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Millennials are having a rough go of it. Numerous studies have reached a unanimous verdict: The kids are not alright.
In fact, they've been dubbed self-absorbed, entitled, and lazy. Of course, if you're a young entrepreneur, you already know all that.
The struggle is real.
And yet, entrepreneurial hustle runs through the veins of today's new leaders. To help you tap into that power, I connected with six of today's most successful Millennials (ages 19-33).
These are their single best pieces of advice for demolishing the stereotype and winning the struggle:
1. Ulyses Osuna, 19
A full-time marketer since the age of seventeen, Ulyses Osuna is already a regular contributor at sites like The Huffington Post, Business.com, and Entrepreneur.
Ulyses' crafted influencer campaigns with the likes of Shawn Thomas--founder of Ask A Millionaire--Patrick Bet David--whose subscribers he helped grow to 80,000--and others. In Neil Patel's words: "Kid hustles hard."
2. JT Holmes, 21
JT Holmes' entrepreneurial journey started in second grade when he bought candy wholesale and resold it to the kids in his school.
After building up his social-media presence "on the side," he's partnered with NBA players and celebrity artists Waka Flocka, G-Eazy, and Riff Raff to build theirs.
JT now runs his own event promoting and hosting agency in Arizona whose success landed him on the homepage of Huffington Post just last month.
3. Scott Oldford, 25
As a teenager, Scott Oldford was already running his own business racking up accolades like Youth in Motion's Top 20 Under 20 and American Express Innovator Award.
Then, in early 2013, after three consecutive failures, Scott found himself $726,000 in debt. "Gun to his head," Scott built a new company, Infinitus, clawed his way out of debt with a "new set of beliefs," and now projects $2.8 million by the end of 2016.
4. Ross Simmonds, 28
Ross Simmonds' first taste of entrepreneurship came from selling doo-rags out of his high school locker. After consulting with a handful of Fortune 500 companies, at 25 he founded a content marketing agency and generated more than a quarter million its second year.
Since then, he's founded two startups: Hustle & Grind--an ecommerce site with over 100,000 followers on Instagram--and GetCrate.co--a marketing SaaS that helps 3,000 customers manage their social media.
5. Amanda Newman, 29
Growing up with entrepreneurship in her DNA, Amanda Newman earned her real-estate license after college and founded Parkbench.com in Toronto, ON as a neighborhood platform for agents to build relationships and get more clients.
Today, Parkbench.com offers free advertising for local business and has grown from 30 neighborhoods to over 1,400. The payoff? Amanda's company has already hit seven figures this year and projects $1.6 million by the close of 2016.
6. Sol Orwell, 33
As a 14-year-old immigrant, Sol Orwell turned to the Internet as an outlet. Over his 17 year entrepreneurial tenure, he's founded six companies and bootstrapping each one from the ground up because, in his words, "freedom is more important than capital."
Sol entered the nutrition space five years ago with Examine.com, which now garners over two million visitors a month and generates just under $2 million annually.
So what can six "lazy" millennials teach you?
Not that the studies are wrong, nor that their generation is misunderstood.
What they teach us is that entrepreneurship isn't limited by age nor stereotypes. In the end, only one thing matters: winning the struggle ... by putting in the work.
