Award-winning Leighton Buzzard entrepreneur encourages teens to dream big in business

Luke Mullens, 16, is hoping to inspire the next generation of CEOs after he achieved industry success despite finding school a struggle.

The determined teenager was crowned champion of the Genius School’s Young Entrepreneur Academy, hosted by Genius Group, and has since gone on to start three businesses.

Giving advice to other entrepreneurs, Luke said: "It's the future; you always need to keep up to date with what's happening or you will get caught behind. If you don't have a website or social media then you are missing a big part of the pie.

"If you are my age and want to go into business then you need to work hard. Take a detox from your own social media, find something you are passionate about, and go from there."

Luke has been interested in the industry since he was little, when as young as five years old he was helping to cut out stickers and load paper at his father's printing business.

He also tried to set up a t-shirt business which "failed" - well, he was only eight! - although this opportunity allowed him to learn about several "good fundamentals", including logo design and outsourcing.

On his next adventure, Luke added: "I used to work at a Rolex shop in Sydney (we moved to Australia for three years) and I had a mentor who showed me how to be successful in business.

"What was the most important thing that I learnt? That people are not always in business with you because of your product. It's because of the person that you are; no-one wants to be in business with someone who's negative, or not nice to be around."

Luke brought his enthusiasm back to the UK when his family moved to Leighton Buzzard, but as a young 13-year-old he found it difficult to conform to school rules and regulations.

"I came in one term late with no friends and I was struggling," he explained. "Then I started selling sweets, which my teachers didn't like, but I started making friends and building a network at school. I remember throwing drinks across the classroom, making money and making friends."

With school not working out for Luke, he decided to dream big and his father enrolled him into the Genius School’s Young Entrepreneur Academy, hosted by Genius Group on their edtech (education technology) platform GeniusU.

Luke spent last January attending online Zoom sessions with youngsters from around the world, building his business skills and talking to likeminded people.

He added: "I found the teachers at Genius School more passionate, driven and equipped with the ideas and skills to help me grow."

Thanks to his 'Promotion Plan', Luke was crowned champion of the Young Entrepreneur Academy, and he teamed up with two other winners to found Rich Kids Global.

The company is a subscription based book club where young members are sent an ebook and workbook about business, while they also take part in Zoom calls, allowing them to understand how to put their plans into action.

Luke has since left Rich Kids Global, but wishes them luck, and continues to run REDPXL, a marketing company.

With support from his father Richard, he is building a new platform called MyBestSelf.Me, which connects families to "a vibrant learning community with access to rich and engaging content and experiences to help them thrive".

He said: "MyBestSelf is a community where people can speak to each other and come together to share their expertise, helping each other and building each other up.

"We hold Zoom events, membership events, and weekly courses. People can ask questions and hold discussions; you need to be in a community where everyone is trying to better themselves."

If you are a young person interested in business, or personal growth, Luke would love to hear from you.

Readers are welcome to message him on Instagram: @lordmullens.

Talking about the future, he concluded: "I want to keep improving myself, my body, my finances, my quality of life. I hope the next day will be slightly better than the last, and that that will compound over time.

"Thank you to Genius School, thank you to my dad who got me involved in business in the first place, and thank you to my mentors."

To visit MyBestSelf, visit: https://www.mybestself.me/> Genius Group is a multi-million-dollar group of companies leading the entrepreneur movement, founded by serial entrepreneur Roger James Hamilton including GeniusU, Entrepreneurs Institute, Entrepreneur Resorts and Genius School.

GeniusU is an edtech company and platform providing over 2 million students with personalised learning paths and is currently seeing over 1300 new students join each day to take the entrepreneur quiz and identify their path to wealth.

Genius School provides education courses for young people from 0 to 25 years old. Entrepreneurs Institute provides training courses from 25 to 100 years old, and Entrepreneur Resorts is a market leading group of entrepreneur focused luxury resorts and lodges, beach clubs and city co-working hubs, offering business leaders professional educational retreats in exotic destinations around the world, including Singapore, Bali and South Africa.

Entrepreneur Resorts will be expanding to 10 further locations this year. Roger is the creator of Wealth Dynamics, Talent Dynamics and Impact Dynamics, used by over 2 million entrepreneurs to follow their flow.

https://school.geniusu.com/