Without nay hesitation nor second thought, 2010 is going to be the Year of the TEEN Entrepreneur! You heard it hear first folks. Entrepreneurship for young people is an evolutionary phenomenon that stemmed from the Internet (continue reading to learn how this came about).

Teens are often "lumped in" with another category of people older or younger than them and don’t really identify with either of those groups or they are just mulled over. People have high expectations of them yet give them every road block when they try to move forward- SORRY TEEN, I would love to work with you but the problem is you don’t have enough EDUCATION….MATURITY….EXPERIENCE….Sound familiar?  They have had to take a back seat for far too long and they are tired of being labeled and told they are unmotivated and apathetic. They don’t need >> to calm down, shut up and listen, to hear you tell them what it ‘all’ means. Nor do they want to be spoken of in future tense. They are present now. They are successful now. They are making impact now. They are making contributions now and they need and want to be given credit and recognition NOW.

What can you do NOW? Open the space up for them. How will you know if you have succeeded? They will have a ‘real conversation’ with you and will return to you at some point in the near future and start another one. And if they really love you, they’ll even tell their friends!

Teen Entrepreneurs are claiming their space in the universe and owning it! And it’s about time. It takes about 15 years for a movement to evolve to something much greater than that. So it’s time! There are many a tell tale signs that is built on what has been evolving over the past decade and additionally, the number and types of inquiries we are getting from teens across the globe tells a story in itself. Not to mention, in the month of November three more teens surpassed the $10,000/mo revenue mark….whooop!

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From being selected as a National TV Business Commentator for a show that reaches over a half million viewers daily to being chosen as the subject of a documentary that will reach in the millions of viewers- the past few weeks have brought a whirlwind of incredible news, amazing partnerships, international recognition and tremendous opportunities for the Renegade CEO’s and emerging Teen Entrepreneurs across the globe.

To the most amazing business coach who has helped me from nothing to everything and understands me. Devon Landers, 19, CEO, TexasCrawlers.com @DevonLanders on Twitter

Inquiries, questions, well-wishes and nastygrams gotta love them- have come from all over the place, from teens and adults, new and long-time friends, organizations and family, all asking me about my journey to this point and wanting to know how I got the ‘Golden Touch’. So what is this experience in the limelight all about and how does it feel? My teens have been famous for a long time so I have learned to live vicariously through them. Needless to say the question inspired me to write a post today about ‘Growing Up Renegade’.

BLOG CLIFF NOTES (Since I know I can sometimes be long-winded, tee hee he):

So how does it feel to be in the spotlight?

Just like it feels sitting at the conference table when you enter a new partnership- one person is looking at you with a big grin and thinking ‘we love these guys because they bring a fresh voice’ and another person is looking at you with a big grin and thinking ‘we love these guys because the real pundits are going to have them for lunch.’

Alas, it’s the same as it ever was….

Entrepreneurship is not a course or a class, but a level of consciousness. Therefore, in order to learn it you must first LIVE IT.

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Just in case you didn’t get the memo on it: Service Organizations are supposed to serve the people. While I realize that we live in a capitalist society it is still very possible to achieve your social mission and make money and today’s teen entrepreneurs are doing just that.

Having my pulse on society I am feeling that all the world needs now is a little organic cleansing. These organizations that have been around for years and years whether non profit or for profit are going to be flatlining soon. I am on the grassroots level and very connected at the community level. Like a bad criminal who has left too many clues, their tell tale signs are evident. Everyday I am making calls on behalf of my teens and my work with teens. I look for opportunities at the local, regional and national level where they can take an active role, serve on committees and board of directors and have their voices heard especially as it pertains to policies and topics that directly impact them and their future. Before I go off on my 1 min tangent about these bullies in the ’social’ service space I want to share some tips on how my visionary teen proteges and emerging young leaders can avoid going down that same path.

5 Tips on Serving For Young Entrepreneurial Leaders:

1. Companies are built for customers not for you.  Without customers your business cannot exist. You must serve before you can lead. My average client is 17 years old and from Day 1 it is my duty and honor to serve them and support them like the great leaders they are of our time.

2. Walk with them. Don’t tell people to take a different path or lead them to the path if you are not going to walk with them. Embrace. Educate. Empower.

3. Know Your Impact. My global program strategist, Wheatle Peart taught me about the importance of tracking metrics and reach. You need to know your numbers. Use a list management system such as http://bit.ly/madmimi1 (up to 100 people can register on your list before you incur a monthly subscription fee). This is a program that will allow you to capture emails of people who visit your website/blog.  It is IMPERATIVE that you have one of these. When you need to connect with your audience to make an announcement, offer a new product, host an event it helps if you know where they are and can reach them at once. Encourage people to keep in touch via your email list or social networking site.

4. Build a Bridge for the People. You need to serve as a conduit. If people are connecting to you, that usually means they respect your work and want to be involved. If you don’t want to personally take the calls have someone on your team (i.e. your mom/dad/grandparent or a college intern in marketing, business or social services) who will accept the calls/emails on your behalf and have a way to build a bridge to get people where they want to go. If you don’t know what is happening at the ground level you can’t continue to stay at the top. You need to know the challenges that exist in the marketplace so you can innovate and evolve with the ever changing marketplace. Use a survey or feedback system like Survey Monkey.

5. Leverage Your Community. You don’t need to do anything and everything on your own. Other people will gratefully and humbly support your cause. Don’t be afraid to ask. Be inclusive and express your sincere appreciation. If you give them a space they will fill it.

So what inspired this post today? Even though I am so tempted at this point, I will not even put high profile Acronym ’service based’ economic development organizations on blast in this post. Long story short- Since the late spring/early summer I have been calling, emailing, calling and emailing some very high profile ‘urban’ organizations that have presence at the national level. While they advertise that they are all about economic empowerment, working with the community and uplifting today’s youth, the reality seems to be unless you are an ‘elitist’ (you are a person with a branded name who only talks to other people with branded names) or a ‘victim’ (a national story can be made to profit from you) it is not likely you will get a call back.  So tell me…who are they really helping?

Until next time kids….challenge not the limits of society but the limits of oneself.

@teenbizcoach

Being that we live in a free enterprise system, the system cannot fail you. You can only fail yourself. But I am in the wrong for saying that.  People say stupid things to me like, you have a Republican message on a Democratic platform. Uhh, I am not in the business of politics. I am not in the business of religion. I am in the business of building a better livelihood (personally and professionally) for myself and others around me. And that is exactly why I work with teenagers  because they TOTALLY get that. 

The access to information and opportunities are there for those who want them and choose to go get them. That is what they need to learn- simply how to access the information and opportunities and then go leverage them to their benefit. You don’t need a job that barely pays a living wage to do that.

Anyway, here are Shonika’s Sure Fire Stimulus Funding Tips to ensure whether you are an employer or employee YOU HAVE IT LAST!

1. Live your life by design not by default. I believe it was Robert Kiyosaki who said that. But essentially it means, don’t settle and don’t throw yourself in the air like a bunch of confetti, lots of little shredded paper flying every which way. If the first thing or opportunity that comes along doesn’t seem to be a good match for you wait. Take your time and look for opportunities (jobs, consulting, training, etc) that align with your long term vision. Choose what you are passionate about even if you don’t fully have the skill set developed. Your purpose and passion will always take you the furthest.

2. Build Your Network Align with other strategic partners and individuals (now not later) who are working complimentary to you.  Write down what things are missing from your network and invite credible and trustworthy people into your network so that you can ALL pool your assets and resources. It’s who you know that will get you in the door and it’s what you know that will keep you inside (See #1).

3.  Realize the Power of Giving. Give, Serve, Share….whatever you call it. And I don’t just mean in a charitable sense. I mean being open and authentic with people. When you hold back valuable information and opportunities, what you have to lose is insignificant in comparison in to what you have to gain by putting it out there. Your intellectual property and life experiences hold value. So I am not saying give up your “secret sauce”. I am saying put it out there that you have a recipe and ask people to help you produce, manufacture and market it. Use the folks in your network (See #2) to help manifest your dream.

4. Ask better questions. Instead of saying “you didn’t know” take a little time to research what you are getting into. Think through the possible outcomes and your growth potential in the future.  Ask specific questions to make sure this is an ideal match for you. Ask questions about the organization’s path they are walking, their vision, what resources they have in place, the key people in their network, the partnerships they have, where their funding comes from and find out what some of their clients are up to. If they give you broken and somewhat superficial answers then you know that the organization that is not concerned about the details now certainly won’t be concerned about them later.

5. Manifest Your Destiny and Take Ownership of it. Dream of what you want and build the energy around it. A large part of being able to attract these things is telling yourself what you want and envisioning this. Why must you do this? A lot of people call it “law of attraction” but the concept is you are building self-awareness and keeping it centered in your conscious mind. If it is on the forefront you are most likely to be able to see opportunities directly related to evolving that dream whether it is in general conversation or an article that you read etc. When it is on your radar you will be more in tuned and see other roads leading to your destination that you may not have seen before.

So that’s a “RAP” …play on words….(See Recovery Action Plan). If you get a job or contract related to stimulus funding, let us know. We would love to do a case study on it and see how we can support you to repurposing that opportunity and keeping it going  and growing long after the funding has run out.

Until next time,

Keep it real and keep it moving.

This morning I read an article entitled: Obama Promises More Than 600,000 Stimulus Jobs http://bit.ly/a28T5

YAWN…let me just call it now- Stimulus Jobs and Stimulus Bail Out- EPIC FAIL. If you don’t get it, you don’t get it >:-) I have been reading the stimulus bill. If you want to peep it you can check it out here: Read the Stimulus (1500+ pages and counting).

But before I break out into the anatomy of a Stimulus Job, let me just put it into you in simple terms. In the famous words of musician T.I. It is not who gets it first but who has it last.

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Does anyone know what the word “help” means? Being that it is overrated and used so freely I am not even sure anymore. So I have been trying very hard not to use it as of recent months. I am eliminating it from my vocabulary.

Help is a sad little pathetic word. It means I have exhausted all resources and I am desperate for anything you have to give me. It puts you, ‘the asker’, in an inferior role. Help is a desperate plea that results in a reactive answer.  Some adults and companies especially those in America have asked for ’help’ and they got ‘help’. Now what are they asking for? Naturally, more help. 

I want you to start being in tuned to people who use that word. How do they use it? How much do they use it? Do you see a pattern with the people who are using that word? Ask them what are they asking for.

I am also requesting (with much gratitude) that the teens and adults in both my personal and professional networks eliminate the word “help” from their vocabulary. And know if you ask me for ‘help’ the answer will be a resounding NO. Start replacing that word with words like: empower, empowerment, inspire, inspiration, motivate, motivation, encourage, encouragement, uplift, uplifting, enable, enabled, assistance, facts, information, advice, assistance. Ask a question with a word that will result in a proactive response vs. a reactive one. Renegade Mom Marianne St. Clair says it best – “when you eliminate the broad term help, it forces you to think about what you are asking for and craft your request in such a way that you specifically ask for what you want”.

So if you are in need of my guidance and support, tell me what you need (what is a necessity) and what you have to work with. Not what you want or what you don’t have. If you are having a difficult time or a brain cramp do you need inspiration to create new ideas? Do you need information to make a well-informed decision? Do you need encouragement to get through a challenging time? Do you need assistance in connecting with someone to evolve a project that you are working on? I am always willing to give you the support and resources to those requests and in abundance!

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I am calling Wayne Liew “hot dog” today because he is on a roll. He has been tearing down the house with some phresh baked posts on his blog recently.

In a recent post he published entitled ‘9 Alarming Reasons to Outsource’ he breaks Outsourcing down like legos. This blog post is in simple and approachable language that ANYBODY familiar with the term Outsourcing or not can relate to.

So peep the post  http://bit.ly/ZdPIz and tell me what you think. While you are on his site be sure to check out some of his interLiews (I branded him with that name today) with Teen CEO’s. I call him the Oprah of Malaysia

And furthermore if you totally dig his work be sure to connect with him on Twitter @wayneliew (Don’t let that Morgan Freeman Bruce Almighty Avatar sike you out, lol) or if you feel really Renegade today, subscribe to his weekly blog updates. Until next time-

Keep it real and keep it moving!

Kind of sounds like a riddle huh? If you want to be exlclusive, then try being inclusive.  Too often I see young entrepreneurs who aspire to be like some certain ’successful & branded’ person or accepted into this certain circle of ‘friends’. Now don’t get me wrong, role models are important and all but what is it about that person that you idolize? Is it their lifestyle? Their fame? Their attention? Their money? All of the above?  

Before many of those people were rich and famous and branded….they were what?

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Learning to Fall by Bryce Maddock, Founder of Task US

In yoga, one position I can’t master is the handstand. Every week I am put to shame by the 50 and 60 year old yogis who effortlessly toss themselves in and out of the position. Last class, as my frustration surged, I took it upon myself to ask one of the handstand masters, “How did you learn to do that?”

“I learned how to fall,” she responded.

This lesson applies to business and life: In order to truly succeed one must be willing to fall. We all know people who are too afraid to fall. Unwilling to take risks, they never get off the couch, never pursue the guy/girl they are attracted to, never escape their mind numbing 9 to 5 job. 

If you are an entrepreneur you have already demonstrated a willingness to take a big risk. However, simply being willing to fall is not enough. Ultimately it is a numbers game. The more risks you take, the more you increase your chances of success, but the more falls you have to be willing to take as well.

This is why the most successful entrepreneurs have fallen many times. Russell Simmons launched the now defunct website 360 Degrees of Hip Hop. Richard Branson was forced to sell off his prized possession, Virgin Records. The Donald has lost fortunes on multiple ventures, and even went bankrupt.

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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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