What does it take to become young and successful?

By Pedro De Abreu

 @pedrodeabreu

 



In this guest entreprener blog, Pedro de Abreu catches up with some incredible young entrepreneurs and poses the question - what does it take to become young and successful?

I had the chance to interview some extraordinary young entrepreneurs from an 18 year old serial inventor to a 22 year old venture capitalist who are leaving their marks in the world. In this article, I will share with you the steps they took in order to become, despite their young age, very successful.

1. Find a cause:

I often share in my speeches that the first thing one must do is find a purpose, or define a vision for him or herself. And that is because if one does not know where one is going, one will never get there. It was no different for Sheel Tyle, a 22 year old entrepreneur and associate at venture capital firm NEA. He says that what motivated him to start his own fund and dedicate his life to allocate capital to maximize social impact was the man on the streets of Mumbai haggling 20 rupees down to 19, which equals less than 2 cents in US dollars. It was the young Kenyan entrepreneur who, with a few thousand dollars, could purify water for his local community. These stories, and many more, contributed to ultimately shaping his vision and the cause he wanted to pursue.

In order to find a cause and define a vision for yourself, ask yourself these questions:

What am I passionate about? What are my talents?What does the world need? And how can my talents help solve a specific need?What do I want to be known for?

2. Surround yourself with great people:

Jamie Dunn, 21, shortlisted as one of the top 20 young people in the world, says that the most important step he took towards success was to change his surrounding and the people with whom he spent time.

In his own words, I am a big believer that you are the average of the 5 people you surround yourself with most, and at a specific time in my life I wasn't surrounded by positive people who told me that I could achieve things. Instead, I was surrounded by people who told me that I couldn't. And I used the classic line success doesn't happen to people like us.

When I broke out of that circle out of that mindset that was holding me back and started spending my time with people who encouraged me, I found myself much more confident and actually achieving things.

3. Take action:

The old adage knowledge is power is wrong. At least, partially wrong. You can have the greatest ideas in your head, but if you dont put them into practice, they become worthless. The true mark of success lies in having the courage to invest emotionally, physically and financially in your idea.

Param Jaggi, 18, a successful inventor and a Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur, says that the most important step was when he took his ideas from design into tangible form. He says, There is an interesting dichotomy between people that 'design and talk' about work and others that actually 'build and create.' When I was about 13, I reached a point where I had designed green-technologies on paper. At that point, I took a huge step by going into the lab and actually creating the technologies that I had been envisioning and talking about. To say the least: it was not easy. There is absolutely no glamour behind doing tedious and disruptive lab work. However, there is no greater feeling in the world when you create your first prototype or minimally viable product.

What is preventing you from taking action? What ideas, visions, are you keeping for yourself? Write them down and design a schedule that will help you implement them, little by little.

4. Turn the bad into good:

Rejection is a part of our everyday lives: often a phone call does not go through; a relationship turns sour; an investment does not pay off, and so forth. Instead of dwelling on the negatives, successful entrepreneurs have learned how to find strength in the highs and the lows, ups and downs. So says actress and talk show host Cassandra Perkins, 16. Perkins was bullied from 7th through 8th grade, and left school as a consequence. Shortly after she decided to help other girls who struggled with bullying and self-esteem by becoming a writer, spokes model and columnist for a girls self-esteem magazine.

When you face a challenging situation or rejection, know that those challenges can be used to help you go even further. Dont put your dreams in the backburner because things didnt play out the way you wanted them to. As life coach Veronica Cuyugan tell us, use those challenges and fears as motivating factors to help you succeed.

5. Never, ever give up:

I believe the true mark of entrepreneurs is their ability to never give up, says Vineet Singal, 22, cofounder of Anjna and a Forbes 30 Under 30 social entrepreneur. Singal says of his journey, I conceived of the idea for Anjna back in early 2011, and for the course of a year and a half, struggled to find significant funding and traction. There were countless times where I was on calls and meetings with potential donors who said that they weren't convinced in our vision and path. These failures, he concludes, were the most important periods of us as an organization and for me as a social entrepreneur.

As important as knowing which direction to go to is your ability not to give up until you reach your goals. When obstacles appear; when calls arent returned, remember what brought you to where you are, in the first place. It would make no sense for you to give up now. Keep pushing. Keep striving. Keep facing the sun. For each rejection, ask yourself, What can I do differently? What can I learn from this situation? Finally, say to yourself: I am bigger than this.