Everyone should be interested in learning the Truth. Educating people in the Truth must always be practical. There is no such thing as theoretical truth.

Recently, I attempted to purchase items with cash. The young person operating the cash register appeared perplexed and had no idea how to handle the transaction. The cashier gave me the wrong change and forgot to give me a receipt.

My initial reaction was to be perplexed that the employee was not trained properly by the employer on how to handle cash sales. Why was the employer so lazy? Why did they not make certain that their employees are competent to perform their duties?

I remember that as a young entrepreneur that I needed to be able to make change. I was a newspaper carrier who had a route. I purchased newspapers from the Toronto Telegram (now a memory) and sold them to my customers.

I was provided with a canvas bag to carry my newspapers in. I had a bicycle and knew that I had to purchase a light for my bicycle in order to safely drive my bicycle.

I quickly learned from the older boys what was required for me to succeed.

The first thing I had to do was purchase a small wire cutter so that I had access to the newspapers that were at the drop-off site.

The second requirement was to purchase a coin changer. This was a device that clasped onto my belt when I was collecting payments from customers on my route. Since I charged 45 cents per week (i.e., 5 cents per day Monday through Friday, plus 10 cents for Saturday; if I remember correctly) for the newspaper, I had to make certain that I had sufficient change in order to make change for whatever money my customers had.

The third requirement was to open a bank account. I opened a bank account at a local bank in order to make certain that I had sufficient cash flow. Quite frankly, I never knew this term. I just knew that I didn’t want to have the wrong types of money around for my business. I didn’t need a lot of pennies, but I did need a large number of nickels and quarters. Customers would not be happy with change for a dollar by giving them: five dimes and a nickel, instead of two quarters and a nickel.

The last need was to have an excellent replacement to cover my route when I was sick or away for a holiday. I learned to depend on a young girl who was excellent. Imagine my sadness when I tried to turn my paper route over to her, when I “retired” – only to find out that the Toronto Telegram did not want a girl. Her experience and knowledge did not matter. This was probably when I realized the relevance of ethics.

The Toronto Telegram offered ongoing training to help us to be better entrepreneurs. We were offered sales training and promotional training. Since I started my career at 8 years old I was very susceptible to believe everything that I was told. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized how beneficial this entire experience was for me.

So why did an 8 year old know better about how to make change than an older person?

None of what I learned as an entrepreneur having a paper route came through formal school work. In fact it wasn’t until I was in grade 5 that our class was introduced to the importance of having a bank account. By this time, I had already had a bank account for a few years.

The Truth is that few employers seem to realize the benefits of education through training. Too many employers hire people and then make the assumption that they know some aspects of the Truth. These employees must understand their work because they attained a certain level of formal education.

The Truth is that training is a necessity today due to the incredible developments that happen every day. Entrepreneurs realize the importance of sustaining success.

Success is achieved through continuously resolving problems.

There is hope, since schools are now teaching entrepreneurship to students.