Why the stereotypes about millennials are holding us back. | Nick Molnar | TEDxYouth@Sydney
[Music] [Applause] when I sat down with my wife and told her that I was gonna do a TEDx talk she suggested that I come onstage with a loaf of gluten-free bread and an avocado and smash them together to make smashed avocado but we settled with me doing an Ellen DeGeneres selfie all right so on three I want everyone to say smashed avocado all right you ready turn this around one two three smash that photos gonna go viral for sure all right my name is Nick I'm a millennial at 75% of my customers are Millennials and I'm here to set the record straight about us so some background on me I'm a 27 year old serial entrepreneur I which basically means I've never had a secure paycheck I managed to sell the most jewelry on eBay while I was at uni when I was 19 out of my bedroom which led me then to co-found a business called after pay what after pay does is essentially allow someone who's buying a 200 old address to pay for payments of $50 so cost the customer nothing extra we pay the retailer's straightaway and we take all the risk we've grown really quickly which has been largely driven by Millennials a bit over two years ago when we started we had less than ten retailers we've now got over 7,000 retailers we have a couple thousand customers we've now got over a million customers and we process annualized sales through our platform of over a billion dollars so we've grown really quickly when I was building my business I believed that if I could drive mass millennial adoption it would drive mainstream adoption and I've been really privileged to watch how Millennials are shifting society Millennials generally genuinely influence the older generation they educate them to engage in services that make life more enjoyable so being 27 I fit smack bang in the in the middle of the Millennial cohort and I fit the profile to a tee what concerns me or what is upsetting for me is the stereotypes that are thrown our way and they really cloud us from talking about the true legacy that millenials are leaving our instantaneous gratification gene does sometimes get in the way and distract us from taking the time to think about what certain scenario that I'm certain scenarios deserve so Millennials are shifting society we're leaving a legacy but is that the legacy that we want to leave so I'd like to introduce the concept of Mille Emma's these are the Millennial dilemmas their life's big little problems so how I think of Mille Emma's it's the everyday hurdles of the older generation as they're experienced by the millennial generation and Mille Emma's are real you need to be in the Millennial Club to understand them and know that they're real I saw something really funny on Instagram the other day it said there should be a millennial edition of Monopoly where everyone just walks around the board paying rent no one actually buys anything but that's it that's at room ulema right and sure Millennials are guilty of many things we have our generational quirks we have our superficial side but these stereotypes have really opened us up to outright character assassination at times and this frustrates me because more than any generation in history Millennials have the opportunity to leave a deep lasting and positive change so it's time to stop being the generation that gets written off and become the generation that rewrites history so let's dive a bit deeper into our everyday Mille Emmas Mille EMA number one we are absolutely guilty of instantaneous gratification we live in the moment we live for instantaneous gratification I'm not gonna lie I was in and over on the way home from work last week and I did order beats while I was in the uber and it was kind of a race if who was gonna get there first we live for our five-star Eber ratings we live for our 50 Instagram likes but that's understandable because we have grown up in being at the forefront of this technology revolution where the early adopter in all the main technologies that are coming through so looking at it from a positive life I believe it means we're very decisive we're insured if we trust our gut and we put stuff out into the world and then the world gives us real-time positive feedback on whether it was the right or wrong thing we fail fast and we're always learning the lemon number two irresponsible this is an outright myth my business has been driven off the growth of debit cards two out of every three transactions in Australia are processed on a debit card not a credit card and 90% of my afterplay auditors use a debit card what happened or what god why the trends being driven through is that Millennials feel responsible by using their debit card links into their bank balance so when the global financial crisis hit the middle millennial being myself we just turned 18 and it sent this shock through society to say you should spend money that you have spend money and be responsible Millennials are really really responsible and it's an absolute misconception the lament of the three entitled and disloyal this is this is my favorite misconception everyone says that Millennials are disloyal but actually Millennials are very loyal in fact they're vocally loyal to brands which deserve their support the bar to loyalty is really high but when Millennials believe in the brand and they've had a true connection in the brand cos it's made them feel special it's built a proper relationship Millennials are vocally loyal I I swear I had absolutely nothing to do with this but my customers they made a group on Facebook called we love after pay and it has over a hundred thousand members so millennium Millennials are really vocally loyal to brands that deserve their loyalty oh let's look at entitled Millennials in the workforce you know you want to have a long and rewarding career but you haven't been given enough responsibility you're not challenged you haven't been promoted in months many employers look at this as a sense of impatience or entitlement don't get me wrong it has to be managed but these traits and this entrepreneurial spirit is incredible with its harnessed in the right way when you think about the economic environment that we have grown up it's been almost perfect we haven't had an economic downturn we haven't had high unemployment and actually the opposites been true because we were at the forefront of this technology revolution we were the early adopters we were really highly demanded resource so we've never had a problem getting work so our upbringing economic environment has perfectly fostered a confident entrepreneurial spirit that just wants to write if they believe in a purpose they'll do everything they can to get things done and a number of social commentators have been very vocal about Millennials in the workforce saying we are driven by free food and bean bags and that we're social-media addicts who are hopelessly entitled because our parents have inadvertently destroyed us I know it's true but when I look at it my parents they encouraged me to negotiate they encouraged me to find angles they rewarded me for challenging the status quo and for speaking my mind so here's what I think I think Millennials have grit call it entitled or disloyal if you want to but Millennials have perseverance we have a mindset that cannot be taught or trained it's come through the coming together of a perfect economic environment and being at the forefront of this technology revolution we will run through walls to get something done if it's for a purpose we truly believe in when you think about all the businesses which have shifted society in recent times they've all been driven by Millennials whether it's the social media revolution the shared economy revolution the music streaming or video streaming revolution they're all driven by Millennials Millennials are the early adopters and they educate and influence the older generation and the mass-market to engage in services that make life more enjoyable Millennials are coming into their perfect point of power we are not the new kids on the block anymore we are not the people that the older generation are complaining about and the older bosses are complaining about we now are the bosses did you know that Millennials are australia's largest population cohort and in just over ten years we will earn two out of every three dollars of income in Australia it's pretty incredible it's a little bit scary but it's incredible we're coming into our perfect point of power and the world is trusting us with their future but this instantaneous gratification gene that we're guilty of is sometimes getting in the way of us taking the time certain scenarios deserve we're leaving a legacy but is it really the legacy that we want to leave so without a doubt the biggest Malema is the Millennial legacy we are running at a million miles an hour but what we need to do is take a break take a breath think about what legacy we are leaving on this world I sure know it's a mark that I want to be proud of and then decisions over the next five years are going to determine how generations for centuries to come remember the Millennial Generation when I avoided a corporate job and created my own destiny it was driven by the legacy that I wanted to leave I wanted to build things that make life so enjoyable and improve people's life so much they think how did I actually live without this but beyond that I would love to be part of helping the Millennials shake off all these stereotypes that we don't deserve I love my legacy to be helping melenik Millennials leave the legacy they deserve to leave let's be known for grit for perseverance for applying our skills to make a real difference over the next five five years the world is going to be faced with incredibly important decisions decisions such as climate change inequality and aging population guess who's going to have to make all these decisions we are the Millennials so let's turn our Mille emma's into opportunities and make sure we leave a legacy that makes us proud so if I can finish by asking you one thing please take a moment to breathe please think hard about what legacy you want to leave on this world your time is now thank you [Applause] [Music]