6 Things We Wish We Knew as Teen Writers & Entrepreneurs

Raised in the Vermont mountains by two creative entrepreneur parents, Abbie and I started developing ideas for starting our own businesses at a very young age. You CAN publish as a teen or young adult author and start your writing career - it absolutely can be done. We did it, we learned from a lot of trial and error, and in this episode we want to share some of that indie author entrepreneur wisdom with you! So get excited, and let's break this topic down!

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[joehebert]

"When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life."

~ John Lennon

[kit]

00:01 Intro
02:20 1. You don't have to be a child prodigy, accomplish something huge in your teens
05:35 2. Every step you take is important
08:30 3. You don't have to know what you're doing
12:10 4. Try lots of things, choose a few
16:35 5. It’s okay to let yourself go through seasons of life
20:30 6. Be confident

[authorlikehim]

thank you for thinking of your younger audience 💛

[pampuckett]

I am 54 years old and this is beneficial for me as well. Thank you.

[Bella-tyxe]

I'm thirteen at the moment, and yeah, I definitely want to publish young! But I keep telling myself that I don't need to publish right away. I should take this time when I'm still young to take the time to grow in my writing and get more experience. I try my best not to think about my future in my writing too much. Right now, I don't need to think about that because I should just be writing for myself right now. It doesn't need to satisfy the world yet. It should satisfy me!

[tiarailic]

I'm 21 and yes! So relevant. There is SO much pressure to decide what your life is going to be. I think it contributes a lot to feeling depressed about yourself, especially if your life seems pretty mundane. I've recently been thinking about how the focus is so much on self. "What do YOU want to do?" And though that isn't wrong to think about, when your focus is so much on trying to pinpoint what exactly it is you want, you miss the little things. You miss the every day experiences and interactions because your focus is directed so much into the future making you oblivious to the now. Art is a journey. Expression is on going. Totally love what you said about the seasons of life being sacred. Hit a chord for me. You girls rock🤟✌😊

[rebekahackerman]

I’m 27 and gobbled this up. Like you said, age doesn’t matter. ♥️ Just be you and create the art only YOU can create.

[sarahmatthews]

I just started this video and am loving it. Can you have your parents on as special guests so they can talk about the struggles they dealt with while raising children as artistic entrepreneurs? I am an artistic mother, homeschooling two children who have passions for art as well, and I would love to hear how your parents did things and what changes they would make on the path they took. Please consider the idea?

[christophercleland]

29 years old and still found this incredibly applicable and helpful. We change constantly and should never be afraid to start at square one. One of my favorite quotes: "When was the last time you did something for the first time?"

At 22, I felt stuck in a corporate engineering job and like I had already irreversibly set my life's course. Looking back, that seems so ridiculous. I have started my own business, pursued a music career, and written a book in the last 3 years, and any one of those things could become my "next career." It's never too late to start a new endeavor. I love what Kate said at 15:03 - "Have an active role in the development of your creativity." Pursue your Heartsong, and don't be afraid to suck at something brand new. "Failure" is a matter of perspective, and is often the sign of a life well-lived and a passion well-pursued.

[xeinha]

After listening to this, out of the blue, I longed to reset my life and plans/ideas kept running through my head. Thank you – a million for this.

[kevinreily]

Homeschooled by artists, living in the Vermont mountains...sounds like a book or movie!

[aperson]

I had no idea Abbie was a Pink Floyd fan, but I’m glad I know now haha. Pink Floyd rocks!

[dutcheslteachers]

Thank you so much for this inspiration. I’m 37 years old and I feel it’s something I should’ve listened to when I was younger. Because of the pressure I actually stopped writing when I was in my late teens. Never finished a project always feeling blocked and something in my head told me I can’t make a living out of writing. Now I made a commitment with myself to actually start writing again because it made me happy when I was younger and it makes me happy again as an adult.

[achannelonyoutube]

Thank you both so much for what you do!! I’ve learned so much from this channel and Abby’s, and I never could have gotten this far in my writing journey without your videos 😁

[jhcasey_writer]

I would love a video all about your homeschooling.

[lindagutierrez]

I like the way you ladies respect each other’s opinions or statements. You look at each other so lovingly, very nice!

[LetitiaViolet]

I'm in my early 30s but when I was young I let other people tell me my dreams were wrong and I should follow their path instead which just led to a decade of unhappiness. Now, I never tell people about my dreams if I know they will not appreciate them. I also like to think of yearly goals as a three act story structure. What is my goal that I would like to be the victory plot point in my act 3 of this current year? What internal conflicts do I need to work through to achieve that? The actual 'plot points' are the tasks broken down by quarters, months and weeks as yearly goal planning tends to do. This involves far more introspection than typical goal planning.

[anicastro]

Ahhhh, this is one of my favorites! Great job, you two

[klhellenbach]

This was great advice for any age! You both are so wise beyond your years and are doing such good work in the world. Love your videos!

[clintoreilly]

Hi. Firstly, you girls look good as always. Interesting video. I was wondering, would you two please consider making a video on how to build a website— platform. It's my kryptonite :)