What Pressure Teaches Kid Entrepreneurs
Updated: 6 days ago
By Kari Ehmer, with an introduction from Suzanne Appel I met Kari Ehmer this August when our friend connected us, and it took about one conversation to see that we're working on the same problem from two sides. Young CEO Squad gives kids a real business to run. Kari gives kids the mindset to keep going when that business, or a game, or a test gets hard. Entrepreneurship builds the platform, and mindset builds what's underneath it.
Kids need a place to practice pressure where the stakes are small.
Most kids practice pressure in two places, the classroom and the field. Both come with a grade, a scoreboard, or a coach's call, and to a 10-year-old those stakes can feel enormous.
A sales table works differently. When a student in a Young CEO Squad workshop prices a keychain, sets up at a school event, and asks a stranger to buy it, the pressure is real and the cost of a rough moment is small. Their voice might shake on the first pitch, and then they get to find out what happens on the second and third.
"No" is the most useful part of the day.
Every young seller hears no, and most hear it within the first few minutes. A kid who hears "no thanks" and walks up to the next customer anyway has practiced the same skill a point guard needs after a turnover.
In my coaching, I teach athletes to treat a mistake as information about what to change and to keep it separate from who they are. "That pitch didn't work" tells a kid what to adjust. "I'm bad at this" is a verdict, and kids hand that verdict to themselves fast. Entrepreneurship gives them dozens of chances in one afternoon to practice the first sentence and skip the second.
What parents can do this week
Change the first question after a game or a sales day. Before anything about mistakes, ask, "What's one thing you want to do again next time?" Let your child answer fully before you add anything. Kids who start with what worked are far more willing to talk about what didn't.
Let them make a real decision and live with the result. If they're selling, let them set the price or choose where to stand, even when you'd choose differently. This is part of what I call the BE BOLD framework, and the O stands for Own Your Choices. Kids can only own a choice they were allowed to make.
Praise the reset instead of the result. Name the specific moment you saw: "You missed that shot and were back on defense in two seconds," or "That customer said no and you smiled and asked the next person." Specific praise tells your child exactly which behavior to repeat.
What teachers can do in the classroom
Rehearse the no before it happens. Before students sell, run a two-minute role play where half the class plays customers who say no on purpose. Give sellers the exact words to use: "No problem, thanks for stopping by." Once kids have said that sentence out loud, the real no feels familiar.
Make decisions visible. Have each group set its own price and write down one reason for it. After the sale, compare prices to results as a class. Students see that a choice led to an outcome and that the next choice can be better.
Name the skill out loud at the end. Tell students, "You heard no today and kept going. You'll use that exact skill before your next test and your next tryout." Kids transfer a skill much more easily when an adult tells them it's transferable.
The part that lasts
The business a 10-year-old runs for one afternoon may be over by Friday, and the keychains will end up on backpacks around the school. What stays is the memory of standing at that table, hearing no, and asking the next person anyway (for a lot of kids, that memory is their first real proof that they can handle pressure). I'd love for every child to collect that proof early, well before the tryout, the championship, or the interview where it counts.
About Kari Ehmer
Kari Ehmer is a confidence and mindset coach and speaker based in Orange County, California. A West Point graduate, U.S. Army veteran who led troops in Iraq and former Division I basketball and softball player, she has coached youth sports, sports performance, and mindset for more than 20 years. She works with students and athletes one-on-one and runs workshops for teams, schools, and workplaces. Learn more at www.kariehmer.com or reach her at kari@kariehmer.com.
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