Explore what is needed to become an entrepreneur with insights from volunteer Youth Ambassadors and Special Guests attending our Youth Voice Forum.
How do you become an entrepreneur? What do you need to do?
Answers to this important question have been compiled by young people and youth-friendly experts as part of our regular online Youth Voice Forum, with thanks to all attendees including Chair Charlotte Jeffreys, Special Guest Ellie Taylor, and our amazing volunteer Youth Ambassadors.
You need the confidence to take a leap
Ed: In terms of traits, I think confidence stands out for me. Whether that’s confidence in just committing to your idea and going for it, or whether that’s confidence in ringing around to get a booking for an event etc.
I think having the confidence to believe in yourself and say ‘this could work’ is really important to get your idea off the ground. Anything can affect a young person’s confidence. Anything that can knock you down. If you are really successful and then you have a setback, that’s going to knock down your confidence.
It’s definitely important to have the right support to be able to say ‘Yes, I can overcome this and I’m going to move on’.
You need to be disciplined!
Ellie: I would say that discipline is one trait that you would definitely need to have. Sometimes in my own journey I found it very easy to slip back in a sense, but it’s very important to stay on top of things. Very early on, for me, everything was going great. I had a lot of bookings and money coming in, and it’s very easy to get lost in that side of things. You can start to slack a little. You have to stay to the schedule you planned and really work hard. That’s one piece of advice I would really encourage.
Being prepared and having enough prior knowledge is vital
Ella: You need to have an idea, know how to keep it going and how the money can work in the long term.
Ellie: A good thing to have is a really in-depth business plan and someone to go over it with you. Of course, the thing with a business plan is that it is not always going to go to plan. But for me, I like to look back on it. There is so much that has changed in my plan over time, but when I feel stuck or things aren’t going the way I had hoped, I go back to that plan and see all the things I have achieved.
My business plan is like a little book of survival to keep going. Seeing what I have achieved shows me that somewhere down the line I’m going to achieve the biggest things that are in this book. It gives you that motivation and push forward.
Be prepared to learn lots through experience
Ed: I’m a second year economic student and I’ve done entrepreneurship modules. Although they’ve been absolutely fantastic and I’ve learnt a lot, for the amount I pay, I’ve learnt far more from the business I was running for a year from any module I could do at university.
Resilience is important to keep moving forward
Pete: I think there is a lot to be said about the idea of resilience. It’s really exciting to have a business idea, but a business can be lots of little mundane, day to day tasks that you have to do to get your big, exciting thing to happen. It seems like there is an entrepreneurial mindset to be successful that we are describing.
Having a role model or mentor is really impactful
Josh: When I was at school I used to go to Tesco every morning and buy cookies and drinks to sell for 50p in the playground. I did that for about three years until I got caught by my teacher. He took everything off of me, including the money I had made and he got me to donate it to charity. However, the crucial thing that he did do was keep some of that money back as a budget for me to be able to sell things for charity instead.
I think that’s a really important message because a lot of people I went to school with didn’t get that, they didn’t have a good teacher that saw something in them. If people are showing that kind of flair, help them to build that and explore it. It’s about nurturing that flair and seeing if it’s the right option for them.
I think entrepreneurship education, as well as careers advice, needs to start earlier in schools.
Perceptions towards entrepreneurship and self-employment need to change to make the career path more accessible
Nyasha: You can get a loan to go to university whether you plan to study properly or not, but what if there was the same energy towards a business, which has chances of failure but might have more return in terms of creating opportunity?
Charlotte: I’ve not heard that equivalence drawn between the debt you acquire at uni versus the kind of debt you would get from a business loan. I think it’s a phenomenal way of phrasing it, because we have this implicit idea of risk associated with taking out a loan – but it’s so normalised when it comes to university. It’s about getting to a point where young people feel confident and knowledgeable about betting on themselves and getting into some debt to start one of their ideas.
Volunteer with us
Would you like to volunteer with us if you are aged 16-24 and care about your future? You can build your skills, confidence, and CV online or at exciting local events near you as a volunteer Youth Ambassador. You can also take part in our regular Youth Voice Forum.
