College 101 | Fall 2007
College Entrepreneurs Earn Dollars and Degrees
By the editors of thesurvivalkit.com
The American Heritage Dictionary defines entrepreneur as a person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture. College campuses across the country boom with businesses started by students and for students. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive on campus in surprisingly unique ways with more reasons, more role models, and the will to achieve more in life – paving the way for vibrant companies.
While a junior at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, a young man named Mark Zuckerberg developed software that created an online community of fellow students enabling them to share photographs, exchange jokes, and rant about anything and everything. A wild fire success, Zukerberg took his searchable database of profiles and set up a company called, Facebook. Geared toward the college crowd, Facebook has become one of the most clicked on websites on the internet placing the site in the top ten. (Editor's note: you can now view, share and print many of your favorite local Student Survival Kit coupons directly within Facebook. Click here to add the application to your profile.)
Where did the beer guzzling, bar hopping, party animals go? They’re still on campus but more and more students are finding their spirits take flight with ideas and concepts that garner them a healthy wage now, not two, three, or four years down the road when they enter the “real world.” These fresh-faced business people have a few things in common that drives them. Highly motivated to make it happen, “it” being the business, the deal, the life, the money; collegiate entrepreneurs use their strong-will to achieve success, just like their older counterparts. College work requires full-time attention, starting a business while in college doubles the work load, fear of working hard won’t be found in the vocabulary of an enterprising campus entrepreneur. A non-conformist resents being told what to do, how to do it, and when to do it; often times believing he/she can do it better or has better ideas how a job should be done. The trait of refusing to conform moves someone to strike it out on their own. Surviving in the world of business, especially if that business is your own, requires powerful leadership skills. The beginning stages of bringing a concept to life are treacherous and difficult. Without the innate ability to lead, the business may falter and fail and that’s just not acceptable to a motivated achiever. Some people are blessed with an intuitive soul that just knows when something is right, call it street savvy, common sense, or good judgment; they know the right moves and usually make the right calls. Young entrepreneurs exhibit many of the traits listed: the street smarts, leadership qualities, refusal to conform, willingness to work hard, and highly motivated to achieve the life they’ve imagined.
While exhibiting the personality traits of an entrepreneur may be the reason for individual business pursuits while advancing academically, there’s far more to the rise of campus business than just young people brimming with enthusiastic ideas. Colleges themselves reshape agendas to accommodate the ever changing landscape of the current economy. Thirty years ago only a few colleges offered entrepreneurial programs; today the number of college programs and classes with the young entrepreneur in mind have grown exponentially. Classes with instructors who have navigated the seas of starting up their own businesses often bring their knowledge and experiences to the classroom. Teaching business skills and management with a mix of practical theories and information arms students with knowledge that allows personal advancement into real world businesses much sooner. Colleges across the nation like Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts, the University of California Los Angeles, and Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business offer entrepreneur programs that are being lauded by students. One college, Babson College sits at the top of the heap in Wellesley, Massachusetts, as the best of the best schools that offers not only an undergraduate degree in entrepreneurship, but a post graduate degree as well. At Babson, the first semester expectations of students begins with developing an idea or concept for a business and writing a complete, detailed business plan for that business. At the onset of the second semester, forty-two student entrepreneurs are given $3,000 to flesh out the idea through starting up their own business. Throughout the semester each student molds his/her company with care and attention to every aspect of the business. The wild success of the program stands in testimony to the ingenuity of Babson College, the professors, and students. With the success of the programs at universities and colleges throughout the United States comes increased student interest in becoming an entrepreneur.
Just as colleges diversify and grow with the times the idea of finding a position and remaining in that position until retirement rolls around gasps for a final breath of air. Job security is no longer a given. Often, today’s young people witnessed first-hand the demise of family members’ jobs as the economy shuffled into a new era. Enterprising young adults that grew up in families that maintained their own businesses learned at an early age that along with the hard work comes a sense of accomplishment in nurturing your own business. An entrepreneur controls his/her own destiny through innovative ideas, hard work, and initiative rather than dancing to the strings of a corporate puppeteer.
Today’s young people look up to role models that took an idea and turned it into a million dollar baby. People like Bill Gates and Michael Dell who rode the wave of the computer curl all the way to the bank are well known to people of all ages. Jennifer Kushell, an inspirational young entrepreneur started her first business at age thirteen and never looked back. She co-founded a company, Young & Successful™ Media Corp that makes a business of educating entrepreneurs who dream big and with willful determination are ready to breathe life into their ideas. The young people she and her company serve desire to be their own bosses and make their own ways in the world. Young & Successful™ offers newsletters, videos, books, an online community, and consultations to give a boost to enthusiastic entrepreneurs ready to move forward.
Many college students learned that the fast-track to earning money comes through the entrepreneurial door. Business schemes and plans that incorporate services for other students appear to be the most successful on campus ventures. At one time, starting a company required money and lots of it. With the rise of computers and technology less money will get you started into a business. The information highway joined by online businesses requires a pittance for start up in comparison to days gone by. Companies that take advantage of internet marketing strategies flourish with very little initial cash. EBay entices businesses like a magnet needing nothing more than a few dollars and something to sell. The possibilities move into infinity along side the never ending innovations of college campus entrepreneurs everywhere.
The road to starting a campus business requires the stamina that comes naturally to the young. The college entrepreneur must often turn a deaf ear to the laughter of revelers partying to focus on the business of company and education. The path may be uphill, but on the other side lies experience and knowledge garnered from doing. As their stars rise collegiate entrepreneurs everywhere march directly into their future with the spirit of free enterprise and a passion for success.
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