You Never Know Who Is Watching...

A bit of a funny story with a tiny bit of meaning. Indulge me for a moment...

I walk into the barbershop yesterday about 430pm. It's fairly empty. It's just the owner inside with a group of teens: 2 young men (about 17-18) and a young lady of about 13.

I grab one of the complimentary dum-dum lollipops, take a seat, and start looking through some reports on my phone. After a minute or two I hear "excuse me, sir"...

I didn't look up initially, but then she repeats it louder and with more force. I glance up from under the brim of my cap to see what's up.

The boys, who were previously chatting up a storm, have gotten extremely quiet and are whispering to each other, "I think thats him... I don't know..."

"Excuse me sir..." repeats the young lady, who is apparently the ringleader, "... is this you?"

I then realize that I am looking at a picture of myself from the recent Poets & Quants article which has been pulled up on an iPad.

At the moment, I'm dressed in sweats, an athletic tee, and a fitted hat... fairly normal attire for me, but different from what I was wearing in the photo.

I chuckle to myself and pause for a moment

"Yea, I think it's him... I think so..."

"No it's not!"

"You tell me..." I say. An answer our ringleader is entirely unsatisfied with.

She continues to press and I finally admit, "Yeah, that's me."

Wholly unimpressed with my response, she asks me to take off my hat. "Is that really you? ... It doesn't look like you.... That's not you!"

I chuckle... "OK..." *shrug* "You got it..."

"I'm being serious! Is that you? What's your name?"

I produce my driver's license and hand it to her and she proceeds to scrutinize it. She wants to compare it to the article on the iPad, but my barber, who is laughing now, refuses to give it back to her.

My barber asks me to tell them where I went to school and they can barely believe I went to Princeton & UPenn.

At this point the boys are sold, but not so for the young lady. She continues her investigation via Google.

"God don't love liars!" she informs my barber.

With his prompting, I then talk with the kids for a few minutes about the importance of school and reading and learning and how those things correlate to success... and how they are capable of anything if they are willing to believe in themselves and work hard for it over time.

They are silent with respect in their eyes, but also looking at me like I'm a unicorn... They seem to be taking in the message though.

One of the boys points out the front window at my vehicle and says.

"You can tell it's him... You know he got it."

I explain how a car is a terrible way to judge, and how the car is leased and a business expense, and how I waited many years and how I've met many millionaires and even billionaires who are not flashy... and the importance of living below your means.

They seem to receive that as well... to an extent. Teenagers...

At this point the haircut is done and their Lyft pulls up.

The young lady hands me my ID back with a glare, still unconvinced of my identity, and they walk out.

I sit down in the chair and my barber thanks me for talking with them.

He then explains to me that the boys have each had a few recent brushes with the law, but that they are good kids who have fallen in with the wrong crowd.

I put 2 and 2 together and now see how & why my picture and article magically appeared on that iPad.

We talk about the kids for awhile and about being a teenager and I think about how young and innocent their faces looked and how they lit up when I was talking to them. These are just kids...

Before I walk out, I tell him to let me know any time there are any more kids he needs me to speak with.

I realize that one interaction is just one interaction against the hundreds of other things going on, but I hope it at least got them to consider valuing themselves and believing in themselves a little more.

Even as terrible things unfold before our eyes, we still get those small opportunities to make a difference, and those are things we can definitely control.

Grateful for the opportunity.

You never quite know who is watching you.

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Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York to a proud Nigerian family, Muoyo Okome has started, grown, and sold app businesses achieving 11M+ downloads across 100+ countries worldwide.

Through the Daily Spark Podcast, the Daily Spark Entrepreneur Community, and App Breakthrough Virtual Mentoring, all founded in 2016, he reaches a growing audience of over 85,000 entrepreneurs & aspiring entrepreneurs each day, empowering them through education, inspiration & connection.