So the TEEN CEO question of the year seems to be: How do I earn some side money during slow times in my business without cutting into my business marketing and work time? Translation- how do I earn quick and easy money without having to work too hard for it?
And the survey says…while I know a number of ways I can’t share all my best secrets at one time… so for starters- write freelance articles for your community newspapers. You soooo didn’t think I was going to say that did you? Well here is the quick run down on the benefits:
Eye for Change, a Baltimore based non-profit just announced their annual competition for DC and MD based business owners (both existing businesses and new start ups are encouraged to apply). See following message for details:
So You Think You’re a Boss?
You’re a “Boss” if you are the head of your own destiny. You’re a “Boss” if you are a good communicator, can lead well, have new ideas and bring out the best in others. With the goal to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity, EYE for Change will challenge youth to think big, to turn their ideas into reality, and to make their mark by entering the “BIGGEST BOSS” Business Plan Competition. Registration is open now until March 2, 2009 to youth ages 10-18 throughout the state of Maryland. Take advantage of this great opportunity to generate new ideas and better ways of doing things and put them to the ultimate test. The winners of the BIGGEST BOSS Business Plan Competition will be announced at the 4th Annual EYE for Change Conference Thursday, April 2, 2009. To enter visit www.eyeforchange.org
Comments Off Posted by Shonika Proctor on Wednesday, January 7th, 2009
You asked for it…Confessions of a bad girl [with good intentions...of horse]. LOL, get it? of horse??? Anyway, that is the translation of my blog post title today. And naturally, it was difficult to think of something “creative” because you put me on the spot. So I took a very simple thought of what the post was about and added a silly twist.
Everyday people ask me how do you think of these snappy titles for your blog posts and articles? How do you think of all these ideas? How do you come up with all these wild and crazy antics? How come your world is so seemingly small and you know EVERYBODY EVERYWHERE? Short and dirty answer- I learned it from my mom. She is the REAL creative idea & networking fairy. In fact, she makes my ‘creativity’ look like a kite in a wind tunnel. On the flip side, logistics and technical instruction I learned from my dad. It is why I am both linear and lateral in thought.
But before we get into the details of this and really ”go there”, it is only fair to tell you that I really DO ”go there” ALL the time. This is what helps you build real experiences and thus inspires your own creativity. I am random and curious yet I am interconnected because I talk to strangers all the time. I create real experiences with real people everyday. I know everybody in my neighborhood from the bum who lives at the end of my street to the person who owns every building on the street, LOL. If you are standing on the corner waiting for the traffic light, or sitting next to me on the bus or waiting with me in the elevator and our eyes connect I have to smile and say hello and wish you a nice day because it is just strange to me if we don’t do that. You know the universe might be trying to send me a message and I don’t know who is delivering it. So you have to be tuned in and have self-awareness. That is kind of the premise behind how creativity starts. If you can talk to a complete stranger about anything, then you are definitely on to something And for those who once said I was weird now say I am a creative thought leader…funny how that works now. So now you know what is meant by being a leader and not a follower
It is a day like today that people who we met 5, 10, or more years ago can search for us. Who would have ever guessed the interesting people we met in our lives long ago in passing we could get a chance to renew our bonds? I get “friend” requests and emails regularly from people I met traveling in other countries , to people who remember racing shopping carts with me in dormitory hallways and remember things I did in the 4th grade classroom (and the teacher hitting me on the head with a pencil for being a class clown…)
So anyway, let’s carry on with THIS POST, LOL. The topic today is creativity…which by the way is ALL RELATIVE. What’s creative and hip to someone else is the stupidest and most ridiculous thing to others. So REALIZE, ACCEPT and UNDERSTAND that first. And then you can better absorb this post.
Soooo- what is MY DEFINITION of creativity? It is the confidence to act on YOUR‘deviant curiosity’.
South by Southwest (SXSW) which is a really, really, cool interactive media (film/digital) and music conference held in Austin, TX is having a contest. And it ends in approximately 19 days. The contest requires designing a promotional video 30 seconds to 2 minutes in length to promote their venue. The contest is sponsored by SXSW and also Genius Rocket. I mentioned Genius Rocket in a previous post because I met them at Tech Cocktail in DC a few months back. They do creative crowdsourcing…so basically what that means is a company or organization puts out a job request for creative work whether it is for logo, naming something or coming up with a brand concept- something to that effect. Then bidders send in samples of their work and their price and the company looking for the work will pick someone who fits their preferred design style and budget. But that’s just a way to get your name out there if you are a creative type trying to get a little exposure.
I was going to title this post the Young and the Restless but unless you are a middle aged woman in America I didn’t think you would get it. Sooo anyhoo, SLEEP or lack thereof is the focus of today. This has been the hot topic of many of my teens (who I have been personally coaching) over recent months. And shame on me, I have been promising this article since the holidays but it stayed idle in my draft file for 12 or so days. So alas, here it is. Following is a relaxation video with some beautiful peaceful scenery, some tweeting birdies and you know a little nice reflective music [on YOU TUBE] no less. After watching this video or trying every other ’sleeping trick’ possible, it WILL probably NOT help you sleep. Before you scroll to the bottom of the video and click ‘Continue Reading’ I suggest if you are easily offended you don’t read the remainder of this post. So before we continue on into much heavier dialogue, if you prefer to see a PG Rated version of this post, then read this article instead…and if you choose to continue reading–don’t say I didn’t warn you).
Everyday there are radical niche businesses created by young people in their teens. The 365 Infinite Expedition centers around a book and website/blog which is aimed at bringing these innovative teen leaders to the forefront of public awareness. The 365 Infinite Expedition will be a collection of (365) inspirational teen entrepreneur centric stories + (12) High Profile CEO’s who began their entrepreneurial journey’s as teens. There will be a website/blog that collects inspirational stories from all over the world. 365 serves to accomplish these 4 objectives:
1. Inspire and give hope to young people that the world of possibility is already within them.
2. Help young people understand they “are” society and how they can go about creating a socially conscious community.
3. 365 will provide young people a learning experience directly from their peers that exposes them to opportunity and possibility.
4. Further advocate the Renegade CEO philosophy of seeing tools where others see obstacles and building self-sufficiency within their global community.
We will be accepting story submissions from teens in the U.S. and abroad via an online submission form. We will also list a place to mail in stories for those who may not have internet access. Stay tuned this week for more news on how you can submit your inspirational entrepreneurial success story!
Comments Off Posted by Shonika Proctor on Monday, January 5th, 2009
I am not talking about Russell Simmons, I am talking about the other guy in the red shirt (on the front of the video screen shot at end of this post). Well you may not know him, but the funny thing is I do. His name is Daniel Uribe and he is the co-founder of Lazer Bearings with John Brzezicki. Note to Self: Daniel currently serves as the National Spokesperson for the Renegade CEO’s. [after you watch the video you will see his classic line and why he IS the most awesome National Spokesperson ever]. He knows its about the energy, having fun and being different (in the way you think and carry yourself). If you got that, you will always make the final cut
Anyway, I was browsing the web today for something completely unrelated when I came across this video in which he is leaning back on the front of it (in the red shirt, and most likely the only one that is still in his teens). So I just started cracking up to myself before I even pressed play. The coolest thing ever is the video was on the home page for The Race to BE which is a joint creative project between media mogul and multimillionaire Russell Simmons and the Kauffman Foundation which does alot of advocacy work for entrepreneurship and young entrepreneurs. Hence why Russell Simmons does the intro. The video recaps the film competition for Global Entrepreneurship Week where Daniel was one of five national finalists in the film competition (don’t ask, long story ). But just goes to show you- you just never know where a Renegade CEO is going to be or show up and how they may eventually inspire & impact the world (after the fact, lol). So make sure whenever you are out and about you are tearing down the walls and not being a wall flower because you never know who’s watching…or filming [big smile].
Comments Off Posted by Shonika Proctor on Sunday, January 4th, 2009
It’s a New Year, whew hew! Out with the OLD and in with the YOU! Huh, huh, “you teen CEO know it alls” is that what it’s all about in the year of change? I am sooo going to be more sensitive and compassionate this year [brouhaha, evil grin > ].
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.
Back in November 2008 in the Washington Post (online edition) I read a story (courtesy of Tech Crunch) about Teen Entrpreneur & Blogger Jessica Mah (and her colleagues Arielle and Andy) who launched their company which is a website community called InternshipIN. Their site matches students to Internship opportunities with start up companies. While Jessica states that there are a host of other internship companies their niche is that they are focusing on those start up companies who want to connect with university students (where larger companies tend to currently dominate that space).
Also worth noting is that her start-up costs for the business including the prototype and build out of the website totaled 500 bucks!! And being that I read about them in the Washington Post it means someone also figured out a way to get some great media exposure.
Well here we are, not even 3 months later and today on her fellow Teen CEO’s Daniel Brusilovsky’s blog is a post about Jessica participating in his upcoming Teens in Tech Conference January 31, 2008 in San Francisco, CA. She will be one of the featured speakers. How is that for kicking butt out the gate? Just 3 months into really getting the business going and she is already out there on the speaking circuit. Talk about dreaming and doing! That is what it is ALL about (and also the premise behind my next blog post).
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
And for those who once said I was weird now say I am a creative thought leader…funny how that works now. So now you know what is meant by being a leader and not a follower 
].
