Growing entrepreneurs up right

Site gives teen dreamers a solid foundation in business ownership

David Ehrlich, President, The Track Group, Inc.

http://www.sba.gov/teens

Small businesses have a huge economic impact. They create at least 65 percent of the net new jobs in the United States and account for more than half of the nonfarm gross domestic product.

With so much at stake, the Small Business Administration is not content to just wait for the next generation of entrepreneurs to seek out its assistance. It has gone looking for teens who are thinking about business ownership and is giving them the tools to make it happen.

The SBA’s Teen Business Link site “recognizes that young people can start their businesses now,” said Ellen Thrasher, associate administrator for the Office of Business and Community. “We want to encourage people to dream, to realize the power of possibilities.”

An early partner

The revamped Teen Business Link site was rolled out in September 2005 alongside MindYourOwnBiz.org, a sister site co-sponsored by Junior Achievement. The sites offer business ideas, legal advice, financing tips, success stories, useful links and other practical encouragement for young entrepreneurs. Because of its partnerships, Teen Business Link gets referrals from high school and college business clubs, such as JA and DECA.

Why encourage such an early start to business ownership?

“We believe that one of the roles of the SBA is to educate, inform, counsel and train people who have the dream of economic self-sufficiency through business ownership,” Thrasher said. “We know that young people are seeing business ownership as a lifestyle choice, and what we want to do is establish SBA early on as a partner in that success.”

Thrasher said the SBA helps teens learn the importance of finding mentors, writing business plans and maintaining good credit. A strong foundation in the basics, she said, makes their businesses more likely to be successful, now and down the road.

After the site’s goals and content had been determined, the next step for the SBA was the all-important media launch. Thrasher said the agency first identified all the possible media markets, both general and those targeted to youth organizations.

For news releases, it’s important to determine the main message and stick with it, Thrasher said, but with shading appropriate to each media recipient. She said it’s a good idea to obtain quotes from prominent people involved in the effort “that reinforce the message, are harmonious, but different enough that they present perspectives for further media inquiries.”

Thrasher said the campaign responded immediately to all media inquiries and kept track of successful media placement. “That’s one way of demonstrating value of the project” to superiors, she said. Organizers also prepared talking points for inclusion in the SBA administrator’s “stump” remarks, which already receive media coverage.

Starting with outcomes

Thrasher said she has been pleased with the success of Teen Business Link, as measured in the number of unique hits the site has gotten and in the press coverage it has received. The SBA also has noticed that the average age of entrepreneurs seeking its other types of assistance has dropped since the effort began.

The campaign’s development team used focus groups to help them tailor their message and included video, sound and animation in the final product to make it teen-friendly.

“We know that today’s young people are part of the 21st century digital economy. They get lots of information online,” Thrasher said. “The content has to be relevant to the audience in a way that we don’t necessarily speak to an entrepreneur who’s 40 years old. It’s a cool site.”

Thrasher said the key to a great campaign is to start by identifying the desired outcome and then working backward.

In the case of the SBA, that outcome is a new generation of entrepreneurs with the kills and resources to create jobs in the United States, perhaps not in their first enterprises, but down the road. She notes that Subway founder Fred DeLuca started his first sandwich shop when he was 17.

“The goal is to constantly turn the economy by having new enterprises, new ideas, new people, Thrasher said. “We look at this age group as eventual contributors to the economy.”

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