Catalyzing entrepreneur success post-graduation

Becoming an entrepreneur is a very rewarding and thrilling experience. It can become a lifetime career if you do it right, and know how to learn from wins and mistakes along the way. The best part is that you do not need to wait to be an entrepreneur. You can start now, even post-graduation from The University of British Columbia.

In many ways, taking a year or two to heed the entrepreneurial calling after college can be very rewarding, both professionally and personally. It is also a great way to prolong the 9-to-5 grind that you may not be too thrilled about. As thrilling as it may seem, however, there are challenges that await new entrepreneurs.

It’s true that the entrepreneurial journey involves taking risk and making sacrifices, however, if you look at the brighter side, you are in control of your destiny, your opportunities your time, your upsides, and your career. Building a company isn’t a smooth process.There are roadblocks and bottlenecks that can deter even the most confident entrepreneur offering the best solution.”

The best way to mitigate these challenges and potential risks is by forging down the entrepreneurial path with a bit of knowledge under your belt. Let’s take a deeper look at how to catalyze entrepreneur success post-graduation.

Understand The Importance Of Having A Market

Anyone can become an entrepreneur. All you need is a product or service, a website, and a few social media networks. It really is that simple. However, there is a huge difference between a successful entrepreneur and a regular one. This is often based on market for products and/or services.

Did you know that the top reason why startups fail is no market? That’s right, and it makes sense. If you have no one to sell to, you probably will not have very many conversions for your endeavor.

The same goes for having too big of a market. The saying goes, “If everyone is your customer, you don’t have any customers.” So you can see that there is a delicate balance when it comes to finding the perfect industry and niche market to claim for your entrepreneurial journey.

The good news is that you can actually test your product or service before spending thousands of dollars! How? First, create a product or service marketing plan with some high-quality images. Next, create a WordPress website and get your site registered on Google AdWords.This will cost about $100 or less.

Once you have this in place, run keyword rich ads for about $50 per day, for a week. If your ads net enough leads to justify the marketing spend on ads, you most likely have yourself a winning entrepreneur idea. Total cost of market testing is around $500. Not bad!

Beg, Borrow, Or Steal More Business Knowledge

Gathering knowledge in a wide range of disciplines is optimal for entrepreneurs. This may seem difficult due to the freshness of your adult professional career post-graduation, but it can be a bit easier in some respects.

After you have a market tested product and/or service, it is time to begin building your network of peers, and most importantly — mentors. You can hop on LinkedIn and reach out to those in your industry and niche. Find entrepreneurs who have made it and send them a message too.

Podcasts, YouTube videos, Udemy courses, and blogs are also very beneficial. You probably will need to get some basic knowledge on the platforms you will use for your business, like MailChimp, Moz, and WordPress. For instance, something simple, like knowing how to fix WordPress errors can save you a lot of time, energy, and money.

Learn Everything Possible About Marketing

Entrepreneurs have a lot of skills, but one is very important for entrepreneurial growth and success — marketing. Marketing is critical to your startup’s success, as well as future business ventures. From traditional marketing to social media marketing, there is a lot to learn, and you need to hone all the needed marketing tools for success.

Marketing is also essential because you will not only be marketing your startup. A lot of entrepreneurship is about marketing yourself. From publication partnerships to potential investors, you will need to be liked before anyone likes your business idea.

Are You Ready To Join The Entrepreneur Ranks?

Becoming an entrepreneur, and a successful one at that, can be very rewarding right out of the gate post-graduation. The road may not be easy. However, it may be the road you were meant to be on. From honing business skills to market testing, take an intelligent approach to starting your startup. What are your entrepreneurial goals for 2019?