Three pillars of success from a teen entrepreneur | Pierce Millar | TEDxCCHS Youth
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDDsLhpVOCg Video ID: aDDsLhpVOCg ============================================================ who would have guessed that an app designed by a 19-year-old Harvard student to rate the attractiveness of fellow students at University lead him to becoming one of the world's leading billionaires Mark Zuckerberg found success developing Facebook as a teenager one of the most popular social media apps that has transformed the world of social networking he has revolutionized how we interact online and pave the way for modern day social media he is a remarkable we were supposed to laugh example of what is possible if young people take chances on their dreams ideas and businesses and that is what I'm here to share with you all today there is power in teenage entrepreneurship young people have immense potential to pave the way towards a better future through their businesses and other endeavors but who am I and why am I so qualified to talk about this my name is Pierce malar and while I'm only a freshman here at cchs I've been the founder of many small businesses and today I want to simplify the path of Entrepreneurship into three main pillars so not only becomes easier but also more accessible to our community and the students within my first entrepreneur Endeavor was when I was only 11 at the time we lived in a small Beach toown outside of LA and I constantly biked everywhere I was tired of having to put my shoes on bike to the beach and take them off when I got there identifying my problem I brainstormed Solutions and came up with a new product grassy pedals a bike pedal that allowed users to bike to the beach while while Barefoot by using artificial turf on the top of pedals although this Etsy page was made more than 4 years ago the page is still up and I occasionally receive orders to this day I may not have made Millions but I learned my first pillar of Entrepreneurship Taking Chances you must start by embodying this Wing Gretzky quote you miss 100% of the shots you don't take although the statement may be overused it is 100% true if you never try something you will never leave fail because you'll never give yourself the chance to succeed and the First Leap doesn't always have to be a big one it just be experimenting with an idea or considering the logistics the important part is that you're putting your ideas out into the world and remember this too many ideas and opportunities are thrown away so don't contribute to more of them 2 years later for my birthday I received a 3D printer and I love making all sorts of things and giting them to families and friends one day while at middle school I saw fidget cubes and poppets exploding and I knew I had to have one as a seventh grader I couldn't just go and ask my mom to buy me one so I decided to find a free file online and 3D print it next day I came to school everyone wanted one of my Creations I had tons of kids asking can you make me one and I'll pay you as soon as I heard the word pay money simp filled my head I got to work printing them multiple colors and combinations to ensure my customers would be satisfied with the product I figured that I could sell them for $15 a piece and while they only cost a cent to make I sold around 10 of them daily profiting nearly $150 a day I learned that I not only need a good idea but what I really needed was a good marketing strategy I knew that in Middle School many kids are influenced by what the most well-like kid in school has so I went to the three most popular kids in the grade and gave them free cubes to play with in class I also told them I'd give them a small Commission on every order that they brought brought in as soon as they were seen sporting my new cubes on campus everyone wanted one so I learned that I not only need a good idea but an amazing marketing strategy but at the time I didn't know but I was using a more scaled down version of influence marketing influence marketing is a marketing strategy that puts the product in the hands of people whose lives are aspirational by doing so the consumers see these celebrities and influencers and want to buy the product to emulate their lives this is one of many different marketing strategies is that you can do I suggest implementing many of them and then seeing which has the most significant Roi return on investment in which makes your company the most money and remember this as soon as you figure out the key to marketing your audience won't be able to resist your product after I graduated middle school and entered Cathedral Catholic High School the idea from my most recent startup came to mind students for hire a local club and business on campus that enables parents to post jobs for students to do the students can make some extra cash on the side while not having to commit to a full-time job it's in the App Store and the Google Play store so you all should go download it when I first started my company I was overworked and losing lots of sleep I never let anyone else in my company because I feared that by doing so I would lose control and therefore would no longer be mine instead here's the truth by leveraging the third pillar delegation a business becomes exponentially more productive by limiting the busy work for the creative mind I found that by allowing my friends in and having them draft emails and schedule my meetings I could work on getting the app designed and published they could add personal touches to my emails and they could handle my schedule better than I ever could so remember this every challenge is an opportunity every setback a lesson every dream a possibility waiting to be realized starting without these principles is akin to constructing a brick wall without its foundational bricks leading to its eventual collapse so go out into the world start taking leaps marketing to your target audience and delegating tasks to your friends and finally start living your dreams thank you