I'm 14. Should I join Maker School? I don't have my own money — should I take some from my dad? How much would I need to invest in tools for automation/cold outreach after joining, and would my age stop me from landing clients? Also, what should I say if I have no social proof for Loom videos or cold emails?
At 14, it's going to be tough — most people will second-guess taking you seriously on a call, even though plenty of young teenagers are more capable with technology than people expect. I don't think you should join Maker School at 14, and I definitely don't think you should take money from your dad without his support — if he's willing to back your entrepreneurial efforts that's different, but don't take money without permission. A big part of getting from zero to one relies on freelance platforms (Fiverr, Upwork, Toptal, Freelancer), and all of them require you to be at least the age of majority in your country, which rules out 14 pretty much everywhere. On social proof with no track record: build a system for yourself, then present it as 'I built a system that did X for a consultancy' without explicitly saying it was your own business — that implies social proof without lying outright. It's a bit of a gray area I wouldn't recommend once you're established, but at the very start of a business it's a reasonable way to get going. If you've had any kind of job before, just use that instead — it's a much easier, honest source of experience to lean on.
The main disadvantage of being young is that people won't take you seriously because you lack experience. Clients' biggest risk is whether you've delivered the requested result before; without a track record, that risk stays high. To overcome this, you need social proof. If you have family members or friends who can vouch for you, use that to check the box and move forward. Since Upwork requires you to be 18+, you can't use it yet, but Freelancer.com allows users from 17, so prepare to join there when you turn 17. In the meantime, focus on building any proof you can — maybe small projects for family or friends — to demonstrate capability. When you're ready, launch on Freelancer.com and keep building your reputation.
Being 15‑20 gives you a mixed bag: younger people can be seen as inexperienced, but also as naturally tech‑savvy. I’d front‑load Upwork applications until you land your first client, and spend the first few weeks on community posting. You probably don’t have a full‑time job yet, so you can watch my videos, do direct outreach, and land that first client. Once you have a paying client and can justify the expense, consider joining Maker School. Until then, the free content should give you plenty of value.
Yeah, I think you'd probably run into major issues pretty quickly with any sort of sales flow if you're trying to sell to a legitimate company at 14 years old—I don't mean that to knock you, just think it would be difficult. So there are probably much higher-value things you can do at your age that wouldn't involve this level of friction, like trying to operate a company while being very confident you can help people. I'm not saying it's impossible; I think I had a 14- or 15-year-old kid do this with me. He reached out, analyzed my funnel, sent me a bunch of value, and said, 'Hey, can we get on a call?' I said, 'Yeah, for sure.' I didn't know who he was—I never talked to him, had no idea how old he was—got on the call and realized he was 14 years old. Some things seemed odd, like him answering my questions from a closet or bedroom, trying to be quiet so his parents wouldn't know what he was doing. Eventually I was like, 'All right, man. Like, thank you very much for the value. I'm not looking forward to it. I'm not looking um I'm not looking for this sort of arrangement right now.' I think my reaction is probably the nicest reaction you'll get at that age. So, yeah, you know, be better to just do something like get an introductory sales gig or intern or volunteer at an organization that does outbound. These are very, very, very valuable skills. And if you can get in early and you can really architect those mental models, you can internalize them from ages 14 to 16 or 17, then when you're in a slightly more mature position and actually create a business where you have to do some sort of sales flow, you're going to crush it regardless. Otherwise, I'd recommend just picking a business model that doesn't require you to put your face all over stuff or talk to people in person, which is doable as well. It just obviously depends on the business model you want to start.
Great shout out to you, Zaid, for being 15 and pushing forward to improve your station in life. I understand money is tight where you're at, and as someone who was in a similar situation growing up, all I really wanted was more freedom and security—money was a constant issue at our dinner conversations, just like when my family immigrated from a former Soviet bloc country. So let's make it as cheap as humanly possible. At 15, many people will inherently not want to work with you because the biggest red flag for business owners is if you haven't done anything before; they don't want to risk reputation, money, time, or emotional state on someone unlikely to deliver. At 15, the assumption is you're young and haven't had time to do the thing, which will be a problem for you. My recommendation: you probably can't do anything that requires your face at least until you're older, unless your testosterone levels are through the roof and you have a Gandalf‑like beard—unlikely. I faced this at 21 with a baby face; people thought I was 16 knocking on doors and laughed me out of rooms. So strategically, don't copy what an adult does; adults selling to you won't take you seriously. Instead, try a faceless business model that leverages your inbuilt talents. A good example is faceless YouTube automation, which has blown up with the younger crowd because it leverages your strong taste in social media and ability to understand and follow trends—your brain is basically half algorithm anyway—and it doesn't require you to use your face. Running social media channels and brands, like TikTok or Instagram theme pages, teaches the same skills without needing your face on camera. You also don't need to learn a tremendous amount of automation to make this work; budget‑wise it's usually not crazy if you use free or low‑cost models. Remember, social media is free—you are the product—and you don't pay to use it for the most part. So, I understand you want to pursue this business model, but that's my honest recommendation. I don't have a lot of steps on how to do that; I'm just giving you my two cents. I would do that for a couple of years or give an example of that.