What Advice Would You Give to a Grade 12 Entrepreneurial Class?

Justin Jackson was asked by his kid's grade entrepreneurial class to come talk about his own journey that ultimately lead to him starting Transistor.fm and he workshopped what he was going to say on episode 23 of his The Panel podcast.

Since that episode is 35 hours long, 😜 I asked Justin if I could pull out the segment on what he and co-host, Brian Casel, and special guest, Aaron Francis, came up with. I managed to chop it down to 17 minutes. Still nothing that a TikTok kid is going to watch, but hopefully I can convince my own recent grade 12 grad to check it out:

(Direct link to the YouTube video)

I really appreciate the general advice of just go get a job and start learning what it's like to work with others. Your first or second jobs are going to be weird and awkward while you figure out how to be a human around other humans in a weird social dynamic like a job. Ideally you have some sort of customer service component to some of your job so that you gain appreciation for what it's like to deal with the rest of humanity on their best and worst days.

I also like the thought of starting a low stakes, simple and focused business like picking up dog poo or lawn care for your neighbourhood. Managing a schedule, commitments, invoicing and money changing hands, and a bit of marketing all are super helpful to understand even if you don't actually end up starting your own business.

There's a bit of a miss in the conversation around the benefits of what I assume was growing up in middle class families with support structures in place to help 3 white dudes navigate post-high school life. Not everyone has the same kind of family or opportunities to jump off from.

But the overall advice from the segment is still really helpful I think for grade 12's looking to scratch an entrepreneurial itch. It gives me an idea for doing a podcast chatting with people specifically about this idea of what advice would a business owner or creator give to someone starting out today.

You can subscribe to The Panel wherever you get your podcasts, or watch it on YouTube.