Are you thinking about becoming a student entrepreneur? We got the essential six steps and a few tips along the way for you.
But first, the facts:
- 10% of university students have already started a business
- 17% plan to start a business before graduation
1 Evaluate yourself
First, you have to know what you are working with here. Therefore, it is essential to discuss your strengths and weaknesses. That should include:
- Your skills and knowledge
- Your desired industry
- How you want to work
2 Have a Good Idea
A good business idea identifies a need and then satisfies it. You can check your business idea with the following questions.
- Is there a demand for your product/service?
- Can you identify your target market?
- Will people be willing to pay for your product/service?
- Does your product/service offer a unique selling point (USP)?
- Are you aware of possible drawbacks or limitations?
- Is your product/service free from legal implications?
If the answer to any of these questions is no, then your offering probably won’t
be strong enough. But you should not give up! You can either work on it or
develop another idea! If you answered yes to all of these questions, then your
product will be alright, at least for now. It is necessary to test your idea
regularly to ensure that changing circumstances don’t render it obsolete.
3 Research Competition
There are two steps in researching your competition: identifying and understanding your competitors. So first you have to do the research.
There are three main types of research
- Online
You can search for possible competition online by looking for keywords that are suitable for your business idea. Due to the ranking in the search engine, you might already get a grasp on who could be your main competitor.
- In print
You can look through industry magazines or trade publications to find placed advertisements or features of the competition. By picking different magazines, you can already distinguish between local and international competitors.
- In-person
You are likely to find large and successful competitors at trade shows or industry events.
After the research, the next step is to understand your competitor. These questions and tips can help you:
- How are they perceived?
For this question, it is helpful to look at, for example, customer reviews.
- How do they promote themselves?
Possible answers to that question can be found on their Social Media or in their marketing materials.
- How do they work?
A factor for this is the sales process.
- What are their strengths and weaknesses?
There is no easy answer for this one, but this question is essential in figuring out your next steps.
Now you know the first three steps in starting a business. There will be a second part explaining the subsequent steps. Until then, make sure to check out our Instagram and Facebook, as we will post every single milestone there as well.