What were you doing when you were a teen? I’d tell you what I was up to but I’ll spare you the details and just leave it at, nothing good!
Why is it that our expectations of teens seems to be so low. Get good grades, stay out of trouble, get into college and, well that’s about the extent of our expectations. I think you’ll find that if you look around many teens are doing so much more. One of the things that is so refreshing is to see how many teens pursue their dreams with a passion, without reservation. It’s something every entrepreneur needs to learn to emulate.
The Young Designer
Take my website for instance. I was looking for someone to design a custom layout using Thesis. The problem was that a) there weren’t a lot of people doing custom Thesis layouts b) the one’s that were just aren’t that good. So one day I’m cruising around the Internet and I come across the site blogussion. I notice its done on Thesis Theme and that it has a very good design. So I send an email to site owner and ask him who designed it, to which he replied he did. I asked him if he would be interested in designing mine and he agrees. Great, Ive found my designer Alex Fraiser. I send him some money and we get started. It wasn’t until our first phone conversation that I realized Alex was 15! I was actually blown away that this young man had designed the sites he has and is now running a freelance business. Within my carrier I have used two dozen design agencies on one project or another. Never have I had a person who was able to work as fast, efficient, and with such natural design sense as Alex. It’s very refreshing to work with young talented people that just “get it”.
Another Encounter
During IZEAfest they give an opportunity to someone to get up and make a 5 min presentation. Its called “5 min of fame”. I watched several adults get up on stage and do thier thing. Some were good, some were really bad. But then Tommy Fishback got up and rocked the presentation. His stage presence was incredible and his enthusiasm was contagious. He is 14 and creating a Faecbook widget that will be used by students to track school assignments. Again here’s a kid that isn’t letting his age get in the way of his dreams.
Here’s ten more teens that are following their dreams as well.
Whats getting in the way of your dreams? Leave a comment below and let me know what things are keeping you from pursuing your dreams?