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How to be a Young Entrepreneur

Young Entrepreneurs are fast becoming a dying breed in Britain, what with the high risks involved in starting a company it is easy to see why. But I’m here to tell you otherwise, that there are young entrepreneurs out there and that they contribute a lot to this economy and with their help they could be the ones who get us out of this recession.

Speaking as a Young Entrepreneur myself I can tell you now that the hardest challenge you will face is people not taking you seriously. Now there are a number of ways you can get around this and each way will be beneficial to a different type of age group.

The first way to deal with this type of discrimination is to ignore it flat out, that’s what I did when I started at the age of 12. The way I did that was by either using my parents’ information to deal with professionals or I would simply use the internet where age is not a barrier anymore.

The second way to deal with it is to write in a professional manner in emails, letters and speak professionally on phone calls, “alright mate!” Might be an acceptable term at school, but I’m afraid you will be going nowhere in the business world if you carry on using colloquial language such as that.

The final way I would suggest you deal with people not taking you seriously is to dress the part, instead of wearing jeans and a t-shirt, try a suit and tie. Walk with confidence to business meetings and open with a firm handshake and eye contact. If you do all these things then you will be ahead of 90% of young entrepreneurs your age.

Another challenge you might face is lack of motivation or an idea, but this again is easy to overcome. First things first are that you don’t really need to have an idea to be a success in business; you just need to see a gap in the market. Take Bill Gates for instance he bought the initial program that Microsoft used from a programmer for $50,000. He then took it to the market and everyone bought it. He didn’t have an idea; he just saw a gap in the market.

Whether it is an add-on to an additional product or service, better quality product or service or simply selling at a cheaper price you have to find your gap in the market, because I can be sure that no one will find it for you!

With regard to motivation, I take it that it’s not that much of an issue as you are currently reading this article, but I’ll cover it anyway. I’m sure along the stretched path to becoming a successful young entrepreneur you will undoubtedly find some setbacks here and there. One thing you must always remember is that nothing worth having in life comes easy, so keep going you will reach your goal eventually.

Finally I will leave you with a quote that speared me on through the hard times from Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story) “Never give up, Never surrender!”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Dan Anahory .