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5 Reasons to Start Your Company As a Student

Are you a student looking for a way to earn some extra cash, or a budding entrepreneur with a brilliant start-up idea? Here are five reasons to start your company before you get your diploma.

Oct 15, 2015
  • Student Tips
5 Reasons to Start Your Company As a Student

We've all joked about being poor students living on ramen, but just because you're a student doesn't mean you can't be a successful business owner. There are lots of reasons to start a business while you're still a student, and according to recent studies more and more students are catching the entrepreneurial bug. Student businesses in the UK earn millions of pounds each year and even if starting a business while studying seems hard, the pay-off can still be huge. Here are five reasons to start your business while you study.

1. You gain experience

Classes and course material are a great way to learn facts, but for many fields you'll need hands-on experience to understand a subject completely. Starting a business can be a great way to gain experience in your chosen field. Whether you're marketing student club nights, tutoring GCSE students in Shakespeare, or designing apps, a business is a lucrative way to practice the skills you'll need for a future career. Owning and operating a business also looks impressive on a CV and gives future employers a reals sense of your potential. Top marks on term papers demonstrate your ability to learn, but client reviews, profits, and growth all show that you know how to apply classroom knowledge to real-life situations.

2. Your age is an advantage

Young and Successful

Starting a business might seem daunting, especially when you have exams, a huge student loan, and a very busy social life, but if you have a great idea your twenties are probably the best time to take the chance. Sure, you're poor, and you haven't had a lot of experience, but you probably don't have a lot of responsibilities either – no mortgage, family, or career to hold you back. There will always be reasons not to start your business, but it's almost guaranteed that the reasons will become more challenging. Plus, the student-life can actually give you an advantage in the start-up game. It might not feel like it during exam-time, but you probably have a good bit of spare time. If you have money left from your student loan, you can leverage that into your business. The variances of student-life might mean that you can see a gap in the market that others have missed. Finally, it may sound patronizing, but people are always impressed when young people succeed. You'll never get more press for your bespoke dog bandanna business or text-book translator app than you will in your 20s.

3. You can build a network

Group of Diverse Cheerful Business People

One of the hardest parts of creating a successful business is making contacts and building a network. But, as a student, you'll have a ready-made network at your fingertips. Your professors, advisers, classmates, and even your parents can lend their expertise and guidance. If you base your business around your studies, you'll leave university with a well-established network of contacts in your field. Even if your company doesn't directly involve your studies, good networking skills will certainly impress future employers. It might also help land you a job in the first place. Who knows, the architecture firm that orders sandwiches from you every Thursday might be looking for someone with just your initiative come graduation. Or the mother of your piano student could be a senior executive at that big firm you're hoping to join.

4. Failing is okay

Female architect working at home.She looking at blueprint.

Starting a business often requires a great deal of personal investment – both of time and money – but if you launch your start-up during your studies you minimize the risks involved. We've already mentioned how a student's lack of 'grown-up' responsibilities makes it easier to take the start-up leap, but fewer responsibilities mean it's actually okay to fail. And try again. And fail again. It's all part of the learning process, and at the very least a failed start-up is a great talking point during interviews.

5. If you're successful, you won't need to look for a job!

Close up of business handshake in the office

And, if you don't fail, the possibilities are endless. A successful student business doesn't have to end when your studies do. Many students who have started companies while studying report that they intend to continue those businesses after graduation. You can keep your business going as a way to demonstrate skill development, or as a source of extra income. You can even develop the business into a full-time career. Once you have the credentials of a degree, that freelance CAD website could blossom into a full-blown design firm. So, if you have a great idea, don't wait until some bloke in a funny hat and robe says you're qualified to go out and work – get out there and make your business a reality!

Read more about studying Business and Entrepreneurship.