If you are a successful entrepreneur, it’s natural to want the same kind of success for your children. It’s important to start early when teaching your kids the value of a dollar, and that’s just the beginning when it comes to teaching your kids valuable business lessons.

If you could go back in time and tell your younger self one thing to better prepare yourself for the business world, what would it be?

Chances are, it might be hard to choose just one. There are so many things that first-time entrepreneurs learn along the way – wouldn’t you agree? We’re going to outline just a few of the ways you can begin to prepare your kids for entrepreneurship.

Start early
Like we said before, the earlier you start instilling these values in your kids, the better. We recommend starting early because it’s much easier to influence a younger child while they are moldable and objective. But how do you communicate business tips to a toddler? You can’t exactly sit your 4-year-old down with a budget sheet and explain all those numbers to them. Not with any success, anyway. Instead, try simple counting activities. Use items that your child loves to play with – like Legos or their morning cheerios.

Related: Creating Your Business Budget in 6 Simple Steps

Goal-setting
As an entrepreneur, you understand that setting goals plays a significant part in your every-day life. Businesses revolve around deadlines and goals. A business can hardly obtain success without a goal that measures that success. To make goal-setting natural for your child, encourage them to make goals now. If they play sports, they can set goals for the number of times they can juggle a soccer ball, or how many free-throw shots they can make in a row. Writing goals down increases the chance of achievement by 80% – so get your kids writing!

Decision-making
Making decisions is right up there with goal setting in the life of an entrepreneur. The owner of a business, whether they have a team of employees or they run a one-man show, always has decisions that need to be made. If you’ve been running a company for a while, you know how difficult it can get to know which choice is the right one to make. Prepare your kids for those difficult moments by teaching them how to be decisive and that decisions come with consequences.

We hope you feel more confident about preparing your kids for entrepreneurship! Whether your kids are still in diapers, or if they’re in high school, now is the time to instill these values. The earlier, the better!

Good Life Financial Advisors of NOVA is here to help you find financial success in both your personal and business endeavors. Contact us today to schedule your free consultation!