Real Entrepreneurs
Stories of real entrepreneurs who started young: Mikaila Ulmer (Me & the Bees), Moziah Bridges (Mo's Bows), Cory Nieves (Mr. Cory's Cookies); what makes someone an entrepreneur
What a learner can do afterwards
- Retell the story of at least one real entrepreneur who started as a child
- Identify three qualities that helped that entrepreneur succeed (creativity, persistence, passion)
- Explain what the word 'entrepreneur' means in their own words
The lesson
An entrepreneur is someone who starts and runs their own business. You already know how to come up with a business idea. An entrepreneur takes that spark and turns it into something real, even when the work gets hard.
When Mikaila Ulmer was four, she got stung by a bee twice in one week. She was scared, but her family taught her that bees help plants grow food. Instead of staying scared, Mikaila got curious. She used her great-granny's lemonade recipe and added local honey, named it Me & the Bees Lemonade, and sold her first cups at a kids' business contest. Years later, her lemonade is sold in real grocery stores.
Moziah Bridges was nine years old when his grandmother taught him to sew bow ties. He liked making bold, colorful ones, so he kept sewing more and named his company Mo's Bows. By age eleven, he pitched his idea to investors on TV, and today his bow ties sell in stores across the country.
Cory Nieves started selling cookies and hot chocolate on the sidewalk when he was six, to help his mom save money for a car. He kept selling even on slow days. His hard work grew into a real company called Mr. Cory's Cookies.
Look for what these three kids have in common: they were creative with their ideas, they kept going when things got hard (persistence), and they truly cared about what they made (passion). Watch for these same three qualities in yourself when you build something you care about.
A real entrepreneur is a person, often a kid just like you, who turns an idea into a real business through creativity, persistence, and passion.
Watch it
Where it sits
Learn first
This opens up
Nothing builds on it yet.
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.