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Teach Teen Entrepreneurs Good Business Practices

Teen Entrepreneurs can become successful business men and women if taught proper business practices from the onset. When teen entrepreneurs first express interest in starting a business, teach them to plan carefully and make realistic judgments about the ventures they consider.

Start by encouraging teen entrepreneurs to brain storm about their business opportunities and encourage them to write down these questions and their well-thought out responses:

1. What kind of business best suits you? Are you passionate about the business you have chosen? What products and services will you offer? Who will pay for your goods or services?

2. Is there a demand for the type of products or services you offer? Have you researched the demand and interest of potential customers or are you guessing?

3. Do you have the time and financial resources to get started? How much time will it take and how much will it cost?

4. How many products or how much service will you have to do in order to earn back your initial investment?

5. What legal requirements must you meet to legally operate a business in your community?

Adults may have to guide teen entrepreneurs at first with discussion. Encourage them to use all available resources to research the viability of their businesses. By considering these questions and writing down the responses, teens will learn to create simple business plans. Many adult entrepreneurs make the costly mistake of leaping into business ventures that "seemed like a good idea at the time" without properly accounting for start up costs, operating costs and demand.

Teen entrepreneurs may be inclined to have short attention spans. Therefore, it is critical that they choose a venture about which they are passionate. A business takes considerable time and serious committment. Is your teen ready to take on such a challenge?

Record keeping is another critical element of business. While teen entrepreneurs may not be nearly as interested in record keeping as they are in making cold hard cash, establishing good habits will help them far into the future.

Most teens today are adept at using computers. Help teen entrepreneurs choose a simple computer program to track receipts and expenditures. QuickBooks and Microsoft Money are good accounting programs for adults, but might be somewhat advanced for teen entrepreneurs . Try using a simple spreadsheet to help your teen determine profit and losses.

If the task of using a computer seems to daunting for your teen at first, purchase a notebook and encourage him or her to track customers, orders, jobs and accounts receivable compared to business expenditures.

When teen entrepreneurs start out on the right foot, they are far more likely to understand and practice sound business procedures in the future.

Article Published: Thursday 19th April 2007