Confidence WILL Transform Your Business!

Alfonso, I have doubt. I'm starting my company, but I'm 18. I think that people won't take me seriously. How can I get over this?

Hey, Alfonso, you gotta believe. It's behind Evan. Honestly, you believe. There's a few things. One, social media. You can be whoever you want to be in terms of social media. You can build a presence, you can build a brand, you can build awesome products. I think in the world of social media, the digital economy, you know, great products win markets. So if you've got a product idea, then, you know, there's nothing stopping you. If it's a services business and it's even a face-to-face business, then I think people are going to buy your enthusiasm. People are going to buy your commitment and energy. I know a couple of guys who are young and they've gone in, they're sub-21 and they've started a services business. And they actually said, well, you know, if you believe what I say and I can do a good job for you, I think I'd learn really quickly. I've got a great work ethic. I've got a great attitude. Why don't you take me on for 2 weeks just on expenses and pay me nothing? And then the end of the 2 weeks, we'll prove ourselves. And they've done similar sort of thing with their people. So it's almost like try before you buy. So if you've got any anxieties about being 16 years old, I'd number 1, put them away. And number 2 is just build up your confidence and conviction because there's a lot of people who are 16 years old now who are kind of changing the world. And just a couple of examples, I think there was a Forbes article about someone, Maya Penn, who's done loads of stuff. She's given 3 TED Talks, started a load of stuff around a clothing company, an environmental activist. And wow, at the age of what, 16? It's just incredible. You just couldn't have imagined that. So I don't think age is a barrier, but age is something you should kind of think. You've got tremendous energy, tremendous passion. You've got a big idea. People back you if you back yourself.

I mean, I can relate. When I was 19, I had my first software company and I was selling to guys 3 times my age who had PhDs, and I didn't have a single background, you know, in science. I'm selling to scientists, and it took me a while to get over it. And I would try to do everything by email. I thought, oh, if I talk on the phone, they'll know I'm too young and and, uh, you know, they won't take me seriously. And it wasn't until I realized that these guys actually need me, like I can provide value to them. And at the end of the day, that's all they care about. All they care about is, can you help me with the problem that I'm facing right now? And, uh, once I understood that, then it gave me a lot more confidence in being able to talk to people. Even, even later, as I started working with brands, one of the first companies I worked with was Microsoft. I was 20-something and I thought, wow, why would Microsoft want to work with me? They're Microsoft, they know everything and I'm just some young punk kid. Then I started talking and I realized, oh yeah, no, no, these guys need my help. I can help them. Just having confidence in your abilities, knowing that all they really, really deep down care about is that you can provide value to them and help them. Once you understand that, at least for me, that the age fear kind of went away.

Yeah. And with that, Evan, you know and I know whatever age you are, you could— any really smart kids could go into a business and improve it. And, you know, when you run a business for any period of time, you just either become complacent or you just do the same things you do every day. And I think this complacency stifles innovation. So people accept the status quo. And I just think new pairs of eyes with tremendous enthusiasm and no kind of just anxiety about changing stuff can make a massive difference. So, you know, back yourself, believe in yourself. And like you, Evan, when I was 16, I was selling ice creams on the beachfront. And I'll tell you what, it paid for my college education. I couldn't believe how much margin there was in ice creams. We used to sell these equivalent to Canadian. It was probably at the time, this is a long time ago, it's about a dollar. And I used to buy this stuff in the ice cream and the cone. The actual unit price of these ice creams was probably about 2 cents. I just couldn't believe the profit margin in ice creams. Obviously, there was, you know, if you didn't hit it right, it's a really hot day, there's a lot of wastage. So it makes you think about your margins and be candid with you guys. When it was kind of a rainy day, it was a bad day. No one came to the little booth on the seafront. But what I had to do was get out the booth and go and sell my wares and sell the ice creams to whoever was around. And you find out as well, you know, stuff happens in your head to say, you know, people aren't going to buy this. They don't want to talk to me. They're busy with their families. But when you go up to people and just have a conversation, it's just amazing how people are welcoming and people want to buy stuff. Especially from young people. People back young people. People want young people to be successful. If you believe in yourself, that is contagious. That belief and conviction spreads like a beautiful infection of love. And you know what it's like, Evan? The first one you sell, the second one gets easier. The third one gets easier. The fourth family you go up to is easier. Everyone you do with all these things, just take the first step. Believe in yourself, back yourself, have no fear, and then you just stop listening to those crazy voices in your head that tell you you can't, because you can.