Wednesday | May 23, 2012
The Student Entrepreneur: Midterms or Angry Clients? (Part 2)
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By
Yu-kai Chou
8 February 2007
In response to the overall fear of starting your own business early on, I will explain why your college years are the best time to become an entrepreneur. As we know, many people have the mindset of first establishing themselves in a corporate job, earning experience and accumulating wealth, then finally launching their businesses. Sure, you can do that, and it makes sense. But excluding the energy required that you would need at such an age, you are not living the "life" of an entrepreneur, but simply a life ending in that goal.
When I first entered college, I noticed that school was not teaching me the things I wanted to do with my life. The classes are of similar genre, but they are more theoretical than practical. To satisfy my passion in business, I was then stuck with the choice of doing data-entry work in a large prestigious firm or starting my own small business and learn how a company operates. For some reason, the latter seemed to be more appealing. But while most people get stuck on the question "Gosh, how do I start?" entrepreneurs go and find out the answer. An entrepreneur is a dreamer who brings the dream into reality.
In the practical sense, here are four reasons why college students should start a business.
Relative financial freedom
For many students, your college years are a period when you don’t have to worry about paying the bills, feeding the family, and other money issues that forces one to fall into the "reality trap" of being enslaved by a job. Most students are still supported by their parents during this time. Not having the pressure of working a 9-5 job to survive frees up the ability of the student to pursue his/her passion. Part-time jobs are often for résumé-building and luxurious spending.
If you start your business while still a student, you might have enough time to build your business to the extent that, upon graduating, you will be able to support your desired lifestyle. On the other hand, if the business didn’t turn out well, it would be happening in a relatively risk-free situation. You can always find a job then to pay the bills (funding and financial risks will be explained in the next part).
College is the best place to find help
When you are in the work force, people only see you either as being capable, or not. If you are not, they find someone else. But most professionals are quite willing to help out motivated students. They see students as leaders of tomorrow, instead of people at the bottom of the ladder. To be a successful entrepreneur, it is essential to have mentors who can share their experience with you. In the business world, anything can go wrong, and inexperienced entrepreneurs will hit many walls before they figure things out. If you have someone who can guide you to avoid the walls that he/she hit, business building will become so much more efficient. College is the best place to find mentors.
Large control of your own time
College is the time between getting controlled by parents, 8-4 high school life and getting controlled by your boss, 8-5 working life. This is the time where you can decide how you want to spend a day. Whereas most people consider this in-between zone to be the best time to have fun, you can still start your own business and have a fun life, too. To entrepreneurs, running a business is a fun experience. It can be comparable to Starcraft, chess and other games where you have an army or kingdom, and with a limited budget, try to expand and become strongest in the region. True, running a company is a lot more work involved than a computer game, but it’s also something very real and can potentially change your life and even society.
Stay ahead of the game
So as we previously discussed, most students think that college is a great place to have some fun. Sure, you worked hard up till college and you have your whole life to work. So why work more in college? Here’s why. How you use this opportunity often makes the difference between working happily for the rest of your life and working…well, not so happily. Yes, you deserve to have fun and take a rest. But if everyone else is having fun while you are building your future, you will be ahead of the game.
The difference between 95% and 96% is not just 1%. If you are giving 96% effort and everyone else is giving 95%, you will win. Winner takes all. So if you just work when others are working, you are being "normal," leading to a normal career. But if you work when others are having fun, every inch of work you push makes a competitive difference! Personal and business growth is like compound interests. The earlier you start, the faster it builds later on. You can have fun and be mediocre your whole life, or put in the early effort now and excel in your field.
Many of these points are not limited to entrepreneurship itself, but they are meant mainly to encourage students to use this college time to the fullest, to be productive. And with this productive time, if you have an interest in entrepreneurship, this is a good time to start. Entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone, but your college years are a great time to find out if it is for you. It might turn out to be more rewarding than anything else in your life.
For more information, please contact Yu-kai Chou at Chou_yukai@yahoo.com.
© 2008, Young Money Media, LLC. All rights reserved.
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