I was fortunate enough to be a mentor at the Startup Program at my community high school this year...what an honor and what an inspiring experience!
When I headed into the first career as a musician, I did just about anything to earn money...teaching, gigging, setting up computer music setups in recording studios...pretty much anything.
It was a great time in my life....but... I had no training or guidance...or more accurately...I did not have clue as to how to take ideas and vision and turn it into revenue.
I loved creating things that moved people (at least some people) and there are many ways to earn a living around music but I did not have the proper training to understand fundamentals about business...which I believe would have served me well at that time.
When I started mentoring my team one of the first questions asked was:
"Did I ever have any self doubt about my ideas in business?"
Ha! I responded - "I'm having some doubt about a new offering I'm putting out there right now!"
From the outside when we see successful people in business, it looks easy.
Spend some time with them and asked...it's seldom a smooth ride.
Ideation -> excitement -> (insecurity) -> market research -> prototyping -> (insecurity) -> iterate and optimize -> financial models -> (insecurity) -> raising capital -> marketing and sales...
Building a business takes a lot of courage and tenacity...have to push through the self doubt...test and iterate.
It was so inspiring to see the students go through this process and grow so much in such a short period of time and I was proud to be able to mentor them through this process...and I learned a lot.
Exposing high school students to entrepreneurship I believe provides a foundation around all aspects of business which will serve them regardless of the career path they chose.
It's also a reminder of the power and freedom we have to build things and make a difference in the world. All of the teams presented clever ideas intended to do just that.
Filled with gratitude tonight....
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