A dose of inspiration from the younger generation with Melissa Roberts
Say Hello to`Melissa Roberts, our youngest ever guest to date. At the age of just 21 Melissa has a fire in her belly that betrays her youth, she is just so bloody sorted and is such an inspiration to us and other people that are more than twice her age (we know!!!), as well as anyone else who firmly believes they want to follow their own path because she has had the guts to do just that and it is seriously paying off for her! At school Mel didn't really know what she wanted to do and didn't really enjoy any other subjects other than business but nevertheless for the last time in her life she bowed to outside pressures and went to college to study A Levels, and then she didn't. She gave up part way through year one and decided to go to Kirklees College to study a BTEC in Business which some might be under the misconception that this is a bit of a cop out and that a BTEC doesn't have as much value as A levels! Well they would be wrong then wouldn't they? We believe that people should take their own path in life, how many guests have we had on who are doing or have done, what they feel they should do and not what they actually want to do? Plenty, so it is particularly refreshing to meet Mel who absolutely has set off on her own path and that path, so far, seems to be leading to great places. While she studied her BTEC she also worked two and a half days a week at a local marketing agency and this stood her in good stead when it came to starting her full time career as she had a head start on her peers. But she didn't just settle for employment, of course she didn't. Growing up surrounded by entrepeneurs inspired her to start her own business with a friend at just 18 years old and she has not looked back. Beanie Media offers web design and development as well as social media advertising to family owned manufacturing businesses and they do it well! This is where Melissa's youth is firmly on her side, you may say she has an unfair advantage (read the book), because she is bang up to date with the latest technologies and because she has a genuine geek streak when it comes to all things tech and digital media she is constantly learning and guess what? She then passes this knowledge on to her clients to ensure they get amazing results! Melissa also prides herself on solving real life problems through technology and this has led her to her latest venture Kidcrowd which is a platform that gives parents of partygoers an alternative to buying a token gift (tat) that ends up hanging around the home, not getting much use and ultimately goes to landfill. We have all had that 'that'll do' moment when buying a gift for our kids to take to a party right? Well no more! Kidcrowd is on a mission to reduce gifting wastage, and let children use their own savings to buy the gift they really want. So as a family friend, grandparent or partygoer we can use the money we would have spent on said token gift and pledge it to the birthday boy or girls crowd fund, so they get to put the money together and buy something they really want. How good is that? If you agree take a look at the website here https://kidcrowd.co.uk/ We wish Melissa all the best in her career and business, she really does deserve it and we really hope her story inspires other young people to follow their own path and get on the exciting rollercoaster that is self employment. There is no need to wait until you are in your 40's like we did, although that is fine too - obvs! To connect with Melissa get onto LinkedIn which is her favourite social media platform for business and connect with her here https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-wojarski-roberts/ And to find out more just give this episode a listen!