Though I am growing more and more attached to Montreal, I have to say that I’m still relatively new to the city. Naturally, when a Montreal’er “de souche” (which essentially means ‘born and bred’) tells me something, I put a lot of weight on their words. A twenty something I met not too long ago told me that the young people in Quebec lack the entrepreneurial spirit. The school system in the ‘belle province’ teaches them to conform and be content with being just a ‘good worker’. I didn’t tell him that I thought conformity was a key lesson in pretty much any school. Regardless, his comment left its mark on me.
I thought about it again when I was at a networking event this past week organized by the Junior Chamber of Commerce, an association that caters to young professionals in their 20s and 30s. There were about 50 people in attendance. Though I didn’t stay long, I met two young people who made a strong impression. One was Guillaume, a 26 year old who launched his marketing consulting company at the age of 21. His company, 724 Marketing (www.724marketing.ca), specializes in the student crowd (which makes perfect sense since I’m sure this is a market he knows very well from his own experiences and circle of friends). Sales must be good since he has a few full time staff already on board. I also met Amelie, another twenty something, who, along with a few partners/friends, launched their own graphics design company called Magma Design (www.magmadesign.ca). She checked out my business card and I’m sure she wasn’t very pleased. My rather simplistic card (courtesy of Vista Print) paled in comparison to her colorful, slim, eye catching card. Amelie’s story was a little different. She did the whole 9 to 5 thing for a few years and ventured slowly on her own as her side business grew.
This just goes to show that creativity is not restricted to a particular region, group of people, or whatever other categories people want to use. It’s anywhere and everywhere. What’s more, I have a lot of faith in the young people of my generation, the so called ‘Generation Y’. We traditionally get a bad rep in the media for our sense of entitlement, our impatience, our unusually high expectations, and our constant search for meaning behind a task. But on the flip side, we are also passionate, highly motivated, technologically savvy, and more socially conscious than previous generations.
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