There isn’t a NAWBO chapter yet for 9-year-old girls but Flor Harris and I are doing our part to cultivate these potential new members.
I spent my career helping entrepreneurs build businesses such as IMAX and Coupons.com. But after seeing my oldest daughter struggle to sell Girl Scout cookies, and wishing that there were more empowering influences for girls, I created The Startup Squad, a Macmillan-published novel series to inspire 7-14 year-old girls to start their first businesses and to empower them with an entrepreneurial mindset.
I believe that girls who learn to think like entrepreneurs – are comfortable with risk and failure, can see opportunities where others see problems, and say yes when everyone else is saying no – will be more successful in life regardless of the path that they choose. My goal isn’t for every girl to grow up to be an entrepreneur (not that it would be the worst thing!), but rather to inspire girls to start their first lemonade stands or other businesses and to begin to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.
As a longtime NAWBO member, Flor Harris and her agency, Benefits Simplified are helping to create that next generation of NAWBO members. In May, Flor donated copies of The Startup Squad to Elk Grove Elementary, a Title 1 school in Sacramento and I spoke about entrepreneurship virtually with the girls. This wasn’t the first time that Flor and I teamed up. Last year, Flor donated books to Girl Scout troops in the South Bay during cookie selling season, and she also donated books to elementary schools in the area. Due to the popularity of this program, we’ve already been asked to do this again next school year and we’re committed to make this happen!
If you’ve got a girl in your life who you think would benefit from getting an early start in entrepreneurship, here are a couple of tips to get her started:
With an entrepreneurial mindset, there will be no stopping her. And she just might join her local NAWBO chapter one day!
Brian Weisfeld
@thestartupsquad