Timeforablog

The Kiss of Death: Young and Different

When I look into the mirror, I have trouble believing the face that stares back at me.  Usually a comment like this is followed by the author discussing how they are young at heart, but old in age.  However, the young (and handsome!) face that stares back at me, seems to hide the experience it has witnessed.

In the past six years I went from a small town college student, to a United States Marine, to a Marine infantryman, to a combat veteran, to a young professional, to an interim manager at a Fortune 500 company, to a trainer of foreign troops in Africa and South America, to a two time Iraqi veteran.  Now I am an entrepreneur.

Just looking at the list makes me tired.  When I told my story to a helpful friend at the Small Business Administration, she exclaimed that I have already lived a full life.  And indeed, with so much packed into so few years, it begins to feel like the past six years has given me experiences that few will have in their entire life.  Yet, here I sit, young face staring back at me.

Don’t get me wrong, I realize this is not a problem that too many will elicit much sympathy.  I am quite glad that my physical appearance has not matched the age of my experience.  The only reason I notice my youth at all is due to the mirror that that forces me to see my youth.  However, this is not the mirror that sits in my bathroom; this is the mirror of those I compete against.

As I mentioned before, the path I followed has led me to become an entrepreneur.  At the ripe old age of 25, I decided that I should become an advisor to other businesses.  I never saw a reason why I should not.  I saw that no marketing or advertising firms were adequately addressing how new media changed the fundamentals of communicating with consumers.  I knew I could do better.  I never thought twice about it until that mirror entered my life.

When someone plans a meeting with a consultant, he or she expects a certain amount of grey hair to prove experience.  When a young looking man, dressed like some sort of cross between a punk rocker and a businessman, walks through the door, a guard goes up.  Old men advise companies, not young Rebels.  And this was the mirror that I faced. 

This barrier to entry, silly little things like age and dress, were preventing me from implementing the changes that I knew businesses need.  Instead of potential clients listening to how I could help their business, they were busy trying to figure out how to get me out the door.  There are times I was convinced that if I offered a cure to cancer I would be just as equally ignored.

Now, I realize that there are certain things I could do to make my plight easier.  My mother constantly begs me to try to look a little more professional.  But, as I point out to her, the name of the company is “Rebel,” not “Nice Boys that Dress Well.”  I’m sure this seems like hardheaded stubbornness, but I believe that I have fought for enough in my life and I should not have to change my appearance to get a fair shot.  This may seem like a crazy concept, but I want to be judged on what I have to say, not on what I wear.  And even if I did change the clothes, the age would still be there.

All that said, it has not been completely bad.  Those that have been able to suspend judgment on my age and appearance, long enough to listen to me, have generally been very welcoming to my concepts.  What they have found is that my difference is more than skin deep.  I think differently too and that difference in thought is what allows me to help their companies.  It is what allows me to increase their reach sixteen times over.  It is what allows me to increase leads for their company by over one hundred percent.  It is what allows me to spark conversation that turns a message into action.

Slowly, one by one, I have been able to sway old school thinkers to new school ideology.  This is my fight.  Like most fights that I have experienced in life, the battle does not make me angry.  Instead, I am left feeling sorry for those that work so hard to resist new ideas.  The way that consumers make purchase decisions has quickly shifted.  Those that are left trying to continue down the same path are all but doomed.  So here I sit, young and different, once again staring death in the face.

TAGS: advertising, consultant, entrepreneur, marketing, young, youth

This entry was posted on Monday, May 4th, 2009 at 8:51 am and is filed under Observations, Opinion, Rebel News.

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