Studentship is not only the spring of life but also a period when ambitions grow but do not find satisfaction. We want to live not just better, but better than others; this is a fact. The dreams, however, are destined to come true only if you approach them with a share of common sense.
The desire of an ambitious student can be a beautiful life or his own business, nothing is surprising in this. I started to plan my future business when I was a student, I planned my project after I was done with my homework, and did not have to edit my essay any more.
How do I create a plan?
Let’s say you want to become the owner of a concrete plant. What to do? To begin with, you should choose something smaller as a goal. Some enterprising people started their way into the concrete business with intermediary operations.
To become an intermediary, you need hundreds of times less money. Think about what is better to have in a few years: a working business or the same rosy dream?
Choose the tangible
So, the first plan will be realistic. In it, you achieve small goals to go further. It is not necessary to open your first business in the niche that seems attractive to you today, but the case shouldn’t cause a gag reflex.
When a simple and feasible goal is defined, it remains to break it into stages and schedule specific actions by days of the week. By doing them, you are getting closer to the dream. The aerial dream that turns your head is becoming more and more achievable every day.
Ask yourself questions:
- What can you give to people?
- What can you do?
- What are you interested in?
You need to clarify whether what you are ready to offer is in demand. Somewhere at the junction of the four answers, you can find your dream job.
If it seems to a beginner that they do not know how to do anything, then they might be too self-critical, or that they can always master something from scratch.
You don’t have to spend years learning something new. For example, you can do the course from a month to six months. Practice is worth paying close attention to because theory will not help much without skills.
And in general, commerce requires the purity of the genre. You may not be able to do anything, but you can masterfully organise other people. This is a great skill that can be acquired. He is highly valued and always brings a return.
What to do with the plan?
What should I do with the plan to achieve the desired? This may surprise you, but it needs to be done step by step. In life, everything is more complicated: we all make plans, but the same thing happens to them as with New Year’s lists — they are safely sent to a pile of creative junk. If the plan is not followed, then the dream is not approaching – this is logical.
So, accept it: the plan will have to be carried out, this is a bitter fact. Making the plan is fun, but if planning without action brought results, we would all be oligarchs. You will have to control yourself, and then a lot will become achievable.
Friends of a budding entrepreneur
When opening a business, you need to know your enemies and friends in person. Freelancer’s friends will be saving time and money, as well as other useful habits. Without saving money, it is difficult to get far in the first stages. Self-education should not be avoided, this is a very important thing. It opens up new horizons for the freelancer.
The young man has more time because apart from studying and work, he is not particularly busy with anything. In any case, they have the right to make a mistake and, if desired, they will always find at least an extra hour.
How to save correctly? For some, this is a whole science, although the process itself is relatively simple:
- Always make savings first, the rest can be spent.
- Avoid unnecessary expenses.
- Don’t tempt yourself by browsing online stores.
- Forget about the fact that you have something lying somewhere at all.
- Look for additional sources of income.
When it comes to saving, there is practically no difference between earned and saved money.
Enemies of a budding entrepreneur
Every aspiring entrepreneur, including a freelancer, has sworn enemies. These are various ‘time stealers’. Such enemies can be subtle and insidious:
- Social media
- Messengers
- Smartphones
- Online games
- Idle friends
- Entertainment sites
- Alcohol and other bad habits.
Time is an irreplaceable resource that must be protected. If some things take precious minutes (hours, years) and do not benefit, then it is recommended to get rid of them ruthlessly. In order not to moan later that there are not enough days to perform vital tasks.
In social media, it is better to have professional accounts or groups that generate income. This is the only benefit that a novice entrepreneur will derive from these projects. The same applies to messengers – contacts with colleagues, customers, and partners can be maintained throughout the day. It is not recommended to breed useless connections for the sake of flooding.
Healthy habits will become a source of new opportunities, harmful ones will leave you with a beer belly and bags under your eyes. It’s up to you to decide what’s best.
The blood of business is money, which for the time being lies in the pockets of customers. There are no clients — there is no business and development.
That is why a novice entrepreneur needs to focus on attracting customers. He can arrange a business at any convenient moment. The search for clients will help to determine in advance whether the idea is promising in principle.
The very essence of entrepreneurship is to be able to make money without having serious investments, to act in conditions when resources are limited. People who only think that they have no money suffer from what is called “poor man’s thinking.” They concentrate on what they don’t have, missing out on opportunities. Act now while you are young.
Practice shows that there is always something missing in the process of business development. But business people know how to do well with what they have, constantly acting in conditions of uncertainty.
Use the possibilities of the internet
Once upon a time, to start a business, it was necessary to have a more or less significant amount of money. But even in that distant time, enterprising people opened a business using all the opportunities that turned up. Today, a novice entrepreneur has the most powerful resource: the internet.
What is the advantage of online business?
- Smaller investment. Previously, to be respectable, it was necessary not only to wear suitable clothes but also to have an office. When your company operates over the internet, you don’t need a suit or an office. And this means that you save money a lot.
- You don’t need a staff. Working online, you can always use the services of remote employees. If possible, then pick it up in your city. But practice shows that decent freelancers control and discipline themselves, even if entire regions separate them from their boss.
- Advertising is cheaper. Yes, the Internet requires less investment from an entrepreneur, including in advertising. Of course, you will need money, but the amount needed to start will be 10 times less than when opening a business offline.
- Flexibility. When an entrepreneur does business offline, he is still tied to the place. For the company to work successfully, the presence of the boss is required at least for the first time. When a business is managed via the internet, the entrepreneur has every right to travel. He is not connected to anything at all, because his worksite is always with him. The only requirement is to be online.
- Lower risks. There are fewer risks online than offline. Internet sites are almost impossible to rob, blow up, or flood. If competitors ever hire a hacker to bring down your site, then you can be proud of yourself; you have become significant and have weight. Usually, such large online platforms can already pay for the services of specialists who will protect the company’s resources.
James Wallace has been an advocate for mental health awareness for years. He holds a master’s degree in counselling from the University of Edinburgh.
