If you hear stories about start-ups, you will notice that most of them were created while the founders were still students in college or university.
Perhaps one of the most well-known of these is Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.
For most budding entrepreneurs, balancing studies and business will be challenging but the experience can be very rewarding.
SarawakYES! has already talked about why students should venture into start-ups so for this week we’d like to touch on how to balance your studies and your own business.
Find the right partners
In uni, you’re lucky to be surrounded by peers who are creative, smart and may share your enthusiasm and ideas on a start-up.
The uni environment should be ideal for you to find partners with similar interests and personalities that complement yours.
By having the right partners, you can also delegate tasks to handle challenges and, apart from that, a good team will always be able to bring fresh ideas and energy to solve any problem.
Leverage on resources
As a student, you will probably spend most of your time on campus.
So, to maximise your time between your studies and start-up, use any resources that you have such as a good Internet connection, the library, business seed funding for student start-ups (if your uni offers it) and take up business courses as an elective, if you’re allowed to.
These resources could save up a lot of time for your start-up and can be the best platform to launch your business.
Allocate enough time for studies
When you’re working on your start-up while also studying full-time, you will often find that time will not always be on your side.
So, it’s important to have a schedule and be disciplined enough to follow it through.
You can (and must) create a schedule, but be sure that your work schedule doesn’t clash with your studies.
Do not be afraid to fail
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a student starting your first start-up or whether you’re a veteran of several start-ups; failing doesn’t feel good, but you will always learn something from the experience.
However, because of the fact that you’re still a student, it also means that you’re still young and therefore you have time on your side.
Failing early in life just means gaining valuable experience right at the start of your business career and also hopefully means you won’t repeat the same mistakes later on in life.
So, in a situation where your start-up has failed to take off, don’t take it too hard and keep on trying.
This is a weekly column by SarawakYES! – an initiative driven by Faradale Media-M Sdn Bhd and supported by Angkatan Zaman Mansang (Azam) Sarawak – to provide advice and stories on the topics of education and careers to support Sarawakians seeking to achieve their dreams. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
This article first appeared on The Borneo Post, published in the print version on Saturday, February 23, 2019.
