Fraser Doherty, CEO of Super Jam, is an 18 year old from the UK who received a gift at age 14 that couldn’t be returned. Some may have seen it as a very low tech boring gift but little did Fraser know 4 years later it would be worth $1,000,000. We talk about such gifts in great detail in Chapter 4 of our book, Teen Entrepreneur Success Secrets [boy oh boy, if you only knew the true power of 2 cans and a roll of string ;-D].

The Earth’s most precious natural resource is truly a rare find. As it changes by the second, it is that of our time.  Shonika Proctor, Excerpted from The Seuss Shall Set You Free

At the age of 14 Fraser Doherty was spending time with his grams (grandma) when she taught him how to make jam from her own secret squirrel family recipe. Can you imagine such a thing? He was not playing hours of video games. He was not asking her to chaperone him all over the place so that he can shop and buy new clothes, shoes and gadgets. He was not showing her the latest greatest application and social network on the Internet. Ya’ know, he was probably doing quite the opposite-hanging and chatting with his grams face to face about what life was like 50+ years ago and the art and science behind baking and cooking. I can imagine them now having a very intense and heated conversation about what really makes the home in homemade

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Willie Tyler and Willie Brown are both master ventriloquists and Lester and Woody are their respective ‘dummies’ or ‘puppets’. My friend Bara who lives in Prague, Czech Republic is a master craftswoman puppeteer. She has handmade some amazing puppets in her time and it is a truly time consuming and dying art.  I have somewhat of a fondness of these dying arts. It is something about the whole process of taking some artistic and creative abstract thing and making it come alive so that you can bring it in tangible form to the real world. To me, it is somewhat like the pursuit of entrepreneurship in many respects.

If you look at the video above (from the 1970’s by the way) you have to admit the sheer coolness of Lester. He was pretty hip and fashionable…for a dummy  This brings me to my focus of today’s post- Entrepreneurs and the Obama Administration. Huh, what?!?! Where did that come from? Well, you know me and my random but somehow connected thoughts.

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Being a teen entrepreneur coach, of course this headline touches my heart: “UK Teen Entrepreneur Writes and Publishes a Book in 30 Days”. But imagine how emotionally overwhelming it would be to have been a part of that experience. Luckily for me- I WAS!!! In today’s post I am going to share a special journey that I have been on with an amazing and incredibly thoughtful teen from the other side of the ocean.

Congratulations! Today is your day, you’re off to great places, you’re off and away. -Dr. Seuss, Oh the Places You’ll Go

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Today I found an interesting story on the web (imagine that, tee he he). It was about How to Pitch a TV Show. At first I thought it was how to pitch a TV show so that you could be on it…BUT as it turns out, it wasn’t. However, I still thought the content was useful. The focus of the article was how to pitch a potential TV show idea as in to a TV Station or Producer. Now, why exactly am I sharing this with you (you are only a teenager after all and what do you know)? [Everything and nothing at all....good answer.] 

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(Note: This is Part 2 of 2 from our innerview 2 days ago….sorry we were having “technical” difficulties yesterday).

Here is Part 1 if you missed it: “Part 1″

In Part II of his INNERview, we ask Teen CEO “Nashy” of ClastaZ.com questions that inquiring minds want to know . These questions were asked by our Renegades Community and Teen Biz Coach “Shonika Proctor”.  Hope everyone will find this useful as you continue to push forward with your own entrepreneurial pursuits:

1. You said you have been online since the age of 12…at what age did you start your first business and what was it?

Yea, that is right I have actually been active online since I was 12 either just browsing to find ways to make money, or attempting to create my own site. Looking back I don’t think you can call my first site a business, it was a free site I set up on freewebs! The only thing I paid for was the name: www.rediz.com. It was a shopping portal that simply displayed a lot of different sites selling numerous things. I was an affiliate of all of them, so was paid on click thru and also commission if a user went on to buy a product. It actually worked out well to start with but eventually traffic slowed down and commercially it turned out to be a failure. Having said that, I was so young at the time the money it made me felt like a lot and I learned some really valuable experience on the way.

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(Note: This is Part 1 of 2 of the INNERVIEW)

And here is Part 2 if you were looking for that (you’re welcome )

With his love of music, boyishly good looks and charming ways you’d think that UK teen Ed “Nashy” Nash was bringing back The British Invasion with a modern twist. But in fact, he’s soaring up the charts in a slightly different kind of way- as a successful teen entrepreneur with his latest social media venture www.ClastaZ.com a music discovery site which is used to find new music and dig up the old.

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Increasingly more and more on the internet I read comments on blogs, forums and other social networks where people are posting that they are starting their own business because they hate the 9 to 5 grind and that Corporate America truly sucks. And for anybody who has this mentality let me tell you what sucks more YOU DO! Punch buggy green, no punch backs.

Need I explain why?

(And no, it doesn’t have anything to do with working long hours when you start your own business)

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Big thanks to Toilet Paper Entrepreneur Mike Michalowicz and his trusty sidekick Scott Bradley of Networking Effectively. They are all over it today with their blog post “60 Great Customer Service Tips”. It’s difficult enough to get customers….but how you going to keep them once you got them…that is the million dollar question.

Not only is this list great for the community and long-term relationship building, it is the community as the 60 tips were contributed/shared by fellow TPE’s. Good Stuff! So do you think that Mike and Scott missed a great tip on their list? If so, be sure to add your favorite customer service tip and don’t forget to check me out at Lucky Tip #13. You’ll find the complete list here

The following video is a short clip of Scott Bradley sharing his 3 Sheet Story

Scott Bradley of Networking Effectively Shares His 3-Sheet Story from Toilet Paper on Vimeo.

Are you located in the South Bay California area? If so, this is just a friendly reminder that only 2 more days remain to The Art of Skateboarding Charitable event- conceptualized, organized and marketed by 2 of my very focused Renegade CEO’s, Daniel Uribe and John Brzezicki (Lazer Bearings Co-Founders).

It’s not too late to get involved as a sponsor, participant or specator. Tickets are only $5 at the door and will support a great social cause. Check out the following video to learn more about the event and the opportunities to get involved:

Hello Boys and Girls,

We are now 2 weeks into my Teen Author’s challenge to write and publish his book in 30 days or less. He is quickly approaching his next milestone with less than half a chapter remaining in his manuscript. He is staying focused so that his book can be sent to the editor tomorrow. Our in house editor is super speedy and beingthat this is a non fiction how to book we don’t imagine that it will take that long. We have the barcode and ISBN ordered and in hand ( arrived Friday…a few days earlier than expected, YAY) and he has already designed his cover.  I didn’t even know he had graphic design talents..learn something new everyday We will work on marketing and production & distribution logistics while the book is being edited and prepped for print.