Money Makers: What You Need to Know about Becoming an Entrepreneur Straight Out of College

The job market is more competitive than it has ever been before. With college tuition debt increasing and job prospects low, college graduates are looking for options their forebears never considered—chief among them being entrepreneurship.

But while college graduates are becoming entrepreneurs by the droves, it isn’t all sunshine and roses. There are a number of factors that you need to consider if you want to have a successful startup.

Here are a few key things you need to know before taking the plunge into entrepreneurship.

It's Not Just One Job
‘Entrepreneur’ may sound like one word, but it encompasses a large number of duties. Your business idea may be focused around a hobby that you are really good at, but that is not the only thing you will be doing. Instead, you will mostly be taking on tasks that you won’t even enjoy.

You will have to a number of hats in the beginning—leader, follower, worker. Before your startup can even get off the ground, you will have to create a business plan, or make a proposal, likely on your own, unless you have partners or investors.

If your business is focused on selling a product, you will need to learn how to build a sales funnel, and work on promotions.

As an entrepreneur, it will be up to you to speak to investors, potential stakeholders, clients and customers.

In other words, an entrepreneur needs to know about finances, planning, operations, and marketing. All while being easy-going, communicative, and persuasive

That is a lot that you need to do, and you only have 24 hours in a day. Your organization skills and time management skills will have to be top notch, especially in these early stages.

Once your business is up and running, you can start looking at hiring people to take over some of the tasks from you. Until then, it’s all you.

You Run The Show
As an entrepreneur, you need to understand the ins and outs of business. What does the market need, and how can you provide it? How do you spread the word about your product or service? How much money do you need to begin operations, and how much will you need in the future?

Alongside business basics, you also need to know about marketing. There is no point having a great business idea, if nobody knows about it.

You should be brainstorming small business marketing ideas and planning out your key performance indicators. You will need to work on your brand identity and your logo design, as those will set you apart from competitors. (Take a look at this brand building guide for more on branding).

In the opening year or so of your entrepreneurship journey, you will be solely responsible for everything that happens in your company, as well as all promotions. Once you begin to see some profits, you can build a marketing team that will help you grow. (You can read more about marketing team structure here).

There Can Be Problems
When you look at some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, it might look like they’ve sailed through without any problems. But every startup has its own roadblocks, especially at first.

One of the biggest issues you will be facing relates to finance. Understand that you will need to get a loan, so you will be starting off in debt. You must keep your accounts updated and stick to a bookkeeping schedule so you always know what’s happening with your finances.

If you have investors, you will need to provide results for their continued sponsorship. And with you having to do most of the work in the beginning, your work will take over your days and your nights.

The one thing you want to avoid is legal trouble. The best way to do this is by being honest and transparent in your business dealings, and sticking to the rule book to the best of your abilities. Hire a lawyer early on to save yourself more hassles.

None of this is very exciting but it will ensure you don’t run into problems that scuttle your startup before it’s even begun.

Conclusion
The early days of entrepreneurship are not as glamorous as you would like but by putting in the hard yards, you will eventually be able to create a life that is challenging and fulfilling in every way.

Ronita Moha
Ronita Mohan is a content marketer at Venngage, the online infographic and design platform. Ronita is interested in a variety of topics related to digital marketing, visual content, and online engagement, which she enjoys researching and writing about.

Twitter: @Venngage

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