How to start as a Young Entrepreneur

It can be hard to know where to start as an entrepreneur if you are someone still young enough to be denied entry into a club or bar.
However, I am going to list four things young aspiring entrepreneurs can do now to get started on their journey on becoming a successful entrepreneur.

1: Find the right people to hang around

I'm not saying dump all your friends and go but I am saying seek out people who want the same as you or even better, are already there or at least ahead of you. This forces you to 'level up', it will push you to do what you already want to do so badly and do it well.

Honestly, this is one of the best things you will do for yourself. To quote Jim Rohn "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with". This means if you spend all your time with lazy people will you be drained of motivation and become the same way. The reverse is true and this is what we are getting at.

Use the connections you have already to network, join a group of likeminded individuals or even start one yourself and the people you are after will soon come to you. I personally am in about three of these groups right now and it had honestly pushed me forward so much. You don’t need to do everything alone. Reach out!

2: Find a mentor/s

This is something I see most if not all successful entrepreneurs old and young doing. You do not need to be rubbing shoulders with the richest and most successful men and women in the world or even your respective country (although I have seen young people do this, break a leg!). But finding someone who has been successful as an entrepreneur or even businessman is a really great thing.

This allows you to be inspired and learn from them. If you asked Elon Musk he would tell you, you shouldn't need inspiration if are to be successful but no one is saying you don't need to learn. This goes hand in hand with #1, so definitely do your best to leverage opportunities to work with mentors.

3: Have a plan

You need some sort of direction. You don't want to be one of those people who wish they had a business and endless wealth but lack any vision on how they are going to get there. We call these people wantrepreneurs. Don’t be a wantreprenur.

You don't need to have some master plan with every detail. As the saying goes, keep the vision forget the details. All one needs to start is a rough plan they can follow. This begins with what you want, your goals, write these down (e.g. start your own clothing brand). Followed by the big part we are getting at here, how you plan on getting to them (e.g. getting in contact with someone who has done it before you) and then in how long? give yourself a rough time-frame.

I think time is particularly important here. As Bill Gates said, "people tend to overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in ten". Do not freak out if you can’t always stick to your deadlines but at least have them there.

4: Believe you can

Generally speaking unless you have some faith in your ability to achieve your goals you will be a lot less likely to succeed in whatever you are striving for. You need to find a way to truly believe in yourself, some of us are born with this confidence but many are not, we are filled with doubt and worries.

To do this first make sure you do the first few steps, surround yourself with positive people who may have done or be doing what you aspire to, find a mentor, give yourself a fighting chance by making a realistic plan with a vision and you will be well on your way to giving yourself the best chance and hence to believing you can do what you want to so badly.