Today is Canada Day…So Happy Birthday Canada! And in 3 days in the U.S. we will celebrate Independence Day. I thought it was timely to write about this today because earlier today Patricio and I spoke to an entrepreneurship class filled with enthusiastic 14-16 year olds at the William E. Doar Jr. Public Charter School in NE Washington, DC.  

We were inspired by the youth who attended the school. It is a performing arts school and even though we didn’t get to see them doing their ‘individual talents’, it’s just the whole energy and culture that surrounds creative young people who are confident, comfortable and glad to be ’different’ or ’individualistic’. The class was attentive and they asked lots of introspective questions. To give you some idea of how much they were into it, we were scheduled to be there for 30-45 min and we ended up staying there for over 2 hours!!! We even got a chance to do some laser coaching sessions and without any prior preparation or knowing that we would be doing that, everyone came up with some really great ideas.  We definitely hope some if not all of them we worked with today will actually pursue some of the ideas that they shared (and in the very near future).

This is how the life of an entrepreneur jump starts….fearlessly being YOU everyday in every way. Realize you have something special and of value to offer the world today that is truly unique to you. So don’t be afraid to OWN it!

Big thanks to Jamila White, The Ecommerce Diva (@ecommercediva on Twitter) for sharing the speaking opportunity with us. And also to Monique Riviere, the entrepreneurship teacher who hosted us today. Last but not least many thanks to all the young people who asked questions, sat in the ‘hot seat’ and openly participated in the presentation today. We appreciate your enthusiasm and are grateful to have had the chance to meet you all and share with you today!

Until next time…

remember that a true renegade ceo challenges not the limits of society….but the limits of oneself.