The young is the new old. The opening sentence is less cryptic than you’d think. The energy of the young as it engages in untethered coupling with new possibilities is achieving feats that not so long ago were reserved for and achieved by a few. The young are as if quenching the thirst for name, fame, and success of the last few generations combined. Needless to say, they have a lot of work on their hands and never enough time. Their answer to this conundrum – let work guide you and honesty be your shadow. One such young gun is Mike Touzard who started his first business at the tender age of 15 and went on to become a hugely successful entrepreneur by 24. His journey is the journey of success on wheels.
Born in Brussels, Mike like many of his generation, decided to test his mettle as an entrepreneur on eBay. He says, “With 70€, I bought 10 lasers pointers and sold them on eBay at 14,99€ per unit.” Whether it was the price or Mike’s choice of product the business “quickly scaled up and I ended up selling thousands of lasers on eBay, Amazon, PriceMinster, and on my own website.” The moolah he made helped him “open different e-stores and sell thousands of gadgets like power banks and USB cables.” By 18 Mike had garnered a respectable name among his buyers and created UWard, an award-winning marketing app.
Mike had always been curious by nature. And right from the beginning, he was sure that “I’m not going to get handcuffed to one field only.” He stuck to his teenage promise and went on to work “in many fields such as retail real estate, hotels, consulting, digital marketing, e-commerce, web development, online security expert, luxury car rentals, and eBikes.
As he touched new heights of success with each venture and across fields, Mike realized that “I love to create companies from scratch. It’s a challenge like no other. It’s like nursing a child, if you are confident, creative, well-informed and well-prepared, there’s no mountain you can’t climb.”
In his 9+ years as a self-made businessman, Mike has garnered a list of achievements that override his age by a great margin. He’s a Member of the invitation-only Forbes Council, and the Brussels Business Club. He has met Vera Jourova, the Vice-President of the European Union and Prime Minister of Belgium. Needless to say, he has set up a benchmark for youngsters around the world whom he mentors and connects with to create a world where “Everything is possible if you’re willing to work for it.”.
