by Richard McMunn, founder of How2become.com
The new kids on the block are the next generation and are relied upon to bring new ideas and thoughts to the world. Older generations are often heard stating the young have no idea. The young do have ideas. They were born into the micro-chip era while the older generations are still getting to grips with the internet and still afraid to sign-up to online banking facilities in case they get ‘robbed’.
So, bearing this in mind, you fresh, young, vibrant things, how do you decide what your future holds? After all, it’s your future, we’re living ours and we carved our seeds and the benefits we reap are in your hands. We’ve given you the world as you know it today and we hand it over to you so you can make your decisions.
Start-Up.
This may not be too well-known, however, two seventeen year old boys in the US, put a plea on Kickstarter to raise funds for their idea which was an app for a Pebble Watch. They asked for $100,000 to develop and launch their idea and suddenly found they had $10,000,000 in contributions from the public. I have visions of these two young men sitting in their bedroom and shouting down to Mum; “We’ve got $10,000,000 what are we going to do with it? Pretty clever, huh? I think so. They found a corner and they have a successful product on their hands which could go into production. They are a shining example of a Start-up which the public willingly subscribed to and they’ve beaten the odds of inventing a product and it kicking off.
Starting up a business is never easy and those who make it look easy are the ones who have made it work. But, surely in the dens of the past, there will have been times when ‘holding heads in hands’ moments happened. Selling a service is never easy, selling a product is simple, it will either sell or it won’t. If it does and becomes a brand, then to keep the consumer buying one always has to extend that brand. The internet is full of ‘services’ to buy but what people want is products. Find your product and think about branding.
Join Up.
Join up with a platform who has the contacts and you might just find you can work with someone who will offer some mentoring and guidance. There are business angels out there looking for ideas from young people who are fresh and can see the ground from the bottom up. Hitting the ground running is best left to the young, we all need a Grandpa to guide us through and taking it from someone who has been there can be instrumental in your quest.
Grow Up.
Sadly, many people tell the younger generation they have to grow-up, but kids have more fun eh? Growing-up brings growing pains and those can hurt. Look at the Facebook founder; we have watched him grow up in a few years to become a very rich man indeed. The internet is flooded with people growing up in front of our very eyes. Growing up is not all it’s cracked up to be. However, running a business is very grown-up indeed. The grown-up part is when a business needs some grown up attention and while gadgets are the order of the day and let’s not be under illusions there, they are, running a healthy business requires some grown up attentions. Youth has its plus points but then so does being a grown-up.
Richard McMunn is the founder of How2become.com. Richard spent 17 years in the Fire Service and now provides specialist recruitment training for those looking embark on a public sector career.
