Raising Entrepreneurs

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Entrepreneurial thinking at an early age translates into success in any endeavor, not just in business. This story from the New York Times profiles a young entrepreneur whose goal-setting and initiative are carrying him toward success with sports and academia, as well as business.

Like most college freshmen, Art Forst enjoys sleeping in, but he usually cannot spare the time. He is a football player at Rutgers, and the alarm clock in his dorm room rudely reminds him that he needs to work out year-round.

“Sometimes, when I wake up at 4:20 in the morning, I say to myself, ‘I could be in high school right now,’ “ Forst, 18, said recently with a smile.

Instead, at the advice of coaches and others, he decided to get a leg up on his college education and his college career.

Forst is determined to become good enough at Rutgers to parlay his success into a career in the National Football League, but if that does not work, his father said he would not be surprised to see Art become an entrepreneur.

When he was a boy, his father, who is in the construction business, used to invite him to work — and Art would insist on working. When it snowed at Rutgers, Forst went to the maintenance shed and asked to borrow a shovel. He knocked on doors and made $105 shoveling driveways.