Help!!! Where to begin? Am I on the correct track?

[Kjmcnamara]

Hello All,

My name is Kyle and I am fairly new to this site as well as the world of entrepreneurial work!
After a few months now of searching around on this site as well as others and reading/gathering as much info as possible I am at a stand still. I need some sort of confirmation from others that I am doing the correct thing.

Brief history....

I am 23 years old, reside in Massachusetts. Currently enrolled full time at a state college. Graduated high school where I then went directly into college to study business. College is taking a little more time than expected due to working full time jobs throughout and hate to say but "lack of interest". Thankfully I have about 7 more classes to go before receiving my fall back piece of paper... BSBM degree. I am currently working in a gym as a personal trainer as well as for G.N.C. I have held jobs in sales for most of my work life and have experience in many fields such as electronics, corporate, as well as the health industry.

My PROBLEM !.....

Through reading many articles as well as interviews and such I have gathered that the single most important trait characteristic in a entrepreneur is motivation! and the need to succeed.

Although I may not exhibit the academic interest of others I myself know I have an extremely high level of Motivation! as well as need for achievement!!!!

I am never satisfied with mediocre... or my current position... and am constantly striving for more and ways in which I can succeed by correcting or improving a business. My mind is constantly thinking and generating ideas for a business idea or product/service possibility..

I am in dire need of starting my own business, where I can put my will power and motivation into action and create success!

I as the majority of 23yr old full time college students, do not have an exorbitant amount of money. My investment of monetary backing would have to by very minimal, however I am willing to invest all of my free time as efforts!

My Question:????

Although being relatively young, I have never failed at anything I have done. At age 18 i started a Automotive Detailing business which became successful and turned a generous profit within a couple of months.. Now I am looking to start something more... something that may project a successful future in my professional life.

What direction should I move in???

I have been reading as much information as possible with a wide variety of people and areas of interest. I feel that if I am going to succeed in something, the best way possible to do this in my situation is to gather as much history and information from past young entrepreneurs as possible.

Is there something more or different I should be doing??

The main concern I have is that I do not have a specific area of interest with which I am looking at. Is this a problem?

It seems that from other success stories I have read, a large amount of people my age who have started companies did not have a great deal of thought into the avenue they perused, rather just stumbled upon the idea...



Any inputs? Thoughts? Suggestions?

[questeds]

First things first - you are going to fail. I do not mean this in a nasty way, but you have to fail in business, if you do not fail, you are not reaching high enough. Microsoft itself was the result of a business failure believe it or not.
Business is most certainly not about academics, and you should have some level of knowledge and interest in what you decide to do. Having said that, for many, simply running a business is gives the passion they desire.
If you want to listen to some good podcast ideas, search for stanford ETL podcasts, the struggling entrepreneur (dont be put off by the name) and Rogue CFO to name a few.
You need to work out quickly what your weaknesses are from a business perspective, and either look to partner with, or pay for the services of people in this area.

Get yourself registered on Linkedin, start throwing some questions on there, but remember, you are talking to potential customers, so be careful that you do not ask something to off the chart.

You are in the fortunate position, I daresay of not having children, not having a mortgage etc. so your personal risk levels are relatively low. Do not feel that you need to go hunting for VC money and all that stuff, just dabble for a while, try a few different things without over-investing, and most of all, have some fun with it!

[akula]

The main concern I have is that I do not have a specific area of interest with which I am looking at. Is this a problem?

hi..
yeah that's an issue
with entrepreneurship there are generally 3 traits that founders have: energy, dissatisfaction and insight
you're young and you seem to have the energy to start a business. also, for one reason or another you're unsatisfied with your current station in life, you want things to be better and so you wanna do a startup. both of those are good things.
the 3rd, you really need to develop. successful founders tend to have a lot insight about the problem that they want their startup to be solving.

the next step for you is the most enjoyable one as far as entrepreneurship goes: that is, problem formulation.
you've gotta start thinking about a large scale important problem that you want to be solving....and there is no shortage of those.

it can be anything from prevalence of click fraud in online marketing. the persistent increase in the cost of electricity for american households. obesity. poverty etc etc the list is infinite

with yourback ground in auto industry, cleantech might be the way the way to go. people are upset about the rising cost of running their cars. they want solutions. or, for example, a lot of families and commuters feel that access to the internet in their vehicle is a good solution to some of their problem.

those kinds of ventures could be interesting because they are part current industry trends...we can expect many more cars to be hybrids/electric over the next 20 years in the same way that we can expect many more cars to have internet connections.

but, really..it's up to you and what you feel would be most interesting for you in terms of opportunity selection

[bettyjean]

Great advice so far!

The bigger picture, Kyle, is what do you want from your lifestyle? What are you work for? How do you want a normal work day to play out and feel? I ask this because lots of people are mesmerized by the sexy idea of being an "entrepreneur." You've had a business so I'm sure you know that start ups aren't easy. It is important to have a very clear idea of where you are going before you start a business or take a job.

I'll break it down a little more for you.

What is it that comes really naturally to you? What are you so good at that you don't realize it? For me, it's talking to people. It took me years to see it but when I took a major step back, I realized that, in my free time, I was always out at some business thing meeting new people and getting in long one-on-one conversations about their business, why they were doing it, and what their goals were for their life. During that time, I was running my offices at a petroleum business. In that job, I had VERY little contact with the outside world. I was making good money but I was unhappy. Now, I do a lot of different things but I do what I am so good at, I didn't even realize it: I talk to people about their work, lives, and dreams and help them strategize. (I used to do that for a living... now I just do it for fun.)

My next career move is NOT to own another business. Instead, I'm going to tap into what I have found that I am the best at (makes the best use of my natural skills): sales. I like going out into the world, meeting new people, finding out what they need, then helping them fill that need. I'm good at it because I almost don't have to try. It is just how I am built. While I love all the businesses I have, all the work that goes into them isn't always the best use of my skills. I am very much looking forward to leaving the daily mechanics of owning a business to someone else while I focus on what I'm good at: interacting with people. (Btw... I'm not getting rid of any of my business. They are still going)

My point is, why do you want a business? Is it the money? Or is it the type of work that goes into owning a business? Clarify where you are now (Point A) and decide where you want to be (Point B). When you know where point B is, you can map out the fastest and happiest way to get there. It might be owning a business, it might be buying someone else's business, it might actually be to work for someone else doing something specific and well suited for you. You don't know until you know where you are going.

So, think about that Kyle.
1) Try to give yourself a target amount that you want to earn for the year (or in 2-5 years),
2) make a list of all the stuff you are really good at (whether you think it ads value to other people or not), and
3) think about what sorts of activities you want to be doing during the day. (no industries or work. think about stuff like "interacting with people" or "working at home on my computer," etc.)

Hope this helps! And I look forward to reading the recommendations other people leave here for you!

-Betty Jean

"Inspiring others towards happiness will bring you happiness.

[bettyjean]

Akula,

Awesome advice! Great way to simplify how one might find focus for their business.

[generationy]

Dude! Love your story. I would simply say that you have to follow your passion and work towards a goal. When you have passion, an interest in the idea then you will enjoy the entire journey! It's as simple as that. So what you failed? Who hasn't? The true difference between a successful entrepreneur and a failure is that one keeps on going (persistence) while the other gives up and backs away from trying ever again. Which one are you? Good luck!

[Kjmcnamara]

Thank you all for the great Advice. I will absolutely take it into consideration and try to answer all you're questions for myself. Hopefully this will point me into a pathway with which I can find happiness and success.

Betty- Alike you I do find great happiness in talking to others and helping others with day to day issues or problems. In any situation which I am placed I find it very easy to talk to people and more so enjoy listening to them and stories with a background to who they are as well as businesses that they may have started.

I guess the one part that I do have a problem with is critical thinking in the aspect of finding problems that need to be solved or problems that I can find an answer too. However like anything else, with work I can become better at this!

Thanks again everyone!

-Kyle

[Kjmcnamara]

UPDATE....

OK so for the update, something has sort of fallen into my lap for an idea which I feel would solve some major problems targeted to an environment which I am part of. For obvious reasons I will not disclose any other info just yet... however does anyone have any ideas or directions of books, articles, etc I could look into for best advice and processes with an online business? More specific, advertisement for revenue? and any restrictions or laws I should be made aware of? Obviously there are many different websites, such as this one which make money and create the base of revenue from advertisement. I am new to this and need to learn from the ground up! ...quickly!


Thanks again!

-Kyle