When Life Gives You Melons | Timur Daudpota | TEDxYouth@Houston
so what happens when life hands you melons well it just means that you're dyslexic for those of you who don't know what dyslexia is in simple terms it just means that you mix up your numbers and your letters so it makes it really hard for you to read and write and school can be the one of the hardest times in your life growing up I made sure that school schol never got in the way of my education now I'm sure you're wondering well how the dyslexic person see the best example of this is to go online and look at capture you know the security boxes dyslexic have a big problem with this however you know it's not easy being called lazy because you have dyslexia or teachers don't know what to do with you because they think you're stupid Albert Einstein Richards Branson Steve Jobs mola Tesla Henry Ford Tom Cruz Steven Spielberg Muhammad Ali Alexander granbell and Pablo Picasso besides all being dyslexic shared a Common Thread of having that uncommon courage to change the world as I see it do you know that 40% of self-made millionaires are dyslexic many dyslexics go on to become successful entrepreneurs but you don't have to have dyslexia to become a success story hence the rest of us 60% self-made millionaires growing up I was extremely hyperactive most of my childhood was spent in China I always wanted a skateboard but my parents were never too fond of the idea my first experience at entrepreneurship came at a South Asian wedding you know the ones where the groom rides the elephant to get married outside the wedding hall there was a guy selling yo-yos just like every other kid I want one too I didn't had any money in my pocket so I had to get creative I walked up to the guy and said you know I really want a yo-yo I don't have any money but maybe we can work some type of a trade he thinks for a second and he says you know I am really thirsty for every bottle of coke that you bring me I'll give you a yo-yo I was happy to oblige I walked back inside and I thought for a second you know it cost $2 for a bottle of Coke and a dollar for a yo-yo doesn't seem like a ref trade to me so what I did was I found all the half empty bottles of Coke laying around I pour them all together made 30 Coke bottles traded in for 30 yo-yos and after a wedding I sold each one for $5 that day I made $150 in my pocket it felt really good to become an entrepreneur but all that changed when I first came to college my first three days were practically spent living out of my car but when I finally did find a place to day I found out my car got towed and my computer got stolen well great but that day I did learn something I learned that finding a parking in the school was challenging and getting to class on time wasn't fun either sure people had their bikes they had the long boards but they weren't practical so we thought there must be a better way we got the best industrial designers and graphic designers on our team we made a board that was light portable easy to carry around now these were designed to save the planet nor to take your entire extended family to the seaside no these were designed to make you laugh make you smile lightweight big wheels made to be affordable what started as the idea now became a business this was a new stage in our company now to only open the doors and the customers will come flying in only to find out that wasn't the case we got shut down booed out kicked out but no matter what happened we keep moving forward within the next three months we entered into every major distributor in United States by the fourth month we became an international company when we first entered our major distribution contract with Canada we went on winning the South by Southwest startup challenge a startup challenge you get into many awards you got into TV but the thing is there's a Japanese term called Kaizen happening here there's a Japanese term called kaizan that means continuous Improvement that no matter what happens you must keep pushing forward do you know that the Japanese Samurai only wears armor in the front and not in the back is because when in battle there is no retreat because when you have passion for something you do you'll do whatever it takes to execute now I'm sure you're wondering well what does this dyslexic entrepreneur create well let me show you [Music] [Music] so what made school really difficult for me dyslexia now became a gift using these ideas we're able to create a product that changed the nighttime writing experience for skateboarders as well as longboarders now imagine using these wheels to interact with a city like Houston so next time you think a dyslexic lazy and he can't do anything I'd like to invite you to indulge us so we can revolutionize the world thank you