College is a time for learning, living, experimenting, starting a business, and having fun. Yes, I said starting a business. Although the other things are all good, starting a business while in college is probably one of the most important choices can make in your 4 or 5 year college career…or maybe even 6 for the slower ones out there! As a student, you get used to a few different things: not having a bunch of money to throw around, eating as cheaply as possible, living in cramped quarters, and making what you have work. So, I hope that sounds like the perfect time to you to open a business – because it is!
There are so many different reasons to start a business in college that Mike could have written a book about them all, but he would have just been joining a dozen or more other authors who have already done it. So instead here we are with a book about getting the job done with not many resources. This is EXACTLY the mentality that you need to have as a collegiate entrepreneur and student business owner. Here are a few tips to hopefully help you jump up and shout “I’M A TOILET PAPER ENTREPRENEUR!”
- 1. Exploit any resource you have – While at college, you are going to meet a lot of people, make a lot of connections, and have a lot of interesting opportunities. Take advantage of every single one that benefits you and your business. Places like the library, computer lab, Dean’s office, career center, and professor offices are the kind of resources that you need to be tapping into. By taking advantage of these places for your business needs (bouncing ideas off of professors, doing research in the library, making copies in the computer lab, and planning your business out with the help of the career center) you will be a successful student entrepreneur.
- The Law of Attraction – As I have been hearing more and learning more about the law of attraction (what you focus on is what is going to happen), I have been seeing more and more how it played a roll in my college career and how it can help you. You always hear people say to surround yourself with people like you or that you want to be like; that is a good first step. However, surround yourself with people who are focusing on the same goals as you are, are interested in the same topics, and compliment your skill set well. With all of energy you and your network put into good things and what you want, it is bound to come to you. Work hard, believe in yourself, and dream big.
- Think Small and Scale Big – I know a lot of collegiate entrepreneurs who had amazing business ideas but they were always thinking on the highest level possible…therefore they never launched their business because they could not figure out how to get it started. If they had just scaled it down a few levels, started small, and built a growth plan everything could have worked out. Cameron Johnson, among other successful entrepreneurs make this recommendation and I completely agree with it. As you develop your business idea do not let it grow too big in your head that you can’t support it in real life. Start your business off small and slowly work on expanding it as you grow, as you go through college, and as you enter the “real world”.
If you stay in line with these tips and the others shared here on the TPE blog, then you have a winning formula for a successful business. The biggest problem that students face is taking the first step and jumping off the edge. Once you start falling, you’ll pick up speed and start flying to great success!
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Chris Pund is a recent graduate of Radford University (Mike here - Radford is a pretty awesome party school, by the way. Just my two cents. Mike out) and now focuses his time on growing his website development business and eBay business while running a popular blog for student entrepreneurs, Dorm Room Biz. Chris jams all of that into the evening hours after working all day in the real world at a full time job. To learn more about Chris’ businesses, experiences, and more great tips like these, subscribe to Dorm Room Biz!
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