Throughout entrepreneurial journey, there is always a wide array of valuable lessons. As a student entrepreneur who wants to navigate their way along this the business road, learning on-the-go what’s right and what’s wrong, you have to withstand many “failures,” as well as enjoy several successes. Here are a few essential Dos and Don’ts for student entrepreneurs
DO: Get ready to work
The amount of hours you will put in during a normal work week are outstanding. Sometimes, you may even be working subconsciously. You will have to set an alarm for midnight just to talk to suppliers because could only get a hold of them during obscure hours due to the significant time change, so from midnight until 4 a.m you would be skyping and ironing out details. Combine this with school, work, athletics, and your social life, and you will have a recipe for plenty of long days. Don’t be intimated and be prepared to grind.
DON’T: Waste money on worthless advertising
Although it may be easy to pay Ksh 2000 and have your ad seen on Facebook by 1,000 people, it won’t do much for your business in the long run. Instead, spend some time to develop a greater understanding of your audience and teach yourself how to effectively target your ads. Ksh 1000 spent toward a targeted demographic will prove much more beneficial than Ksh 10,000 to a random crowd. Furthermore, startup settings typically don’t involve a whole lot of extra money just laying around, which means that every shilling you spend needs to be tracked. Do your homework and develop an idea of how your spending can actually help grow your business.
DO: Network
Networking is popular in all fields, and entrepreneurship is no different. Customers, vendors, potential investors, fellow entrepreneurs, future partners, and others can make themselves available to you through one simple tactic: networking. Once you own a company and are in charge of landing customers, you need to find resources, collaborate, and secure all the assistance you can get. Build your network and utilize it to gain as much as possible.
DON’T: Stay up until 4 a.m. every morning to work
Contrary to my previous point about communicating with supplier till late, it is possible to be successful and still get a healthy amount of sleep. Although there will always remain a large amount of work yet to be done, you can find a way to make daily tasks manageable. Instead of working on and off for 12 hours – only to waste time scrolling through Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, devote and schedule six hours to do only work. By blocking out time slots and working much smarter, you can greatly improve your productivity.
To keep your sanity, you need to learn to find time to spend on personal development and relaxation. If you’re constantly thinking about your next big move, you will undoubtedly drive yourself crazy and, at its worst, maybe even come to hate whatever it is you’re working on. You don’t need to be up all night, every night. Find a work-life balance and make sure you keep to it.
DO: Bootstrap
Bootstrapping is a must. This behavior revolves around the idea of utilizing resources to their full extent and stretching every shilling as far as it can go, while assuming little to no debt in the process. Sometimes, there is no need to acquire hundreds of thousands in startup capital for it to launch. There are plenty of businesses that can be started and grown with a small personal investment and smart money management. One key aspect of money management is reinvestment. While it takes some serious discipline, it’s important to not focus too heavily on pocketing profits in an attempt to get rich. The important thing is to grow your company, not your bank account. Immediate resources can help bring ideas to life.
DON’T: Let failure bring you down
This is one of the weirder parts about student entrepreneurship. Failure means that you’ve learned a way not to do something, and with this knowledge comes a greater chance for future success. By learning from your mistakes and stockpiling these lessons, you’ll be prepared to funnel that insight into a positive outcome and ultimately and success. Just remember that success can come in many different forms.
If you are a student entrepreneur,just keep these pointers in mind and all will be well.