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Inspiring kids to be entrepreneurial.

Enterprising Dinner Table Conversations

September 12th, 2020

What do you think the Howitt’s talk about when around the dinner table?

It always begins with each member of the family sharing a gratitude, then usually the events of the day are told and achievements celebrated; however, what quite often happens next is that topics of business, enterprise, finance and investing govern the conversation.

Flynn Howitt taking his photography to another level. Check out his facebook blog and see what he can do! — Film making and photography have been the key to Flynn’s success in building his social media following

Lately, the topics of interest have been Instagram money making strategies, crypto assets and eCommerce.

Let’s look at these individually and look at how these present opportunities for kids to be entrepreneurial…

Instagram

Our older children, Kaitlin (now 24), Jai (now 22), Flynn (now 20) and Amber (now 18) all discovered social media when they were in their mid-teens. It started with facebook, then Instagram and now Tic Toc and Snap Chat. They discovered how to grow a true following of people by using regular posts of quality content about their lives. It helped living on a paradise Tropical Island atoll in the middle of the Indian Ocean- photos and videos here always look fabulous!

Kaitlin Howitt co-creating inspirational workshops with like minded people. Enterprising teen to entrepreneur. — Creating workshops that inspire has become Kaitlin passion.

As their following grew, so did their opportunities for enterprise. It began with something called ‘shoutouts’. Here other people/companies would pay cash for the enterprising kids to mention them in a post. This helps these people/companies grow their followers or promote their wares… and my kids were happy for the cash!

Next came real products. Companies would send them clothing, watches, surf gear and jewellery to wear and share on their Instagram accounts. The kids would get to keep the gear!

Following that, companies would not only send the gear, but also pay for the promotions. My enterprising teens were stoked with these opportunities!

As time went by and their social media followings grew and grew and their creative juices began to flow, real, much larger opportunities presented themselves.

Humble beginnings for Jai where he learnt to navigate the world of entrepreneurialism from his shared bedroom. — Jai building his enterprise from his bedroom a few years ago.

Handing over the keys to his new warehouse where he creates media content for international clients.

Kaitlin, along with Tully her husband, have built multiple streams of income using social media. Businesses that include coaching, MLM, and online courses. We’ll share more about this in a later blog post.

It’s taken Jai a few years, but now he has a thriving business where he creates content for international clients for their social media marketing. He uses his social influence through Instagram, Tic Toc and Facebook to generate leads for his very successful enterprise.

Crypto

You would have all heard about Bitcoin, but I’d say not many of people fully understand what it actually is. In a nutshell, Bitcoin is a block chain digital software developed in 2008 to be a currency. It is limited in supply, therefore very rare like gold. Other than its rarity, people like it for many reasons:

Decentralised, thus not controlled by one bank (centralised).
Cheap and quick to buy, sell and send.
Easy to store and secure.
A hedge against other asset classes.
Block chain technology is at its infancy and likely to become huge.
It is borderless. Can be traded and used in all countries.
Used as a currency.

There are thousands of different crypto currencies, although Bitcoin is by far the largest by market cap. Many of the crypto coins are based on block chain digital technologies (programs) that have real life applications. They are part of real bricks and mortar businesses. For example, Power Ledger is a renewable energy technology allowing people who have solar panels on their homes to be able to sell their excess energy to other people for a premium, rather than selling back to the to the Energy company for very pittance. People can buy the Power Ledger Coin. If the company continues to grow and expand and make profits, it will push the value of the coin up.

Block chain technology (crypto) is very new, and people are only just beginning to realise its potential. The infrastructure to utilise the technology is still being put into place. As mainstream companies, banks, fund managers and investors see the real benefits of block chain technology and recognise crypto currencies as being a strong asset class, the value of these rare assets will continue to rise.

The Howitt’s have investigated several crypto coins and have bought into them, with the intention to hold them for the long term. We believe it is a strong hedge against other asset classes, such as the stock market. We also believe crypto to have tremendous potential.

eCommerce

As a family, we are all studying an eCommerce program called Web Dev. We are learning to build and monetise websites. We are also learning to identify value in websites for sale, buy them and then either renovate and flip them, or hold them for cash flow.

Websites can be monetised in many ways. The more common ways are through affiliating with companies selling real products and services (eg Amazon) or with advertising (AdSense). However; there are many other ways- like creating directory sites or selling digital products.

Building a website yourself from scratch costs very little, so anybody can afford to do so. Perfect for enterprising kids or teens. Buying readymade websites, already making a consistent monthly income can be an excellent investment, arguably better than any other asset class available today. For example, website that makes a $1000 a month can be bought for about $20 000. After costs, this asset will return in excess of 40% p/a. In addition, if you have the skills to improve the website and its income, then the asset will be worth more. Now, where else can you get a 40%+ return on an investment?

Currently, the younger Howitt kids are building websites. Amber has hers up and running. Go check it out www.sustainableperiodproducts.com. Chayse recently bought www.babyclient.com , which he is currently renovating. The other kids’ sites are a work in progress. We’ll keep you posted!

Our dinner table conversations may be a little different to the average family. We gain inspiration from one another through these conversations and through our mentors who support us on our entrepreneurial journeys. We are building skills, gaining knowledge, creating assets and most of all strengthening a mindset for enterprise.

Kids Biz Program- (by Amber)

November 26th, 2016

We are currently involved in a Kids Biz Program. The program educates younger people (and their parents) the traits of being a successful entrepreneur. We are taught the physical methods and the ways in which to train the mindset to be more successful and open to new ideas.

Flynn and I kerb painting

A wise man once said…

“The most successful people in life are the ones who ask questions. They’re always learning. They are always growing. They are always pushing” (Robert Kiyosaki).

This quote best sums up what my family and I have been doing these past few months.

Kids Biz Monthly Challenges

Every month, the program sets a challenge, which encourages us to take the skills we’ve learnt and apply them to real life situations. In August, our challenge was to take $20, and create a business that will earn us profit. To win the challenge we were to make the most money from our $20.

Our Money Making Idea

Naturally, my family was slow to get started and we kept circulating ideas but never taking action! Finally we had an idea that stuck, and from there it really just exploded! Our idea was to paint house numbers on kerbs, which would help visitors, family members and even emergency services to be able to find where people live easily.

Kit putting the final touches onto the kerb number

We did our fair share of research and planning, and then we took action. In 5 days we presold over 60 kerb paintings, giving us a profit of about $1000.

Amazingly, we won the challenge for the month! We spent September painting kerbs.

It has been an awesome experience so far (and I swear my artistic ability has improved).

I’m really excited to share with you our Kids Biz Program September challenge!! That I’ll tell you all about in my next post.

We invite you to like our new Enterpriseforkids Facebook page.

The Enterprise for Kids Team is Back!!

October 1st, 2016

Yes, the Enterprise for Kids Team is still here!

Hello Friends and Followers,

Would you believe it’s been nearly four years from our last post!!

Our “little” kids are not so little anymore. Kaitlin and Jai are 20 and 18 and have left school. Flynn and Amber are 16 and 14 and are studying at High School and our three babies- Kit, Chayse and Akaisha are 10, 8 and 5.

The Howitt Clan household is intact and would you believe… still on their Entrepreneurial journey!

There is so much to catch up on with our family’s activities. Too much for this blog post!

We will, over time, visit each of our children and look at what they have been doing and what they have learnt. We’ll look at their successes and we’ll share the tough lessons. We’re also super excited to share with you our latest enterprising projects!

So stay tuned for the next chapter in the Howitt Clan Entrepreneurial journey.

Check out little Amber from 5 years ago when she embarked on her Money Bunny Enterprising project!

A Kid’s Mindset For Success!! Teaching Kids to Be Successful: Part 4

July 29th, 2013

During my “career-path” conversation with my son Jai, he was able to visualize himself, his surroundings and companions in his adult future. A kid’s mindset for success! The final step was to solidify the pathway that would take him to his version of a successful life: A Plan, Natalie Cook’s fifth P.

Natalie Cook stood on a chair for this photo!

A Plan, Natalie Cook’s Fifth P

It’s always a good idea to sit down and plot out short term and long term goals, especially for entrepreneurial kids who are cultivating a kid’s mindset for success.

On an adult level, well-made plans should be a natural component of what you perceive is your life’s purpose, your “Why” in life. (Even kids that are entrepreneurial won’t have solidified their life purpose to this extent, however.)

Sean Rasmussen, our internet marketing mentor, taught me a trick that can be successful with kids, as well:

Write on small piece of paper an intention, but don’t use the future tense. For instance, you might write “I have attracted a healthy, motivated business person to my business this month,” instead of, “I will attract…” A child might write, “I have kicked two goals at this Saturday’s soccer match.”

Place the written intention under your pillow, in your wallet, or wherever you will view it regularly. The idea is to set a specific and realistic goal. The laws of the universe will then go into effect to bring your goal to fruition… that is, if you see it, believe it, and feel it.

People who practice this mindset for success technique go on to set bigger and grander intentions, over time.

Having a Defined Goal

My friend, Michael Clouse, says that not having a clearly defined plan is like an archer who aims at a target with a blindfold on. There’s no chance of hitting the bulls eye if you are unable to see it!

Vision Board Builds a Kid’s Mindset for Success

Another technique is visualizing goals using a vision board. Select the experiences and things that you would like to have in your life and make a poster board of these, using images and graphics. Place the vision board in a place that you will view daily. Visualize the items on the vision board and do so as if they were real and already present in your life.

Facing your fears! Walking on broken glass!

Positive Affirmations Leads to a Success Mindset in Kids

Speaking positive affirmations aloud two or three times a day is another way of setting your intention and belief. Again, these should be in the present tense.

Natalie Cook likes to declare her intentions and plans before a public audience, making herself accountable to a lot of people for achieving her aims.

So be bold! Change your way of thinking. Get rid of the negatives. Affirm the positives. Make sure that your plans are well-aligned with your life vision. Set grand goals, and follow your plan! This is a kid’s Mindset For Success!

Coming up in our Mindset for Success Series

Next up is the “P” I’ve added to Natalie’s other five. After reading this, can you guess what that might be? Leave your guess in the comments or on Facebook.

The winner will be announced in the next post (we have a small prize for them!!) Every success!

PS We are super excited! We’re heading overseas for an adventure of a lifetime! We will be meeting with and learning from some of the most successful people in the world and catching up with family (another blog post in the making!).

Our final Success P article in the series will have to wait until we get back. That may be three weeks time. Here is a sneak peek at where we are going and what we will be doing…

Teaching Your Kids To Be Successful Part 3: Perseverance

July 23rd, 2013

A baby learns to walk by falling over many times. An entrepreneur learns to succeed after stumbling along the way. Teaching yourself, and your kids, to be successful in business requires Natalie’s fourth P: Perseverance (perseverance on their part, and yours!)

For example, Cathy and I have learned that in the business of referring people to an opportunity, many people will just not be interested. With enterprising teens watching, how do parents set an example to persevere in the face when people say “No”? Well, the mindset for success is to celebrate the “No.” After so many of them, a “Yes” will inevitably follow. One of my mentors, David Wood, says to do the Happy Dance whenever you get a “No,” because the rejection only moved you one step further towards the “Yes.”

Your kids, whether entrepreneurial or not, are going to like to see that Happy Dance, making it a practical way to help seal the behavioural pattern of success in their mindsets. Being able to overcome rejection in business, rejection from friends and rejection from family is paramount for kids to be successful.

Our vocabulary also plays a huge part in our ability to persevere. In our family “Can’t” is a swear-word and not allowed to be used at any time; “Can” is encouraged. Many people, including kids, are quick to give up when the going gets tough, saying, “I can’t” rather than “I can.” The little kids in my family actually believe “Can’t” is a swear word, right up there with the other big four letter words!

Another phrase to abandon is, “It’s too hard.” Natalie showed us a little trick she used to change her perception of what is hard. She bought a toy button that calls out, “That was easy!” when you press it. Natalie would strap this toy button to her volleyball net pole. Whenever she did something very well that was also very difficult, she would run up to press the button: “That was easy!” Try it for yourself… press the button below!

Being the best in the world at your sport certainly has its challenges, and my kids would love to try out one of those buttons. You can get them from Amazon.com. But whether or not, the point is not to say “That was hard!”

These tactics to increase the level of perseverance in kids and keeping them on a successful track comes easier when you have a Plan. This is the fifth P we’ll talk about next week.

Make sure you have a look at the short video (click the image above) we made of Natalie Cook giving a special message to our kids. Can you spot the BLOOPER?

If you missed last weeks article “Amber’s Reflection of Green SuperCamp” here it is.

Green SuperCamp Amber’s Reflection

July 15th, 2013

For our readers who were expecting Part 3 to our “Teaching Your Kids To Achieve Success” series of articles, I’d like to let you know that will be up very soon and it will be well worth the read.

Flynn and Amber Howitt have just returned from a Young Leaders Camp in Bali, and as it is so fresh and exciting I thought we would interrupt our 5 Part Series and share with you some snippets of Amber’s experience whilst on camp.

Amber and new friends.

Amber and Maddi leading the run.

Before I hand you over to Amber, I would like to give our readers a little back ground about the Green SuperCamp, which is held every year at Green School Bali.

Indonesia. In 2012 three of our children (Kaitlin, Jai and Flynn) attended the camp and returned full of experience and wisdom. The camp is designed to create young leaders to care for our future world. The camp does this by building their confidence, encouraging them to think big, and by giving them the skills to learn, interact and to step out of their comfort zones.

Amber participating in a team performance.

Flynn learning to trust.

This year Amber was old enough to go along too. She was very excited as she had heard all the awesome stories and learning from her siblings’ camp experiences last year. Also a bunch of friends from Western Australia were coming along as well (Maddi Barrett, Macy Hobson, Georgia Dewar and Lachlan McRoberts). To learn more of what Green SuperCamp is about and to understand the philosophies of Green School, you’ll have to click the links to earlier articles.

So enough from me… here is Amber Howitt’s Green SuperCamp Reflection…

Green Super Camp, for me, was an amazing experience! Everyone there is treated evenly and kindly. No one is excluded or mistreated, so everyone is happy. Your phones and valuables are given in, but you can reunite with your valuables almost every night to contact your parents.

Grinding grain.

Flynn and his Super Camp team.

The Green SuperCamp itself is built mainly out of bamboo. It is nurtured and cared for by the people within it. They use water from their lake and purify it. People from the world outside Green School can come collect the water for free and use it in their homes. Green School is meant so people around the community can be involved with the school. They make their own power using solar energy and grow their own food in food gardens.

Goal Setting Steps

The camp has inspired me to do more with my life, rather than just sit around and be… normal. It has inspired me to take challenges, adventures and think of the things I could be doing. Writing books and travelling around the world are two of my crazy ideas… those things might be a little hard for someone at the age of eleven though. But I can try to work up to that goal. The steps for goal making are:

Design it
Outline it
In your face (tackle barriers)
Take action!

High ropes course. Facing fears!

Flynn floating on hands.

Quantum Strategies

We were taught Quantum Reading and Writing. I improved my reading speed with the same comprehension by over 100%. I concentrated by using the Alpha State. Alpha State is a technique to relax and to concentrate better. The steps to Alpha State are:

Sit up
Breath in and out
Close eyes
Think of a peaceful place
Roll eyes up and down
Open eyes
Concentrate

Maddi preparing the home grown food.

Macy and Georgia

Relationships

The friendships you can make at Green SuperCamp are really special. I made friends with both team leaders and kids from all over the world. It is really easy to do so because everyone wants to make friends. Sometimes your relationships can last forever. Green Super Camp teaches you how to have the courage to become friends. No one is alone at Green School or Green Super Camp.

I also learnt techniques to help me learn. These help me to improve my relationship with my teachers. We call this “SLANT” (acronym)

Here are the “Tips for Learning” or “SLANT”.

Sit up
Lean Forward
Ask Questions
Nod your head
Talk to your teacher

Thanking and Apologising

Flynn Saying goodbye to new friends!

We also learnt the importance of thanking people and apologising. We were taught how to do this properly. We call the steps to thanking “OTFD” or “Open The Front Door”.

Observation, Think, Feel, Desire

We call the steps to Apologise, “AAMR”, pronounced “A Mr!”

Acknowledge, Apologise, Make it Right, Recommit

Eight Keys of Success

Lastly we were taught the “Eight Keys of Success”. These are the keys that keep you on course for success! For each of these keys we learn a different hand movement. This helps us to remember them. Here they are:

Integrity
Failure Leads to Success
Speak With Good Purpose
This Is It
Commitment
Ownership
Flexibility
Balance

If you read this and think “Nah… my child wouldn’t want to go to that camp!” Think again! Any child, from any place, no matter what, will want to go to Green Super Camp. Thank you to my parents and camp sponsors for making it possible for me to attend Green SuperCamp. Thank you to my friends and new friends that supported me on camp. Thank you to all the team leaders and facilitators that taught me all the tools I need for life. Lastly, thank you my team, GO TEAM H!

Thanks Amber for your reflection. Jai, Kaitlin and Lachlan are currently on the Senior Green Super Camp. Here is a link to the Green SuperCamp Face Book page. There are lots of photos to look at if you’re interested. And here is a link to an article we wrote last year on the Green SuperCamp.

Here are Jai’s and Flynn’s Reflections from last years Green Super Camp.
Kaitlin shared why she wanted to attend the Green SuperCamp here.

Our “Teaching Your Kids To Achieve Success” series will continue next week with Part 3 (Part 1 and Part 2). Amber would love to hear your comments. Be sure to ask her some questions. The comment box is below this article. To subscribe to Enterprise for Kids just add your name and email on the form on the left side bar.

Entrepreneurial Kids… How to Teach Your Kids to Achieve Success: Part 1

June 29th, 2013

Now here’s someone entrepreneurial kids would love to meet: Natalie Cook. Natalie Cook is a five-times Olympian and winner of the Gold Medal during the Sydney 2000 Olympics games in beach volleyball. Currently, Natalie Cook is a successful businesswoman and owner of the sports franchise, Sandstorm.

Natalie Cook Gold Medalist 2000 Olympics Beach Volleyball

She recently gave an awesome talk in Perth, saying the similarities between professional athletes and successful business owners were many, as both have a self-motivating desire to win. Natalie’s message was captivating, humourous, and very useful in cultivating the mindset for success in entrepreneurial kids, as well as in their adult counterparts.

The Five Ps

Natalie’s talk was built around her Five Ps: principles for your kids and in the boardroom, alike.

I will share these with you in a series, over the coming weeks, the last part of which will contain a surprise: a P I’ll be adding, myself. After reviewing Natalie’s, let’s see if who can guess what my P will be.
Here goes:

Part 1: Purpose

A person who truly reaches for success has a mindset that carries with it a very strong “Why,” or purpose. Your “Why” must be stronger than your “Why not?” If not, you likely don’t have enough purpose to muster up the will to make your goals happen when you are faced with barriers.

Your “Why” has to be specific and something close to the heart. It needn’t be complicated. A friend of mine is driven to success because she desperately wants her Mum to be happy and not have to work anymore. Another wants to buy a villa in Tuscany so that it solidifies her Italian family roots with a sense of belonging. These “Whys” are far from saying “Why not?” They are set purposes, not poor explanations.

Your “Why” will often come from one of two emotions… pain or pleasure. Usually it will be pain as it is the stronger of the two. For example, consider all those rags to riches stories of many of our success mentors (JK Rowling, Colonel Sanders, Sylvester Stallone, Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Susan Boyle, Richard Branson). Their experiences with the emotion of “pain” lead them to having a strong “Why” and their “Why” ultimately brought them success.

Amy, Cathy, Natalie, Tracey, Kym and Trevor.

I recently carried out a “Why” exercise with my son, Jai. We’d just returned from a career path meeting for his upcoming senior class. Every pathway the school offered ended in landing a j-o-b (just-over-broke). Their end result was the same, whether the route was through university, technical school, or a straight shot into the average 40-year career hold. There was nothing for an enterprising teen to grab hold of. Worse, because the students were just about ending high school, the pressure was on to make a choice… a limited choice, one based on hastily presented ideas.

The result was confusion and “Why not?” to this and that idea. Jai seemed to be torn between going to Uni with his mates, for it sounded like fun, or leaving school with his cousin and going to make money in the mines. This inconsistency told me that Jai’s “Whys” on both of these career paths were just too vague.

So, we got to work. We discussed why these two ideas sounded interesting to him. We canvassed what it was about “Why not?” that wouldn’t likely carry him through the hardships of either choice.

Then I asked him to ponder a few questions:

How do you want to contribute to this world?
How do you want to grow as a person?
How do you want to be remembered when you pass?

It was a lot for him to think about. We’ll discuss what steps we took next in Part 2: People and Passion.

Always looking for feedback on our entrepreneurial kids articles so be sure to leave a comment. What is your “Why”?

If you are not already a subscriber, then I invite you to fill out the form on the side bar of this blog, that way you won’t miss Part 2 next week.

Teaching Enterprising Teens How to Achieve Success (Part 2)

June 4th, 2013

After my son Jai and I discussed the first of Natalie Cook’s Five P’s, Purpose , in choosing a career path (in Part 1 of this series), I asked him to make a timeline of his life. He was to focus on his surroundings, and more importantly, on the people who would be with him.

People

You see, Natalie’s second P is People. Attracting the right people in life is key to building a successful kid entrepreneur. But whether Jai chose to be an enterprising teen or not, it was his mindset for success in whatever path he chose that was most important to me.

So, I asked him where he would like to be sitting five years from now and with whom? Ten years from now? Forty? I had him picture what was around him, his associates, and what made these kids so valuable to him right now that their presence remained visible decades into the future.

Natalie Cook discussed the value of surrounding herself with the right people, while training to be an Olympic Gold medalist. Around her were coaches, mindset mentors, professionals, and peers whose encouragement always lifted her up, instead of bearing criticism that tears a person down.

Jai contemplating the people he would like to surround himself with. People with Passion that will assist him with his enterprising teen journey.

At the same time, it is important, especially for enterprising teens, to hang out with the sort of people they want to emulate. Qantum physics and studies in neuroscience have discovered that there are mirror neurons in the brain that mirror or copy the brains around them. That is, a person becomes like his/her closest friends. This is besides peer pressure! They should be encouraged to make conscious choices of mates who will add to their mindset for success.

As adults, what I love about the new business that Cathy and I have become involved in, Isagenix, is that it is all about people. Natalie Cook understands this, too, as she is a partner in the same company. In fact, it really doesn’t matter what is your business or your kids’ enterprise for one reason: When being helpful to other people, your success increases. This is because helping people gives enterprising teens and adults an energy that attracts the right people into your lives, and who, in turn, help you.

Passion

People are also attracted to those who have a passion for what they do. Passion is Natalie’s third P. Natalie said in a Sparkmag interview that passion is

“required when times are tough. If you are not passionate about what you do and you don’t love the process and the product… it makes is much easier not to feel as emotionally involved, or eventually shut up shop and walk away.”

Now, Jai rightfully wanted something he could stick with for the long term. Having him visualize himself, his surroundings, and companions way into the future really took him to a place that I could see was his passion, something apart from what others were expecting of him, a desire that would not fade with time. His spirit guided him, instead of the social conditioning of his school, friends, and family.

Want to know more? The next P is inseparable from Passion, and that’s Perseverance. See you next week (Check out the very funny video of Natalie Cook giving our kids a message!)

If you enjoyed this article, then you may find this one just as interesting “How Do Entrepreneurs Think?”

If you could enlist three people in the world to personally be your friend and mentor you, who would they be? Mine would be Richard Branson, Robert Kiyosaki and Michael Clouse. Make sure you leave us a comment…

Justin Herald… A Most Unusual Millionaire!

April 14th, 2013

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This story will impress your kids… it certainly impressed ours!

…and there is a little lesson in it for them.

It will demonstrate that it is not necessarily what you learn at school that brings you success, but perhaps having a little attitude is the magic ingredient!

Mike Handcock

Last week my friend Gary and I attended an unusual business event in Freo call Entrepreneur X Factor. We really didn’t know what to expect. On arriving it was immediately apparent that there was tremendous energy in the room. People were super friendly and engaging. Successful entrepreneurs, Mike Handcock and Dave Rogers ran the show along with multi millionaire guest speakers.

Why was the event so unusual?

Dave Rogers

There were two parts to it. The first sessions were all about Quantum Business (which is definitely not your normal run of the mill business focus) and the after lunch session was an exciting competition with participants getting up in front and publicly spruiking their business idea or concept. The audience judged the event. Budding entrepreneurs, seeking big business to support them, were scored on their one minute presentations. The competition was similar to the TV show “The Lion’s Den”. Investors were in the room looking to partner with the winner and help them grow their idea. It was all very exciting and a little tense during the competition. The winner was a guy called Dr Joe.

Dr Joe

I’d love to share more about the excitement of the Entrepreneur X Factor competition and I’d love to share with you the insights about Quantum Business, but my purpose of this blog post is to share a story that will impress your kids!

So here goes…

There was this tattooed guy in the room dressed in a checked shirt and jeans. He had a goaty and shaven head, wore a black choker necklace and earrings.

He was a self proclaimed bogan who loved hotted up cars.

This odd looking character was introduced as Justin Herald. I had heard of the name before, but wasn’t able to pin point where I had heard it.

Justin was one of the guest speakers and he came to the front to share his experience and hopefully offer some valued advice to us all. Justin told us his story of how he built a multimillion dollar business from literally nothing!

There were no airs or graces about Justin. He was an everyday bloke who really didn’t care what people thought of him. He spoke his mind, he definitely had charisma and he had real attitude!

Justin Herald with his toys!

His Dad was a church minister and Justin grew up within a church community. It was in a church that his first business evolved.

During one particular church service he was spoken to by an elderly lady who pointed out to Justin that he had an attitude problem and that he should mind his manners.

Justin Herald didnt take well to people “ticking him off” especially about his attitude and especially when he was 25 years old! This telling off ignited an idea!

Justin Herald

Justin had only $1.25 in the bank and he needed some cash to put his idea into action. So he asked his brother for $50. He then bought some cheap shirts, took them down the printer shop and had them print “Attitude” slogans on them.

He enlisted the support of his brother and mates. Each of them put on one of the freshly printed shirts and they all attended the Sunday service at the church making, sure that they all stood in full view of the opinionated lady.

She was not happy when she saw the blatant prank Justin had pulled. The shirts had served their purpose very well and Justin was delighted!

After the service a number of people took an interest in the lads’ “Attitude” shirts. In fact some people inquired about buying a shirt from Justin. This was unexpected, but Justin thought it would be worth a few dollars, so he used the money he had from selling the first six shirts to his mates and organised for a bunch more to be printed with “Attitude” slogans.

Word got out and his little business began to emerge.

He decided to try selling his shirts at the Sydney Markets. He’d never done this before and had no idea how it would go. So he asked one of his mates if he’d lend a hand. His mate said “No”. So Justin asked if he’d lend a hand for one hundred bucks, and his mate said “I’d love to help!”

They arrived at the markets and were allocated a table. So he tipped his box of shirts onto the table all jumbled up. The shirts were a novelty and people were interested.

To his complete surprise he sold out in the first two hours.

Justin and I.

His excitement and business grew from there. He printed more and more shirts and was selling $10 000 worth of shirts every weekend at the markets. Next he tried retail stores. The owners moved him on because they had never heard of “Attitude” branded shirts. They also said that their customers were not asking for “Attitude” shirts.

Justin had an idea. He asked his mates to call all the retail stores in the area to ask if they had “Attitude” shirts in stock. He gave it a few weeks and then paid a visit to these same stores with a sample of his shirts. They were so pleased to see Justin and couldn’t wait to get his shirts up on display saying

“You wouldn’t believe the number of calls we’ve had with people inquiring about Attitude shirts”.

“Oh really?!”

Tod Hutchison, known as the Corporate Mechanic, and I.

Todd Hutchison, known as the Corporate Mechanic.

Justin Herald’s business continued to grow with the introduction of other lines of clothing. He received an invite to be interviewed on The Morning Show. So he rocked up and told his story. He claims that literally within thirty minutes after the interview the phone rang hot with retail stores placing orders for his shirts. Justin said that he never needed to advertise his product as he was regularly being interviewed by TV, business magazines and the newspaper. He always made for a great story as he didn’t look like the regular businessman. Justin has a real sense of humour and loves to rib the people around him. He admits that he has lots of attitude himself, and believes that is why his brand works. Justin is very easy to talk to and he also says that the secret to a successful business is connecting with people.

The Deal.

This chapter in Justin Herald’s story draws to an end when a very large company approached him to do a deal. He was called to a board meeting. Justin rocks up as he does in his jeans and checked shirt to confront the line of suited lawyers and business leaders in this company. Firstly the formalities, then eventually they passed over the official offer for him to look at.

Justin read the dollar number on the page in disbelief. He asked the lawyers if the comma was actually a comma or was it a dot. They said it was a comma. He then said, “Do I get a TV with that?”

They looked at one another and said “Of course!”

So he took the deal which was worth hundreds of millions of dollars. He also took the TV from their wall. They wanted to get him a new one, but he said simply that then he would have to try and rip the box and packaging apart to get it into his recycling bin, and that he didn’t want to muck around with doing that.

So from having only $1.25 in his bank at the age of 25, Justin Herald grew his business in a relatively short time to be sold for hundreds of millions of dollars!

Today Justin Herald has his fingers in different pies. He has just launched “Intimidate Industries” which is his new Sunglass brand which already is a highly sought after brand before it even hits the stores. He also owns numerous other highly successful businesses.

Justin left us with four excellent “Ahahs!”…

•    You need a “switch” to give you the purpose, focus and drive required to start a business. His was the opinionated lady at church. Justin is very grateful for her.
•    He quotes his favourite word “Next!” Justin explains that you will be faced with a multitude of barriers, setbacks and naysayers as you try to move ahead with your business. He just says “next” and moves on. Many people would fall back to their comfort zone and give up, but not Justin.
•    Networking. He says it is the way you relate to your customers. Word of mouth brings you greater business.
•    Lastly for his biggest tip…. “Give it a Crack!”

After the presentation Gary and I had the privilege of chatting to Justin Herald one on one. We found him to be a genuine nice bloke. He told us that his mates today are the same bunch of blokes he hung out with when he was twenty. He never made the grades at school and his “attitude” had him in a lot of trouble during those years. However, it was his attitude that has made him what he is today.

Let’s hope that Justin Herald’s success story inspires your kids like it did mine. Your kids don’t have to have all the “credential” that school expects for them to be successful…

(read our last article on Green School and their philosophy on education)

Here is the blurb about Justin from his website…

Justin Herald has fast become one of the rising stars in the fields of business and personal development. At the age of 25 with only $50 to his name, Justin Herald set about changing the course of his life. Justin created Attitude Inc, a clothing brand that became an international licensing success that turned over in excess of $20 million per year.

Justin’s success was so well noted that he was named the “INTERNATIONAL ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR” for 2005.

He recently was also awarded the Future Leaders Award, which recognises him as being one of the 50 most influential leaders of the next generation in Australia.

He has had his own column in numerous magazines and in papers nationally in Australia and overseas. His articles have a weekly readership of over 5.5 Million people. He also is the author of 8 international best selling books.

Justin Herald is regarded as one of Australia’s most sought after speakers with engagements book all over the country and overseas speaking in front of 150,000 people each year.

Please share your thoughts in our comment box below.

Learn about other inspirational entrepreneurs.

Green School Bali Leading The Way!

April 3rd, 2013

Imagine a school with a natural, holistic, student-centred learning environment that empowers and inspires their young people to be creative, innovative, green leaders?

There are many schools that aspire to a vision such as this, but very few achieve it! In fact, in all the years that I’ve been a teacher I know of only one such school that has been gaining the genuine attention of educators and parents from all around the world. This unique school is located in a forest on the island of Bali in Indonesia, and it is constructed entirely of bamboo.

Green School Bali is an innovative school that is different in just about every aspect to regular Australian schools. It is different in its construction, the way it is run, its philosophy on raising and teaching children and with its curriculum.

Cathy, myself and our kids recently had the opportunity to attend an excellent presentation in Perth on Green School Bali. The Principal, Mr Alan Wagstaff, show-cased his school and shared their philosophy on education. He spoke with passion and with tremendous pride.

Rightly so… as Green School Bali is turning many heads! The founders of the school think ‘way out of the box’ and have created a harmonious learning environment that kids excel in. They, and a growing group of others, believe that this school is the way of the future with education. Perhaps the policy makers, politicians and leaders of our outdated education system should take a serious look at Green School Bali.

In previous articles we have challenged the pedogogical practices of our current schooling system here in Australia. We have the view that it provides a good literacy education. However, the design of our system is to condition young people to be obedient, hard working and compliant. Now that doesn’t actually sound so bad does it, but what I mean is that our world needs workers to fill jobs and that is what schools do. They train kids to be loyal workers and aspire to have a life long JOB. Now, that is perfect for those who want to do that, but what happens if you want to become an Entrepreneur? Many of our schools don’t really foster true leadership, innovation or enterprise. Our schools certainly don’t provide a financial education, nor do they teach kids to develop the habits and thinking of an entrepreneur.

Disengaged Students

Alan Wagstaff was also very apologetic about his very strong views on our archaic education system currently running in Australia (and other western Societies). He pointed out many issues that should not be dismissed, and he backed his views with facts, figures and research conducted by qualified experts in education. He cited the work of well regarded intellectuals and authors such as Michael Shorts, Alfie Kohn and Steven Covey.

So what does green School have that is so uniquely special?

This quote by Michael Franti begins to paint a picture…

Check out a Green School classroom

“For anybody that’s considering sending your kid to school here, it’s different than other schools where your kid’s going to be assigned a number and a desk and you show up and you do exactly what you’re told. Here if you have an idea to do something that’s outside of the box, that idea is going to be fostered and nurtured rather than pushed down. I highly recommend coming here as a visitor, if you’re just visiting Bali; and if you’re a student, it’s a great place to be.” – Michael Franti, poet, musician, and activist.

Alan Wagstaff shared an interesting statistic about students in our regular schools. Studies show that two thirds of students over 11 years old in Australian schools are not engaged in their learning and don’t really like school! These same students feel that they are learning irrelevant things that won’t be of any use to them when they leave school. Funny he happens to point this out, as we hear this at times from our teenage children. In fact I think back to much of the mundane content that I had to master, and be tested on, as a student in High School and then again as a student at Teachers College. Content that was of no use to me in what I do today.

Alan says we need to change the structuring of timetabling. We need to go from subject based teaching to student-centred. If you look at what children do at school, their timetable will typically revolve around Literacy and Numeracy with subjects such as The Arts being of lesser importance by shoving them into the afternoon gaps on the timetable. We push the students with Literacy and Numeracy in order to uphold the education ‘brand’ and to satisfy National Testing (NAPLAN). Our curriculum is all prescribed with little room for being flexible. Whatever the subject, the emphasis is always Literacy and Numeracy. With the introduction of the new Australian Curriculum we are in for an even more inflexible schooling system.

With all the emphasis on Literacy and Numeracy, why do we have so many kids not meeting the grade?

What is it about schooling that creates life success? … the short answer is simply having kids turn up at school and be fully engaged and you’ll get there!

Therefore we need kids to be satisfied. Schools need to link students into life! Their learning needs to be realistic and of relevance to each of them individually. Everyday we should be academically up-skilling kids, but not comparing them with other kids.

Parents should ask, not how do they compare with other kids, but what is it they are learning.

Alan explained how they educate children at Green School Bali. Here is what he said.

The programs are structured around themes. These are collaboratively planned by the teacher team leaders. Teachers then run proficiency lessons within these short term themes. Students are shown the continuum of what they need to learn in the different areas of the curriculum and then the students set about working towards learning what they need to learn at their own levels. The students take the responsibility for their own learning.

Within the broader themes, students follow their own individual interests. They develop their own ideas and these ideas are fostered and expanded. They themselves identify what they need to learn and then conduct their own investigations and study groups in order to learn, understand and practice skills.

Every day the children are engaged in practical lessons that challenge the Big Four… Physical, Emotional, Intellectual and Interpersonal.

For example, if the general theme was ‘Waves’, then the Big 4 may run as follows…
Physical- Go experience the waves by surfing.
Emotional- Paint a wave or sing a wave melody
Intellectual- Study wave formations.
Interpersonal- Sit by the waves and meditate.

At Green School there are no rigid timetables. This allows themes to develop through dynamic chaos. Specialist teachers decide what will be done and teachers research the theme and subject areas. Students are then engaged in proficiency lessons.

Alan said that in order for students to learn something they must ‘hit it three times in three different ways during the week’. Thus mini themes develop within the bigger themes. Teachers teach children to self manage their way through learning. Therefore the kids are fully engaged and it leads to lifelong learning.

Opportunities are seized as they arise to provide practical real life lessons in the following areas… connect to the real world; environmental education; health and wellbeing; performance arts; enterprise education; and visual arts.

These lessons are timed (have end date), sustainable, are flexible and must be authentic. They do this by venturing beyond the school and accessing adults and resources in the ‘enterprising world’.

Green School’s aim is for kids to want to go to school and for them to be fully engaged. Thus the emphasis is on relevance to learning and valuing students, and not on testing and comparing students as we do in our current schooling system. This simply puts unnecessary pressure on them.

Green School Bali is an architectural masterpiece. A masterwork built of bamboo and mud brick. There are no classroom walls and very little impact on the environment. The school is self sustainable with power sourced from a large bank of solar panels and hydro power from the river. Students all assist with growing food in the large permaculture garden where animals are also kept for use.

Surrounding the school are bamboo homes built by local and international people who choose to live in Bali so that their children can attend the school. Under construction are numerous studios that are to be leased cheaply to entrepreneurs under the proviso that the students are involved with these businesses, allowing them to develop enterprise skills and ultimately they will learn to be entrepreneurs.

This is truly a real live example of an exemplary school. Students attending this school are achieving outstanding results in all aspects of their development, including academics. They are learning faster and going further than their peers on mainland Australia. Although the school has only been running for a short time, they have their first graduates graduating and, those choosing to do so, are being accepted into universities around the world.

Alan Waggstaff and the founders of the school have a vision to create change in how all schools educate. They know that they will be challenged if they target the top of the education hierarchy in Australia. So they are working to make change from the bottom up. They are doing this by being an exemplary school and by being noticed! They are also training teachers on mainland Australia with Green School ideologies with the purpose of these teachers making gradual change in their own schools.

If you are inspired by what this school stands for and would like to impact change in our current schooling system, then get in contact with Alan Waggstaff to organise for him and his team to train your people (parents and teachers done at very low cost). This is his email alan@greenschool.org .

There are currently places available in the school for students. The school charges $6000 year for primary aged students and $12000 year for secondary. It is a non profit school and offers places to many disadvantaged students through privately funded scholarships.

Another way to have your kids experience Green School Bali, is to send them along to the Green SuperCamp. There is one coming up mid year. Kaitlin, Jai and Flynn attended last year and came back transformed! We are working towards them attending the camp again this year along with our eleven year old daughter Amber. If you would like to know more about the Green SuperCamp give us a call or email.

Here is a blog post we wrote a year ago about Green SuperCamp sharing our kids’ experiences there.

Check out what Flynn had to say about the Green SuperCamp

As always, we appreciate comments. Do you think our schools are up for the challenge of preparing our children for our modern world?

John Hardy, founder of Green School Bali speaks at TED.