🐴 When 'weird' wins (#129)

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💡 THOUGHT

“When normal is broken, weird wins."

"In a time when normal is broken, weird actually wins."

That’s Matt Barnes – entrepreneur, father of 3, and co-founder with Matt Bowman of the annual Youth Entrepreneur Award! 

The “double Matt B’s” teamed up on today’s podcast to share tips for winning up to $5,000 in prize money.

Here are 3 highlights:

1/ Matt and Matt aren’t looking for the next ‘unicorn’ startup (think Facebook).

They're looking for young people who can articulate what they're LEARNING through entrepreneurship.

2/ The best applications they’ve seen?

Kids who openly share their failures, pivots, and lessons learned (not the ones with heavily-rehearsed pitches like you see on Shark Tank.)

3/ What they really want to see:

• How you solve real problems

• How you handle money/decisions

• How you deal with failure

YEA is open to ANY entrepreneur 18 or under, anywhere on the planet (community projects and social entrepreneurship count too).

Apply at yea.education before March 15th, and forward this to any teens you know who might fit the bill.

Listen to the full episode.

📊 TREND

The Surge

Traditional wisdom says tough times crush small businesses. These compiled stats from ThinkImpact tell a different story: Entrepreneurship jumped 29% during the pandemic.

Women now make up nearly half of all new business owners (up from 29% in 2019). Perhaps most tellingly, a whopping 95% of self-employed people plan to stay self-employed.

The most interesting part? Despite economic uncertainty, 63% believe self-employment is the smartest choice in turbulent times.

🔨 TOOL

Kid-Run Markets Are Taking Over

Remember when a lemonade stand was peak kid entrepreneurship? The Children's Entrepreneur Market is rewriting that playbook.

Starting with just 3 locations in Utah in 2017, they've now hosted over 400 markets across the country, giving 43,000+ young entrepreneurs their first taste of real-world business. This year, they plan to operate in 44 states.

Here's how it works:

• Ages 5-17 can participate

• Kids sell anything from handmade crafts to services

• Parents help set up, then step back

• Young entrepreneurs handle everything else

These aren't just cute craft fairs. They're serious business incubators where kids learn:

• Real-world pricing strategies

• Customer service skills

• Basic market economics

• Sales techniques

• Confidence in public speaking

Visit Children's Entrepreneur Market to find a market near you or help bring one to your area.

H/t to Charlynn Chambers for bringing this incredible organization to our attention.

That’s all for today!

– Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)

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