For the last five years I’ve been asked to present to a local high school some of the lessons that I’ve learned being an entrepreneur. I must admit it’s one of the highlights of the year for me when I’m able to go in and talk about my successes and failures to a group of 16 to 18 year-olds. With their short attention spans, is amazing that I can actually hold their attention for an entire hour and a half. But these young people are anxious to learn what it would take to be an entrepreneur.

I start off by comparing the difference between being an employee and being an employer and the difference in their potential for providing for their future families. In the United State where I live, the Department of Labor reports that the average salary for the entire country is $21.20 per hour which is the equivalent of about $40,711.61 a year and then I asked them what type of house can they afford if they’re making the average salary. One of the students piped up and said, “a trailer.” In the sad part of it is, he’s right.  Even though I’ve been independent of any employer for many many years, I can still remember what it felt like to know every month how much was going into my bank account every month.   It seems like there was never enough money to make ends meet.

So one day I determined it was more expensive for me to keep working as an employee and I quit and become the master of my destiny and while it was tough in the early years, I soon figured it out with some trial and error and soon there was more money at the end of the month than I even thought was possible.

When I was 21 I wrote down on a piece of paper and titled it “Everything I Ever Wanted” and I went to town writing down every material thing I thought would be cool to have in my possession.  I then put it away and only looked at every couple of years, but the very act of writing it down put it into my subconscious and when I turned 35, I pulled it out and was amazed to find I had accomplished or purchased everything on the list.

I am now recommending you do the same thing.  Take out a piece of paper and write down “Everything I Ever Wanted” and you can categorize them into places you want to visit, the things you want to do and the things you want to have!  Pull it out a little more often than I did and look at it.  Then put it away and go to work!  Send me a note in a couple of years and tell me how this changed your life.

Once you have accomplished everything you thought was possible, you’ll want to give back and give of your time and not expect anything back.  Your reward will be the satisfaction that maybe you gave someone a spark, gave someone some inspiration to really make something of their life. The reward of helping someone to learn to succeed in something is worth more to me than money.  If you ever need a pep talk or feel discouraged, send me an email and we’ll set up a time and I’ll see if I can’t get you back on track!  It will make my day, and I won’t expect anything in return.