For the Young and Hungry

Do you dream of being your own boss? Running a fast-growing company? Becoming a sought-after public speaker and consultant?

How about being CEO before hitting age 30?

Sean Si pulled it off and shares how he did it his book CEO at 22: The Risks, Challenges, Success and Failures of Starting Up Young. He describes himself as a serial entrepreneur who has founded four companies. He established the first, SEO Hacker, while he was only 22 and the other three before he turned 29.

Because of Sean’s prowess in systems, solutions and leadership, he has done consulting work for numerous firms and often changed the way they worked.?He also speaks on entrepreneurship, digital marketing, SEO, youth empowerment, lean start-up, team building, email marketing, and business management and development.

A great way of approaching CEO at 22 is to keep in mind that while the book offers a blueprint for warp-speed success, the real blueprint is Sean Si himself. If you have a self-limiting belief that to be a (scandalously) young CEO, you need to be born to a prestigious family, earn dazzling academic credentials, or cut your teeth in years of corporate service, Sean breaks the stereotype:

·????????Raised in a Chinese middle-class company

·????????Failed 28 units in college

·????????Hooked on a computer game named DOTA

·????????Got a dream job at Hewlett Packard… and resigned five months later

Sean left HP to start SEO Hacker, Inc., which has grown to be the premier SEO services company in the Philippines, catering to both Filipino and international clients. It was not a whimsical or bahala na decision. He tells how he had to work out a business plan and get the blessings of his elders. So if you are having cold feet to leave the comfort zone of a 9-to-5 job, as the millennials would say, Sean can relate.

The author crafts the book the same way he writes his highly searched blogs: conversational, authentic, story-based. While it dispenses explicit principles from time to time, much of the lessons are between the lines. Here are two of my personal reflections which I scribbled on some pages:

·????????Failure is not the opposite of success; it is part of success.

·????????Your job as a leader is not to be liked. Your job is to lead.

There is no sugar-coating in this book.?Sean readily admits to his hiring boo-boos in the early, heady days of SEO Hacker. Among them, he hired people who then didn’t even show up at work. (And you thought you had recruitment problems!)

Another refreshing candor is how he went through harrowing periods when clients did not renew their contracts and he wondered where to get money for payroll. Check out an “edge of your seat” anecdote on how he was tempted to get a loan, which was against his principles (page 90-91).

One of Sean’s mantra is “Don’t work smart. Work hard.” This may surprise the multitude who believe the popular opposite. But his logic is that since everyone has access to basically the same technology, the arena is no longer knowledge, but grit.

Values is also a prominent topic in the book. Sean generously ascribes them to the Bible, among them honoring your parents and a humble dependence on God’s help. He also writes the show-not-tell version. In Chapter 6, he shares the core values of SEO Hacker and how he turns them into practice.

He adds that if you have established your principles early, you will save 75% of time in making decisions. That’s because you will be filtering opportunities and issues through these non-negotiables and save yourself a lot of second-guessing and hand-wringing.

The book is loaded with practical wisdom and thus serve as a friendly guide to the would-be entrepreneur, no matter what the age:

·????????Why staying put in a secure job is the riskiest thing you can ever do (page 50)

·????????Why you should serve your company first, then your customers (page 68-70)

·????????How Steve Jobs inspired Sean to do “whiteboard management” and ensure focus for the team (page 82-84)

·????????How to network to form business alliances and rich friendships (page 108-111)

·????????How to pursue personal growth (check out how he really learns from a book, page 114)

·????????How to recruit mentors (page 120-122)

·????????How to ensure low turnover rates (page 130, hint: know how to cast a vision)

·????????Why it doesn’t always pay to be on “hero mode” (page 143-144)

·????????Why everyone loves a leader, but why few people love managers (pages 150-151)

·????????Why one must subject himself to an anonymous 360… and have a thick skin (pages 152-154)

·????????How one can successfully manage a remote team (pages 155-160)

We usually visualize a CEO as this wizened dude finally landing on the C-suite after decades of slogging through Corporate. But that does not have to be you. As Sean Si would say, it’s not a matter of age. It’s a matter of guts, discipline, leadership, and most of all, a steadfast faith in God.

You will find CEO at 22 an instructive and inspiring read. It will ignite your dreams and forge your own path… way before you’re wizened.

About the author: Aside from being a serial entrepreneur, Sean Si is an angel investor, podcast host (Leadership Stack), and business consultant. For more about him, check out https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/seansi/

Contact him via Linkedin or his website https://sean.si/

Ordering information:?Buy the book via https://sean.si/book/

About the Reviewer: Nelson T. Dy is an author, speaker and trainer on career, relationship, and spirituality issues. His day job is being an Assistant Vice-President running two factories for a well-known beverage conglomerate. He is among the Top 100 Filipinos to follow on Linkedin in 2021.

Follow him at https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/nelsontdy/ as he continues to share his insights through posts such as the one you just enjoyed.

Full disclosure:?One of Sean Si’s advocacies is to support the websites of faith-based content creators. I am privileged to be one of them. Please check out https://www.nelsontdy.com/