Age Is Just A Number - The Rise Of Young Entrepreneur

Welcome our first guest blogger, our summer student, Meredith Pearce. Meredith is bringing a Gen Z angle to our content creation this summer and we hope you enjoy her fresh and unique look at entrepreneurship through a student's lense.

“Age Is Just A Number - The Rise Of Young Entrepreneur”

Meredith Pearce – investStratford Intern

Over the past few years, interest has spiked amongst the Gen Z population to become “their own boss.” Bringing a fresh mindset, determination, creativity, and modern use of technology to the entrepreneurship space, young teens are finding it easier to give running their own small business a try either as a side hustle during the school year, or just in their summer’s off. In this blog post, we will explore the reasonings behind the rise of young entrepreneurs. 

Becoming an entrepreneur has many positives, including flexible work days, control over your results, following your passion, and work/life balance. Most, if not all of these are very appealing to a young prospective business owner. Growing up we were always taught that you go to school, graduate and get a job that might include becoming a doctor or a teacher. While I was going through elementary school no one ever talked about starting your own business or how to follow through with it. I strongly believe that as children we all have entrepreneurial mindsets, when I was 10, I remember sitting at the end of my driveway with neighbours selling lemonade or even flowers we picked out of our gardens. We never were taught how to “start” we just had a passion for running our business and prepping for it. 

Nowadays there are so many resources to help youth follow their passion for entrepreneurship but there are also so many reasons why it is growing… Let's get started!

Access To Resources

The increasing accessibility of digital tools and platforms is one of the major factors influencing the increase in entrepreneurship among young people. The internet has been very beneficial in opening access to information, resources, and connections worldwide. With the help of Tik Tok andInstagram it has become a lot easier to market your company but they can also be used as great tools with advice and next steps. Young entrepreneurs can now start their businesses from anywhere in the world with just a laptop and internet connection.

Education

Organizations and educational institutions are now aware of how important it is to develop an entrepreneurial mindset in children from an early age. Today's schools and universities offer a wide variety of entrepreneurship courses and extracurricular activities. These programs give young people the education and assistance to create their businesses. We also have a lot of resources in our neighbourhood, such as the Stratford Perth Center forBusiness, which I have been lucky enough to work with this summer. Every summer they have the Summer Company program which is a grant program for young entrepreneurs in high school or post-secondary. This encourages and gives students mentorship but also helps them find a starting point in their business. I believe that this program is a great thing for our community and sets up success for the students. 

Role Models And Inspiration

So many amazing entrepreneurs we get taught about in school like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos inspire us. Through social media, we can see the lives and processes of other entrepreneurs which gives people that feeling of wanting to do the same. They make their lives seem so simple but they're also doing what they enjoy as their passion. Using social media these people become role models to youth and inspire. Seeing others do it helps prove that it's possible and gives youth motivation. The more youth entrepreneurship is shown to students, the more normalized it is and young adults will feel more comfortable to follow their dream of becoming an entrepreneur. 

Changing Mindsets

Today our youth are growing up in an era that encourages innovation, creativity, and self-expression. We are all encouraged to think outside of the box and follow our path, not just do what everybody else is doing. This change in youths' mindsets gives them determination and gives them extra help in entrepreneurship mindset, rather than pursuing a traditional job. 

In conclusion, with access to resources, education, rolemodels, inspiration, and changing mindset, the youth has taken anentrepreneurial path. As they bring new ideas and take risks this can benefitthemselves and the economy. The future of business is bright with the nextgeneration of entrepreneurs leading the way. 

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