Three reasons why your next big client could be a kid

[Music]

have you noticed

that more and more young people are

developing

and scaling ideas and businesses like

never before

in this talk i’m going to give you three

reasons why your next big client

could in fact be a kid when i use the

word kid i mean anywhere between the

range of

3 years old and 25 also

it’s a little bit quicker than saying

kids and young adults repeatedly

did you know that the average age of a

business owner

in the united kingdom is 40 years old

did you also know that if you google

what does a good business leader look

you’ll be told that it is someone who is

so committed to their business

that they’re willing to invest every

single

second of their time and their energy

towards building it do you think that’s

always the case

what we’re taught about business people

and the roots to innovation

has rapidly become outdated as a result

of this

our misconceptions regarding business

people

or experience has led to seasoned

professionals

often missing out on tapping into new

talent

and sometimes more efficient and

profitable ways

of running their own organizations

so let’s look at reason one

your next big client could be a kid

because kids

have this fantastic fantastic curiosity

it leads them to ask the right questions

in order to seek

a satisfactory solution

if you have a niece a nephew a sibling

or any toddler in your life who has ever

made you watch

peppa pig you know that kids love that

question

why why why why

they use this question in order to seek

a satisfactory

solution let me give you an example

which will kind of explain why they

could be your next client

when i was younger i absolutely loved

eggs

and when i was growing up in zimbabwe i

was learning how to speak

both english and shauna and in my native

language of shauna

zai means egg so

toddler vernanda was with her older

cousin

and i remember asking her please

can i have his eye and she said no

so i asked again please can i have his

eye

and she said no so i asked her one more

time

please can i have a zai

and she said no and i remember thinking

okay

time to change tact so i asked her why

and she told me it’s not cooked so i

asked her

why again and she told me because she

hasn’t cooked it

and then eventually after so much asking

she eventually agreed

to cook me my egg this is because

of two reasons the first being

i kept on asking that it got annoying

enough that she had no choice

but to find me the solution the second

is because she realized that if she

didn’t cook the egg

i was going to eat it raw why

because one way or another i was

determined to find a way

to get my egg this little

story is a short example of how kids

have a fantastic way of pushing

boundaries

until they get what they want they look

at the world

and think why is this the way it is

why can’t it be something else and why

can’t i get

what i want over time i became very good

at asking questions

but not just asking why or how i began

asking questions with global solutions

at the heart

i also developed an appreciation for how

good question and collaboration can lead

to solid solutions

that benefit not just myself but the

world around me

this ethos is not only shared by me

but it’s also shown by other kids take

my pen for example

at the age of eight years old she

developed a fashion company

that creates environmentally sustainable

fashion accessories

now at the age of 19 maya is now

given away 10 of all of her profits

to environmentally friendly

organizations and charities

to make sure that the work doesn’t just

start and end with her

she looked at her impact and asked what

and also turned a small idea into

sustainable business

this experience taught me that as kids

sometimes you have to understand that

experience doesn’t need to hold you back

you can make your own path carve out

your own niche

and it’s okay to get it wrong because

that’s where the best ideas

and the best lessons are also learned

the second reason why your next big

client can be a kid

is because kids are generally free from

the shackles of experience

they tend to approach life with the

openness to risk

be it learning how to walk or trying new

foods

they don’t suddenly decide you know what

this walking thing it’s not working for

me in fact

i’m just going to stay crawling i can

get from point a

to point b without having to do this

whole falling over thing

i’m tired of it no they keep

going until they find a satisfactory

solution

and can walk or process their food in a

way that’s good for them

however in adult life we’re often

prescribed with linear processes

of how to do things when to do things

and what’s the right way

let me give you my example growing up

i always wanted to be a lawyer and

society and tradition

tells us that if you want to be a lawyer

there’s set

steps that you have to go through the

first step

is that you do your gcses and get

fantastic grades

then you do your a levels or

international baccalaureate

and get fantastic grades then you go to

your dream university

do your right internships at the right

time then

you secure your dream role at the firm

of your dreams

and suddenly there you go you’ve stepped

into

life as an amazing lawyer

but that’s not how it went for me i did

my gcses

and got fantastic grades then i started

studying the international baccalaureate

and also picked my dream uni

that dream university then offered me a

place and i could already see the

different steps that

society had laid out in front of me

starting to make sense

next thing i knew it was results day and

that’s when i learned

that i missed out on my dream university

by one point in every subject

and through that one missed point the

whole plan was out the window

i suddenly found myself at a crossroads

and i had two options i either

tried the formula again and hopefully

it’ll work around the second time round

or i turn on my inner kid and go with

the flow

so i decided to channel my inner kid

and i went with the flow i went to

university albeit a different one

and i had an amazing time

i finished with fantastic grades but i

didn’t finish with my dream role set up

instead i finished with a dream work

experience

where i got the chance to work with

young people in an amazing youth charity

i learned a lot of things in this

coordinator role

i then went into business strategy and

worked with some inspiring startups and

smes

who taught me that if you see solutions

make them happen

and if you see ideas breathe life into

them

now at age 22 i can say

i didn’t do things the right way yes

i did my internships but it was at the

conventionally

wrong time i didn’t go straight into my

lawyer job but i did so many other

things that broadened up my mind and

kept me thinking

in that curious and childish way that i

still cherish today

oh and also i now find myself

able to say that i’m a businesswoman and

also

stepping into my dream role as an

amazing lawyer

hopefully

the final reason why your next big kind

could be a kid

is because kids have not only grown up

with technology

but they have developed an impressive

ability to use it in order to shape

their communities

and also develop solutions let’s take

instagram for example

instagram was invented in 2010 in order

to be

a digital photo album now

we’re seeing more and more young people

not just use this as an album

but they’re using instagram as a tool

for change

we’ve seen more and more people not just

showcase themselves

but they’re showcasing their businesses

and launching their initiatives

on the platform we’ve also seen people

turn their own selves and their own

personal brands

into glowing businesses or

by the power of one thing that was

created to be

a digital photo album

but it doesn’t stop there kids

don’t only excel with technology when it

comes to visual aesthetics

but they also excel when it comes to

technical ability

and strategic thinking let’s take

esports for example

for those of you that don’t know what

esports is esports

is a form of competition where people

playing video games

are organized into multiplayer

competitions

over time we’ve seen this industry

growing and it is literally

booming in fact last year a 16 year old

teen in america named kyle was the first

ever winner of fortnite

which is a video game and it wasn’t just

a video game win

no he won this game at the

world cup for fortnite and as a result

of winning

he left not just with a championship but

with 3 million us dollars in his bank

account

now the same games that parents often

scored their kids

for playing are now the same games that

are turning kids

into global household names but it

doesn’t stop there

another example is george mattis

george is the founder of teal and he

sells commercial drones

to different companies his vision is to

be able to lead with developing

cutting-edge technology these young

people

are an example of what it means to not

just see a camera and think okay

that’s it or to see an industry and

think

i can’t enter it they’re an example of

how young people

are using technology to show that i

don’t need all the experience in the

world

to create something special and i can

create a new industry

or new ways of doing business even as a

young kid

so we’ve now had a look at how young

people

are using their global curiosity lack of

experience

and aptitude for technology in order to

develop

new and dynamic solutions but

i now want to invite you to consider a

few things

that you can be doing to make sure that

you’re not only looking at these kids

and thinking

wow but you’re thinking about how you

can engage with them

but also make the most of this bright

talent

let’s take a quick look at the example

of george and his commercial drawings

at some point george may consider

seeking out the services of a marketing

company or agency

in order to make sure that sales don’t

only continue to do well

but that they boom another example

is fortnite star kyle he may need the

assistance

of an accountant and a manager to make

sure that his 3 million winnings

are well spent and that he is in the

right eyes of

new competitions and new ways of

increasing revenue

kyle may also look to seek out the

services of a design company

in order to make sure that he is

creating merge

and catering to his growing fan base

both of these examples will definitely

at some point

need the assistance of a lawyer just to

make sure that their paperwork

and ideas are well protected

these are just some brief examples of

how a lot of

bright minds will at some point need the

guidance and services

of seasoned professionals

however often enough when seasoned

professionals are looking to get their

next client

they often go to networking events

business expos and different

environments that are often closed off

to young people and therefore closed off

to their bright ideas

and potentially new clients

so i want to leave you with one question

the next time you think about your next

client or where you can get business

ask yourself problem solving has no age

limit

so why should you

thank you