09/ 28/ 2005
Attention college entrepreneurs! If you're thinking of starting a business – or growing a part-time venture you started in high school – here are some tips to help make your business work with your budget and in your space.
Write a detailed business plan
This should be any business owner's first step. If you already started your business and skipped this crucial step, go back and do it now. Even babysitters and proprietors of weekly yard sales should have one. Why? For one thing, it will help you gain clarity about your expectations and goals for your business. It will also give you a clear idea on practical matters, namely how much money it's going to take to run your business.
Your business plan should include the following elements:
- Detailed description of the services and/or products your business offers
- Unique skills you bring to the business
- Competition you face, stressing any advantages you have over your colleagues
- Customer demographics
- Marketing strategies
- Operational strategies (Hours per week you'll need to devote to running your business, how many employees you'll need, spaces and equipment involved, and so on)
- Budget
Figure out your budget
Looking at your overall business plan will help with this crucial step. Find out how much each of your supplies are going to cost. Will you need to hire help? Figure out how much you can afford to pay. Besides recording all of your operational costs, always account for marketing, too, no matter how minimal your advertising will be in the beginning. Even copying homemade flyers costs money. Don't forget to account for "Murphy's Law" as well. Printers will break; products will turn out poorly. Make sure you give your business an extra blanket of financial safety.
Assess your resources
Now that you have a good idea of how much it will cost to run your business, figure out where the money will come from. It's good to have as many options as you can think of. How much of the cost can you foot yourself? Can you take out student loans if the business is cutting into your living costs? Do you have family who will consider giving you a loan or becoming a financial partner? Also check with the financial aid department at your school to see if they have any information on scholarships or loan programs for young business owners.
Mark out a space
Most college-aged entrepreneurs don't yet have the resources to rent an office or storefront, but most often that doesn't matter. Chances are you can run your business at home or even online. Do make sure, however, that you're keeping your business somehow separate from the rest of your life. This can be a challenge, given the communal nature of life in the dorms or even at home with your family. Speak up and tell your roommates or family that any supplies you keep around for your business are off limits. Keep an air of professionalism about your enterprise -- it's important to have a quiet place to make business phone calls, too. Schedule a time of day to do this when your roommates aren't around, or you might even ask a favorite professor who knows about your business if you could borrow their office for an hour a week to do this task. If you're in need of more space and quiet to work than your dorm room allows, the library is always an excellent place to work.
Think big, start small
One final piece of advice: while it's good to have dreams about big-time success, don't put everything you've got out there quite yet. If you have overhead, don't order a 10-year supply, and don't spend all of your monthly budget on advertising. (Small-business owners have to eat, too.) Think of your first venture into running your own business as a trial run, and make it manageable in terms of supplies, space, and time you devote to it. You have a whole entrepreneurial lifetime ahead of you, and this will be just as much of a learning experience as the time you spend in the classroom.
