The Making of a Young Entrepreneur: Essential Moves to Make Before Launching Your Business
You’re young, ambitious, have a great idea and might be acting like you know it all—relax! There are some essential moves and decisions you must make before you launch. You’re probably asking yourself, how can I turn my big idea into a successful business? Got it! This sounds like the way Mark Zuckerberg was thinking before creating Facebook.
I’ve taught, coached and worked with many budding entrepreneurs throughout the world and the most consistent mistakes young start-ups make is forgetting to pause…reflect…reset and assess what successful entrepreneurs have done before starting their first business. In this blog, I’m going to give you or your child a little homework assignment. Don’t worry, it will only put you in a better position to optimize your success – – I promise! Below I have outlined 3 fundamental best practices. These are very important initial steps that must be made before making a firm decision to pursue your venture and register your business.
Research / Ask Questions
Do some research within the community you plan to start your business in. Now, of course, your business might be one that’s an e-commerce type of business, and you might realize that you don’t have a physical community to approach. Nevertheless, you must do research.
Find out if the product or service you’re seeking to create fits in the market you’re trying to approach. Is your big idea needed, is it useful, and do people really want it? Creating a survey that your friends can respond to is quite helpful. Also, randomly selecting people to give you honest feedback and ideas could be extremely helpful and strategic. Even creating a focus group can save you time and money. Meeting with them periodically and getting advice from them is more helpful than you think.
Don’t Go At It Alone – -Consider Partnering
If your ego starts with I am important, I am special, I am big, and I can do it alone, for certain you’ll be on your way to disappointment! Going into business does not have to be solo effort. It’s a very good idea for a young start-up to gather a group of friends, or peers that can get along, and buy into a business idea. If they can be clear and 100% committed to the business, then we know you’ll have a much better chance to succeed. Be very selective when choosing partners. Write down the role and job descriptions and expectations. Two brains are better than one. There are a lot of benefits as to why starting projects and/or business ventures with others is a great idea.
Stay Focused
It’s very challenging to stay focused when starting a business; especially for Gen Z youth. Born in a world of speed and immediate answers, they are presented with a tsunami of information with endless options of how to focus their mental capacity. Gen Z, according to MediaKix, have an average attention span of 8 seconds. Millennials, on-the-hand, have a 12 second attention span. However, Gen Z are lauded for their ability to multitask on any computer or hand-held devices. One key component to starting, and eventually growing a business for young people is to stay around long enough to sustain it. To grow the business, however, must combine your energy and focus at all times. Patience and drive is the perfect formula for focus.
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ABOUT BIZNOVATOR:
BIZNOVATOR is a youth empowerment platform that offers a year-round experience for young people interested in entrepreneurship, social innovation and global leadership. Through our seminars, workshops, summer camps and in school Academies, BIZNOVATOR helps young people to DISCOVER their purpose, TRANSFORM their mindset and CONNECT to their future. We have recently launched our Online Learning Platform, www.mybiznovator.com which enables young people from all over the world to experience our unique BIZNOVATOR programs. We invite you to join us!
Juan Pablo Casimiro is Founder and CEO of BIZNOVATOR. With more than 30 years of empowering youth and adults globally, Casimiro never misses a moment to teach, coach and challenge his clients to live their dreams. Casimiro was born in Dominican Republic and grew up in New York City.