Seed Tree Group

09/29/2026

Entrepreneurship doesn't start with a big idea. It starts with a problem worth solving.

This past week a group of young women from Sacred Heart Academy in Louisville went problem harvesting in their entrepreneurship class. Not brainstorming in a classroom, actually walking the campus, looking for real friction in real life.

They could have landed anywhere. What they landed on surprised me. Tears and worn seams in their school uniforms. Small thing, right? Except it happens constantly, and nobody had ever treated it as a problem you could fix.

So they did the root cause work. They dug into why it keeps happening and who it affects. And then they made the leap that separates a class project from an actual venture: they decided to pilot a real solution. A mending and uniform repair shop, run on campus, by them.

Right now they're in their brand new STEM lab learning the skills to pull it off. Hands on the equipment. Learning to actually launch the thing.

Huge thanks to Tim Nowak for opening the doors and making the room for this kind of work.

This is the whole movement in one snapshot. Give students a real problem and the freedom to try, and watch what they build.

LET'S GO.

09/22/2026

Our entrepreneurship programming opens with a prototyping unit that draws in STEM and design thinking. Where it goes from there depends on the teacher.

At Mount Paran Christian School, Nelson Caviness took the tower-building lesson and built it out into a full unit on engineering and architecture. Same starting point, deeper study, more room for students to keep pushing.

This is what a strong partnership looks like in practice. We bring the framework, and the teachers who know their students carry it further than any lesson plan could on its own. That's how an entrepreneurial mindset actually takes root over time.

Well done, Nelson.

09/15/2026

Two words: beaver bots.

Wow, talk about a cool tool for bringing home the entrepreneurial mindset.

When STEM and design thinking meet the entrepreneurial mindset, classroom magic happens. We've been running beaver bots alongside the standard 3D printers and Glowforges in our entrepreneurial STEM classrooms, and the results speak for themselves.

The students who lean into rapid prototyping are the ones I keep watching most closely. They try something, it breaks, they fix it, they try again. No fear of the messy middle. That's the mindset we're after.

This is what we keep learning: give kids real tools and real permission to fail, and they'll surprise you every single time.

The movement is in full steam with Seed Tree Group. Let's go!

08/31/2026

A coffee shop on a school campus is nice. A coffee shop that students own, staff, and run is something else entirely.

That's the difference between an amenity and a genuine differentiator for your school. When students carry the real weight of a business, ordering inventory, managing shifts, reconciling the books, they build an entrepreneurial mindset that no worksheet reaches.

Santa Fe Christian Schools saw it firsthand last school year. Their student-run venture launched, and the buzz around campus told the story better than any brochure could.

This is the kind of programming we help school leaders build as a long-term investment, not a one-off elective. It takes time to do it right, and the formation that results stays with students far beyond graduation.

If you're a head of school weighing what sets your campus apart for years to come, a student-run business belongs in the conversation.

https://youtu.be/kfl3c_nsqwY?si=BVEvDbkfGKyZH3-D

Santa Fe Christian opens student led businesses on campusFollow F...

08/26/2026

A single entrepreneurship course can do real good. But when an entire faculty shares a common understanding of the entrepreneurial mindset, the program stops being one class and starts shaping how a school teaches.

We recently worked with the K-8 team at First Baptist Academy Houston in Houston on two fronts: the big idea of the entrepreneurial mindset, and the practical, hands-on activities that bring it into everyday classrooms.

This is the kind of work that pays off over years, not weeks. When teachers across grade levels are aligned, students feel it in every room they walk into.

It's going to be a great year with this team.

08/19/2026

Design thinking and the entrepreneurial mindset share the same root: solving real problems.

We spent a day with elementary educators at a STEM school in Mansfield City Schools, and the overlap was clear from the first activity. Their design process (imagine, plan, design, improve, share) is problem solving made visible. That's the same core action the entrepreneurial mindset asks of students.

When this kind of thinking gets encouraged early, in elementary grades, it stops being an occasional project and becomes how kids approach the work in front of them. The teachers in this room already had the instincts. Our part was helping connect their STEM practice to a fuller entrepreneurial formation their students can carry for years.

Grateful to the educators who spent the day building this with us. This is the kind of long-term partnership Seed Tree Group is here for.

11/21/2024

Are you truly ready for opportunity when it comes?

In this episode of The Entrepreneurial Mindset podcast, I dig into what it means to be prepared—not just in theory, but in the systems, habits, and mindset that make readiness a way of life.

Here’s what we cover:
The Readiness Mindset: Shifting from "if" to "when" opportunity comes and why it requires front-loaded preparation.
Systems Over Goals: Inspired by James Clear, we explore how strong systems, not lofty goals, keep us prepared.
Skill and Habit Development: Like an athlete training for the unknown, we discuss building skills that align with your vision so you’re ready for any challenge.
Financial and Emotional Readiness: Opportunity often demands investment—of money, of courage. We break down how to cultivate both, so you’re equipped to take bold, calculated risks.

This episode is all about thinking and acting like an entrepreneur in every area of life. Because when opportunity comes, preparation is the difference between seizing it—or watching it slip by.

Listen to the full episode to start building a readiness mindset that keeps you prepared, no matter when opportunity knocks.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/entrepreneurial-mindset-with-stephen-carter/id1705947651?i=1000677402401

10/29/2024

I’ll never tire of Max stories.

A couple weeks ago, I was speaking in chapel at Vail Christian High School and I told Max’s story—a story about grit and growth mindset and having a vision, then working harder than anyone else to achieve it.

After chapel, a young lady came up and explained that her own dream is to attend the The Culinary Institute of America and go on to work at The Alinea Group just like Max did.

I reached out to Max to connect the two of them, and Max sent back a picture of himself and Chef Achatz blowing the famous Alinea balloons underneath “The Bean.”

So often we focus on frustrations or the problems with certain generations, but when I see students like Max and I meet students like the young lady in the audience, I realize that the future is filled with people who are chasing their dreams with the determination and follow through to see them happen.

And that inspires me.

10/24/2024

A little over a year ago, I met an awesome go-getter named Ezekiel Rochat—we were both at an experience hosted by Path for Growth and we had just finished an amazing session led by Alex Judd.

When I asked Ezekiel what his business was, he explained that he built websites for small businesses and that he had built the website for Path for Growth. I immediately explained that I loved the website and it was one of the things that drew me to the experience.

Our conversation then turned to bourbon (which made sense since Ezekiel is in Tennessee and I’m in Ohio, so we have a rich, vast bourbon country between us) and I explained that recently I had become enamored with the double oaked bourbon from Woodford Reserve.

The next night there was a bottle of double oaked Woodford Reserve at my table with a note. There was no ask, no solicitation, no business card—just a bottle of bourbon and a note that said he enjoyed meeting me.

Two months later, I hired Ezekiel to build a website for my company, Seed Tree Group, and the result was better than I expected!

But even more than that, I became fascinated by his entrepreneurial spirit and his true desire to build into the lives of others—I saw in him the attributes we are working to build in our students through entrepreneurial education.

When I asked him to record a podcast episode with me, he jumped at the chance, and we had a great time talking about pivoting, movement, and experimentation, all from the entrepreneurial mindset. Check it out on Apple podcasts!

10/12/2024

Wait, wait, wait - forest bathing and entrepreneurship?

I agree, it it is strange (and even the phrase “forest bathing” was wild to me when I first heard it) but here’s the why:

We don’t just teach entrepreneurship at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy—we teach the entrepreneurial mindset, which means we help students radically transform through the renewing of their minds (Romans 12:2).

This also means we don’t teach the entrepreneurial mindset in a vacuum—we teach it in our culinary arts classes, in our financial literacy classes, in our horticulture classes, in our marketing and sales classes, and it is woven throughout much of our programming at the school (even our elementary students are walking through this in meaningful ways).

We decided to offer an alternative to the traditional health class by creating “elevated wellness” which harnesses the power of the entrepreneurial mindset and helps students understand the need to live lives of balance and purpose—not to give in to the unceasing demands of hustle culture.

As part of this class, we constantly look for ways to engage our students. Thanks to the efforts of Kate Caccamo, Andrew Ivanovics, and Erin Barnhill, our students benefit in many ways—including goat yoga and now, forest bathing, which is a practice of connecting with God and nature by immersing all of your senses in the experience of the forest.

When we take time to ground ourselves in the beauty of God’s creation, we come back refreshed and ready for healthy growth.

The future of education is bright indeed!