2-Days In The Life Of A Student CEO

Today I wanted to do something a little bit different. I want to give you an insight into, "2-days in the life of student business owner"- Zane Powell.

Tuesday, 21st of March

I woke up this morning at 7 A.M. - unfortunately! To add to my pain it was freezing, but I live in Scotland so I shouldn't complain, right?

Today is Tuesday the 21st of March. I have a digital marketing workshop with Google which is being held in Glasgow. But before I embark on the 90-minute drive, firstly, I need to rehearse and polish my 18-minute business and selling presentation for an event taking place at the Citizen M hotel tomorrow night.

Young Enterprise Scotland and Bridge2Business (organisations doing great things to get young people in Scotland more entrepreneurial and to increase the can-do attitude) have invited me to talk to young people and tell them about my business journey so far with a focus on selling - how we secured investment, how we sell to our customer segments and how to sell yourself.

I am really looking forward to telling my story and hopefully inspiring other young people to believe in themselves and their ideas. Sadly, education conditions us to be fearful of failing or making mistakes, and this has a terrible knock-on effect in regards to putting people off chasing their dreams. Thankfully, there is some great work being done in Scotland to change the mindsets of young people.

Now, for the long drive to Glasgow.

Update on the Google digital workshop

The digital workshop by Google was brilliant. To be honest, I wasn't expecting to learn as much as I did, but it goes to show you should always approach things with an open-mind.

Firstly, the speaker was great! He combined his own personal experience with wit and humor - a fantastic way to add a personal touch to a business workshop. The workshop's main focus was about SEO optimisation, analytics and brand storytelling.

The Key things I learned from today:

1)  The power of analytics in helping you create content for your brand

2)  Using keywords to optimise your content

3)  The importance of going mobile (The reason my business is in App form too)

Today has really reminded me that every new experience really does add to your knowledge-base. As Humans and social learners, we should welcome every opportunity with open hands and make the most of it.

Back to the presentation

It is 6 P.M. now. I have just started to finish off my presentation for tomorrow's talk. I am using a mixture of TedTalks and the Talk like Ted book to prepare, with the aim of telling an interesting story.

A quick look at my structure:

Introduction

Who am I?

What is UniJobApp?

My first taste of selling - trying for investment.

How do you actually pitch?

Selling to young people (students)

Selling to businesses (The scary stuff)

Selling yourself

Key books/videos/role-models to get you on your way

I want my talk to be a story, but a story that informs my peers about the specific skills or the places to go to learn these skills. As a young person it frustrates me when I hear a great story but I cannot connect the dots between my position of myself and the storyteller.

Anyway, back to this talk.

Pre-talk haircut -8.30 P.M.

Okay, so my mum is a hairdresser and I have charmed her into giving me a last minute haircut for tomorrow's presentation - Fix-up, Look Sharp!

Mastery: by Robert Greene - 9.30 P.M.

After practicing my talk all night I decided to relax by reading my new book. This book is fantastic and for those that do not know Robert Greene, well, he is a genius.

This book is all about finding your inner niche, the niche that nature intended for you to find - then mastering it. Greene analyses some of the greatest masters to ever walk the planet - Benjamin Franklin, Einstein, Henry Ford and more. Through their trials and tribulations, he guides the reader towards their own mastery.

Highly recommend this!

Wednesday, 22 March - 7.45 A.M.

Once again I am up - today I have an energy buzzing about me, there is no tiredness in sight!

I jump out of bed and dive straight into my presentation - I manage to get through it all, almost without looking at my prompts. It took me 18:30 minutes; Slightly over but these events are flexible.

Okay, I better keep practicing, it was maybe a fluke! Ha Ha.

Wrong tutorial class - no way! 12 P.M.

Learn from your mistakes - it will save you petrol money!

I drove to Dundee to find out I was 1-day early for my tutorial. Surely, they would have to give me an A for commitment!

Time to drive to Glasgow.

Citizen M hotel - 3 P.M.

Yes, that is me in the reflection taking the photo!

I arrived here 3 hours early to meet Christina from Bridge2Business/Young Entrepreneur Scotland.

Unfortunately for her, she had to sit and listen to my talk - over, and over, and over again! Sorry Christina.

I also want to say how great the bar staff at the Citizen M are - Grant Montgomery. The place has such a cool vibe about it!

Ready to Rock'n'Roll - 6.30 P.M.

This was a great event!

The first speaker was a Business student and Toastmaster veteran, Victoria Nakamatte. Victoria was sharing her experience of the importance of communication and why everyone should learn the art of speaking. I was super impressed by her body language and I took quite a few tips down for myself!

Up next was the uber-cool fashion brand Nu Blvck. The whole concept of their company is fascinating. They work with up and coming fashion designers and artisans to create wholly unique women's accessories, with a twist - they operate a transparent process from the idea generation to the moment it lands on your doorstep. They send videos, pictures, and emails to let you see the creation and manufacture of your accessory. I personally love this - sadly I do not think I would suit a women's handbag (sad face)

Then it was my turn - oh no!

As I faced the anticipating audience, suddenly the realisation of speaking to 50 people hit home! Who am I kidding, I was loving it! The dim lighting created a funky, chic atmosphere.

I did tell the audience that I hoped they had drunk a lot of wine tonight to prepare them for my talk! - they laughed, good start!

I began with an introduction about myself then moved on to tell them about my app. Naturally, I asked the audience how many of them knew what tinder was? Reluctantly, hands went up, then down, then back up again - again they laughed!

After they knew who Zane Powell actually was, I dived into the topic of selling and storytelling! Firstly, talking about how we got investment, then how to pitch to those scary men in suits! Moving on, I tackled the topic of selling your idea to millennials - I convinced the audience that young people do more than just drink, well some of them anyway! I spoke about the importance of being transparent and letting them peer into your life and story - this is how to create a true brand.

To finish off, it was time to tell them about the importance of selling yourself as an individual.

We are all wholly unique with truly different experiences. Sadly, people forget this and they struggle to communicate their story to others. I advised the crowd to analyse their life and experience and pick out the best parts: jobs, holidays, adventures or hobbies. Commit these experiences to memory, put them into a short 1 or 2-minute elevator pitch - this is your portable CV you can take with you everywhere you go!

My story finished with a round of applause and a few questions - what a great experience!

Next in line was Kev from Entrepreneurial Spark (My business adviser). Kev is a natural speaker, a great mentor, and has advised some of Scotland's most exciting start-ups! The main theme of Kev's talk was about the structure of your pitch and gave some great example from contestants on the BBC's Dragons Den.

All in all, it was a fantastic evening and I evening found time to do some selling by signing up students in the audience and speaking with Nu Blvck about using our platform.

The speaker from last night

Train back to my girlfriends - 10 P.M.

Well, this is where my blog entry stops guys - I have arrived back in the South of Glasgow.

Time for bed.

Bouna notte!