1
00:00:01,198 --> 00:00:04,001
I would be willing to bet
I'm the dumbest guy in the room,

2
00:00:04,025 --> 00:00:06,987
because I couldn't get through school;
I struggled with school.

3
00:00:07,011 --> 00:00:10,221
But I knew at a very early age
that I loved money, I loved business

4
00:00:10,245 --> 00:00:12,132
and I loved this entrepreneurial thing.

5
00:00:12,156 --> 00:00:13,941
I was raised to be an entrepreneur.

6
00:00:13,965 --> 00:00:16,418
What I've been really
passionate about ever since --

7
00:00:16,442 --> 00:00:19,259
and I've never spoken
about this ever, until now --

8
00:00:19,283 --> 00:00:21,340
so this is the first time
anyone's heard it,

9
00:00:21,364 --> 00:00:22,862
except my wife, three days ago.

10
00:00:22,886 --> 00:00:24,784
She said, "What are you talking about?"

11
00:00:24,808 --> 00:00:27,747
I told her that I think
we miss an opportunity

12
00:00:27,771 --> 00:00:30,976
to find these kids
who have the entrepreneurial traits,

13
00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:32,976
and to groom them or show them

14
00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,678
that being an entrepreneur
is actually a cool thing.

15
00:00:35,702 --> 00:00:39,035
It's not something
that is a bad thing and is vilified,

16
00:00:39,059 --> 00:00:41,483
which is what happens in a lot of society.

17
00:00:41,507 --> 00:00:44,642
Kids, when we grow up, have dreams,

18
00:00:44,666 --> 00:00:46,672
and we have passions, and we have visions,

19
00:00:46,696 --> 00:00:48,629
and somehow we get those things crushed.

20
00:00:48,653 --> 00:00:50,668
We get told that we need to study harder

21
00:00:50,692 --> 00:00:52,960
or be more focused or get a tutor.

22
00:00:53,353 --> 00:00:56,912
My parents got me a tutor in French,
and I still suck in French.

23
00:00:58,472 --> 00:00:59,625
Two years ago,

24
00:00:59,649 --> 00:01:03,243
I was the highest-rated lecturer
at MIT's Entrepreneurial Master's Program.

25
00:01:03,267 --> 00:01:06,070
It was a speaking event
in front of groups of entrepreneurs

26
00:01:06,094 --> 00:01:07,251
from around the world.

27
00:01:07,275 --> 00:01:10,238
When I was in grade two,
I won a citywide speaking competition,

28
00:01:10,262 --> 00:01:13,016
but nobody had ever said,
"Hey, this kid's a good speaker.

29
00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:16,558
He can't focus, but he loves walking
around and getting people energized."

30
00:01:16,582 --> 00:01:18,602
No one said, "Get him
a coach in speaking."

31
00:01:18,626 --> 00:01:20,733
They said, get me a tutor
in what I suck at.

32
00:01:20,757 --> 00:01:24,506
So as kids show these traits --
and we need to start looking for them --

33
00:01:24,530 --> 00:01:28,384
I think we should be raising kids
to be entrepreneurs instead of lawyers.

34
00:01:28,949 --> 00:01:32,467
Unfortunately, the school system
is grooming this world to say,

35
00:01:32,491 --> 00:01:34,615
"Let's be a lawyer,"
or, "Let's be a doctor."

36
00:01:34,639 --> 00:01:36,117
We're missing that opportunity,

37
00:01:36,141 --> 00:01:38,574
because no one ever says,
"Hey, be an entrepreneur."

38
00:01:38,598 --> 00:01:41,649
Entrepreneurs are people --
we have a lot of them in this room --

39
00:01:41,673 --> 00:01:44,490
who have ideas and passions
or see these needs in the world

40
00:01:44,514 --> 00:01:46,164
and decide to stand up and do it.

41
00:01:46,188 --> 00:01:49,038
And we put everything on the line
to make that stuff happen.

42
00:01:49,062 --> 00:01:51,791
We have the ability
to get the groups of people around us

43
00:01:51,815 --> 00:01:53,688
that want to build that dream with us.

44
00:01:53,712 --> 00:01:57,395
And I think if we could get kids
to embrace the idea at a young age,

45
00:01:57,419 --> 00:01:58,633
of being entrepreneurial,

46
00:01:58,657 --> 00:02:01,644
we could change everything
in the world that's a problem today.

47
00:02:01,668 --> 00:02:04,074
Every problem out there,
somebody has the idea for.

48
00:02:04,098 --> 00:02:06,705
And as a young kid,
nobody can say it can't happen,

49
00:02:06,729 --> 00:02:09,981
because you're too dumb to realize
that you couldn't figure it out.

50
00:02:10,521 --> 00:02:13,081
I think we have an obligation
as parents and a society

51
00:02:13,105 --> 00:02:17,271
to start teaching our kids to fish
instead of giving them the fish --

52
00:02:17,295 --> 00:02:20,160
the old parable: "Give a man
a fish, you feed him for a day.

53
00:02:20,184 --> 00:02:22,534
Teach a man to fish,
you feed him for a lifetime."

54
00:02:22,558 --> 00:02:24,766
If we can teach our kids
to be entrepreneurial,

55
00:02:24,790 --> 00:02:26,520
the ones that show the traits to be,

56
00:02:26,544 --> 00:02:29,671
like we teach the ones who have
science gifts to go on in science,

57
00:02:29,695 --> 00:02:32,108
what if we saw the ones
with entrepreneurial traits

58
00:02:32,132 --> 00:02:33,868
and taught them to be entrepreneurs?

59
00:02:33,892 --> 00:02:35,996
We could have these kids
spreading businesses

60
00:02:36,020 --> 00:02:38,049
instead of waiting
for government handouts.

61
00:02:38,073 --> 00:02:40,803
What we do is teach our kids
the things they shouldn't do:

62
00:02:40,827 --> 00:02:42,615
don't hit; don't bite; don't swear.

63
00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:45,673
Right now we teach our kids
to go after really good jobs;

64
00:02:45,697 --> 00:02:48,277
the school system teaches them
to go after things like

65
00:02:48,301 --> 00:02:51,682
being a doctor and being a lawyer
and being an accountant and a dentist

66
00:02:51,706 --> 00:02:52,960
and a teacher and a pilot.

67
00:02:52,984 --> 00:02:55,644
And the media says it's really cool
if we could go out

68
00:02:55,668 --> 00:02:57,167
and be a model or a singer

69
00:02:57,191 --> 00:03:00,126
or a sports hero like Luongo or Crosby.

70
00:03:00,150 --> 00:03:03,726
Our MBA programs do not teach kids
to be entrepreneurs.

71
00:03:03,750 --> 00:03:07,312
The reason I avoided an MBA program,
other than that I didn't get into any,

72
00:03:07,336 --> 00:03:09,799
since I had a 61 percent
average out of high school,

73
00:03:09,823 --> 00:03:11,018
then a 61 percent average

74
00:03:11,042 --> 00:03:13,717
at the only school in Canada
that accepted me, Carlton,

75
00:03:13,741 --> 00:03:16,707
is that our MBA programs don't teach
kids to be entrepreneurs.

76
00:03:16,731 --> 00:03:18,658
They teach them to work in corporations.

77
00:03:18,682 --> 00:03:21,785
So who's starting these companies?
It's these random few people.

78
00:03:21,809 --> 00:03:24,812
Even in popular literature,
the only book I've ever found --

79
00:03:24,836 --> 00:03:27,035
and this should be
on all your reading lists --

80
00:03:27,059 --> 00:03:28,449
the only book I've ever found

81
00:03:28,473 --> 00:03:31,053
that makes the entrepreneur
a hero is "Atlas Shrugged."

82
00:03:31,077 --> 00:03:33,491
Everything else in the world
looks at entrepreneurs

83
00:03:33,515 --> 00:03:34,786
and says we're bad people.

84
00:03:34,810 --> 00:03:36,018
I look at even my family.

85
00:03:36,042 --> 00:03:38,493
Both my grandfathers and my dad
were entrepreneurs.

86
00:03:38,517 --> 00:03:41,540
My brother, sister and I,
all three of us own companies as well.

87
00:03:41,564 --> 00:03:45,131
We all decided to start these things
because it's the only place we fit.

88
00:03:45,155 --> 00:03:48,227
We didn't fit in normal work;
we couldn't work for somebody else,

89
00:03:48,251 --> 00:03:50,591
we're stubborn and we have
all these other traits.

90
00:03:50,615 --> 00:03:52,528
But kids could be entrepreneurs as well.

91
00:03:52,552 --> 00:03:54,465
I'm a big part of a couple organizations

92
00:03:54,489 --> 00:03:58,161
called the Entrepreneurs' Organization
and the Young Presidents' Organization.

93
00:03:58,185 --> 00:04:01,630
I just came back from speaking
in Barcelona at the YPO global conference.

94
00:04:01,654 --> 00:04:04,976
And everyone I met over there
who's an entrepreneur

95
00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:06,516
struggled with school.

96
00:04:06,540 --> 00:04:10,119
I have 18 out of the 19 signs
of attention deficit disorder diagnosed.

97
00:04:10,143 --> 00:04:12,952
So this thing right here
is freaking me out.

98
00:04:12,976 --> 00:04:15,380
(Laughter)

99
00:04:15,404 --> 00:04:17,203
It's probably why I'm a bit panicked,

100
00:04:17,227 --> 00:04:19,631
other than all the caffeine
I've had and the sugar.

101
00:04:19,655 --> 00:04:21,976
But this is really creepy
for an entrepreneur.

102
00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,143
Attention deficit disorder,
bipolar disorder.

103
00:04:24,167 --> 00:04:27,167
Do you know that bipolar disorder
is nicknamed the CEO disease?

104
00:04:27,191 --> 00:04:29,865
Ted Turner's got it. Steve Jobs has it.

105
00:04:29,889 --> 00:04:33,281
All three of the founders
of Netscape had it.

106
00:04:33,305 --> 00:04:34,688
I could go on and on.

107
00:04:34,712 --> 00:04:36,976
Kids -- you can see these signs in kids.

108
00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:39,128
And we're giving them Ritalin and saying,

109
00:04:39,152 --> 00:04:41,245
"Don't be an entrepreneurial type.

110
00:04:41,269 --> 00:04:43,919
Fit into this other system
and try to become a student."

111
00:04:43,943 --> 00:04:45,715
Sorry, entrepreneurs aren't students.

112
00:04:45,739 --> 00:04:47,572
We fast-track. We figure out the game.

113
00:04:47,596 --> 00:04:49,644
I stole essays. I cheated on exams.

114
00:04:49,668 --> 00:04:52,445
I hired kids to do my accounting
assignments in university

115
00:04:52,469 --> 00:04:53,976
for 13 consecutive assignments.

116
00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,355
But as an entrepreneur, you don't do
accounting, you hire accountants.

117
00:04:57,379 --> 00:04:59,286
So I just figured that out earlier.

118
00:04:59,310 --> 00:05:00,976
(Laughter)

119
00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:02,785
(Applause)

120
00:05:02,809 --> 00:05:05,999
At least I can admit I cheated
in university; most of you won't.

121
00:05:06,023 --> 00:05:09,357
I'm also quoted -- and I told
the person who wrote the textbook --

122
00:05:09,381 --> 00:05:11,913
I'm now quoted in that exact same
university textbook

123
00:05:11,937 --> 00:05:14,743
in every Canadian university
and college studies --

124
00:05:14,767 --> 00:05:16,976
in managerial accounting,
I'm chapter eight.

125
00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:19,286
I open up chapter eight,
talking about budgeting.

126
00:05:19,310 --> 00:05:21,505
I told the author,
after they did my interview,

127
00:05:21,529 --> 00:05:23,227
that I cheated in that same course.

128
00:05:23,251 --> 00:05:25,642
She thought it was too funny
to not include it.

129
00:05:25,666 --> 00:05:28,015
But kids, you can see these signs in them.

130
00:05:28,039 --> 00:05:31,338
The definition of entrepreneur
is "a person who organizes, operates

131
00:05:31,362 --> 00:05:33,576
and assumes the risk
of a business venture."

132
00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:36,006
That doesn't mean you have
to go to an MBA program,

133
00:05:36,030 --> 00:05:37,900
or that you have to get through school.

134
00:05:37,924 --> 00:05:41,095
It just means that those few things
have to feel right in your gut.

135
00:05:41,119 --> 00:05:43,585
We've heard, "Is it nurture
or is it nature?" Right?

136
00:05:43,609 --> 00:05:45,587
Is it thing one or thing two? What is it?

137
00:05:45,611 --> 00:05:48,240
Well, I don't think it's either.
I think it can be both.

138
00:05:48,264 --> 00:05:49,867
I was groomed as an entrepreneur.

139
00:05:49,891 --> 00:05:52,651
When I was growing up
as a young kid, I had no choice,

140
00:05:52,675 --> 00:05:54,651
because I was taught at a very early age,

141
00:05:54,675 --> 00:05:57,285
when my dad realized I didn't fit
into everything else

142
00:05:57,309 --> 00:05:59,144
that was being taught to me in school,

143
00:05:59,168 --> 00:06:02,119
that he could teach me
to figure out business at an early age.

144
00:06:02,143 --> 00:06:05,391
He groomed us, the three of us,
to hate the thought of having a job

145
00:06:05,415 --> 00:06:07,424
and to love the fact of creating companies

146
00:06:07,448 --> 00:06:09,123
where we could employ other people.

147
00:06:09,147 --> 00:06:12,081
My first business venture:
I was seven years old, in Winnipeg.

148
00:06:12,105 --> 00:06:14,878
I was in my bedroom
with one of those long extension cords,

149
00:06:14,902 --> 00:06:16,829
calling all the dry cleaners in Winnipeg

150
00:06:16,853 --> 00:06:19,285
to find out how much they'd pay
me for coat hangers.

151
00:06:19,309 --> 00:06:21,286
And my mom came into the room and said,

152
00:06:21,310 --> 00:06:24,610
"Where are you going to get the hangers
to sell to the dry cleaners?"

153
00:06:24,634 --> 00:06:26,733
And I said, "Let's go look
in the basement."

154
00:06:26,757 --> 00:06:29,583
We went down to the basement,
and I opened up this cupboard.

155
00:06:29,607 --> 00:06:31,925
There was about 1,000 hangers
that I'd collected,

156
00:06:31,949 --> 00:06:34,251
because, when I told her
I was going out to play,

157
00:06:34,275 --> 00:06:36,331
I was going door to door
in the neighborhood

158
00:06:36,355 --> 00:06:38,417
to collect hangers to put in the basement,

159
00:06:38,441 --> 00:06:41,037
because I saw her
a few weeks before that --

160
00:06:41,061 --> 00:06:44,039
you could get paid, they used to pay
two cents per coat hanger.

161
00:06:44,063 --> 00:06:46,425
So I was like, well,
there's all kinds of hangers,

162
00:06:46,449 --> 00:06:47,651
so I'll just go get them.

163
00:06:47,675 --> 00:06:49,587
I knew she wouldn't want me to get them,

164
00:06:49,611 --> 00:06:50,816
so I just did it anyway.

165
00:06:50,840 --> 00:06:53,651
And I learned that you could
actually negotiate with people.

166
00:06:53,675 --> 00:06:57,147
This one guy offered me three cents
and I got him up to three and a half.

167
00:06:57,171 --> 00:06:58,617
I even knew at seven years old

168
00:06:58,641 --> 00:07:00,895
that I could get
a fractional percent of a cent,

169
00:07:00,919 --> 00:07:03,266
and people would pay it,
because it multiplied up.

170
00:07:03,290 --> 00:07:05,021
At seven years old I figured it out.

171
00:07:05,045 --> 00:07:07,254
I got three and a half cents
for 1,000 hangers.

172
00:07:07,278 --> 00:07:09,390
I sold license plate
protectors door to door.

173
00:07:09,414 --> 00:07:11,301
My dad actually made me go find someone

174
00:07:11,325 --> 00:07:13,085
who would sell me them at wholesale.

175
00:07:13,109 --> 00:07:15,798
At nine years old, I walked
around in the city of Sudbury

176
00:07:15,822 --> 00:07:17,980
selling license-plate
protectors door to door.

177
00:07:18,004 --> 00:07:20,184
And I remember
this one customer so vividly --

178
00:07:20,208 --> 00:07:23,759
I also did some other stuff
with these clients, I sold newspapers,

179
00:07:23,783 --> 00:07:25,935
and he wouldn't buy
a newspaper from me, ever.

180
00:07:25,959 --> 00:07:29,539
But I was convinced I was going to get him
to buy a license-plate protector.

181
00:07:29,563 --> 00:07:31,240
And he's like, "We don't need one."

182
00:07:31,264 --> 00:07:32,912
I said, "But you've got two cars."

183
00:07:32,936 --> 00:07:34,342
Remember, I'm nine years old.

184
00:07:34,366 --> 00:07:37,874
I'm like, "You have two cars and they
don't have license-plate protectors.

185
00:07:37,898 --> 00:07:40,712
And this car has one license plate
that's all crumpled up."

186
00:07:40,736 --> 00:07:42,290
He said, "That's my wife's car."

187
00:07:42,314 --> 00:07:45,651
I said, "Why don't we test one on her car
and see if it lasts longer?"

188
00:07:45,675 --> 00:07:48,651
So I knew there were two cars
with two license plates on each.

189
00:07:48,675 --> 00:07:51,269
If I couldn't sell all four,
I could at least get one.

190
00:07:51,293 --> 00:07:52,741
I learned that at a young age.

191
00:07:52,765 --> 00:07:54,059
I did comic book arbitrage.

192
00:07:54,083 --> 00:07:56,403
When I was about 10 years old,
I sold comic books

193
00:07:56,427 --> 00:07:58,167
out of our cottage on Georgian Bay.

194
00:07:58,191 --> 00:08:00,296
I would go biking
up to the end of the beach,

195
00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:02,194
buy all the comics from the poor kids,

196
00:08:02,218 --> 00:08:05,651
then go back to the other end of the beach
to sell them to the rich kids.

197
00:08:05,675 --> 00:08:07,651
It was obvious to me: buy low, sell high.

198
00:08:07,675 --> 00:08:09,923
You've got this demand
over here that has money.

199
00:08:09,947 --> 00:08:12,693
Don't try to sell to the poor kids;
they don't have cash.

200
00:08:12,717 --> 00:08:14,560
The rich people do. Obvious, right?

201
00:08:14,584 --> 00:08:15,747
It's like a recession.

202
00:08:15,771 --> 00:08:16,938
So there's a recession.

203
00:08:16,962 --> 00:08:19,978
There's still 13 trillion dollars
circulating in the US economy.

204
00:08:20,002 --> 00:08:22,590
Go get some of that.
I learned that at a young age.

205
00:08:22,614 --> 00:08:24,604
I also learned, don't reveal your source:

206
00:08:24,628 --> 00:08:26,511
I got beat up after four weeks of this,

207
00:08:26,535 --> 00:08:29,842
because one of the rich kids found out
where I was buying my comics,

208
00:08:29,866 --> 00:08:31,787
and didn't like that he was paying more.

209
00:08:31,811 --> 00:08:34,174
I was forced to get
a paper route at 10 years old.

210
00:08:34,198 --> 00:08:37,718
I didn't want a paper route, but my dad
said, "That's your next business."

211
00:08:37,742 --> 00:08:40,066
Not only did he get me one,
but I had to get two.

212
00:08:40,090 --> 00:08:42,781
He wanted me to hire someone
to deliver half the papers,

213
00:08:42,805 --> 00:08:43,956
which I did.

214
00:08:43,980 --> 00:08:46,988
Then I realized: collecting tips
is how you made all the money.

215
00:08:47,012 --> 00:08:48,740
So I'd collect tips and get payment.

216
00:08:48,764 --> 00:08:51,651
I would collect for the papers --
he could just deliver them.

217
00:08:51,675 --> 00:08:53,690
Because then I realized
I could make money.

218
00:08:53,714 --> 00:08:56,548
By this point, I was definitely
not going to be an employee.

219
00:08:56,572 --> 00:08:57,944
(Laughter)

220
00:08:57,968 --> 00:09:00,500
My dad owned an automotive
and industrial repair shop.

221
00:09:00,524 --> 00:09:02,940
He had all these old
automotive parts lying around.

222
00:09:02,964 --> 00:09:04,639
They had this old brass and copper.

223
00:09:04,663 --> 00:09:07,640
I asked what he did with it,
and he said he just throws it out.

224
00:09:07,664 --> 00:09:10,650
I said, "Wouldn't somebody pay
for that?" And he goes, "Maybe."

225
00:09:10,674 --> 00:09:12,603
Remember: at 10 years old, 34 years ago,

226
00:09:12,627 --> 00:09:15,726
I saw opportunity in this stuff,
I saw there was money in garbage.

227
00:09:15,750 --> 00:09:19,102
And I collected it from the automotive
shops in the area on my bicycle.

228
00:09:19,126 --> 00:09:22,211
Then my dad would drive me on Saturdays
to a scrap metal recycler

229
00:09:22,235 --> 00:09:23,390
where I got paid.

230
00:09:23,414 --> 00:09:25,134
And I thought that was kind of cool.

231
00:09:25,158 --> 00:09:28,207
Strangely enough, 30 years later,
we're building 1-800-GOT-JUNK?

232
00:09:28,231 --> 00:09:29,719
and making money off that, too.

233
00:09:29,743 --> 00:09:32,797
I built these little pincushions
when I was 11 years old in Cubs.

234
00:09:32,821 --> 00:09:35,417
We made these pincushions
for our moms for Mother's Day

235
00:09:35,441 --> 00:09:37,097
out of wooden clothespins --

236
00:09:37,121 --> 00:09:39,615
when we used to hang clothes
on clotheslines outside.

237
00:09:39,639 --> 00:09:41,005
And you'd make these chairs.

238
00:09:41,029 --> 00:09:43,427
And I had these little pillows
that I would sew up.

239
00:09:43,451 --> 00:09:45,049
And you could stuff pins in them.

240
00:09:45,073 --> 00:09:47,952
Because people used to sew
and they needed a pincushion.

241
00:09:49,057 --> 00:09:51,154
But I realized you had to have options,

242
00:09:51,178 --> 00:09:53,398
so I spray-painted
a whole bunch of them brown,

243
00:09:53,422 --> 00:09:56,426
so when I went to the door,
it wasn't, "Do you want to buy one?"

244
00:09:56,450 --> 00:09:58,226
It was, "Which color would you like?"

245
00:09:58,250 --> 00:10:00,358
I'm 10 years old;
you're not going to say no,

246
00:10:00,382 --> 00:10:03,563
especially if you have two options,
the brown one or the clear one.

247
00:10:03,587 --> 00:10:05,512
So I learned that lesson at a young age.

248
00:10:05,536 --> 00:10:07,894
I learned that manual labor really sucks.

249
00:10:07,918 --> 00:10:10,199
Right, like cutting lawns is brutal.

250
00:10:10,931 --> 00:10:14,045
But because I had to cut lawns
all summer for all of our neighbors

251
00:10:14,069 --> 00:10:15,252
and get paid to do that,

252
00:10:15,276 --> 00:10:18,746
I realized that recurring revenue
from one client is amazing,

253
00:10:18,770 --> 00:10:21,166
that if I land this client once,

254
00:10:21,190 --> 00:10:23,313
and every week I get paid by that person,

255
00:10:23,337 --> 00:10:27,651
that's way better than trying to sell
one clothespin thing to one person,

256
00:10:27,675 --> 00:10:29,296
because you can't sell them more.

257
00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:32,789
So I love that recurring revenue model
I started to learn at a young age.

258
00:10:32,813 --> 00:10:36,273
Remember, I was being groomed to do this.
I was not allowed to have jobs.

259
00:10:36,297 --> 00:10:38,715
I would go to the golf course
and caddy for people,

260
00:10:38,739 --> 00:10:42,229
but I realized there was this one hill
on our golf course, the 13th hole,

261
00:10:42,253 --> 00:10:43,427
that had this huge hill,

262
00:10:43,451 --> 00:10:45,524
and people could never
get their bags up it.

263
00:10:45,548 --> 00:10:48,437
So I'd sit there in a lawn chair
and carry for all the people

264
00:10:48,461 --> 00:10:49,637
who didn't have caddies.

265
00:10:49,661 --> 00:10:52,532
I'd carry their golf bags to the top;
they'd pay me a dollar,

266
00:10:52,556 --> 00:10:55,517
while my friends worked for hours
hauling some guy's bag around

267
00:10:55,541 --> 00:10:56,699
for 10 bucks.

268
00:10:56,723 --> 00:10:59,444
I'm like, "That's stupid.
You have to work for five hours.

269
00:10:59,468 --> 00:11:02,669
That doesn't make sense. Figure out
a way to make more money faster.

270
00:11:02,693 --> 00:11:05,604
Every week, I'd go to the corner store
and buy all these pops,

271
00:11:05,628 --> 00:11:08,651
Then I'd deliver them
to these 70-year-old women playing bridge.

272
00:11:08,675 --> 00:11:11,119
They'd give me their orders
for the following week.

273
00:11:11,143 --> 00:11:12,777
I'd deliver pop and charge twice.

274
00:11:12,801 --> 00:11:14,110
I had this captured market.

275
00:11:14,134 --> 00:11:17,794
You didn't need contracts, you just needed
to have a supply and demand

276
00:11:17,818 --> 00:11:19,651
and this audience who bought into you.

277
00:11:19,675 --> 00:11:21,871
These women weren't going
to go to anybody else

278
00:11:21,895 --> 00:11:24,373
because they liked me,
and I kind of figured it out.

279
00:11:24,397 --> 00:11:26,515
I went and got golf balls
from golf courses.

280
00:11:26,539 --> 00:11:28,651
But everybody else was looking in the bush

281
00:11:28,675 --> 00:11:30,727
and looking in the ditches for golf balls.

282
00:11:30,751 --> 00:11:34,458
I'm like, screw that. They're in the pond.
And nobody's going into the pond.

283
00:11:34,482 --> 00:11:37,870
So I'd go into the ponds and crawl
around and pick them up with my toes,

284
00:11:37,894 --> 00:11:39,487
just pick them up with both feet.

285
00:11:39,511 --> 00:11:41,321
You can't do it onstage.

286
00:11:41,345 --> 00:11:44,274
You get the golf balls,
throw them in your bathing suit trunks

287
00:11:44,298 --> 00:11:47,037
and when you're done, you've got
a couple hundred of them.

288
00:11:47,061 --> 00:11:49,818
But the problem is, people
didn't want all the golf balls.

289
00:11:49,842 --> 00:11:51,938
So I just packaged them.
I'm like 12, right?

290
00:11:51,962 --> 00:11:53,399
I packaged them up three ways.

291
00:11:53,423 --> 00:11:55,822
I had the Pinnacles, DDHs
and the really cool ones.

292
00:11:55,846 --> 00:11:57,377
Those sold for two dollars each.

293
00:11:57,401 --> 00:12:00,447
Then I had the good ones
that didn't look crappy: 50 cents each.

294
00:12:00,471 --> 00:12:03,049
And then I'd sell 50 at a time
of all the crappy ones.

295
00:12:03,073 --> 00:12:05,325
And they could use those
for practice balls.

296
00:12:05,349 --> 00:12:07,435
I sold sunglasses when I was in school,

297
00:12:08,227 --> 00:12:09,824
to all the kids in high school.

298
00:12:09,848 --> 00:12:12,435
This is what really kind of gets
everybody hating you,

299
00:12:12,459 --> 00:12:15,957
because you're trying to extract money
from all your friends all the time.

300
00:12:15,981 --> 00:12:17,163
But it paid the bills.

301
00:12:17,187 --> 00:12:19,056
So I sold lots and lots of sunglasses.

302
00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:20,834
Then when the school shut me down --

303
00:12:20,858 --> 00:12:23,787
they called me into the office
and told me I couldn't do it --

304
00:12:23,811 --> 00:12:27,362
I went to the gas stations and sold
lots of them to the gas stations

305
00:12:27,386 --> 00:12:29,933
and had the gas stations
sell them to their customers.

306
00:12:29,957 --> 00:12:32,321
That was cool because then,
I had retail outlets.

307
00:12:32,345 --> 00:12:33,496
I think I was 14.

308
00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:36,776
Then I paid my entire way through
first year of university at Carlton

309
00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:38,432
by selling wineskins door to door.

310
00:12:38,456 --> 00:12:40,616
You know you can hold
a 40-ounce bottle of rum

311
00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:42,473
and two bottles of coke in a wineskin?

312
00:12:42,497 --> 00:12:44,131
So what, right? But you know what?

313
00:12:44,155 --> 00:12:46,921
Stuff that down your shorts
when you go to a football game,

314
00:12:46,945 --> 00:12:48,383
you can get booze in for free.

315
00:12:48,407 --> 00:12:49,607
Everybody bought them.

316
00:12:49,631 --> 00:12:51,927
Supply, demand, big opportunity.

317
00:12:51,951 --> 00:12:55,052
I also branded it, so I sold them
for five times the normal cost.

318
00:12:55,076 --> 00:12:56,651
It had our university logo on it.

319
00:12:56,675 --> 00:12:59,044
You know, we teach our kids
and we buy them games,

320
00:12:59,068 --> 00:13:02,165
but why don't we get them games,
if they're entrepreneurial kids,

321
00:13:02,189 --> 00:13:04,676
that nurture the traits
you need to be entrepreneurs?

322
00:13:04,700 --> 00:13:06,990
Why don't you teach them
not to waste money?

323
00:13:07,014 --> 00:13:09,926
I remember being told to walk
out into the middle of a street

324
00:13:09,950 --> 00:13:11,120
in Banff, Alberta.

325
00:13:11,144 --> 00:13:12,954
I'd thrown a penny out in the street,

326
00:13:12,978 --> 00:13:14,511
and my dad said, "Go pick it up.

327
00:13:14,535 --> 00:13:18,147
I work too damn hard for my money.
I'm not going to see you waste a penny."

328
00:13:18,171 --> 00:13:19,855
I remember that lesson to this day.

329
00:13:19,879 --> 00:13:21,773
Allowances teach kids the wrong habits.

330
00:13:21,797 --> 00:13:25,368
Allowances, by nature,
are teaching kids to think about a job.

331
00:13:25,392 --> 00:13:28,369
An entrepreneur doesn't expect
a regular paycheck.

332
00:13:28,393 --> 00:13:32,074
Allowance is breeding kids at a young age
to expect a regular paycheck.

333
00:13:32,098 --> 00:13:34,787
That's wrong, for me,
if you want to raise entrepreneurs.

334
00:13:34,811 --> 00:13:36,798
What I do with my kids, nine and seven,

335
00:13:36,822 --> 00:13:39,292
is teach them to walk
around the house and the yard,

336
00:13:39,316 --> 00:13:41,293
looking for stuff that needs to get done.

337
00:13:41,317 --> 00:13:42,704
Come and tell me what it is.

338
00:13:42,728 --> 00:13:44,651
Or I'll say, "Here's what I need done."

339
00:13:44,675 --> 00:13:46,773
And then, you know
what we do? We negotiate.

340
00:13:46,797 --> 00:13:48,651
They go around looking for what it is,

341
00:13:48,675 --> 00:13:50,651
then we negotiate what they'll get paid.

342
00:13:50,675 --> 00:13:52,301
They don't have a regular check,

343
00:13:52,325 --> 00:13:54,563
but they have opportunities
to find more stuff,

344
00:13:54,587 --> 00:13:57,651
and learn the skill of negotiating
and of finding opportunities.

345
00:13:57,675 --> 00:13:59,081
You breed that kind of stuff.

346
00:13:59,105 --> 00:14:00,874
Each of my kids has two piggy banks.

347
00:14:00,898 --> 00:14:04,353
Fifty percent of all the money they earn
goes in their house account,

348
00:14:04,377 --> 00:14:06,155
50 percent goes in their toy account.

349
00:14:06,179 --> 00:14:08,550
The toy account,
they spend on whatever they want.

350
00:14:08,574 --> 00:14:12,082
The 50 percent in their house account,
every six months, goes to the bank.

351
00:14:12,106 --> 00:14:13,257
they walk up with me.

352
00:14:13,281 --> 00:14:16,079
Every year, all the money
in the bank goes to their broker.

353
00:14:16,103 --> 00:14:19,071
Both my nine- and seven-year-olds
have a stockbroker already.

354
00:14:19,095 --> 00:14:21,295
I'm teaching them
to force that savings habit.

355
00:14:21,319 --> 00:14:23,606
It drives me crazy
that 30-year-olds are saying,

356
00:14:23,630 --> 00:14:25,822
"Maybe I'll start contributing
to my RSP now."

357
00:14:25,846 --> 00:14:27,577
Shit, you've missed 25 years.

358
00:14:27,601 --> 00:14:29,566
You can teach those habits to young kids,

359
00:14:29,590 --> 00:14:31,464
when they don't even feel the pain yet.

360
00:14:31,488 --> 00:14:35,650
Don't read bedtime stories every night --
maybe four nights of the week,

361
00:14:35,674 --> 00:14:37,953
and three nights, have them tell stories.

362
00:14:37,977 --> 00:14:40,737
Why don't you sit down with kids
and give them four items,

363
00:14:40,761 --> 00:14:43,651
a red shirt, a blue tie,
a kangaroo and a laptop,

364
00:14:43,675 --> 00:14:46,104
and have them tell a story
about those four things?

365
00:14:46,128 --> 00:14:47,526
My kids do that all the time.

366
00:14:47,550 --> 00:14:49,867
It teaches them to sell,
teaches them creativity,

367
00:14:49,891 --> 00:14:51,706
teaches them to think on their feet.

368
00:14:51,730 --> 00:14:53,651
Do that kind of stuff, have fun with it.

369
00:14:53,675 --> 00:14:55,993
Get kids to stand up
in front of groups and talk,

370
00:14:56,017 --> 00:14:58,092
even if it's just
in front of their friends,

371
00:14:58,116 --> 00:14:59,598
and do plays and have speeches.

372
00:14:59,622 --> 00:15:02,367
Those are entrepreneurial traits
you want to be nurturing.

373
00:15:02,391 --> 00:15:05,039
Show kids what bad customers
or bad employees look like.

374
00:15:05,063 --> 00:15:06,397
Show them grumpy employees.

375
00:15:06,421 --> 00:15:08,901
When you see grumpy
customer service, point it out.

376
00:15:08,925 --> 00:15:11,247
Say, "By the way,
that guy is a crappy employee."

377
00:15:11,271 --> 00:15:12,831
And say, "These are good ones."

378
00:15:12,855 --> 00:15:14,888
(Laughter)

379
00:15:14,912 --> 00:15:17,646
If you go into a restaurant
and have bad customer service,

380
00:15:17,670 --> 00:15:19,910
show them what bad
customer service looks like.

381
00:15:19,934 --> 00:15:21,826
(Laughter)

382
00:15:21,850 --> 00:15:23,826
We have all these lessons in front of us,

383
00:15:23,850 --> 00:15:27,086
but we don't take those opportunities;
we teach kids to get a tutor.

384
00:15:27,110 --> 00:15:30,484
Imagine if you actually took
all the kids' junk in the house right now,

385
00:15:30,508 --> 00:15:32,390
all the toys they outgrew two years ago

386
00:15:32,414 --> 00:15:35,635
and said, "Why don't we sell
some of this on Craigslist and Kijiji?"

387
00:15:35,659 --> 00:15:39,350
And they actually sell it and learn
how to find scammers when offers come in.

388
00:15:39,374 --> 00:15:42,258
They can come into your account
or a sub account or whatever.

389
00:15:42,282 --> 00:15:44,767
But teach them how to fix
the price, guess the price,

390
00:15:44,791 --> 00:15:46,651
pull up the photos.

391
00:15:46,675 --> 00:15:49,331
Teach them how to do
that kind of stuff and make money.

392
00:15:49,355 --> 00:15:51,420
Then 50 percent
goes in their house account,

393
00:15:51,444 --> 00:15:53,002
50 percent in their toy account.

394
00:15:53,026 --> 00:15:54,234
My kids love this stuff.

395
00:15:54,258 --> 00:15:57,324
Some of the entrepreneurial traits
you've got to nurture in kids:

396
00:15:57,348 --> 00:16:00,794
attainment, tenacity, leadership,
introspection, interdependence, values.

397
00:16:00,818 --> 00:16:04,415
All these traits, you can find in young
kids, and you can help nurture them.

398
00:16:04,439 --> 00:16:05,779
Look for that kind of stuff.

399
00:16:05,803 --> 00:16:08,193
There's two traits I want you
to also look out for

400
00:16:08,217 --> 00:16:10,408
that we don't get out of their system.

401
00:16:10,432 --> 00:16:12,814
Don't medicate kids
for attention deficit disorder

402
00:16:12,838 --> 00:16:14,815
unless it is really, really freaking bad.

403
00:16:14,839 --> 00:16:16,411
(Applause)

404
00:16:16,435 --> 00:16:19,553
The same with the whole things
on mania and stress and depression,

405
00:16:19,577 --> 00:16:21,554
unless it is so clinically brutal, man.

406
00:16:21,578 --> 00:16:24,037
Bipolar disorder is nicknamed
"the CEO disease."

407
00:16:24,061 --> 00:16:28,611
When Steve Jurvetson, Jim Clark
and Jim Barksdale have all got it,

408
00:16:28,635 --> 00:16:30,051
and they built Netscape --

409
00:16:30,075 --> 00:16:31,785
imagine if they were given Ritalin.

410
00:16:31,809 --> 00:16:33,651
We wouldn't have that stuff, right?

411
00:16:33,675 --> 00:16:36,428
Al Gore really would have had
to invented the Internet.

412
00:16:36,452 --> 00:16:38,190
(Laughter)

413
00:16:38,214 --> 00:16:41,129
These are the skills
we should be teaching in the classroom,

414
00:16:41,153 --> 00:16:42,448
as well as everything else.

415
00:16:42,472 --> 00:16:44,968
I'm not saying don't get kids
to want to be lawyers.

416
00:16:44,992 --> 00:16:48,145
But how about getting entrepreneurship
to be ranked right up there

417
00:16:48,169 --> 00:16:49,321
with the rest of them?

418
00:16:49,345 --> 00:16:51,375
Because there's huge
opportunities in that.

419
00:16:51,399 --> 00:16:53,106
I want to close with a quick video

420
00:16:53,130 --> 00:16:55,361
that was done by one
of the companies I mentor.

421
00:16:55,385 --> 00:16:56,879
These guys, Grasshopper.

422
00:16:56,903 --> 00:16:58,068
It's about kids.

423
00:16:58,092 --> 00:16:59,458
It's about entrepreneurship.

424
00:16:59,482 --> 00:17:02,407
Hopefully, this inspires you
to take what you've heard from me

425
00:17:02,431 --> 00:17:04,592
and do something with it
to change the world.

426
00:17:04,904 --> 00:17:07,198
[Kid... "And you thought
you could do anything?"]

427
00:17:07,222 --> 00:17:09,199
[You still can.]

428
00:17:09,223 --> 00:17:12,056
[Because a lot of what
we consider impossible]

429
00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:14,651
[is easy to overcome]

430
00:17:14,675 --> 00:17:17,675
[Because in case you haven't
noticed, we live in a place where]

431
00:17:17,699 --> 00:17:20,437
[one individual can make a difference]

432
00:17:20,461 --> 00:17:21,660
[Want proof?]

433
00:17:21,684 --> 00:17:23,971
[Just look at the people
who built our country:]

434
00:17:23,995 --> 00:17:26,188
[Our parents, grandparents,
our aunts, uncles]

435
00:17:26,212 --> 00:17:28,982
[They were immigrants, newcomers
ready to make their mark]

436
00:17:29,006 --> 00:17:31,651
[Maybe they came with very little]

437
00:17:31,675 --> 00:17:33,935
[or perhaps they didn't own
anything except for]

438
00:17:33,959 --> 00:17:36,825
[a single brilliant idea]

439
00:17:36,849 --> 00:17:39,097
[These people were thinkers, doers]

440
00:17:40,508 --> 00:17:41,984
[innovators]

441
00:17:42,389 --> 00:17:44,338
[until they came up with the name]

442
00:17:46,149 --> 00:17:49,140
[entrepreneurs]

443
00:17:49,164 --> 00:17:51,718
[They change the way we think
about what is possible.]

444
00:17:51,742 --> 00:17:54,289
[They have a clear vision
of how life can be better]

445
00:17:54,313 --> 00:17:56,508
[for all of us, even when
times are tough.]

446
00:17:56,532 --> 00:17:57,964
[Right now, it's hard to see]

447
00:17:57,988 --> 00:18:00,719
[when our view is cluttered
with obstacles.]

448
00:18:00,743 --> 00:18:04,989
[But turbulence creates opportunities]

449
00:18:05,013 --> 00:18:08,290
[for success, achievement, and pushes us]

450
00:18:08,659 --> 00:18:10,555
[to discover new ways of doing things]

451
00:18:10,966 --> 00:18:13,703
[So what opportunities
will you go after and why?]

452
00:18:13,727 --> 00:18:16,150
[If you're an entrepreneur]

453
00:18:16,174 --> 00:18:19,056
[you know that risk isn't the reward.]

454
00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:21,176
[No. The rewards are driving innovation]

455
00:18:21,948 --> 00:18:23,965
[changing people's lives. Creating jobs.]

456
00:18:24,349 --> 00:18:26,507
[Fueling growth.]

457
00:18:26,531 --> 00:18:29,651
[And making a better world.]

458
00:18:29,675 --> 00:18:31,180
[Entrepreneurs are everywhere.]

459
00:18:31,204 --> 00:18:33,737
[They run small businesses
that support our economy,]

460
00:18:33,761 --> 00:18:35,003
[design tools to help you]

461
00:18:35,027 --> 00:18:37,465
[stay connected with friends,
family and colleagues]

462
00:18:37,489 --> 00:18:41,125
[And they're finding new ways of helping
to solve society's oldest problems.]

463
00:18:41,149 --> 00:18:42,584
[Do you know an entrepreneur?]

464
00:18:42,608 --> 00:18:44,659
[Entrepreneurs can be anyone
Even... you]

465
00:18:44,683 --> 00:18:47,732
[So seize the opportunity to create
the job you always wanted]

466
00:18:47,756 --> 00:18:49,320
[Help heal the economy]

467
00:18:49,344 --> 00:18:50,496
[Make a difference.]

468
00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:52,240
[Take your business to new heights,]

469
00:18:53,603 --> 00:18:54,872
[but most importantly,]

470
00:18:54,896 --> 00:18:57,476
[remember when you were a kid]

471
00:18:58,516 --> 00:19:01,524
[when everything was within your reach,]

472
00:19:01,548 --> 00:19:05,548
[and then say to yourself
quietly, but with determination:]

473
00:19:07,595 --> 00:19:09,341
[it still is.]

474
00:19:12,150 --> 00:19:13,802
Thank you very much for having me.

475
00:19:13,826 --> 00:19:15,706
(Applause)