Becoming a successful, young entrepreneur can be challenging. Set a clear path to success for yourself by deciding on your goals and securing start-up capital. Grow your enterprise by working hard, surrounding yourself with great staff, and getting the word out about your product or service. Once you hit the big time, reinvest your income in other business ventures or in your original business.
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Take a personal inventory. Before becoming an entrepreneur, you'll have to determine whether you have what it takes to succeed. Take a realistic view of your strengths and weaknesses. Specifically, look at areas of capability (knowledge and experience), aptitude (skills and likes), and personality (persistence, resilience).
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Be a problem solver. Lots of people recognize things they wish they could do, or imagine useful products or services they wish they had. Few people actually act on those ideas, though. To be a successful young entrepreneur, you’ll need to stay open to inspiration by looking at the world around you with the eyes of a problem solver. To kick-start the process, ask yourself guiding questions like:
- What kind of content do you wish was online?
- What kind of games do you wish you could play?
- Is there a product or service that could help you feed the homeless?[1]
- Whatever path you take to entrepreneurship, it must begin with identifying problems and dreaming of solutions. Write down all your ideas, no matter how crazy they might seem.
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Give yourself time to be creative. Before you can get to work, you need to give yourself time to be inspired. Work some time into your schedule to decompress and allow your creative juices to flow. Take a walk in the woods, read a book in a quiet spot, or hit the road for a drive without a destination. Give yourself some quiet time to contemplate, reflect, and think about how you can best develop yourself as an entrepreneur.[2]
- Stay active. Don’t sit in one spot for more than an hour. Regular exercise -- at least 30 minutes each day -- is critical to both physical and mental health. Even walking can improve your thought process and make you feel more creative.
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Learn from others. Investigate how other young entrepreneurs have found success. Think about how you can incorporate their ideas, methods, or techniques into your own entrepreneurial activity. Read their books and articles. If possible, network with other young, successful entrepreneurs. Being around these people will help you grow, learn, and see what it takes to be successful.[3]
- In addition to learning from other young entrepreneurs, solicit feedback from employees and coworkers.
- Seek counsel from wise friends, associates, and successful business persons about how to best grow your enterprise.
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Live passionately. Success will only come if you believe in and are excited about your product. Your energy will inspire potential investors and partners, and help you grow your business.
- Your passions can inspire entrepreneurial activity. Identify a cause you feel strongly about and figure out how to fight for it. For instance, if you’re interested in saving the whales, you might invent an app that helps track whale populations or publicize whale hunts around the world.
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Take risks. The most successful entrepreneurs didn’t get to where they are by playing it safe. As an entrepreneur, you need to take calculated risks to move your business forward.
- For instance, you might decide to create a search engine even though there are many search engines available. If you believe that your search engine is better than the others, or offers something the others don’t, go for it.
- Taking risks doesn’t mean jumping in blind. Do your homework before developing a new service or opening a new store.
