[Music]
when I was 15 years old I was running my
own mobile app company I had three
employees all in different countries and
my apps were hitting top charts and at
the time I was making more money than I
could ever dream of but I had no idea
what I was doing in fact I’d argue that
my achievements are a direct result of
starting before you’re ready and I’m
going to illustrate that to you today
this idea of starting before you’re
ready which ultimately means starting
now you see when I was young everyone
told me I could be whatever I want to be
they said I could be a doctor he said I
could be a lawyer I said you could be
anyone the American dream right
and so I thought about it for a while
and I realized I want to be Robin Hood I
want to shoot bow and arrows and save
people that sounds like a lot better of
a job then than a lawyer right and so so
I felt a certain disconnect in my class
because while everyone was learning math
and French and English I didn’t
understand how math would help me be
Robin Hood and it wasn’t until I was 13
years old did I truly realize what I
wanted to be and that was an
entrepreneur because much like Robin
Hood
I believed an entrepreneur could make a
difference and so this kick-started my
mobile app career at the time the iPhone
was coming out and apps were beginning
to
merge and trust me at one point there
was a flip phone and it didn’t have
snapchat on it and so I started reading
as many books as I could I was
networking with people four times my age
and I worked hard countless hours on my
apps I prioritized my projects over
family school and even my friends and
this was the point
my dog became my best friend I’m just
kidding but I truly worked as hard as I
could I was addicted and and this
perseverance allowed me to make my dream
into a reality but something I want to
touch on is is failure even though it
seems like I have a lot of achievements
I failed a lot and I want to put
emphasis on the fact that failure is
actually more crucial than success my
first app was a complete flop I spent
one year of constant hard grueling work
and and it was terrible I couldn’t even
release it I had so many problems and
and I was devastated I was completely
devastated and once you know the natural
tendency when you hit rock-bottom is to
give up to quit right but instead I
decided I wanted to keep pushing through
because of one simple thing I learned
that success is actually not as
important as failure and most
importantly you won’t even have a chance
to learn from your mistakes if you don’t
start and so at the end of my high
school it was a very fragile time in my
life
a few of my close friends passed away
and it hit me really hard I started to
think about life and and I started
asking questions you know what is it I
truly want in my life and not many
people ask themselves this question what
is it you truly want and when you think
about death when you think about your
own death
it gives you gratitude it gives you
purpose and it actually gives you
meaning and not many one not many people
want to talk about death because they
think it’s a grim topic and they want to
avoid it at all costs but death is the
biggest motivator for change at the face
of death all your fear dissipates
and only clarity is left and so with
this realization I found that the only
certainty is now and with that mentality
I took a gap year after high school I
didn’t want to work for the rest of my
life and and then retire at 65 when I
can barely walk and then and then travel
the world didn’t have the time of my
life I wanted to do it now and so I
packed my bags I bought three t-shirts
three socks a pair of jeans some other
things but you get the point I left I
booked a one-way ticket and I actually
funded this trip with the income from my
apps this trip ended up being nearly one
year long I went to eight countries and
the funny part is that I only plan the
first three weeks of it it was an
amazing experience for me it was
enlightening and I wouldn’t trade it for
anything
I made so many connections with people
from all over the world I hiked many
mountains I surfed in many places
I learned how to be spontaneous I
learned how to work on farms and
ultimately learn how to live
holistically now the reason I’m telling
you this story today is because I
started without any intent all I had was
faith faith that everything would be
okay and with that faith I started
before I was ready and there’s this
famous saying that a journey of a
thousand miles begins with one single
step think about that for a second one
single step I encourage all of you guys
to take your first step today because
when I was 13 years old I took my first
step and turned my dream of a mobile app
company into a reality and I want all of
you for one day one day forget about
being unqualified forget about your
fears
forget about feeling stupid I know it’s
hard but I want you to forget about it I
want you to start before you’re ready to
take a leap go it won’t be perfect in
fact it won’t even turn out as well as
you’d hope but you’re gonna learn
something you’re gonna gain some insight
some feedback and you’re gonna do better
the second time around
and even though I’m saying this to a
huge crowd I know
only a few of you guys will go home and
start today only a few of you guys will
implement what I’m saying
and it’s those few that will make a
difference tomorrow and if there’s one
message I’d like you to take away from
everything I have said it’s this don’t
dwell on the past the future is yet in
your power now is the time thank you
you
[Music]
when I was 15 years old I was running my
own mobile app company I had three
employees all in different countries and
my apps were hitting top charts and at
the time I was making more money than I
could ever dream of but I had no idea
what I was doing in fact I’d argue that
my achievements are a direct result of
starting before you’re ready and I’m
going to illustrate that to you today
this idea of starting before you’re
ready which ultimately means starting
now you see when I was young everyone
told me I could be whatever I want to be
they said I could be a doctor he said I
could be a lawyer I said you could be
anyone the American dream right
and so I thought about it for a while
and I realized I want to be Robin Hood I
want to shoot bow and arrows and save
people that sounds like a lot better of
a job then than a lawyer right and so so
I felt a certain disconnect in my class
because while everyone was learning math
and French and English I didn’t
understand how math would help me be
Robin Hood and it wasn’t until I was 13
years old did I truly realize what I
wanted to be and that was an
entrepreneur because much like Robin
Hood
I believed an entrepreneur could make a
difference and so this kick-started my
mobile app career at the time the iPhone
was coming out and apps were beginning
to
merge and trust me at one point there
was a flip phone and it didn’t have
snapchat on it and so I started reading
as many books as I could I was
networking with people four times my age
and I worked hard countless hours on my
apps I prioritized my projects over
family school and even my friends and
this was the point
my dog became my best friend I’m just
kidding but I truly worked as hard as I
could I was addicted and and this
perseverance allowed me to make my dream
into a reality but something I want to
touch on is is failure even though it
seems like I have a lot of achievements
I failed a lot and I want to put
emphasis on the fact that failure is
actually more crucial than success my
first app was a complete flop I spent
one year of constant hard grueling work
and and it was terrible I couldn’t even
release it I had so many problems and
and I was devastated I was completely
devastated and once you know the natural
tendency when you hit rock-bottom is to
give up to quit right but instead I
decided I wanted to keep pushing through
because of one simple thing I learned
that success is actually not as
important as failure and most
importantly you won’t even have a chance
to learn from your mistakes if you don’t
start and so at the end of my high
school it was a very fragile time in my
life
a few of my close friends passed away
and it hit me really hard I started to
think about life and and I started
asking questions you know what is it I
truly want in my life and not many
people ask themselves this question what
is it you truly want and when you think
about death when you think about your
own death
it gives you gratitude it gives you
purpose and it actually gives you
meaning and not many one not many people
want to talk about death because they
think it’s a grim topic and they want to
avoid it at all costs but death is the
biggest motivator for change at the face
of death all your fear dissipates
and only clarity is left and so with
this realization I found that the only
certainty is now and with that mentality
I took a gap year after high school I
didn’t want to work for the rest of my
life and and then retire at 65 when I
can barely walk and then and then travel
the world didn’t have the time of my
life I wanted to do it now and so I
packed my bags I bought three t-shirts
three socks a pair of jeans some other
things but you get the point I left I
booked a one-way ticket and I actually
funded this trip with the income from my
apps this trip ended up being nearly one
year long I went to eight countries and
the funny part is that I only plan the
first three weeks of it it was an
amazing experience for me it was
enlightening and I wouldn’t trade it for
anything
I made so many connections with people
from all over the world I hiked many
mountains I surfed in many places
I learned how to be spontaneous I
learned how to work on farms and
ultimately learn how to live
holistically now the reason I’m telling
you this story today is because I
started without any intent all I had was
faith faith that everything would be
okay and with that faith I started
before I was ready and there’s this
famous saying that a journey of a
thousand miles begins with one single
step think about that for a second one
single step I encourage all of you guys
to take your first step today because
when I was 13 years old I took my first
step and turned my dream of a mobile app
company into a reality and I want all of
you for one day one day forget about
being unqualified forget about your
fears
forget about feeling stupid I know it’s
hard but I want you to forget about it I
want you to start before you’re ready to
take a leap go it won’t be perfect in
fact it won’t even turn out as well as
you’d hope but you’re gonna learn
something you’re gonna gain some insight
some feedback and you’re gonna do better
the second time around
and even though I’m saying this to a
huge crowd I know
only a few of you guys will go home and
start today only a few of you guys will
implement what I’m saying
and it’s those few that will make a
difference tomorrow and if there’s one
message I’d like you to take away from
everything I have said it’s this don’t
dwell on the past the future is yet in
your power now is the time thank you
you
[Music]
Please follow and like us: