In today’s fast-paced world, success means boasting business smarts. Being a proper entrepreneur with strong financial acumen, leadership skills, negotiation savvy, and a goal-oriented mindset is the key to attaining self-sufficiency as an adult.

If you’re a parent, you want your child to be accomplished and business-savvy. The best way to help them become a successful adult is to teach them how to think like a seasoned entrepreneur while they’re young and more receptive to learning skills. Below are six ways you can teach the skills they’ll need to own their future and independence.

Teach Them Financial Literacy

Cash is the backbone of any society’s economy. Economies encompass the cash flow that allows people to purchase services, goods, and necessities and compensate those who made those goods available so that they may, in turn, pay for their own.

With how much of a role money plays in day-to-day life, teaching your child about financial literacy can give them an advantage in their adult lives. Start simple by talking about the difference between wants and needs. If you give them allowances, make a point that if they want more money to spend on things they want, they need to save up their money instead of spending it all weekly.

Introduce Them to Negotiation

Business is all about brokering deals that all parties find agreeable. Any lucrative entrepreneur will tell you they got where they are today with well-developed negotiation skills.

You can teach your child how to negotiate by letting them negotiate certain privileges, such as moving their bedtime later or choosing certain chores they prefer. Explain to them that a negotiation isn’t an argument. Once you’ve instilled some basic qualities any negotiator needs (patience, a willingness to listen, and knowing the importance of thorough planning), give them a chance to work out a fair deal with you to earn or expand privileges.

Show The Importance of Working with Simple Jobs

Making money means putting in work. Few things in life come for free, and even fewer come without significant strings attached. You can foster an understanding of this by giving your child some simple jobs at home or at a trusted friend’s house.

Find a suitable task bigger than a usual chore they can do more than once. Tell them what they must do to complete it, running them through the steps and ensuring they understand. Pay them well each time they get the job done right. Once they’re older, consider helping them get an after-school part-time job. Over time, they’ll understand that hard work pays off and take that knowledge into adulthood.

Teach Them How to Set Goals

Kids love to dream big, concocting vivid ideas about the things they want to do or get. But if they want to realize these ideas, they need to have a clear plan in mind. To achieve this, they need to break down their big goals into a series of smaller, realistic goals.

Talk to your child about something they want. For example, let’s say they want to sell cookies. Sit down with them, discussing and researching what they must do to succeed. Then, help them plan out a series of attainable goals that will ultimately lead to them having a successful cookie stand (for example, have individual goals for “developing a recipe,” “getting a vendor’s permit,” “building a stand,” and “delivering samples to draw in customers”).

Make Time for Time Management

There’s only so much time in a day, and not every business operates 24/7. Prolific entrepreneurs work with this by utilizing time management skills such as schedule planning and task prioritization.

A good way to start teaching these skills is to sit with your child and help them plan a daily routine. Start small and only assign a few things at first. Let them give input on what times they want to do certain things, such as homework and chores. As they get used to it, have them add dedicated break and hobby times to their schedule and encourage them to think about when they’d want those break periods most.

Build Them Up into a Team Player

Businesses are comprised of many people working together to accomplish shared goals. Teaching your child to be a team player, whether part of the team or leading it, can make all the difference in how they go about the workforce as an adult.

Demonstrate the power of collaboration by having you and your child work on different parts of one task. Make a point about how the task was completed more quickly because you worked together. Additionally, take time to discuss the aspects of teamwork and leadership and practice valuable skills, such as clear communication, conflict resolution, and listening to their team’s concerns.

There are many different methods of teaching these skills, but no matter which ones you employ, they should be effective and innovative. By teaching your child business-savvy skills, you’ll empower them to grow into independent adults who can accomplish what they aspire to do.

Published by: Martin De Juan