last October I made the decision to quit
my nine-to-five job and start pursuing
my own business I’m only 26 years old
and the reason because I decided to do
this wasn’t because I wanted to travel
you know figure myself out I knew I
wanted to have my own business when I
was 20 years old my name is Tilden
Brighton and I am the founder and
influencer behind the Life & Style blog
to be bright what began as an online
resume I started in college my senior
year has allowed me to have a full-time
job already by this age but that’s not
what I’m here to talk to you about today
I’m actually here to talk to you about
the importance of putting your passion
whatever it may be online now and using
the time you have to build it to secure
your success in the future so as I said
I started my blog as an online resume
digital portfolio and the reason I
started it was because I wanted to have
some sort of advantage when I started
applying for jobs
I thought if I posted pictures of how I
looked how I dressed what I was
interested in anything like that that it
would enhance my candidacy for getting a
job in the city what I didn’t realize
was that it was going to hurt me and
actually I wouldn’t be taken seriously
when it came to having social media and
experience so imagine applying 270 jobs
and not hearing back from any of them
not one I applied to 70 jobs I had the
expertise I had the knowledge I thought
I had qualified but apparently I wasn’t
good enough I begged and pleaded for
feedback asking why wasn’t I considered
it’s sort of something like
do is there something I can enhance my
candidacy and I did get one answer and
it kind of went along the lines of this
we think you will take this opportunity
on our clock to advance yourself we
don’t want to risk hiring someone who’s
already self involved kind of a kick to
my self-esteem that’s for sure
so here I was now college graduate
applied to 70 jobs heard back from one
telling me I was a no at all millennial
and I was better off not being hired
there all my friends are moving to the
city getting their nine-to-five jobs
their new apartments and I was stuck at
home by myself thinking I have no job
what am I gonna do it was probably one
of the lowest points in my life at the
same time it also was one of the first
moments where I really started to
appreciate the value behind my blog and
it’s this switch of mindset really
didn’t come about that naturally I
actually was reminded of something that
happened a year before while I was still
this photo showed up in my Instagram
direct feed after I entered a contest on
Instagram to be invited to New York
Fashion Week with Lucky Magazine I won I
couldn’t believe it
I posted a picture and somehow they
liked it and invited me I found out I
was one of fifteen people invited that
means out of every single person that up
you know entered this contest I was one
of 15 people in the world that got to go
and it wasn’t this once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity that made me feel super I
guess important and that my blog was a
success but it was the acknowledgement
that a national magazine saw my
potential saw the fact that my blog was
actually gonna go somewhere so I thought
then
maybe this is something I should pursue
and focus on and I’m so happy I spent
that year up until when I found myself
without a job after college because now
my blog had become a fallback plan
essentially something that I could start
working on during this time so I thought
oh my gosh I have a whole summer free
what am i I’m gonna use it I’m probably
never gonna get this time again I’ll so
apply for jobs but I have something to
do and during that whole summer I
focused on my blog by December I did
have a nine-to-five job
thankfully I did get hired and I loved
that job spent three years there but I
was able after three years to quit and
focus on my blog full-time now this is a
result of me building my brand so early
on I started in college this allowed me
to have some sort of fallback plans as
well and you’re probably thinking how
would you even like consider your blog
as a fallback plan yes I was able to
monetize it but what makes what makes me
qualified as a 26 year old to be a CEO
of any kind of brand or company so to
speak and that’s because I’m what they
call a millennia printer a Malay printer
is someone in their 20s to 30s who have
a very high-end position in a company or
work for themselves and they are
accepted in that role back when I was
applying at the jobs
clearly my social media knowledge was a
joke to half the employers but it was a
joke because they didn’t realize that I
already had 20 years of social media
experience the perk of being a
millennial is that I grew up using a
computer and why the time I was six I
was using computer in first grade I’m 26
now that’s 20 years of experience using
a computer and learning as they change
and develop
now the reason Maleny printers are
accepted today are because of a couple
things
obviously the digital advancements and
technology another is because
Millennials are not as inclined to give
up after something doesn’t work out we
usually try to find a way for it to work
as opposed to our preceding generations
that may not continue trying but the
third probably most important is because
we have a different view of social
responsibility rather than focusing on
the wealth and our number account of a
business we think about what will make
us last in the social I what is our
social impact what will we be remembered
for and ultimately that is what drives a
business’s success if you think about
the startups now Instagram even snapchat
half of these companies are successful
today because they started their
business or the whole mission behind it
with a passion they didn’t care if they
made a lot of money they didn’t care if
then you do well at all they still stuck
it out when things were really really
bleak and look at them now they’re
billion-dollar companies the reason
they’re so successful is because they
care more about what they’re putting out
there and the purpose behind what
they’re doing so if you think about that
as a blogger how to make my business
successful it would be and build it
would be to start posting with passion
so that’s what I started doing I started
building my digital presence as a
blogger by posting with passion think
about the people you guys follow on
Instagram or brands there’s probably a
reason you like following them
maybe it’s the pictures maybe if
captions but ultimately the real reason
you follow the accounts that you do
because you feel like you have some kind
of mutual passion or understanding with
said person or brand you guys have
something in common
that’s huge because passion behind
posted social media posts that have an
impact like that are the ones that are
remembered and like I’ve said businesses
that in post or their focus on what they
will be remembered for are the ones that
are being successful and ultimately the
brands that post with intention and want
to be remembered are the ones that are
remembered so here’s a good example of
someone who I guess when I was I would
say someone who started off doing this
because she really loved what she was
doing but she was a little nervous that
she wasn’t going to do well that she
wasn’t she didn’t have a big number
count she didn’t have you know a giant
following but she really liked posting
about outfits and her life experiences
in this city as a 20 year old because I
started posting about things like that
I found a tribe of people that also
shared that passion with me that really
enjoyed what I was putting out there
found me as a resource of sorts and that
tribe of people built my foundation that
allowed me at the age of 26 to be able
to say I can do this full-time because
even if my I don’t have a hundred
thousand followers but I have a big
group of people that really care about
what I’m putting out there and that
tribe of people because we all share as
mutual passion are supporting me and
that is what’s making my blog successful
enough for me to be able to stand up
here and be my own boss and I look at
these pictures and I think a girl on the
right
and by the way I did not plan the
outfits to be exactly the same I don’t
literally just found this the girl on
the right is still a little apprehensive
of who
she is she doesn’t really know what her
purpose is yet and you fast forward a
year and you see somebody who’s the
happiest version of herself knows her
purpose posts with passion found her
tribe of people and really just wakes up
every day feeling like she just won the
lottery
because what’s better than having your
business as something that you’re so
passionate about and so what I want to
leave here saying is that never doubt
that your passion isn’t important enough
to pursue even if 70 people tell you
otherwise because you never know where
you might end up a year later thank you [Applause]
my nine-to-five job and start pursuing
my own business I’m only 26 years old
and the reason because I decided to do
this wasn’t because I wanted to travel
you know figure myself out I knew I
wanted to have my own business when I
was 20 years old my name is Tilden
Brighton and I am the founder and
influencer behind the Life & Style blog
to be bright what began as an online
resume I started in college my senior
year has allowed me to have a full-time
job already by this age but that’s not
what I’m here to talk to you about today
I’m actually here to talk to you about
the importance of putting your passion
whatever it may be online now and using
the time you have to build it to secure
your success in the future so as I said
I started my blog as an online resume
digital portfolio and the reason I
started it was because I wanted to have
some sort of advantage when I started
applying for jobs
I thought if I posted pictures of how I
looked how I dressed what I was
interested in anything like that that it
would enhance my candidacy for getting a
job in the city what I didn’t realize
was that it was going to hurt me and
actually I wouldn’t be taken seriously
when it came to having social media and
experience so imagine applying 270 jobs
and not hearing back from any of them
not one I applied to 70 jobs I had the
expertise I had the knowledge I thought
I had qualified but apparently I wasn’t
good enough I begged and pleaded for
feedback asking why wasn’t I considered
it’s sort of something like
do is there something I can enhance my
candidacy and I did get one answer and
it kind of went along the lines of this
we think you will take this opportunity
on our clock to advance yourself we
don’t want to risk hiring someone who’s
already self involved kind of a kick to
my self-esteem that’s for sure
so here I was now college graduate
applied to 70 jobs heard back from one
telling me I was a no at all millennial
and I was better off not being hired
there all my friends are moving to the
city getting their nine-to-five jobs
their new apartments and I was stuck at
home by myself thinking I have no job
what am I gonna do it was probably one
of the lowest points in my life at the
same time it also was one of the first
moments where I really started to
appreciate the value behind my blog and
it’s this switch of mindset really
didn’t come about that naturally I
actually was reminded of something that
happened a year before while I was still
this photo showed up in my Instagram
direct feed after I entered a contest on
Instagram to be invited to New York
Fashion Week with Lucky Magazine I won I
couldn’t believe it
I posted a picture and somehow they
liked it and invited me I found out I
was one of fifteen people invited that
means out of every single person that up
you know entered this contest I was one
of 15 people in the world that got to go
and it wasn’t this once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity that made me feel super I
guess important and that my blog was a
success but it was the acknowledgement
that a national magazine saw my
potential saw the fact that my blog was
actually gonna go somewhere so I thought
then
maybe this is something I should pursue
and focus on and I’m so happy I spent
that year up until when I found myself
without a job after college because now
my blog had become a fallback plan
essentially something that I could start
working on during this time so I thought
oh my gosh I have a whole summer free
what am i I’m gonna use it I’m probably
never gonna get this time again I’ll so
apply for jobs but I have something to
do and during that whole summer I
focused on my blog by December I did
have a nine-to-five job
thankfully I did get hired and I loved
that job spent three years there but I
was able after three years to quit and
focus on my blog full-time now this is a
result of me building my brand so early
on I started in college this allowed me
to have some sort of fallback plans as
well and you’re probably thinking how
would you even like consider your blog
as a fallback plan yes I was able to
monetize it but what makes what makes me
qualified as a 26 year old to be a CEO
of any kind of brand or company so to
speak and that’s because I’m what they
call a millennia printer a Malay printer
is someone in their 20s to 30s who have
a very high-end position in a company or
work for themselves and they are
accepted in that role back when I was
applying at the jobs
clearly my social media knowledge was a
joke to half the employers but it was a
joke because they didn’t realize that I
already had 20 years of social media
experience the perk of being a
millennial is that I grew up using a
computer and why the time I was six I
was using computer in first grade I’m 26
now that’s 20 years of experience using
a computer and learning as they change
and develop
now the reason Maleny printers are
accepted today are because of a couple
things
obviously the digital advancements and
technology another is because
Millennials are not as inclined to give
up after something doesn’t work out we
usually try to find a way for it to work
as opposed to our preceding generations
that may not continue trying but the
third probably most important is because
we have a different view of social
responsibility rather than focusing on
the wealth and our number account of a
business we think about what will make
us last in the social I what is our
social impact what will we be remembered
for and ultimately that is what drives a
business’s success if you think about
the startups now Instagram even snapchat
half of these companies are successful
today because they started their
business or the whole mission behind it
with a passion they didn’t care if they
made a lot of money they didn’t care if
then you do well at all they still stuck
it out when things were really really
bleak and look at them now they’re
billion-dollar companies the reason
they’re so successful is because they
care more about what they’re putting out
there and the purpose behind what
they’re doing so if you think about that
as a blogger how to make my business
successful it would be and build it
would be to start posting with passion
so that’s what I started doing I started
building my digital presence as a
blogger by posting with passion think
about the people you guys follow on
Instagram or brands there’s probably a
reason you like following them
maybe it’s the pictures maybe if
captions but ultimately the real reason
you follow the accounts that you do
because you feel like you have some kind
of mutual passion or understanding with
said person or brand you guys have
something in common
that’s huge because passion behind
posted social media posts that have an
impact like that are the ones that are
remembered and like I’ve said businesses
that in post or their focus on what they
will be remembered for are the ones that
are being successful and ultimately the
brands that post with intention and want
to be remembered are the ones that are
remembered so here’s a good example of
someone who I guess when I was I would
say someone who started off doing this
because she really loved what she was
doing but she was a little nervous that
she wasn’t going to do well that she
wasn’t she didn’t have a big number
count she didn’t have you know a giant
following but she really liked posting
about outfits and her life experiences
in this city as a 20 year old because I
started posting about things like that
I found a tribe of people that also
shared that passion with me that really
enjoyed what I was putting out there
found me as a resource of sorts and that
tribe of people built my foundation that
allowed me at the age of 26 to be able
to say I can do this full-time because
even if my I don’t have a hundred
thousand followers but I have a big
group of people that really care about
what I’m putting out there and that
tribe of people because we all share as
mutual passion are supporting me and
that is what’s making my blog successful
enough for me to be able to stand up
here and be my own boss and I look at
these pictures and I think a girl on the
right
and by the way I did not plan the
outfits to be exactly the same I don’t
literally just found this the girl on
the right is still a little apprehensive
of who
she is she doesn’t really know what her
purpose is yet and you fast forward a
year and you see somebody who’s the
happiest version of herself knows her
purpose posts with passion found her
tribe of people and really just wakes up
every day feeling like she just won the
lottery
because what’s better than having your
business as something that you’re so
passionate about and so what I want to
leave here saying is that never doubt
that your passion isn’t important enough
to pursue even if 70 people tell you
otherwise because you never know where
you might end up a year later thank you [Applause]
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