5 Mistakes for a Student Entrepreneur to Avoid

It’s over head to run a business. What makes it even tougher for student startupers is the lack of experience which could cause a lot of bewilderment, doubts, and problems. Not to mention it is a challenge for time-management skills. You will still have to attend classes and lectures, write essays, make presentations, and prepare for tests and exams.

With nine out of ten startups failing, today’s young founders need to get profound knowledge about launching a successful business. A vital aspect of acquiring this knowledge involves becoming aware of the first-time enterprenuers’ most common mistakes.

Mistake #1. Lacking focus and getting distracted

It may be difficult to balance your studies (classes, academic paper writing, assigned readings, etc.) with working on your startup (researching the market, designing a minimum viable product, growing, scaling, etc). You might need to seek help and even refer essay writing services like EssayService sometimes. As a young entrepreneur, you must dedicate your time and energy to the most important things.

Why do you think one of the world’s biggest companies sells only a few products? I’m talking about Apple’s iconic flagships: iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac.

When Steve Jobs came back to Apple, the company was producing various kinds of products, such as printers, game consoles, PDAs, etc.  Jobs shut down most of the production to focus on a notebook and a PC. He wanted these two products become “insanely great”. As for whether Jobs reached this aim, Apple’s sales numbers speak for themselves.

Mistake #2: Trying to do it alone

Don’t isolate yourself while working on your startup. It can end up in dropping your business direction and losing touch with your consumers. Instead of wearing a lot of hats trying to develop your business find people who can help you. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to find a business partner or hire a sizable team. Just define the number of people necessary for the proper management of tasks.

Empower your team with your vision. Create a pleasant environment where everybody is working towards the same goal. Then you will have much better chances of getting the desired result.

Always feel comfortable asking for advice or help. Get the expertise you might lack from those more experienced than you.

Mistake #3: Launching without doing a market research

A steady confidence in success is no doubt well. “Magical thinking can kill any business,” says Lisa Stone, a co-founder of BlogHer (the primarily women’s blogging community). You may find your product/service the perfect offering. But how can you predict if it will be in demand?

It is crucial to analyze some numbers and define the actual possibility to attain the goal. Get data that proves the validity of your idea or at least doesn’t rule it out.

In the initial stages of BlogHer, Stone and her colleges used to hear that women wouldn’t blog enough to hold an annual conference. But they organized the first test conference and proved that wrong. The event with 300 women involvement brought its organizers $60,000 that was laid back into the business.

Mistake #4. Saving on expertise

Hiring employees for your small company can be an intimidating process. The biggest mistake businesspersons make when putting their team is saving. While spending less on staff may be tempting, it might cost you more in the long run.

The proverb “You get what you pay for” works for hiring. Low-cost staff members may lack experience, skills, professionalism, responsibility or a mixture of all four. Every part of your business should be done proficiently, especially such a tricky stuff as tax and legal issues. Employ an expert who knows how to do this kind of job. Don’t hire your friends just because you hang out with them. Hire those friends that have relevant sets of skills necessary to help build your business.

Mistake #5: Not telling anyone about your idea a secret because you’re afraid of copycats

As the founder of a startup company, you should talk about it without being paranoid that someone will steal your ideas. Many of the most prosperous startups ever,  including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and PayPal all unwound from their original ideas to the extremely profitable services.

Share your thoughts with other entrepreneurs. Get feedback from professionals. Learn how you can develop your idea from foundation to market. It is unlikely that your idea is going to appear interesting for someone until you’ve proven its potential.

Now you know 5 crucial mistakes to avoid as a student entrepreneur. The last advice will be more individual rather than business specific. Be neither optimistic nor pessimistic. Have a realistic view of things. It will help take sensible, logical and reasonable decisions.

About the Author: Michelle Brooks is the independent writer and quality editor at EssayService blog. Her professional and personal interests include education, business, psychology and self-development.

The opinions expressed in this article do not represent the views of EconoTimes.