Business Tips a Seven-Year Old can Teach You

Background:
My sister and brother-in-law are both entrepreneurs, having started their own yoga studio and online finance course, respectively. My nephew has spent a lot of time with us around the dinner table as we discuss each others business ideas, brainstorm and  figure out the best way to go about executing. He will pop-in every now and then, trying to lure us away to play a game of Monopoly and often listen without us even realizing-except the one time when he declared he wanted a website to sell his tomatoes (he has a garden). Forget lemonade stand on the street-he wants a stand on the Internet!

My nephew is 7. He’s unlike any other kid I know. He’s brilliant. Okay, okay I may be a little wee bit biased because after all he is my nephew. Do I sound like a doting aunt?

In all honesty he’s a really bright kid. And spending time with him makes you realize the sponge that kids are and how they soak up everything around them and then blurt it out when you least expect it.

Given what I mentioned above,  it shouldn’t have come as a complete surprise to me when we were playing Monopoly one day (he was 5 at the time) and I made a comment about all the money he was spending on houses and hotels, to which he replied,

(Lesson 1):

“You need to spend money to make money.”

Ok, Mr. Trump! I was shocked. “Where did you hear that?”, I asked. To which he nonchalantly replied,  “Daddy.”

It’s not t like I’d never heard that expression before but hearing it from him so matter-of-factly really hit home because it’s true.

Often times as business owners we want to hold off on spending until we start seeing revenue.

But if you don’t invest and believe in yourself, who will?

There’s more.  Over dinner the other day, he randomly looked up and said,

(Lesson 2)

“A successful entrepreneur in today’s economy recognizes their customers wants not needs”.

My sister and brother-in-law were shocked and asked him “Where did you hear that?!” (Did they start teaching entrepreneurship in grade 2?)

To which he replied, “I read that in INC magazine yesterday”. …which he found lying around on the kitchen table.

I don’t think I need to explain lesson 2, but often times it’s good to hear it to remind us if we are focusing our efforts on the right place.

As for my nephew, I’m buying shares in HIM!