You already have a lot to do as a student. Exams, studying, socializing…with your busy schedule, it’s hard to imagine adding anything else but school. What you may not realize is that starting your own business in college is not just easier than you think, but it will give you a leg up on your career after you graduate. College provides a level of social connection, collaboration, and financial stability that you can use to your advantage.
Related:5 Things You Need Before You Start Your Own Business
Although it might seem far-fetched, there are several excellent reasons why college is the best time to start your own business:
1. Students Provide Excellent, Fun, And Cheap Labor
College is a place where everyone is learning together. You are in the same classes with the same people, over and over again. And, as you get closer to graduation, you have more hands-on experiences with colleagues who have not quite got their careers up to speed. This can allow you to find amazingly talented people to hire for very little initial investment. In fact, many of your fellow students might be willing to work for free or for partial ownership of your start up business. This is a great way to continue learning as a team, while also limiting your initial payroll costs.
2. Financial Opportunities? More Than You Know!
When you’re living on Top Ramen and beer, this sounds like crazy talk. Actually, college is a great place for a student to start a business, mainly because there are incredible financial opportunities available for entrepreneurial students. Organizations like the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA), Student Entrepreneur Awards, and the UPS College Entrepreneur Contest are just a few of the hundreds of businesses that provide money for college entrepreneurs. In addition, many colleges offer their own awards and scholarships for business ideas and plans, and may include a review of your business plan and feedback on your idea.
3. Free Mentorship From Knowledgeable Experts
Every successful entrepreneur will tell you that having a mentor is vital for keeping your new business afloat. Unfortunately, once you get into the “real world,” you can run into problems with competitiveness and unavailability with potential mentors. In college, you can get the benefit of excellent mentorship from teachers and department chairs that are interested in seeing students be successful. These are people who often have had significant experience, or are prominent in the community, and they are also in a position where they have no need to compete with you or your business.
4. It’s Okay If You Fail
One of the perks of starting a business in college is that you can totally tank and it still won’t affect you much in the long run. After you have established yourself and your career, failing in business can take a huge financial and social toll on your life. As a college start-up, uninformed people might expect you to fail, so it doesn’t hurt your chances if your business goes under. In addition, you learn key strategies from failing that can help you be more successful later. In fact, many employers will give you kudos for the attempt alone, giving you a better chance of being hired on your tenacity, vision, and innovation.
5. Create Your Own Dream Job
Probably the best part about starting your own business while you’re in college is that you get to create the job that you’ve always wanted to have. Do you hate the idea of a daily 9-to-5 grind in a stuffy office? Set up a virtual office with little overhead and people that you love to work with. Do you want to have the job title of “Principle Beer Taster,” but it doesn’t really exist? Give yourself the job that you want. Starting your own business means that you can instantly start becoming an expert in virtually anything field that you choose. That way, when you graduate, you don’t just have a job. You’ll have a career that is custom-designed for your personality and tastes.
6. Really Find Out If This Is What You’re Meant To Do
A lot of hotheaded young entrepreneurs jump into a business after college without any real background about what the business is or what it will take to be successful. Unfortunately, without the support structure of college to back them up, they can lose a lot of time and money in the process. As a student business owner, you’ll have a chance to try on any kind of business model or type you’d like. By the time you’ve graduated, you may have found a business that you are passionate about and have a deep knowledge of. This sets you up for further success down the road, and can potentially turn your college business experiment into a lifelong career.
Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
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Make a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
How did I learn about this job?
How did I apply for the job?
Did I earn an interview?
What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
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Are you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
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Your job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
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