A young and successful entrepreneur has left behind because he’s sick of ‘tall poppy syndrome’.
Rylan Kindness, 22, founded and developed Parking Deals when he was just 16.
The platform over the next seven years raked in up $250,000 a month and amassed about 500,000 users before he sold the lucrative business in April for an undisclosed fee to Parkhound and moved to Dubai’s lavish Island chain, The Palm.
Despite his young age, it wasn’t his first business venture.
Mr Kindness also launched a website he hoped would rival Gumtree when he was in high school – and that’s when he says he got his first taste of others trying to drag him down.
‘Kids at school found out about it and they listed a teacher’s house for sale on it – and a lawyer’s house – and I was made to take it down,’ he explained to Daily Mail .
‘I never expected that if you’re trying to be successful there are people who will actively try and stop you.
‘But that’s what does best – try to rip down people who are trying to be successful and to give it a go.’
The entrepreneur said there wasn’t any one specific incident that made him leave the country, but rather an accumulation over the years of experiencing resentment and jealously from others.
‘Tall poppy syndrome is the real reason I live in Dubai,’ Mr Kindness said.
‘Here, the government supports business and no-one cares about your successes. There is always a bigger fish.’
While he considers a ‘safe and great place, with plenty of opportunity’, Mr Kindness feels there isn’t enough support for those looking to get ahead.
‘I love , I love being n, but I find it suffocating there. There’s just too much red tape.
‘Everything seems to be an issue. There’s always problems. Dubai is a lot more loose to get things done. They’ve made it simpler.’
Below, Mr Kindness, who is currently deciding on his next venture, lays out his eight key tips for Aussies looking to get started on their entrepreneurial journey.
1. Take the time to find your passion
The former professional BMX athlete was always encouraged by his parents to have a back-up plan and work out what he wanted to do in case he was injured.
Mr Kindness said budding entrepreneurs also need to work out their end goals and what they are interested in.
‘Take the time to figure out and explore your passions,’ he said.
He suggest students don’t blindly work towards getting into university.
‘Instead of going to uni I was already up and running a business because I had taken the time to figure out my passion,’ he said.
‘I knew early on that’s what I wanted to do.’
2. Don’t care about what other people think of you
‘If you think about what other people think of you, you will never do anything. You shouldn’t let it impact you.’
The entrepreneur said young people need to remember that it’s their life and they need to take control of it.
‘Do something for yourself and don’t listen to other people like parents or teachers who might tell you what you should be doing,’ he said.
3. Don’t be a lunchtime talker
This is a tip that many adults can relate to – stop talking about your ideas and make them happen.
‘I was talking to a friend of mine and he was telling me his idea he wanted to do and I realised he had been talking about the same idea at lunchtime when we were in school,’ he said.
‘It was seven or eight years later and I was thinking why has it taken so long’.
Mr Kindness said as you get older, there are always more things in life that make it harder to get your idea off the ground, so the sooner you start, the better.
‘It you take no action, you will get no results. People think the idea is valuable but it is the action. Talk is cheap, action is valuable.’
4. Just start
‘If you’re committed to your end goals and constantly chip away at them – and you will have setbacks along the way – but if you keep going, you’ll get there,’ he said.
The entrepreneur advises that all it takes to start is a blank page and that those looking to get started ‘don’t need a massive plan’.
‘Just start. Simple as that.’
5. Learn and observe
Those hoping to succeed should be always asking questions.
‘I had no idea, no money, I didn’t know about business strategy but I watched people and observed what they did,’ he said.
Young people can learn the same way by ‘hanging around successful people’ and learning from them.
‘Success Leaves clues.’
6. You have nothing to lose
The entrepreneur wants teenagers to realise what a perfect time it is to try things, because they aren’t paying rent and do not have other adult responsibilities.
‘There’s always going to be opportunities in every generation. This era, it is so easy to access something online,’ he said.
‘There’s low risk and little money needed to start something. It’s a great opportunity because the barrier to enter is so low.’
7. Fight for what you want to listen to
The entrepreneur said the biggest challenge for a young person is to weed out information on their feeds.
‘Young Aussies are so distracted. There is so much opinion and information on social media. So investing in business doesn’t seem like the ‘funnest’ thing to do,’ he said.
‘I don’t admire the guy who comes to Dubai for a month and posts pics of himself at glamorous parties and with lambos – which are all rented – and then goes home and sells himself as the ‘product’ on how to be successful.
‘It has f***ked up a lot of teens because it’s focusing on lifestyle. Business isn’t glamorous, it’s hard work.’
Mr Kindness said entrepreneurship isn’t about ‘flexing your lifestyle’ and that your youth should be seen as a great learning phase.
8. There’s always a way to make money
The businessman said teens should be aware there are multiple ways to make money.
‘You just have to spend time to find solutions. But some people would rather whinge instead of go out and make money,’ he said.
When he was a child, he and his dad would go to garage sales, markets and curbside collections to fix things up and make money.
‘The lesson I learnt is not to be afraid to get my hands dirty. People are too lazy to fix things up or clean items and you can make good money by doing that and reselling them.’