Young people set for success
Hamilton teenager Courtney Richardson has been running her business, Pets Are Me, for three years, since she was 12.
She looks after all types of small animals, usually in clients’ own homes while they are away on holiday. Richardson said she had ambitions of owning a cattery when she was younger and thought the business was a way to hone her customer service skills.
She attracted customers by putting out business cards, running ads in the paper and launching a Facebook page. Now, she looks after up to 21 pets in one day and expects business to become easier once she gets her driver’s license.
Richardson says it’s a little bit harder for younger business owners to win clients’ trust. ‘‘I meet people before I do my jobs.’’
Another young entrepreneur, Adam Bright, 14, has started a service this summer offering to carry gear for walkers tackling the Paeka¯ka¯riki Escarpment track north of Wellington. He charges $35 per group. Auckland University Business School Professor Rod McNaughton said the range of opportunities available to young businesspeople had increased in recent years, thanks to the rise of social media and other technology.
‘‘There are several important platforms that allow anyone to communicate, sell and deliver to others almost irrespective of location,’’ he said.
‘‘There are opportunities to earn money that are created by the technology itself – web design, app developer, or creating Youtube videos. The barriers to entry of setting up a business are lower.
‘‘There are objective ways of gaining legitimacy that place ‘kids’ on a level playing field with adults [such as seller ratings]. On the internet, you are judged by your value proposition and performance, not by your age.’’
He said young businesspeople would be well-positioned for future success. The skills associated with entrepreneurs were the same that everyone would require to excel in the future workplace, where most people would have a portfolio of income-earning roles instead of one career, he said.
‘‘There is no reason that these portfolios can’t be started while someone is still in school.’’
Parents could help to foster that spirit, he said. Sometimes they, and schools, stifled the natural entrepreneurialism of youth.
‘‘Some of the things that appear to be important have to do with helping them to be agile learners – practise applying knowledge learned in one setting to another, recognise and evaluate opportunities, deal with ambiguity and uncertainty, believe in their self-efficacy and ‘grit’ or persistence.
‘‘Starting and running businesses from an early age is one way to develop and exercise these attitudes and skills while simultaneously developing an understanding of important business concepts. Age is not a barrier to entrepreneurialism.’’
McNaughton said there was more activity than people knew.
‘‘I’ve encountered young people selling a variety of things on Trade Me, offering individual music lessons online, making customdesigned dresses, being paid to be social influencers, developing a fol- lowing for their YouTube videos and making substantial ad revenue, freelancing as web consultants or app developers, offering pet photography, and the list goes on …
‘‘I had a former student who put himself through school selling customised prayer cards online, and another who bought international calling time in bulk from carriers and sold it on phone cards.’’