0816_TOEFL-Test-and-Score-Manual-1997

202 ● 201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business
For another wave of requests, I recruited my late aunt, Pearl Weissman.
A busy political activist and volunteer tutor well into her 90s, she agreed to
stuff a few hundred envelopes every week. The project also gave me a great
excuse to visit her and my dear Uncle Sam.
If you aren’t lucky enough to have energetic, elderly relatives nearby,
recruit some from the neighborhood or contact a local senior center.
GREAT
Hire Teenagers
Seven out of ten high school students want to start a
IDEA
business, according to a recent Gallup Poll. The primary
motivation was to be the boss, not to earn a lot of money.
Although there are no firm statistics on how many of America’s teens
run small businesses, the numbers are well into the hundreds of thousands
and growing, according to those involved in training young entrepreneurs.
Teens are selling handmade crafts, moving furniture, detailing cars, and
designing clothes, among other ventures. But not all teenagers have a natural
entrepreneurial bent.
Despite this strong interest, 86 percent of the teens surveyed said they
lacked the skills needed to start even the simplest business. The Gallup study,
commissioned by the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the Ewing
Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri, also found that most
of the students were taught little or nothing about running a small business.
Steve Mariotti, founder of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship
(www.nfte.com) in Manhattan, serves economically disadvantaged teenagers
across the country and abroad. The program boasts 15,000 graduates, a
multimillion-dollar budget, and more than 200 corporate sponsors.
“Economic illiteracy is an intellectual handicap in a capitalist society,”
Mariotti said. “It’s life threatening for the poor.” Mariotti said teens who
participate in his organization’s classes learn the practical and financial
skills needed to make it in the business world.
Many teens get into business because their parents are entrepreneurs.
Katy Meyer of Carlisle, Massachusetts, launched her silk scarf business after