There’s no single path to becoming an entrepreneur.
Some people start businesses right out of college. Some wait until they’re in their forties. Some never start a traditional business at all—they become intrapreneurs, innovating from inside companies. Others become solopreneurs, building careers around their own skills and creativity.
At Venture Achievers, we look at entrepreneurship through a wide lens. We’re not just focused on startup founders. We’re focused on people who see problems and build solutions whatever form that takes.
But here’s what all entrepreneurs have in common: they share a certain vocabulary. A certain way of thinking about the world.
And that vocabulary? It can start way earlier than most people think.
Entrepreneurship Is a Mindset, Not Just a Job
Before we talk about specific words, let’s be clear about what we mean by “entrepreneurial thinking.”
It’s not about business plans or pitch decks or raising capital. Those are tools that some entrepreneurs use. But they’re not what makes someone entrepreneurial at their core.
Entrepreneurial thinking is:
- Seeing opportunities where others see obstacles
- Being willing to try things without knowing if they’ll work
- Taking ownership of problems instead of waiting for someone else to fix them
- Creating value for others, not just yourself
- Getting back up when something doesn’t work
Those mindsets can develop early. And they’re built on a foundation of specific words and concepts.
The Core Vocabulary
When Kevin and I created Big Ideas for Little Achievers, we thought hard about which words form the foundation of entrepreneurial thinking. Not the business jargon, but the concepts underneath.
Here’s what we landed on:
Ask
Entrepreneurs are curious. They ask questions constantly. “Why does this problem exist?” “What do people really need?” “How could this work differently?”
Teaching kids early that asking questions is valuable—not annoying or disruptive—sets them up to be lifelong learners and problem-solvers.
Create
This might be the most entrepreneurial word there is. Entrepreneurs create things that didn’t exist before. Products, services, solutions, systems.
When kids understand that they have the power to create—whether it’s a drawing, a story, or eventually a business—they develop agency.
Dream
Every venture starts with someone imagining a different future. “What if this problem didn’t exist?” “What if there was a better way?”
Dreams aren’t frivolous. They’re the starting point for innovation.
Goal
Entrepreneurs are goal-oriented. They don’t just wander around hoping things work out. They set targets and figure out how to reach them.
The ability to set goals, break them down into steps, and work toward them is fundamental to making anything happen.
Opportunity
Some people see problems and complain. Entrepreneurs see problems and spot opportunities.
Teaching kids to recognize opportunity—to see possibility in challenges—is a game-changer.
Navigate
Building something new means figuring things out as you go. There’s rarely a clear map. You have to navigate uncertainty, adjust course, and keep moving forward.
That skill—navigating when the path isn’t clear—is what separates people who try things from people who just talk about trying things.
Rise
Every entrepreneur fails. Multiple times. The question isn’t whether you’ll fall down—it’s whether you’ll get back up.
Resilience isn’t something you develop once and then you’re done. It’s a muscle you build over time. And it starts with having a word for what it means to get back up: rise.
Team
Very few successful ventures are built by solo founders. Most require teams—people with different skills, perspectives, and strengths working toward the same goal.
Learning early that you don’t have to do everything yourself—that collaboration makes things better—is huge.
Voice
Entrepreneurs have to communicate. They have to pitch their ideas, explain their vision, rally people around a cause.
Your voice is how you share what you’re thinking. And teaching kids early that their voice matters builds the confidence they’ll need to speak up later.
Work
Nothing happens without effort. Entrepreneurs work hard—not just physically, but mentally and emotionally.
Understanding that work is what makes things happen—that effort leads to outcomes—is foundational.
The Business Words Matter Too
We also included words every future entrepreneur needs to know that are more explicitly business-related, because understanding how businesses work is part of understanding how the world works:
- Business – something you create to help people
- Earn – what happens when you work toward something
- Money – the tool we use to exchange value
- Price – what things cost
- Save – keeping resources now to use later
These aren’t just for future business owners. Everyone needs to understand these concepts to navigate adult life.
Words You Might Not Expect
Some of the most important entrepreneurial words aren’t business terms at all but still words every future entrepreneur needs to know. They’re character words:
- Kindness – treating people well builds trust and relationships
- Listen – understanding others is how you figure out what they need
- Help – creating value often means making someone’s life easier
- Joy – doing work you love sustains you through the hard parts
- Unique – being different is an asset, not a liability
We included these because entrepreneurship isn’t just about skills. It’s about how you show up in the world. And character matters just as much as capability.
Why Vocabulary Matters More Than You Think
Here’s what I learned winning that spelling bee in sixth grade, and what I’ve observed throughout my career: having the right words changes how you think.
When you have a word for something, you can:
- Talk about it
- Think about it more clearly
- Recognize it when you see it
- Build on it
Kids who grow up hearing words like create, goal, opportunity, and rise think differently than kids who don’t.
They see themselves as people who can make things happen. They spot possibilities. They set targets and work toward them. They bounce back when things don’t work.
Not because they’re naturally gifted, but because they have the vocabulary and the mindset that comes with it.
These Words Grow With Them
Here’s what we love about the words in our book: they’re not just for five-year-olds. They’re words kids will use when they’re ten, fifteen, twenty-five, and beyond.
A five-year-old’s “goal” might be learning to tie their shoes. A fifteen-year-old’s goal might be getting into a specific college. A twenty-five-year-old’s goal might be launching their first product.
Same word. Same concept. Different applications.
That’s the power of choosing words that are both simple enough for young kids to grasp and sophisticated enough to grow with them.
You Don’t Have to Wait
One of the biggest myths about entrepreneurship education is that you have to wait until kids are older until they can understand complex concepts or have real-world experience.
But the foundation doesn’t require complexity. It requires clarity.
And clarity can start with an alphabet book that introduces 26 empowering words, one letter at a time.
By the time kids are teenagers and ready to learn market sizing or revenue models or customer discovery, the groundwork is already there. The vocabulary is familiar. The mindset is established.
They’re not learning entrepreneurship from scratch. They’re building on a foundation that’s been developing for years.
The Words Are Just the Beginning
An alphabet book can’t turn someone into an entrepreneur. That takes years of learning, practice, failure, and growth.
But it can plant seeds. It can introduce concepts. It can normalize the idea that you’re someone who creates, solves problems, sets goals, and makes things happen.
And sometimes, that’s all it takes to change a kid’s trajectory.
Want to give your little achiever the vocabulary that builds entrepreneurial thinking? Get your copy of Big Ideas for Little Achievers here.
