10 things every young entrepreneur should know

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If you’re a young entrepreneur using the internet (or even just your computer) to help you make money whilst still at school or college or university then, firstly, well done.

You’re one of the new entrepreneur elite leveraging the (relatively new) power of the micoprocessor and the global reach of the internet to sell and promote your wares.

Having been an entrepreneur myself since my teens and having made it my mission to soak up as much business know-how as possible, the following top ten is a list of things I would do again if I could go back in time to my university days; as each and every one would have helped to shape my business as it stands now.
So no matter how established your business you may find the following ten tips can help you to improve your business practices, stretch your financing reach and increase your net worth!

Tip 1 - Reality Check

The first tip for a successful business is to stop and take stock of how far you’ve come so far.

It doesn’t matter if you’re just doing a little web design on the side or even serving up a few web pages of your own to concentrate on arbitrage, the first step to releasing your full potential is to check where you are, appreciate how far you’ve come and then to plan the route ahead.

When I was at Uni I was all over the place, doing a little web design here and there but not really cncentrating on any one thing.

To make your plan bulletproof you need to research your choosen business field to see what other opportunities are open for you. Ask yourself these questions:

• Who is your target audience?
• Is there a niche you can grow into?
• If you dedicated an extra two hours to your business each day what else could you acheive?
• What ideas have you put on the backburner that now need to be actioned?
• If you had a member of staff (!) what else could you acheive?

Some of the questions, particularly the last one, might frighten you, but in order to grow your successful business you need to always be aware of what you’ve done in the past, what has worked and what the next step will be.
Tip 2 - Money for Nothing

You may not be familiar with the Dire Straits song Money for Nothing (fear not, Im sure it’ll be remixed soon with a deep, thumping beat) but a student loan offers you just that; free money.

It’s not completely free, of course, but you can play the system to earn yourself literally hundreds of pounds over the course of your education.

Student Loans come with an extremely low interest rate; usually the cost of inflation. Have a look at your highstreet banks or search the web and you’ll find several local/online banks offering saving accounts with rates 2 - 3 times the national rate of inflation.

All you need to do as a young businessman is borrow the money in the form of a Low Rate Student Loan and then invest it into a high rate Saving Account; or better still, a tax free ISA.

The discipline to this ingenious scheme is that your leave the money to accumlate in the saving account and do not spend it; not even a penny of it. The second caveat is that you pay the Student Loan back as soon as you leave education, keeping all the interest earned for yourself.

Tip 3 - Multiple Bank Accounts

I’ve had friends who fought with their girlfriends over money, constantly! For me money has never been an issue. I don’t mean Ive never been skint or in desperate need of a few extra pounds! I mean money management has never been an issue. My secret is that I’ve always had multiple bank accounts. As a young entrepreneur, multiple bank accounts are your friend!

By using multiple bank accounts you can keep your bills and your spends seperate. Using multiple accounts you can easily see at a snapshot what money is disposable, what is reserved for bills and taxes and what is invested for your future (read saving accounts). Read more about manageing multiple accounts here.

Tip 4 - Use Student Credit Cards Wisely

When I was a student I had only one student credit card and I hammered it regularly! Big mistake.

As a young entrepreneur you need to realise that the money you spend on a credit card is not your own and that delaying repayment (or worse still failing to repay) can land you in hot water.

Student Cards can, however, be used to help you grow your business. If you need a short term loan then a student credit card is ideal. Most credit cards give you between 30 and 50 days worth of free credit before they require repayment. This means that if you need to buy some more stock, some incredibly priced advertising and extra server space, you can place it on a credit card and have 30+ days to make the money and repay the debt interest free. Only if you don’t make a repayment in full will interest start to accrue on your debt.

This trick, which can also be applied to non student credit cards, allows you to borrow money for short periods of time, for free. Thank you Mr. Credit Card!

Tip 5 - Managing your debt

Debt, especially for a student businessman, is practically a fact of life, but managing that debt can set you apart from the rest.

The most important issue when trying to manage your debt is to know how much you owe, what interest rate you are paying and to know that you wont be adding to that debt with any irrational purchases!

The key to managing your debt is to consolidate your debt into a single amount with a single (low) interest rate. For example:

If you have three Student Credit Cards but have not headed my advice about using them as short term interest free loans, then you could find yourself with debts such as:

Card A: £500 @ 18%

Card B: £700 @ 14%

Card C: £150 @ 19%

A quick solution is to transfer your debt from Cards A & C to Card B. Card B, despite having the most debt currently on it, has the lowest interest rate meaning that you will pay less in repayments.

Next, think about getting a Student Loan, not necessarily from the Gorvernment (with their low, inflation based interest rate) but from a High Street Bank. You’ll be able to get a much lower interest rate and, if managed properly, will see the loan repayment leave your bank account before anything else; meaning that you wont accidentally spend it!

Tip 6 - Using your position

As a student you already get discounted CD’s, DVD’s and movie tickets but you’d be surprised what else your student discount will get you!

One of the best Money Saving Tips I have discovered is the haggle the price of a product or service down. For me, this isn’t always easy as the vendor is often thinking “Why should I give you a discount?” But if you are a student you’ve got the perfect excuse as to why you need that extra few percent shaved off the price of the new stock you need. So be pushy and show them your NUS card!

Tip 7 - Free Business Seminars

As an attending student of a college or university you’ll know how easy it is to cut class! As a lecturer this means that your class size is fluctuating to such a degree that so long as you have an audience, you’ll preach your topic.

If you are running a business but have only basic business acumen then you can take advantage of this system by turning up for the business lectures and recieving a little free schooling!

Most faculties have a timetable of when their lectures will be and on what topics. Simply find your Business Faculty and locate a timetable. Make a note of all the lectures on which you could benefit. They might include:

• Book Keeping
• Profit and Loss Systems
• Business Ethics
• Business Principles
• Employees Rights

and if you’re trading internationally on the internet might also include

• International Business Strategy
• Taxation Systems
• Importing and Exporting Duty

Soak up all of this advice for free whilst you can. Once you leave education, you’ll pay a pretty penny for it.
Tip 8 - Using your resources

My Student Union was constantly a hive of activity. We had printing shops, internet access, coffee shops, a magazine publishing company, secretarial offices, butty bars, conference rooms and hundreds and hundreds of students!

As a young entrepreneur you need to know how to use your resources in order to reduce your business overheads. This involves making the most of your surroundings.

If, for example, you are a web designer, you’ll need to think about how to promote your services. Firstly, who is your target audience. If it’s small businesses then you need to think how you can attract them.

• Can you print flyers (using your student discount) and give them to employees on their lunch break at the local cafe?
• Can you have professional letter heads printed and contact the HR depatments (Universities tend to keep a list of these to help their graduates find work) of local businesses promoting your services?
• Can you offer your services to fellow students in other departments? All it takes is an eye catching poster placed on the Faculty Noticeboards and you’ll soon find out.
• What about that first meeting? Do you want to hold it in your dorm (that answer is NO!)? Can you make use of a conference room attached to your student union?

How about if you’re a club night promoter?

• Can you use the onsite printing facilities to get your flyers created cheaply?
• Can you use the masses of bored students to hand out flyers on your behalf? Can you target them as a potential customer?
• Are their attractive girls from the Sports Faculty that could help you promote the night?
• Is the Student union itself available for hire so you can host the night?

Using the resources ‘in house’ will save you an incredible amount of money.

Tip 9 - Outsource to grow

One of the lessons you’ll soon learn is that as a small business you can’t do everything. If you are a lone entrepreneur making a living online then the thought of outsourcing may seem a little scary. But the fact is that very few one man bands can manage to grow a sustainable business over the long term.

Outsourcing repetetive or complicated tasks can leave you free to concentrate on the core of your business (making money or advertising to help you make money). The beauty of your current environment (and this goes back to Tip 8 - Using your resources) is that you wil be surrounded by people with talent who, because of their inexperience, will work for very little. As a college entrepreneur you need to make the most of this opportunity.

The English Faculty - You’re new copywriting team

The Math & Accounting Faculty - You’re new book keepers

The IT Faculty - You’re new SEO link builders, web page designers, researchers of new and upcoming trends

The Business Faculty - You’re new learning centre!

Tip 10 - Manage your wage

The final tip is the most important of all. In order for any business to grow it needs funds. Funds to get more stock, funds to hire more freelancers, funds to market your products and services to a wider audience.

Have completed Tip 1, you’ll have a good idea of what you can do to improve your business and, perhaps more importantly, whether you want to.

Some entrepreneurs will funnel all the profits earnt back into the business to help it grow; sometimes going without a wage whilst the business gets established.

Other entrepreneurs will use the entire business profit to fund their lifestyle, knowing that if business dries up, they’ve had a blast whilst they could and have no regrets.

Having analysed your business you’ll know which one of these two camps you most closely associate with. You now need to manage your wage accordingly.

If you are all about growing your business then you can’t take a huge wage. You can treat yourself every now and again but you can’t starve the business of funds so that you can live the high life; your business wont survive.
Similarly, if you’re living for today you shouldn’t keep vast sums of cash tied up in stock or advertising. Experiment with stock levels and advertising budgets so that you can bring in the same amount of work with decreased spending. This way, if your business folds, you wont be out of pocket.

One Final Tip

Money is important but it ain’t everything. You should use your time at college to grow friendships that will last a lifetime. Friends, Family and Health should always be put above making a (quick) buck.