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How to Start Business as a College Student
What is the process of starting a business for a college student? Should you drop out of school to build your business? What is the role of a university don in helping students build a profitable and successful business? You here because you want to learn how to start a business.
Being a college student can be a very daunting task. School activities can be so overwhelming sometimes and that could make you forget about social activities at school sometimes. If you have the goal of high grades then you will want to take your studies seriously.
Going to the library will also not be left out if you want to be at the top of the academic pyramid.
A 2013 survey by Pew Internet and American Life Project, showed that about 54% used all combine, school and public libraries and this is on the increase daily with a little above 2 billion study materials made available.
This shows that American and European Governments encourage to develop academically more than any other things and this means you have to learn to balance your time well if you want to start a business as a college student. The system is not developed to accommodate some activities like running your own business as a student.
If you have a good plan in place, starting a business while In school can be a great idea to chase and develop. The founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerburg began to his business as a college of students, however starting a business in school without the proper guidance can be disastrous to your business.
Everything should start with proper planning. That is why you need to check our article on how to write a business plan so you will succeed in your business as a student. You can as well check the 7 business ideas for a college student to see what business you can start while in school.
Also Read: 7 Business Ideas for a College Student
Why dropping out is not the best the idea if you are starting a business in school
It is not compulsory for you to drop out of school before you can build a profitable business as a student. Dropping out of school is not a yardstick to succeeding in business. We have many people who are not students and still failed to build profitable businesses. School is never a distraction to developing entrepreneurial characteristics, rather it will even serve as a great place to get ideas and build better businesses. Dropping out of school will not teach you how to start a business.
In the school, you could have free access to materials such as printing materials and even the internet services to take online courses. It is also easy to build a team among students of like minds so you can build the business. The list of free resources you could have access to when in school is just limitless.
Also Read: 10 Types of Small Business Loans you Must Know
Why starting a business in school is a good idea
One of the best places to test your business idea is the college environment. If the business is excellent and growing then you might need to collaborate with great minds in school to build it up. Another reason why starting a business in school is a good idea is that it can easily rise your tuition fees.
How many people do you need to build a team of business partners in school? 2-6 can be good to start with. When you want to go far on business, don’t build alone. This is a golden rule you should always obey in business. Your business has a higher chance of growing fast and far if you have other minds you are working together with to achieve a common goal.
Getting students to work together can be a tough thing to get at first but with time and resilience, you will convince others to join your business and build it up together. So don’t give up when it looks like people are not buying the idea. It is always this case with business.
After reading the above paragraphs and taking note of some of the points, now is the time to see the steps to take to build a profitable business in school.
1. Have a Business Plan
A business plan is a document that describes how your business will be run and each step that will be taken to achieve it.
A business plan contains your business name, title page, executive summary, Business Description, Market strategy, financing and more.
Having a business plan is an essential part of your business. Some experts argue that it is as important as the financing of the business itself. Studies have also shown that businesses with business plans are more likely to succeed than businesses that don’t have a business plan at all.
A business plan serves as a road map that shows you how to manage and run your business.
If you cannot write a business plan you take advantage of being around business students in school to help you write or you can check our comprehensive article on how to write a business plan to see how to prepare one for your business.
Also Read: Importance of a Business Plan
2. Prepare Mission and Vision Statements
This is not as simple as it may sound to your ears. This has a lot to do with the success and failure of your business. You need to have some time to think about what vision you are trying to project for your business. Your Mission statement keeps you on track so you will derail from your main goal of starting your business in the first place.
Most of the time, the reason you are not gaining some monetary reward from your business is that you don’t have a mission statement to guide you on your business journey.
Also Read: Small Business: Guide to Growing a Profitable Business
3. Develop your Products and Services
The purpose of every business is to sell a product or render services. After identifying the kinds of products or services, then it will be time for you to bring that to the people for them to patronise.
4. Seek some knowledge of the business you are going into.
The key to success in every field is knowledge. You can even go the extra mile to gain knowledge about the business you have chosen.
Establishing a successful business requires time, energy, resources and knowledge. All these are things that cannot be easily put together, especially as a student with much work to do.
But you can find a way to establish the business even on a small scale to learn before going large scale.
