When I started out in business I was not quite 15. http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/247684/The-phone-box-millionaire I didn’t know any influential people or have any money but I did have an idea and lots of enthusiasm. Recently this got me to thinking about teenagers today and whether there was still that drive amongst the young to create lives on their own terms. What I found when I started looking was that the entrepreneurial spirit that so drove me is alive and kicking all over the World, especially in the UK & the United States. Without new people coming through and creating successful businesses there will be no jobs for anyone. I’m all for public employees being paid more but that wealth has to be created somewhere and that place is inevitably the private sector. I saw this report which is interesting and just goes to show that if you’re good enough you are old enough. http://www.promotionalcodes.org.uk/frugal-blog/6359/young-entrepreneurs-top-25-teenage-millionaires/ I think its absolutely brilliant that young people today have the confidence to have a go at something they believe in. Mobile technology has certainly made communication easier though. I wouldn’t have needed to use a public phone box to contact suppliers in America or stand in the rain outside that red box waiting for the phone to ring. I could have sat in a coffee shop with a latte like many do today. Using email while sitting in the warm has made that aspect easier but it should be remembered that “Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come”.it is possible to overcome any odds if you are focused and determined enough. My advice to anyone, young or old, is to find something where the tide is coming in, rather than going out, and then get on that wave and hold on for your life.
Green energy, low cost transport or perhaps fracking? still controversial in many countries fracking is now supplying serious amounts of cheap energy in the USA and will undoubtedly create many new millionaires and even the odd billionaire or two. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing for more information.