Cameron Herold: 培养孩子们成企业家

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http://dotsub.com/view/80803ed0-4fd8-4624-a01c-1e3c43adcbf7
Cameron Herold: 培养孩子们成企业家
我敢打赌说在座的各位都比我聪明 因为我在学校里成绩很差，无法完成我的学业 但我很早就知道 我喜欢经商和赚钱 我喜欢这种创业经商的活动 我生来就是一块做企业家的料 我对创业一直以来非常热忱 我之前从未说过这些，一直到今天 除了3天前我对妻子说过这些话，你们是第一个听到这些话的人 因为她问我：“你说的是什么意思？” 我就告诉她 我认为我们丧失了一个大好机会 去发掘一些 具有企业家潜质的孩子 来打造他们或者展示给他们看 当一名企业家是多么酷的一件事情 而并不是一件招人诋毁的坏事 在很多地方这样的事情会发生
当我们还是成长的孩童时，我们有着梦想 我们有着热情和憧憬 但不知何故，我们不再拥有这些东西 取而代之的是我们被教导要努力学习 多专注一点或者参加课外补习 我的父母给我请了一个法语家教 但我的法语还是很烂 两年前，我被麻省理工学院企业家硕士课程 被评为教得最好的讲师 当时我要在来自全球各地的众多企业家面前演讲 当我还在大学2年级，我就赢了所在城市的演讲大赛 但没人曾说过, "瞧，这个娃演讲得很不错 虽然他注意力不集中，但他喜欢到处走动，激励身边的人.” 没人说，“给他请一个演讲的教练吧.” 但他们说，给我请一个家教来弥补我的不足之处
所以孩童们展现了这些潜质 而我们要开始寻找这样的孩子 我认为我们应该把孩子们 培养成企业家而不是律师 但很不幸，学校的教育 把这个世界影响成： “嘿，当律师吧，做医生吧，” 我们失去了一个机会，因为 从未有人说，“嘿，你要做企业家.” 企业家是这样的人--这个屋子里就有很多的企业家 一旦有了想法和热情，或看到世界上的需求 就会挺身而出，开始动手 我们会想尽一切办法来实现自己的想法 也会有能力吸引到和我们同样的人加入我们 和我们一起实现梦想 我想如果可以让孩子们 在年幼的时候就拥有做创业家的理念 恐怕现在世界上的很多问题都可以得到解决 只要出现问题，就会有人提出解决之道 作为一名孩童，没有事情是不可能的 只是因为你笨到 你都不知道该怎么办
我认为作为家长和社会都有一个责任 要教会我们的孩子如何学习知识 而不是教给他们知识本身 古老的谚语说得好 “授人以鱼不如授人以渔” 如果我们能教育孩子们成为企业家 尤其是那些有企业家天赋的孩子们 就像我们培养有科研天赋的孩子们成为科学家一样 如果我们发现了那些有经商天赋的孩子们 并教会他们成为企业家，世界会怎样？ 我们本来可以让这些孩子们到处经商并搞活市场 而不是等着政府来拨款刺激经济
但我们所做的却是告诉孩子们这个那个都不能做 不要打人，不要咬人，不要发誓 现在的小孩子被告之将来要找一份很好的工作 你知道，学校里的教育告诉他们要找到 医生或者律师之类的职业 或是会计师，牙医 教书匠或是飞行员 媒体则告诉他们成为模特或是歌手 是一件很风光的事情 或者成为像Sidney Crosby（加拿大职业冰球手）那样的运动明星 我们的MBA教育没能教会孩子们如何成为企业家 我之所以不去读MBA— 除了我不够格这个事实之外 因为我高中平均成绩只有61% 而这61%的平均成绩 在加拿大只能上Carlton这样的学校—— 另外的原因是我们的MBA课程并不教怎样成为企业家 而是教学生去公司里如何工作
请问是谁创立了这些公司呢？是那些数量很少的企业家 甚至在大众书籍中，我能找到唯一的一本书 你们应该把这本书放在必读条目上 这本我能找到的唯一的 将企业家描述成英雄的书的名字是《地球颠栗》 其余的则带着有色眼镜看待企业家 说我们不是什么好人 我想起我的家人 我的爷爷和外公都是企业家，我的父亲也是 我的兄妹和我三个人都开了自己的公司 我们都决定了开始做这样的事 是因为只有做这个事情才最合适我们了 我们并不适合做普通的工作，我们不会给别人打工 因为我们太倔强了，以及与之类似的企业家的性格
但孩子们也可以成为企业家 我是几个全球组织的重要分子 名称是企业家组织和青年主席组织 我刚从巴塞罗纳演讲归来 参加了在那举办的青年主席组织大会 我在那遇到的每个人 只要他是企业家 都有着在学校里成绩差的经历 19种注意力缺乏症的征兆，我被诊断出18种 所以在我面前的这个玩意让我心神不宁呀 （笑声） 这可能是为什么现在我的心有点乱—— 也有可能是我喝下的咖啡和糖的缘故—— 但作为一名企业家这确实很奇怪 注意力缺乏症，双相障碍 你知道双相障碍被戏称为CEO综合症吗？ Ted Turner（CNN创办者）有此症状，Steve Jobs（苹果CEO）也有 网景公司的三个创办人都有此症 我还可以说出很多这样的例子 孩子们——你可以在孩子们身上发现这些 但我们却递给他们利他林（药物）并说， “不要成为企业家那样的人， 适应另外一种环境并成为一名学生吧。” 对不起，企业家不是学生 我们走捷径。我们看清怎样玩这个游戏。 我偷窃论文，考试作弊 我在大学里雇人做我的会计学作业 一连做了13次作业 但你要知道企业家不做会计的事情，只是聘请会计而已 所以我早就知道了这一点
（笑声）
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至少我敢承认我大学考试作弊，而你们很多人却不敢. 我也被写进了教科书里——我告诉了写书的人我作弊的事情 而且是被写进了同样的教科书中 被用在每一所加拿大的大学和学院里 管理会计学的第八章中有提到我 我是第八章讲授预算的引子 在作者面试完我后，我告诉她我在那个科目中作过弊 她觉得我的故事很有趣，应该写进教科书里
但是你可以在孩子们身上看到这些征兆 企业家的定义是“组织和运营商业活动 并衡量其风险” 这并不代表你必须要读MBA 也不代表你一定要从学校顺利毕业 这只意味着，有少许几件事情在你心里能正确地判断就够了 我们也听说过是选择人工培养还是自然成长 是前者还是后者？究竟是哪一个？ 嗯，我觉得都不对。我觉得两者皆有可能。 我从小就被训练成为企业家
当我还是个小孩子的时候，我没有什么可选的 因为我在很小很早的时候就被告之—— 当我的父亲发现到我不能适应 在学校里教给我的那些东西 他决定从我很小的时候就教我如何做生意 他训练我们这三个孩子 让我们一想到给别人打工就厌恶 让我们憧憬着创建公司和雇佣员工
我第一次做生意是在Winnipeg，那会我只有七岁 我当时躺在我卧室的床上打着电话 我打给了Winnipeg的所有的干洗店 想知道干洗店愿意付多少钱 买我的晾衣架 我的母亲走进房间对我说， "你去哪弄晾衣架来卖给干洗店呢？" 我说，“我们去地下室瞧瞧吧。” 于是我们到了地下室。我把橱柜的门打开 里面有近一千个我收集的晾衣架 因为当我告诉母亲我出去是找别的小孩子玩的时候 其实我是在挨家挨户地收集晾衣架 并把它们存放在地下室等待出售 因为这几个星期她不在我身边—— 你可以赚到钱，他们会付你一个衣架2分钱 所以我想，有很多种晾衣架呀 我应该去收集一些衣架。 而且我知道她不想让我去做这些事情，但我还是去做了 我也学到你其实可以和别人讨价还价 有个人付我3美分，但我和他谈价谈到了3美分半 我甚至在我七岁的时候就知道了 我其实可以把1美分拆成更小的单位 当累计很多这样的单位后，别人仍然可以付给你钱 我七岁就明白了。我的1000个晾衣架每个3美分半。
我还挨家挨户卖过汽车牌照保护膜 我父亲让我去找那些批发商 他们会以批发价格卖给我 在我九岁时，我走遍了Sudbury的大街小巷 挨家挨户地售卖汽车牌照框 我记得很清楚有这么一位顾客 因为我也卖给顾客们其他的东西 我有卖报纸 他从未向我买过哪怕是一份报纸 当我很有把握地觉得会说服他买下一个汽车牌照框 他一开口就说，“我们不需要这个玩意” 我说，“但你有两辆车呀...”——我才九岁 我像在说，“你有两辆车但它们都没有汽车牌照框” 他接着说，“我知道.” 我说，"这辆车的牌照都已经都变皱了” 他说，“是啊，那是我妻子的车。” 我说，“为什么不买一个 在你妻子的车上试试,看看有没有效果。” 因此我知道如果有两个牌照分别在两辆车上面 如果我不能一次卖四个，至少我可以卖一个 我很小的时候就学到了这个道理
我倒卖过漫画书 我卖漫画书是在我大约十岁的时候 在我们村外的Georgian湾上 我会骑着自行车抵达海滩的一头 从穷孩子们那儿买进所有的漫画 然后回到另一头倒卖给那些有钱的小孩们 在我来看最明显不过了，对吗？买低卖高。 这边既有需求又有着大把的钞票 不要尝试着卖给没钱的小孩；他们付不起钱，找有钱人做生意吧 再简单不过了，对吗？ 和经济衰退一样，现在的经济正在衰退 但还是有13兆美元在美国的经济中流通呀 争取好好利用这些钱吧，我小时候就懂了 我还学到，不要让别人知道你的供货渠道 卖漫画的四个星期后我被人海扁了一顿 因为一个有钱的小孩发现了漫画是从哪来的 多付出那些钱来买我的漫画书让他很生气
我十岁时被逼找到一份递送报纸的差事 我真的不想做递送报纸这份活 但父亲对10岁的我说，“这会将是你的下一个生意机会” 所以一个还不够，他又给我找到了另一份 然后他让我雇人来递送其中一半的报纸 我这样做了，然后我意识到收小费是最赚钱的 于是我便收起了小费来赚钱 我会去收所有递送报纸的小费 而我的工人则去递送报纸 由此我知道了我可以从中赚钱 这个时候，我已经很确定地知道我不会去给人打工了
（笑声）
我父亲有一个汽车修理厂 工厂里闲置着一些旧的汽车零部件 零部件都是铜做的，很旧了 于是我问父亲会怎样处理这些东西，他说会扔掉 我说，“难道没人买这些东西吗？”他说，“也许吧." 那是在34年前，当我还是10岁的时候 我从中看到了机会 我在垃圾中看到了价值 我开始骑着车到处收集这些旧的汽车零配件 而我的父亲会在星期六开车送我 前往一个废金属收购站卖掉这些东西 我当时觉得这样做很有意思 很奇怪的是30年后，我们才有废物收购电话 从废物收购中赚钱
我在11岁时做了这些小小的针垫 这些都是为了庆祝母亲节为妈妈们所做的 针垫是用木制的衣夹做的 衣夹是用来在户外的绳子上晾衣服的 而且你还得做这些椅子 我缝制了这些小枕头 你可以把针插入里面 因为过去人们常常缝衣服，他们需要用针垫 但我意识到顾客想要有多的选择 于是我把很多针垫喷涂成褐色 然后我上门售卖，我不会说，“你想买一个吗？” 而是说,"你想要哪种颜色的？" 你不会忍心拒绝一个十岁小孩子的吧 何况你可以从两个颜色中选一个；褐色或者无色 于是我在很小的时候就学会了这个窍门
我明白了体力活很不好做 对吗，像割草工作就很辛苦 但因为我整个夏天要给我们所有的邻居除草并挣点钱 我意识到回头客的钱 实在是太好赚了 如果我有办法找到客户和我做生意 然后每个星期他会付给我钱 这样赚钱会比去沿街售卖要强得多 一个衣夹只可以卖给一个人 因为你不能卖更多的衣夹了 所以我很小就学会并爱上了这种重复收益的模式
记住我可是被训练成这样的，我可不能去找工作。 我会去高尔夫球场给人捡球，拿球杆，做一名球童 我注意到球场里有一个山坡 第13个洞口就在这个高高的山坡上 人们从来不曾将他们的球杆袋拿上去过 于是我在那里的草地上摆了个椅子，坐在上面 专门负责为没有球童的人拿球杆袋 我会将他们的袋子扛到山顶，然后他们付给我1美元 同时我的朋友会做5个小时 仅仅只是为了10美元而拿着某个人的球袋到处跑 我心想，“要工作5个小时真是笨主意， 根本就划不来。”你应该寻求快速赚钱的法门
每个星期我会去街边的商店买一些饮料 然后我会走去送给那些玩桥牌的70多岁的老太太们 她们会让我下个星期给她们买一些饮料 于是我会买给她们并收取2倍的价钱 这些收入来源很稳定，所以你不需要签任何的合同 你只需要拥有一个货源和需求 以及愿意和你买东西的顾客 这些女顾客不会去和别的人买东西 因为她们喜欢跟我买，而我看得出来这一点
我去高尔夫球场上找高尔夫球 每个人都在灌木林里 或者是沟渠里寻找高尔夫球 我心想，别费劲了，高尔夫球都在池塘里 而且没有人会走进池塘里 于是我便走进了池塘四处摸索，用我的脚趾头将球捡起来 你只需要用双脚就可以捡到球了 在这里我可做不来 当你捡到球后便将它放到游泳裤里 这样一来你会捡到好几百个高尔夫球 当问题是人们并不想要旧的高尔夫球 所以我将球打包，一包有一打球 我用三种方法给球打包 我当时手头上有Pinnacles,DDHs以及其他牌子的好球 我将它们2美元一个出售 我还有一些看上去成色好的球，每个卖50美分 然后我会将50个成色差的球打包一起出售 那些球可以被当作训练用球
我在学校里读书时也卖过太阳镜 卖给高中所有的孩子 此举招致了每个人的反感 因为你每时每刻都试图从你的朋友们那里赚钱 但这样做我可以付得起我自己的账单 于是我卖了很多很多的太阳镜 直到学校勒令我停止售卖—— 学校领导把我叫进办公室里告诉我不能卖太阳镜了 所以我就跑到那些加油站去 卖给加油站很多的太阳眼镜 让加油站再卖给它们的顾客们 这样很好因为等于我拥有了自己的零售商店 我想那时我是14岁
接下来我自己做老板直到在Carlton读完大学一年级 当时我靠上门卖羊皮酒袋赚钱 你知道你可以将40盎司的朗姆酒 和2瓶可乐放入一个羊皮酒袋？这有什么了不起的？ 是的，但你知道吗？你把酒袋放入你的短裤内 然后走进橄榄球赛场，你就可以免费地喝个痛快 每个人都买了 货源，需求，赚大钱的商机 我还推出了品牌并以5倍于通常的价钱售卖 上面有我们大学的图标
你知道我们教育孩子，给他们买游戏 但为什么我们不提供给他们游戏，如果他们是做企业家的料 最好是那种培养企业家精神的游戏 为什么你不去教他们不要乱花钱？ 我记得在Banff,艾伯塔,我被要求走在大街中央 因为我在大街上扔了1分钱 我父亲对我说，“去捡起来。” 他说，“我这么辛苦赚钱，不想看到你浪费一分钱。” 我至今还记得这件教训
零花钱会让孩子们养成坏习惯 零花钱，从根本上，会让孩子们 去想要为别人工作 而企业家从不期望得到工资条 零花钱从小就灌输给孩子们 期望得到工资条的想法 这是错的，在我看来，如果你想培养企业家 拿我的孩子来说——我有两个，一个9岁，另一个7岁—— 我让他们在屋内，院子里到处走走 找一些需要做的事情和东西 然后告诉我需要做的是什么 或者我找到他们并说，“这是我需要做的。” 你知道我们会怎么做吗？我们会商谈 他们四处寻找需要做什么 但是我们会商谈应该付给他们多少钱 他们不会有固定的收入，但有更多机会寻找更多的事情做 他们学会了怎样讨价还价 也学会了寻找机会的本领
你应该灌输这样的观念。我的每个小孩有两个存钱罐 他们赚的或别人给的钱，其中一半的钱 一半存入他们的家庭账户 另一半存入他们的玩具账户 玩具账户的钱可以买任何他们想要的东西 每6个月那一半在家庭账户的钱会被存入银行 在银行存的所有的钱每年会交给他们的股票经纪人 我的两个9岁和7岁的孩子都有一个股票经纪人 我教育他们养成储蓄的好习惯 令我很不解的是30多岁的人会说 “也许我现在该开始缴纳RSP保险费了." 见鬼，你已经晚了25年了 你可以从小就培养他们养成这些习惯 以免将来他们感到后悔
不要每天晚上临睡前都给孩子们讲故事 也许一个星期内有四个晚上是讲故事给他们听 另三个晚上则让他们讲给你听 为什么你不和孩子们坐在一块，交给他们四样东西 一件红衬衣，一条蓝领带，一个袋鼠玩具和一个笔记本电脑 让他们用这些道具给你讲一个故事 我的孩子们经常这样做 这样可以让他们学会销售和创新 也让他们可以独立地思考 尽情地去用这种方法让孩子们开心地玩
让孩子们能站在众人面前演讲 哪怕面对的是他们自己的朋友 也可以让他们表演和演讲 这些都是你要培养的企业家的特质 让孩子们知道一个糟糕的顾客或员工是什么样子的 把脾气坏的员工给他们指出来 当你看到差劲的客户服务时，也给他们指出来 并说，“你看，那个家伙是个不称职的员工” 接着说,"而这些员工都很尽职尽责。" （笑声） 如果你去餐馆用餐遇到很差的服务时 让他们看看糟糕的服务是什么样子 （笑声） 我们身边有很多这样的例子 但我们浪费了这些机会；反而聘请家教来为孩子们补习功课
想一想如果你现在把 所有家里属于你孩子的垃圾 所有你孩子这2年积攒的玩具拿出来 并说，“为什么我们不把这些东西在Craigslist网和Kijiji网上出售呢？” 这些东西他们其实可以拿去网上卖 并且学会如何分辨电邮里开价的真假 他们会进到你的帐户或你的子账户或者其他账户 但要教他们怎样定价和估价 以及 教他们如何通过这种方式来赚钱 然后一半的所得存入家庭账户 另一半存入他们买玩具的账户 我的孩子们喜爱做这些事情
有些企业家的特质是需要你去特别培养的： 成就感，毅力，领导力，自省，独立和价值观 这些特质都可以在孩子们身上找到，你可以帮助培养这些特质 好好地寻找这些特质吧 有两个特质我想引起你的注意 我们不应该将其从他们身上扼杀 不需要去治疗孩子的注意力缺乏症 除非是严重到非治不可的地步 （掌声） 对狂躁症，压力过大和忧郁症也不需要药物治疗 除非从医学角度上讲已经很严重了 双相障碍被戏称为首席执行官综合症 当Steve Jurvetson和Jim Clark 还有Jim Barksdale有这个症状时 他们做出了网景浏览器 想像一下如果他们接受药物（利他林）治疗 我们可能就不会有网景浏览器了，不是吗？ 可能艾尔·戈尔（美国前副总统）会成为因特网之父吧
（笑声）
这些技能是我们应该在教室里教给孩子们的 当然还有其他应该教的东西 我不是说不要孩子们长大后当律师 而是说将成为企业家这个理想 摆放到和其他的理想同样的位置上去 因为这样做会给我们带来很多的机会
我想以一个简短的视频作为结束 这是我是做顾问的一个公司制作的 制作视频的人他们自称为“蝗虫” 这是关于孩子和企业家精神的视频 希望这会启发你将我所讲的话 付诸于行动，从而改变这个世界。 （孩子...“你有想过你是无所不能的吗？”） （你现在仍然是啊） （因为很多我们认为不可能的事情...） （...其实是很容易实现的） （因为你如果还没察觉到，我们生活在一个） （个人也可以做出巨大贡献的世界里） （不相信？） （你看到那些建设我们国家的人了吗？） （其中有我们的父母，爷爷奶奶，叔叔阿姨们...） （他们是外来移民，来到这个陌生的地方） （也许他们刚来时不是那么富有） （或许他们身无分文除了...） （...一个伟大的想法） （这些人是思考家，实干家...） （...发明家） （...直到他们给自己命名成...） （...企业家） （他们改变了我们认为什么是可能与不可能） （他们清楚地知道生活如何在未来会变得更美好） （即使我们所有人觉得是艰难时世） （现在，很难看清楚...） （...因为我们的视线被障碍挡住） （但是危险之中蕴藏着很多机会） （把握机会就能成功，这也迫使我们） （去寻找更新的做事情的方式） （所以你会去抓住怎样的机会？为什么？） （如果你是企业家） （你便知道风险不是奖励品） （不是的，真正的奖励是推动了创新...） （...改善了人们的生活，创造了工作机会） （加速成长） （让世界变得更美好） （到处都有企业家） （他们通过经营小型企业来支撑国家的发展） （开发各种工具来给予你帮助） （...让不同国家的朋友们，家人们和同事们之间保持联系） （他们用新的方法来帮忙解决这个社会自古以来就有的问题） （你认识哪一位企业家呢？） （任何人都可以当企业家...） （甚至...可以是你！） （抓住机会去创造你一直想要的工作吧） （帮助经济复苏） （给世界带来改变） （追求更高的目标） （但最最重要的是） （记得当你还是个孩子的时侯） （当你认为没有不可能的事情的时候） （然后暗暗地并坚定地对你自己说：） （“仍然没有变”）

谢谢大家

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Cameron Herold: Let's raise kids to be entrepreneurs
I will be willing to bet that I'm the dumbest guy in the room because I couldn't get through school. I struggled with school. But what I knew at a very early age was that I loved money and I loved business and I loved this entrepreneurial thing. And I was raised to be an entrepreneur. And what I've been really passionate about ever since -- and I've never spoken about this ever, until now -- so this is the first time anyone's ever heard it, except my wife three days ago, because she said, "What are you talking about?" and I told her -- is that I think we miss an opportunity to find these kids who have the entrepreneurial traits, and to groom them or show them that being an entrepreneur is actually a cool thing. It's not something that is a bad thing and is vilified, which is what happens in a lot of society.

Kids, when we grow up, have dreams. And we have passions and we have visions. And somehow we get those things crushed. And we get told that we need to study harder or be more focused or get a tutor. And my parents got me a tutor in French, and I still suck at French. Two years ago, I was the highest-rated lecturer at MIT's entrepreneurial master's program. And it was a speaking event in front of groups of entrepreneurs from around the world. When I was in grade two, I won a city-wide speaking competition, but nobody had ever said, "Hey, this kid's a good speaker. He can't focus, but he loves walking around and getting people energized." No one said, "Get him a coach in speaking." They said, get me a tutor in what I suck at.

So kids show these traits. And we need to start looking for them. I think we should be raising kids to be entrepreneurs instead of lawyers. And unfortunately the school system is grooming this world to say, "Hey, let's be a lawyer or let's be a doctor," and we're missing an opportunity because no one ever says, "Hey, be an entrepreneur." Entrepreneurs are people -- because we have a lot of them in this room -- who have these ideas and these passions or see these needs in the world and decide to stand up and do it. And we put everything on the line to make that stuff happen. And we have the ability to get those groups of people around us that want to kind of build that dream with us. And I think if we could get kids to embrace the idea, at a young age, of being entrepreneurial, we could change everything in the world that is a problem today. Every problem that's out there, somebody has the idea for. And as a young kid, nobody can say it can't happen because you're too dumb to realize that you couldn't figure it out.

I think we have an obligation as parents and a society to start teaching our kids to fish instead of giving them the fish. The old parable, "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime." If we can teach our kids to become entrepreneurial, the ones that show those traits to be, like we teach the ones who have science gifts to go on in science. What if we saw the ones who had entrepreneurial traits and taught them to be entrepreneurs? We could have all these kids spreading businesses instead of waiting for government handouts.

What we do is we sit and teach our kids all the things they shouldn't do. Don't hit; don't bite; don't swear. Right now we teach our kids to go after really good jobs, you know, and the school system teaches them to go after things like being a doctor and being a lawyer and being an accountant and a dentist and a teacher and a pilot. And the media says that it's really cool if we could go out and be a model or a singer or a sports hero like Sidney Crosby. Our MBA programs do not teach kids to be entrepreneurs. The reason that I avoided an MBA program -- other than the fact that I couldn't get into any because I had a 61 percent average out of high school and then 61 percent average at the only school in Canada that accepted me, Carlton -- but our MBA programs don't teach kids to be entrepreneurs. They teach them to go work in corporations.

So who's starting these companies? It's these random few people. Even in popular literature, the only book I've ever found -- and this should be on all of your reading lists -- the only book I've ever found that makes the entrepreneur into the hero is "Atlas Shrugged." Everything else in the world tends to look at entrepreneurs and say that we're bad people. I look at even my family. Both my grandfathers were entrepreneurs. My dad was an entrepreneur. Both my brother and sister and I, all three of us own companies as well. And we all decided to start these things because it's really the only place we fit. We didn't fit in the normal work. We couldn't work for somebody else because we're too stubborn and we have all these other traits.

But kids could be entrepreneurs as well. I'm a big part of a couple organizations globally called the Entrepreneurs' Organization and the Young Presidents' Organization. I just came back from speaking in Barcelona at the YPO global conference, and everyone that I met over there who's an entrepreneur struggled with school. I have 18 of the 19 signs of attention deficit disorder diagnosed. So this thing right here is freaking me out. (Laughter) It's probably why I'm a little bit panicked right now -- other than all the caffeine that I've had and the sugar -- but this is really creepy for an entrepreneur. Attention deficit disorder, bipolar disorder. Do you know that bipolar disorder is nicknamed the CEO disease? Ted Turner's got it. Steve Jobs has it. All three of the founders of Netscape had it. I could go on and on. Kids -- you can see these signs in kids. And what we're doing is we're giving them Ritalin and saying, "Don't be an entrepreneurial type. Fit into this other system and try to become a student." Sorry, entrepreneurs aren't students. We fast-track. We figure out the game. I stole essays. I cheated on exams. I hired kids to do my accounting assignments in University for 13 consecutive assignments. But as an entrepreneur you don't do accounting, you hire accountants. So I just figured that out earlier.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

At least I can admit I cheated in university; most of you won't. I'm also quoted -- and I told the person who wrote the textbook -- I'm now quoted in that exact same university textbook in every Canadian university and college studies. In managerial accounting, I'm chapter eight. I open up chapter eight talking about budgeting. And I told the author, after they did my interview, that I cheated in that same course. And she thought it was too funny to not include it anyway.

But kids, you can see these signs in them. The definition of an entrepreneur is "a person who organizes, operates and assumes the risk for a business venture." That doesn't mean you have to go to an MBA program. It doesn't mean you have to get through school. It just means that those few things have to feel right in your gut. And we've heard those things about is it nurture or is it nature, right. Is it thing one or thing two? What is it? Well, I don't think it's either. I think it can be both. I was groomed as an entrepreneur.

When I was growing up as a young kid, I had no choice, because I was taught at a very early, young age -- when my dad realized I wasn't going to fit in to everything else that was being taught to me in school -- that he could teach me to figure out business at an early age. He groomed us, the three of us, to hate the thought of having a job and to love the fact of creating companies that we could employ other people.

My first little business venture, I was seven years old, I was in Winnipeg, and I was lying in my bedroom with one of those long extension cords. And I was calling all the dry cleaners in Winnipeg to find out how much would the dry cleaners pay me for coat hangers. And my mom came into the room and she said, "Where are you going to get the coat hangers to sell to the dry cleaners?" And I said, "Let's go look in the basement." And we went down to the basement. And I opened up this cupboard. And there was about a thousand coat hangers that I'd collected. Because, when I told her I was going out to play with the kids, I was going door to door in the neighborhood to collect coat hangers to put in the basement to sell. Because I saw her a few weeks before that -- you could get paid. They used to pay you two cents per coat hanger. So I was just like, well there's all kinds of coat hangers. And so I'll just go get them. And I knew she wouldn't want me to go get them, so I just did it anyway. And I learned that you could actually negotiate with people. This one person offered me three cents and I got him up to three and a half. I even knew at a seven year-old age that I could actually get a fractional percent of a cent, and people would pay that because it multiplied up. At seven years old I figured it out. I got three and a half cents for a thousand coat hangers.

I sold license plate protectors door to door. My dad actually made me go find someone who would sell me these things at wholesale. And at nine years old, I walked around the city of Sudbury selling license plate protectors door to door to houses. And I remember this one customer so vividly because I also did some other stuff with these clients. I sold newspapers. And he wouldn't buy a newspaper from me ever. But I was convinced I was going to get him to buy a license plate protector. And he's like, "Well, we don't need one." And I said, "But you've got two cars ..." -- I'm nine years old. I'm like, "But you have two cars and they don't have license plate protectors." And he said, "I know." And I said, "The car here's got one license plate that's all crumpled up." And he said, "Yes, that's my wife's car." And I said, "Why don't we just test one on the front of your wife's car and see if it lasts longer." So I knew there were two cars with two license plates on each. If I couldn't sell all four, I could at least get one. I learned that at a young age.

I did comic book arbitrage. When I was about 10 years old, I sold comic books out of our cottage on Georgian Bay. And I would go biking up to the end of the beach and buy all the comics from the poor kids. And then I would go back to the other end of the beach and sell them to the rich kids. But it was obvious to me, right. Buy low, sell high. You've got this demand over here that has money. Don't try to sell to the poor kids; they don't have cash. The rich people do. Go get some. So that's obvious, right. It's like a recession. So, there's a recession. there's still 13 trillion dollars circulating in the U.S. economy. Go get some of that. And I learned that at a young age. I also learned, don't reveal your source, because I got beat up after about four weeks of doing this because one of the rich kids found out where I was buying my comics from, and he didn't like the fact that he was paying a lot more.

I was forced to get a paper route at 10 years old. I didn't really want a paper route, but at 10, my dad said, "That's going to be your next business." So not only would he get me one, but I had to get two, and then he wanted me to hire someone to deliver half the papers, which I did, and then I realized that collecting tips was where you made all the money. So I would collect the tips and get payment. So I would go and collect for all the papers. He could just deliver them. Because then I realized I could make the money. By this point, I was definitely not going to be an employee.

(Laughter)

My dad owned an automotive and industrial repair shop. And he had all these old automotive parts lying around. And they had this old brass and copper. And so I asked him what he did with it. And he said he just throws it out. And I said, "But wouldn't somebody pay you for that?" And he goes, "Maybe." Remember at 10 years old -- so 34 years ago I saw opportunity in this stuff. I saw there was money in garbage. And I was actually collecting it from all the automotive shops in the area on my bicycle. And then my dad would drive me on Saturdays to a scrap metal recycler where I got paid. And I thought that was kind of cool. Strangely enough, 30 years later, we're building 1-800-GOT-JUNK? and making money with that too.

I built these little pin cushions when I was 11 years old in cubs, and we made these pin cushions for our moms for Mother's Day. And you made these pin cushions out of wooden clothespins -- when we used to hang clothes on clotheslines outside. And you'd make these chairs. And I had these little pillows that I would sew up. And you could stuff pins in them. Because people used to sew and they needed a pin cushion. But what I realized was that you had to have options. So I actually spray painted a whole bunch of them brown. And then when I went to the door, it wasn't, "Do you want to buy one?" It was, "Which color would you like?" Like I'm 10 years old; you're not going to say no to me, especially if you have two options; you have the brown one or the clear one. So I learned that lesson at a young age.

I learned that manual labor really sucks. Right, like cutting lawns is brutal. But because I had to cut lawns all summer for all of our neighbors and get paid to do that, I realized that recurring revenue from one client is amazing. That if I land this client once, and every week I get paid by that person, that's way better than trying to sell one clothespin thing to one person. Because you can't sell them more. So I love that recurring revenue model I started to learn at a young age.

Remember, I was being groomed to do this. I was not allowed to have jobs. I would caddy, I would go to the golf course and caddy for people. But I realized that there was this one hill on our golf course, the 13th hole that had this huge hill. And people could never get their bags up it. So I would sit there with a lawn chair and just carry up all the people who didn't have caddies. I would carry their golf bags up to the top, and they'd pay me a dollar. Meanwhile, my friends were working for five hours to haul some guy's bag around and get paid 10 bucks. I'm like, "That's stupid because you have to work for five hours. That doesn't make any sense." You just figure out a way to make more money faster.

Every week, I would go to the corner store and buy all these pops. Then I would go up and deliver them to these 70 year-old women playing bridge. And they'd give me their orders for the following week. And then I'd just deliver pop and I'd just charge twice. And I had this captured market. You didn't need contracts. You just needed to have a supply and demand and this audience who bought into you. This women weren't going to go to anybody else because they liked me, and I kind of figured out.

I went and got golf balls from golf courses. But everybody else was looking in the bush and looking in the ditches for golf balls. I'm like, screw that. They're all in the pond and nobody's going into the pond. So I would go into the ponds and crawl around and pick them up with my toes. You just pick them up with both feet. You can't do it on stage. And you get the golf balls and you just throw them in your bathing suit trunks and when you're done you've got a couple hundred of them. But the problem is that people didn't want old golf balls. So I just packaged them. I'm like 12, right. I packaged them up three ways. I had the Pinnacles and DDHs and the really cool ones back then. Those sold for two dollars each. And then I had all the good ones that didn't look crappy. They were 50 cents each. And then I'd sell 50 at a time of all the crappy ones. And they could use those for practice balls.

And I sold sunglasses, when I was in school, to all the kids in high school. This is what really kind of gets everybody hating you is because you're trying to extract money from all your friends all the time. But it paid the bills. So I sold lots and lots of sunglasses. And then when the school shut me down -- the school actually called me into the office and told me I couldn't do it -- so I went to the gas stations and I sold lots of them to the gas stations and had the gas stations sell them to their customers. That was cool because then I had retail outlets. And I think I was fourteen.

And then I paid my entire way through first year university at Carlton by selling wine skins door to door. You know that you can hold a 40 oz. bottle of rum and two bottles of coke in a wineskin? So what, right? Yeah, but you know what? You stuff that down your shorts, when you go into a football game you can get booze in for free, everybody bought them. Supply, demand, big opportunity. I also branded it, so I sold them for five times the normal cost. It had our university logo on it.

You know we teach our kids and we buy them games, but why don't we get them games, if they're entrepreneurial kids, that kind of nurture the traits that you need to be entrepreneurs? Why don't you teach them not to waste money? I remember being told to walk out in the middle of a street in Banff, Alberta because I'd thrown a penny out on the street, And my dad said, "Go pick it up." He said, "I work too damn hard for my money. I'm not going to see you ever waste a penny." And I remember that lesson to this day.

Allowances teach kids the wrong habits. Allowances, by nature, are teaching kids to think about a job. And entrepreneur doesn't expect a regular paycheck. Allowance is breeding kids at a young age to expect a regular paycheck. That's wrong, for me, if you want to raise entrepreneurs. What I do with my kids now -- I've got two, nine and seven -- is I teach them to walk around the house and the yard, looking for stuff that needs to get done. Come to me and tell me what it is. Or I'll come to them and say, "Here's what I need done." And then you know what we do? We negotiate. They go around looking for what it is. But then we negotiate on what they're going to get paid. And then they don't have a regular check, but they have more opportunities to find more stuff, and they learn the skill of negotiating, and they learn the skill of finding opportunities as well.

You breed that kind of stuff. Each of my kids has two piggy banks. 50 percent of all the money that they earn or get gifted, 50 percent goes in their house account, 50 percent goes in their toy account. Anything that goes in their toy account they can spend on whatever they want. The 50 percent that goes in their house account, every six months, goes to the bank. They walk up with me. Every year all the money in the bank goes to their broker. Both my nine- and seven-year-old have a stock broker already. But I'm teaching them to force that savings habit. It drives me crazy that 30-year-olds are saying, "Maybe I'll start contributing to my RSP now." Shit, you've missed 25 years. You can teach those habits to young kids when they don't even feel the pain yet.

Don't read them bedtime stories every night. Maybe four nights out of the week read them bedtime stories and three nights of the week have them tell stories. Why don't you sit down with kids and give them four items, a red shirt, a blue tie, a kangaroo and a laptop, and have them tell a story about those four things. My kids do that all the time. It teaches them to sell; it teaches them creativity; it teaches them to think on their feet. Just do that kind of stuff and have fun with it.

Get kids to stand up in front of groups and talk, even if it's just stand up in front of their friends and do plays and have speeches. Those are entrepreneurial traits that you want to be nurturing. Show the kids what bad customers or bad employees look like. Show them the grumpy employees. When you see grumpy customer service, point that out to them. Say, "By the way, that guys a crappy employee." And say, "These ones are good ones." (Laughter) If you go into a restaurant and you have bad customer service, show them what bad customer service looks like. (Laughter) We've all these lessons in front of us, but we don't take those opportunities; we teach kids to go get a tutor.

Imagine if you actually took all the kids' junk that's in the house right now, all the toys that they've outgrown two years ago, and said, "Why don't we start selling some of this on Craigslist and Kijiji?" And they can actually sell it and learn how to find scammers when they get email offers come in. They can come in to you account or a sub account or whatever. But teach them how to fix the price, guess the price, pull up the photos. Teach them how to do that kind of stuff and make money. Then the money they get, 50 percent goes in their house account, 50 percent goes in their toy account. My kids love this stuff.

Some of the entrepreneurial traits that you've got to nurture in kids: attainment, tenacity, leadership, introspection, interdependence, values. All these traits you can find in young kids, and you can help nurture them. Look for that kind of stuff. There's two traits that I want you to also look out for that we don't kind of get out of their system. Don't medicate kids for attention deficit disorder unless it is really, really freaking bad. (Applause) The same with the whole things on mania and stress and depression, unless it is so clinically brutal, man. Bipolar disorder is nicknamed the CEO disease. When Steve Jurvetson and Jim Clark and Jim Barksdale have all got it, and they built Netscape. Imagine if they were given Ritalin. We wouldn't have have that stuff, right? Al Gore would have really invented the Internet.

(Laughter)

These skills are the skills we should be teaching in the classroom as well as everything else. I'm not saying don't get kids to want to be lawyers. But how about getting entrepreneurship to be ranked right up there with the rest of them as well. Because there's huge opportunities in that.

I want to close with a quick little video. It's a video that was done by one of the companies that I mentor. These guys, Grasshopper. It's about kids. It's about entrepreneurship. Hopefully this inspires you to take what you've heard from me and do something with it to change the world. [Kid ... "And you thought you could do anything?"] [You still can.] [Because a lot of what we consider impossible ...] [... is easy to overcome] [Because in case you haven't noticed, we live in a place where] [One individual can make a difference] [Want proof?] [Just look at the people who built our country;] [Our parents, grandparents, our aunts, uncles ...] [They were immigrants, newcomers ready to make their mark] [Maybe they came with very little] [Or perhaps they didn't own anything except for ...] [... a single brilliant idea] [These people were thinkers, doers ...] [... innovators ...] [... until they came up with the name ...] [... entrepreneurs!] [They change the way we think about what is possible.] [They have a clear vision of how life can be better] [for all of us, even when times are tough.] [Right now, it's hard to see ...] [... when our view is cluttered with obstacles.] [But turbulence creates opportunities] [for success, achievement, and pushes us ...] [to discover new ways of doing things] [So what opportunities will you go after and why?] [If you're an entrepreneur] [you know that risk isn't the reward.] [No. The rewards are driving innovation ...] [... changing people's lives. Creating jobs.] [Fueling growth.] [And making a better world.] [Entrepreneurs are everywhere.] [They run small businesses that support our economy,] [design tools to help you ...] [... stay connected to friends, family and colleagues around the world.] [And they're finding new ways of helping to solve society's oldest problems.] [Do you know an entrepreneur?] [Entrepreneurs can be anyone ...] [Even ... you!] [So seize the opportunity to create the job you always wanted] [Help heal the economy] [Make a difference.] [Take your business to new heights.] [But most importantly,] [remember when you were a kid ...] [when everything was within you reach,] [and then say to yourself quietly, but with determination:] ["It still is."]

Thank you very much for having me.