Are you a student in school? About to graduate? If you are preparing
to go or currently attending college/university, the costs probably are
daunting. The cost of a year in college/university runs right around the
average of $440/year for those in Nigeria and about $2,300 in US. This
is unaffordable for many, and painful for all but the most wealthy.
Fortunately, there are many things a parent and student can do to
mitigate the costs of university/collage. Most of these are well known
options, including summer and school year jobs, financial aid, attending
public or private institutions, using community college as a launching
point for a four year college, joining the military and using GI Bill
benefits.
1: BE MOTIVATED
One option that is rarely considered is for a student to start their
own business in school. Notwithstanding the notable examples of Bill
Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and other urban legends, this is not a choice
most university/college students will make. If you know me in person and
you are reading this post, then you must know that I wrote this post
out of the passion I call “must lead by example passion”
Note that
most businesses don’t need to have employees or complex operations in
order to generate profits. As stated before in this blog, you just need
to identify a product people want to purchase and sell it at a profit.
If you do this well and generate self-sustaining repeat business, you
can minimize the amount of hustle required to get new business and focus
on your studies.
ALSO READ:
WHY RUNNING OUT OF CASH WILL MAKE YOU RICHER
Another advantage for those who are taking business-related courses in
college is that you can immediately apply your newly learned knowledge
to your business. Hence those who would like to start a business in
school but don’t know how to go about it should contact me with
+2347037281050 for my free assistance only on calls.
Hence you will
need a business plan after we must have done a free market survey for
you at just $105 or 20,000 Naira for small and medium scale business.
This business plan will cover your company logo, minimum and maximum
start-up capital, target customer, market survey analysis, SWOT
analysis, etc. We will also give you all the guided steps you will need
to import any goods from US and China if we write your Business plan,
meaning we will help you on how to start a mini-importation business and
make huge profit in CAMPUS. This is something I did while in campus and
my closest friend never knew I was into mini-importation, but now am
going to give you a free guild on how you can make your first one
million naira while on campus.
Matt Remuzzi, a friend and fellow
entrepreneur, recommended a book for me called “The Entrepreneur’s
Manual.” It’s a classic entrepreneurial tome, and is actually out of
print now so if you want a copy you’ll have to get it used. The book
talks about “mini-incomes”, and describes a number of case studies of
people who had full time jobs, but created mini-incomes from various
small business opportunities that helped them achieve their financial
goals. when the barber who is the lead character in the book augments
his income by running a mobile haircut cart on the side, saving all the
money earned and eventually saving his way to financial independence.
What I’m talking about in this blog, however, is about generating
income so that your student can pay their way through school. Here are
five suggested ways that hopefully will lead you to creating your own
mini-incomes that will help you or your student through college and
provide a basis for future entrepreneurial endeavours.
2: EMBRACE YOUR HOBBY
Expand upon a hobby, such as photography. When I was in EBSU (Enonyi
state University) I had passion for parting/clubbing and
graphics/photography. I also have a real talent for photography, and
have a portfolio of professional quality photos and graphics designs. I
currently go to niche exotic graphics designers like KUTIGRAPHICS, takes
samples of his designs, then try to do something similar to that he did
and shows to other graphics designers to know if it a good design
before I upload it to the internet. If people they like what they see,
they pay me to do some designs for them. I must say this again I made
roughly $2500 online from just doing minor design and photo editing for
people and all my stay in school, I never touched the money I made
saving online. Hence I have wasted time on something that gave me cool
money and later generated me the money I used for my first automobile
importation.
I also involved myself in teaching people photo editing and graphics design.
3: DO WHAT YOU KNOW BEST AND DON’T SHY AWAY
Every student has some subject at which they excel, whether Math,
English, or music. Tutoring high school students in your favourite
subject can be rewarding and provide a good income stream. You can go
through agencies, but the idea here is to make a profit for yourself,
not for others.
4: PACKAGE YOURSELF WELL
Create your own fliers
and business cards and use your connections back to your high school
alma mater (if you’re local) or the local high income area high schools.
Ask for referrals and as you do good work, watch your referrals grow.
Look for opportunities to provide services for your fellow students.
This could be in the form of concierge type services (for someone with
no time to do basic things but extra cash to pay for someone else to do
them), shopping, tutoring, note-taking, etc. All these require on your
part is the ability to market and perform the service, either yourself
or buy paying other students at a rate that lets you make a profit.
Obviously you’ll want to market these services to students that have the
money to pay for them, since other starving students are likely to have
more time than money, or too little of both.
MUST READ: THESE ARE THE 10 PEOPLE THAT WILL MAKE YOU BROKE
5: BE CREATIVE WITH YOUR TALENT/HAND WORKS
Make a good and stylized hand-crafted goods like hand bags, leather
pam, banggles, departmental t-shirts, etc and sell them. The internet is
a great venue for selling that doesn’t require retail space, going to
craft shows, or any brick and mortar other than a dorm room. A co-worker
of mine was looking at a business that makes custom wallets out of old
ties. The ties are virtually free at thrift stores and for the cost of a
sewing machine and labour this business was able to generate in excess
of 60K/year, with the owner working part time. Alternatively, work with
someone you know who makes handcrafted goods and create a website and
marketing plan for them. On Yahoo Stores or similar venues setting up an
e-commerce site is both cheap and easy. If you have a friend’s mom who
makes the best hot sauce in the world, or knits cardigans for all of her
friends, there may be an opportunity to sell those goods to a wider
market.
Provide services for local residents or businesses. There
are students who have window washing businesses, dog- rearing and
dog-walking businesses like my Class mate Uro Geoffrey Izuchukwu, car
detailing businesses, landscaping businesses, bead making etc. Market
research and finding a demographic are key skills that will be developed
here.
College can be expensive, but it’s an opportunity for
students to gain practical business skills as well as a more traditional
academic education. This is a one-two punch combination that will
hopefully give them a basis for entrepreneurship that will stay with
them throughout their many careers and help them find opportunities that
enable them to explore their passions as well as accumulate wealth.
Moreover such people are the major people creating jobs today in the
world.
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