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Check back as I'm making this blog post have several editions on how the boys are developing in their journey to entrepreneurship.
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Boys and businessesIt's never too early to start teaching your kids how the world of business works.
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I remember when I was around Kobe and Jojo’s age, my mum would take me to the restaurant she owned, Red Sun. In the beginning my job was simple, I waited tables and cashiered. And since her Chinese restaurant was in El Reno it meant everyday after school, I would make the 30 minute trek up there in my Geo tracker from Oklahoma City.
I dreaded it. I resented that I had to go work while my friends were at more fun extracurricular activities. I was never resentful to my mother though. I understood she was trying to put food on the table and make sure her teen daughter was kept in check. But I never fully appreciated the experience she provided until now. The lessons I learned during those years in her business was something I never learned in my 22 years of school.
Hindsight truly is 20/20. And now that I have the time to invest in my own children, my mind wanders back to those early teen days. Working side by side with my mum, I learned how to make mistakes, suffer the consequences, and learn from them. It was a little bit of an MBA as she had me handle a lot of the book work, a bit of marketing, lots of hospitality and customer service, and some operations. I never learned how to cook though, (hahaaa, enter Cane).
I find myself subconsciously teaching Kobe and Jojo towards entrepreneurism. And since they aren’t old enough to actually work in the restaurant, we’re learning different aspects of running a business and not just a traditional brick and mortar. In this day and age, you’ve got an edge if you understand how virtual businesses work too. A nine-year old Japanese boy named Ryan has 13 million followers who he inspires daily by reviewing toys to the tune of 11 million dollars. Since delving into virtual businesses, Jojo has become a semi-expert on editing videos. But the most important thing to me is that he’s passionate about it. He’s learning without any prodding. From my business lens though, editing isn’t his specialty, what he truly has an eye for is catching trends and being one of the first to bring it to the marketplace with a fresh twist.
It’s been fun watching my boys light up when they finally ‘get’ how something works in the world of business. It’s like watching the wheels roll in their brain. Sometimes, I’m even inspired by their fresh and simplistic views. Here’s a case in point. Late last year, Jojo negotiated a partnership with Cane to provide retail for our restaurant chain. One of his first items was a custom Nhinja pop socket. In Jojo’s words, “it’s this awesome little piece of flexible plastic that lives on the back of your phone that pop’s out (or in) when you need it”.
It had me thinking, “Wow, why I didn’t think of that?”
I dreaded it. I resented that I had to go work while my friends were at more fun extracurricular activities. I was never resentful to my mother though. I understood she was trying to put food on the table and make sure her teen daughter was kept in check. But I never fully appreciated the experience she provided until now. The lessons I learned during those years in her business was something I never learned in my 22 years of school.
Hindsight truly is 20/20. And now that I have the time to invest in my own children, my mind wanders back to those early teen days. Working side by side with my mum, I learned how to make mistakes, suffer the consequences, and learn from them. It was a little bit of an MBA as she had me handle a lot of the book work, a bit of marketing, lots of hospitality and customer service, and some operations. I never learned how to cook though, (hahaaa, enter Cane).
I find myself subconsciously teaching Kobe and Jojo towards entrepreneurism. And since they aren’t old enough to actually work in the restaurant, we’re learning different aspects of running a business and not just a traditional brick and mortar. In this day and age, you’ve got an edge if you understand how virtual businesses work too. A nine-year old Japanese boy named Ryan has 13 million followers who he inspires daily by reviewing toys to the tune of 11 million dollars. Since delving into virtual businesses, Jojo has become a semi-expert on editing videos. But the most important thing to me is that he’s passionate about it. He’s learning without any prodding. From my business lens though, editing isn’t his specialty, what he truly has an eye for is catching trends and being one of the first to bring it to the marketplace with a fresh twist.
It’s been fun watching my boys light up when they finally ‘get’ how something works in the world of business. It’s like watching the wheels roll in their brain. Sometimes, I’m even inspired by their fresh and simplistic views. Here’s a case in point. Late last year, Jojo negotiated a partnership with Cane to provide retail for our restaurant chain. One of his first items was a custom Nhinja pop socket. In Jojo’s words, “it’s this awesome little piece of flexible plastic that lives on the back of your phone that pop’s out (or in) when you need it”.
It had me thinking, “Wow, why I didn’t think of that?”
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