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着大学同学毕业后每小时挣7.50美元，俄亥俄州肯特州立大学(Kent State University)服装设计专业的塔娜•沃瑟(Tana Walther)选择了她父亲给她的一份工作──经营父亲将要买下的一家Pita Pit特许加盟店。
她的父亲詹•沃瑟(Jan Walther)说，我猜我给她买了份工作。从事服装设计的前景看起来非常渺茫，而大学时曾是运动员的塔娜喜欢在和田径队旅行时在Pita Pit餐馆吃饭。她的第一家新餐馆于去年开张营业，位于肯特的校园附近。现年25岁的塔娜希望能再开几家店。
家长们常常说，他们愿意为自己的孩子做任何事。让孩子经商无疑是对这种承诺的一大考验。风险有很多：小生意失败很常见，父母们可能会失去全部的投资、一辈子的积蓄，甚至更多。他们还可能会与现阶段打算独立的刚成年的孩子变得关系紧张。
尽管如此，在很多父母眼里，对于孩子的未来而言，拥有一家企业是比一纸毕业文凭更好的选择。在现今这个对创业重燃兴趣的时代，我采访的一些家长称创业是他们的孩子重温“美国梦”的一种方法──一个把握自己命运、致富的机会。
企业的组织筹划对年轻人来说也可能很有压力。乔恩•凯勒西(Jon Kelecy)的父亲是一名金融高管，他最近帮儿子开了一家Fibrenew皮革塑料修复特许加盟店。现年26岁的乔恩热爱这份工作，并感激父亲对他的支持。不过他说他不喜欢呆在父亲的羽翼下，尽管初创企业有那么多让人焦虑的事。
很多家长为孩子选择特许加盟店，因为加盟店看来会提供市场推广、品牌打造和管理方面的支持。尽管无法获得失败率的数据，美国联邦小企业局(Small Business Administration)监察长2002年进行的一项研究（可以获得的最近的数据）表明，没有证据表明特许加盟店比独立企业的成功几率更大。至于启动成本（包括门脸和设备的租金），家政保洁等低成本特许加盟店从约5,000美元到一万美元不等，而颇受欢迎的快餐店则要100万美元甚至更高。有关加盟商风险和法律隐患的信息可以在在线行业杂志BlueMauMau.org上找到。
华盛顿州律师霍华德•邦迪(Howard Bundy)代表加盟商和特许商。他说，考虑特许加盟店的家长需要一位在代表加盟商方面经验丰富的律师，以及对特许加盟业务和目标行业都非常熟悉的会计师和经验老道的商业导师。
邦迪还告诫说，家长有很大的风险失去自己的投资。邦迪说，有位母亲给儿子买了一家快餐特许加盟店，小店破产后，损失了25万美元。还有一个例子，一对家长为女儿买了一家咖啡店，结果损失了35万美元。
对一些家长来说，潜在的回报看起来值得冒这些风险。马文•希墨尔(Marvin Himel)说，作为一名家长，你能收到的最好礼物就是看着自己的孩子快乐成功，有谋生的能力。
我采访的家长中没有人指望能在投资上获得任何短期回报。一些人把投资看作是一份礼物。一些人把它作为一笔贷款和延期还款。还有人在企业中入股，同时签订协议规定他们的孩子会用未来的收益回购股份。
有些家长则更进一步，希望孩子的生意能让自己退休后有所依靠。沃瑟用从自己的饭馆Walther's Cafe获得的收入帮助父亲安度了晚年。他说，他希望女儿也能这样对他。
沃瑟说，女儿欢迎这样的可能。他还说，这是一种合作伙伴关系。
Sue Shellenbarger
她的父亲詹•沃瑟(Jan Walther)说，我猜我给她买了份工作。从事服装设计的前景看起来非常渺茫，而大学时曾是运动员的塔娜喜欢在和田径队旅行时在Pita Pit餐馆吃饭。她的第一家新餐馆于去年开张营业，位于肯特的校园附近。现年25岁的塔娜希望能再开几家店。
家长们常常说，他们愿意为自己的孩子做任何事。让孩子经商无疑是对这种承诺的一大考验。风险有很多：小生意失败很常见，父母们可能会失去全部的投资、一辈子的积蓄，甚至更多。他们还可能会与现阶段打算独立的刚成年的孩子变得关系紧张。
尽管如此，在很多父母眼里，对于孩子的未来而言，拥有一家企业是比一纸毕业文凭更好的选择。在现今这个对创业重燃兴趣的时代，我采访的一些家长称创业是他们的孩子重温“美国梦”的一种方法──一个把握自己命运、致富的机会。
企业的组织筹划对年轻人来说也可能很有压力。乔恩•凯勒西(Jon Kelecy)的父亲是一名金融高管，他最近帮儿子开了一家Fibrenew皮革塑料修复特许加盟店。现年26岁的乔恩热爱这份工作，并感激父亲对他的支持。不过他说他不喜欢呆在父亲的羽翼下，尽管初创企业有那么多让人焦虑的事。
很多家长为孩子选择特许加盟店，因为加盟店看来会提供市场推广、品牌打造和管理方面的支持。尽管无法获得失败率的数据，美国联邦小企业局(Small Business Administration)监察长2002年进行的一项研究（可以获得的最近的数据）表明，没有证据表明特许加盟店比独立企业的成功几率更大。至于启动成本（包括门脸和设备的租金），家政保洁等低成本特许加盟店从约5,000美元到一万美元不等，而颇受欢迎的快餐店则要100万美元甚至更高。有关加盟商风险和法律隐患的信息可以在在线行业杂志BlueMauMau.org上找到。
华盛顿州律师霍华德•邦迪(Howard Bundy)代表加盟商和特许商。他说，考虑特许加盟店的家长需要一位在代表加盟商方面经验丰富的律师，以及对特许加盟业务和目标行业都非常熟悉的会计师和经验老道的商业导师。
邦迪还告诫说，家长有很大的风险失去自己的投资。邦迪说，有位母亲给儿子买了一家快餐特许加盟店，小店破产后，损失了25万美元。还有一个例子，一对家长为女儿买了一家咖啡店，结果损失了35万美元。
对一些家长来说，潜在的回报看起来值得冒这些风险。马文•希墨尔(Marvin Himel)说，作为一名家长，你能收到的最好礼物就是看着自己的孩子快乐成功，有谋生的能力。
我采访的家长中没有人指望能在投资上获得任何短期回报。一些人把投资看作是一份礼物。一些人把它作为一笔贷款和延期还款。还有人在企业中入股，同时签订协议规定他们的孩子会用未来的收益回购股份。
有些家长则更进一步，希望孩子的生意能让自己退休后有所依靠。沃瑟用从自己的饭馆Walther's Cafe获得的收入帮助父亲安度了晚年。他说，他希望女儿也能这样对他。
沃瑟说，女儿欢迎这样的可能。他还说，这是一种合作伙伴关系。
Sue Shellenbarger
Watching fellow college students working for $7.50 an hour after graduation, Tana Walther, a fashion-design major at Kent State University in Ohio, snapped up an alternative offered by her father -- to run a Pita Pit restaurant franchise he would buy.
'I guess I bought her a job,' says her father, Jan Walther, of North Canton, Ohio. Prospects of a career in fashion seemed remote, and Tana, a college athlete, loved eating at Pita Pit restaurants while traveling with her track team. Her first new restaurant opened last year near campus in Kent, and the 25-year-old hopes to open several more.
Parents often say they would do anything for their child. Setting a child up in business is surely one big test of that bond. A lot is at stake: Small-business failures are common, and parents risk losing their entire investment, their life savings, or more. They also risk straining their relationships with young-adult children intent at this stage on independence.
Still, many parents see business ownership as a better bet for their kids' future than a graduate degree. And in this era of renewed interest in entrepreneurship, some parents I interviewed described it as a way of recapturing for their children a stake in 'the American dream' -- the opportunity to control their destiny and have a chance at gaining wealth.
The setups can be stressful for young adults, too. Jon Kelecy's father, a Tampa, Fla., financial executive, set him up recently in a franchise for Fibrenew, a leather- and plastic- restoration business. Jon, 26, of Gainesville, Fla., loves the work and appreciates his dad's support. But he dislikes 'being in his pocket,' he says, amid all the anxiety of a start-up.
Many parents choose franchises for their kids because they seem to offer marketing, branding and management support. While no data on failure rates is available, a study by the Small Business Administration's Inspector General in 2002, the latest available, said there was no evidence that franchises succeed any more often than independent businesses. Start-up costs, including leases for space and equipment, range from roughly $5,000 to $10,000 for such low-cost operations as cleaning franchises, to $1 million or more for popular fast-food restaurants. Information on risks and legal pitfalls for franchisees can be found at BlueMauMau.org, an online trade journal.
Howard Bundy, a Kirkland, Wash., lawyer who represents franchisees and franchisors, says parents considering such a venture need an attorney experienced in representing franchisees, and both an accountant and an experienced business mentor familiar with both franchising and the target industry.
Mr. Bundy also warns that parents run a high risk of losing their investment. One mother lost $250,000 when a fast-food franchise she purchased for her son failed, Mr. Bundy says. In another case, parents lost $350,000 on a coffee-shop business they financed for their daughter.
For some parents, the potential rewards seem worth the risk. 'As a parent, the best gift you can ever receive is to see your children happy and successful,' and equipped to make a living, Marvin Himel says.
None of the parents I interviewed expect any short-term return on their investment. A few viewed it as a gift. Some structured it as a loan and deferred repayment. Others took stock in the business, with an agreement that their child would use future earnings to buy it back.
Some parents look farther ahead, hoping their child's business will support them in retirement. After supporting his own father in old age with proceeds from his Canton, Ohio, restaurant, Walther's Cafe, Mr. Walther says he hopes his daughter will do the same for him.
Ms. Walther says she welcomes the prospect, adding, 'this is a partnership.'
Sue Shellenbarger
'I guess I bought her a job,' says her father, Jan Walther, of North Canton, Ohio. Prospects of a career in fashion seemed remote, and Tana, a college athlete, loved eating at Pita Pit restaurants while traveling with her track team. Her first new restaurant opened last year near campus in Kent, and the 25-year-old hopes to open several more.
Parents often say they would do anything for their child. Setting a child up in business is surely one big test of that bond. A lot is at stake: Small-business failures are common, and parents risk losing their entire investment, their life savings, or more. They also risk straining their relationships with young-adult children intent at this stage on independence.
Still, many parents see business ownership as a better bet for their kids' future than a graduate degree. And in this era of renewed interest in entrepreneurship, some parents I interviewed described it as a way of recapturing for their children a stake in 'the American dream' -- the opportunity to control their destiny and have a chance at gaining wealth.
The setups can be stressful for young adults, too. Jon Kelecy's father, a Tampa, Fla., financial executive, set him up recently in a franchise for Fibrenew, a leather- and plastic- restoration business. Jon, 26, of Gainesville, Fla., loves the work and appreciates his dad's support. But he dislikes 'being in his pocket,' he says, amid all the anxiety of a start-up.
Many parents choose franchises for their kids because they seem to offer marketing, branding and management support. While no data on failure rates is available, a study by the Small Business Administration's Inspector General in 2002, the latest available, said there was no evidence that franchises succeed any more often than independent businesses. Start-up costs, including leases for space and equipment, range from roughly $5,000 to $10,000 for such low-cost operations as cleaning franchises, to $1 million or more for popular fast-food restaurants. Information on risks and legal pitfalls for franchisees can be found at BlueMauMau.org, an online trade journal.
Howard Bundy, a Kirkland, Wash., lawyer who represents franchisees and franchisors, says parents considering such a venture need an attorney experienced in representing franchisees, and both an accountant and an experienced business mentor familiar with both franchising and the target industry.
Mr. Bundy also warns that parents run a high risk of losing their investment. One mother lost $250,000 when a fast-food franchise she purchased for her son failed, Mr. Bundy says. In another case, parents lost $350,000 on a coffee-shop business they financed for their daughter.
For some parents, the potential rewards seem worth the risk. 'As a parent, the best gift you can ever receive is to see your children happy and successful,' and equipped to make a living, Marvin Himel says.
None of the parents I interviewed expect any short-term return on their investment. A few viewed it as a gift. Some structured it as a loan and deferred repayment. Others took stock in the business, with an agreement that their child would use future earnings to buy it back.
Some parents look farther ahead, hoping their child's business will support them in retirement. After supporting his own father in old age with proceeds from his Canton, Ohio, restaurant, Walther's Cafe, Mr. Walther says he hopes his daughter will do the same for him.
Ms. Walther says she welcomes the prospect, adding, 'this is a partnership.'
Sue Shellenbarger
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