Transcriber: Alison Qu Reviewer: Elisabeth Buffard
When I was a young girl
8 or 9 years old, I think
I was given this little book
and in it, I decided that I wanted to write down
proverbs, quotes, and motivational things
and things that I really wanted to remember.
And I still actually keep this book up-to-date today,
because, despite the world of technology that we live in
with phones, tablet, and Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest,
there's still something really nice about actually putting pen to paper,
writing something down.
And one of the things that I really love about this book
is how it evolves.
So I can look back, and see what my 20 year-old self found inspirational
or my 16-year-old self, or my 9 year-old self found inspirational.
And one of the quotes right at the beginning of the book, written down
in almost [unclear] handwriting in this big pink felt tip pen,
is a lovely quote, and it's:
“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem,
and smarter than you think."
I just think that it's lovely that this little 9-year-old me
actually wrote this down in a book.
Of course I went on to remember that it was actually
a quote from Winnie the Pooh
but, you know, still (Laughter)
I was 9 years old at the time, so cut me some slack!
But it's that inspiration, that kind of evolution of self
that I want to talk you about today.
Because we are very used to giving people advice
and asking other people for advice
But what if we could turn around and give advice to our younger self?
If I could write things down in this book,
and hand it down to younger me,
what would I write?
Perhaps not to my nine-year-old self,
because you know, don't stick a very lucky note.
It's a really bad idea.
Unfortunately, I'm speaking from experience,
I know it's a bad idea, but to a little bit of an older me.
Um, so one of the things I have written down here,
that I wrote many many years ago,
is "good things come to those who wait".
In case this is one of those big, grand statements
that we used to hear when we were younger:
"good things comes to those who wait"
and "patience is a virtue".
I'm not sure that I agree with that anymore.
Because, you know, "patience is a virtue", okay that one I'll give you,
but "good things come to those who wait",
I'm not sure, good things might come to those who wait
but good things definitely come to those
who just get off their back side and get stuff done.
So the first note that I would like to write myself,
"always be the first person of the dance floor"
(Applause)
And I do mean this metaphorically and literally
for all of those who are wondering.
But what I mean by this is, you know, sometime in life
there are things that scare us
or things that we feel a little bit too shy about doing
or a bit too embarrassed...
But sometimes it's just... you gotta grab your courage in both hands and just do it.
And you find that most of the time once you started doing it, whatever it may be,
even it is getting up on the dance floor and dancing,
it is not actually that scary and sometimes it's actually even quite fun.
So when I was 14 years old, my family and I moved to Switzerland
and we decided that instead of going to the international school system,
I'd go into the French-speaking Swiss system,
despite not speaking a single word of French.
Um, so I started school and I was picking up bits of French here and there,
but I was so scared of saying something wrong
or saying something with a silly accent and having the kids laugh at me.
For the whole first year, I barely said a word,
I can't help but look back on that now
and think how such a shame that I didn't just dare to start talking
and how much better life would have been
if I'd just gone up on the dance floor and danced.
So that's the first note. The second note, "it is always about who you know."
So when I'm starting a project, say if for example I need a photographer:
first thing I'll do, I'll think "well, do I know any photographers?"
If the answer is no, I'll think,
"okay, do I know anyone who knows any photographers?"
It's human nature, right? So it just makes sense, that
the more people you know, the more chance you have
of your name being in that kind of situation.
And it's a very simple thing to do: all you need to do
is, go to trade shows, go to industry events,
go to networking events,
and never miss an opportunity to go up and actually talk to people.
Now I said it was an easy thing to do,
but it's not always something that we enjoy doing, okay?
Again, this is one of my dance floor moments,
so I never used to like going to these kind of events
and talking to people, but I thought, you know what, I gotta do it.
I have to do it. So I started and actually now,
I find it really fun and I enjoy it and I enjoy meeting new people.
Number 3, never trust your friends. (Laughter)
So a few years ago I had this great idea for a project.
I thought, alright, I'm gonna design and produce these automatic watches,
and sell them at a really affordable price,
so much much cheaper than you could find on the market.
I thought, this is great! This is really gonna work.
I went and spoke to my friends, and told them about the project,
they said, "yeah, this is amazing! It's fantastic, go for it. Definitely."
I thought, okay, cool. So I got the project ready,
I got the designs done,
I put it up on the website, and I decided to go down the crowdfunding route,
so I put it on the crowdfunding website,
I thought, wow, I'm gonna hit my target in days!
And I put it up, and nothing happened.
Okay, and it doesn't really matter because actually I learned a lot from this.
But the biggest thing I learned is you have to do
the right kind of market research, okay?
You can't just ask the right questions, you have to ask the right people.
And asking your friends, that's not the right people.
You need to ask the people who are gonna be brutally honest
and tell you definitely what they think,
and people who don't already trust you,
your friends already trust you,
as they already know or hope you are going to design a good product.
So, another example for this, how many of you already seen the X-Factor?
And someone's come on and they've been terrible.
You felt, "oh my god! Why did their friends not tell them
that they can't sing?" And this is exactly for this reason,
This is exactly for this reason, our friends are too nice,
they're too supportive. (Laughter)
Number 4, never work for free.
So this is a piece of advice that I, myself
have actually been given on numerous occasions,
and it makes sense, right? I mean, you don't want to work for free
because maybe it devalues your work, or maybe if you work for free,
then that person will want to pay you for the same kind of work in the future,
but, to be honest, I don't think it's 100% a hundred percent correct.
OK, never work for free does not mean always work for money.
We have this very literal way of thinking of when I do certain amount of work,
I do it for certain amount of money. And it doesn't have to be the case.
So what I mean by this is for example, it can be a skill swap.
So I love doing this with startups, you have a ton of skills, a ton of time,
but not nessesarily out of money, you say, well, hey, look,
I'll help your design your logo, if you help me build an app.
Or it could be a product swap, so it can be something like,
I'll design the flyers for your café, if you give me free coffee for a year.
Or it could be something much less tangible than that as well,
it could be, well, I'll do this for a testimonial,
or I'll do this if it gets me the right exposure, if it gets my works seen
by these key influential people, OK?
But what's really important to know here, what's really crucial,
is whenever you set out on a project,
you have to know why you are doing it.
You have to know exactly what it is you hope to gain.
And that can be money, of course it can be money!
but it can also be a testimonial, and it can also be free years of free coffee.
I mean, who wouldn't want that?
So, never works for free doesn't mean always work for money.
Note number five, figure out what people want
and then figure out what people actually want.
So I'm a watch designer, I have ton of watches at home
and I would never leave the house without wearing a watch.
And the other day I was walking to work, and someone stopped me on the street,
they said, "excuse me, have you got the time?"
I said, "ah, yeah, sure, no problem."
and I pulled out my mobile phone. (Laughter)
Right? I don't really use my watch to tell the time.
I do, sometimes, but it's very rare, I normally use my mobile phone
or my laptop or whatever it may be,
and that's the case for most people nowadays.
So what people want when they're buying a watch is a time piece.
They wouldn't buy a watch that didn't tell the time,
but what people actually want is so much more than that.
They want something that makes a statement.
That can be a fashion statement,
or it can be a statement about the kind of music they are into,
or perhaps a statement about how much money they have,
depending on the kind of brand that they are buying,
but people don't just buy a watch to tell the time,
it's so important to figure out not only what people want,
but what people actually wants.
And sometimes even the customers themselves
wouldn't know what they actually want
and that's your job to kinda figure that out.
So, lways be the first person on the dance floor,
don't let fear stop you from doing things you want to do.
It's always who you know, online, offline, it doesn't matter, network like crazy.
Never trust your friends, they're never gonna be
as honest with you as they need to be, they're gonna be supportive,
so make sure you do the right kind of market research with the right people.
Never work for free, does not mean always work for money.
But it does mean, always have a very clear target
in you mind, of what it is that you are working towards.
And figure out what people want and then figure out what people actually want.
Try to understand the psychology
behind what it is that you're selling as a product.
So, these are the 5 pieces of advice
that I think I would like to give to my younger self,
but I wonder, what do you think you'd like to say to your younger self?
And not only that, but what do you think
your future you would like to say to the you sitting here today?
So I started with a quote from the beginning of my book,
written almost 20 years ago now,
and I'd like to just finish with a quote
written only a few days ago right at the end of the book.
And that is, "every accomplishment starts with the decision to try."
Thank you very much. (Applause)