I was a guest speaker this week, at a summer program for kids who want to start their own business' some day. A dozen 9th and 10th graders, all boys, half of whom were forced to take "The Young Entrepreneurs Week" by their parents.  

To break the ice a bit, we talked about their project to create a business plan together. The biz teacher (50ish woman) explained that the boys had decided on a pizza parlor as their business.

I asked why they chose pizza, and two kids said the teacher forced them to do pizza, the group had originally voted to do “prostitution.”   (Selling a video game, was second)

Now, of course these kids were hoping for some shock value, trying to get control of the guest speaker, but much to their surprise I was able to explain the basics of the world’s oldest entrepreneurial business, and 10 minutes on why “what it takes to be a great prostitute in 2003 is a wonderful model for all start-ups”…..  

I had their attention for the next two hours while talking about management, relationship marketing, budgets, R & D, and vulture capital, but with more concrete examples from my own experience…

The director of the program at this big name east coast college, spoke to the kids at lunch, and wrote to my sponsor and me, describing how happy the kids were, and how it was the most “valuable two hours of the week”, and they want me back for the fall program…

Maybe Alexia can help me with the course description for the catalog
 


-- Modified on 8/2/2003 7:57:49 AM

I'm sure you were in your glory. LOL. When I find a place that sells brightly colored polyester suits tailored for the elementary school man, I'll let you know.

Young dumb and full off....  Nice.                                        
      It's all good  to know about management and numbers and such, but it's really all about the product.   Did they look  like little recruiters...

-- Modified on 8/4/2003 1:10:37 PM

unless your business was facing ch11....otherwise a great story!