CEO: The Student Entrepreneur’s Guide to Launching a Multimillion Dollar Business. “There [are] a lot of things that can come up, a lot of things that can discourage you, but just be persistent,” says the 2006 winner from The Apprentice television show. Pinkett also notes that colleges often offer a wealth of resources, including guidance from business and law professors and services through free legal clinics on campus.
Tools for teaching entrepreneurship and moneymanagement are readily handy. The Collins brothers and business experts share the following lessons:
Attend money camps and programs. There are roughly 40 camps around the country that teach youth how to invest or start a business. They include The Black Enterprise Kidpreneurs Conference (800 — 209 — 7229), The Bull and Bear Investment Camp (800 — 761 — 0274), YoungBiz Better Investing and YoungBiz ‘Trep Camps (888 — 543 — 7929; www.youngbiz.com), The Enterprise Center Youth Entrepreneurship Boot Camp (215 — 895 — 4000), Stock Market Game (212 — 618 — 0519; www.stockmartketgame.org), Camp Start — Up and Summer Stock (805 — 965 — 0457), and the NAACP Reginald F. Lewis Youth Entrepreneurial Institute (410 — 580 — 5745, www.naacp.org).
Seek out advisers. “Real estate investing is not just something you can jump into, throw some money at it, and work part — time,” says De’Juan. “My brother and I definitely talk to people in the field.” The twins also interned for a local real estate company, Stellar Development and Management. “That really helped in terms of the sophistication of our underwriting; how to manage our properties,” adds De’Juan.
Become a private investor. For young entrepreneurs like the Collins brothers, Pinkett says the next step might include private equity. “Obviously it’s a higher risk; it’s also a potentially higher reward if you get in at the right level at the right time with an emerging venture,” he says. Members of the Angel Capital Association (www.angelcapitalassocia tion.org; 913 — 523 — 5543) range from novices to experts. “That would be a great community to begin networking in, not only to learn more about investing but also to be a conduit to finding prospective deals.”