Dare to Suck - Inspiring changemakers opening up to young adults (and their parents)

The role of the sibling, the role of the mother, the role of the father, employee, or boss. We play several different roles throughout our day.
But what happens if 12.000 like-minded fantasy lovers meet for five days in a battle against orks and dark forces? Live Action Role-Play fanatic Sonja is here to tell us more.

The Top 5 key takeaways from her story:

1. Live Action Role-Play (LARP) events can range from small groups of five to twenty up to mega-events with around 12000 participants.
2. How to start Larping? More or less easy: buy a ticket to an event, come up with a character, prepare your outfit, and join the fun.
3. A world that is only full of heroes is boring. 
4. Trust your intuition - it is 99% of the time right.
5. You and only you create the world you live in. You have full responsibility and ownership. 

Ways to connect:
https://www.facebook.com/SonjasAdventures/
https://www.instagram.com/sonjas_adventures/
https://www.pinterest.com/SonjasAdventures/ 

Do your homework, feel the power of the “worry box”, familiarize yourself with the culture and customs of a new country before visiting it in order to avoid embarrassing moments, and get yourself business-, sports- and health mentors as soon as possible in your life in order to succeed. 
Great advice straight from the heart of our globe trotter guest, who is on a quest to inspire the people around her and distill enthusiasm.

The Top 5 key takeaways from her story:

1. Practice makes perfect. In order to prevent stage fear and stress in general, make sure that you have done your homework and practice in order to get comfortable. Never mind if you are a bit nervous before keeping a presentation and alike. That´s part of the show and generally good.
2. Other ways to keep calm in stressful situations: Slowly breath in and out a couple of times; create your own “Worry-Box” → write down the things you are worried about and put them in the box to come back to later; listen to your favorite song and why not dance a bit before you go on stage to release the tension.
3. When traveling abroad to a new country, try to get familiar with the culture and customs as much as you can. Learn a couple of words and try not to talk about things, which may upset your hosts. 
4. Youngsters entering the job market have a big advantage of being enthusiastic. Utilize that power when you are young. Nobody expects you to be an expert on everything as long as you have the right spirit.
5. One day and one step at a time. Know where you want to go and don´t get stressed. But remember to get a team around you as early as possible, which should consist of three cornerstones: Health, Business, and Finance.

Accounts to follow:
https://simonsinek.com/

Ways to connect:
https://mariettastuhlfelder.com/
https://www.instagram.com/the.minimaliste.lady/
https://www.facebook.com/mariettastuhlfelder/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marietta-stuhlfelder-b06b237a/
[email protected] 

At first, Helene did not even want to become an entrepreneur at all. 

Looking at her father, who ran his own business, she saw all the sacrifices that being self-employed is connected with especially when things go really sideways for example during a recession. 

Thankfully she has overcome this resentment and is ever since following her curiosity and inner calling, which has led to numerous business adventures such as:
Founder and CEO Prönö, Co-Founder of Slush, Member of the Board Fodelia, Co-Founder and Partner Auramo - Stenvall, Co-Founder and political candidate Liike Nyt, Partner: Marketing Clinic, CEO Okimo Clinic, Advisory Board Kiosked, Tech Journalist, Blogger,...

The Top 5 key takeaways from his story: 

1. Surround yourself with brilliant people and brilliant things will happen. Find your passion and share it.
2. Sometimes you need to serve as an instrument or sounding board for your ideas. If nobody else does it then you need to be the one who communicates it to the world.
3. Most of your fears are in your mind and in your mind only.
4. Know your values and live up to them. At best, build a company on top of your values as it means fulfilling your dream.
5. The biggest challenges for an entrepreneur might not be fear of failure or a lack of funding but instead, other people taking advantage, having wrong values, money-driven agendas only, or unfair play.

Accounts to follow:
https://www.instagram.com/canay.atalay/?hl=en

Ways to Connect:
www.prono.fi
https://www.linkedin.com/in/heleneauramo/
https://www.heleneauramo.com/
https://www.instagram.com/heleneauramo/

Netflix series to watch:
The Social Dilemma

Christian and his team of 40 members are heading the Finnish NGO “Aseman Lapset” or “Children of the Station”. The association's purpose is to promote young people's healthy upbringing and prevent marginalization, violence, crime, and substance abuse. 
One can imagine that Christian has seen a lot during his career but thankfully he is willing to lift the lid for us and share a couple of thoughts on how we can establish a personal and functional dialogue between adults and young people.

The Top 5 key takeaways from his story: 

1. Ask your kids “How do you do” and listen ACTIVELY. Try to understand what they go through. Try to communicate. Try to be interested (genuinely) in what your kid is doing. Be interested in his/her friends.
2. “Management by Perkele” does not go down well with Millennials and Generation Z.
3. A person who is angry and does stupid things is usually a person who is unhappy about something.
4. Advice for Teenagers: You don´t have to try and test everything at a too early age. A good reminder: the brain is not fully developed before the age of 25. So if you use substances, be aware that your brain gets much more damaged when you are young.
5. Advice Christian´s 15-year-old self: if you want to achieve something you need to put the hours in. Nothing comes for free.

Books to read:
Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage

Ways to connect:
https://www.asemanlapset.fi/ 

We are always reminded of Peter Drucker when stating that “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. 
This quote also summarizes Susanne´s situation pretty well when she started to ramp-up her meal kit concept "Sannan Ruokakassi". 
Easier, faster, and more healthy ways to cook should be a no-brainer for everybody who is preparing food but getting people to purchase meals-as-a-service can be a fight against windmills.
Find out how Susanna still managed to persuade doubters and grow her business.

The Top 5 key takeaways from his story:

1. Believe in your idea but start small.
2. Ask for help if you need help.
3. Build up your network.
4. Have a clear definition of your ideal customer profile but spread your offering through different channels.
5. No shaming in failing. It means that you have at least tried.

Ways to connect:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanna-susanne-lindroos-3225bb84/
https://www.sannanruokakassi.fi/
[email protected]

Aleksi has been hit hard by the overtraining syndrome, which took his body for a ride. But he is back with the aim to go from MMA amateur world champion to professional world champion.
This episode is a really interesting look behind the curtains of a Mixed Martial Arts fighter.

The Top 5 key takeaways from his story:

1. Don´t be too harsh on yourself. Enjoy the ride and don´t forget to socialize with your friends.
2. Do what you love - follow your passion - everything else is a waste of time.
3. Don´t rush. Make a long term plan for your goals. Reaching your goal in one year is not a long term plan. Shoot for ten to fifteen years or even more.
4. Don´t sacrifice your life in order to achieve your goal.
5. Some say, MMA is barbaric and brutal - some say, MMA is poetry in motion.

Ways to connect:
https://www.instagram.com/leksarnc/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbFKyLsIuRWHDrK0iPU0Avw
https://twitter.com/LeksaRNC

Accounts to follow:
https://www.instagram.com/licenceto.fail/
https://www.instagram.com/kevinhart4real/

Books to read:
Kevin Hart; I Can´t Make this up
Kevin Hart, The Decision: Overcoming Today's BS for Tomorrow's Success

Netflix series to watch:
Don´t F**K this up

After finishing University, Rick set out to supercharge his career, working for a renowned consulting firm. He took a break from his role as a consultant in order to lead his side business through a critical development phase - and never returned. Never? Well - never say never but for now, he seems to have found his passion outside the corporate treadmill.

The Top 9 key takeaways from his story:

1. Why don´t you just go ahead and create a company if you have an idea instead of just talking and thinking about it?
2. Every year should give you experiences and memories that take you forward and develop you as a person or professional.
3. Our society and technology in specific is moving and changing at such a rapid pace that big corporations find it extremely difficult to keep up. That´s a perfect opportunity for start-ups and young spirits.
4. You don´t have to come up with the next version of Facebook in order to become an entrepreneur. One avenue is to find yourself an old established area such as cleaning or moving and improve it.
5. You will not have a team behind you from day 1. Be prepared to do the boring and super boring stuff that needs to be done. At the same time be very focused in regards to your target and safeguard your energy.
6. Don’t focus on trying to be OK at everything. Try to be the best at what you are the best at.
7. Start lean and mean and spend money if you have money in order to make money. If the business idea does not work after 6 months it will not work 
8. You might think you need a lot of competences to start with but that´s not necessarily true. If you are willing to learn, things will fall in place quickly.
9. Before starting your business, pick up a spreadsheet, call peers in your industry, and validate your revenue flow. There are people out there who start their company without thinking about margins. Once you have priced your offering too low, you are trapped.

Ways to connect:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickard-zilliacus-24b56543/
[email protected]
https://www.mjuk.fi

The main challenge with work-related fatigue is probably the fact that one does not exactly know when it sneaks up on you or what the signs are. And it is so much more than just feeling stressed or a bit tired. It can have work-related or non-work-related origins and severely reduce a person’s ability to function effectively and safely. 
Thankfully Rosanna is providing us with concrete examples on how you can find out that you are about to hit the “wall” as well as what needs to be done once “Burnout Train” has left the station...

The Top 5 key takeaways from his story: 

1. Our brain is very clever in playing down warning signs of an upcoming burnout. But instead of always pushing relentlessly forward, listen carefully to your body. Constant headache, irritation, stress, fatigue, challenges with sleeping, listlessness, and disinterest are signals that should not be downplayed.
2. Obviously everybody is stressed in life sometimes and if there is an important project or task you need to accomplish then one just sometimes needs to push through to make things happen.
3. Once you are on sick leave then you are ON SICK LEAVE. Sick leave does not mean heading to the cinema, meeting with friends, climbing mountains, and stressing from A to B all in one day. It means you work on yourself, learn to rest, relax, and try to improve your condition.
4. Tip for parents: children are very often afraid of failure so make sure they know that you love them regardless if they fail or win.
5. There is nothing wrong with failure - failure is the human experience we all need. But always remember to surround yourself with people who care about you, no matter if you win or fail.

Accounts to follow:
https://www.instagram.com/evertime/


Ways to Connect:
https://www.rosannamarila.fi/
https://www.instagram.com/rosanna_marila/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosanna-marila-a7287a188/
[email protected] 

Born and raised in Spain, Loli is currently living in the United States and at the helm of Boomwriter - a software platform for education, focused on writing. 
Not only has she started her own company in the past but also worked in the corporate world as well as earned her stripes at elite educational powerhouses such as Hult International Business School. 

Her mantra is "Education is THE foundation for the development of every human being"

5 key takeaways

1. Nobody knows what the future classroom will look like but one thing is already getting clear: working and learning from home also means that kids are losing their adult reference outside their own family - which use to be the teacher.
2. Social interaction and soft skills are an extremely important part of the day-to-day school. Future learning solutions will need to cope with the emotional part and creating bonds between children even if not being at school. 
3. Schools are currently under a great deal of pressure in terms of making the right educational choices fast. On the one hand, the amount of new offerings is rising but on the other hand, the educational ecosystem is still a very protected one while budgets are getting cut
4. Education is THE foundation for the development of every human being. Education makes us creative, resourceful, and enables crucial connections in our brain.
5. Share your ideas, get input from your peers, and develop them further.

Ways to connect:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lolimontenegro/
https://boomwriter.com/
https://www.lopez-montenegro.com/

For most of us, taking a glass of refreshing clean water once you feel like having one, is not a major challenge. Neither was it for Aymane. Until one fine day, when instead of clean drinkable water, a yellow poisonous substance filled his glass. So he set out to do something about it and created a water filter. Today Aymane is leading multiple projects related to clean water and sustainability and has one big next goal, which is to clean the Mediterranean from Microplastics.

The Top 5 key takeaways from his story:

1. Groom your team and support network. It will help you to achieve your goal faster.
2. Keep a close product focus. The product needs to be able to speak for itself.
3. Love, respect, and learn from generations before your own. There is a lot of hidden wisdom to tap into.
4. Starting a business is chaos. Stay brave and push yourself to be brave.
5. Things take time. Be patient and enjoy the journey instead of rushing.

Books to read:
The moral animal by Robert Wright

Accounts to follow:
Jason Silva, Shots of Awe

Ways to connect:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/aymane-berrerhdoche-70544b155/
https://www.instagram.com/berraymann/