Young entrepreneurs should know their legal rights (Pexels)
If humanity’s best hope for the future in the digital era is children, educating young entrepreneurs should be legislated for in Britain
The entrepreneurial seed is planted within us from the very start in Britain; it’s only the challenges that tend to throw some off course. Those who don’t possess sufficient vision to see past those hurdles and venture on to the victories ahead fall at the wayside.
Perhaps if those who had fallen at the first or tenth hurdle had been equipped with a better understanding of what some of those hurdles were going to look like, they may have made it.
Of course, it’s not possible to know everything about everything, ever. And, in any event, that complete knowledge isn’t necessary to achieve your goals in business. However, I think most people would agree that possessing some knowledge – even a basic understanding about the topics relevant to your entrepreneurial endeavour – allows you the space to explore possibilities that may have been previously closed off.
Education, in the Latin sense, actually derives from two words: “educare”; and “educere”. The former means “to bring up”, and the latter “to bring forth”. Therefore “to educate” is not simply to pour knowledge into an open empty vessel, but to develop the wisdom necessary to make the best of that knowledge.
If you take the time to look back over your own life and consider the entrepreneurs you associate with now, you will easily be able to identify those who were educated in the mainstream sense of the word and those who were enriched by the Latin definition.
GET TO KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
So if you agree with me that education is the key to enriching the youthful entrepreneur, why is it that one of the pillars of our successful society – law – is not encompassed within our curriculum?
Both children and adults are fascinated by the legal process and the implications of this in their day-to-day lives. I sometimes don’t tell people about my job because you can guarantee within five minutes of me doing so the following statement will arrive: “So I have this friend who … [feel free to fill in the legal issue].”
Interestingly, if it’s not that statement then it’s this: “So I was involved in a case …”. And this more often than not concludes with the person telling me how it either ruined or nearly ruined them.
The statement that the law stretches into every area of your life can never be underestimated. In business, where risk is an evolving factor, be it for small or conglomerate organisations, this statement can also be applied, particularly where that business involves risks that one may identify as specific to an entrepreneurial endeavour.
As our global high-street market reaches out into the depths of space, now more than ever, the law becomes relevant to our students as they forge a path to success. Understanding your legal rights – that’s how you and what you create fits, or more importantly might not fit, into society’s framework – becomes critical.
BUILD CONFIDENCE AND LIMIT PROBLEMS
In possessing an understanding of that framework it means that you will be forewarned, allowing you to adapt and protect your operation in its various stages of growth. Being educated in the legal principles of law that underpin your venture will release a confidence in you that is so needed by entrepreneurs.
Even the simplest-seeming task of naming your business is littered with legal pitfalls. And such pitfalls might not be identified for some years down the line, when the investigation of – let alone the outcome – could have a devastating financial impact on your business.
Even if we put the cost to one side, I am certain you don’t want to waste something of even more value to an entrepreneur – time – trapped within the sticky web of legal proceedings.
The laws of human nature or even business do not operate in the same way as the laws invoked by our executive. I have attended and advised many an entrepreneur who will stare at me either blankly with incredulity or with utter contempt for suggesting that they have acted either unlawfully or even illegally – and, yes, there is a difference – in conducting business in the way that they have.
While an entrepreneur has to be flexible, the law can be anything but. While an entrepreneur has to be prepared to move fast, the law can do anything but. So if, in Britain, we want to continue to compete on the world stage, competing to win as opposed to just being extras on the start line, then we need to give our budding entrepreneurs something more than just good luck.
This is why the law is now more relevant in education than it ever was before.
