As most students filed out of the Timmins High auditorium, a couple lingered behind, capitalizing on a chance to get business advice from Caner Veli.
The founder and inventor of Liquiproof is also an entrepreneur, and environmental steward. He received one of the largest investment sums from Britain's Dragon's Den, and has been a Tedx Talks speaker.
This week, Veli shared his story with Timmins High and Roland Michener Secondary School students on career day.
"I think I touched a few people, they were really thankful of me being here. Some people wanted to expand on their questions that they had before and one chap at the end actually had a lot more business technical advice that he wanted, he wanted tactics,” said Veli after his talk.
There are a couple of things Veli wants the students to take away.
The first, he said, is to never stop learning.
"Continue to discover, learn new things, improve your knowledge, whatever it is, whatever subject, just continuously grow because if you’re not growing, you’re dying,” he said.
The other takeaway is to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.
"Growth comes after adversity, so struggles and hardship is what’s strengthening you as a person, whether physically or mentally," said Veli.
"Just realize that’s part of the journey and that once you get through that, you are a stronger, better person. You’re able to do more, be more, physically, mentally, spiritually, so just be prepared that being uncomfortable is part of life and you’ve just got to get comfortable with it."
Talking to high school students is just one of the events for Veli while in Timmins.
Tomorrow (Nov. 21), he's leading a Timmins Chamber of Commerce workshop about overcoming fear.
“Part of my story and journey is stepping through fear," he said.
"I’m helping the local businesses of the area perhaps overcome fear of public speaking, fear of failure that some business owners face, or even imposter syndrome and having that fear of rejection and not thinking they’re good enough. I help people understand what fear is and step through it and overcome it to rise up and live a courageous life."
