Q:
I'm a 20-year-old college student, and I have many ideas-I just
don't know how plausible they are. But how possible is it for a
20-year-old to start a company?
A: The
real question is, how possible is it for anyone to start a
business? Age matters little; take a look at the TeenStartUps.com section of Entrepreneur.com, and
you'll find that out pretty quickly. While there was a time
when young entrepreneurs were looked at as failures waiting to
happen, nowadays most people look at a potential entrepreneur's
drive to succeed rather than the year he or she was born.
You remind me of a lot of entrepreneurs we've written about
in the past. Each November, we run a special "Young
Millionaires" feature in Entrepreneur to spotlight
successful entrepreneurs under 40 who have achieved a high level of
sales success. Entrepreneur Press has published a whole volume
devoted to young entrepreneurs, How to Be a Teenage Millionaire. Virtually every issue
of Entrepreneur includes success stories of people just like
you who are either currently young entrepreneurs or who were young
when they started out.
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We celebrate their achievements because we know that most
entrepreneurs have dreamed of starting a business for many, many
years--possibly since they were children. Entrepreneurship
isn't something that crops up in your 40s or 50s and suddenly
makes sense just because you're a little older. It's
generally something that's ingrained. And when a person
chooses to pursue entrepreneurship is not as important as
how he or she goes about doing it.
It's no surprise to me that you have "many ideas."
Most entrepreneurs get tons of ideas before settling on the one
that they want to focus the most energy on. Consider your many
brainstorms a reflection of the creativity that makes you an
entrepreneurial hopeful. Without that creativity, you wouldn't
even imagine venturing out of your comfort zone and starting a
business.
By the way, it's rather uncomfortable to start a business.
Having a lot of ideas is actually not a very pleasant thing, as you
might have discovered by now. It can be frustrating to go through
your days with dozens of ideas bouncing about it your head, not
knowing which one is "the one." Wouldn't it be easier
if someone would just tell you which business to start?
If you're getting the feeling that I'm answering your
question with a question, you get a gold star. And perhaps I'm
cheating a bit in doing so. Perhaps you wanted a structured outline
of steps to take in starting your business. My apologies, but I
won't give that to you. That's not to say there aren't
specific steps to take when starting a business-just that at this
stage of the game, I'd much rather inspire you to find your own
solutions. Take your own first steps, knowing that doing so will
make you a better, smarter, stronger entrepreneur who is prepared
to tackle any challenge.
Once you've settled on the idea that you want to pursue-and
you'll know it when you see it-then you can focus on specifics
such as a business plan, marketing objectives and financing. But
until then, relish this idea stage. Take your time, and be thankful
that you are young, with a road ahead that won't leave you
restless, itching to pull over at a rest stop and break away from
something as mundane as a 9-to-5 job.
Karen E. Spaeder is editor of Entrepreneur.com and managing
editor ofEntrepreneur magazine.
The opinions expressed in this column are those
of the author, not of Entrepreneur.com. All answers are intended to
be general in nature, without regard to specific geographical areas
or circumstances, and should only be relied upon after consulting
an appropriate expert, such as an attorney or
accountant.