Avoid this
- Assuming the problem before talking to the customer
- Offering unrealistic or overly complex solutions
- Ignoring customer feedback
High school project idea · Business & Entrepreneurship
Become a Teen Consultant
Work with a real customer to improve something that matters.
Great businesses are built by solving meaningful problems.
Original Compass project by Davisville LabsReviewed August 2026Goal real work, evidence, and reflectionEditorial standards →
Why this project matters
Learn by doing something real.
The best entrepreneurs don't start with ideas. They start with problems. This project teaches students to observe, listen, ask thoughtful questions, and create solutions that improve someone's experience. By working with a real customer, students learn empathy, communication, and iterative problem solving while producing meaningful portfolio evidence.
What you will create
Your project plan
Use these deliverables as milestones for Become a Teen Consultant. Adapt the details to your interests, available time, and real-world opportunities.
- 01
Client Discovery Brief
Identify a real customer or organization, summarize their goals, document the challenge they want to solve, and define what success would look like.
- 02
Customer Research & Problem Analysis
Conduct interviews, observations, or research to uncover the root cause of the problem and support your findings with evidence.
- 03
Solution Recommendation
Develop and justify one practical solution, explaining why it is the strongest option and what tradeoffs were considered.
- 04
Client Feedback & Iteration
Present your recommendation, gather honest feedback, revise your solution, and document what changed.
- 05
Professional Consulting Case Study
Publish a polished case study explaining the client, challenge, research, recommendation, feedback, outcomes, and lessons learned.
Make the work stronger
What separates a finished project from a meaningful one?
For Become a Teen Consultant, use these checkpoints to protect the quality of the work without turning the project into a performance for admissions.
Evidence that it is working
- Worked with a real customer or organization
- Conducted meaningful interviews or observations
- Developed and presented a practical solution
If you want to go further
- Implement a pilot version of your recommendation and measure its impact with the customer.
- Create before-and-after metrics to measure improvement
Skills you can build
Capabilities that travel beyond this project.
EmpathyProfessional CommunicationCritical ThinkingCollaborationIteration
College application value
Use the project as evidence, not decoration.
Demonstrates initiative, leadership, empathy, problem solving, communication, resilience, and the ability to create value through real-world collaboration.
LeadershipInitiativeProblem SolvingCommunity EngagementCommunication
The goal of Become a Teen Consultant is not to manufacture an impressive activity. Do real work, keep evidence of the process, and reflect honestly on what changed.
Related college majors
Which fields connect to this work?
Use Become a Teen Consultant as a clue, then open a related major guide to compare coursework, career directions, reality checks, and other ways to test the field.
Major guide
Business
Understand how organizations create value, make decisions, allocate resources, and turn ideas into results.
Major guide
Entrepreneurship
Learn how to turn an uncertain idea into something people value.
Major guide
Management
Learn how people, priorities, and systems become coordinated action.
How this guide was made
Read editorial standards →Become a Teen Consultant is an original Compass educational starting point designed around real work, visible evidence, feedback, and reflection. It is not an admissions guarantee.
Ready to build it?
Try this project in Compass