0:00:21.709,0:00:24.945 My entire life I've done what everyone 0:00:24.945,0:00:27.677 told me I should do. 0:00:27.677,0:00:31.017 From kindergarten to my senior year of college 0:00:31.017,0:00:33.929 I had a high GPA, I volunteered, 0:00:33.929,0:00:35.956 I played sports, I was in groups, 0:00:35.956,0:00:38.387 extracurricular activities, student council. 0:00:38.387,0:00:40.253 I did all that stuff. 0:00:40.253,0:00:42.474 I was checking off the boxes in order 0:00:42.474,0:00:45.369 to become a successful American. 0:00:45.369,0:00:49.470 And so by the time I graduated in 2008, 0:00:49.470,0:00:52.606 even though we were in the heart of a recession, 0:00:52.606,0:00:56.465 I fully anticipated that I would be able to land 0:00:56.465,0:01:00.045 a 40,000 dollar gig without very much effort. 0:01:00.045,0:01:04.811 And after 12 weeks of applying for jobs 0:01:06.134,0:01:09.064 to dozens of companies -- maybe even a hundred, 0:01:09.064,0:01:12.474 I had been turned down by every single one of them. 0:01:12.474,0:01:13.978 With the exception of two: 0:01:13.978,0:01:17.108 one was a staging company whose only 0:01:17.108,0:01:20.163 job requirements were “have a pulse” 0:01:20.163,0:01:22.397 and “be a chain-smoker”. 0:01:22.397,0:01:25.687 And the other company was a pyramid scheme. 0:01:25.687,0:01:28.330 So, thank you careerbuilder.com! 0:01:28.330,0:01:29.828 (Laughter) 0:01:29.828,0:01:32.048 And my friends were all going through the same thing. 0:01:32.048,0:01:33.465 It wasn't just me. 0:01:33.465,0:01:36.070 And I remember coming across a buddy of mine, 0:01:36.070,0:01:39.128 and they were so excited because 0:01:39.128,0:01:40.475 everyone had been saying, 0:01:40.475,0:01:42.922 “You gotta take what you can get in this market.” 0:01:42.922,0:01:45.783 And they had just landed a sales rep position 0:01:45.783,0:01:47.887 at Verizon wireless. 0:01:47.887,0:01:49.470 And they thought within a year maybe they could 0:01:49.470,0:01:50.959 make middle manager. 0:01:50.959,0:01:52.545 (Chuckles) 0:01:52.545,0:01:53.878 I was like, 0:01:53.878,0:01:56.388 “What? Did we really just spend the last 4 years -- 0:01:56.388,0:02:01.059 no, the last 17 years -- pursuing this stuff 0:02:01.059,0:02:03.538 that other people told us to do, 0:02:03.538,0:02:05.102 following the rules? 0:02:05.102,0:02:06.788 And this is where it's gonna take us? 0:02:06.788,0:02:09.160 Verizon wireless, selling crappy cellphones?" 0:02:09.160,0:02:10.639 I hate Verizon! 0:02:10.639,0:02:11.962 (Laughter) 0:02:11.962,0:02:13.331 I didn't want that at all. 0:02:13.331,0:02:15.941 And that's what brought me here, 0:02:15.941,0:02:18.127 the bathroom floor, (Laughter) 0:02:18.127,0:02:20.545 where I laid on the ground for an hour one night, 0:02:20.545,0:02:22.560 just like pulling my hair out in frustration, 0:02:22.560,0:02:23.831 being like, 0:02:23.831,0:02:28.063 “That advice that I took for my whole life, 0:02:28.063,0:02:30.252 it was a lie! It was a scam. 0:02:30.252,0:02:33.114 It's leading me somewhere that I do not want to go. 0:02:33.114,0:02:35.263 It's taking me to a place that 0:02:35.263,0:02:38.067 is going to be unremarkable. 0:02:38.067,0:02:40.902 And so, I decided I'm going to forget 0:02:40.902,0:02:42.547 what everyone else is saying, 0:02:42.547,0:02:45.446 I'm going to make up my own rules. 0:02:45.446,0:02:50.412 And I asked myself,[br]“What is the worst that could happen?” 0:02:50.412,0:02:53.129 In my early 20s, I had nothing to lose. 0:02:53.129,0:02:55.229 Am I going to keep getting turned down by companies 0:02:55.229,0:02:57.264 I don't want to work for? 0:02:57.264,0:02:59.657 Am I going to keep not getting paid? 0:02:59.657,0:03:01.019 I have nothing to lose. 0:03:01.019,0:03:03.031 So, I'm just going to work on stuff that 0:03:03.031,0:03:06.378 is interesting to me, that I want to pursue. 0:03:06.378,0:03:11.924 And within 8 months of doing this new strategy, 0:03:11.924,0:03:15.242 I had turned a complete 180°: 0:03:15.242,0:03:18.359 I had done all the stuff that I really cared about, 0:03:18.359,0:03:20.310 and was really passionate about. 0:03:20.310,0:03:22.016 I had worked with all these best-selling authors, 0:03:22.016,0:03:24.666 I got to help market a Hollywood movie, 0:03:24.666,0:03:26.840 I had worked with successful entrepreneurs. 0:03:26.840,0:03:29.180 And the coolest part was I didn't have 0:03:29.180,0:03:31.497 to send out my résumé anymore. 0:03:31.497,0:03:33.257 Like, really good companies were coming to me 0:03:33.257,0:03:36.006 and offering me jobs, and I was turning them away. 0:03:36.006,0:03:38.767 And I was doing stuff that I really loved. 0:03:38.767,0:03:42.125 And it's not because I'm special, 0:03:42.125,0:03:43.763 it's not because I'm smarter -- 0:03:43.763,0:03:45.478 believe me, Carnegie-Mellon, I'm not smarter. 0:03:45.478,0:03:48.672 And I am not unique. 0:03:48.672,0:03:50.577 I wasn't handed any of this stuff. 0:03:50.577,0:03:54.043 Anybody could have done what I did. 0:03:54.043,0:03:56.975 The only thing that separates me from everybody else 0:03:56.975,0:04:00.655 is that I adapted and took a different strategy. 0:04:00.655,0:04:02.336 And that's what I want to teach you guys, 0:04:02.336,0:04:04.189 I want to teach you how to become 0:04:04.189,0:04:07.159 recession-proof graduates. 0:04:07.159,0:04:08.972 What does it mean to be “recession-proof”? 0:04:08.972,0:04:10.998 First thing it means, is that the economy 0:04:10.998,0:04:15.515 does not dictate what kind of work you can have. 0:04:15.515,0:04:17.050 It doesn't matter whether we're in a boom, 0:04:17.050,0:04:19.613 a bust, depression, recession, whatever. 0:04:19.613,0:04:22.946 You can still work on stuff that you really care about 0:04:22.946,0:04:24.828 and stuff that makes you happy. 0:04:24.828,0:04:26.531 You're not going to do soul-sucking work 0:04:26.531,0:04:29.146 in your mid-20's. Please do not work at Verizon! 0:04:29.146,0:04:30.639 (Laughter) 0:04:30.639,0:04:32.167 You're going to work on projects that 0:04:32.167,0:04:35.034 you actually care about with people 0:04:35.034,0:04:36.421 who are smarter than you. 0:04:36.421,0:04:39.367 So you're going to continue to grow and learn. 0:04:39.367,0:04:43.434 And most of all, you're going to control the lifestyle 0:04:43.434,0:04:45.651 that you ultimately want. 0:04:45.651,0:04:47.558 Because what I see over and over 0:04:47.558,0:04:49.483 is people who get out of college 0:04:49.483,0:04:51.649 and the first halfway decent offer that they get 0:04:51.649,0:04:54.261 with a good paycheck, they take. 0:04:54.261,0:04:55.431 And they think to themselves, 0:04:55.431,0:04:57.163 “You know, I'll do this for 6 months, maybe a year, 0:04:57.163,0:04:59.000 and then I'm going to leave and go pursue 0:04:59.000,0:05:00.900 something I actually care about.” 0:05:00.900,0:05:02.914 And then, after a while they get a girlfriend, 0:05:02.914,0:05:04.486 and then they get an appartment, 0:05:04.486,0:05:07.367 and a car, and their girlfriend turns into a fiancée, 0:05:07.367,0:05:09.831 then turns into a wife and they have kids, 0:05:09.831,0:05:10.900 and then they get a house, 0:05:10.900,0:05:12.601 and then 10 years later they're in a spot they 0:05:12.601,0:05:14.751 didn't want to be in, but they're in an industry 0:05:14.751,0:05:17.993 that they didn't want to be in as well. 0:05:17.993,0:05:20.737 And we want to avoid that. 0:05:21.999,0:05:24.097 Don't expect anyone to understand 0:05:24.097,0:05:26.399 this stuff that I'm going to talk to you about today. 0:05:26.399,0:05:27.445 (Laughter) 0:05:27.445,0:05:28.945 It took my parents like a year and a half 0:05:28.945,0:05:29.754 before they were like, 0:05:29.754,0:05:33.241 “Okay, maybe he's on to something.” 0:05:33.241,0:05:35.233 Because the advice that I kept hearing -- 0:05:35.233,0:05:38.435 they keep giving you the advice that they were given 0:05:38.435,0:05:41.592 because it's going to justify all of their past decisions. 0:05:41.592,0:05:44.044 The stuff that my friends were telling me were, 0:05:44.044,0:05:45.597 “Dude, you gotta keep shotgun-blasting 0:05:45.597,0:05:47.658 your résumé out to these websites. 0:05:47.658,0:05:49.261 We've got careerbuilder, monster.com, 0:05:49.261,0:05:50.628 that's where it's at!” 0:05:50.628,0:05:51.158 (Laughter) 0:05:51.158,0:05:52.412 No, it's not! 0:05:52.412,0:05:53.983 These sites are terrible! 0:05:53.983,0:05:55.551 These sites are like city bars. 0:05:55.551,0:05:57.473 They're where mediocrity thrives. 0:05:57.473,0:05:58.581 Because there's only going to be 0:05:58.581,0:06:00.172 2 hot offers in the bar, 0:06:00.172,0:06:01.025 (Laughter) 0:06:01.025,0:06:02.924 and the rest are going to be widely mediocre. 0:06:02.924,0:06:05.215 (Applause) 0:06:05.215,0:06:08.823 You don't want to have anything to do with them. 0:06:08.823,0:06:10.147 And for some reason, douchebags 0:06:10.147,0:06:12.573 wearing their party shirts snatch up all the hotties. 0:06:12.573,0:06:14.400 I don't know why they thrive in this environment, 0:06:14.400,0:06:15.482 they do. 0:06:15.482,0:06:17.991 I don't have those answers. 0:06:17.991,0:06:21.996 But, I can offer you an alternative. 0:06:22.550,0:06:26.908 In terms of rapidly advancing your career 0:06:26.908,0:06:30.670 and working on stuff that you actually care about. 0:06:30.670,0:06:33.043 There is one way: it's my way 0:06:33.043,0:06:34.856 (Laughter) 0:06:34.856,0:06:36.706 that stands above the rest. 0:06:36.706,0:06:38.657 And that is free work. 0:06:38.657,0:06:40.486 And some of you might be sitting there thinking, 0:06:40.486,0:06:42.257 “Oh, I know what free work is, 0:06:42.257,0:06:44.072 it's an internship. That's not new, guy. 0:06:44.072,0:06:46.181 You're not even that good of a public speaker.” 0:06:46.181,0:06:49.622 Well, chill out, let me get through my speech -- jeez. 0:06:49.622,0:06:53.324 An internship is actually very different from free work. 0:06:53.324,0:06:56.949 In internship, you're applying for like it's a regular job. 0:06:56.949,0:06:59.009 You're sending in your résumé, 0:06:59.009,0:07:00.117 you're doing an interview, 0:07:00.117,0:07:02.032 and you're competing with other applicants. 0:07:02.032,0:07:03.675 And then, if you get that internship, 0:07:03.675,0:07:06.789 you're going to be given menial work from 9 to 5. 0:07:06.789,0:07:08.069 Because they don't trust you, 0:07:08.069,0:07:10.179 so they're not going to give you much responsibility. 0:07:10.179,0:07:11.789 Now, this is generally speaking, so -- 0:07:11.789,0:07:13.386 settle down. 0:07:13.386,0:07:16.051 But you're going to be likely filling out 0:07:16.051,0:07:17.824 spreadsheets and retrieving coffee 0:07:17.824,0:07:20.856 and all this stuff that you don't want to do. 0:07:20.856,0:07:23.670 And at the end, there are no guarantees: 0:07:23.670,0:07:25.567 you might do this for 3 to 6 months, 0:07:25.567,0:07:26.691 and the door is going to close, 0:07:26.691,0:07:28.219 they'll tell you to hit the bricks. 0:07:28.219,0:07:29.943 Happened to me. 0:07:29.943,0:07:31.919 With free work, it's different. 0:07:31.919,0:07:35.087 You can work with anyone in the world, 0:07:35.087,0:07:38.162 and you can reach out to them virtually. 0:07:38.162,0:07:40.182 So you can work at any time, 0:07:40.182,0:07:41.468 you can work on your own hours 0:07:41.468,0:07:43.085 and there are no dead ends. 0:07:43.085,0:07:44.442 If you do this correctly, 0:07:44.442,0:07:46.706 if you work for a bunch of people, 0:07:46.706,0:07:48.651 then something will pan out 0:07:48.651,0:07:50.841 and more opportunities will open up for you 0:07:50.841,0:07:53.253 than you ever thought possible. 0:07:53.253,0:07:55.720 And, most importantly, you're only going 0:07:55.720,0:07:57.339 to work on stuff that you care about 0:07:57.339,0:07:59.226 and you're going to be able to figure out 0:07:59.226,0:08:01.384 what you're truly passionate about. 0:08:01.384,0:08:03.099 Because you can objectively say, 0:08:03.099,0:08:05.308 “I would do this even if I weren't being paid.” 0:08:05.308,0:08:07.095 Because you're not being paid. 0:08:07.095,0:08:09.124 (Laughter) 0:08:09.124,0:08:11.303 And this is the key distinguishing point 0:08:11.303,0:08:14.101 between internships and free work. 0:08:14.101,0:08:16.348 You're continually building a foundation 0:08:16.348,0:08:18.527 for your career. 0:08:21.173,0:08:26.313 So, the 6 steps to become a recession-proof graduate. 0:08:26.313,0:08:28.435 This is how it's done. 0:08:28.435,0:08:31.117 Step 0 – this should not be a step. 0:08:31.117,0:08:32.728 Stop acting entitled. 0:08:32.728,0:08:35.380 For some reason, as soon as we throw our graduation 0:08:35.380,0:08:38.186 caps into the air, we expect this 40, 50, 0:08:38.186,0:08:41.592 60 thousand dollar job to land into our laps. 0:08:41.592,0:08:43.490 But the fact is that 0:08:43.490,0:08:45.409 college degrees are not given to 0:08:45.409,0:08:47.753 unique snowflake children. 0:08:47.753,0:08:48.488 (Laughter) 0:08:48.488,0:08:49.697 Seriously, they aren't. 0:08:49.697,0:08:51.180 The people who get college degrees 0:08:51.180,0:08:53.532 are people who are good at taking tests 0:08:53.532,0:08:55.227 and people who can afford them, 0:08:55.227,0:08:56.950 generally speaking -- again. 0:08:56.950,0:08:58.309 This is the truth: 0:08:58.309,0:09:00.104 sadly, college degrees are commodities 0:09:00.104,0:09:03.269 at this point -- but not Carnegie Mellon. 0:09:03.269,0:09:05.156 (Laughter) 0:09:05.156,0:09:09.332 So, step 1: choose a few areas 0:09:09.332,0:09:11.690 that you'd like to work in. 0:09:11.690,0:09:12.891 A lot of us get out of college 0:09:12.891,0:09:14.557 and we feel completely pigeon-holed 0:09:14.557,0:09:15.969 by our major. 0:09:15.969,0:09:16.738 And it's like, 0:09:16.738,0:09:18.193 “Aw, man, I just spent 4 years studying 0:09:18.193,0:09:20.587 something that I'm not like that crazy about. 0:09:20.587,0:09:24.443 Ah, I have to get a career in this industry, 0:09:24.443,0:09:25.675 I have all these other interests, 0:09:25.675,0:09:28.144 I like music and art, and all this other stuff.” 0:09:28.144,0:09:30.120 Well, you can still do all that stuff.[br] 0:09:30.120,0:09:33.104 So choose all the things that you're still interested in, 0:09:33.104,0:09:34.678 because you're in your early 20s, 0:09:34.678,0:09:36.642 and again you have nothing to lose. 0:09:36.642,0:09:38.600 So you can try all this stuff for free, 0:09:38.600,0:09:40.976 and figure out what you really care about. 0:09:40.976,0:09:44.095 You don't have to be pigeon-holed. 0:09:44.095,0:09:47.355 Step 2: get some skills. 0:09:47.355,0:09:50.331 It's so sad, because so many college students 0:09:50.331,0:09:53.098 leave their university and they have 0:09:53.098,0:09:55.015 no marketable skills. 0:09:55.015,0:09:56.730 If you've thought about writing 0:09:56.730,0:09:58.981 “proficient in Microsoft Office” 0:09:58.981,0:10:00.521 on your résumé, 0:10:00.521,0:10:03.099 or “I have excellent communication skills” 0:10:03.099,0:10:04.802 you have no skills! 0:10:04.802,0:10:05.500 (Laughter) 0:10:05.500,0:10:07.932 Seriously, you're competing with 35-year-olds 0:10:07.932,0:10:10.303 who are willing to take a cut in pay, 0:10:10.303,0:10:12.469 who have 10 more years of experience than you. 0:10:12.469,0:10:14.643 You're just not going to win. 0:10:14.643,0:10:17.216 So the way I think of getting skills in those 0:10:17.216,0:10:19.060 industries that you've picked, 0:10:19.060,0:10:21.355 you look at the skills that are both 0:10:21.355,0:10:23.882 in high demand and difficult to learn. 0:10:23.882,0:10:26.466 Those are going to be the ones that are a value 0:10:26.466,0:10:28.992 and will land you gigs. 0:10:28.992,0:10:30.475 Seriously, if you want to be making 0:10:30.475,0:10:33.536 100 thousand dollars right out the gate from college, 0:10:33.536,0:10:36.548 go learn how to put out oil fires in the Middle East. 0:10:36.548,0:10:38.683 Is it in high demand? Yeah. 0:10:38.683,0:10:40.468 Is it difficult to learn? Yeah. 0:10:40.468,0:10:42.427 Is it scary as shit? Absolutely. 0:10:42.427,0:10:43.858 (Laughter) 0:10:43.858,0:10:47.819 But more realistic, if you're an iPhone developer, 0:10:47.819,0:10:49.645 or an iPad developer, whatever, 0:10:49.645,0:10:54.052 the demand for that is so huge that even if 0:10:54.052,0:10:56.182 you're not that good at Cocoa [Objective-C], 0:10:56.182,0:10:58.406 which is a kinda difficult language to learn, 0:10:58.406,0:11:01.241 you can command five-figures a project for doing that 0:11:01.241,0:11:02.658 and you'll be able to market yourself 0:11:02.658,0:11:03.929 super easily. 0:11:03.929,0:11:06.207 So have skills that are in high demand 0:11:06.207,0:11:08.695 and are difficult enough to learn. 0:11:08.695,0:11:10.980 Step 3: build your online presence. 0:11:10.980,0:11:12.795 I'm not going to get into the process of this, 0:11:12.795,0:11:14.405 because we got into it earlier 0:11:14.405,0:11:16.135 and ultimately what it boils down to 0:11:16.135,0:11:17.855 is blog, blog, blog, dorky stuff, whatever. 0:11:17.855,0:11:18.879 (Laughter) 0:11:18.879,0:11:23.844 But the reality is that résumés are pretty antiquated. 0:11:23.844,0:11:27.566 The truth is, you're going to be googled. 0:11:27.566,0:11:29.806 That's more important than your résumé. 0:11:29.806,0:11:34.157 And if you googled my name in 2007, 0:11:34.157,0:11:36.630 in the top 5 results were the words 0:11:36.630,0:11:38.789 “drunk” and “abortion”. 0:11:38.789,0:11:39.525 (Laughter) 0:11:39.525,0:11:40.861 I swear to god! 0:11:40.861,0:11:42.447 That is like the worst possible result 0:11:42.447,0:11:43.934 you could ever have! 0:11:43.934,0:11:45.290 I can't make up anything worse than than 0:11:45.290,0:11:47.323 except murder. 0:11:47.323,0:11:48.636 It's terrible! 0:11:48.636,0:11:51.179 And, while I didn't want to have a slide 0:11:51.179,0:11:53.493 that said “Charlie Hoehn = Drunk Abortion”, 0:11:53.493,0:11:54.762 there is a backstory to that, so -- 0:11:54.762,0:11:57.288 The first one, the “drunk” one, 0:11:57.288,0:11:59.880 was me submitting a video of my friend 0:11:59.880,0:12:02.642 to collegehumor.com of him drunkenly riding 0:12:02.642,0:12:04.439 a bicycle down a flight of stairs. 0:12:04.439,0:12:05.473 (Laughter) 0:12:05.473,0:12:07.808 Very funny, and I didn't think it would come 0:12:07.808,0:12:10.065 to bite me in the ass years later. 0:12:10.065,0:12:13.797 But collegehumor has great SEO, so it did. 0:12:13.797,0:12:15.326 And the “abortion” one, 0:12:15.326,0:12:18.640 was me making fun of abortion protesters 0:12:18.640,0:12:20.011 on my campus. 0:12:20.011,0:12:22.714 Not because I hate or love abortion, 0:12:22.714,0:12:24.541 I just think protesters are funny. 0:12:24.541,0:12:26.909 (Laughter) 0:12:26.909,0:12:29.167 Step 4: pay the bills and cut costs. 0:12:29.167,0:12:31.399 Because you're going to be doing free work, 0:12:31.399,0:12:33.333 obviously you're not going to be getting paid 0:12:33.333,0:12:35.034 for a little while so you've got to figure out 0:12:35.034,0:12:37.230 a way to pay the bills and cut your costs. 0:12:37.230,0:12:39.066 So, do something on the side -- 0:12:39.066,0:12:40.622 doesn't really matter what it is -- 0:12:40.622,0:12:42.861 but you've got to make a side income 0:12:42.861,0:12:45.851 to allow you to do stuff that you really care about 0:12:45.851,0:12:47.755 for a while, because eventually, 0:12:47.755,0:12:50.618 that stuff will transition into paid work. 0:12:50.618,0:12:53.661 If you do it well-enough. 0:12:55.369,0:12:58.920 Step 5: contact those targets and prove your worth. 0:12:58.920,0:13:01.437 So you remember, you picked the areas that 0:13:01.437,0:13:03.513 you want to work in, and now you pick your 0:13:03.513,0:13:05.593 contacts or your targets, 0:13:05.593,0:13:08.654 the people who are really high up, 0:13:08.654,0:13:11.142 because you're an unproven college gruaduate 0:13:11.142,0:13:13.268 with no experience and anything notable 0:13:13.268,0:13:15.239 for most of you -- sad to say. 0:13:15.239,0:13:17.849 And offering to do free work, 0:13:17.849,0:13:20.123 they're going to have super-low expectations. 0:13:20.123,0:13:21.364 And because you're doing free work, 0:13:21.364,0:13:23.010 you're removing these barriers 0:13:23.010,0:13:25.876 of, “Do I have to pay this guy?” 0:13:25.876,0:13:27.699 and because you're reaching out virtually 0:13:27.699,0:13:29.385 they don't have to pay attention to you 0:13:29.385,0:13:31.612 so they don't have to spend time monitoring you. 0:13:31.612,0:13:33.125 So you're removing these barriers 0:13:33.125,0:13:34.905 and you can reach people who are further 0:13:34.905,0:13:38.120 out of your reach than you think, 0:13:38.120,0:13:40.859 like if you approached them for paid work, 0:13:40.859,0:13:42.309 for a paid gig right away, 0:13:42.309,0:13:44.129 they would have said no. 0:13:44.129,0:13:46.908 So the way I always reach out to these people 0:13:46.908,0:13:48.625 who are seemingly unreachable -- 0:13:48.625,0:13:51.075 but they're very, very approachable -- 0:13:51.075,0:13:52.837 is, I send them an email. 0:13:52.837,0:13:54.624 I give them a courteous introduction 0:13:54.624,0:13:56.470 and delicately elude to the research 0:13:56.470,0:13:57.800 I've done on them. 0:13:57.800,0:13:59.929 I say I'm a fan of their work, 0:13:59.929,0:14:03.048 and then I offer three examples of free work 0:14:03.048,0:14:05.001 that are going to have a positive impact 0:14:05.001,0:14:06.705 on their business. 0:14:06.705,0:14:09.587 And I tie them back into skills of mine, 0:14:09.587,0:14:13.452 so, “I can edit video, I'm good at online marketing, 0:14:13.452,0:14:15.336 and I'm a good writer”. 0:14:15.336,0:14:16.288 So I'll be like, 0:14:16.288,0:14:17.962 “Oh, you can improve this, this, and this. 0:14:17.962,0:14:20.123 The way you are going to improve it 0:14:20.123,0:14:22.185 is by hiring me, I'll do it for free 0:14:22.185,0:14:25.061 and you don't have to worry about me, 0:14:25.061,0:14:27.617 if you don't like my work, you can scrap it.” 0:14:27.617,0:14:30.099 And then I'll just sign off with, you know, 0:14:30.099,0:14:32.961 “I'll do this stuff for 2 weeks, 0:14:32.961,0:14:36.705 and if you dig my work then let's talk about 0:14:36.705,0:14:38.000 doing something a little more formal, 0:14:38.000,0:14:40.896 and possibly a paid gig in the future. 0:14:40.896,0:14:42.604 Can you talk this week?” 0:14:42.604,0:14:45.706 Pretty easy, it works very well. 0:14:45.706,0:14:50.056 Finally, you transition to paid work. 0:14:50.056,0:14:51.924 And if you've done your job, 0:14:51.924,0:14:54.712 if you do a really good job doing the free work, 0:14:54.712,0:14:57.831 then they're going to have more to lose 0:14:57.831,0:15:00.723 by not paying you than you'll have to lose. 0:15:00.723,0:15:03.408 So they're going to want to keep you around, 0:15:03.408,0:15:05.539 and they'll eventually pay you. 0:15:05.539,0:15:07.788 It's the way it works. 0:15:07.788,0:15:09.373 But now, there's some bad news. 0:15:09.373,0:15:11.643 America is in a tough time, 0:15:11.643,0:15:12.892 and it's going to get tougher. 0:15:12.892,0:15:15.264 I mean, honestly, we have to pay for your sins 0:15:15.264,0:15:17.047 at some point, we can't keep this up. 0:15:17.047,0:15:18.519 I mean, let's get real. 0:15:18.519,0:15:21.879 And the economy is going to get worse, 0:15:21.879,0:15:23.777 and jobs are going to be cut, 0:15:23.777,0:15:24.709 jobs are going to be eliminated, 0:15:24.709,0:15:26.309 jobs are going to be outsourced. 0:15:26.309,0:15:28.018 It is a tough market for us. 0:15:28.018,0:15:30.396 But, there's good news. 0:15:30.396,0:15:31.742 And the good news is, 0:15:31.742,0:15:34.897 as long as there are problems that need to be solved, 0:15:34.897,0:15:38.071 there will always be work. 0:15:38.071,0:15:42.245 And I'm here today to ask you guys to try free work. 0:15:42.245,0:15:44.451 Because I want you to chase after the things 0:15:44.451,0:15:46.954 that interest you and make you happy. 0:15:46.954,0:15:49.223 You need to stop acting like you have 0:15:49.223,0:15:51.600 a set path in life. You don't. 0:15:51.600,0:15:52.473 No one does. 0:15:52.473,0:15:53.705 You shouldn't be trying to check off 0:15:53.705,0:15:56.094 the boxes of life in order to become 0:15:56.094,0:15:57.934 a successful American. 0:15:57.934,0:15:59.967 Those boxes are not real. 0:15:59.967,0:16:01.951 And they were created by other people. 0:16:01.951,0:16:03.222 Not you. 0:16:03.222,0:16:04.697 Now is the best time, 0:16:04.697,0:16:06.103 when you're in your early 20s, 0:16:06.103,0:16:07.731 when you have nothing to lose, 0:16:07.731,0:16:11.065 to pursue a path that you care about. 0:16:11.065,0:16:14.324 And to start building a reputation and a history 0:16:14.324,0:16:16.139 of work that matters to you 0:16:16.139,0:16:17.946 and that you're proud of. 0:16:17.946,0:16:22.846 So, when I ask you to try this “free work” concept, 0:16:22.846,0:16:24.663 I want you to ask yourself the same 0:16:24.663,0:16:26.945 question I asked myself on the bathroom floor 0:16:26.945,0:16:29.503 3 years ago: 0:16:29.503,0:16:32.821 “What is the worst that could happen?” 0:16:32.821,0:16:35.544 Thank you.[br](Applause)