5th Grade Entrepreneurs
Earlier this week, I had the chance to be a part of the Entrepreneur for the Day program that the Grinnell 5th graders participated in. They spent the day developing business concepts in small groups, talking about product development, marketing, budgets and the difference between being an employee and being an entrepreneur. The program was led by Poweshiek County Extension staff.
I felt so much energy when I walked into each classroom, and I could tell they were having fun and were quite excited about their business ideas. Part of the excitement might also have been due to the fact that I walked in the room with my husband, whom many immediately recognized as the video game store owner, a store many of them frequent.
We were there along with Bill Hammen of Bill's Jewelry and Val Hammond of the Spaulding Inn. We rotated among classrooms and the students got the chance to ask us questions about our businesses. It was quite fun, and really interesting to hear the kinds of business questions that were on the minds of 5th graders. They asked what the best and worse parts of being a business owner are, what we wish we would have known before we started, types of expenses we have, how we market ourselves, working with employees, how we work to prevent theft, and so much more. I was quite surprised by the variety of questions and level of detail. It certainly wasn't all serious, though. David answered plenty of questions about popular video games and his favorite super heroes.
I hope that at least a few of those students become entrepreneurs in our community one day. We need young people like them with enthusiasm and innovation to open new ventures and to carry on existing businesses in our community. I'm curious to see which of them are running their own businesses in Grinnell 20 years from now.
~ Emily Counts
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