College/University Entrepreneurs:

How to make the Most of your Education when starting a business

 

Are you in a college or University and still contemplating whether to start a business? Or you are convinced entrepreneurship is not for you – it’s expensive, and you have no time?

Deciding to start a business while at school can pose quite a dilemma, but there is good news it doesn’t have to be one, actually this is the best time to start. In fact starting at school can give you the tools you need to get your start up on the right foundation.

This is how you can get the best of academic world by leveraging on the resources at your college or university to start a business.

Double sword lesions taker

Taking classes related to your start up idea, since you will be working toward the successful completion of your degree, as well take a few classes in a field related to your start up, and trust me this might come at no extra cost maybe time.

So don’t hesitate to use your college start up idea as inspiration for academic projects and papers. That way you’ll keep refreshing and refining your business idea and still receive credit for your degree. And if your idea passes for a group assignment, you just have free labor refining and polishing your business from classmates and discuss the assignment with your tutor/lecturer and you have some free consultancy service.

Get some face to face time.

Higher education is about more than just books, you also have to access a lot of people. Do your home work; yes but also get as much out of your interaction with:

Your classmates and school friends: take advantage of having many easily accessible people while you can, finding these people to help launch your start up gets harder when you are already out of campus.  Let them help you vet your idea, test your product usability and build an initial momentum for online and off line followers and supporters.

Your professors: Professors are an amazing and usually underrated resource for students.  Talk to a few trusted professors on your business model, marketing, pricing and more aspects of your business. They also have connections out they can freely introduce you to n their recommendation to your initial clients may carry more weight than you believe.

Alumni’s:  Nothing softens the heart of an alumnus like a current student of his/her former school asking for advice, one once told me “Wow I feel honored – feels like am a role model now.” He actually ended up teaching a lot about what’s out there, how I can maximize my current state and introduced me to some of my first clients and suppliers.

Take seriously entrepreneurial challenges and competitions

There is never a shortage of entrepreneurial competitions and challenges when you are at the university, many corporate sponsored competitions or those sponsored by social organizations will always come along.  Register for all you can access, practice and Pitch your business, you might land on funding if your idea is good or if you fail the exposure, connections, trainings and media time you will get will never leave you the same.

Be open to those helping you

It’s so important to be transparent when developing your business in a university setting.  Be open with those helping with your idea, chances are they will be happy to work with you for a longer time when they are free and during their holidays giving you access to man-hours you might need to seriously pay for if you were out of school already.

Keep a positive attitude to both your education and your business ideas. If you fail to fund it immediately and first join the job market, you will have a burning reason to make you work harder learn more and save as much as you can – before you know it you might be in position to fund your campus business idea and off you go  and this time with both experience and funds. 

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By Andrew Ekwang. Business writer with Business Solutions