Why College is the right time to start a Business
“Why do you want to start a business now?” That’s the question a person would face when he says that he wants to start a business when he’s studying in college. The stereotypical thought of a majority of people would be,’College is already hectic, a business now is just going to add to the pipeline of stress’. This thought should be quashed out, because college IS the right time to start a business.
Why you ask? It’s because…
It’s okay to fail as long as you don’t give up. College going kids are usually of the age group 17-22 and this is the time when people have so much of energy and untapped resources. As you are not a part of the real world yet, even if there comes a time when you fall flat, you will still have time to get up and start walking again. In fact, the tenacity you show towards your work will be appreciated.
You meet like minded people. We interact with a lot of people in college. This makes it easier for us to find people having the same wavelength as us. College also provides cheap labour. The fellow students might be willing to work for free or for partial ownership of the startup.
You get a chance to discover yourself. Every individual is talented in a way. The answer to life is in finding out what the talent is. To achieve this, a person has to try different things. By having a startup in college you can really find out what you’re meant to do sooner. Having a business in college is advantageous as we get plenty of free time there. You can use this spare time productively and earn something out of it.
You have access to unbounded resources. There are so many professors and researchers who have a lot of experience who give unimpeded suggestions. Also you have access to the laboratories, library and other such facilities. Word-of-mouth is the most efficient form of marketing.This makes marketing in the college environment very easy. There are so many opportunities one would get if they start a business when in college. There are a lot of organisations which provide funding for business ideas.
We have Proof. Let’s take the example of the quintessential entrepreneur Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. He started this venture in his sophomore year at Harvard. Little did he know at that time that he would create the second most visited website in the world. To quote him,”The biggest risk is not taking any risk in a world that is changing, really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks…”
Entrepreneurship is a skill which cannot be learnt within the four walls of a classroom. Only experience will teach you the lessons of business. One cannot expect instant success in this field. Perseverance and assiduousness will take you to greater heights. So you better start early if you want to reach the summit sooner!
