Why you should launch your business like a family fishing trip

You’ve come up with a fan-tabulous, fail-proof idea for a new business.

Great! Now what?

What are you supposed to do next?  Umm….yeah.

That’s right where most great ideas stop.  And that’s a shame.

A terrible, horrible, awful, injustice to the world kind of shame.

It’s not surprising though.

[Hold on a sec while I climb up onto this soapbox]

Entrepreneurial skills are not a part of our national curriculum.  We’re at least three or four generations removed from the days when we actually encouraged ingenuity and innovation in our kids.  That was a time when parents watched their children face challenges and expected them to figure out how to overcome them.  And, you know what?  They did.

Most of us…especially if we were educated by the state…were never presented with a challenge that couldn’t be answered by an authority figure. We’ve been trained to always turn to someone else whenever we don’t know or understand something. Sadly, our society doesn’t actually train people to think for themselves.

We’ve had people giving us fish our whole lives and no one ever told us that we could actually catch them ourselves…catch better ones…develop our own methods for catching them…or maybe even choose chicken instead of fish.  They certainly didn’t teach us how.

This entrepreneurial stuff (like problem-solving, planning, active vs passive learning) these weren’t exactly presented as options during our formative years. And they aren’t being presented as options to most kids today.  Those of us who have learned these skills are more likely to have been the ones that were labeled as rebellious, trouble-makers or hyperactive.  I know if I were a kid in school today, I would be medicated in a heartbeat so I could just be still and go with the flow. Which is a real shame.

[Stepping down from the soapbox now]

We can do better.

A few weeks ago, I told you I was putting together a business start-up post series called StartUpYours.  Things have changed.

The plan was to update a business planning course that I create about eight years ago.  Then I started getting my hands dirty with the old curriculum,  listening to your specific needs as self-employed homeschoolers and thinking about ways I can make this more than it ever was…more that it was ever intended to be.

Now, after a whole heap of reflection and conversation and consideration, I know what I need to build.  And I’m so freaking over-the-top excited about it that I can’t wait until its done to share it with you.  I’m sure that breaks some kind of internet product launch rule, but I just can’t contain it.

StartUp Yours! is no longer going to be a blog series or an e-book or even a standard business launching course.  Instead, it will be….drum roll….

StartUp Yours!  A business building course for parents & kids to experience together.

That’s right. I’m building an online course that will just as valuable for your kids as it will be for you. You can work together on the same project or work on your own ideas side-by-side. You’ll be a super hero role model for self-directedness & initiative. Your kids will, no doubt, show you a thing or two about creative problem-solving and just exactly what level of awesomeness they’re really capable of.

• Bite sized video modules for each topic we’ll cover
• Handouts for you and for the kidlets
• A message board where I can help you with specific questions & where you can all help each other
• Live, informal Q & A calls
• A weekly challenge to take action on what you’re learning
• Plus Co-Working/Accountability days & two hours of 1:1 coaching for premium  members

Let’s teach the whole family how to fish!

At the end of the course, you’ll know exactly what to do next time you have a fab-tastic idea.  You’ll use this new skill set over and over.  How do I know that? Because I run into past students all the time who tell me how much this information has changed their persepctive, their ability to think things through and to follow through…how it’s changed their lives.

Everything we do will be perfectly within the capabilities of an 8- 9- or 15 year old. All they need is the tools. Along the way, they’ll be learning a TON… reading, doing math, writing, collaborating, brainstorming, thinking creatively, maybe even building a website or a marketing message, talking to grown ups at their level. Seriously learning a TON…and gaining HUGE self-confidence…and learning VALUABLE lessons about innovation and the limitless opportunities in this world they’re soon to inherit.

We’re going to cover a LOT of ground in this course, but it will all be simple and manageable and easy to understand…I promise!

Sneak Preview Next Week!

It’s too soon to predict a launch date for StartUp Yours! just yet.  But I am launching one of the sessions as a free e-Book next week.

Well-Blended Visioning: How to define a vision for your family & your business that will inspire you to rethink what’s possible.

Keep an eye out for that.  Of course, the people on the site updates list will get it first.

Have you signed up for site updates yet?

Are you ready to do this?

In the meantime, if you’re as jazzed about this as I am (and why wouldn’t you be?), I really want to know!  Here are two steps you can take today.

1. Sign up for the updates. You’ll get the sneak peek and you’ll be eligible for discounts when the course goes live.
2. Let me know what you’d love to see included in this course. I have the curriculum outlined, but I want to make sure I’m giving you what you need.  What would you like to learn about? Get clarity on?    Oh…and let me know what age your kids are…so I can make the kid’s handouts as age appropriate as possible.  You can use the comment form below.

Photo Credit: Laura White-Ritchie (McKenna’s first fish!)

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