The future belongs to young innovators. TeenLife's 2026 Guide to Your Future in Business and Entrepreneurship serves as the perfect compass for high school students ready to shape tomorrow's business world. This comprehensive resource transforms career planning from uncertainty into a journey of discovery and opportunity.

What makes this guide essential for today’s students? 

High school represents a crossroads where academic learning meets real-world application. Our business guide bridges this gap by offering practical insights, resources, and alternatives to traditional careers. The jobs waiting for graduates, even just a decade ago, are evolving, and entirely new industries have opened up new possibilities and career paths.

This guide features:

• Real-world case studies from successful young entrepreneurs
• Step-by-step business planning templates designed for teens
• College program recommendations aligned with business goals
• Internship and mentorship opportunities across various industries
• Financial literacy foundations every future business leader needs

Why parents should also read this resource

As parents, we want our children to succeed academically. Balancing our desire for our teens to do well in school can create a challenge when we also want to support their entrepreneurial dreams. But it’s absolutely possible to cultivate a balance between traditional learning and business education. Our new Guide to Business and Entrepreneurship isn’t just for students — there are resources for parents, too, including:

• A comparison between business and entrepreneurship
• Detailed listings of well-respected entrepreneurship and business summer/pre-college programs 
• Competitions for your teen entrepreneur
• The best college majors for students interested in the business world
• Potential careers for business degrees (great for helping calculate ROI for a college education)

Choosing a college major

Most teens aren’t sure what career they want to pursue when they’re high school juniors or seniors — and that’s okay! But many students already have an idea of what they like (and what they absolutely want to avoid). Someone who’s not keen on high school math probably won’t seek a college degree that requires a ton of math classes. Likewise, someone who doesn’t enjoy writing papers or spending hours conducting research probably won’t gravitate toward a research and writing-heavy degree.

But if your teen does like numbers, enjoys solving a good mystery, would characterize themself as a people-person who loves making connections and networking, or is fascinated by the process of creating a product from conception to final design and manufacture? There just might be a role for them in the business and entrepreneurship world.

Check out the roles we highlighted in our guide. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it provides a great overview of some of the fastest-growing jobs, including their average salaries and the most common majors people study to qualify for these roles. Who knows? Maybe one (or more) of the jobs on our list will pique your interest.

Got that competitive spirit? 

Love a competition — but not one necessarily associated with sports or the arts? We’ve got you covered in this guide, featuring 20 different competitions geared toward high school innovators and future business leaders who want to test their knowledge, fund their ideas, and even win college scholarships. Check out this sneak peek:

• Conrad Challenge: A STEM competition for students ages 13-18.
• Junior Achievement Innovation Challenge: for individual and student groups who design solutions to social problems within their communities.
• Technovation Girls Competition: Invites girls to design, code, and pitch mobile apps that solve community problems.
• Wharton Global High School Investment Competition: Invites teams of high school students to use the WInS to develop and implement investment strategies.

College scholarships and other resources

We mentioned return on investment (ROI) earlier. After all, if you’re spending tens of thousands of dollars on a college education, you’d like some sort of guarantee that your degree will result in a lucrative job. You might not net a 6-figure salary right after graduation, but you’re looking for a career path that will eventually lead to more responsibility, interesting challenges, and a solid wage.

With college tuition skyrocketing, attending your dream business school might feel out of reach, but here’s a little secret: most students don’t pay the sticker price listed on a college website. And here’s a bonus secret: an estimated $100 million in scholarships and grants go unawarded every single year!  

We included a list of 52 scholarships and grants in this guide. Our blog of scholarships for business and entrepreneurship includes over 90 scholarships, along with detailed information on each. We also included a resources page with some of the most well-known organizations, blogs, and podcasts known to the business and entrepreneurship community. Our blog includes a more substantive list and additional details.

Start your journey now

Tomorrow's leaders are the innovators — the future CEOs, disruptors, and market creators — currently walking the halls of high schools across the country. The TeenLife 2026 Guide to Your Future in Business and Entrepreneurship includes the resources to help you choose the right college major, find the perfect pre-college program, write a business plan, fund your first venture, and more.

Don’t wait for the future to happen to you; use our guide to start shaping it today. The world is ready for your big idea — are you ready to launch it?