Entrepreneurship: When Passion Doesn't Pay the Bills

For most of us, becoming an entrepreneur and being able to spend our days making a lot of money around something we're deeply passionate about seems to be the professional goal. But what happens when we're unable to monetize our passions into something that sustains us financially?

The other day, I ran into a friend's adult daughter who was at this very crossroad. See, her passion revolved around music; she's well-versed in all genres, writes her own music and seems to be able to carry a tune as well as any American Idol contestant. (I'm tone deaf, but she sounds good to me.) She majored in music in college and had dreams of living comfortably off her talents. That is, until reality set in.

Today, at age 27, she works during the day as an office assistant; a job that pays enough to cover her bills. She still works on her music, but it's mostly on the weekends and she still hasn't made money from it.


The Mindset of an Entrepreneur



As a parent, I couldn't help but show her some empathy, after all we want nothing more than to see our kids happy all throughout their lives. What she lacked was the know-how to monetize her talents - the key component to being able to fully carry out one's passion as a career choice.

Like many young adults, the lack of knowing how to think like an entrepreneur and seize financial opportunities prevents them pursuing their passions. As a result, they are forced to take on jobs in careers of little interest because the reality of responsibility has come into play. They're disillusioned and rightfully so - their entire childhood has been spent honing those skills based on their talents with little consideration of how they will make a living at it.

The truth is, as a performer, she's replaceable. There are loads of people out there with comparable talents, some of whom get their 15 minutes of fame and many who don't. Those who do make it have figured it out. They know how to brand themselves, take necessary risks, spot opportunities and monetize their efforts. They've learned to think like an entrepreneur and apply those skills to their passions.

An Entrepreneur Monetizes His Passion

Socially, we tend to focus on building skill sets around our passions.  As kids, honing our talents provides an illusion that we will be at the top of our game and with good grades in school and a college degree behind us, who wouldn't want to employ our talented selves?  The reality is those who have learned the monetary value behind their talents and curb their ability to be replaced as a asset in the workplace will have a higher probability of having a career around their passions than those who don't.

It's delusional to think that the simple formula of grades, talents and a college degree is the ticket to the Professional Garden of Eden.  Like my friend's daughter and many of her peers, she followed that path because she was told that was the winning combination and right way to go.  Now, as an adult, she's realizing there was more to the equation and that the system failed her.  She's become dependent upon others for her financial survival as an employee as she watches her dreams of becoming a musical star slowly fade away.

An Entrepreneur is Made

Entrepreneurship spans all industries.  There isn't one career that doesn't involve an entrepreneur at the top.  And there's more to taking a product and asking people to buy it.  Other factors come into play and there are things people need to know (through formal and informal education) when starting and running a business.

Just like honing a specific skill around your passion, an entrepreneur hones his entrepreneurial skills.  Teaching a person to think like an entrepreneur takes time and practice; it's not something you just wake up one day and successfully do.  Sure, not everyone wants to become or is wired to become an entrepreneur, but everyone has the capacity to think like one.  For most, it's the difference between realizing and living out one's life doing what they love or working job because they have to.  Entrepreneurship is a necessary skill that compliments all others.

Find your passion.  Think like an entrepreneur!

Biz in a Boxx

Obama, You're Missing an Extra "E" in STEM

If you listened to President Obama's State of the Union Address on Tuesday, you probably caught a glimpse of his vague plans to improve our educational system by focusing on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects to produce a more skilled workforce able to compete globally.

Will STEM Education Will Produce a Competitive Workforce?

Certainly grooming future scientists, engineers and technologists will produce a skilled and competitive workforce that could innovate new products, but the other half of the equation is getting those products to the marketplace. There's an assumption that if we educate today's youth in STEM education, they will choose those corresponding careers and, when they enter the workforce, there will be jobs available. Yet, jobs are created by people who start businesses, no matter their background, and not necessarily by scientists, engineers and technologists. There's no benefit to educating a workforce in certain disciplines if we cannot provide an adequate amount of jobs. It's simply a matter of supply and demand.

STEM, in all its rhetoric, is missing an extra "E" for Entrepreneurship.

Focusing solely on STEM education is a bandaid; STEEM is a solution. If you read my 8 Things I've Learned About Being an Entrepreneur, you'll understand that putting STEM education and reform as a national priority is a result of needing a cure to solve our current perceptions of being less than globally competitive. At some point, when we possibly have too many scientists, engineers and technologists out of work because supply outweighs the amount of jobs available we will realize that we should have implemented that extra "E" into the equation.

STEM Education Solves Half the Problem

In theory, STEM education leads to innovation, but STEEM allows for those innovations to be taken to the market successfully. That's where we can really shine in the global market.

Even Obama glorified his speech with tales of Brandon Fisher whose small drilling business aided in the rescue of the 33 Chilean miners and the Allen brothers of Michigan whose company manufactures solar shingles. These aren't just people who innovated products but entrepreneurs who took their ideas and inventions to the marketplace.

There are plenty of great ideas circulating the nation, many of which haven't come to fruition and never will. We don't teach entrepreneurship in our public school system. If we really want to flourish as a nation and be leaders in the global economy, we'll start implementing STEEM instead of just STEM into the equation.

Success to you!

Melissa

Biz in a Boxx

Why Every Kids Should Learn About Entrepreneurship

A myth behind youth entrepreneurship implies that your child will be ensnared in hours of tasks, taking away from his limited childhood. After all, he has time to learn the 8 to 5 role when he reaches adulthood and is forced to make his own way.

Lessons in Youth Entrepreneurship From a Lemonade Stand

There's more to youth entrepreneurship than your occasional lemonade stand that occupies little Jimmy's time for a few weekend hours. Sure it's adorable watching him craft his stand and signage and overly sweeten the lemonade that will make his customer's thirstier than when they arrived. But for those few hours, he's learning some very valuable lessons that he'll take with him the rest of his life.

Youth Entrepreneurship and the Value of Ownership

For most kids, having true ownership over something is rare. Sure, you may be teaching your kid about responsibility and financial management through delegating chores, but chores are a micro-managed activity. There's not a whole lot of creativity in emptying a dishwasher, making a bed or folding the laundry and putting it away. They are tasks that are dictated on performance and time. Though chores are necessary and an excellent way to teach important skill sets, but they are not activities that a kid has complete control over.

Part of what is so enticing about entrepreneurship is ownership - ownership over ideas and actions and the ability to make decisions. It's about freedom to call the shots and build something out of nothing. Over 700,000 people each year in the US take a stab at starting a business, partly due to the desire to be one's own boss. A sense of ownership doesn't begin at age 18; it's a powerful force than transcends all ages.

Youth Entrepreneurship Benefits Go a Long Way

Think back to when you got your first business card and the feeling that came from it. For some, it's a sense of accomplishment and a sign that you are creating a professional path for yourself. Think about what it can do for a kid who came upon an idea, acted on it and created something from it. He may not be bringing in a six figure income yet, but he did something significant all on his own.

There's nothing like true ownership. It builds self-esteem and self-awareness. From that sense of ownership, mixed with youth entrepreneurship, we find other life-long benefits emerge. That lemonade stand teaches financial literacy, decision-making, strategic-planning, creativity, mathematics, innovation, communications, accountability, risk-taking, teamwork and delegation. All this from mixing up some sugar and lemons and sitting on the sidewalk waiting for passerby's. What other activity will your child be doing that teaches all of these important skill sets?

Adulthood and Youth Entrepreneurship

The limited time your kid has to enjoy his childhood is undoubtedly valued; he likely won't see this carefree time in his life until he retires. Yet, the bulk of his life will be spent making his way through the world, independently taking care of himself and his family. All of the lessons learned from his childhood will carry over into adulthood and help steer him towards who he will become. Most will become employees who will work for those who possess an entrepreneurial mindset and took a risk to start something new. (Entrepreneurship: Beating the Odds.)

While as parents we don't know with certainty who our kids will become, we do know what they will need to know to get ahead and be competitive. And that's part of our job to teach them.

Get your kids involved in youth entrepreneurship by giving them the tools to have a positive first experience and watch how amazed you will become from the lessons they will learn.

Biz in a Boxx

Hey Mom...I'm Back!

Imagine the youth unemployment rate so high that after paying or borrowing tens of thousands of dollars on a college education, your kid ends up back home because he can't find a job and afford an independent lifestyle. Welcome Boomerang Generation.

There were three definite rules in our household while I was growing up - don't do drugs, call if you're going to be late and get out of the house when you graduate from high school. The latter may seem a bit harsh to some, but it really wasn't meant that way. It's was my parent's way of saying, "We've taught you to fly; now it's time you to start your journey."

And we did.

The Boomerang Generation and Youth Unemployment

The term "Boomerang Generation" has begun to emerge with Gen Yer's, so much that there's actually a Wikipedia page about it. CNN Money reported that in a poll conducted by Twentysomething Inc. some 85 percent of college students plan to move back home when they graduate, up from 67 percent in 2006.

A big part of the problem, of course, is the high, 15 percent youth unemployment rate amongst 20-24 year olds. Home seems like a viable option to many.

Youth Unemployment Has Long-Term Consequences

The high youth unemployment rate and the time spent out of the labor pool can be hazardous to both the parents who find they are financially supporting their adult children and the young adult who misses out on valuable time gaining work experience to build a solid career. While it may seem nice to have the kids home again, there are some long-term consequences to it all. If you're a parent who has to financially support your adult child, those expenses eat away at your retirement. If you're an adult child out of work for any length of time, it's time you have to make up when gaining and honing real-world skill sets.

Sure, large numbers of children, mostly single, have lived with their parents as adults for decades. But things were far different 100 or even 50 years ago. Women, especially, weren't abundant in the workforce and so they lived in their childhood rooms until they married and started a home of their own. No matter the statistics, the fact that kids are forced to move back in with their parents due to high youth unemployment rates and not social norms is significant.

Youth Unemployment Options

Bianca Fortis was a Boomerang Kid who found herself once again living with her parents after college while she tried to find a job in journalism. Bianca was dependent upon an economic system for her financial independence, a path most kids are told to follow. It seemed that if you went to college, those years of hard work would pay off in an immediate job, but the labor market is about supply and demand. If there's not enough demand for your skills and what you can bring to the table, then it's "hello Strawberry Shortcake comforter. It's so nice to see you again."

Kids will either grow up to be employees or employers, but never exposing them to both opportunities limits them as they venture down their career path. Even a kid who has developed an entrepreneurial mindset before he's reached college age has a much better propensity to adapt to these economic changes. Their financial survival skills are far stronger than those who have never been exposed. And if you think the current economic downturn won't happen again in your kids' lifetime, think again. It's cyclical.

As a parent, I'd love for my daughter to return home after she finishes college, but I don't want her to actually live at home. It's not because I wouldn't want her to be that close to me, but because she deserves to have a life of her own, to be productive, follow her dreams and accomplish her own goals. Preparing her now, before she leaves high school, is the best gift I can unselfishly give her.

Encourage your kids, of all ages, to get out there and make their own employment. Don't teach them to become dependent upon a system; this is America, home to entrepreneurship and because the youth unemployment rate isn't going to dip down low for quite some time.

Biz in a Boxx