Practical Guidance for Everyday Life
Written and narrated by Eric Cuthbert, founder of My New Future CIC
Prefer listening? Click below to hear Eric read this article.
Every parent wants to see their child find their place in the world. However, for many young people today, taking that first step into employment is proving much harder than it was for previous generations.
More than one million UK young people aged 16 to 24 are currently not in employment, education or training. This is not just a statistic. It represents young people who may feel uncertain about their future and parents who are doing their best to encourage and support them.
At the same time, there are approximately 712,000 job vacancies across the whole of the UK. These vacancies are open to people of every age and level of experience—not just young people—and the latest figures show that there are around 2.5 unemployed people for every available vacancy.
A young person applying for their first job may therefore be competing against people who already have experience, workplace skills and references. That makes it especially difficult to get onto the first rung of the employment ladder.
When a problem affects more than one million young people, it cannot simply be blamed on individual effort.
Young people are entering a very different world from the one many parents and grandparents experienced. Entry-level jobs have become harder to find, apprenticeship opportunities have reduced, and recruitment is increasingly conducted through online forms, automated tests and recorded interviews.
A young person can be rejected several times without ever having the opportunity to speak to a real person.
Repeated rejection can seriously damage confidence. If criticism is added at home, that young person may begin to believe they are the problem. Once confidence disappears, motivation often follows.
Instead of repeatedly asking, “Why haven’t you found a job?”, perhaps we should ask a different question:
“What do you enjoy doing, what are you naturally good at, and could we turn that into an opportunity?”
A hobby does not have to remain just a hobby
Someone who loves gaming might explore streaming, coaching, testing games or creating gaming content. Someone who enjoys making videos could learn editing, or help local businesses with social media. Art could lead to personalised cards, prints or digital designs. A love of animals might become dog walking or pet care, while an interest in gardening, baking, sport, fashion, computers or repairing things could all lead to a small service.
Many successful businesses began with little or no capital. They started around a kitchen table, in a spare bedroom, a garage or a garden shed.
The founders did not begin by knowing everything. Nobody does.
They learned along the way by trying something, making mistakes, listening to customers and gradually improving. Some ideas worked, while others didn’t—but every attempt taught them something valuable.
The hardest part is often not finding the perfect business idea. It is deciding to begin and finding the courage to take that first small step.
Starting a small business can also develop much more than the ability to earn money
Starting a business can help a young person rebuild confidence and motivation. They learn how to introduce themselves, start conversations, ask questions and listen carefully. They learn how to explain an idea, manage their time, solve problems and deal with people.
These are valuable skills in business, employment and everyday life.
Sales skills are particularly important. Almost nothing happens in the world without some form of sale taking place. A product is sold, a service is sold, an idea is accepted, or one person persuades another that something is worth doing.
Selling does not mean pressuring or tricking people. Good selling begins with understanding another person’s needs.
Why do people buy?
Usually, it is because they have a problem they want solved, something they need, or something they would like to improve. They may want to save time, save money, feel happier, look better, make life easier or enjoy a special experience.
A young entrepreneur must learn to ask simple questions, listen to the answers and explain honestly how their product or service could help.
Even a conversation with the first potential customer develops valuable people skills. The young person learns to cope with nerves, explain themselves clearly and accept that not everybody will say yes.
A “no” does not mean they have failed. It might simply mean they asked the wrong person, approached them at the wrong time or need to improve the offer.
This is why starting something small can be so valuable—even if it never becomes a full-time business. It might lead to a first customer, the first £20 earned independently, a positive review, something useful for a CV or renewed confidence.
The skills learned along the way could eventually help that young person secure a job, apprenticeship or college place.
The Government has recently announced plans to give 14-year-olds earlier access to technical education, practical skills, work experience and contact with employers. The proposed pathways could include construction, engineering, healthcare, digital technology, coding and artificial intelligence.
This is an important milestone because it recognises that academic qualifications are not the only route to a successful future. Practical ability, creativity, entrepreneurship and people skills matter too.
It also supports something we have believed for some time at My New Future: young people need practical opportunities to explore their talents, understand business and learn how to use artificial intelligence responsibly.
That is why we created the Young Dragons Entrepreneur Programme for young people aged 16 to 24.
Young Dragons can help a young person explore possible businesses based on their hobbies, interests and existing skills. They can receive a free Business Ideas eBook or audiobook and a free AI-powered overview of an idea they would like to investigate.
It costs nothing to explore an idea, and there is no obligation to take it further
Parents and other adults with a possible business idea can also receive a free personalised overview through the My New Future Business Coach.
Artificial intelligence cannot supply courage or guarantee success. However, it can help someone research an idea, identify potential customers, suggest a business name, calculate costs, prepare a simple plan and write their first advertisement or social media post.
No one knows everything when they begin. Successful people simply start learning, keep asking questions and improve as they go.
Your child may not be failing. They may be trying to enter a world that no longer provides the same first steps previous generations were given.
A hobby may never become a multinational company—but it could become a first customer, a reason to get up in the morning and the beginning of renewed confidence.
Sometimes, when nobody opens the door, the answer is to start building your own.
Thank you for reading—or listening.
This is Eric Cuthbert signing off for now. Until next time.
Coming next:
The Future Starts Here – Don’t Let Technology Intimidate You: Making AI Approachable for Everyone.
Image: Depositphotos
