No spouse, no kids, and no money? It may be the perfect time to start a business.
With little to lose and everything to gain, young entrepreneurs are in the perfect position to take the risks involved with starting a business. But youthful inexperience may seem too big of an obstacle for most. Only one percent of businesses are owned by people under the age of twenty-five, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2002 survey of business owners. Young people starting a business face unique obstacles, but avoiding four common mistakes can improve the chance that living a dream can also start to paying the bills.
1. Not Enough Networking
One of the most profound differences between young professionals and their older counterparts is the lack of networking opportunities. Seasoned entrepreneurs and those fresh from the corporate world have had the time to build up a list of contacts to help with a start-up. Without their own industry experience, young people must rely on the advice of others who have gone before them.
“If you can get mentors to help you then you don’t have to learn everything on your own every time you make decisions,” said Judith Cone of the Kauffman Foundation, which works to encourage entrepreneurship across America and improve education. “Almost every community has support organizations for entrepreneurs.”
Government organizations affiliated with the Small Business Administration (SBA) have offices all over the country, as well as a national network. Peggy Fajohn, lender relations specialist at the Richmond, Va., SBA office, said all programs are open to young entrepreneurs but none are specific to them. Organizations like SCORE, Counselors to America’s Small Business, provide counseling to small business from retired and practicing business owners. The Small Business Development Centers network has in every state. Many, but not all, are located at colleges and universities where they provide counseling and classroom training.
“They are great networking opportunities,” Fajohn said.
Fajohn also mentioned about 100 Women’s Business Centers across the country that provide, among other services, mentor protégé opportunities. But the name shouldn’t fool anyone.
“They also work with men,” she said. “They advertise to women but don’t turn anyone away.”
When Ryan Allis started his company Broadwick Corporation in July 2003, just after his freshman year at University of North Carolina, he was no stranger to the entrepreneurial world. He had started a computer help company when he was 11, a Web site design company at fourteen and a web marking company at sixteen. He knew the value the business community would be to him.
“The willingness of other entrepreneurs to give advice or meet to help you out is really quite surprising,” Allis remembered. “People are willing to help out young people trying to make a positive impact and start a company.”
At Indiana University, entrepreneur hopefuls take advantage of networking opportunities on campus. In February 2006, more than fifty members of the Young Entrepreneurs Association (YEA) pack into an empty classroom of the IU Kelley School of Business. Pizza boxes litter the front tables as students circulate during the allotted half-hour of “networking”. As they balance their food on napkins and gesture with plastic cups the dull roar of conversation fills the room.
IU junior John Evans, an executive board member of YEA, said the club helped him to connect. “I’ve made tons of contacts,” he said. “I’ve met people interested in my ideas and also helped people. It’s a give and take relationship.”
2. Not Prepared for the Work Load
Any business requires incredible amounts of effort so aspiring business owners should make sure the sweat and tears will be worth it in the end. “If you are going to start a business you better love what you are doing,” Cone said. “It is so much work and the pay off is just so far away… it’s not motivating when it’s 3 a.m.… there has to passion there.”
