Use Your Youth To Your Advantage
You should wait until you're older and have more business and real-world experience before starting a business. You should just focus on school for now. Nobody will take you seriously at this age. You'll hear all these reasons--and more--about why you shouldn't start a business from your friends, your parents, your advisors and many others who only have your best intentions at heart. But before you start believing what you hear, take a moment to think to yourself, What would have happened if somebody had told these arguments to and convinced: - Bill Gates who left Harvard to start Microsoft
- Michael Dell who left the University of Texas to start Dell
- Milton Hershey who opened his first candy shop when he was 18
- Fred Smith who, while attending Yale, received a "C" on his Fedex business plan and decided to start his business anyway
- Steve Jobs who left Reed University to start Apple
- William Hewlett and David Packard who started HP out of a garage after graduating from Stanford
- Or the thousands of other young people who have started a business and been successful
Imagine the potential that would have been stifled if these visionaries hadn't started businesses when they were young! Imagine how our world would have been different without an HP, a Dell, a Microsoft, a Fedex, a Hersheys or an Apple.Young entrepreneurs are not anomalies. Below are six ways that youthful entrepreneurs have the cards tipped in their favor: It's easier to exceed expectations and harder to not meet them. The fact that adults expect less from young people can be used to your advantage. It's OK if you're not perfectly polished. It will take less effort to please clients and make a name for yourself with the media.
There's little competition from other students. How many students do you know who are entrepreneurs? There are definitely not many, which makes your story more press-, scholarship-, competition-, client- and award-worthy. And remember, accomplishments that are incredible in college become less impressive as you get older.
There are resources that support youthful endeavors. There are many nonprofit organizations and individuals that focus on or are more than willing to specifically support entrepreneurial youth. First on this list is your school, which probably has teachers who can assist you or who have contacts in the business community that can further your goals.
You have an existing passive secondary stream of income. Students often have income coming in from their parents. Enen if it's not consistent, then it's at least something you know you can always fall back on. If you're venture fails when you're young, you probably won't starve or lose your house in the process.
There's a synergy between your school and your business. The practical knowledge you learn from running your business can help your academic work and vice-versa. Some schools will allow you to earn academic credit from or do an independent study of your business. You can also base class projects on your business. That means, you might be able to create a marketing plan or develop new sales strategies or markets for your business on your "school time."
Your creativity is probably at a high point. Young people have a fresh perspective on the world. This perspective lends itself to seeing many opportunities that haven't already been exploited. The founders of Microsoft, Yahoo, Dell and FedEx all saw unique opportunities and capitalized on them when they were still students. Reprinted with permission from Entrepreneur.com. Copyright © 2005.
Copyright 2003 Entrepreneur.com. All Rights Reserved. Michael Simmons is the author of the best-selling book, The Student Success Manifesto: How to Create a Life of Passion, Purpose and Prosperity and an award-winning entrepreneur. He is also one of America's top youth motivational speakers for college campuses. Read his online journal at young entrepreneur journey or click on the following link to download his free success ebook.
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Entrepreneurs - Your Well Being Should Come Before Profits
I believe the spiritual aspect of life, especially to entrepreneurs, is very important. While business may be the focal point for an entrepreneur's life, it's your outlook on life that shapes what kind of person you are.
5?4?3? 2...1?
A streak dating back more than three decades came to an end at midnight on New Year's Eve. For the first time since 1972, as America rang in 2005, "America's Oldest Living Teenager" was not in Times Square to count down the dropping of the giant ball. The 75-year-old host of ABC's "New Year's Rockin' Eve" was in the hospital, recuperating from a stroke suffered a few weeks earlier.
For Business SUCCESS... Listen To The Voices of Experience
Discover the pitfalls of owning your own business
BEFORE... [you make a BAD choice!]
Six Steps to Guarantee Your Business Success
Many of us slave away for years for one uninspiring company after another and dream of the day when we can sack the boss and go it alone.
CHINESE TAKE-OUT: Oriental Business Principles Demystified For Online Enterprises
"The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools."
- Confucius
Staying Ahead of the Perils, Excerpt of Entrepreneurial Motivation Speech
Running a business is not an easy endeavor, it takes courage, hard work and a strategic mindset. I feel now that I am retired looking back on it all, that it is my duty to provide to new entrepreneurs a few of the secrets of how to get things done. Every year through out our long history spanning over a quarter of a century, The Car Wash Guys Team had been careful to watch changes that affected our business. One year we are watching droughts in the North Western Hemisphere and how the water supply affects our operations. We needed the water to wash cars and our countrymen need it for farming and drinking. Water is life. We also saw heavy El Nino seasons on the Western United States, British Columbia Canada, Mexico, Central America and parts of Western South America; imagine running a car wash business when it rained almost 60 days straight and we are not talking the drizzle like in the North Eastern US each year.
Business Is No Guarantee of Riches
Q: I'm thinking about starting a business since that seems to be how most rich people get rich. I don't have any business experience or much money, but I'm a fast learner and have lots of energy. Any free advice?
Peter J.
Top Ten Ways to Increase Your Profitability
1) Go back to basics.
Take a couple of steps back and address the fundamental facts or principles of your business. Going back to basics can mean cleaning the slate and focusing on basic elements that create success.
Franchise Business and Franchise Businesses
Franchise business is being part of a successfully proven business that has a name or trademark that is well known and profitable. Franchise businesses are strategically tried and marketable with options to expand by offering products and services that appeal to the consumer. Having to make the decision on which franchise business to buy can be challenging. Franchise business consultants can offer assistance to evaluate current franchise opportunities with valued insight. A franchise business consultant may also be able to offer assistance to the business owner who wants to make a current business franchisable.
Definition of Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
Cut to the Quick - What is an Entrepreneur? The Inside Story
Enjoying the title of entrepreneur is a hollow feeling.
The History of the Franchise Business - Learning about Business Opportunities by Looking at the Past
Hair care has been around as long as humans have been on the planet.
The earliest record of personal hair care dates back 2.5 million years ago, when brushes used to create cave paintings in Spain and France were adapted for use in hair grooming. Interestingly, many of the innovations in hair design that are still used today originated in the late 19th century.
Outcomes - Thats What You Need to Focus On
Successful business owners and managers need to be very
clear about what outcomes they want.
Whether you call them goals, objectives or targets, these
are the factors that you're ultimately judged on.
Outcomes determine whether your business is a success or a
failure.
The 5 Senses of an Entrepreneur
If you have seen me speak you will know that I believe the word 'entrepreneur' is used way too much these days. People seem to wear it as a badge instead of just getting out there and doing entrepreneurial things.
Just because you run or own a successful business doesn't necessarily mean that you an entrepreneur.
How To Start a New Business
While it is tempting to just leap into a new business because of it's exciting possibilities, a few key planning points will vastly increase your chances of success. These steps aren't difficult, but they're easy to skip. Many businesses ultimately depend on a slim profit margin, so planning can really help the process. Too many restaurant patrons, for instance, assume that running a restaurant seems fun because of the many restaurants they have visited, but restaurants have an especially high failure rate.
Are You an Entrepreneur That is Starved for Time?
Being an entrepreneur and running a successful home-based business is stressful at times, and can be hectic. Success within a home-based business though, absolutely demands time management skills, or the chores that need to get done will be left undone, and procrastination, as well as a serious "personal time deficiency" will occur.
Taking Charge and Getting Results: The Choice is Yours
As one of the most successful direct sales entrepreneurs in the industry, I have found there are two kinds of people in the world, those who would like success and those who are serious about success. There really is no in between. Think about it. Everyone wants success in their life; they want to make more money, have more time, have less stress and really make their mark in the world. The people who actually do it are the people who will not accept any alternatives.
Raising Entrepreneurs: What to Do When Your Kid is Born to Think Differently
Adolescence brings with it many challenges ? for both parents and kids. Young people, still new to the world, are embarking on a journey to discover their passions, joys, and authentic self-images. More often than not, however, their journey more closely resembles an elongated stampede of enraged elephants than it does an innocent soul-searching endeavor. But no one said growing up would be easy.
How A Woman Became A Successful Bill Collector In A Mans Industry And How You Can Too!
I have worked in the credit industry for over 17 years now. When I first started out, I only knew a very few women in the industry. That number has grown over the years, but not by much. Being a bill collector has always been categorized as a "man's industry".
10 Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs
Running a one-person business is a creative, flexible and challenging way to become your own boss and chart your own future. It is about creating a life, as it is about making a living. It takes courage, determination and foresight to decide to become an entrepreneur. From the relatively safe cocoon of the corporate world, where paychecks arrive regularly, you will be venturing into the unchartered territories of business.
|
|