My daughter Leyla went to a book publishing conference in London recently, on her own, no school credentials to speak of, because she never went to school.
At some point in the conversations with American publishers, that came up.
They asked if it was for religious reasons.
In the US, homeschooling is common,
and the most common reason is religion.
So Leyla just smiled and said:
“Yes. Religion. My religion is entrepreneurship” 😆
The Americans laughed. It was a good joke.
But it was only half a joke.
We made a deliberate decision when Leyla was young
not just to homeschool her, but to immerse her in a specific world.
We called it success books.
She would call it brainwashing, and she recently did, with a smile on her face.
She thanked us for it.
– for years of reading the right books.
– for dinner table conversations about business and mindset.
– for growing up around entrepreneurs instead of inside a classroom.
– for treating entrepreneurship as a lens through which you see the world.
That’s what most people miss about entrepreneurship.
It isn’t just about starting companies.
It’s a way of thinking.
A way of solving problems.
A way of taking ownership of your outcomes instead of waiting for someone to hand them to you.
That’s what we wanted Leyla to have,
not a diploma, but a foundation.
And now she’s standing in London,
in a room full of publishers, holding her own.
Confident, clear, exactly herself.
As Hannibal from The A-Team used to say:
“I love it when a plan comes together.”
Because yes, there was a plan.
Not a rigid one, not a perfect one, but an intentional one.
Most parents want their kids to be happy.
I want that too.
But I also want Leyla to be capable
– capable of building something from nothing
– capable of walking into any room without needing permission
– capable of making a joke in front of American publishers and having it land because she knows exactly who she is.
Happy is a feeling. Capable is a foundation.
The feeling comes and goes.
The foundation stays.
PS: Enjoy this?
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