The big question isn’t if you should start a business (if you’re a little bit pro-active and good at taking your lumps, you definitely should) but what business to start. That can be a little difficult. What hasn’t been done before?
Well, here are a couple of ideas that you can definitely try.
Solve problems for students
The first thing to realize is that the best businesses solve problems that the bosses themselves experienced at one point or another. As you just finished university, that’s where you should concentrate your attention for problem solving. There are several reasons for this.
- You know what life is like at the university, therefore you know if your problem is a real one that people will pay good money to solve, or if it’s just something you imagined.
- You still have a lot of connections with universities, therefore you’ll find the marketing of your product a lot easier. Seeing as marketing is often the most expensive part of a new company, that’s a real bonus.
- University students won’t think you’re ‘too young’. Many people in our society are immensely ageist. They’ll say that if you’re fresh out of university you don’t know how the world works. That’s really annoying to hear. Fortunately, one group that won’t agree with all of those people is fellow students. So sell your product to them first. Then, when you’re successful they’ll think twice before calling you too young.
Content creation
As you don’t have that much money, but you do have a lot of time, focus on giving people a service instead of a product. So, concentrate on something that you are good at or learn something new, be it writing, digital design, web production or anything else.
Now, you can either start working for clients directly, or – if that’s something that you’re not particularly good at, work for an agency instead. There are plenty out there writing services. Sure, they’ll take a cut, but that means you don’t have to waste time on marketing, so it balances out.
Now, it won’t be easy, but the experience will be invaluable. What’s more, that period working as a freelancer will look great on your CV and teach you valuable skills that you can use to find gainful employment (if you so choose) elsewhere, or will be useful when you do have that fantastic idea.
Digital Nomad
The big problem with a lot of the stuff that you can do right after college is that it doesn’t pay that well. That’s annoying, to say the least. So why not sidestep that problem by going somewhere where the cost of living isn’t that high? For example, if you can work as a freelancer for a year from Indonesia, Thailand or Nicaragua, that will give you a lot of experience and you might even be able to save some money. So why not freelance while you travel?
Then you’ll get to see some of the world, broaden your mind and in other ways benefit from seeing what’s out there. Then, when you come back, you don’t just get to say you were a freelancer, but that you were a digital nomad. Now that’s going to make potential employers sit up and take notice, isn’t it?
Work security or work in a book shop
Alternatively, while you’re setting yourself up with your own business, find a job that requires you to sit around a lot, so that you can work on your online business, even while doing the other job. Now, the priority here should be that you find a job where there is a lot of downtime where you can work. So focus on that, rather than on the salary that you earn.
Try to be honest with your potential boss. So, if you decide to work in the lobby of a hotel, explain that you want to be able to work at least a few hours a night on your own stuff. If they can’t live with that, then that’s not the job for you. This is really important, because otherwise you’ll find yourself constantly stressing out, as you’re trying to make sure you don’t get caught. That will make it far harder for you to actually focus on the task that you’re doing. And believe me, there are already more than enough things competing for your concentration, you really don’t want to add one more.
In this way, you can earn double, meaning that you’ve got a lot more leeway and a lot more time to really get your business off the ground.
Last words
The trick to starting your own business is finding a need, satisfying it and fixing any mistakes you might be making. If you can do that, then you’ll see a rising line in your business and if that’s what’s happening, all you need is patience and perseverance.
Patience really is a key ingredient in starting your own business. It is also something that is sorely lacking in our modern-day society. So if you’ve got it, you’re going to have an immense leg up on the competition.