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Its 1% inspiration, 99% persperation.Actually, that is optimistic, its more like .0001% inspiration. In fact, as a practical matter, many discoveries are small leaps, innovations based on well known stuff, sometimes combining it in previously unknown ways. Its worth talking about a company here like California Cooler -- that company was founded by two guys who liked to mix wine and juice for their volleyball games on the beach. They invested $10,000, and within three years they grossed $200 million. See, everyone thinks it is the high tech companies that make money, but in reality, nearly any business can. My favorite thing is to read from Kaplan "An Empire Wilderness" about the changing demographics. Think about how the US is changing -- we are becoming a hispanic/asian country, blacks are getting squeezed out and whites are losing their majority status. Most of that will happen within the student's lifetime. And you think the 20th century was a ride! 1. You get wealthy by accumulating wealth throughout your lifetime. There is no substitute for getting a degree, marrying someone with a degree, and living on 75% of your income. 2. You can't ever stop learning. You might think book reports are drudgery, but you would be surprised how often in the real world you have to write book reports. The difference between being an entrepreneur and being a successful entreprenuer? The ability to seek the input of others. My suggestions: - Besides being the only way to get truly wealthy, being an entrepreneur is also a great way to go flat broke. - The fundamental skills they are getting now are crucial to being a success later. PAY ATTENTION in class, never hesitate to ask a genuine question, and constantly request that the teachers show how what they are teaching relates to real-world situations - even if it is just to help abstract thinking. - Learn to recognize opportunity, and differentiate it from "get rich quick." When something isn't working well, do you have a better way? Do you look at problems as a way of making money by providing the solution? - Learn to boil problems down to their essential elements, not get bogged down in flash, noise and distractions. Learn to see through the BS. - 3 part secret of life 1. Everyone can do something really well. Being in school is the best opportunity to find out what that is. Don't waste it. 2. The lucky ones not only find that thing, but find that they really LIKE doing that thing. In other words, it isn't much use being good at something you are bored by or just hate doing. Find what you love to do, and think is really cool. Explore that as much as possible in and out of school. 3. The REALLY lucky ones get to do something they love and they're really good at, AND get a lot of money for doing it. Musicians, for example, are kind of entrepreneurs, in that they may write, perform and sell their music. Or, get by, muddle through, punch in and out each day for the rest of your life and wonder where you went wrong... There are two kinds of magicians (people). Those who turn shit into money, and those who turn money into shit. You can realistically expect to make 100k a year if you are only working for yourself. (That implies your at the top of your game) Show them how leveraging human resources can make them an exponential amount of money. Tell them to make more money than they spend, and make it known that it takes a substantial amount of risk to do your own thing. Tell them to start a nestegg. (13 is a great time to start saving) You can save 100,000 by college easily from age 13 if you work a business part time and aren't dumb. Last, but not least, break the news that 50 mil is rarely made by sweat and tears. You don't get big money by working hard. You get it by working smart. It takes about 5 million to breakthrough, so you can gain access to wealthy peoples ways of building their warchest. Being an entrepenuer is not for everyone, you must have a general motivation by sucess and money. Sounds like the kid with a b plan is going somewhere. I knew of 4 people including myself back in school who were like that. Were all millionaires, or very close. Also, advise them to stay in tune with fianance and general business. Every sucessful entrepenuer in enterprise business has a good knowledge of the economy and related things. Seriously, that only making money is not the reason to do anything in life and that hating your job is second only to hating your spouse in terms of making for a sad, miserable life. The fact is that most people will work in a small business or for themselves and that they will have to learn to be responsible. That means you can't take short cuts through life. You have to do what is expected of you. An education matters. The best weapon you have in life is intelligence. It may not get you work, but it will make your life better and give you more options. School has a purpose in life, it's not to keep you under control or bore you. It is to teach you how to think. The more education you have, the more you will be able to do and the more money you will make. Running a business is not just about being boss. It is being accountable to others. If you hire someone for a job, you are responsible for them. The best jobs are where people feel loyalty to their bosses and their bosses are loyal to them. Very few people will ever get to be an actor or an athlete, or even be rich. But they can do what they love, be happy and live a rich and full life. It isn't about just how much you make, but how you make it and what you do with it. Running a business isn't for everyone. Some people will be good lawyers, doctors and teachers. We need all these people. But there are people who will be happiest when they work for themselves and do what they like. This is not for everyone. Some people like helping others, or working with animals or jumping out of airplanes. But there are people who like doing things on their own and making things work. Honesty is important. Keeping your word is the only way a business can continue. If McDonalds served rotten food, would you go back? Well, if you run a business and don't do good work, you will not have a business. You must do what you promise to do and do it well. There are a lot of people who think the way to succeed in life is by treating other people badly, to always look out for themselves. Those people will always be failures, regardless of how much money they make or what they do. If you do not treat people well, nothing you do in life will matter much. The glory is the race, not the finish line. If you are doing it primarily for the money, your chances of success are significantly reduced. If you are only doing it for honor, your chances of success are significantly reduced. Be flexible. Very few businesses that succeed do so in the market and with the product they initially targeted. It is harder than a job. A job, you leave at 5 pm and go home to do your stuff. An entrepreneur is on the job 24/7, be it dreams, thoughts, ideas, meeting people. Being an entrepeneur has its costs. Family time, balancing your life, etc. can be physically impossible at times and you'll have to make tough choices that hurt those you care about. You don't need to be a genius to be succesful. Far from it. You do have to be diligent. Follow through. Organize Execute. Make another phone call. Keep at it. Don't spend it and if you're lucky, when you look up 20 years later, you are an overnight success. My experience is that you get more pussy if you talk to them like hookers. A few other thoughts: Learn to live with uncertainty, stress, fear - and to stay positive and focused anyway. It's OK to be wrong. It's not OK to refuse to admit you're wrong. You can't do it all alone. Trust other people. Bring them into your vision and let them shine too. The whole really is greater than the sum of its parts. Ethics matter. Trust your instincts. Bad marketing is worse than no marketing. Go to college and major in liberal arts. College is not vocational school. Use the time to learn how to think, to study stuff you find interesting, and to take stuff that may or may not have a single thing to do with what you end up doing for a living. You never know what's going to end up being useful in later life. Back to the Index