Jack Parsons 24, from Romford, Essex is a British Entrepreneur, social media influencer and public speaker. He is the current Chief Executive Officer of the Big Youth Group. In 2017, he was recognised as 'Young Digital Leader of the Year (2017) 'Most Connected Young Entrepreneur', and named 'The 100 Faces of a Vibrant Economy.'
GoDaddy sat down with Jack to speak about his top tips on becoming a young entrepreneur.
1) Rome wasn’t built in a day but it was built
The term overnight success is too far often used to describe entrepreneurial success, under that hollow title is a sea of commitment to a mission that the person has dedicated themselves too from the very beginning of their ventures. A phrase I like to use is “Rome wasn’t built in a day but it was built” and that for me means that no matter how grand your mission or ambition is, you got to keep working on it every day to achieve a masterpiece, like Rome, was.
2) People remember how you made them feel not what you said
You need to stand for something whether that’s consumer satisfaction, better education or whatever you’re working towards. My mission is to change the world for young people starting by creating 2 million career opportunities in the United Kingdom before taking this mission globally. Big feat, but Rome was a big city.
Your mission is also an opportunity to define your journey and create a message that can resonate with other people who also share the same view, this will help you in social media and building your following as a young entrepreneur.
3) You have to risk things that no one else has the guts to...
Sacrifice - Make sure you know why you’re going to be working long days and long nights, why your risking comfort and security to work towards a better future for whatever it is you want. Sacrifice is often an overlooked aspect of being an entrepreneur, I’ve not had much time for my social life due to work but I’ve been finding a better balance recently, however, I’m still putting the work I do above my social needs because I know that if I’m going to be working towards the greater good, then I need to make sure that it’s good cause worth fighting for.
The sacrifices you make now to work on building your business will always be worth every ounce of struggle or hardship you encounter along the way, you just need the mental fortitude to push through it all if the entrepreneurship path is one you seriously do consider taking.
4) Social media is your shop window
Social Media - A big factor in my rise was a platform to amplify my message to find people who would support me, there’s no better place than social media to find like-minded people who also want a difference. I’ve prioritised maximising my social media and as a result, I’ve gotten a lot of opportunities that have helped me grow my business over time.
5) Health is number 1 in every case
PMA - The last thing I want to talk about is how strong your PMA is. In case you didn’t know, PMA stands for Positive - Mental - Attitude. How mentally strong are you to be able to see that there's a positive in every negative because with that mindset, anytime a problem arises you’re able to look for the solutions and positivity in the situation because you can’t go back in time and reverse the problem, it is what it is, so you need to have a PMA to bring out the best in any situation.
6) Positivity is key for all stakeholders
Lastly, I’ve noticed that when you’re a young entrepreneur and you’re running a team, if they see you losing your attitude over a problem then they're going to think that’s acceptable and lose their attitudes too. It’s all about setting the example and showing everybody how a headstrong young entrepreneur would handle problems.
With these tips you can see that entrepreneurship is as wide as an ocean and as deep as one, there’s a lot of work but at the end of the day it’s all worth it, for me at least.
Want to gain even more great insight from Jack? Connect with him on Twitter here
