I do not know how to introduce this so I will just say it- college is the best time for starting up a business.
I was working on a guest post on balancing your college life with starting a new business and it hit me. I will say it again. College is the best time for starting up a business.
But why?
You need money in college
Starting a business may came as a hobby but it will most likely come out of necessity. Sometimes desperation drives innovation. We all know that many great businesses were started by college students working out of their parents garage. I will avoid the anecdotal advice and feel good stories today but I’m sure you guys know what I mean. College students need money. Starting up a business can be a significant source of income.
You have free time in college to start a business
We all would like to think that we are so busy that we have absolutely no time for anything. In that case how do most of us have time to catch every football game? How do we keep up with our favorite tv shows? Realistically the only time we are completely busy is right before an exam. I wrote all of my midterms and reports during the past 2 weeks. This week I have been focusing on my blog. The time is there. It’s just a matter of using this time better.
How can you improve your time management? Look no further than my time management tips to help you kick butt (sounds like I’m violent when I write these things but I’m not, I promise).
Your living conditions are ideal
Let me rephrase that- you live at home with your parents. If you moved away for college then this obviously doesn’t apply to you. Also I don’t mean to draw attention to college students because I’m sure many of you college graduates and young professionals are still living at home.
With a roof under your head how can you complain? You have no mortgage to stress about. All you have to stress about is having enough beer money for Friday night. Starting up a business is a lot easier when you don’t have the added stress of being responsible for a family and a mortgage.
Starting up a business has become increasingly easier
First of all I will steal a quote from Ramit- “Stop debating minutiae !” Seriously, I worried about the details of starting a blog for a few months. How would I host my site? How would I claim the income? Who would do the paperwork for me to setup an LLC? Do I even need an LLC?
Then one day I finally started writing blog posts. As I wrote posts I was still concerned about the server and all of those minor details.
On November 7th, 2008, I decided to it was time to pay the server costs and get my own domain name. Within hours the blog was running. The coffee change the blog earns didn’t come until many months later. Making that first move was the hardest part. The networking and connecting with other bloggers/readers can be very fun. Once I had the domain running, it was time to pump out content and try promoting it somehow.
Seriously, if you want to distribute your own t-shirts then just make the damn shirts! Draw up a unique design and get it on a shirt. Do not worry about the finance stuff because I doubt you are going to need to hire an accountant for the first few months while only your 4 closest buddies buy your shirts.
It’s really easy to worry about all of the minor details that come with starting a side business. In fact this is usually the greatest barrier to entry. Not the money or capital funding. It’s the psychological barrier of breaking through mainstream knowledge that suggests we should simply look for a job with someone else.
I will have more about earning money online and internet entrepreneurship for 20 somethings in an upcoming ebook project that I’m still working on. For now, I listed possible side businesses you can start in college when I wrote my ultimate financial survival guide.
Help from awesome Twitter followers
I threw out the question on why college is the best time for starting up a business on Twitter and received some great feedback.
@FourPillars: It’s all about the $$$.
@NoDebtPlan: Start with minimal capital and maximum time+energy. Failure is meaningless because you can always go get a job.
@amabiae: You have nothing to lose…and your entrepreneurial creativity isn’t burdened by as many mundane anchors.
@MoneyEnergy: You may be more motivated during college than at any later time & have the energy and fresh perspective to put into it.
Do you think college is the best time for starting up a business? Or do you believe that all of your time in college should be spent on studying?
I'm a 24 year old dude that studied finance in school and now wants to make it fun. Over the past three years I've been helping readers like YOU make more money and keep more cash in your pocket. I've appeared live on Fox Business News and I've been mentioned in the NY Times. You can also learn more about
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@David. Some harsh words- “self inflicted torture.” Don’t think it’s that bad lol but yea I definitely think you could potentially be better off starting your own thing early on in life.
@FS. That’s what the weekends and spring break Cancun trips are for! I live like a hermit Monday to Friday but am known to have a beverage or two on the weekends.
Teenager as a term and concept did not exist until the 1940s. Before then there were 2 periods in a person’s life: childhood and adulthood.
The word adolescent to refer to the young portion of adulthood had a positive connotation, as reflecting growth into maturity, ripening from youth. The young were encouraged to imitate the adult and become grown up.
Today by contrast we have a perverted view of maturity, an extended period of childhood where the presumption is that crucial decisions may be postponed without incurring a high price for this delay. That’s childish.
Time is a resource that no one can replenish but children waste it because of immaturity. In that time we could create opportunities that can give us immediate purpose for the present and objectives for the future.
Yet so many so-called adults waste this time and potential opportunities in the hope that, by having some bureaucrat punch their ticket at some college campus, the future will be set for success.
This is the great deceit of a “college education.” It’s the culmination of a life time of bureaucratic indoctrination that starts in government schools from kindergarten through high school, and ends killing human initiative.
That’s why so few have great ideas and even fewer take advantage of them immediately. Those who do, however, lead. They enjoy a freedom meant only for adults.
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