Do you remember your first summer job? In retrospect, it's easy to see that summer employment builds character, reinforces social skills, and helps teach the value of a dollar.

It's hard to not benefit from the experience, but the additional lessons gained from entrepreneurship can mean the difference between long-term financial uncertainty and personal independence.

As the end of the traditional school year approaches, we ask teens looking for a summer job to seriously consider the advantages of starting a business instead. Think about why you want to work, who you want to work with, and what you want to do: in each case starting a business is a better path.

For many, it may be the only path. According to Northeastern University's Center for Labor Market Studies, last summer's employment rate for teenagers was down to 34.5 percent, the lowest since World War II.

The nation's current economic woes suggest that the summer of 2008 may be worse, as a record population of teens competes for very few openings.

In some parts of the country, they'll be competing with heads of households for minimum-wage jobs.

But there is still plenty of work that needs doing, so there is plenty of opportunity for enterprising youngsters.

The economics

Some students seek experience or adventure through internships or volunteer work, but those looking for a "job" are typically in it to raise money for school or fun or to contribute to their family's economic well-being. In the economic arena, owning a business trumps working for others.

An article on the Young Entrepreneurs of America Web site compared a 30-hour-per-week summer job paying $8 an hour to the classic first business: mowing neighbors' lawns. In their sample, the average kid mowing lawns was charging $25 and took about 45 minutes per lawn, including cleanup. That worked out to $33 per hour. With just seven clients, the business owner would earn as much as the 30-hour-per-week employee by working only 5.25 hours per week. Each additional lawn would add $300 over the course of 12 weeks.

Granted, the business owner needs a lawn mower and the means to transport it, and he or she must invest time and energy to secure clients. There will be costs and challenges, whether one mows lawns, washes windows, scans photos, or launches the next Microsoft.

When you own your own business, you have a lot of control over how much money you make and how many hours you work. Flexibility is a pretty cool thing, but with it comes the risk of uncertain income. A part-time, temporary job may offer more reliable income, but less opportunity.

The lawn-mowing example also points out that economics is not just about money, but how we live our lives. Many entrepreneurs choose the path of self-employment not for the luxuries of wealth, but for the luxury of self-determination.

Even if you end up working more hours in your own business, the benefits of that work accrue directly to you.

Mentors and role models

People who really love their jobs often cite co-workers as the main reason. Whether you take a summer job or start a business, interaction with others will be a key determinant of your personal and financial success. Starting a business gives you the advantage of choosing your mentors, whereas taking a job means luck of the draw. Many first jobs also serve as one's first exposure to incompetent management.

For teenagers, the summer job or business creates opportunity for more contact with a variety of adults beyond parents and teachers. Studies show that the presence of nonparent adults in a teen's life correlates strongly with greater success later in life, personally and professionally.

While either a job or a business will increase a teen's positive exposure to adults, the nature of the relationships and lessons will be different. Working all summer for an inexperienced, incompetent or indifferent supervisor can destroy one's spirit or serve as an excellent negative example; many of the best managers we know learned what not to do from their first boss. But many jobs for teens emphasize obedience, mindless activities and hierarchical deference. Often, they train people to become followers rather than leaders.

Starting your own business requires obedience, too, but it comes from self-discipline. Your business may also require mindless activities, but you will understand the importance and value of the activity. And, yes, owning your own business actually subordinates you to both customers and co-workers (if you do it right), but this is deference to an ideal of valued service, not power of position.

Find a need and fill it

Americans often struggle with a big philosophical question: Is a person defined by what he or she does for a living? If so, this adds a status component to the type of work one chooses, limiting the range of options. If you can separate your life from your work, you open up the profitable possibility of doing unglamorous but much-needed work.

Naturally, the best-case scenario occurs when you happen to enjoy something that other people detest. Lots of landscapers love to work outside and "play in the dirt."

We know a teen who built a business scanning shoeboxes full of old photographs and building digital albums for people. The work is tedious, but this photography enthusiast views it as a master class; she sees thousands of photos every week, improves her computer skills, and gets paid for it. Thanks to a class in Photoshop, she has the skill to fix damaged images for an additional fee.

She is now training other students to help with her workload, and has a business plan to capitalize on the growth of scrapbooking and digital photography.

Inspirational examples

Hewlett-Packard and Apple Computer were both started by young people in garages. Milton Hershey started his first candy company as a teen, and while that company failed, the lessons helped him launch one of the most successful companies in America.

Junior Achievement encourages young people and provides instruction, mentors, and a host of resources. Its Web site profiles young people who illustrate the advantages of starting a business instead of taking a summer job.

Shreyans Parekh of California co-founded a wholesale party and wedding supply company. "Beginning as an online provider of balloons, party goods, novelty items and favors at wholesale prices, Shreyans sent out orders from his home as he received them. With the swift success of his business, he quickly expanded, leasing a 10,000-square-foot warehouse to run his operation."

One risk of starting a business is the risk of too much success, but that's a risk one should always be willing to take. Consider a couple of other student ventures: When Paul Allen was 14, he became friends with a 12-year-old who shared his interest in computers. Later, when his friend was at Harvard and Allen was working nearby, they formed a company to develop and sell software operating systems for the new personal computer industry. Allen's friend was Bill Gates, and they called their company Microsoft.

Rumor has it that Allen and Gates each invested $5,000 to launch Microsoft. If so, they have achieved the greatest return on investment in history. Today, they are two of the richest men in the world.

Years later, another Harvard student developed a Web site to help students stay in touch with one another. His name was Mark Zuckerberg and the Web site is called Facebook. Before his 21st birthday, Zuckerberg's stake in Facebook was estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Eye for opportunity

Young people are the source of many emerging trends, so student entrepreneurs can easily look to their peers for profitable business ideas.

As investors, we look for business leaders with their heads in the game: They understand their customers, their environment, and their checkbook. Often, these people have been lifelong entrepreneurs who opted to own their own companies rather than work for others, even as students.

We would never discourage any student from seeking a summer job; all work is honorable when done with integrity and enthusiasm. But we encourage students to investigate the option of starting a business instead. At this stage of one's life, the lessons of self-employment — whether the business prospers or fails — are well worth the risk.

— Kinko's founder Paul Orfalea and Lance Helfert are co-founders of West Coast Asset Management in Ventura. Atticus Lowe and Dean Zatkowsky contributed to this column.