Take a look in business magazine and you’ll run across a story about startups, or small businesses started by typically young, ambitious college grads, capitalizing off of the growing tech market. News about such frequently includes news about financing, huge investments from equally eager venture capitalists, ready to strike gold with the next Google or Yelp, and some businesses being valued at a whopping $1 billion just a few years off the ground. Those with such credentials have been labeled unicorns by industry experts, and there are quite a few of them in the U.S. and throughout the world.
As a result, it would appear that small business in the country is thriving. To a point, that is the case. In the last year, small businesses, which make up about half of America’s overall economy, have managed an official post-recession comeback. In 2015, small businesses appeared more optimistic about growth, experienced a surge in sales, and added a few jobs. However, research shows that small business in the U.S. as a whole has been steadily declining, not just recently, but since the 1970s. According the Kauffman Foundation and Brookings Institute the number of reported small businesses less than a year old has dropped by nearly half, more specifically, 44 percent, since 1978. The organizations pulled their information from U.S. Census data.
Add to that findings within the last year which also show that the number of businesses closing exceeded the number of those opening, beginning in 2008. So, we have a double issue in which a lack of growth from new companies is coupled with a rapid of failure of established businesses. Some have speculated that the impetus for such is a generational one. Inc. com, for example, sites the likes of Apple’s Steve Jobs, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, and TV maven Oprah Winfrey as an example of the gap in entrepreneurship today compared to that of the Baby Boomer generation, to which the aforementioned belong. Even for Gen X’ers, the percentage of young business owners exceed that of Millennials.
The writer has a point, but I don’t think the fault rests solely on millennials. I think we fail younger generations by teaching them to seek stable careers rather than risk or giving inspiration to establish their own businesses. Look no further than the increased pressure in recent years to attend college, and now, to seek an advanced degree. The message has been to work hard and set yourself up to find a stable career after college.
Nevertheless, there are some who do see the opportunity to impress upon their children the value of entrepreneurship, or to support, rather, the children in their endeavors and interest. Craig Zamary, an entrepreneur himself, began teaching his son about business ownership and management after his son expressed a desire to work for himself. His son was in the first grade. Eventually, Craig would end up teaching an entire class of second graders about entrepreneurship, and nurturing the children’s business ideas to become a reality.
This experiment proved successful for a number of reasons, which we can learn as adults, and use as a foundation for inspiring our children to lead their own way. Craig found that the children’s lack of fear was hugely beneficial as well their use of imagination. They were able to think creatively and about possibility rather than reality. Another reason for teaching entrepreneurship early is that it establishes good principles and allow the children to build on the practice they get from their experiences.
Innovation drives our culture, our way of life and the world. Fearless, imaginative entrepreneurs have contributed so much to our development. We could certainly benefit from more. Thus, it’s extremely important to begin teaching and encouraging entrepreneurship as much as we encourage becoming a lawyer or a chef. They all work together.
