dollarbreedersFirst, write a business plan. Leigh Ann Tona, a senior at the University of Delaware (UDD), operated a food truck business venture and persevered. She succeeded, but it wasn’t by accident.
With the help of her professors and parents, she did a lot of planning and spent a lot of time looking for used vehicles on Craigslist. tona started her business four months after receiving her business management degree in September 2012. Since then, she’s been making sandwiches full-time – and her signature dish, Mac & Cheesesteak.
Like Tona, some college students pursue self-employment directly after graduation or even while still in school. In 2014, a quarter of entrepreneurs were between the ages of 20 and 34, according to the 2015 Kauffman Index: startups report.
While more than half of 18- to 24-year-olds see entrepreneurship as an opportunity, only about one-third say they have the skills to start their own business, according to Babson and Baruch Colleges’ 2014 Entrepreneurship Report.
If you’re a college student looking to start your own business, here are five tips to help you succeed.
Use your student status.
Follow Tona’s example and take an entrepreneurship course to conduct a feasibility study and market research on the business you want to start. Visit the owners of existing businesses in the field you want to enter. Eric Munson, associate professor at the University of Vermont Grossman School of Business, says they will share insights with students that they would not normally tell other business owners.
Munson said, “Find out all the difficulties of conducting business because you may encounter similar challenges.”
If your product or service in general is aimed at college students or young adults, turn to clubs, fraternities and other groups to test your ideas. Ask them what they like about your competitors. Then use that feedback to improve your product.
2. Participate in school-sponsored entrepreneurial activities.
If you’re still in college, don’t just learn about entrepreneurship, practice it. According to a study this year by the Journal of Small Business Management, entrepreneurship programs that offer mentoring are more likely to help you become a successful entrepreneur than theory-based courses.
Many colleges and universities host hackathon and entrepreneurship competitions, and some campuses have gas pedals and incubators that offer office space, mentoring and financial support.
After Tona submitted her business plan assignment in 2011, her professor encouraged her to apply for the school’s business plan competition. tona won first place, winning $1,000. she says it wasn’t a lot of seed money, but “winning is validation.
3. Leverage relationships with professors.
Tona graduated three years ago, but she still keeps in touch with her business school professors, many of whom were former business owners. They advise her on planning and development and teach her a lot about what she should know as an entrepreneur.
Munson says he likes it when he stays in touch with former students. He also offers internships for alumni who are looking for part-time help at the moment. He adds that alumni groups can be an unexpected source of advice, clients and even funding.
4. Be business-minded.
Although this tip may seem obvious, many people get caught up in their passion – whether it’s cooking, jewelry making or coding – and they neglect their business plan and budget. So when you choose to start a company, make sure you are committed to running it as a business, not just as a hobby. If you’ve graduated from college and need help with market research, writing a business plan or developing a budget, visit your local Small Business Development Center. There are hundreds of service centers across the country that offer free, objective business counseling.
5. Compare your financing options.
Finding start-up financing is one of the biggest challenges facing entrepreneurs. Until you’ve been in business for at least two years, it’s nearly impossible to get a bank loan. As a result, nearly one-third of entrepreneurs rely primarily on personal savings to fund their businesses, according to a 2014 report. As a college student or recent graduate, you may not have as much savings, especially if you’re saddled with student loans.
Online lenders are more willing to lend to new businesses, and their application process is faster and more convenient than banks. However, their fees are more expensive than bank loans, and many banks still require a minimum of one year in business. If you need a small business loan, compare your options to get the best deal.
Last month, Tona planned to expand into future winter-related businesses – she’s keen to open a cafe in addition to a food truck. In the long run, she wants to teach a college entrepreneurship course because it would be valuable to her as an adjunct professor with real business experience. “I want to be able to help students like myself,” Tona said. “If I can do it, they can do it too.”
My advice to college entrepreneurs is to start with something low-barrier, low-investment, low-risk. For example: knowledge payment. It is one of the hottest Internet startups at the moment. It started in 2016, and after five years of development, it has become a well-developed Internet windfall project.
Knowledge payment currently mainly refers to the phenomenon that the receiver of knowledge pays money for the knowledge he reads. Knowledge payment allows knowledge recipients to indirectly pay knowledge disseminators and screeners, rather than allowing those involved in the knowledge dissemination chain to gain revenue through other means such as traffic or advertising.
Unlike other platform-based projects, those are playing on the big guys’ platforms, which are subject to many rules and uncertainties. In contrast, knowledge payment projects are completely self-built platform system, everything is controlled by yourself, and the income is all your own.
Just like the micro-class project I am doing now, it also belongs to the category of knowledge payment. The most important thing is that it can realize unattended fully automated operation, create personal IP, form brand effect, and then become a real automated money-making machine. The finished product is the following look.
All roads lead to Rome. Although college students have less experience in starting a business, they still have great advantages. Because of our strong learning ability, the ability to accept new things, new technologies, new ideas, more innovative consciousness, coupled with the right approach and perseverance, the probability of success is still very high. I am Niu Weiwei, WeChat public number: Niu Niu micro-class Follow me to share more dry goods, take you to break out a future!
dollarbreeders
