Are you Raising a Consumer or a Producer, and Why it Matters?

Have you ever thought about whether you are raising a consumer or a producer?  I never had either until I was talking to Mark Boersma, president and CEO of Synergy Solutions, and father of 7 wonderful children, many of which are already young entrepreneurs.

"The consumer, so it is said, is the king ... each is a voter who uses his money as votes to get the things done that he wants done" [Paul A. Samuelson Economics]

"Every man is a consumer, and ought to be a producer ... He is by constitution expensive, and needs to be rich" [Ralph Waldo Emerson Wealth]

A consumer is simply a person who acquires good or services for his or her own personal needs; someone that consumes.  Whereas, a producer is a person that produces goods or services for sale; a person that produces.  It's not hard to figure out, in a society, that we want to raise producers.  Although we are all consumers, if we remain strictly consumers, we won't last very long in this world as adults.  Sooner or later, we must produce.  And in this day and age, we must produce at a pretty high level.

I just spent the last four days at a Tony Robbins conference.  Most of us know that Tony is one of the leading personal development and business experts in the world!  Something he said really stood out for me because I think it is very true.  And it will be even more true when your kids and my kids are entering the workplace.  He said, today's standards are much higher.  People expect much more, and if you don't produce, you are going to be very disappointed with your rewards or results.  For instance:

If you produce Poor Work              Your Rewards are Nothing (you are gone)

If you produce Good Work             Your Rewards are Poor  (you might be gone too)

If you produce Excellent Work        Your Rewards are Good

If you produce Outstanding Work    Your Rewards are Excellent

So now that we know the difference between a consumer and a producer, and why it matters, consider the following scenarios.  Are these children more of a consumer or a producer?

• Two year old Johnny's mommy asks him to pick up his blocks and put them in the bucket, and he does that while his mom makes lunch.
• Three old Allison gets out her puzzles and dumps them on the floor, then decides to play with her play food and dishes, gets bored with that and pulls out a bunch of books to look at.  Then she runs off to watch her favorite show on TV.
• Nine year old Jayden runs downstairs in the morning before school, and sits at the breakfast table, waiting for his mom to make his breakfast.
• Eight year old Maria gets out of bed, gets dressed, fixes herself a bowl of cereal for breakfast, and makes her lunch for school.
• Fifteen year old Josh sits and plays his favorite video game on a Saturday afternoon while his Dad is outside mowing the lawn.
• Sixteen year old Jacob started his own landscaping business when he was 14, and now has many satisfied customers he takes care of every year.

Here are 10 ways that you can start raising a producer:

1. Start your children with chores at a young age.
2. Teach your children to be wealth conscious and health conscious.
3. Don't do for your children what they are capable of doing for themselves.
4. Get your children involved in volunteering.
5. Avoid giving an overabundance of material items.
6. Show them how to make their own money.
7. Enroll your children in leadership programs.
8. Encourage your child to overcome his/her fears.
9. Set and communicate your expectations.
10. Give your children the skill set needed to succeed. 

So what do you think?  Does our society need more consumers or producers?  What do you do to prepare your children for the future?  Chime in.