School Taught Me to Think Like a Boss (Even Though I Didn’t Know It Yet)
Entrepreneurs don’t really just study entrepreneurship. The truth is most entrepreneurs did not study entrepreneurship in college. They did not study entrepreneurship in high school, but I personally learned entrepreneurship in high school without actually knowing it. How did that happen? let me tell you exactly the story of how entrepreneurship is incorporated in a very early learning stage in the days before high school and it peaks up in high school.
When I was in high school, we started to work on our future. You know that the time is coming when you would grow out of school and just get into university or college or start working in the real world. So this is the zero hour approaching and you know that in high school. This gives you a little bit of stress, a feeling of unrequested leadership that has to come into you. You have to lead yourself out of this and you have to lead your life in a certain way. That’s why entrepreneurship as a concept starts to spread in you during high school because you’re taking control of things in your own hand.
Doing Things Better: The First Step to High School Entrepreneurship
When I was in high school, I had no idea which career I was gonna go to next because who does at that stage? But I started to love innovating when it came to small projects. I would see how to do this in an effective way, in a more efficient way, and so on. These small projects or activities are the ones that actually put entrepreneurship in your soul which leads it to grow later on. Entrepreneurship in high school is not going to be a subject, but it is going to be incorporated in each and every activity that is done.
We Don’t Need a Class Called “Entrepreneurship” in High School
There are some high schools that I have personally, as a 12-year business consultant, been involved with because they want to teach their students about entrepreneurship. But what is there to learn about entrepreneurship? The truth is it’s just your creativity and zest and interest in a specific company or startup. So you just have to have someone passionate about something, like how Jeff Bezos was passionate about e-commerce or how Mark Zuckerberg was passionate about social media. Then you just let them do their thing. So you can’t really teach entrepreneurship, you can build this passion inside a person and you can show them the right way and that’s everything you could do in high school.
The High School Thinking Outside the Box: This is What Entrepreneurship is All About
When you’re in high school I’m sure you heard the statement “You need to think outside of the box.” I believe if entrepreneurship was to be replaced, the word entrepreneurship was to be replaced by a single phrase, then it would be this particular phrase “Think outside of the box.” When you actually think about it, it is the sole definition of entrepreneurship. You take a company, you take an idea, and instead of doing the same thing, you innovate and do it differently. Look at how Uber did it.
They thought outside of the box instead of taxis always having a problem and not being available for customers or people, they created the concept of ride-hailing. They would say, “Alright, you know what? This person might be a driver, this other person might be a driver, why not pay them? Everyone could be a driver. It’s a lot easier if you incorporate this and it’s gonna solve the problem.” And with this mentality, the mentality of thinking outside of the box, an entrepreneurial idea is born.
School Projects Can Spark Your Inner Entrepreneur
And that’s why I think the most important part of a school is school projects. That’s why I value Montessori as a way of teaching when it comes to high school. Entrepreneurship in high school is directly connected to school projects. You learn how to work with a team on a specific thing that could be creative or that could have a problem. You’re gonna get feedback from people that could be negative, that could be positive. A school project is entrepreneurship but on a smaller scale.
Learning to Work Together: Another Important Skill for Entrepreneurs
A beautiful part of the school entrepreneurship experience is that it teaches you that failure is normal. Of course, you don’t lose billions of dollars or millions of dollars when you are in school. That’s a lesson that you have to learn later on after you’re done with entrepreneurship in high school. When you start actually going into the entrepreneurial world and lose a certain amount of money or not grow as much as you or your investor wanted at that stage, you would actually start to get another sort of lesson in entrepreneurship. But that’s in the future. You have a sense of security when you’re in high school which is absolutely normal. Nevertheless, you might fail and you’re gonna have a feeling of disappointment which is something that you need to feel one day or another in entrepreneurship.
Failure is Part of the Process: Learn from Your Mistakes
Additionally, when in high school you don’t really have boundaries. You can create a school rocket if you want. If you have the budget for it and you have the team who are interested in doing that, then you could very well do that. When it comes to the real world, unfortunately, it’s not easy for any entrepreneur to just go like, “Alright, I’m gonna start a rocket company.” Only a few people can do this due to the fact that it’s a very pricey startup market. However, when you’re in high school you don’t have these constraints in your mind which opens your mind to the fact that entrepreneurship could be scalable. You could do anything in the world at that stage.
The Importance of Taking Risks: Don’t Be Afraid to Try Something New
Entrepreneurs who actually work perfectly in the market are ones that find passion. Passion, in my opinion, is the strongest feeling that an entrepreneur might need. Mark Zuckerberg was passionate about social media. Elon Musk, as another example, had a passion for science, world sustainability, and technology. This is what led him to create the companies that he created at this stage. If a person is enlightened in high school to find this passion early on, this opens the endless entrepreneurship possibilities that are being planted in their minds from a young age which promotes the idea that the future depends on them.
Finding Your Passion: What Do You Love to Do?
They would know something about a sustainable product or they would feel that it’s their responsibility because of their young age to embark on this adventure and not stop. This sort of energy is what’s needed and that’s why a lot of entrepreneurs are actually finding success at a young age.
That’s because they didn’t go inside a routine or corporate system that makes it so hard for them to get out of the real world. The truth is the real world is a world that you choose to create. These students know that very well and that’s why entrepreneurship in high school is extremely vital. It will keep on growing in the upcoming years and it will affect millions of people to come.
The Future is Yours: Entrepreneurship Can Change the World
Entrepreneurs don’t just study entrepreneurship; they live it through experiences and challenges. High school played a crucial role in my entrepreneurial journey, even though I didn’t realize it at the time. The skills and lessons I learned through school projects, teamwork, and creative thinking laid the foundation for my entrepreneurial spirit and future success.
Some high schoolers wonder how to start a nonprofit in high school, read this guide.