There are plenty of things, big and small, that students need to handle while studying in college: education itself, various activities, socialization, learning how to take care of themselves, and so on. It might feel like a very busy time – moreover, for most students it actually is.
So it isn’t surprising at all that while a lot of students do find the idea of working a part-time job while still in college completely normal, most of them still don’t consider starting their own business a good idea. It often seems too responsible, too hard to find time for, too complex to handle. Own business is usually associated with people, who are serious, businesslike, and wealthy enough to invest into such thing.
However, it isn’t always like that. And though the possibilities might scare some students, the idea of starting your own business while still in college is definitely worth considering.
Sure, there will be risks – but they’re inevitable for every new business. At the same time, besides the obvious perks from launching a business, you’ll be able to benefit from it in so many ways especially because you’re a student.
Here’s how you can benefit from starting a business in college:
1. It will teach you how to work.
Self-employment had become much more widespread than before during the past years – and as far as we can see, this tendency will continue. However, the colleges don’t always teach you how to do it properly, especially when you study things like arts or media.
The entrepreneurship-related courses are usually focused within business departments and don’t over cover self-employment topics well enough. Moreover, self-employment these days could be very different: you could run your own company that sells something or proofread paper as a freelance editor, for example. In the first case, a college course probably could help you. In the second, however, there’s a big chance you’ll need to learn everything from your own experience, as freelancing generally isn’t covered widely in colleges.
But if you decide to launch your own business, it doesn’t matter what you’ll do – become a freelancer or create a startup. Either way, you’ll definitely learn a lot about work and entrepreneurship (most likely more than you would do in college).
2. It will help you strengthen the existing skills and build new ones.
The situation when college knowledge might not be enough doesn’t end with entrepreneurship courses only. There are plenty of specializations where they do learn something valuable – but most likely would need to learn even more after you graduate and find a job. Take marketing, for example: though you learn it in college, you still need some real-life experience to understand the niche completely, get to know the trends, and so on.
But what would you say if you had an opportunity to get this experience while still in college? Moreover, you don’t even need to create a business that’s related to your specialization specifically in order to do so. For example, you might sale handmade goods but still hone your marketing skills in the process while promoting your business.
But it’s not only about the existing skills – you can build new ones, both soft and hard, in the process. You’ll need to network, to promote yourself, to manage finances, to hire people sometimes, to ensure that business is operational, and so on. Mentioning all those skills in your resume could make it indeed impressive.
3. It will boost your future career.
Speaking of resumes: one of the main reasons students take part-time jobs and internships during college years is to make them look more impressive. Not having any work experience after graduation still doesn’t help you look like an impressive candidate for the job. The good news is that nowadays there are more ways to get this experience – and self-employment is one of them.
In some ways, it’s even more convenient than taking a part-time job. For example, if you start a business, you’ll be the one in control of your schedule and you’ll decide how much time you’re going to spend on work. But there’s more than just that.
While any work experience matters, when it comes to finding a job, self-employment one seems even more valuable to many employers. It shows that a candidate with such experience is ambitious and hard-working. Managing your own business is indeed a complex thing, so even if you do this for a couple of months, this will still count.
4. If you fail, you won’t fail as hard as you could.
Of course, sometimes new businesses don’t succeed. This happens with many people but while some take such blow lightly, the others find it harder to recover – and not because they are more emotional or something.
The thing is that when you try this during college, you probably have nothing to lose. An average student still needs to repay a college loan but doesn’t need to pay a rent (or at least pay a lot) and support their family financially. This would change after a graduation, sooner or later, but if you recognize yourself in this description now, then you are luckier than you imagined.
In this case, you’ll be able to recover from a failure both financially and emotionally. Your failure won’t affect people close to you and won’t leave you homeless – yet it could be a valuable experience. Maybe you’ll use this knowledge to start a business again – only to succeed this time.
5. You have more time than you think.
Just like I’ve mentioned at the beginning, college years are a busy time. The number of things you need to keep in mind and pay attention to can seem overwhelming. So it’s no wonder that lack of time is the most common reason not to start a business for many.
The thing is that you’ll probably never feel like you have enough time. Managing your business after a full day in the office could be even harder than trying to manage it after lectures. Moreover, things like networking and finding clients in the future might take more time than now. After all, when you’re in college, you can do this around campus – but when you graduate, you’ll need to find another way.
So if there won’t be more time in the future – why don’t you start now? Chances are this could be one of the best decisions in your life.
