IDEA #51. Invent something or come up with an original idea for your own business, and then find someone who can help you write a business plan for putting your invention or idea on the market. When your plan is done, figure out how to put into practice.

Of course this suggestion presupposes a certain inventive strain in the young person, as coming up with an idea for a successful business is a major challenge even for the most original of entrepreneurial minds. But let the imagination run free, even if the idea is flawed, because the point here is for the child to consider all the steps required in establishing a business and bringing a product or service to market.

The internet or a public library can provide reference materials including actual templates for business plans. The exercise is to apply specific, intentional thought to the business idea and to imagine each segment of the actualization plan. There are opportunities here to consider such matters as mission—the larger intent of a business—and the ways in which businesses find and pull together the resources necessary for production. Marketing is the final aspect to be considered, and perhaps the student can analyze some of his or her own experience as a consumer to come up with ideas as to how a product can be made appealing to a particular group of people.

One aspect of this project is to imagine what people want and need—to make the consideration a business idea an exercise in empathy. Another part is to consider the kinds of companies and products that truly and consistently deliver in terms of quality and service. What makes Coca-Cola a successful company, or Microsoft, or Old Navy? How do such companies become so successful—is it luck, or planning? What companies has the child seen fail—what fads and “must-have” items have completely disappeared within his or her lifetime? What is the secret of business success, in other words?

If the plan seems sound and exciting, there is no reason that the young person cannot try to connect with some adult resources who might help turn the dream into a reality. How old was Bill Gates when he started Microsoft or Mark Zuckerberg when Facebook took off?

IDEA #35. Find a local business that will let you volunteer as an “intern” or helper. Even if you don’t wind up doing much important work, what can you learn about the business and about how people work?

Internships are increasingly a standard part of the professional planning phase of collegiate life, but the opportunity to spend some real time in a workplace setting is above all a chance for younger people to come to an understanding of how actual work is carried out in the adult world.

Schoolteachers are constantly reminding students that certain kinds of behavior will not pay off in the “real world,” and children are accustomed to living in a more or less authoritarian environment. What better way can there be to see both how adults behave in the workplace and how decisions are made and implemented in the adult world than by observing real work?

Not all businesses will welcome young volunteers, and some may simply say no. The age of the child (probably no one under twelve or thirteen should even consider this activity) and his or her level of responsibility—perhaps attested to in a written recommendation from a teacher or principal—will have a bearing on what kinds of opportunities open up, and patience may be necessary. Issues of hazard and confidentiality may also arise and should be thoroughly discussed by parents or guardians in advance.

An ideal situation would have the youngster tagging along with a particular individual who is not unhappy to have a young sidekick and who will have the patience and interest to explain and answer questions. For children on the younger side the old “take your child to work day” concept may be a good way to start, as long as the parent or guardian is able to perform his or her job with a child at hand and as long as the employer is not averse to this arrangement.

Among the valuable lessons students tend to learn from internships is that not every job is suitable for every person; some students find out just how much they do NOT want to work in certain kinds of environments. On the whole, however, most youngsters find some exposure to a real work setting to be of great interest and great value, and the thinking child will find much food for cogitation as he or she observes adult work in action.

IDEA #26. Find a product or company you are interested in, find it on the stock market, and follow its fortunes there. Imagine that you have bought 100 shares of a stock, and track it—write it down!—at least once a week on the Internet or in the newspaper. Keep track of how much you win or lose in a month, or two months. Are you happy or sad that you didn’t invest real money?

Stock market reports feature prominently in the news, and investment is the cornerstone of capitalism. The child who learns to understand the system and who can begin to see the relationships between the urge to buy and the urge to sell can at least begin to develop a sense of society’s values as well as how day-to-day events influence the economy.

The first order of business is to help the youngster understand what a “share” of a company is, and how the rising or falling value of the share is a function of the perceived future value of the company. The simple fact is that a stock sale represents a fundamental disagreement between buyer and seller as to whether the value of the stock will rise or fall, a fact with profound implications for the economy as a whole and, of course, for the immediate future of the company.

The second step in this activity is to choose a stock for the hypothetical purchase. Youngsters like to invest in things in which they believe and with which they are familiar—a company that makes a favorite possession, like a computer or a game, or that provides a service the youngster enjoys, like a particular restaurant or television network. It should be fairly easy to find out if the company is listed on one of the major stock exchanges—New York or NASDAQ—and what its trading symbol and current share price are.

Imagine one share at X dollars, and then imagine a hundred shares. This is the initial investment cost. For the duration of the activity the young investor can track the share price; does it rise or fall? Older children may want to track several stocks, perhaps keeping a graph or table of daily value and perhaps also noting the state of the market in general, up or down.

At the end of the period, total up the value of a hundred shares and then compare it to the initial cost. If the investment “made” money, especially more than a percent or two, the investment was sound and perhaps spectacular. If there was a paper loss, then all involved should feel relieved that the investment was not real, but even a significant loss might not signal disaster. The question might be, What would explain the rise or fall in the stock’s price? Were there news items relating to the company and its business, or did the fluctuations in price seem to have little relationship to anything obvious?

The real lesson of the stock market is to look at long-term investment and to see how a company might do over an extended period of time. Another wise investment strategy involves diversification, investing in several or more different kinds of businesses. Many people do not understand the importance of the stock market as a principal investment of pension and retirement funds, insurance companies, banks, and even college and private school endowments—not just individuals.

It should be possible to locate a stockbroker—try an online search—who would be willing to discuss the market and its vagaries and processes with an interested young potential investor. Of course, this exercise could be performed with real money and real shares, although perhaps a very small amount of stock would be a safer way to start.

IDEA #17. Earn a sum of money with a business that you organize and run with friends. Then find a charity you believe in and contribute a tenth of what you earned.

This activity builds on the previous suggestion in the Business and Entrepreneurship category, with the added complexity of partnership. Here is a valuable opportunity to learn interpersonal skills around management and compromise, with the new wrinkle that the joint participants are friends.

One of the best ways to forestall problems among the partners–even with an elementary schooler’s lemonade stand–is to make a simple chart that defines and allots tasks and responsibilities, doing what’s possible to draw on strengths and interests. With the chart completed and literally signed off on by all participants, the next step is to build a timeline of jobs to be completed. Careful, open, and clear pre-planning of the work to be done is essential in making the operation, and the relationships of the partners, run smoothly.

NOTE FOR INTERESTED PARENTS/GUARDIANS: Incidentally, this same system—an established business model—can be used to help kids organize and complete collaborative academic projects, where workload inequity and individual shirking often lead to disaster among even close friends. Even if the teacher does not help students by assigning such a system, urge or even guide your child to set things up in this way—a clear list of tasks, a clear allocation of responsibility, a clear timeline—whenever a group project is starting. The plan should impress (and perhaps inspire) the teacher, and the work will go much more smoothly.