically-educated testing professional.

As long as I can remember, experts have held widely different opinions on whether entrepreneurship can be taught when the raw entrepreneurial acumen is missing.

YOUNG MILLIONAIRES. The stories of young entrepreneurs who become multimillionaires before they turn 40 are popular fare - all-natural granola manufacturers, T-shirt designers, and downloadable game makers get cheerleader recognition in business media, including the popular site, Entrepreneur.com.

But other features on the Entrepreneur site spotlight the reality of potential failure, including myths concerning government start-up grants, and unfounded confidence that if you build a Web site, "they will come." Consider Entrepreneur.com as a must-see attraction on your kids' career due diligence tour.

NEW FEDERAL RESOURCE. SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business" has launched a new section specifically for young entrepreneurs on the SCORE Web site. Well done and comprehensive, the new section is a good use of your taxpayer dollars. Visit www.score.org/young.html to find a wide array of resources, including articles on entrepreneurship as a career choice. Additionally, the site lists more than 35 organizations, groups and Web sites that offer news, strategies and assistance.

Closer to home, your local chamber of commerce may offer programs and contests aimed at young entrepreneurs. Encourage your boys to call the organization and check out that possibility.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP. Suppose you do steer your sons toward becoming visionary risk-takers and your plan seems to be working out great. But then one of them grows up and announces that he's more concerned with making a difference in solving troubles at home or around the globe. He can do that very thing without wasting years of your parental guidance. Social entrepreneurship is an emerging concept of applying the skills and creativity typically associated with business strategies to solve broad social issues.

ONE LAST TIP. A recent study of what makes 12- to 24-year-olds happy - today and going forward into the future - offers insights. According to the study by Social Technologies for MTV, with a hand from the Associated Press, today's youth pursue happiness by combining three strategies: the pleasure of the moment, relationships with family and friends, and the long-term search for meaning and purpose - or friends, family and faith.

To read all the forecasts, browse to www.socialtechnologies.com/mtv.aspx. One forecast stands out as a clue about how to successfully encourage your sons toward small business development: "BFF. Friends will continue to be the most important relationships contributing to youth happiness. 'Having lots of close friends' is very or somewhat important to 80 percent of the youth polled."

Got that, mom? Encourage all your sons' BFFs to join in forthcoming career-exploration adventures in entrepreneurship. Boomer and Gen X readers, are you puzzled by the initials BFF in that forecast? BFF is texting talk for "best friend forever." Yes, I had to look it up. To understand texting language, the translation site is lingo2word.com. LOL.

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