There is no time like the present and the question is burning inside, isn’t it? “Should I start a business in college?” This is the question I pondered 3 years ago when my 18-year-old self thought he hadn’t done enough with his life (high standards much?).
But my 18-year-old self was right, and now my 21-year-old self is wondering once again. “When is the best time to start a business?” Some people will say to finish school and gain years of industry experience before branching out on your own. Others will say that the best education you can get in business is by figuring it out as you go.
There is truth to both sides of the coin, and therefore, there is no perfect answer. Instead, we will be exploring when the best time to start a business is based on your situation. Think of me as your business therapist talking you through everything you should consider before making any big decisions.
While this post is directed towards college students who have that entrepreneurial fire, it can apply to anyone, at any age. Heck, it applies to me right now and I’m writing it.
The Criteria
While there are millions of variables that could be encouraging or inhibiting your business dreams, there are ultimately three categories that these variables fall under, and these three categories will make up your decision criteria.
How you evaluate these categories is up to your interpretation and situation (nobody said writing an article for everyone’s situations would be easy). The categories are the following:
- Your Time
- Your Resources
- Your Knowledge
Every fear and every setback will come from one of these three categories, that is why it’s important for us to fully understand each category before determining what the best time to start a business is for our situation.
Speaking of your time, it’s about time I get into the meat of this.
Your Time
There is no better question than, do I have enough time to start a business? While I do not condone the excuse of not having enough time. I do believe that it is one of the most important questions you can ask yourself. Any endeavor comes at the cost of time and business is no exception. Be honest with yourself. Do you have the time to start a business or more importantly, do you have the time to stay committed for a long time?
If you are a college student, even though you may feel busier than ever before, you are in a unique position to spend a lot of time working on a business if that’s what you choose. If you are a working professional the sacrifice may come in the form of late nights or early mornings working on your business.
One thing that is for certain, nobody has enough time to start a business, they must make enough time for their business.
On the other hand, time is also a variable that you may not be able to lose. Another time-related question would be, will I ever have more time later and can I really afford to wait on my dreams or on my business?
Some people may need to wait until after college, simply because they don’t have enough time right now, and that’s okay. That is why time should always be your first consideration.
“All the money and knowledge in the world is useless without the time to use it”
– Some Guy on His Death Bed
Which brings a very important point. Time is the only category on this list that can never be replenished, never grown, and never changed. How are you using your time? How could you be using your time? What sacrifices are you willing to make with your time?
Your Resources
I have all the time in the world, now what? Well, if you’ve passed the time criteria then comes the resources. All people inherently know that being successful in business is a little bit harder than it sounds, because if it was really that easy everyone and their mom would be a multimillionaire business owner while working 5 hours a week. That’s because resources have their say
Resources can be money, equipment, connections, etc. Resources are any tangible item that can help you start the business. You either have them or you don’t.
For example, when I started The Scholarly Coin, my resources were a laptop and a couple hundred dollars for web hosting. The startup costs were low, and I already had the resources on hand (I’ve yet to see that money return, but businesses take time).
Other businesses may require significantly more resources, but your preapproval for a business loan could be considered a resource.
Take it from Chris Guillebeau, author of The $100 Startup. You don’t need a lot of resources to start a profitable business.
(I can confirm that this book is a quick, informational read. Here is a link if you’d like to read it.)
Your resources are an important part of deciding when to start a business. Two important questions to ask about resources are, do I have enough resources to start a business, and do I have enough resources to continue to run a business? If your idea doesn’t make 10,000 sales in your first day, as we often dream of, do you have enough resources to cover operations until your business turns a profit?
Maybe money is a little tight right now. After all, you have student loans to pay, rent to cover, and alcohol that isn’t cheap. If you don’t have the resources to start a business, start looking at how you can save up the resources or find a business that doesn’t require as many resources.
Many college students (including myself) will thrift and resell online or pick up discounted items on clearance and sell them on eBay. The point is that there are many ways you can start with little resources, don’t let resources get in the way of your business goals. Once you’ve saved up enough resources then you can move on to your other, more expensive, business ideas.
Your Knowledge
“Do the best that you can until you know better, then when you know better, do better.” – Maya Angelou
Knowledge is last on the list, and for good reason. I personally don’t believe this should be a long-term handicap because anyone can increase their knowledge, but sometimes we need to ask ourselves, do we know enough about business? About the industry? About the process?
These are all very important questions before deciding the best time to start a business. If I had started a business when I was 15 years old, I would have been fumbling around. It would have been a bad time to start because I was uneducated. I would have lost money and maybe even my passion for business.
I spent the next 4 years reading everything I could about business, investing, and career development. I am less than a year away from graduating college and I now feel like I have a solid knowledge base.
On the other hand, don’t let knowledge be your roadblock. If you have the time and the resources, but not the knowledge. Go get the knowledge. Pick up some books from the library, read a few articles, or sit down with local business owners.
You will never know everything about a business, so instead of focusing on being an expert in every aspect of the industry, focus on getting enough knowledge to start, and learn the rest along the way.
There is No Perfect Time
There are entrepreneurs all around the world that started when they were in college. There are entrepreneurs that didn’t start until they were 50. That’s because there is no perfect time to start a business.
If you have evaluated each of the three categories, you should be able to decide now. For me it was an easy choice, I will never have as much time as I have right now, I am blessed to be in a solid financial position, and I have more than enough knowledge to start. Maybe you’re like me, and that’s awesome. Go ahead and start that business.
Other people may have debt to scale back first, time consuming plans to follow through on, or a limited knowledge of the business world, and that’s also okay. At least you know where you are. Now you can work on getting to where you want to be.
What do you think, was there anything I missed in consideration? When would/will you start a business? Should I start a business in college?
Let me know in the comments!
Until next article.
