See a child’s interest or talent as an excuse to let them go deep. -Jonathan Harris

Jonathan and Renee are the parents to my husband’s “right-hand man” in his small software business…and their son has been working there since he was 16!

I’m fascinated and inspired by their stories of not just one, but SIX of their kids who are following their passions AND making money from it, with zero college debt.

From the bladesmith to the artist, the efficiency expert to the podcast editor, you might want to listen to this interview just for the stories, even if you don’t feel like learning anything!

If you do want to learn how to help your pre-teen or teen harness their strengths into a marketable skill, here’s what you can look forward to:

  • The spark of wisdom Jonathan discovered when he took over home educating their kids
  • How the Harris family breaks the mold of what kids are “supposed to” be able to do (over and over again)
  • The power of helping your teen consider how to bring value to the world, not just “earn money” or “do something they love” (and the secret to getting all 3!!!)
  • Why starting to develop a marketable skill at a young age has surprising benefits
  • The strategy behind discovering and respecting your child’s talents and interests while pulling out an opportunity

This has been one of my favorite interviews in a while! I would love to hear what happens when you take Jonathan’s “do this simple step today” challenge in your own home…

Can’t see the video? Watch Preparing for the Future here on YouTube!

No time for the video? Here are the notes!

Preparing Teens for the Future

  • 0:36: I’ve known Renee since 2009 through her business MadeOn which makes hard lotions and lip balm. Through running their online business they changed the way they raised and educated their kids so that they could cultivate a marketable passion in them before they left the nest.
  • 2:54: The Harrises share how it felt switching from being an employee to being a business owner. They share how their philosophy towards education shifted and how they customized it for their children.

Why are we homeschooling to a curriculum when we could be doing anything we want? Let’s homeschool around their interests. -Renee Harris

  • 9:50: The Harris kids started out using their skills and passions on their family business and as they became teenagers they started pivoting outward and developing their own businesses. 
  • 10:24: I can hear you saying, “But what about ____?” If you lean into one passion your child might be great at photography, but a terrible communicator. Jonathan shares some ways they addressed that.

What Are Your Child’s Interests?

  • 11:37: The third Harris kid (now adult) has been working for my husband since he was 16. He’s never taken a college coding class, but now he has a successful job for a small tech company. 
  • 11:59: In this day and age you have access to so many classes and software online. You can use online courses or buy software like Adobe and learn how to use it from home. 
  • 14:00: Jonathan and Renee share what their 5 adult kids are doing so you can see the variety of paths they’ve taken. 
  • 18:48: Kids all have potential within them, parents can be in the guiding position of drawing out their kids’ strengths and helping them develop confidence in their skills. One practical thing the Harris’s do is to have their kids blog about their journey to develop their communication skills.

Help your kids find ways to add value and contribute to their communities. -Renee Harris

  • 23:46: You can find monthly subscriptions for courses from companies or find an artist or musician who does online courses to hone your child’s skills. One of the Harris daughters is an artist and has done online courses to learn over the years. 
  • 26:57: It’s important to find some opportunities for kids to sell products or work with their passion in high school so that they’ve learned the market and gained some experience before graduating high school and looking for an income. 

Kids learn to dream big when they learn to adapt after rejection. -Jonathan Harris

Cultivating Your Teen’s Passions

  • 33:34: We walk through the process of cultivating your child’s passion. First, you want to take an inventory of your child’s interests and talents.
  • 36:06: Next, look at the resources and tools available to your child. This can be physical supplies, online resources, or people you know who have skills or tools that can help. 
  • 37:57: The next step is to find an opportunity to take action. A good question to start with is “How can I make $5 with my interest?” Look at how you can bring value to people with these skills and start reverse engineering how you can go one step at a time. The Harris’s give some practical examples of how this plays out. 
  • 41:17: You’re not forcing your kid into any of this. You’re helping them see where they can make an impact in the world and they will fall in love with it and things snowball from there. 
  • 42:00: Contact local businesses to see where your child can help out in a field that interests them. 
  • 42:55: There’s this stereotype of the “starving artist” where people end up giving up on their passion because they can’t sustain themselves with it. Coming from this perspective of learning to market your interest and turning your passion into a marketable skill is key. 
  • 43:39: How does this apply to those of us who don’t homeschool? It sounds like it requires a lot of flexibility. Renee gives some ideas to discuss options with teachers and ideas for exploring your kid’s passions in a school setting. You can also employ some of these strategies on weekends. 
  •  50:50: The Harrises did a workshop where they walked teens through this process of discovering their passions in season one of #LifeSkillsNow. They’ll also have a workshop in season two which you can sign up for here.
  • 54:55: We leave you with one quick win you can do today. 

Resources We Mention for Raising Teens

Jonathan and Renee HarrisJonathan and Renee, are a husband and wife team with 24 years of experience educating their children at home while running an online handcrafted skincare business. When they switched from being employees to owning their own business is when they significantly changed the educational strategy of their children to a method they created and now call “Parent Their Passion.”

At that time, when their eldest turned 12 years old (he is now 25), it became very clear to us that they did not want our children to just fill up buckets of knowledge for each school grade.

They experimented with making their son’s traditional study materials support the development of a marketable talent that made sense to his strengths, abilities, & unique drive. By the time he graduated from high school, he already had his own aerial drone business & was able to fully support himself financially.
Jonathan & Renee have since graduated 4 more of their 9 children to create their own unique paths through the careful guidance of talent development.

Jonathan and Renee teach parents how to identify and develop their child’s skillset and talents to create something marketable (and remarkable!) so that by the time they leave the home, they have a profitable path.