How To Be A Student Entrepreneur And Cater For Yourself In School

As students or recent graduates, we can relate with the cost of managing ourselves while in school. Truly, the costs are probably daunting. The cost of just a year in college/university can go as high as #100,000 and above for those in Nigeria and about $2,300 in the US.

The four or more years in college/university can be expensive, but its still an opportunity for students to gain practical business skills as well as a more traditional academic education. This is a 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 will enable them explore their passions as well as accumulate wealth. Moreover such people are the major people creating jobs today in the world.

There are many things you can try out as a student while in school to help manage the cost of been in school. You can even go as far as getting enough to pay your fees, rent, dues and also feed comfortably without stress.

But first, here are some tips I want you to have in mind:

1. You Have To Be Motivated:

An option that is rarely considered is for a student to start their own business in school, but unfortunately this is not a choice most university/college students are willing to make.

People easily conclude that this is almost an impossible mission but they forget that most businesses don't need to have employees or complex operations in order to generate profits. Some businesses don't even require much of your time. 

You just need to identify a product people want to purchase and you can sell it at a profit. You can also identify services people always look out and you can provide them at your own fee. If you do this well and generate self-sustaining income, you can minimize the amount of times you'll need to call your sponsor for help. You'll also get this feeling of achievement and focus on your studies knowing you are well catered for.

Those who are taking business-related courses in college can even go ahead to apply their newly learned knowledge in business.

2. Be Passionate About Your Hobby:

Whatever your hobby is, learn to expand on it. Your hobby can become small business opportunities that can actually create mini-incomes that will help you achieve financial goals and provide a basis for future entrepreneurial endeavor.

For instance, if you love taking pictures, you can get a camera and hook up with social directors in school so you can be in charge of photography during events.

If you love swimming, visit the school pool once in a while and you'll find people who can't swim, meet them and offer to teach them for a fee.

Even if you love reading or writing, you can decide to help other students read and summarize recommended texts or simply do other assignments for them at a fee.

3. Improve On Your Skills:

Every student has a skill (try to find out yours). It could be ICT skills, communication skills, coaching skills, writing skills, cooking skills, and so on. Whatever you know how to do, improve on it and use it to get yourself an extra income.

If you are very good in something, you can choose to tutor other students who would be interested in learning it.

If you are also very good in a particular course, you can fix tutorial classes for other students who find it difficult to understand the course. Doing these can be rewarding and can provide a good income stream.

4. Get Yourself Packaged:

To look like a professional in your field, you need to package yourself in the right way. If you can spare extra cash, go ahead and create your own fliers, posters and business cards. In yours fliers/poster/business cards, write a summary of the services you render or products you sell. Also include your contacts there, you can even add your address if you wish. Paste your posters in strategic places and various notice boards within the school. You can even take it outside the school to reach a wider customer base. Let your fliers and cards always be with you everywhere you go. Give out your fliers to people you meet in school; in the bus, in class, in events etc. You can also ask for referrals from customers that you satisfied and reward them when they refer someone.

5. Learn To Be Creative With Your Talent:

If you are good at hand works, you may want to add creativity to your products. Don't just make regular, boring handcrafts people see everyday, add something different to them and give the customer a reason to buy your crafts.

If you are good with your intelligence, add creativity to it and give other students a reason to come to you when they need help understanding something. Your creative speech presentation or writing can fetch you people who would come for you to make a speech at their event or write a proposal or something for them.

6. Don't Use The Social Media Only For Socializing:

The internet is a great place for selling and it doesn't require retail space, going to craft shows, or any complex arrangement other than you been in your room.

Anything you can do well, take it online and market it. Create your own crafts and take pictures of them online. Who knows, you may land a deal with someone who would pay for your crafts and decide to retail it. Alternatively, you can work with someone you know who makes handcrafted goods and create a website and marketing plan for them. Yahoo stores or similar sites are available for you to market your products. Besides, setting up an e-commerce site is both cheap and easy. Whatever service you can render, market yourself online and be ready to receive requests from people who are not even in your school.

Fortunately, there are many things you can do as a student that will not interfere with your studies. You can engage in them and live comfortably in helping ease the burden of your sponsor while in the university/college.

Here are some things you can try out as a student entrepreneur:

PRODUCTS:

To start selling products, you have to either make them yourself or buy from people who make them and sell at a profit. But the first option is always more profitable.

1. Fashion Products like bags, shoes, clothes and jewelries.

2. Foods and drinks like small chops, cakes, cocktails, mock tails, snacks, pancakes, party meals etc. 

3. Beauty products like makeup items, soaps, body creams, perfumes, hair extensions and treatments etc.

4. Household products like utensils, toilet wash, plate or laundry wash, antiseptic and gemicide, umbrellas, hand wash etc. 

5. Recommended textbooks or materials. 

6. Gadgets like phones, pcs, sockets, chargers.

SERVICES:

Look for opportunities to provide services for your fellow students. You'll want to market the services you can provide to students that have the money to pay for them. Some students are likely to have more money than time, seize this opportunity and get paid.

1. Shopping for others.

2. Tutorials.

3. Photography.

4. Doing assignments for others.

5. Catering services.

6. DJ or MC services.

7. Event managing.

Note that the above options are not the only things you can do. Just be smart, look around you for needs of others to fill and turn it into your very own business idea.

Question for readers: What can you do to be a student entrepreneur?