Local author inspiring children to become entrepreneurs
What do tennis balls and a $1 bill taped to a door have in common? They were both tools of a presentation local author Gina Crossey gave at the Haddonfield Public Library. Crossey, who wrote the book “Gus and the Hot Chocolate Startup,” is trying to spark the interest of entrepreneurship with children.
With television shows such as “Shark Tank” gaining more viewers, people are looking to start their own business. Crossey hopes younger children have that same drive and initiative.
“I just think it is such an important skill for kids of any age to learn, but it is not something that most kids are exposed to until college or later,” Crossey said. “Even schools that are starting to have it in the curriculum do it for middle school and up. I have not come across any school, at least locally that I know of, that starts teaching entrepreneurship principles as young as kindergarten. I think kids are ready for it at that age. The younger you introduce them to these concepts, the more of a head start they will have with it in life.”
Crossey believes that the principles of entrepreneurship are valuable because they give students a common sense connection between the academic subjects taught in the classroom and the real world around them. Crossey also thinks that they encourage young kids’ inherent creativity and fearlessness, nurture problem-solving skills, and teach them to view mistakes as opportunities rather than failures.
The way “Gus and the Hot Chocolate Startup” came to be was interesting and personal.
“My husband is a startup attorney. He works with a lot of startups and entrepreneurs. We would be sitting around the dinner table and he would tell stories to my son and our 2-year-old daughter about how this client has a cool startup. Our son John fell in love with it, and he would run up to his playroom and he would make his own startups,” Crossey said. “He would start a lemonade stand or he would make robots to sell. A lot of the things that Gus does in the book was based on him. I just thought this was so great that he takes to this. That was when he was 5 years old. I just thought about how lucky he was that his father is in this field so he could be exposed to this. So many kids whose parents are not involved in entrepreneurship would not be exposed to this until much later in life. I just wanted to create some kind of vehicle that could help other kids be introduced to it who otherwise would not be.”
The book has already made an impact with some of the children who have read it.
Crossey’s 6-year-old son John has begun thinking of ways to become an entrepreneur. The young entrepreneur-to-be has his eye on a couple of projects, one of which is in a high-tech industry.
“I want to make all kinds of robots but I am currently writing a screenplay,” John said.
The book has not only had an impact on Crossey’s son; it has started to change the mindset of some other children.
“A good friend of mine Anna and her husband sent me a picture that was posted to Facebook saying that their daughter Caroline, who is John’s age, was starting a hot chocolate stand. They had a picture of her outside in front of their house selling hot chocolate. They did not know whether to thank me or curse me. It was a really proud moment because it inspired someone to go out and do that,” Crossey said.
Crossey hopes the book is just the beginning. She has plans on expanding her message throughout the community.
“Beyond the book, I am starting to work with local schools as well as a school in Pittsburgh where my sister-in-law is a teacher there,” Crossey said. “We are pioneering it in John’s school, which is Christ the King Regional School. We will be going in grade-by-grade and starting an entrepreneurship program there for them starting in kindergarten and go up to fifth grade. Principal Anne Hartman is an incredible leader who works tirelessly and selflessly for the school and the best possible education for all of its students. She has been very enthusiastic about beginning the ‘entrepreneurship for kids’ workshops based on ‘Gus and the Hot Chocolate Startup’ in the very young grades and recognizing the value it will bring to our youngest students’ education.”
