Every student entrepreneur is an earthworm. An earthworm—quite an unusual comparison,you may think, and you would be right. You might also be thinking..."here we go again, yet another person who is going to break down the earthworm bit by bit and use the anatomy as a way to explain how a student becomes an entrepreneur!" To that, I would respond, I wish I had the intelligence or the perseverance to break down the earthworm in such a way and where the &^$% did you find that article. But, luckily enough for you, I am using an earthworm as a simple analogy.

In the eyes of many, both student entrepreneurs and earthworms are at the bottom of the food chain. However, the beauty of that is nobody is expecting much of you, more importantly you are not a threat, so they will try and do their best to help you along the way. You will be surprised by how generous people are with their time and you will learn so much and meet so many people even if your business doesn’t even get off the ground.

Quick backstory on myself to try and prove an ounce of credibility. I am a 19-year-old, 3 rd
year commerce student. I started my first ever “start-up” in college at 17 years old, got
accepted into my university student accelerator and won a university “start-up” competition along the way. Currently, I am the head of my university’s start-up accelerator program and I encourage students to start businesses!

Now that I have gotten the shameless plug out of the way, let me continue with the good
stuff. The second bit of advice is a complete cliché, and I am stealing from Phil Knight when I say, “Just do it!”. There is only ever upside to starting a business. Best case, you could set up the next Microsoft, Facebook or FedEx. Even if it fails, you have gotten the experience of being an entrepreneur which is a valuable asset to have no matter what career you go into.  Further, it is a brilliant thing to talk about in an interview and you make loads of connections in a variety of industries along the way.

Back to my story again - my business is still not off the ground, but I have learned so much trying.

Finally, my last piece of advice is to build a team around you. If you are going to try and raise investment in any shape or form, your team is the thing that is single handedly the most important. Every investor is analysing a team’s ability to develop and grow the business, to deal with challenges, to be innovative, creative, resilient and don’t forget to keep an eye on the finances. One person cannot do that alone! How do I build my team you might ask. This is where the fact that you are a student comes in handy! Get involved in every society (did you know Steve Jobs introduced all the different fonts because he joined a calligraphy classin college). Talk to every person from a student studying modern art to one studying astrophysics and find someone who fits with you and your business!

So, although you may be and feel like an earthworm, remember two things: there is no
better time to do something than when you are young, and the only way is up!