11 professionals give their best business tips for 18 year olds- including Piers Linney (Dragons’ Den)

business advice

What business advice would you give an 18 year old?

We asked for advice from top business professionals on this topic and are sharing our round-up of the best tips here.

We’d love to hear from you too! Include your business advice in the comments section below.

Piers Linney (via Twitter)

For those who don’t know, Piers is an ex Dragons’ Den (Shark Tank) investor. He’s been recognised as one of the top 100 Black Britons and is a huge supporter of entrepreneurship.

Piers Linney

Rendani Kruger (via LinkedIn)

Rendani is a software consultant at Monkey and River (Pty) Ltd, a company he co-founded. He has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Information Technology and is currently working towards a PhD. Read his business advice below-

Rendani Kruger

Ally Wheeler nee ihlenfeldt (via LinkedIn)

Ally is Regional Operations Manager at VMG Software.

With over 15 years Sales & Customer Relations roles, 9 years in a digital environment and 7 years running operations for a 20 strong sales team (with over 500 customer accounts), Ally’s advice is backed by experience-

Ally Wheeler

This is going to sound so Cliche but “Stay in school”, not necessarily because of what you may learn there but because people will take you more seriously, they will listen to your opinions and value your insight more if you have an education. People assume because I do not have a degree that I am stupid. My journey to where I am has been a constant battle against assumptions and judgment.

I’ve had to work much harder than my degreed colleagues to prove my worth.

Janine Cecile Saal (via LinkedIn)

Janine is a project manager at CPM and has used the skills she’s gained from formal and informal training, to best design interior spaces to optimize people’s experience and function in their environment.

Janine Cecile Saal2

I’d say to a an 18 year old now that if they want to really flourish in whatever industry they find themselves in that they really need to LOVE what they do as there will come days that test you and maybe even months and you really need to couple dedication, discipline and love for what you do in order to be really successful in a world where everyone is an “expert”.

Francois Janse van Vuuren (via Facebook)

Francois is the owner of Taurus Investments, specialising in the refurbishment of commercial vehicles. Taurus Investments is based in White River, Mpumalanga.

Francois Janse van vuuren

Kyle Jankowitz (via LinkedIn)

Kyle co-founded Adworth and is a serial entrepreneur. His skillsets come from having directed several successful businesses in South Africa, taking them from losses to profits in the shortest time possible. He now spends his time upskilling and training entrepreneurs on business best practices.

Write down a goal, no matter how out of reach the desired result may seem.

Porky's People (via Twitter)

Porky’s People provides inspiring news while sharing good causes & information worth spreading.

porky's people

Mark Snow (via LinkedIn)

Mark is a Channel Manager at Everlytic; an all-in-one digital communication automation software.

I would say the following, getting into debt for things like Car sound wasn’t worth it, but enjoy life by creating memories, and these don’t have to cost money. Nurture the relationships you have, be it friendship, a partner, or family. Work harder than anyone else, be recognized for being a hard worker, and an overall good person (no this doesn’t mean having old school morals and manners) those things never get old, it’s about being a better person, kinder, more patient and more understanding, Life is hard without you making it harder for yourself or anyone else, and finally I would tell myself to always acknowledge a person by their name, especially in the service industries, it really goes a long way to that person.

Carly van Heerden (via Twitter)

Carly is a freelance writer and owns The Creative Line

Carly van Heerden

Buhle Mavimbela (via LinkedIn)

Buhle is Sales Manager at Digital Kungfu

Buhle Mavimbela

So my advice to an 18-year-old would be to focus on what they are passionate about, dreams become ideas, ideas to businesses, businesses are your career, which then fulfills your calling as a person. The sooner your start the process the quicker you are “successful”

Itumeleng Herman Diale (via LinkedIn)

Itumeleng is the Managing Director at DIH MEITS IT products & services, situated in Rustenberg, South Africa. Read his advice below-

Itumeleng Herman Diale

Opportunities will not come your way if you do not go out there and look for them, you will at times fail, be rejected but that should not make you want to give up but motivate you and you also get valuable lessons.

What advice would YOU give to an 18 year old? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

Hey, I'm Kalyn. I hope you enjoyed reading this post.

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