24
Being a kid in the business world― Good or Bad?
By: admin
Is a kid going to be treated the same as an adult in the business world? Is a kid going to get liked because of his boundless energy and enthusiasm but get mocked at the same time for his naivety? Will thousands of people trust what a kid says hoping that the kid goes through with his dream? Or will the kid get shut down and told to lead a normal life?
Now it sounds like I’m protesting for children’s rights but I just keep noticing how some adults help support everything I do and what this blog is all about while there are others telling me to abandon this dream and lead a normal life. And I can see where both arguments are coming from though. I am creative and full of determination so at my age, I should definitely be chasing my dream while I still have the opportunity. But then I am also easily influenced by propaganda, lack experience, and reluctant to hear negative critiques so I might end up in harsh failure. So which path do I follow?
Aaron Nemoyten describes on Startupism a meetup he went to where he met a “Newbie Idea Guy” who was unwilling to hear the truth that his idea had already been used and kept insisting that his idea was the “better amazing idea” and that was his only backing. Without any experience, one newbie is trying to conquer the whole travel site niche and trying to get partners and money for it. Just from that story, I can imagine that happening to me and upsetting me greatly.
Now we at CanTheWorldHearMe don’t want that happening to us. We want to be respected for who we are especially in the business world where a first impression could mean a million dollars. So our plan is to double the amount of experience we get in half the time. We’re going to go all-out overdrive mode on this plan so there is no regret for what we do. First step of course is creating a plan but we will gather the necessary networking and experience in the meantime. Sure this might sound ambitious but I follow my own philosophy that I created:
Believe in the world,
and the world will believe in you.
~Kevin X
October 24th, 2007 at 3:01 am
Hey Kev, it’s Alex, managing editor from Startupism. I wish you luck with your plan. Keep at it. Just wanted to let you know that your ambition will likely get you very far. I started working for various companies as an intern back when I was 17 and was working full time before I even finished college — and yes I am not ashamed to say that I dropped out — this has led me to opportunities I don’t think I would have had if I stayed in college. Now, I find myself in San Francisco, CA — almost on a whim. I met my current business partner Jessica Mah (www.jessicamah.com) back in New York in mid May. Two weeks later I was in SF working on a business together with her — btw, she’s 17! So once again, I think you can do it and I wish you luck in all your endeavors.
Oh, and thanks very much for your comment to Aaron’s post. He’s my other business partner. The 3 of us are working on getting a startup off the ground =)
October 24th, 2007 at 11:55 am
Hey Kevin, thanks for the plug to my article
One thing I didn’t go into (because it wasn’t really relevant to the article) was the response to Newbie Idea Guy that a few members of the audience (including myself) had. We all tried to give helpful suggestions - choose one thing to do well, narrow your market, define your objectives, and do lots of reading and research.
That’s an important distinction when it comes to this ’startup culture,’ where since there are so few direct competitors, everyone roots everybody else on (for the most part) and assumes that all boats will rise with the tide.
At the same time, I do not have much respect for anybody who comes in with really nothing to bring to the table but enthusiasm and the idea that ‘we can make lots of money!’ That’s totally useless and is part of what led to the huge dot-com bust not too long ago. I know that in school we all learn that ‘everybody’s special’ and blah blah blah, but when it comes to business, you have to prove yourself. Until then, you’re just another dreamer.
If you guys really want your asses inspired, and I imagine you do, check out “Masters of Doom” by David Kushner. It’s about id Software, creators of the Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake games, and more specifically about John Carmack and John Romero, genius programmer and heavy-metal-loving rockstar-wannabe-designer, respectively. They worked their asses off for years straight on game after game until they finally struck gold with Doom… now they had audacity, but they were willing to back it up with an incredible (possibly insane) work ethic AND the ability to produce truly technically impressive and well-designed products.
I’d like to know what you guys are doing to ‘be special’ besides starting a blog. Technically, most teenagers already have blogs, it’s just called Myspace and Livejournal. And I’m not even saying you HAVE to have something! But what you’ve got now is a recursive argument - we’re ambitious because we say we’re ambitious, we have big dreams and we’re writing about them to prove it, just you wait and see we’ll be huge!
In closing I’d like to note that I’m pretty young as well. I’m 23. I know that’s older than you guys, but most people I meet still tell me I’m young and I shouldn’t worry about chasing success so much because I’ve got so much time left. And I still think, yeah but I want it now! At the same time, I think my strength lies in all the things I tried to do when I was young that did not succeed the way I wanted them to - which I would call ‘failure’ but most would still be impressed with for trying at all. Game mods, short films, long films, rock bands, techno albums… I’m now a lot more cynical, but I’ve learned A LOT, and that always informs my decisions and opinions.
Anyway, sorry for crapping up your blog with a comment as long as your post. Hopefully you now understand where I’m coming from
-Aaron
October 25th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
I am so envious of you in this moment - you have so many exciting experiences ahead of you!
I’m tempted to try to make suggestions, but I don’t want to do so unless that is what you are looking for
You guys certainly have my support and interest. I’ll be watching how events unfold. If there’s some small way that a Gen Xer who’s got some World 1.0 (or 0.5 for that matter) experience can assist you, please let me know.
October 27th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Thank you all very much for your comments, truly inspiring.
I respect everything you guys say because you guys probably know far more than I do. I wish to gain experience asap and then really show the world what I am all about. In the meantime this blog will detail this adventure.