What A Group Of Teenagers Taught Me About Business

I recently presented at an “Adulting Day” event for local high school seniors. Boy, were they a tough crowd. [I love kids, but I’m not generally a fan of teenagers. Too much attitude and not enough experience to back it up, you know?]

Anyway, here are a few takeaways that apply to my business, my brand, and my speaking style—and hopefully yours too.

Business Building Tips

  1. It’s really hard to create content when you don’t know your audience. The original prompt was using social media as an emerging professional, but it morphed into a personal branding talk. It was tricky to know what anecdotes to share, what examples to give, what baseline knowledge they were starting from, and even what questions they may have that I could answer preemptively. I don’t know what teenagers care about these days. [Makes me sound old, but at 30, I’m pretty far removed from that state of mind]. I don’t even know if they opted into the Adulting Day, or whether they were forced to be there. So, moral of the story: know who the heck you’re creating for.
  2. Like I said, these kids were a tough crowd. I’m talking staring at their hands instead of me, taking selfies, exchanging looks and snickering with friends. But every time I speak, it reaffirms that I really enjoy facilitating. For the few kids who did engage or even came up to me afterward, it was so cool to see them connect the dots from my words to their future.
  3. Another concept that was reaffirmed: I like to be around people who eat up personal development with a spoon. I like go-getters, action-takers, people who are engaged in the world around them. That’s why offering intensives has been such a good decision and why I get so excited collaborating with the visionary founders. Again, most these kids were NOT in that bucket—I heard one girl in the first session ask her friends if they thought anyone would notice if they just found a classroom and hid out there all day. But the few who cared were the exact type I’d want to take on as an intern or connect with other people I know.
  4. Buy-in matters. Presenting to online business owners means that they took time out of their busy day specifically to be there and hear from me. (Unlike the high school students, who again, I’m not sure if they even elected to be there or not.) That buy-in puts more pressure on me to deliver, but in a way that motivates me. It means that if I do connect, I made a tangible impact to someone who’s open to it.
  5. I felt pretty confident (despite the snotty glances and snickers in the back of the room) because I was stepping into my personality and my brand. Honestly, I think I was a bit too quirky for some of them, but that’s fine—we’re all about that attract and repel factor, right? If I was looking to recruit students as mentees (similar to converting customers in a “normal” context), I wouldn’t want to work with the kids who don’t care—I’d want the ones who are on board with my enthusiasm.
  6. The disengaged students made me reflect on how I hold myself as an attendee, especially in-person where you can’t just shut off the camera. Making eye contact, taking notes, head nodding—it all makes a difference for the speaker.
  7. It’s really hard to do the same workshop back to back to back. I only did the 6 morning sessions before going home for mom duty, but what a marathon. And because I love to explore and have variety, I had the urge to tweak what I said and how I said it every time, but then I’d forget which group i already mentioned what to. For future talks, having notes to anchor myself will be helpful.
  8. Lastly, I realized teachers are saints. (In case we ever doubted that.)

 

So, have you had any epiphanies lately in terms of your speaking style, your audience, or stepping into your personal brand? Tell me all about it! (And let me know if a tough crowd of teenagers was involved in your lightbulb moment too.)

Toward purpose and progress,

Ashlee

 

This is an excerpt from Toward Purpose & Progress, my newsletter where I share business tips, good news, shoutouts to Founder Friends, and other juicy snippets. Subscribe here for more rants, reflections, and resources.