teenager entrepreneur

What It Means To Be A Teenager Entrepreneur

November 4, 2015 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

A new wave of entrepreneurs is coming. I want them to know what to expect. This blog post is for teenager entrepreneurs who’ve been at it for a while and for the people starting out.

This blog post is also for parents of those teenager entrepreneurs so they can better understand what it means to be a teenager entrepreneur. This blog post talks about my definition of what it means to be a teenager entrepreneur. After talking with other teenager entrepreneurs, I know this is a definition that many of us share.

The Beginning…

No one knows the beginning until years later. Part of the reason is because it takes a while for the teenager to recognize the entrepreneurial spirit within his/her soul. It starts out as a hobby. After the hobby becomes enjoyable and the word monetization gets thrown around enough, the teenager explores turning the hobby into a business.

My journey began when I created a blog about the Boston Red Sox as an 11-year-old. When I created that blog, I did not view myself as an entrepreneur. I still had no idea what I wanted to be. I wrote blog posts inconsistently because it was a hobby that I did not take seriously.

Then MLBlogs (the site that let me create the blog about the Red Sox) went over to WordPress. It was something that I initially didn’t think much about. The move opened the possibility to me writing blogs about topics other than baseball. I went ahead and created a blog about Yugioh Cards.

That eventually led to this blog.

The Natural Course Of The Beginning

The important thing to note about the beginning is that entrepreneurship was my choice. My parents didn’t force me to create that blog about the Red Sox. They suggested it and helped me create it.

I didn’t know anything about Twitter when my mom told me about it. She showed me how to create my account. I was not forced to get more Twitter followers or to promote my content. In the beginning and ever since, I have always had full control over my choices.

My advice to parents is if they see the entrepreneurial possibility within their teen, then guide the teen. Never take control of the steering wheel, but always offer optimism and support. The moment the steering wheel is lost, entrepreneurship is no longer fun.

The very act of becoming an entrepreneur is to take the steering wheel and to protect that steering wheel with your life.

With that said, as the teenager become a more serious entrepreneur, their work will become more important to them.

Environment Matters More Than Background

A teenager does not need a family of entrepreneurs to become a successful entrepreneur. All a teenager needs is the steering wheel in the right environment. The right environment requires being surrounded by the right things from a physical and mental standpoint.

The main reason for my success is that the people who surrounded me are very supportive. My family supports me in what I do while allowing me to retain the steering wheel.

I am a part of inner circles of people who help me become successful. I co-create training courses with other instructors who have more expertise than I do. I get to learn from them by creating a course with them. I learn from social media experts and actively communicate with them. These social media experts were very inspirational throughout my journey as a blogger.

The thoughts you surround yourself with are just as important as the people and events that surround you. You can either surround yourself with confidence or doubt. You can either surround yourself with all of your accomplishments or all of your disappointments.

The serious teenager entrepreneurs enjoy giving themselves big goals. They like to put themselves to the test every day and get as much accomplished as possible. They give themselves big goals for the year and hope to achieve all of them.

In my experience, not all of the goals would get accomplished. When I first gave myself these goals, not accomplishing a goal I wrote down would frustrate me. I’ve changed since then and have learned to enjoy the journey.

I prefer surrounding myself with my accomplishments than with my disappointments. My accomplishments give me more inspiration and let me acknowledge a record of success. Surrounding myself with my disappointments would mean ignoring all of the accomplishments. When surrounded by disappointments, it is difficult to tap into more success since you surround yourself with the complete opposite of success.

I have disappointments, but they don’t stop me.

Support and Inspiration

A teenager entrepreneur needs a lot of support, especially in the beginning. The support I received was essential for my success. I learned that I can be successful at a young age and be what I want to be.

My family was the first form of support I ever received. I receive that support to this day. The two other types of support I receive are reading inspirational case studies and my inner circles. The case studies of bloggers making six figure incomes got me interested in making money with my blog. My inner circle of Udemy instructors allows me to learn more about course creation and marketing.

Support and inspiration never get old. They are always needed.

Getting Through The Roadblocks

Disappointments do come. The final result only means as much as you make it out to be. 10% of our lives is what happens to us and the other 90% is how we react to what happens.

If your goal was to get 10,000 visitors for the month, but you only get 3,000 visitors for the month, there are two ways to look at the outcome.

This is terrible. I didn’t accomplish my goal. What is wrong with me?
This is bad, but it is not the end. I will use this as fuel and perform better next month.

One response creates a sense of self-pity. The other response creates action. The two responses create very different outcomes.

The roadblocks teenager entrepreneurs (and entrepreneurs in general) encounter are meant to strengthen the entrepreneurial backbone. I have survived through numerous roadblocks to get to where I am today. Some of those roadblocks temporarily shook my confidence, but they did not knock me down.

School and Teen Life

In “teenager entrepreneur” there are two words. At daytime, teenager entrepreneurs are teenagers. They go to school with a backpack and books just like anyone else. I talk with my friends at school and almost never bring up my entrepreneurial work. The only time I bring it up is when people ask me about it.

I never brag about what I do. I see bragging as a method of gaining superficial confidence that will never be a suitable substitute for real confidence.

One lesson I have learned about being a teenager entrepreneur is if you spend too much time on the entrepreneurial side of the coin, your work becomes your life. I love my work, but my work will never consume every part of my life. Then I’d miss out on what it means to be a teenager and a person.

In school, it is essential to become a part of extracurricular activities and/or sports. If you are not a part of those, you risk getting alienated from the student body. At that point, it is difficult to get the teenager experience combined with the entrepreneurial experience.

I chose to run in cross country and track. Practices are always after school and meets are on the weekends. Sometimes I go with my teammates to upstate New York and places out of New York to run.

To a teenager entrepreneur, time is a very valuable resource. They get their homework done as quickly as possible so they can go back to entrepreneurial work—the work which, to them, matters the most. When I first joined the cross country and track teams, I thought it would be a crisis for my business. I thought I wouldn’t have any time left over.

But I needed to do an extracurricular to get friends and have a fun time in high school. So I gave it a try anyway. It wasn’t just the best decision I ever made in high school. It was one of the best decisions I ever made for my entrepreneurial journey.

My work didn’t consume me as much as it once did. I was able to stay unplugged longer. Once I get replugged into my work, I would approach it with more vigor. I stopped watching TV so I could commit more time towards my entrepreneurial work. I recently gave up video games as well.

When teenager entrepreneurs lose time, they find a way to make the time they have work. They learn time efficiency quickly. They ask themselves what is really important to them and start eliminating the things that don’t matter as much.

Defining “Serious Teenager Entrepreneur”

To be a serious teenager entrepreneur simply means having the fire within your heart. It doesn’t mean making the full-time income. All teenager entrepreneurs are serious entrepreneurs well before they make full-time incomes from their efforts.

My Advice To All Teenager Entrepreneurs

Love the work that you do. It’s the only way any entrepreneur becomes successful.

My Advice To All Parents Of Teenager Entrepreneurs

Always support your teenager entrepreneur. Give them encouragement, and once you see potential, start giving some financial support. Slowly stop lending financial support once the teenager entrepreneur makes money. One of the most rewarding feelings of my entrepreneurial journey has been paying for the services and products that I use.

In Conclusion

The new wave of entrepreneurs will come sooner than later. I wrote this blog post to let readers know how I view what it means to be a teenager entrepreneur. The benefit of becoming an entrepreneur as a teenager is that teenagers have a strong sense of invincibility.

Combine that strong sense of invincibility with entrepreneurial flare, and the results are bound to be incredible.

Have any questions about what it means to be a teenager entrepreneur? Or the parent of one? Do you have any other insights to add about this topic? Sound off in the comments section below.

5 Reasons Why Every Teenager Needs To Have A Blog

December 15, 2014 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

5 Reasons Why Every Teenager Needs To Have A Blog

With the dawn of social media and blogging, it has now become more possible than ever for a teen to become successful at a young age. The requirements of looking for a job or owning your own brick and mortar stores are over. There are millionaires who have no headquarters building other than the home they sleep in. Some of these people are under 30, but teenagers can find themselves in that category as well.

The two main reasons why there are not more teenager entrepreneurs is because teens do not know how to be successful on the web, and they think it is an impossible feat that is exclusively for people out of college. On WordPress.com, creating a blog is free, and it only takes a few seconds to create one.

However, the rewards of starting a blog at a young age are incredible. As a teenager myself, I am amazed with the abilities that blogging has given me. I am also amazed that not every teen has his or her own blog. If you are the parent of a teen, be sure to share this article with them, and if you are a teen, here are five great reasons to start blogging at a young age.

#1: Blogging gives teens something good to do

To many people, the phrase “teen years” typically brings a bad thought. Some parents may see the “teen years” as separation from the child who wants to break free and live without limits. Some teens see the “teen years” as a bundle of joy.

One of the problems with “teen years” is that teens start to go into unchartered waters. There are stories of teens getting drunk or shooting people or doing another morally wrong act. On a less intense level, some teens procrastinate to the point where it is obvious to the people around them. Some teens procrastinate by surfing the web too often while others procrastinate by playing too many video games.

Blogging is an experiment, just like any good or bad thing that teens do. However, blogging is a positive experience that gives teens something good to do. Instead of procrastinating out of pure boredom, teens can now write blog posts about what they are passionate about and share it with the entire world. Putting your content out there for the world to see puts you on a whole new level.

#2: Blogging makes teens feel more significant

Significance is one of the basic human desires. We want other people to see us as significant because it boosts confidence self-esteem. It feels better to be given a compliment than an insult. Would you rather have people say you are good at something or that you are bad at something?

Blogging makes a teen feel more significant because there content is reaching out to people, and if the content is good, some people will leave nice comments. I have had the ability to interact with people within all parts of the world (I’m not so sure about Antarctica and the Arctic region all the way up north, but people from all other parts of the world have interacted with me at some point). Interacting with that many people, and seeing them write good things about your content makes you feel significant.

The problem with feeling insignificant is that some individuals who feel significant perform morally wrong actions just to be what they believe would make them “significant.” Some people go around and shoot people because they become a main news story. Then they become “significant,” but for the wrong reason.

#3: Blogging allows teens to get into the real world sooner

One of the biggest lies of the “real world” is that you get there when you graduate college. This idea of the real world is what allows the status quo to thrive. Although blogging is a great way to bring in a full-time income, it takes a lot of time to bring in that income and build your presence on the web.

Many college graduates become impatient and want to make money immediately (they want to support a family, buy a house, buy a car, and buy other things with their own money). This is when students start to realize from first-hand experience that life is more than taking notes in class and talking with friends. Working at the local store will result in quick money, but it won’t necessarily result in the type of money that the most successful bloggers make (millions of dollars).

#4: You have more flexibility over your schedule

The deeper you go into the school process, the less control you have over your schedule. College is where your schedule starts to become more flexible, but before that, you gradually lose control over your schedule (especially junior year in high school. That one is the worst). The great thing about blogging is that you can do it all year round anywhere you go. On the other hand, you can only do a summer job for three months, and that’s assuming you take no vacations in between.

At this stage of the game, I know there are teens on the fence wondering where they should go. Some teens think they will start in the summer and turn blogging into a type of summer job while other teens may want to start now (even if now means during the school year), but are not fully convinced. My answer is that you should start immediately after reading this blog post.

If you become a successful blogger at a young age, you will practically have full control over your schedule. How many people do you know who go to work from 9 am to 5 pm. Chances are you know a lot of people. All of your teachers, whether they want to or not, have to show up early and leave in the afternoon. Any employee you have seen in a brick-and-mortar store (Target, Mrs. Greens, CVS, WalMart, and all of the other ones as well) has to wake up at a certain time and work for a certain amount of time before going back home.

Starting now and becoming successful before you “have to” get a job and work for someone else (please don’t do that if you don’t want to) will allow you to make money and work on your own schedule. The best part is that when you get really good, you will literally be making money in your sleep!

#5: Blogging is a wonderful, unique experience

I have referenced this throughout my article, but it is worth mentioning again that blogging is what I believe is a life changing experience. If it weren’t for blogging, I would still be playing video games for three hours a day and watching TV when I didn’t feel like playing video games. I still play video games for about three hours every week, but I now spend hours of day enhancing my blog and getting my message out to the world.

Blogging has dramatically improved my time management skills, and it allows me to feel significant. The best part about blogging is that it is fun if you write about anything you want. It is important for teens to avoid viewing blogging as school essays because school essays give you limitations while you can write about anything you want on a blog. I have already written over 1,000 words for this particular blog post, and I have written over 400,000 words for this blog. It does not feel like work. Instead, it is a fun activity because I am able to write about what I am passionate about on a daily basis.

In Conclusion

Although a majority of the established bloggers are adults, more teens are creating their own blogs and writing their own content. Blogging provides teens with a great way to make money from the comfort of their home by doing what they love to do. Many of the top entrepreneurs got to where they are after working for someone else. If you create your blog now and make a full-time income, you won’t have to work for someone else for your entire life.

My only request for the parents reading this blog post is to show it to as many teens about it as possible. My only two requests for the teens reading this blog post are to create their own blogs and let other teens know about this article as well. I want to have a big impact on as many young entrepreneurs as possible.

I’m On A Mission To Change The World By Empowering One Teen At A Time

August 10, 2014 by Marc Guberti 10 Comments

Teenager Entrepreneur

For a very long time, there were many things that I did not take as seriously as I do now. I did not take my Twitter account or blogs seriously until I went into what I call the grow your powerful presence on the web niche. It was at that moment when I started to consider taking blogging and social media very seriously, and then it took off.

For a very long time, I did not take my expertise seriously either. I published my first book later than I would have liked. Then, I published a few other books but never decided to promote them. In addition, I never thought of creating my own training course even when the tools to do such as Udemy and Optimize Press were staring right at me. Now I promote those products often (especially on my blog’s sidebar).

I have over 100,000 Twitter followers, over 100,000 all-time blog views, and aspire to make a six figure income very soon. However, after looking past all of the numbers and being able to see the big picture, I have a new aspiration as well. This aspiration is the most aspiration I have ever pursued, and it may very well be the most important aspiration I pursue in my entire life.

I want to change the world.

Sure, there are plenty of ways to change the world. Steve Jobs changed the world with Apple’s high quality products while Mark Zuckerberg changed the world by making communication easier than ever. There are more examples throughout history of people changing the world, and I want to become a part of that history. In particular, I want to become a part of that history by transforming teenagers into entrepreneurs with their own thriving products, services, and businesses.

The biggest reason why most people are unable to unlock their potential is because they get trapped in the status quo. Many people believe that they cannot pursue their dreams until they get out of college. By that time, these individuals want to live on their own and go for the short-term money by joining the status quo, entrepreneurialism’s Darth Vader. Many of today’s entrepreneurs get out of the status quo in their 30’s or 40’s, but most people stay in the status quo because it is their only option.

What is the solution to this problem? Is the solution to go to a good university or just spend more money on lottery tickets? Absolutely not. No matter how good a university is or how many lottery tickets you buy, that means nothing unless you have the right mindset. Some of the people who graduated Harvard, Stanford, and the other prestigious universities ended up becoming billionaires (there were a lot more millionaires though). However, there were some people who graduated from these schools that currently cannot find jobs, are in debt, or have a combination of the two. The people who did get jobs may be good wage, but they are still stuck in the status quo with no control over their schedule.

I want to stop that from happening. I want to live my life the way I want to live it, and there is no reason why someone or organization should stop me from doing that. I should be able to take a four week vacation, work on my own schedule, and change the world.

That is the main reason why my brother and I founded Teenager Entrepreneur, a business that empowers teens with the knowledge they need to be successful at a young age. In less than a week, our students were able to go from the typical teen to teens who create their own products and frequently add new content to their blogs.

I’m sure it is easy to find an inspirational quote like, “It’s never too late to start,” on the web. The next book I was going to start writing would have been Twitter Domination, but I am bumping that book back for that exact reason. The next book I am going to write is It’s Never Too Early To Start, and the message I am going to convey in this book is that any teenager can become successful.

There’s no release date for It’s Never Too Early To Start yet, but when it comes out, it’s going to create a ruckus and redefine what is possible for teenagers around the world.

The Day I Forgot To Schedule Tweets

April 24, 2014 by Marc Guberti 6 Comments

I will never forget the day that I forgot to schedule tweets. It started out as a typical day. Before going to school, I always check my statistics. I look at how many Twitter followers I gain, how many eBook sales I make, and my blog’s statistics as well. I happened to notice on one day that my blog only got 50 views at 7:30 am.

Since my blog tends to have more than 100 views at this time, I looked through my statistics to see if I could identify the problem. The problem was that I was not getting nearly as many visitors from Twitter as I normally got. I decided to look at my tweets thinking that I somehow forgot the link to my blog posts in those tweets or something along those lines. However, I quickly realized that I had not scheduled any tweets for the day. For the first time in several months (or maybe even a year), I had no scheduled tweets on HootSuite.

Here come the lessons. The first thing I took advantage of was HootSuite Pro. As a member, I knew the ropes well enough to schedule 24 tweets in 1 minute. Although I could not schedule any tweets in the morning, I had all of my tweets lined up from the afternoon and on.

This experience allowed me to deeply understand how important Twitter, and social media in general, is for my strategy. On that day, my blog got over 350 views because Twitter was able to kick in and save the day. However, I was able to get an idea of what traffic would look like without my social networks. Search engine traffic also contributed towards my blog’s increase in traffic, but the reason I get a lot of traffic from search engines is because of my social networks in the first place.

The big lesson is to never forget about your social networks. Although there may be some days when you do not feel like scheduling tweets or putting that pin up on Pinterest, continuing to use social networks will ultimately grow your presence in a big and powerful way. I was putting in the same amount of hours on Twitter back when I had 2,000 followers (also because I needed more time to learn and utilize cool tools) as I do now (now I gain more than 2,000 followers every 4 days).

Never forget your social networks. They have the power to put you on the map and get people to talk about you.

Lessons I Learned From My First Payout

February 22, 2014 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

I will never forget the first month that I made money online. I made a grand total of $30.78 for the month with the help of Squidoo. Now, I am easily making hundreds of dollars every month and plan to be making $1,000 every month before the start of summer. In fact, I decided to take the approach of finding out how I could make $33 in one day (which adds up to $1,000 per month).

When I got that first payout, this blog did not exist. I never even thought of writing books. My Twitter presence was not nearly as strong as it is today. Implementing YouTube into my business plan was only a thought. Online training courses were not on my mind.

The first payout represented progress. The first payout told me that it was possible to make money online. When I started, I did have my doubts. At first, I believed this was a giant hoax. Then, someone bought a camera on one of my pages on Squidoo, and I saw a monetary value on my dashboard. The thought of making $6 amazed me. Getting the $30.78 payout amazed me more. I got a payout over $100 the following month, and now I have been making hundreds of dollars every month since.

However, now I want to reach the thousands. I have been writing more than ever so I can publish more books including my upcoming book Lead The Stampede. The first payout I ever received gave me the motivation to continue because after all of the hours of hard work, I finally got rewarded for it.

Instead of being happy with the $30.78, I decided that I should be getting more. I put in more work, and my earnings quadrupled in one month. Now, I will be putting in even more work than I have already been putting in so I can have my first $1,000+ month.

This is my journey towards financial freedom in the future. You are on a journey as well. Instead of settling with where you are, continue your journey so you can see the greater rewards on the other side.

LinkedIn Gives Teenagers Access. The Teenager Revolution Continues

September 2, 2013 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

You don’t have to be 18 years or older to access LinkedIn anymore. Now, you only have to be 13 years or older. In 10 years, I predict that many teenagers will have their own online businesses.

The revolution continues. Soon enough, for anything related to having an online business, 18 years or older will be cut down to 13 years or older.

When hearing about young teenagers being able to manage their own businesses, some people are quick to think about the Second Industrial Revolution in the 20th century, but this kind of work is different.

The issues with the Second Industrial Revolution were that young teenagers and kids had dangerous, low paying jobs that they had to do in order to bring the money back home. Some of these teenagers and kids also had to give up on an education.

This revolution is different. It hasn’t quite blossomed yet, but the seed is growing in the soil. LinkedIn poured some water into the soil, and others will do the same.

The main problems of the Second Industrial Revolution don’t exist in this one. There are no dangerous or life threatening jobs. Education and school don’t have to be sacrificed, and neither do extracurricular activities or sports.

Another problem with the Second Industrial Revolution were the choices. All of the choices involved brick and mortar buildings where injuries were common.

I’m not making millions of dollars yet, but I can easily say I make more than the minimum wage. Ten years from now, teenagers will be creating their own online businesses. Does it go as far as having a conversation during lunch period about business? I’m not sure about that.

Creating a business is much easier now than it was back then. For an online business, there is no commute. The risks and dangers of having an online business are minuscule compared to the Second Industrial Revolution.

The Teenager Revolution is coming. The only problem with the resolution is that there will be laggards. Most teenagers are going to jump into the revolution at the same time. Right now, being a teenager entrepreneur is rare, special, and unique.

In ten years, being a teenager entrepreneur will still be special, but it won’t be so rare or unique anymore. Encourage your teenager or a friend’s teenager to start just before the revolution takes full effect. Then, they’ll be a step ahead of everyone else.