Turning social skills into social trades, with Daniel Snead
Feb 05, 2024I am often part of conversations about the need to parent and teach our nontraditional kids in nontraditional ways. Sometimes I'm even leading these discussions. Usually this has to do with the way we utilize incentives, consequences, resources, accommodations, teaching strategies, etc.
One way we can parent and teach differently that I feel is often overlooked has to do with the paths we allow our kids to take as they move from teen to adult. Even though we know our kids think and learn and navigate the world differently, we still may not be aware of (or accepting of) options that allow them to move through the world along a nontraditional path.
In this week's podcast/YouTube episode, I'm talking with social trades coach Daniel Snead about how our kids can leverage their social skills to earn a living. One of the things we talk about is how not all our kids are going to go to college, not all our kids WANT to go to college, and not all our kids will have careers waiting for them just because they do go to college.
Here's a clip from the episode:
Soft skills and social trades are not the same thing. And so what I hear a lot is parents will say, 'Oh, my kid's so social, you know, they talk to everyone, they're the life of a party, social butterfly.' And I'm like, 'That's great mom.' But can they take.. Do they know and understand how to leverage that social skill? And can they turn that into opportunity? Yeah. Can they turn it into money? Can they turn it into provision, right? And again, it's not all about money. But money's pretty important. And so will soft skills enable you and help you to do social trades? Yes, they will. But I look at it like this, right? Soft skills are ingredients. You know, you have your, you know, empathy, you have your basic kind of communication, you have your manners, you have your ability to work in a team. And then there's more soft skills, a bunch of them on the list, right? Your soft skills are ingredients. Social trades is the ability to cook. So your kid may have a bunch of ingredients, which I love that, you know, like, I mean, when I was a kid I was polite to people. I was nice. I was agreeable. You could talk to me. But my first business failed because I did not know how to ask for a sale.
Listen to the podcast episode.
On a personal note: When I finished my first year in college, I wanted to take a year off and figure out what I really wanted to do with my life. That was absolutely not an option in my family and me voicing my desire to do so caused a lot of turmoil.
I am now one of those people with a college degree that led nowhere unless I wanted to keep collecting degrees. I ended up with 3 degrees, a LOT of student loan debt, and NO idea how to run a business when I chose to transition to this path.
I am not against the college path. I am against kids being pushed into a model that may not help them get where they are trying to go, and I'm all for alternative options and opportunities!
How to find Daniel:
Youtube: Best Bet Skills Academy
Social Media: BestBetDan
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