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I just read an article on people who made it from poor to the riches. Included are people like Oprah and Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as many business people, like Howard Schultz of Starbucks, Larry Ellison of Oracle, John Paul De Joria of the Paul Mitchell brand, and the Korean immigrant who founded Forever21.
I think artistic talents may be something born with and hard to replicate, but business skills seem can be acquired. Is there a way to groom a child for a successful business career? I am not talking about getting a good corporate job, but to be a true successful entrepreneur.
I don't know, but I think a few of the traits are you have to be ok with lots of financial instability, working a lot, and ok with failing and getting right back up on your feet again. You have to know how to both work hard and work smart at the same time.
The potentially more stable path is earning at least an average, and preferably an above average income but living 2 to 3 rungs below where you're "supposed to" for your income level for a significant period of time (i.e. at least 5-7 years, possibly longer) and saving/investing the difference. We're talking savings rates upward of 1/3 of gross income, preferably 1/2 or more. Then you start your business when you already have a significant safety net under your feet.
Both paths require hard work, resilience, good social skills, and going against what the crowd is doing.
You might also want to read the book "The Triple Package" by Amy Shua and Jed Rubenstein. It turns out high achievers tend to believe they're superior yet at the same time have a certain insecurity about it, creating the need to prove themselves. There's a certain psychological cost to this mindset, for sure.
I think someone can learn better business skills if they are humble enough to know they can improve. That's not a trait that many small business owners have. On a related note, not all owners of successful businesses have good business skills. I've worked with and known many successful business owners who were successful entirely because they chose the right business at the right time, not because of their great business acumen. In fact many are successful in spite of the owner's poor business skills.
Choosing the right business is the first and most important decision on the road to success, in my opinion. About the original question, I agree with MrRational that good business sense is more nature than nurture.
I just read an article on people who made it from poor to the riches. Included are people like Oprah and Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as many business people, like Howard Schultz of Starbucks, Larry Ellison of Oracle, John Paul De Joria of the Paul Mitchell brand, and the Korean immigrant who founded Forever21.
I think artistic talents may be something born with and hard to replicate, but business skills seem can be acquired. Is there a way to groom a child for a successful business career? I am not talking about getting a good corporate job, but to be a true successful entrepreneur.
It is called education.
There very much ARE skills that need to be learned. The early starts of newspaper boy and mowing lawns are all but gone now. Having a child be in charge of a flea market stall under supervision could give some grounding experience. Social skills are of PRIME importance. Big deals are often accomplished only because of the ability to schmooz, read people, not p*ss off others, and talk the talk. That means practice from an early age, with school groups, church groups, etc. The old Dale Carnegie courses were developed for a reason, and they still have valuable concepts to convey.
Managing money is a HUGE skill, and goes beyond simply having a starter bank account. Even a young child can understand the idea of investing, the idea of interest on money, and risk/reward ratios.
Knowing where and how to make connections - and keep them - is crucial to success in business. The simple statement that almost all of Alabama politicians and successful businessmen in the state attended the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa says it all. In the movie industry, if you slaved for Roger Corman, you had an automatic door that opened to other areas of success. Much time and effort can be wasted if one doesn't know the power brokers and understand how the system works - even as an independent entrepreneur.
One also has to know how and when to say "No." One has to know how to game a position or opportunity to leverage to the next stage of development. One has to know how to deal with bureaucracies like local governments.
All that is just a start on what is required to become more than a fluke of success.
The best equivalent to a sales, negotiating, marketing and merchandising boot camp would be working a summer at a flea market. Hundreds of lessons to be learned that will help not only in business but also in life.
An alternative to that would be buying/selling from home on Ebay, Craigslist etc. Anyone who cant do that profitably has no business in the real business world.
Of course a business type of degree helps a lot, but entrepreneurs are risk takers. I suspect that has to be born into your personality. And then you must be able to recognize opportunity and be willing to put in the hard work,
I have a suggestion, if you have any sort of TV on demand. Call up The Undercover Billionaire and sit there with a notebook and copy down all of his advice. That information would costs you many 10's of thousands of dollars at a boot camp. It's on TV for free, and it is tremendously good advice about how to succeed as an entrepreneur.
You can instill all the education and information into a child. I doubt that there is anyway to instill the drive necessary into a child that just doesn't have that personality.
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