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Get a job? No, make a job Gen Y & Entrepreneurship: Fad or Legacy
By Laura Vanderkam
Some are calling today the golden age of entrepreneurship. Leading this charge
................................................................................4-5 are young people who are starting their own businesses and receiving increased
support to do so. For example, in December 2006, the Kauffman Foundation put
an additional $25.5 million toward cross-campus entrepreneurship education.
Teens get rich with smart Furthermore, 2,100 colleges and universities now teach entrepreneurship,
ideas, hard work, good advice BusinessWeek reports, up from fewer than 400 in the early '90s. Furthermore,
By Kerry Hannon the Small Business Administration found that the number of self-employed peo-
ple under 21 rose from 142,000 in 2000 to 188,000 in 2005. This case study
....................................................................................6
explores entrepreneurship’s upward trend and the role that youth play in it.

Ready to start your business?

By Jim Hopkins
................................................................................7-9

The goal: Wealth and fame

Gen Y makes a mark
By Sharon Jayson Their imprint is entrepreneurship
...........................................................................10-12
By Sharon Jayson He started out with financial help from
USA TODAY his parents, but he now has more than
Critical inquiry $1.5 million in venture capital. His line of
Discussion and future implications They've got the smar ts and the cases, armbands and belt clips is
.........................................................................................14
confidence to get a job, but increasing produced in China, which he visits
numbers of the millennial generation — several times a year, between classes at
Case Study Expert: those in their mid-20s and younger — are Champlain College in Burlington, Vt.,
deciding corporate America just doesn't where he's a sophomore majoring in
Michael Simmons
fit their needs. business.
Entrepreneur, author & teacher
So armed with a hefty dose of It's no surprise that Kaufman focused
optimism, moxie and self-esteem, they first on the iPod. His generation
USA TODAY Snapshots® are becoming entrepreneurs. demands customized music, and now
they are trying to do the same with their
Goals of ‘Gen Next’ vs. ‘Gen X’ "People are realizing they don't have to lives.
The goals of the 18-25 age group compared with the
26-40 age group: 18-25 26-40 go to work in suits and ties and don't
Get rich have to talk about budgets every day," "They want to create a custom life and
81% says Ben Kaufman, 20, founder of a create the kind of career that fits around
62%
Become famous company that makes iPod accessories. the kind of life they want," says Bruce
51% "They can have a job they like. They can Tulgan, the founder of RainmakerThinking,
29% create a job for themselves." a management training firm in New Haven,
Help people
30% Conn., and an author specializing in
36% Kaufman, of Melville, N.Y., named his generational diversity in the workplace.
Be community leaders
22% company Mophie for his golden
33% retrievers, Molly and Sophie. It earned a Experts say these children of the baby-
Become more spiritual
10% Source: Pew Research Center
best-of-show award at the 2006 boom generation, also known as Gen Y
31% for the People & the Press
survey, Sept.-Oct. 2006
Macworld Expo in San Francisco. or echo boomers, are taking to heart a
By Alejandro Gonzalez, USA TODAY desire for the kind of work-life balance

© Copyright 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co., Inc. All rights reser ved.
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY’S LIFE SECTION, DECEMBER 7, 2006
their parents didn't have. They see being
their own boss as a way to resolve the
conflict. So now they're pressing ahead
with new products or services or finding
a new twist on old-style careers. They're
at the leading edge of a trend toward
entrepreneurship that has bubbled for
decades and now, thanks in large part to
technology, is starting to surge.
"It is a fun-loving generation," says
Ellen Kossek, a Michigan State University
professor in East Lansing who has spent
18 years researching workplace
flexibility.
"They view work as part of life, but
they don't live to work the way we were
socialized as boomers. There is a real
mismatch between what the young
generation wants and what employers
are offering."
Kossek says work-life issues are among
the top three concerns among young
graduates. But these young
entrepreneurs aren't always thinking
long-term about running their own shop.
"Employers aren't offering what they
want, so the young say they'll be their
own boss and start their own business."
But "what they find out is that it's not a
way to get a work-life balance. When you
have your own business, you're working
long hours, because if you don't work,
money doesn't come in."
Maybe because this is an optimistic
bunch or perhaps because they haven't
planned their lives further than the
weekend, they don't seem too worried
about work. But because they are young
and so new to the workforce, much of
what is known about them is anecdotal
with little existing data about their work
habits.
Those who have studied generations in
the workplace, such as author David
Stillman of Minneapolis, do have some
insights. Stillman, who co-wrote the
Reprinted with permission. All rights reser ved.
2002 book When Generations Collide,
says these young workers have very
different ideas from those of earlier
generations.
"This generation has the group-think
mentality," he says. "When you are raised
to collaborate at home, then you are
taught how to do that in middle school
and practice it in college, you show up at
work saying 'Where's my team?' They're
just comfortable working with peers."
Many go into business with friends.
Maren Seibold, 25, is an environmental
consultant for a Seattle area company;
she teamed up last year with her 26-
year-old tattoo artist husband, Mark
Bentley, and a friend who does body
piercing, Anthony Mason, 24, to launch
Mantis Machines, which sells a
redesigned version of the instrument
that professional tattooists use.
Seibold, who has a degree in chemical
engineering, tinkered with the tool to
maximize its versatility and use a greater
variety of needles. Mason's father owns a
tool company and provided the
materials. A $10,000 loan helped them
get started. "It was something we all
wanted to do," Seibold says.
Bureau of Labor Statistics data for
2005 show that some 370,000 young
people ages 16-24 were self-employed,
the occupational category that includes
entrepreneurs. In 1975, when baby
boomers were young, some 351,000
were in that category. While that growth
over 30 years isn't striking, indicators
suggest more change ahead. The Bureau
of Labor Statistics projects the self-
employed category will grow 5% from
2004 to 2014, compared with 2% growth
for the decade that began in 1994.
Such growth is largely a result of the
Internet, where snazzy websites don't
betray a home-based operation.
Entrepreneurs can be more professional
with less need for capital or office space.
Global communication is easy and
immediate. Businesses can outsource
products and services and get a toll-free
telephone number for nationwide access.
Taking a risk isn't quite the financial leap
of faith it once was.
"There's such a frontier for possible
business ideas," says Scott Neuberger, 25,
CEO of Boston-based Collegeboxes. "The
barrier to entry is very low and doesn't
require a lot of money in a lot of cases. I
think there's more of an entrepreneurial
spirit in our generation than perhaps in
other generations. Being an entrepreneur
has become cool and sexy."
In 2004, Neuberger bought
Collegeboxes, competitor of a business
he started at Washington University in St.
Louis to help students relocate. It now
operates in 18 states, offering door-to-
door pickup and delivery, shipping and
storage services, and appliance rentals.
College students also are the focus of
Arel Moodie's business, The Placefinder,
which helps students find off-campus
housing, roommates and sublets at his
alma mater, Binghamton University, in
upstate New York. Moodie, of Johnson
City, N.Y., plans to expand further into the
state and to New Jersey.
Getting started required taking a risk.
"We were scared out of our minds,"
Moodie, 23, says. "We realized we're
young, and we may not know everything
we need to know, but what do we have
to lose? If the business doesn't work,
we'll totally get jobs like everybody else."
The self-employed are considerably
more satisfied with their jobs than are
other workers, according to a Pew
Research Center poll of 2,003 Americans
ages 18 and over released in August.
They're more satisfied with their salaries,
the job security, chances for promotion,
level of on-the-job stress, flexibility of
hours and proximity of work and home,
the poll found.
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AS SEEN IN USA TODAY’S LIFE SECTION, DECEMBER 7, 2006
"You've got a generation that has
clearly seen the corporate culture not be
loyal to their employees," says David
Finney, president of Champlain College,
which this fall launched a new program
to lure enterprising undergraduates
already in business for themselves. "This
generation understands that the burden
of taking care of themselves rests with
them and not some company."
Although being an entrepreneur
doesn't require a college degree,
increasing numbers of campuses are
offering courses to inspire those with
business acumen. The Kansas City, Mo.-
based Ewing Marion Kauffman
Foundation, which promotes
entrepreneurship, keeps a tally of
courses related to entrepreneurship at
two-year and four-year colleges and
universities. Newly compiled data show
that 80% of the 2,662 campuses in the
report offer at least one such course.
Last month, Grand Canyon University,
a private, Christian university in
Phoenix, announced a new College of
Entrepreneurship that, star ting in
Reprinted with permission. All rights reser ved.
January, will provide students with seed
money from a venture capital fund
vested with $4.5 million to help launch
projects.
Ian Schumann, 21, star ted his
ultralight backpacking gear company
this fall during his senior year at the
University of Texas-Austin. He personally
bankrolled his invention — a trekking
pole — that he assembles and sells
under the name Adapt All-Terrain Gear.
"All the money I've put into it has
come out of my personal savings. It was
something I was excited about trying to
make work," he says. "If it doesn't work,
I've wasted $1,500."
Senior Jason Nikel, 23, of Shelburne,
Vt., is in Champlain College's
entrepreneurial program. Nikel, a
multimedia and graphic design major,
created a clothing line of hats, T-shirts
and hooded sweatshirts called Third
Shift Clothing.
"It's not exactly at the point where I
can graduate and have the income
support me, so I'll keep it as a side
project as I have for the past two years,"
he says. "I'll take it as far as it can go."
Sheena Lindahl, 24, and husband
Michael Simmons, 25, have turned the
rise of entrepreneurialism into their own
business. While attending New York
University in 2003, the duo started
Extreme Entrepreneurship Education to
help their peers pursue their dream
careers. Lindahl has supported herself
since age 17. Simmons star ted a
website-development company at 16,
has won awards for entrepreneurship
and wrote an inspirational book about
business success. This fall, they
branched out with a tour of college
campuses to inspire future
entrepreneurs.
"I think it has a lot to do with the high
expectations we were brought up with.
'You can do it. You can have what you
want,''' Lindahl says. "We're criticized
for wanting it all: high pay, purposeful
work, flexible hours. It's hard for people
in our generation just to do work."
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AS SEEN ON USA TODAY’S FORUM PAGE, FEBRUARY 6, 2007
Get a job? No, make a job
How can we prepare our children for today's economy? Teach them
workplace skills. Teach them entrepreneurship.
By Laura Vanderkam
Michael Simmons, 25, always liked the
idea of working for himself. At age 16, he
started a Web development company
that blossomed as dot-coms proliferated.
But then the bubble burst, and many of
his clients imploded. Faced with new
challenges, Simmons decided he had a
lot to learn about running a business.
Still a teen, he won a scholarship to an
online class offered by the National
Foundation for Teaching
Entrepreneurship (NFTE). He learned
how to use spreadsheets, make
PowerPoint presentations, speak publicly
about his business and find mentors to
help his business grow.
"It helped me get an understanding of
what the real world was like," he says.
And it helped him launch Extreme
Entrepreneurship Education, a business
that conducts workshops on the nitty-
gritty of self-employment for high school
and college students.
As Simmons and his protégés have
learned, not all successful entrepreneurs
are born that way. Like anything,
entrepreneurship can be learned.
Unfortunately, it's rarely taught. The No
Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which
turned 5 last month, pledged to make
sure kids learned the reading and math
skills the modern economy requires. But
those aren't the only skills modern
students need.
More and more Americans are
becoming self-employed, both for the
lifestyle and out of necessity. Yet fewer
schools teach entrepreneurship skills
For more educational resources,
Reprinted with
USA TODAY
than teach kids to be excellent readers
and mathematicians. But this is starting
to change — and that bodes as well for
the economy as do the increases in
reading and math skills NCLB is starting
to inspire.
From its Manhattan headquarters,
NFTE has been quietly spreading the self-
employment revolution in schools since
1987. Founder Steve Mariotti ran his own
import-export company until he was
visit http://education.usatoday.com
permission. All rights reser ved.
mugged by some young thugs in the
early 1980s. Shaken, he decided to
become a teacher to confront his fears.
He soon realized most of his Bronx and
Brooklyn charges had great potential.
Boredom in the classroom
"The biggest problem in education in
certain communities is that kids are
bored," he says. (A 2006 Gates
Foundation survey found that more than
six out of 10 high school dropouts were
earning a C average or better when they
quit.) Mariotti's students showed
sharpened interest when he discussed
running a business. So over the years, he
developed a curriculum that challenged
students to tr y entrepreneurship
themselves.
NFTE has since trained 4,100 teachers,
and its programs have been adopted in
600 mostly low-income schools. The
organization also runs online courses
such as the one Simmons took.
More than 150,000 students have
written business plans, learned how to
open bank accounts and tracked income
per unit of product or service sold.
Research from Harvard and Brandeis
universities finds that NFTE students are
not only likely to consider
entrepreneurship as a path out of
poverty, but they also grow academically.
Writing business plans is a sneaky way to
make kids think about grammar.
Calculating profits has kids learning
math. Harvard research found that NFTE
kids show a 32% increase in interest in
attending college vs. a decrease over the
same time frame among comparable
7
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AS SEEN ON USA TODAY’S FORUM PAGE, FEBRUARY 6, 2007
low-income student groups. "This is the
biggest breakthrough in at-risk youth
education in the last 100 years," Mariotti
says.
But it's not just at-risk kids who need
to learn about entrepreneurship.
Micro-businesses
The vast majority of U.S. businesses
have fewer than four employees. Young
people are even more interested in
starting these micro-businesses than are
adults; a 2006 Junior Achievement
survey found that 71% of middle and high
school students would like to be self-
employed at some point, up from 64% in
2004.
Technology makes this increasingly
possible. For a few bucks a month,
anyone can create a website that
advertises a product or service to the
planet's 1 billion Internet users. That's
the pull factor.
Reprinted with permission. All rights reser ved.
There's also a push. Few people can
count on lifetime employment in a big
company. So corporate types moonlight
or move around within their companies
to stay marketable, notes Marci Alboher,
author of the upcoming One
Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for
Work/Life Success. "The idea that
everyone has their one little spot on the
line is gone," she says. "We all have to be
entrepreneurial," which she defines as
constantly learning new skills.
If the point of school is, in part, to
prepare you for life after school, then
more kids need to learn how to pick up
new skill sets, judge markets, find their
competitive advantages and make their
cash registers ring. NF TE schools
recognize this, and so do many colleges;
2,100 colleges and universities teach
entrepreneurship, BusinessWeek reports,
up from fewer than 400 in the early '90s.
This growing population of trained
free agents will benefit the whole
economy. A study by technology
consultant Allan Engelhardt found that
when you triple the number of
employees in an organization, you halve
each one's productivity. The corollary is
that in general, more small businesses
mean greater productivity. Greater
productivity per worker translates into
higher living standards, just as better
reading and math skills usually do.
Entrepreneurship education programs
recognize that, just as you can learn to
read, you can learn to run a business.
Michael Simmons has taken that lesson
to hear t. He and his Extreme
Entrepreneurship Education partner (and
wife) Sheena Lindahl were just named to
Business Week's Best Entrepreneurs
under 25 List.
They're building a business while doing
what they love. That's cer tainly a
message worth teaching.
Laura Vanderkam, author of
Grindhopping: Build a Rewarding Career
without Paying Your Dues, is a member of
USA TODAY's board of contributors.
Page 5
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY’S MONEY SECTION JANUARY 22, 2007
Teens get rich with smart ideas, hard work, good advice
By Kerry Hannon
Special for USA TODAY
Unbridled enthusiasm. Unchained
confidence. Unlimited opportunities. Ah
… youth.
In Young Wealth: Trade Secrets From
Teens Who Are Changing American
Business , Jon Swar tz, a USA TODAY
repor ter, profiles 15 young
entrepreneurs. Most started in their early
teens. All succeeded.
Take 18-year-old Ben Casnocha. His
nickname is "Big Ben" — he's 6-foot-4.
And he's rich.
Casnocha schmoozes with executives
and venture capitalists in Silicon Valley in
the morning and goes to high school in
the afternoon.
Casnocha's company, Comcate,
markets software he designed for local
governments. It started as a project for
Ben's sixth-grade tech class at a private
school in San Francisco. Comcate now
has annual revenue of around $750,000
and 50 customers in small and midsize
cities in several states.
Swar tz ends each profile with a
snapshot, including age, business, city,
their biggest influence and a
commentary on how they do it.
Reprinted with permission. All rights reser ved.
How many teens star t or run
businesses is not certain, but they seem
to be a growing niche. In 2005, 188,000
self-employed people in the USA were
under 21, compared with about 142,000
in 2000, according to Brian Headd, an
economist in the Small Business
Administration's Office of Advocacy.
Tech advances (like the Internet) make
it easier to start and run businesses with
little start-up capital. And nearly 1,800
colleges and universities offer courses in
entrepreneurship, Swartz writes. "The
liberating tonic of self-employment not
only gives teens control of their jobs; it
also sharpens the competitive spirit in
the United States. Perhaps tech teens are
a key cog in the American economic
machine, a hidden salvation in an ever-
changing global economy."
These profiles are inspiring on many
levels, for teens and parents alike. Swartz
warns, however, that young
entrepreneurs face a "phalanx of
personal and professional obstacles."
Early success is intoxicating. It can lead
some to reject feedback and make it
harder to learn in a corporate
environment, he writes.
Swartz's best portraits emerge from
the cyberworld, an arena he covers for
this newspaper, but he tosses into the
mix a rising country singer, a model and
a sports journalist, too. They have in
common, however, savvy use of the
Internet.
Kids such as e-commerce mogul Sean
Belnick, 19, founder of BizChair.com, now
take in six-figure salaries while attending
high school and college, Swartz writes.
Or consider Graham Bensinger, 19, a
sports journalist from Ladue, Mo. He has
a weekly national radio show,
contributes to ESPN, writes a column for
ESPN.com and has a William Morris
Agency rep to sort out his deals. His
advice:
*"Hard work is the key to success. If
you work hard, oppor tunities will
present themselves."
*"Everyone has dreams. The difference
between those who are successful and
those who aren't is whether you have
the guts to follow them. Only use the
doubters as motivation."
Then, too, there's Robin Liss, 22,
founder and CEO of several websites,
including CamcorderInfo.com, a site that
draws four hundred thousand unique
visitors per month to her reviews.
Known as a "gadget guru" on CNN, she
says: "I would never call myself an expert
at anything. I'm always learning, always
growing and trying to find new and
better ways of doing things. In my pursuit
to learn, I'm always looking for new
teachers."
Bingo. Mentoring. It's a trade secret
that's worked for generations.
How to create luck
Entrepreneur Ben Casnocha describes
three ways to be lucky:
u "Expose yourself to as much
randomness as possible. Read books no
one else is reading. Talk to people no one
else is talking to. That's luck. That's
randomness."
u "Every time luck doesn't go my way,
I believe a piece of good luck is right
around the corner."
u "Trick yourself. Self-deception is
essential to maintain high self-esteem.
It's okay to take more credit than you
deserve, in your own mind, for successes.
It's okay to think you can outwork and
out-passion anyone who competes with
you. Stay humble on the outside, but
consider yourself unstoppable on the
inside."
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AS SEEN IN A USA TODAY BONUS SECTION ON JULY 31, 2006
Ready to start your business?
What attributes suggest someone's a
good candidate to star t their own
business?
A college degree doesn't hurt — though
dropping out didn't stop Bill Gates from
launching the world's biggest software
maker. Being rich would solve the
problem of start-up financing — yet Sam
Walton got his start in business on not
much more than a wing and a prayer.
There are no definitive answers, but
the entrepreneurs, private investors and
academics USA TODAY's Jim Hopkins
talked with suggested these experiences,
traits and skills.
Childhood experience
You didn't rely on allowances and other
handouts from your parents for spending
money when you were young. You set up
a weekend lawn-mowing business -- and
hired friends to work for you. Or you
franchised your lawn-mowing service
idea to other kids in the neighborhood.
"It's ver y common for adult
entrepreneurs to be those who started
lemonade stands or went house-to-
house trying to make money when they
were children," says Leann Mischel, a
management professor and entrepreneur
at Susquehanna University's Sigmund
Weis School of Business.
Entrepreneurial genes
In the nur ture vs. nature debate,
there's new research showing that the
drive to start companies may be genetic.
Researchers compared self-employment
among 609 pairs of identical twins and
657 pairs of fraternal twins in the United
Kingdom. They found that nearly half --
48% -- of an individual's tendency to be
self-employed is genetic. For example,
genes leading someone to be
extroverted are key to salesmanship -- a
vital trait among entrepreneurs, says
Reprinted with permission. All rights reser ved.
Scott Shane, an entrepreneurship
professor at Case Western Reser ve
University and one of the study's authors.
There's also evidence people with
dyslexia are more likely to become
entrepreneurs. London's Cass Business
School says entrepreneurs in a study of
215 managers were five times as likely as
corporate managers to have dyslexia.
Why? Dyslexia forces people to hunt for
creative ways to steer through life.
Famous entrepreneurs with dyslexia
include discount stockbroker Charles
Schwab and Virgin's Richard Branson.
Family support
Prepare for crazy-long hours, including
weekends, during a company's start-up
phase — a work load that's also taxing for
an entrepreneur's family. And vacations?
What are those? About two-thirds of
small-business owners said they planned
to take a vacation of a week or more this
summer, but more than half planned to
check in with their companies at least
once daily, American Express found in a
survey. "Starting a business can require
80-to-100-hour weeks," Mark Ciavarella,
an assistant management professor at
Bucknell University, said in an e-mail.
"Many spouses/par tners don't
understand this and won't tolerate it." As
star t-up adviser Ralph Sherman of
Createabank near Detroit said, you know
you're an entrepreneur when "your
family has been looking for your picture
on a milk carton."
Money doesn't motivate
Two of the USA's most famous
entrepreneurs -- Bill Gates at Microsoft
and Warren Buffett at Berkshire
Hathaway — are also the two richest
Americans. But they were driven to
create great companies, not just huge
fortunes. Indeed, Gates and Buffett are
combining their riches to create a $60
billion philanthropic powerhouse in the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
"Entrepreneurs are much more
interested in 'wealth' rather than
'riches,'" says Scott Laughlin, director of
the University of Mar yland's tech
entrepreneurship program. Riches are
piles of money, he says; wealth is
broader, encompassing less-tangible
rewards such as respect and
independence. So, would-be
entrepreneurs need to examine how
they expect to be rewarded. "If the
compensation is just cash," Laughlin
says, "then the practice of
entrepreneurship will not be ver y
rewarding."
Passion
You don't just think you've built a
better mousetrap — you feel it in your
gut, and know the world will be much
better if only you can get your idea to
market. "When something is important
to you, then you know it with your heart
as well as your brain," says Bob Barbato, a
management and entrepreneurship
professor at Rochester Institute of
Technology. "You infect others with your
passion, and they believe in you."
The flip side of passion is impatience
with other people's ideas, says Amy
Millman, president of Springboard
Enterprises, which helps start-ups led by
women find investors. The would-be
entrepreneur's attitude, Millman says: "I
know what I want to do, and I know how
to do it." Conventional wisdom 20 years
ago said a black woman from rural
Mississippi would have a tough time
launching a career as a TV host on even
the lowest-rated show. But one such
woman went to launch her own
company, Harpo Productions. And now,
Oprah Winfrey is one of TV's biggest
stars, ruling over an estimated $1.4
billion fortune.
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Pragmatism
As passionate as entrepreneurs must
be to drive start-ups forward, they also
know when to cut losses. "Know when
to give up on an idea," says Lou Marino,
an associate professor of
entrepreneurship at the University of
Alabama at Tuscaloosa. "Not every idea
an entrepreneur has is going to be a
home run." Giving up doesn't necessarily
mean the business idea was bad. Instead,
it might be the right idea at the wrong
time — as was the case with thousands
of dot-coms launched in the late 1990s
before household high-speed Internet
access became widespread, making
viable all the offerings those dot-coms
hoped to sell.
Risk-taking
You know start-up success isn't
guaranteed. Still, you don't flinch at the
thought of betting your severance pay or
retirement savings on self-employment.
Would-be entrepreneurs are calculated
risk-takers — like world-class
mountaineers, says Vineet Buch, a principal
at venture-capital firm BlueRun Ventures in
Silicon Valley's Menlo Park. "They hammer
in protection on the way to the top, but
don't let the thought of falling slow their
steps as the slope gets steeper and
narrower," he says. "True entrepreneurs
strive to control risk while still thriving on
it." Martha Stewart risked leaving the
safety net of publishing giant Time in 1996
to launch her Martha Stewart Living
Omnimedia. She successfully took that
Reprinted with permission. All rights reser ved.
company public, becoming one of the
world's most famous entrepreneurs.
Strong ethics
Start-ups depend heavily on good first
impressions when entrepreneurs hire
employees, court investors and line up
customers. In a hyper-competitive
economy, any whiff of dishonesty can
deep-six a new enterprise. Penn State
University's Anthony Warren, who
advises venture capitalists, says honesty
and trustworthiness are high on the list
of attributes he looks for when he
considers recommending a venture to
potential investors. "Who wants to be in
business with someone you cannot fully
trust, especially in the start-up phase
where the stress levels are high?" says
Warren, director of the school's Farrell
Center for Corporate Innovation and
Entrepreneurship. The founders of
Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page,
famously created a "don't be evil" mantra
when they took their online search giant
public.
Tech ease
Feeling comfortable with technology is
crucial, because computers, software and
other gadgets are key to launching a
business in the fastest-growing economy,
the service sector. Start-up costs there
have plummeted as prices fell for
powerful computers and software. Those
lower prices came as the Internet let
entrepreneurs tap global markets for
engineering, accounting and other
services. Setting up a small office with a
laptop, fax machine, cellphone and other
gizmos costs as little as $5,000. Add a
professional-looking website for $500 or
so, and you can compete with bigger,
more established companies. But you
can't take advantage of those lower costs
if you aren't comfortable using popular
word-processing, database, spreadsheet
and presentation programs.
Tenacity
Sometimes the best business ideas fail
to take hold — not because there isn't
demand, but because the start-up was
undercapitalized, or the entrepreneur
lacked management know-how or
simply gave up too soon. "If you really
believe in it, you keep fighting for it," says
Earl "Butch" Graves, president and CEO of
Black Enterprise, the magazine founded
by his father, Earl Sr. One-third of new
small employers fail within two years;
and 56% are toast after four years, says
the Small Business Administration. About
672,000 small employers launched last
year — but 545,000 others closed, the
SBA says. A nobody entrepreneur who
started a variety store in Arkansas in
1945 eventually lost the business when
his landlord wouldn't renew his lease.
But he didn't give up. "I've never been
one to dwell on reverses," Sam Walton
recalled in his autobiography, "and I
didn't do so then." The company he
fought to start, Wal-Mart, is now the
USA's biggest private employer, with
more than 1.3 million workers
Page 8
AS SEEN IN A USA TODAY BONUS SECTION ON JULY 31, 2006
How some of the world's top entrepreneurs got their starts
Oprah Winfrey, 52
While just 19, the media-mogul-to-be
co-anchored TV news in Nashville. Her
career took off when she launched The
Oprah Winfrey Show in 1985 in Chicago.
Her empire now includes production of
movies and TV specials and magazine
publishing, all part of Harpo Inc. (That's
Oprah spelled backward.)
Sam Walton, died at 74
Variety store owner Sam Walton
opened his first Wal-Mart discount store
in Rogers, Ark., in 1962, using 95% of his
own money. Just five years later, Wal-
Mart's five stores brought in sales of
$12.6 million. Walton died in 1992.
Richard Branson, 56
Virgin Group began in 1970 as a mail-
order record company when Branson
was just 20. He has built it into a holding
company with interests in more than
200 businesses ranging from a music
label to an airline to hotels and movie
theaters. Branson courted success early
with his brash style, quick decision-
making and risk-taking. One of his first
hit groups: The Sex Pistols, a group other
labels wouldn't sign.
Reprinted with permission. All rights reser ved.
Martha Stewart, 64
The domestic diva developed her
cooking, gardening and home-keeping
skills while growing up in a family of six
in Nutley, N.J. After a short career as a
Wall Street stockbroker, Stewar t
launched a catering company in 1976
that became the springboard for her
first book: Entertaining. Martha Stewart
Omnimedia, her company, produces
magazines, TV and radio shows, and
markets home furnishings.
Warren Buffett, 75
Buffett was 25 in 1956 when he
founded an investment fund with $100
of his money. It later bought a small
textile company called Berkshire
Hathaway. Buffett pulled Berkshire out of
the textile business and remade it as one
of the world's top investment
companies, the owner or investor in
successful companies such as Geico
insurance, Dairy Queen and Coca-Cola.
The "Oracle of Omaha" is the world's
second-richest person after Bill Gates.
Google guys
Google co-founders Larry Page, 33,
and Sergey Brin, 32, met at Stanford,
where they star ted a project that
analyzed the "back links" pointing to
websites. After brainstorming ideas in
their dorm, writing up a business plan
and maxing out their credit cards buying
computer memory, they persuaded
investors to sink $1 million into their
idea. The massive search site launched
in 1998.
Bill Gates, 50
At 13, he programmed computers.
Before he left Harvard in his junior year,
he developed the programming
language BASIC for the first
microcomputer. He and childhood
friend Paul Allen next star ted the
software company that grew to
dominate the computer business. Long
before it turned 30 last year, Microsoft
made Gates the world's richest person.
Robert Johnson, 60
After a brief stint as a cable industry
lobbyist, Rober t Johnson used a
$500,000 investment from cable titan
John Malone in 1979 to create an outlet
aimed at African-Americans. Black
Entertainment Television made its debut
in 1980. In 1983, it began a 24-hour
schedule, with 7.6 million cable
subscribers. BET was the first black-
owned firm on the NYSE.
Source: USA TODAY research by Kelly Barry
Page 9
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY’S LIFE SECTION JANUARY 10, 2007
The goal: Wealth and fame
But 'the good life'
could elude Gen Y
By Sharon Jayson
USA TODAY
Ask young people about their
generation's top life goals and the answer
is clear and resounding: They want to be
rich and famous.
"When you open a celebrity magazine,
it's all about the money and being rich
and famous," says 22-year-old Cameron
Johnson of Blacksburg, Va. "The T V
shows we watch — anything from The
Apprentice where the intro to the show
is the 'money song' — to Us Weekly
magazine where you see all the
celebrities and their $6million homes.
We see reality TV shows with Jessica and
Nick living the life. We see Britney and
Paris. The people we relate to outside our
friends are those people."
Eighty-one percent of 18- to 25-year-
olds surveyed in a Pew Research Center
poll released today said getting rich is
their generation's most important or
second-most-important life goal; 51%
said the same about being famous.
"We're seeing the common person
become famous for being themselves,"
says David Morrison of the Philadelphia-
based research firm Twentysomething
Inc. MTV and reality TV are in large part
fueling these youthful desires, he says.
"Look at Big Brother and other shows.
People being themselves can be
incredibly famous and get sponsorship
deals, and they can become celebrities,"
he says. "It's a completely new
development in entertainment, and it's
having a crossover effect on attitudes and
behavior."
Reprinted with permission. All rights reser ved.
The results of the Pew telephone
survey of 579 young people describe the
"millennial" generation (also known as
Gen Y), who were born since the early
1980s and were raised in the glow and
glare of their parents' omnipresent
cameras. While experts say it's natural
for humans to seek attention, these
young people revel in it. They're
accustomed to being noticed, having
been showered with awards and
accolades.
Add in the anything-is-possible attitude
typical of youth overall, and experts say
that even among millennials of lesser
economic means, there is an optimism
that fame and fortune can happen to
anyone.
"Society raised us where money is
glamorous, and everybody wants to be
glamorous," says Jason Head, an aspiring
actor who turned 26 just before
Thanksgiving. He earned an associate's
degree in applied arts. To pay the bills,
he's a bar manager and bartender in the
Dallas suburb of Plano.
Still, this generation acknowledges the
realities of a world in which bills must be
paid, Pew found. Money is by far their
most impor tant problem; 30% cite
financial concerns. College and education
was the second-biggest concern at 18%,
and careers and jobs were third at 16%.
Life today is expensive
Monetary realities are far bleaker for
this generation than what their parents
experienced. Costs for basics such as
housing, insurance or education have
escalated, even as income growth for the
middle class has slowed. There's also
more disparity between rich and poor.
So, these young people may well be
dreaming when they envision futures
Money on their minds
The percentage of U.S. college
freshmen who believe it is
“essential” or “very important” to:
1967 2005
Be very well off financially
41.9%
74.5%
Develop a meaningful
philosophy of life
85.8%
45%
Source: Higher Education Research Institute,
University of California, Los Angeles, survey
of 263,710 first-time freshmen at 385 institu-
tions collected in 2005 and 280,650 freshmen
at 359 institutions in 1967.
By Julie Snider, USA TODAY
filled with money and fame, suggests
economist Rober t Frank of Cornell
University in Ithaca, N.Y.
Young people today may earn more in
dollars than their parents did, but their
money buys less, which may make them
feel poorer and means a lot less
economic security, Frank says.
"They're going to have a harder time
because the amounts they'll have to
come up with to even do as well as their
parents are going to be harder to
achieve," he says.
Rober t Thompson, a professor of
media and popular culture at Syracuse
University, says one reason money
appears so important is that modern
American life "has a lot to do with
acquisition."
"The way to distinguish ourselves is by
our stuff," he says. "In some cultures,
Page 10
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY’S LIFE SECTION JANUARY 10, 2007
you're born into a caste. You know who
you are, and it doesn't change. Here, you
have to carve out your identity, and one
of the most obvious ways to do that is to
climb the ladder. It's not about birth and
class, but it is about financial status."
Kristine Molina knows the pressure of
trying to keep up. Molina is a graduate
student in psychology and women's
studies on a fellowship at the University
of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She was born
in Nicaragua and raised in Miami by her
grandparents, both janitors. She received
financial aid at Smith College in
Northampton, Mass., from which she
graduated in 2005.
Pressure to fit in
"Being poor and being a person of
color and not wanting to fit the
stereotype, my first year I bought
things," she says. "I bought a lot of
clothes and stuff for my room, and I
bought my laptop. If my friends wanted
to go out, I'd go out and spend on food
when I knew I didn't have the money."
She turns 24 this month. She says
hearing rags-to-riches stories and
watching television shows about the lives
of the rich and famous inspires her to
want success in her own arena: She
wants to become a college professor.
"I see some professors who have these
big houses," she says. "It would be nice if
I could."
Fame doesn't necessarily mean being
on TV. "I personally hope to become an
influential figure and to be a prominent
researcher in my field," she says. "It's
famous, but it's much less than stardom. I
want to affect society."
Virginia entrepreneur Johnson started
a dozen businesses before turning 21. He
says celebrities, from athletes to actors
and music stars, get huge amounts of
money, so it's not surprising young
people want that, too.
Reprinted with permission. All rights reser ved.
"Money creates the freedom to live the
life we want," he says. In addition to
online business ventures such as selling
Beanie Babies and gift cards, he has
written a book, out this week from
Simon & Schuster, You Call the Shots.
The Pew study found young people are
about twice as likely (14%) to admire an
entertainer than a political leader (8%).
"Famous people are in their faces so
much more, and as a society, we have
escalated the value we put on
celebrities," Thompson says.
Jason Barg, 24, a 2004 graduate of Penn
State University who works for a
Philadelphia accounting firm and
founded an online real-estate company,
says notoriety is more about standing
out from the crowd.
"A primary goal of people my age is not
necessarily to become famous but to
become distinctive," he says.
Now, young people can be celebrities
in their own worlds by posting videos on
YouTube, posing like a model on
MySpace or creating an online reality
show featuring themselves. Pew found
54% of those 18 to 25 have used social
networking sites such as MySpace or
Facebook; 44% have created a profile
featuring photos, hobbies or interests.
"We've got a lot of people who, the
entire time they were growing up, the
only time anything impor tant was
happening, there was a camera present,"
Thompson says. "When they were
exiting the womb, they had a camera
present. When they were blowing out
that first candle or getting on the school
bus for the first time, it was all being
recorded."
Consumer psychologist Kit Yarrow of
Golden Gate University in San Francisco
worries about the downside of young
people presenting themselves on the
Web vs. the intimacy that comes with
real communication.
"My fear is not so much for our society
but for a sense of emptiness and
depression these kids might have as they
age," she says. "They're putting their
resources and energy and validation and
self-worth into what people who aren't
close to them think of them, which is
fame."
The Pew study attempted to find out
more about the attitudes of this
generation, which in many ways seem
such a contrast to the flower-child values
of many of their baby-boom parents.
MacNeil/Lehrer Productions commission-
ed the poll as part of a project studying
Generation Next. USA TODAY is a reporting
partner but did not help pay for the poll. The
margin of error for findings on 18- to 25-
year-olds is plus or minus 5 percentage
points.
Other research also suggests that the
minds of millennials are preoccupied
with money.
A Gallup Panel survey of 18- to 29-
year-olds released last month found that
55% agreed or strongly agreed with the
statement "You dream about getting
rich." A similar Gallup study in 2003 of
people under 30 found that more than
half (51%) thought it was very likely or
somewhat likely that they "will ever be
rich."
Concerned about finances
In an annual sur vey of college
freshmen by the Higher Education
Research Institute at the University of
California-Los Angeles, 2005 data show
that money is much more on their minds
than in the past. The percentage who say
it is "essential" or "very important" to be
"very well off financially" grew from
41.9% in 1967 to 74.5% in 2005;
"developing a meaningful philosophy of
life" dropped in importance from 85.8%
in 1967 to 45% in 2005.
The same was true for high school
seniors in 1976 compared with those in
Page 11
AS SEEN IN USA TODAY’S LIFE SECTION JANUARY 10, 2007

2005. Monitoring the Future, a study
conducted annually by the University of
Michigan, found striking differences in
responses to the question "How
important to your life is having lots of
money?" In 1976, 15.4% of 3,009
respondents thought it was "extremely
important," compared with 25% of 2,587
young people in 2005. And in 2005, 5.6%
thought having lots of money was "not
important," down from 11% in 1976.
Mark Ayoub, 20, a junior majoring in
politics and religion at Hendrix College
in Conway, Ark., says at one time, he
wanted to be famous in national politics
but changed his mind after seeing how
politicians have so little personal time.
Rich, though, "appeals to me," says
Ayoub, who grew up in Needham, Mass.,
a suburb of Boston.
"I don't need to be filthy rich," he says,
"but I want to live above the minimum
— not just pay the bills but enjoy
comfort in life and not just provide a
minimal experience for my kids."

AS SEEN ON USA TODAY’S EDITORIAL PAGE, JANUARY 17, 2007

Letters

Young people strive for wealth, security — and meaning, too

I am a 20-year-old who grew up in a middle-class family and
am now attending a community college. I have always wanted
to earn money through working at my passion. I have heard my
peers express dreams such as being an artist, an entrepreneur
or an actress, all with hopes to achieve much popularity and
the resulting monetary wealth.
These youths are like Kristine Molina, who was featured in
the story: They grew up in lower-income neighborhoods and
want a "big house." These kids are caring and want to take care
of their parents as well. They have had to work full-time and go
to school, often supporting themselves with the help of
scholarships and financial aid. They have grown up in crime-
ridden areas, and they are striving to get beyond their
circumstances.
As I've learned in my sociology class, in America, even
members of the middle class cannot stop working if they want
to keep their car or their house. Young people who manage
their own assets know this and want security.
I do not, however, think that being "very well off financially"
and developing a "meaningful philosophy of life" are opposites,
as the poll implies. I think that modern young adults are
reaching for both.
Lindsey Young
Sacramento
Gen Y is not shallow
Stereotypes are dangerous shorthand labels. I speak to many
college audiences, and I find the common perception of young
Americans being spoiled, entitled and lazy to be wildly off base.
Of course our Generation Y, or "millennial," children are
preoccupied with money: We've created a bipolar society of
have-lots and have-nots. The costs of housing, education and
insurance have risen dramatically in the past 30 years.
Gen Y gets the message: They are on their own. No one is
going to give them job security, health care or a pension. It's
only logical that becoming rich is the way out of financial
insecurity. Being famous is a substitute for social identity
previously provided by intact families, religion or even long-
term employment.
Young Americans are not shallow. Our research uncovers the
fact that the deepest longing of high school seniors is to have an
enduring family. The evidence of the noble aspirations of
America's children is everywhere. They volunteer more than
any previous generation, and they are driving an explosion of
citizen, social and environmental enterprises focused on
solving the greatest problems of our age.
If Gen Y appears to be preoccupied with being rich and
famous, it's largely because we've created a boomer world of
mass consumption, dumbing down the American dream from
the pursuit of happiness to the pursuit of stuff.
Perhaps what we see in our kids is just a reflection of our
own confusion. The world we created is a mess. It's my hope
that the future will be saved because we'll find the wisdom in
our maturity to propel the idealism of a new generation.
William L. Marre
Founder, American Dream Project
Encinitas, Calif.

For more information, log on to www.usatodaycollege.com Page 12

AS SEEN ON USA TODAY’S EDITORIAL PAGE, JANUARY 17, 2007
Letters
Good life isn’t expensive
After reading USA TODAY's article, I couldn't help but feel bad
for Gen Y. The title of the article says it all — except that wealth
and fame are not really goals. They are the result (for some) of
working hard, making sacrifices, being the best in their field or
providing something of great value to society — not appearing
on a reality show and acting like a fool.
Maybe this is a reaction to the harsh reality of escalated
living costs, disparity between rich and poor, and the fact that
"the good life" is expensive.
Or is it? I guess it depends on how you define "the good life."
A loving family, a satisfying job, a good meal, a community of
friends — that doesn't seem too expensive.
Jeff Vande Wege
Concord, Calif.
Wrong question asked
I read The goal: Wealth and fame, about the Pew Research
Center's survey of young adults, with more confusion than
dismay. Confusion, because USA TODAY recently ran the story
Generation Y gets involved, which argued the opposite point.
So what is Gen Y all about: Wealth and fame? Or getting
involved?
Reprinted with permission. All rights reser ved.
The answer is that the question itself is flawed, setting up a
false dichotomy that misses the essential point of what Gen Y is
all about.
Today's young people have come of age in an era when Bono
and Bill Gates spend more time in African villages than they do
on stage or in the boardroom, when green technology and
wind power are hot commodities on Wall Street, when doing
well is often the result of doing good and vice versa.
At World Learning, our intercultural education programs
send more than 3,000 young students a year to communities
around the world. While there, they learn about critical social
and environmental issues and make a difference through
hands-on projects, while improving their own prospects for
gainful and meaningful careers in an increasingly globalized
work landscape.
With hope, their generation will break down the unhelpful
dichotomy between personal success and social impact that
previous ones created.
John Fox
World Learning/
School for International Training
Brattleboro, Vt.
Page 13
 1. For a student considering being an entrepreneur, is it
CRITICAL INQUIRY
better to start a business in college or wait until getting
post-college corporate experience? List the benefits and
disadvantages of each path.

2. Are high schools and colleges giving students the skills they need to start a business? If you were to design an entre-
preneurship curriculum, what are the key topics that you would cover?

3. Why are studies finding that more young people are interested in starting a business? What societal and technological
factors do you think are contributing to this trend?

1. How can you personally take advantage of your age and

the societal/technical trends to start your own business?
FUTURE IMPLICATIONS

2. What are the best business opportunities for young people to pursue in today’s day and age?

3. Do you think the rise in entrepreneurship is a long-term trend or short-term fad? Why or why not?

Additional Resources

v Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour v VenturePort.org

www.extremetour.org www.ventureport.org

v Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization v Operation Enterprise

www.c-e-o.org www.amanet.org/oe

v National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship v National Federation of Independent Business

www.nfte.com www.nfib.com/page/nfibEITC.html

v DECA v USA TODAY’s Collegiate Entrepreneurship

www.deca.org/ Education Program
www.usatoday.com/educate/college/careers/
v JourneyPage entrepreneurship
www.journeypage.com
v Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education
www.entre-ed.org

For more information, log on to www.usatodaycollege.com Page 14

 Meet the Expert
Michael Simmons, co-founder of
Extreme Entrepreneurship
Education and bestselling author
of The Student Success
Manifesto, has been a keynote
speaker at events and confer-
ences from Washington State to
Washington D.C. As a 2004 grad-
uate of the Stern School of
Business at New York University,
an author, a teacher, a speaker,
Michael Simmons
and an award-winning entrepre-
neur, he is able to deliver a unique perspective that con-
nects with audiences.
Michael’s company, Extreme Entrepreneurship Education is
a New York based, media and education company dedicat-
ed to helping students plan, prioritize, and pursue their
own vision in life by utilizing the entrepreneurial mindset.
Its books, online community, and speaking all focus on the
For more information, log on to www.usatodaycollege.com
objective of providing students the tools and inspiration
they need to create a life of passion, purpose, and prosper-
ity. More can be learned at http://www.extremee.org/
Michael co-founded his first business, Princeton
WebSolutions (PWS), when he was 16 years old. PWS was
later rated the #1 youth-run web development company
in the nation by Youngbiz Magazine. In addition, Michael
has been the winner of three entrepreneur of the year
awards from the National Foundation for Teaching
Entrepreneurship, Fleet, and the National Coalition for
Empowering Youth Entrepreneurship. Furthermore, as
president of the Entrepreneurial Exchange Group (EEG) at
NYU, the club received NYU’s most prestigious student
activities recognition, the President's Service Award. He
and his company have been featured on the AOL Home
Page, USA Today, ABC, NBC, and CBS.
In 2006, Michael was named by Business Week as one of
the Top 25 Entrepreneurs Under 25.
Page 15