5 Reasons Why You Should Start a Business While in College

Lisa MichaelsMarketing Consultant
Published:
Updated:
Even though starting and growing a lucrative business while you’re still in college sounds impossible, it is actually quite conceivable. There are several reasons why this is the perfect time to start a new venture.

 When you think about starting your own business, you may think about attaining this dream many years and even decades into the future. Trying to start and run a business while you are attending college classes and barely making ends meet sounds nearly impossible at first glance.


Starting a new business is never going to be easy, and there are actually substantial reasons why it makes sense to start your business while you are still in college, rather than after graduation.


Here are five primary reasons why it makes sense for a college student to become an entrepreneur.


Nothing to Lose


Later in your adult life, you may have a family, a mortgage and even a career. Starting a business may take time, energy and funds away from these responsibilities. In college, you basically don’t have anything to lose by giving your business idea a chance. After all, in the event that you do fail with this attempt, you will have lost little to nothing and can easily go back to your normal life as a college student.


Keep in mind that it can take several tries to get it right when starting a new business regardless of when you actually get started. Each attempt may teach you new skills and trade secrets that better position you for success on a future attempt.


By getting started as soon as possible, you can get your feet wet. You have plenty of time to learn from mistakes at this point in your life. More than that, by starting with entrepreneurship earlier in life, you may be less averse to making additional attempts to launch a business later on.


Available Resources


When you launch a new business, you may discover that you need more information in specific areas in order to succeed. For example, you may need to create an app for your business or develop a marketing plan. While in college, you can reach out to fellow students for help, or you can even take a few classes on the topic yourself. Professors are generally keenly interested in helping you as well.


A college campus may have substantial resources that you can use within walking distance, including research facilities, labs, support and more. In addition, you may be able to easily connect with highly intelligent, like-minded people who can assist you or even partner with you.


Remember that you may have to pay a small fortune for professional consulting services, access to facilities and services and more outside of college. As a paying college student, these resources are yours to use, so you might as well take full advantage of them while you still can.


Financial Freedom


If your venture does become successful, you can easily slide into full-time operations after graduating or even while you are still working on your degree. Remember that a home-based business may be able to start on a dime, and you can continue to run your business from home for as long as possible to keep overhead low.


If your business turns a decent profit, you can even start paying off college-related debt sooner than you otherwise may be able to. This can set the stage for financial freedom earlier in life.


More Free Time


You may think that you are too swamped with college classes to find time to launch your business. However, consider how busy your schedule will be when you have a demanding career, children pulling you in all directions, a house to maintain and more.


You have ample time in college to experiment with new ideas and to be creative with the possibilities. Your effort now could steer your life in a new and wonderful direction.


Experience


Many college students spend a considerable amount of time trying to add experiences and skills to their resume. This may be from an internship, a part-time job or other activities.


When you start your own business, you have considerable control over the experiences that you can list on your resume. Your venture may be successful, and you may not need to add experiences to a resume after all. However, if you do need to look for a job after college, your startup effort can be a huge plus during the hiring process.


Final Thoughts


Many working adults have dreams about one day starting their own business and leaving the nine-to-five life behind. However, many find that they are too entrenched in their life because of personal responsibilities, debts and more to truly give their entrepreneurial ideas an honest chance.


You can see that being bold and brave in college may be one of the best things you can do if you want to become a successful entrepreneur. Spend time developing a thoughtful business plan and get started right away.


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Comments (1)

Craig KehlerProduct Manager
CERTIFIED EXPERT

Commented:
Great article. One of our employees who went to Cal Poly did just that and they were very successful. http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/business/article39157704.html

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