Let me be the first to remind you that I strongly and truly believe that teens don’t need to be helped but they want to be empowered.  The teens I have worked with didn’t need for me to hold their hand. They just wanted me to show them how to leverage resources (people, places and things) so they could get their wee bitty little but very awesome & powerful idea branded and marketed to people who would LOVE IT and help it grow bigger!

I cold-call and market several days a week. I do it to help create media exposure, speaking and business opportunities for the teens who seek me out for help. I would say I am generally successful with this.  And the reason why is because it’s much easier and less stressful to get your name out there and people on board when you are building on something you already have established and in motion. 

The critical thing is when you are out there working your butt off pitching and promoting to investors/sponsors, potential customers, interested partners, vendors or what have you it’s not what you will do that matters as much as what you have done.

- I have empowered teens who are now generating 4 figures per month. No millionaires (yet) but they are doing pretty good considering they often start with no money (no set business idea) and are NOT in online marketing related businesses. They learn to develop their niche, build a brand, build relationships through organic marketing, manage scale (when their idea hits mainstream) and learn how to leverage the support of an outsourced support team. Knowing these principles first will help them soar in the online world and quickly double or triple their current monthly revenues. At the end of the day the turtle beat the hare remember?

- I have walked teens through the process of writing and publishing their own books. And one of them did it in just 30 days! These books can be offered on at speaking venues or leveraged to market themselves in a variety of ways.

- I have coached teens in efforts to help them get media exposure, speaking opportunities and win local, regional, national and global business plan competitions, recognition, $$$ and awards.

When people hear things like this they get excited and want to get involved. Indeed part of the mastery is in the marketing and how you present yourself, but think about how easy it actually is to stand out when so many people FOREVER GETTING READY to come on the scene with the next big thing. What are they doing in the meantime and in between time to make sure that people even notice them when they finally decide to launch? Guess we will just have to “wait and see”. By the way, the longer you build people up and keep them waiting, the greater their expecations and more critical they are.

We all chat with people everyday in our respective personal and professional networks who are like I am going to do this big amazing blankety blank thing….. Perhaps you sometimes say such things yourself. And I am not trying to be negative or a nay’sayer but if you look back over the years how many of those people actually went on to ‘the next level’ vs. how many are still in the same position they were for the last few years?

So anyway, say you have a super-cala-fragalistic-ex-pea-al-luh-docious idea that you want to pursue  funders or sponsors for- No matter how one of a kind that idea may seem to you, oftentimes they are going to look for a track record or some history. They are just not going to write a check to you without any background on you because you gave them a cool pitch.  They are going to be looking for signs. Do you have management experience and good follow through? Are you conscientous about presentation and packaging? How will your professional image align with theirs?

It’s not about what you will do….It’s about:

What have you done?

Small things add up. So start there. And even if you don’t have a financial track record and big name clients persay you should be making regular pay it forward deposits to your account. Make the investment in yourself and your community today and you will get it back…and sooner than you think!

1. Stop planning and start doing. In talking with my friend Steve Jennings from zyOzy he says “Instead of asking for permission first, just do it, and ask for forgiveness later.”  Otherwise, you will be waiting for approval forever. I say as long as you start off and continue your path with good intentions, the ‘bad’ stuff and ’screw ups’ along the way will work themselves out in your favor. Constantly seek to accomplish small things on a related theme and execute those things with high quality so that you will be taken seriously from Day 1. It doesn’t matter if it is something simple as business cards or a free blog. If the mastery is in the marketing then you need to be packaged professionally and neatly!!!

2. Who Are You? What do you read about yourself when you google your name or your company name? Are you known in your industry? Are you openly sharing ideas and information with your ‘community’ and with others in your industry? And most importantly are you remembering to enhance your qualities and not bad mouth others/your competitors? You never know when you might have to partner with your competitor.

3. Are you focused? When people go to your blog or website does it say somewhere near the top or in a prominent place what your theme or expertise is? Do you have a professional clean blog or website that gives information of value to your readers or are you constantly pushing a new and different Get Rich Quick Scheme? Indeed, a sucker is born every minute but do you want to sell one time to a sucker who has no loyalty and is going to go around and post on every site that you are a scam artist and your program or product is a rip off. Or do you want a customer who grows with you and is actively involved with you from the time you are making it to the time you have made it?

Never sacrifice long term potential and your credibility for short term (and short lived) gain.  Living your dream is simply about moving in sync with your own reality. So if you see yourself as big and impactful tomorrow, I want you to start by being small (but visionary) and impactful today.

And the next time someone asks you this trick question- 

Why should I work with you or invest in your company? How are you better/different than the next guy or gal?

Tell them that it is all relative. And then tell them HOW YOU make a difference NOW …TRANSLATION- the problem you solve for your specifc target audience every day.  That statement will go alot further than whatever you think they will be impressed by (no matter how cool you think it is).

And this has what to do with you?

Well the reason why I am sharing this is because I have connected with so many of you on so many levels, online & offline that I would never discount your potential. If you’ve got a story to tell (who doesn’t ) and you ain’t afraid to tell it and you have something of value to offer, then you may darn well be a good candidate. Also, what is a reality show? Look at the selection that is out there- world’s most dangerous jobs; like world’s most stupidest girls ever arguing by a pool; life on a fishing boat; obsessive compulsive disorders-obsessive compulsive disorders-obsessive compulsive disorders (I know, I’m so horrible aren’t I? aren’t I? aren’t I?) >:-D (joke people, lighten up); drive your tractor trailer on a frozen pond and hope that the sun doesn’t come out; substance lacking washed up former high profile entertainer; cops, LOL. Cops had to be the first ever reality show huh? Well bottom line, the shows are not getting smarter, they are getting dumber. Anywho- if this is what your competing with then you definitely have a chance.

This is how I see it…

1. You start off with a freebie blog on a niche or very specialized subject matter (If you don’t know how to find a niche check out our 10 day free ecourse on the right sidebar).

2. Your content rich blog along with your sparkling personality becomes the talk of the town.

3. With my help  we land you a little PR and media coverage in your local paper.

4. Word begins to spread about how uber cool, smart and business minded you are (for a teenager)!

5.  The next thing you know you’re writing a book? YES, a book! Don’t think it’s possible? Well, wait til you see my upcoming blog post [dunh dunh dunh, oh the suspense is already killing you, ain't it?]

6. The book launches to much fanfare and the next thing you are on a speaking and book signing tour — during your summer vacation from school, of course.

7. And the next thing you know, people from all over the country, maybe even the world will want to know about your rags to riches story and of course they will want to shadow you and see behind the scenes of your day to day adventures.

Alas, that leads us here-

Courtesy of @guin (Twitter) and About New Media, I’m now proud to present:

“How to Pitch a TV Show”  

Sidebar: If you actually and truly want to go through with it (or already brewing up an idea) and want to find out shows that may align with your theme or focus of interest you might want to check out the Hollywood Media Directory (I recently brought one and it is uber cool). This is a book/directory that is updated every few years that gives you all the contact info for all the producer folks in the industry. It also tell you what shows they produce and requirements for pitching, whether they accept unsolicited proposals or if it has to be pitched by an agent etc. Let me know if you need any help!!!

Toodles.

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.

2.  Where do you think your entrepreneurial bug came from? A family member, relative or did you always have natural curiosity about business and such things?

In all honesty when I grew up I always wanted to become a professional football, then changed my mind and thought a career in ski racing was more me. I am always told that you do not become an Entrepreneur you are born one. Do I believe this? Actually yes I do, I believe everyone has that special element inside them some people just don’t realize or understand it. I have always taken an interest in business as both of my parents are involved with it, which helped me, but ultimately I stuck by what I wanted to do which has made me successful.

3. You had multiple business ventures? What was your favorite and why, even if it was not financially successful?

Yes, I had multiple ventures. Honestly, most of them were failures commercially but I didn’t give up. I never had real success until I was late 15 with a business which helped individuals create websites, sold personalized stationary and brochures. I didn’t really enjoy it, but was a key part of my career so far and gave me the funding I needed to set up new ventures.
    My favorite was definitely a website called Surfpony.com which was a PPC search engine. I brought it for $x,xxx and borrowed money from my sister’s (of which I have 3) and my parents to buy it. I really enjoyed working on it and expanding the features it offered, but sadly with my inexperience I drove it into the ground. The girls were not happy…

4. Some teens would argue that their parents think starting a business is like a sort of pipe dream- and isn’t much different than wanting to become a pro athlete or entertainer…so what advice would you give to young people whose parents are not really digging the entrepreneurial lifestyle?

The biggest problem teenage entrepreneur’s face is getting the capital to fund their idea’s and dreams, but if you look hard enough you can find plenty of others way to fund it, even if this means spending a few hours in a shop a week. My advice for young people who are continuously being put down about starting a business is to try and ignore it. You should rely on a ‘gut instinct’ to decide whether you are right or wrong. If you believe in yourself and your idea that strongly, go for it. Don’t wait, Start young, think big, and stick with it.

5. Starting an internet based business is competitive…to some extent. And at the same time online marketers are coming up with new ideas everyday. What was your criteria in choosing the first person you trusted to share your idea with? 

I actually have not had any problems as yet with my ideas being stolen. I actually am always open about my ideas and usually are really supportive online and will often help improve them. I would always be open whilst online and among fellow entrepreneurs, think of it as a melting pot for brains to bounce. Also when you are looking for funding, you have to be much more open and approach people with clear instructions on your idea – you can’t get anywhere keeping it a secret! Be careful who you share with, but don’t be too conservative!

6. Do you feel that alot of people have tried to get over on you or cheat or fast talk you because you are a teen/young entrepreneur? How have you dealt with this?

No absolutely not. If you approach people with confident you should never have trouble, and if you do don’t work with them! Usually people are amazed at a young’un doing business and in some cases it will probably help you gain publicity! Don’t be phased or intimidated by older people, treat them with respect and I am sure they will return the favor.

7. What would you say has been the most valuable personality trait or skill that has worked to your favor in running your business and why?

My strongest traits are definitely my motivation and determination. As in another of my answers I said I have had a lot of failures, many more then I have had success. I could have easily packed it in and got back to a normal teenage life. That’s definitely not what I wanted, I wasn’t going to give in, I really wanted to be a success which is exactly why I carried on. I always look to the future, never backwards which is what always picked me up and took me forward. If I was not determined, trust me I would not be doing this interview and doing the things I wanted to do today.

8. What has been the biggest obstacle you have had to deal with as a teen/young entrepeneur?

Hate to say this, but definitely getting funding to start projects. I always look for investors not just for their money but for their expertise. It used to be such an impossible task and still is quite hard. Luckily though, recently there have been a lot more sites created to join entrepreneur and investors together. A new one I found today was www.growvc.com – not heard of it before or used it, if anyone has let me know!

9. What does your current company do and what inspired the idea?

My current company http://www.ClastaZ.com is a new music discovery site which is used to find new music and dig up the old.It has been around for very almost a year, and due to huge traffic when it originally started. I sold a small part of the company for $xx,xxx and then decided to completely rebuild it, adding new innovative feature’s which were unique to ClastaZ. The idea is to connect people from all over the world to one another to share music taste discover new music, artists and remixes they never knew existed.

People can connect via forums and a live chat feature. Post topics about new bands and songs they have heard, and if you want to find some new music ‘a different way’ then you have the ability to use our amazing 3D Search to find songs! There is also options to buy songs, save them to play lists, add to favorites and rate them for others to view!The inspiration came from myself not being satisfied with my music library. I wanted to discover new bands and talk to people based all over the world about there experiences with music! The initial concept was drawn up and had huge success! I have certainly enjoyed resolving my problems in finding new types of music with ClastaZ and hope you can to! It’s a great concept and was launched again after the rebuild on the 13th December, full steam ahead and it won’t be long I hope until it is up there with other recognizable brands. 

10. How did you feel when you signed your first deal to have a part of your company acquired? Part II of the question: Did you ever think when you started your company that you would ever try to sell it or is it something that just naturally happened in its own time?

When the opportunity came to sell part of the company. I didn’t think twice! The guys who approached me are two fantastic people who are really experienced in the world of business. The offer was to good to refuse so I took the money and ran! No, of course I didn’t they are to great guys and are really supportive of me with all my ventures!

I always thought about potential offers that might come my way but didn’t know how I would react. It’s not something I ‘pre planned’ but it is definitely a good thing they came my way!

And for those of you who might have missed it yesterday, Nashy invites all prospective young entrepreneurs, potential clients and well-wishers to reach out and connect with him using any of the contacts below:

Email: ed@nashy.co.uk

Web:  www.nashy.co.uk

  Twitter: @nashy

The two featured entrepreneurs were:

Ibtihaj “Ippy” Amatul Wadud, 19, who is the owner of Ippy’s Islamic Fashions, which creates custom-made clothes for Islamic girls and women in seven states.  She was recently featured on Fox Business News NYC with Renegade  CEO’s very own Daniel Uribe.

And Jasmine Lawrence, 17, is the owner of Eden Body Works, an all-natural line of hair and body products, which are now sold in Wal-Mart and Whole Foods outlets. Her company is doing more than 1 million dollars a year in revenues.

There were lots of great businesses but I was very surprised not to see Ashey Qualls and her $70k/mo producing website http://www.WhateverLife.com I guess to some extent it’s all about who was marketing to be featured.

At any rate, to see the other niche businesses that round out the list, please take a moment to view the slide show . At the conclusion of the slide show you will be asked to place your vote for which entrepreneur you believe has the most potential to go the furthest with their business.  The deadline to place your vote is September 22nd. The winners of the competition will be announced on September 26th. Show your support for Ippy or Jasmine.

For those of you who don’t know what SEO is, it stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is how your website, blog or page gets found when people type in a keyword in the search box on a site such as Google or Yahoo. Continue on to Check Out the SEO Video Rapper!

Why is SEO important? Because when people search for certain keywords or phrases on the Internet (if you offer a product or service) that is comparable to what they are looking for, then you want your site or page to be found right?

What use is it to make a website if the only people who will visit it is the people who you passed out business cards to? You should want everybody around the universe to be able to find you if they could benefit from your product or service.

The video contains some basic SEO Tips for how to code your page. If you do not do the programming or coding for your website or blog, you want to ask whomever is helping you with the web design to optimize the page to help improve your search engine rankings. Your rankings will depend on whether you come up on Page 1 or 101 when someone searches for a keyword related to what you do. Think to yourself- whenever you are searching for something and you enter certain keywords, how many pages do you search through before you take what is offered or abandon your search? What if your company was located on page 101? Not good huh?

Design Coding, SEO Tips and Tricks presented by the SEO Rapper

Want to see how you stack up to the competition? An easy way to do this is to check your Alexa Rankings. Alexa is a site that ranks all the registered sites on the web. Currently there is guestimated to be somewhere around 100 million sites.

Go to www.alexa.com and enter your website or blog name. If it says no data found or no ranking…it basically means you get almost know traffic and barely exist So take a look at some of the tips and make sure your page gets found easier!

Aside from the video, here are a few more SEO Tips and Tricks to get you started.

Your email marketing list! Yes, I know it may be difficult to believe right now, but imagine if you were a baker who acquired tons of clients throughout the years and, all of a sudden, something called the Atkins anti-carbohydrate craze comes along? Sure you could come up with an alternative carb-free product, but how could you quickly get in contact with all the people you sold to throughout the years to let them know before they bought into the hype and took their business elsewhere?

Aside from any trends that may be happening now and are timely in nature, think of long-term reasons as well as accomplishments where your email subscriber list could come in handy. What if your company merged with another company and the name changed? How would you be able to notify your customers that you are still around, but with just another name? Maybe you were presented with an award for something or you won a major contract, or perhaps your company doubled in size and is moving to a bigger space in a nearby community. What if you were discontinuing a product and wanted to offer a half-price special for a limited time? In each one of these examples, certainly email would be a faster (and less expensive way) to get the message out to a big group of people as opposed to trying to design, print, label and mail postcards. There are tons of reasons, from timeless ones to timely ones, why building your email is critical for both the short and long-term success of your business.

So now that you can see the importance of having an email sign up list, let me share with you my 9 ways to help you improve your ways to capture email sign ups of your pre-qualified website visitors. Many of these ideas will greatly improve your chances of getting a customer to share their email address with you and approve for you to share your information with them. Remember even if you know a person’s email address and it is in your contact list, if you send them unsolicited email, whether promotional or informational, it is considered SPAM and you could get in very big trouble. So please use the following methods by which to gather permission based email addresses (permission based means the customer said that it’s ok to sign up their email or gave you “permission” to send them updates about your company):

(1) Put an email sign up box on your website (preferably in a corner spot) and offer a special report, free tips or a white paper. Use a permission based email marketing company such as Icontact http://tinyurl.com/6jlopf to easily create the email sign-up box and manage your subscriber sign ups. And for non-techie computer people like me, Intellicontact has a lot of nifty little features included in their web-based program. You can quickly generate the link to post the little sign-up box on your website (no html programming necessary). Just choose the color that you want your sign-up box to be, copy and paste. They have templates for you to set up your first ezine. And they also have auto-responders so that you can create your special reports to deliver automatically when someone signs up and a survey program so that you can get feedback from your customers about ideas, new products or services that you are offering or considering.

(2) Pitch your special report, free tips or ezine in your email signature line. This will help to direct everyone to your website who interacts with you via email. It doesn’t matter if it is just a one-time inquiry or someone who interacts with you regularly but just never had a reason to visit your website. This will help encourage the recipient to pay a visit to your website and potentially sign up for whatever you are offering.

(3) Host a free teleseminar. You can host a free teleseminar on a topic such as an overview on your company, to announce a cool new product or service, to interview a special guest, or to tie in with a trend or current event. Have users RSVP via email and offer your ezine or special report as a gift for early-bird registrants.

(4) Use an audio generator on the home page of your website with a recorded message to bring attention to your ezine or special reports email sign-up box for your roaming web visitor. You can use any number of services such as http://www.audiogenerator.com or something equivalent. There is a one-time nominal fee to download the player and no monthly subscription fee. Once again you do not need to be a tech guru to use the program.

(5) Incorporate an email sign-up box on your blog. Yes, on your blog. Have people register their email for weekly or bi-weekly blog updates and offer tips or something a little different from your website ezine sign-up offer.

(6) Speak at a Chamber event or other professional mixer and offer a one-year subscription to your ezine (valued at set your price $$$) as a free gift to all attendees who drop their business cards when they register. Also, make sure you offer a door prize (or a few) to increase business card drops.

(7) Print your special report and ezine offer on the back of your business card or go to vistaprint.com, register your email and wait for a free premium business card offer. It will arrive in about 2 weeks, LOL. Make a special card to give out at networking events that encourages the person you meet to go to your website or blog to obtain their free blankety blank special report or tips.

(8) Include an email sign-up box in your monthly ezine. So when your ezine gets forwarded to a non-subscribing recipient, they can sign up to receive their own copy.

(9) Include your ezine or special report web address link in the thank you section at the bottom of your printed invoices. Instead of a special report or in addition to, you can offer a coupon or a discount off a future purchase.

In addition to these ideas, understand that a bit of personalization, great sales copy and professional presentation is also very critical. Because what good is it to make a lot of effort to capture email subscribers’ names if you can’t keep them intrigued and engaged? Tag you’re it! So how are you going to get me to sign up for your email list?

Many people are quick to tell you what you need to do in order to succeed in business. But not so many people are explaining what not to do. And as it happens, knowing what to avoid, the common mistakes made by so many people who’ve failed at fulfilling their vision and living their dreams, is at least as critical for success as knowing what to do. Because of that, I’ve put together this handy and invaluable list of the 7 big 21st Century no-no’s (aka ‘The Small Business Disruptors 2.0′) in making your small business work for you. You’ve heard all the “Do’s”, these are the “Don’ts”, and whatever you do, don’t you forget them! Brouhaha

1. Being a Jack of All Trades:  A jack of all trades is a master of none, and success in business requires being the master of whatever it is you do. Small businesses that specialize in a specific area of their industry, catering to a niche market, tend to perform much better than those who attempt to have their hands in every pot in an effort to appeal to the whole swath of consumers out there. In business, it’s far better to be an expert in one subject than to know a little bit about a lot of things.

Target your branding and marketing efforts to the specific group you serve. You’re not out to win over the entire marketplace, and more, you never will. Concentrate your efforts on your target market and establish yourself as the authority in your specific niche. By laser-honing your branding and marketing efforts so, you’ll save valuable funds from wasted efforts, and give your small business the greatest chance of becoming the recognized leader in your field.

1. Being a Know-it-All and Do-it-All: Along those same lines, don’t try to do it all yourself. Having a business isn’t supposed to create more work for you to do, it’s supposed to create less and, conversely, more money and free time for you to explore more pleasurable pursuits.

Henry Ford is reputed as being one of the smartest minds of his time, and not because his head was filled with extensive knowledge on every subject. It wasn’t. What made Henry Ford so smart was that he knew exactly who to ask for the correct answer to any question posed to him.

Take after Mr. Ford. Surround yourself with smart people in the areas where you’ll need that knowledge put to work for your small business. That way, you can free your mind to focus on whatever it is you do best while you delegate the rest of the tasks you need accomplished to those people who have the most expertise in them. This is what is meant by “leveraging your resources”. Avail yourself of the abundance of talented people out there – employees, associates, and freelancers alike. Outsource the work you need done. Your job is to hold the big picture in mind, not to personally handle ever nitty-gritty detail that arises.

1. All Work & No Play: As mentioned above, you presumably created this small business so that you could have more control over your time and greater access to the money that reaches the top of the food chain before it trickles down to the bottom rungs. Therefore, don’t wait until you’ve achieved what you view as “success” before you allow yourself that flexibility and freedom.

Running a business requires a lot of you, and there is no way you will be able to manage all those demands if you’re overworked and overtired. Prevent burnout before it happens. Allow yourself time to rest, recuperate, and play. Owning a business is about improving your quality of life, and there’s no reason you can’t start doing that right now.

Schedule in your free time if you must. And hold yourself as accountable for your own well-being as you do for your business accomplishments. Your only shot at success in business rides on you being present, alert, healthy, and happy enough to be able to make it happen.

1. Having a B Plan, Not a Plan B: Very few people get it right the first time, and that applies no less when it comes to success in business. There is no shame in having a Plan A that doesn’t work. Learning what doesn’t work, in fact, is one of the greatest ways to find out what does work.

The danger comes in when you are unwilling to recognize that your Plan A isn’t working, whether out of ignorance, fear, or just plain stubbornness. Going hand-in-hand with that is a perilous lack of an alternate plan to the one that’s not working.

Devise a Plan B that further refines and simplifies Plan A because Plan A is what you really want to do right? That way it won’t be such a big deal when you discover that your current course is off, because you’ll quickly, easily, and deftly be able to course correct with your next best plan of action.

1. Following History…Not Creating It: History belongs to those who write it. This isn’t to say that it’s unwise to learn from the successes and failures of your predecessors. On the contrary, those who came before you have a great deal to teach you. And learning from the mistakes of others is one of the fastest ways to hop on the fast track to success.

The “sin” being addressed here is about blazing ahead without keeping detailed and accurate records of your journey. How will you ever know how well you are doing if you aren’t tracking your actions? Document everything you do – your intellectual property, ideas, steps, and processes.

Building a business is just that – building. And to build a solid, lasting business you need a strong foundation. Your records of all that you’ve done to date is that foundation, supporting all that your business achieves from this point on. With no such foundation, any business can crumble to dust at the slightest shake-up. Don’t let that happen to you.

1. Avoiding Problems: If you’re avoiding problems then you’re also avoiding solutions. Problems = Opportunities. If you’re avoiding problems then you’re letting fear rule your business. Fear of trying and failing. You need to risk failure in order to achieve success, and if you shy away (or all-out run) from problems then you are cheating yourself of the possibility of breaking through them.

This point cannot be stressed enough. You must seek out problems, not avoid them. Look for problems. Embrace them as your ripest opportunities for major breakthrough.

1. Focusing Too Much on the Details: By now you’ve probably noticed that these “deadly sins” of business management (and their antitheses – strategies for success) are all interrelated, and it’s no different with this last common error. As mentioned above, your number one job is to hold the big picture for the business in mind. Learn to build a network in which you can leverage other people in your network to provide expert opinion and simple solutions for your seemingly complex problems.  

Even if you’re currently the only “employee” you’ve got, you still need to view every last aspect of your business (no matter how small) as it applies to the larger picture. But if you focus on the details, you only create more details. So focus on the overall vision and you will help flesh it out and bring it to life.

It’s extremely easy to get mired down in the minutiae of your business, but that’s the quickest and easiest way to mire down your entire business. Instead, step back and examine the big picture. When you do that, you’d be surprised at how naturally the minutiae suddenly seems to fall right into place. No matter how stressful something may feel at the moment, keep moving swiftly towards the bigger goal and you will discover that once you get to the ‘problems’ that you were initially stressed out about everything and everyone you need will be there when you get there. And yes, they will be ready and willing to help you easily and quickly get through it.

Want to use this article in your blog or ezine? You can! Just include this blurb:

Shonika Proctor aka the Nika’Nator is demolishing doubt and building dreams as an avant garde youth and teen entrepreneur coach for emerging ceo’s ages 18 and younger. Sign up for her complimentary 10 day ecourse ”The Making of a (Teen) Renegade CEO” http://tinyurl.com/10dayecourse

…and call it a day because it’s not how you die but how you live that counts the most. Truly ‘living’ is about going with the flow and doing things NOW & TODAY that are not just routine, but also fun and different. You can do what you want, when you want- if you truly understand the value and power of leveraging one’s mind and one’s time. These few statements pretty much embrace the culture of the ultimate (Young) Renegade CEO.
 

Who Am I:
My name is Shonika Proctor aka the Nika’Nator and I am a youth & teen entrepreneur coach. I help young emerging entrepreneurs (my focus is primarily 18 & younger but definitively teenagers) who want to live life on their own terms…one they deem worth living and are proud to call their own. 
 
What Am I About:
My focus is working with young entrepreneurs under the age of 18 because their needs are different than the vast majority of entrepreneurs. While they are very much capable of achieving the same outcomes, and more, as those twice or even three times their age, the process by which they get there (locating and leveraging resources) is different. Many times they can’t legally enter into contracts and if they are under 16 they can’t even get ‘jobs’. And for the most part they are not taken seriously because they lack real life experience.
 
My Mantra:
Experience L.I.F.E. Living Infinitely ‘Free’ Everyday!

Keepin’ It Real

I have to keep it real, otherwise I will go frickin’ bananas. I work one-on-one and in groups with youth & teen entrepreneurs up close and personal. And in case you haven’t a clue…teenagers are wild and crazy to say the least. I have heard curse words used as a verb, noun, adverb, preposition, lol and all the rest of it. I have heard very sad and dark stories, but a lot of inspirational stuff as well, and from those who most would least expect. My teens have heard me scream, fuss, carry on and express the whole range of emotions all in one coaching session….geezo meezo  But needless to say I hang in there because sometimes I realize I may be the last resort (long before a parent or teacher realizes it…or ever finds out about it). Before a young person collapses or does something they might regret with the weight of the world on their shoulders, they just might stop in and try to create a differerent life path. I see and understand the potential of my young people in this dynamic world of youth & teen entrepreneurship and try to take them to that level, preferably with minimal or NO parental involvement (it is at the teen’s discretion).
My Problem (Yes, I’ve got problems, lol):
I work with TRULY YOUNG entrepreneurs and there are few resources geared towards their specific needs and learning style. And the reason why I say this is because the context in which most people today reference this term ‘young’ entrepreneurs is relative. In my experience of working with teen entrepreneurs (since 2005) either I find entrepreneur & business resource sites geared towards ‘young entrepreneurs’ in the 18-30 something age group or alternatively, the sites that are geared towards the age group younger than 18 are very wholesome and ‘antiseptic’. Meaning they are very conservative, have generic clean sugar coated language, happy smiling people 24×7 and G rated content. There is nothing wrong with these sites but I do not believe they talk to and effectively engage and challenge 21st century interactive, multimedia enriched, techno-centric teens. These sites are often not approachable because they are not real. When people dream of their ultimate lifestyle and the end result, yes, it is probably something grandiose and unflawed that they see, but whether it’s a teen or adult, the path to that place is seldom a joyous and happy one. It is often dark, it is sometimes scary and few people are willing to help you in any capacity whatsoever unless you can pony up some greenbacks.

My Solution (aka my living therapy):
Most people who know me would refer to me as a bad girl, with good intentions, which is why I believe I am pretty darn good at working with teen entrepreneurs. Since the summer of 2005 I have been working closely with teen entrepreneurs that range from ‘hood rats’ (in America’s most impoverished neighborhoods) to ‘spoiled brats’ in (America’s most affluent exclusive communities).
 
I have found the overwhelming majority of teens that I have worked with (even those that look the most polished and together) have a bit of ‘dark happiness’ about them; deal with a tremendous amount of stress whether it be from parents, peers and/or school; and they are most fulfilled when they are in their own special place living out their most ‘deviant curiosities’.

My Next Superstar Teen Renegade CEO- Yo, I got this son!

Are you an aspiring or emerging teen entrepreneur aka a broke ass teenager who swear they know everything who feels they more or less fit somewhere in the spectrum of my profile and could benefit from the services of myself and your fellow teen Renegade CEO’s? – Then you must have a number 7 tattooed on your hah, hah, hah- because it’s your lucky day! All you need is a little sweat equity, a lot of patience and to share the love when you feel the time is right. Personally, I ain’t tryin’ to politick with no psycho parents. So if they say stay don’t log on to the site, then duh genius. If I have to spell it out you are very much lacking an entrepreneurial mind and definitely don’t belong here. Anyway, as a group we will gladly help you out if you need a little guidance with designing & building that road to your ‘preferred lifestyle destination’ (personally & professionally).  And if you are nice to us, we may even provide you with a little extra virtual love and ongoing support…and not the psychiatric or prescription medicine kind. Fair enough? ;-) 

so is dat you?

Then be sure to connect with us and keep in touch. Go to our welcome page and sign up for our free 10 Day ecourse, The Making of a Young Renegade CEO.
 
p.s. I don’t know a damn thing about skating