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
like
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has rapidly become outdated as a result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
a
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
next
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
next
ask yourself problem solving has no age
limit
so why should you
thank you