Category: Teens

Take Part in the First Redwood City Teen Entrepreneurial Academy – Guest Blog

We are extremely excited about this!!!

How many teens get the opportunity to start their own business, learn the ins and outs of social media (in a good way) and set a foundation of entrepreneurship that they can use in practice for the rest of their lives? Please help us welcome, Adnan Iftekhar, the man who may singlehandedly help to cultivate the next innovator of the century! (you never know, right?)

Why Choose Actionable Entrepreneurship?

by Adnan Iftekhar

One of the major buzzwords in schools and education these days is, 21^st Century Skills. We’re already fourteen years into the 21^st century, and in my humble opinion, that buzzword should already be retired. What we really should be focusing on is 22^nd Century Skills; we have 84 years to get those right!

Some of the biggest challenges the children growing up will face are those of a more global economy. There are some jobs that will just not be applicable to the US anymore, like taxes. Did you know that in 2013, 2 million Americans had their taxes done in India, whether they knew it or not? Or basic graphic design. Just take a look at a site like fiverr.com where you can get a logo, business card, illustration, even a website design for just $5. Yes, the quality may not be as good as that of a professional graphic designer based in the US these days, but then again, passable may be just what you need to at least get you started and on the road to creating awesome content. Comparing $5 to $25/hour (low-end hourly rate of a graphic designer) is not something to scoff at, especially as many of the designers on these sites have pretty high reviews and actually have very decent designs. I’m not saying Accountants and Designers will be obsolete in the next decade, but the climate is changing, and students need to learn to be resourceful and flexible with their goals.

Coming back to the Entrepreneurship class, the real focus is to create quality, meaningful content that can be shared and delivered to an audience that will find value in it. This class will give students the opportunity to find the resources they need to create a simple online business. More importantly, it will give them an avenue to implement all that they learn (most of the learning will be in their own time) into concrete action. The “class” time will be focused on the actual doing of the work, rather than the theory of it. As one example, I will give a blueprint of how I gained 6000 followers on Twitter in three months. Students may choose to follow that blueprint, or create their own. Twitter may not be the audience and their business ideas may be focused on some totally different strategy. I certainly don’t have all of the answers, but I guide students where to find them.

In addition to the concrete creation of a business, the process that they will go through will leave them some multidisciplinary skills that are not being taught in any schools – at least not “formally”. One of the most important ones will be that of effective communication- in person and via internet. I cannot stress the importance of communicating with people who offer products and services all around the world and the value that they can add to a small budding business. Having to hire your first professional freelancer, whether it be a virtual assistant or a graphic designer is something that every student will go through. How many high school graduates can say that they have hired (and/or fired) someone? Figuring out how to clearly communicate ideas, whether it’s by Skype, Google Hangout, email or commenting on a blog post will be a major focus in the class. Also, as these students apply for college, will they stand out if they have on their resume “Founder of an online business”?

The ideas, although important, are really not the ultimate goal for the class – it’s the choosing of one idea that resonates and that you are passionate about and putting it into action. And that idea may not be the best one, but that’s okay – once you have learned to implement one idea, moving on to the second one will be a lot easier. The growth and learning experienced in this class will be unlike anything these students have experienced before. That is a money back guarantee – I will personally give you your money back if you are not 100% satisfied by the end of this course.

So, what are you waiting for?

Registration Information:

Redwood City Teen Entrepreneurial Academy
Age 13-17
Meets Thursdays 5:30-7:00pm
September 25 – December 4, 2014
Community Activities Building
Click this link to view course information & requirements
Follow Redwood City Entrepreneurial Academy: Twitter &  Facebook

Who is Adnan Iftekhar?
Adnan has founded a non-profit, four businesses (two of which were profitable from day one) and a school. He has studied and taught biology, french, math, dance, yoga, design, acrobatics and productivity on three continents to students ranging from age 2 – 82. He speaks 5 languages and still strives to make sense of the vagaries of the english language. Most importantly, he wants to transform the way we educate our children and redefine the words learning, educating, teaching and school. Questions? Email: adnan@mac.com, Follow @adnanedtech