[ADV] Young Entrepreneurs At Their Best

When you have the idea and the creative juices just can’t stop flowing, that’s exactly the perfect time to jumpstart your entrepreneurial career. Your chance of succeeding is better when you start earlier; and the speed of turning your ideas into business concepts is directly proportional to the strength of your business.

What’s holding you back? You might have a few good reasons – the perfect idea, perfect timing, start-up capital, how the people will respond to your business and your fear of failure. Guess what, all the big and successful businessmen today had all those considerations and these are not excuses not to start your business today.

The Perfect Idea

Before you complicate things, remember the basics. Build a business out of other people’s needs or pain points. It’s always a sure win when you know the difference between a WANT and a NEED. This also makes the planning better because you get a pretty clear idea of how you want your business to be. Take Jane as an example. She has always loved shoes and figured out one day that she has accumulated so many that she can’t keep them in her closet anymore. A friend introduced her to the world of online marketing and guess what, she’s now into selling both pre-loved and brand new shoes online. John on the other hand, thought of nothing else but Muay Thai. He had a hard time looking for authentic Muay Thai apparel and accessories in Singapore when the sport was beginning to hit the country. With help from his parents and friends, he started importing goods from Thailand and selling them here. It turns out that there are many other Muay Thai enthusiasts who are in need of such apparel and accessories. The point is, the perfect idea comes from what you love doing and what you can do. Let the creative juices flow – don’t let it spill.

Now is the Right Time

Why are you afraid to start? The perfect idea becomes nothing when young entrepreneurs start worrying about the right time. Everyday, there are a million of ideas being born but only a few succeed to be a business. If you just got out of school and you still feel unprepared to take such tedious responsibility, chances are, you’ll never ever try. As the famous saying goes, “if you want to have something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.”

The faster you turn your ideas into business concepts identifies the strength of your business. Most people are comfortable having something that has been there for a long time. Something like “Coffeemania” brewing the best coffee since 1998 or Finance House helping you since 1980 is indeed a good tag to work on. For those businesses that are not brand new; well, you have to work on improving the ideas and reinventing, looking into offering more than what your competitors have. Put in mind that the most crucial step is getting started and once you have put it all up, everything just becomes easier.

Go Beyond Your Imagination and Make Your Dreams Come True

Every entrepreneur has a roadblock. Of course, it is never easy – just like everything else. It could be very difficult especially at the planning stage but once you get through the first phase of taking charge and overcoming fear of failure, everything else falls into place.

Getting an idea could be from an “aha!” moment on one late Saturday night while hanging out with your friends. It’s about keeping an eye on things that you need and want and how you can improve them. Don’t be afraid of FAILURE. The only failure you’ll ever regret having is not starting.

Let’s Get It Started!

Well you don’t have to be a rich businessman’s kid to make your dreams come true. When you’ve got the perfect idea and the courage to start it today, ideas.inc. is the closest step to success. ideas.inc. Business Challenge is an annual business competition organised by the Nanyang Technopreneurship Center, targeting young entrepreneurs aged 26 and below. ideas.inc. provides significant funding, mentorship and skills enhancement workshops for its participants. Be inspired with past participants’ success stories and learn more about the competition at http://www.ntu.edu.sg/ideasinc.

Being a young entrepreneur and starting a business might be risky but if not now then when? Now is the time. Let your creative juices flow and from ideas, dreams, convert them into successful business concepts. Taking risks has two outcomes – success on the first try and failure that leads to even greater ideas! Looking at it, you won’t really lose anything at all. Enjoy the ride. It’s worth every minute!

Ideas.Inc. Business Challenge 2010 is an advertising partner of Young Upstarts.