Contact Maverick Mom F.A.Q. About Maverick Mom Home Media Room Tribe
«
»

A Lesson in Entrepreneurship from The Young Turk

Many of you who follow me on twitter know that I call my six year old (“I’ll be seven at the end of August, Mom!) son The Young Turk. He is fiercely independent, his own self – and a total anarchist. Gee, I can’t imagine how he turned out like that. ;-)

The other day we had a conversation that left me proud, teary and in complete awe of his grasp of entrepreneurship. Let me share it so you’ll see what I mean:

Young Turk: You own a business, right Mom?

Me: That’s right sweetie, I do.

Young Turk: And Dad owns his own business, too, right?

Me: He does.

Young Turk: (after a long, uncharacteristic pause): Well I own a business, too.

Me: Really? Tell me about your business. What’s the name of it?

The Young Turk: It’s called “Great Wolves”.

Me: That’s an awesome name. I really like it. What does your company do?

The Young Turk: (and I swear this was completely unprompted by me in any way shape or form): We make toys for children who don’t have any.

Me: <blinking back tears of pride> Wow honey. That’s a really awesome company. You do great things in the world.

The Young Turk: I know. Can I have some ice cream?

Ok – aside from just the overwhelming heart my son demonstrated in that short little conversation, here’s the thing I really admire: He knows the mission of his company. He can articulate it simply, succinctly and clearly. You know what he is about; I know what he is about. It’s a statement that inspires. It’s a statement worth getting up for every single day and giving all you’ve got.

I don’t have a mission statement like that – at least not yet – so I’ve got some work to do.

What about you?

Popularity: 2% [?]

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter

Related posts:

  1. A Completely Commercial Post For the Young Turk
  2. Diving Into the Void: A Lesson from Cirque Du Soleil
  3. It's Hip Hop Baby!!
  4. Doing Stuff I Don’t Want To Do

Tags: mission statement; entrepreneurship

Digg This Save to del.icio.us Share on Facebook Tweet This Stumble This

This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 7:00 am and is filed under Uncommon Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Mike Korner
    You are raising a caring and wise young man Sarah. You should be proud.
    Please let us know when The Young Turk launches his web site :)
  • nickbenas
    Hahahaha. Turk is the man! I believe will be seeing this Young Man Very Soon!
  • nickbenas
    Hahahaha. Turk is the man! I believe will be seeing this Young Man Very Soon!
  • Kudos to you! This is what happens when the leader within a child is embraced. I'm so excited to hear about The Young Turk's plans to shape the future.
  • Kudos to you! This is what happens when the leader within a child is embraced. I'm so excited to hear about The Young Turk's plans to shape the future.
  • Sarah, this is AWESOME! I love kids, how clearly they see things when we can get so jumbled up in crud. Thanks for sharing the young turk's message with us, and may he find his puruit and it find him. When he does? Let me know cause I want to contribute - I think that is so cool!! (:
    tam (:
  • Sarah, this is AWESOME! I love kids, how clearly they see things when we can get so jumbled up in crud. Thanks for sharing the young turk's message with us, and may he find his puruit and it find him. When he does? Let me know cause I want to contribute - I think that is so cool!! (:
    tam (:
  • I think I need to focus the rest of this week on my mission statement. Just when you think you got it together here comes the innocent giving you a wake up call. Many of us have been in business for years and still cannot express what we do in a sentence. My son is also 8years old and he told me that he thinks I am in the computer and phone business because I am always on it. What he should be seeing is me motivating women and speaking to mompreneurs. If that is the outlook of an 8 year old, I can't image what my fiance' thinks. Time to change the perception...and reach out more...

    Does Mr. Turk provide coaching ;)
  • I think I need to focus the rest of this week on my mission statement. Just when you think you got it together here comes the innocent giving you a wake up call. Many of us have been in business for years and still cannot express what we do in a sentence. My son is also 8years old and he told me that he thinks I am in the computer and phone business because I am always on it. What he should be seeing is me motivating women and speaking to mompreneurs. If that is the outlook of an 8 year old, I can't image what my fiance' thinks. Time to change the perception...and reach out more...

    Does Mr. Turk provide coaching ;)
  • AWESOME! I love this Sarah, I am always telling my clients that their buisness blog needs to incorporate parts of who you are to attract clients - this story is beautiful on two fronts:
    1 - you offer part of who you are - we connect as your readers and and want to work with you
    2 - you have clearly related it to business so we understand what you are doing

    And to your question: Yes I do have a mission. My tag "The Warrior is Within You" led to my mission to teach people how to find thier inner warrior and develop strategies around that voice to achieve results!

    Ann Evanston
    http://Warrior-Preneur.com
    The Warrior is with in You
  • AWESOME! I love this Sarah, I am always telling my clients that their buisness blog needs to incorporate parts of who you are to attract clients - this story is beautiful on two fronts:
    1 - you offer part of who you are - we connect as your readers and and want to work with you
    2 - you have clearly related it to business so we understand what you are doing

    And to your question: Yes I do have a mission. My tag "The Warrior is Within You" led to my mission to teach people how to find thier inner warrior and develop strategies around that voice to achieve results!

    Ann Evanston
    http://Warrior-Preneur.com
    The Warrior is with in You
  • Thank you for sharing this. I think we sometimes forget that simple is quite often best. Children seem to grasp that so much better than adults!
  • Thank you for sharing this. I think we sometimes forget that simple is quite often best. Children seem to grasp that so much better than adults!
  • When I got selected to be a lay minister my 3.5 year old went round telling everyone. When asked what it meant she succinctly replied "she will help people for God". I dare any adult to be so accurate!!!
    Emma
  • When I got selected to be a lay minister my 3.5 year old went round telling everyone. When asked what it meant she succinctly replied "she will help people for God". I dare any adult to be so accurate!!!
    Emma
  • Mary Barber
    I have quoted my own children so many times but you've done so succinctly here Sara. You must be a wonderful parent for your son. Keep it up. And, thanks for the great tip we all need to help us in our work. Short, sweet and to the point.

    And, yes I think he should get ice cream.
  • Mary Barber
    I have quoted my own children so many times but you've done so succinctly here Sara. You must be a wonderful parent for your son. Keep it up. And, thanks for the great tip we all need to help us in our work. Short, sweet and to the point.

    And, yes I think he should get ice cream.
  • AbbieF
    From the mouths of babes -- it really is that simple isn't it? Sometimes us big kids get bogged down and forget that. Thanks, Sarah, for sharing Young Turk's story.
  • AbbieF
    From the mouths of babes -- it really is that simple isn't it? Sometimes us big kids get bogged down and forget that. Thanks, Sarah, for sharing Young Turk's story.
  • I think I'm going to use this example when I talk to clients about how to create their :15 elevator speech. LOVE HIM!
  • I think I'm going to use this example when I talk to clients about how to create their :15 elevator speech. LOVE HIM!
  • You know, I think we need to hire our kids to come up with mission statements and all that for our companies. Really. Kids have such a down-to-earth simple way to sum stuff up that's so untainted by all the institutional corporateness b.s. that's fogged our brains.

    ~ ElizabethPW
  • You know, I think we need to hire our kids to come up with mission statements and all that for our companies. Really. Kids have such a down-to-earth simple way to sum stuff up that's so untainted by all the institutional corporateness b.s. that's fogged our brains.

    ~ ElizabethPW
blog comments powered by Disqus