June, 2022

Tips, Ideas, and Best Practices for Teenage Entrepreneurs

You’re never too young or old to start a business, and famous entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg, Bernie Marcus, and Steve Jobs have proven this to be true. Zuckerberg was already a billionaire by the time he turned 23, while Jobs was 21 when he and Steve Wozniak founded Apple. Marcus, on the other hand, didn’t start Home Depot until the age of 50. 
 
As you can see, age is really just a number when it comes to launching a business. As long as teens are passionate about their idea and have an adult to assist them with the registration of their business, they can easily pursue entrepreneurship in adolescence. These tips and best practices from Family Factor help to make it possible. 

Benefits of Youth Entrepreneurship
There are monetary benefits of starting a business early on in life — especially since most teens earn minimum wage— but the advantages of launching a business are so much more than receiving a bigger paycheck. These benefits include:

• A flexible work schedule. Teenage entrepreneurs are better able to balance work with school, friends, and extracurricular activities. 
• Improved chances of college admission. Entrepreneurship looks impressive on college admissions applications, as it demonstrates a student's ability to think critically and creatively, solve problems, make decisions, and communicate effectively.
• Financial literacy. About 22 percent of teenagers lack basic financial skills such as budgeting, but entrepreneurship teaches us how to wisely spend, save, and borrow money; build credit; and find investment opportunities. 

Best Practices for Teenage Entrepreneurs
Coming up with a great business idea is the first step toward entrepreneurship, and it’s important for teens to choose one that aligns with their skills, talents, and interests. As one example, they could turn a hobby into a business — like knitting, baking, or crafting. These items could be sold for a profit on Etsy or other websites such as Amazon Handmade, Storenvy, or Goimagine.
 
For a few other ideas, teens could coach or tutor other students; start a dog walking or pet sitting business; or help out the community with tasks such as running errands, mowing lawns, and repairing computers or other tech devices. 
 
After choosing an idea, there are some best practices teens should follow when getting their businesses off the ground. These include:

• Choosing a legal structure. Common options include limited liability companies (LLCs), corporations, partnerships, and sole proprietorships. 
• Registering the business. If teens are younger than 18 years of age, they’ll typically need a parent to register the business on their behalf. However, these rules vary by state. 
• Opening a business bank account. Again, teens 17 and younger may need to open an account with a parent or another legal guardian. 
• Marketing the business. Teens can use social media channels like Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram to market their products and services online. 

 
Moreover, there are some traditional marketing strategies teens should use in addition to promoting their businesses on social media. Teens, for instance, can use free online graphic design tools to create flyers and brochures that may be distributed to neighbors, community members, and other students. These same online tools can be used to create business cards, as business cards make it easy to share contact information with others and leave a lasting impression on potential customers and clients. 
 
To design printed materials online, teens can use a flyer, brochure, and business card app to create the documents they need. Lots of customizable templates are available to choose from, making it easy to add logos and other images, change the color scheme, or switch up the fonts. 

​Start Early in Life
Whether you’re interested in raising a kidpreneur or teenpreneur, early education sets your child up for a lifetime of success as an entrepreneur, small business owner, or freelancer. Start by scheduling a consultation with Family Factor so you can find the best possible learning environment for your child. The right academic environment will support your child’s learning style while encouraging your future entrepreneur to find and follow his or her passions. 

In Conclusion
​Whether your teen pursues entrepreneurship is up to him or her, but this will push your child in the right direction. There’s a whole world of possibilities out there, and entrepreneurship is just one of them. 
 
Are you searching for the right learning environment for your child? Family Factor can help. Book a consultation today and choose from three packages: Academic Observation, Individual Assessment, and Academic Observation & School Placement. Contact Family Factor to learn more: 720-431-3346 , autumn@familyfactor.org