Episode 56 - Experience is the Best Teacher with Jordan Agolli

Jordan Agolli is a young, but highly experienced entrepreneur who is also the host of the Teenage Entrepreneur. He started his first business when he was 14-years-old, and grew the company to 20 employees by the time he was 18-years-old. In 2014, he founded Teenage Entrepreneur, which is a platform focused on educating and inspiring the younger generation to pursue entrepreneurship. The show has listeners in 65 countries. In 2015, he was hired as the director of operations for a company that helps business owners market their business through the Internet. Jordan's primary focus and passion is fixing operational breakdowns, building and maintaining relationships with clients, and managing day-to-day operations. On top of this, he is also the president of his bowling league, has a first degree black belt in a Japanese martial art. Jordan has his hands in a lot of projects, as do many Creative Giants. Charlie is excited to have him share his journey with us! Key Takeaways:[02:24] Jordan shares his story on starting his own business when he was only 14-years-old.[05:11] Growing a company by using a hyper-local directory and cheap marketing.[09:27] A marketing strategy that leveraged being young and ambitious ‘high schoolers’[11:01] College didn’t work for Jordan, so he worked full-time in his own business.[13:08] What was it about college that he didn't like, wasn't for him.[13:47] Jordan never wanted college to work for him.[15:17] Institutions box you into a system & that was his issue with school from the get go.[18:08] There’s a false perception that overestimates high schoolers’ understanding of the ‘online world’.[18:17] Fizzle was the first resource to teach Jordan about the online business world.[19:46] The Internet and social media can be leveraged to market and grow your business.[21:16] How Teenage Entrepreneur was born[22:32] Discovering podcasting and the online community is what brought him to where he is today[23:58] How he got involved in managing operations and talking to sought-after CEOs[29:28] It’s better to focus on one thing than to spread yourself thin[30:33] Three major lessons Jordan has learned[34:03] Putting yourself out there and the value of experience[35:12] In order to grow and take it to the next level, he'll be going back into the entrepreneurial world Mentioned in This Episode:The Aha! connectionYelpAngie’s ListFizleChase ReevesPodcast MovementSnap ChatTweeterInstagramVineJohn DumasChris DuckerChase JarvisDavid FranceBabson entrepreneurship forumGlobal entrepreneurship program, for the United StatesSuzan Scot’s Fierce Conversations This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.productiveflourishing.com/subscribe