Any other college grads with no desire to settle for corp. America?

[Tien]

Just because you are new to being an entrepreneur doesn't mean you can't go out there and start up a new company today.

Being an entrepreneur is often times a skill that needs to be practiced. The more you are out there figuring out ways to implement your own ideas, the more you train your entrepreneurial skill.

Unless you are naturally gifted like Michael Dell or Bill Gates, your first big company you start will rarely be the one that hits the home run. For the rest of us, we need to constantly be in the trenches tinkering new businesses failing over and over until we hit something big.



When I first started out I had a lot of problems trying to come up with ideas that can make me money or how to implement those ideas. But as the years go by, it gets easier and easier to come up with ideas as well as implement them.

[Orlando Salazar]

If you haven't started already, you probably need more or better: idea(s), passion, experience, business connections. A 9-5 sux when you have no ambitions beyond it. When you are working toward something, it's quite different. Also, going corporate will let you see how busineses should and shouldn't be run.

You'll also be able to accumulate capital. Many people I know did Sales/iBanking/Consulting for 2 or 3 years, then went on to whatever. If you end up at a good company, you'll develop a higher degree of professionalism and marketability. You'll also may have time to develop your passion to a near launch point, so that you can hit the ground running.

Instead of thinking, if I had 2 million...Think, if I had $30,000, how would I spend the next six months? If you already have that kind of money you should already be well on your way to finding partners for your venture. But, it'd probably harder since you didn't make any connections in corporate america.

fwiw, 30k is enough to start almost any business if you budget right. Many people started with less. But they all had the ability to MARKET themselves. This is one thing you learn in corporate land. Marketing yourself is 2/3 of most jobs.

[Riverflow]

In a similar position so thought I'd chime in here...ignore my name btw, it's a joke gone wrong. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Anyway, quickly, I graduated a year and a half ago, after taking care of all post grad applications, tests etc, getting in, and getting scholarships, I realized then that this is not what I want to do right now. It's strange working towards something your whole life and then when it comes, u smugly turn your cheek to it.

It is no contest that all twenty-somethings such as us, throughout time, were willing to take more risks, engaged in more adventurous, less stable behavior etc etc, generally...this is just the way it is, more testosterone etc etc.

Yet we curtail that for future security and benefit, as we should, discipline takes you a long way and will obviously pay off...here's the thing though, in this day and age, literally all you need is a laptop and a WI-Fi locator to raise capitol, good capitol....instead of twenty somethings wanting to run into the gold rush, we now create and produce anything, anywhere, at any time, with great monetary potential to boot. And if the ideas and aspirations are for real world entrepreneurship, the internet still helps...the revolution is no secret, opportunity for the hard working, disciplined, creative minds these days is just too great to ignore...and to throw yourself into a traditional practice when you're simply not ready for it/willing to engage in it right now is somewhat unreasonble, if you have the right mindset.

The bottom line is, and I feel safe assuming this, is that you don't want to avoid 9-5 to avoid work, but to avoid feeling "stuck", the first reply was a good point, and I'll just say, that working our asses off now, is to get unstuck later, at a time probably much more important for all aspects of our life if you plan to get married, have kids etc etc...the harder you work now, the less you work later...hopefully...

It's basically a never-ending balancing act between ensuring long-term prosperity and stability while nurturing short-term curiosity, adventure and vigor, the whole time focusing on freedom as the goal....freedom to do what you want when you want.

Not sure if you watched that Steve Jobs video posted a few replies back, but, when he was "fired" from Mac, the company was worth 2 billion, he has his share of resources to create a new...what if it was worth 200k...what would he fall back on?...I would wager there are tons of situations such as this...that's basically the point I get from adults trying to steer you away from risk and into security...for the most part...they are very much right...the thing is, if you do it right, doors are always open. You can try your hand at your business now, having relatives who are successful entrepreneurs is huge obviously, give yourself a timeframe, I want to be here by then, if I am not, I drastically need to re-evaluate, and perhaps engage in more secure ventures such as a well payin corp position, amass capitol, and either give it another go on the fly, or create as I work.

As Steve said, you can only connect the dots retroactively, but, wel you throw the dots out there and try to steer yourself to them, the older you get, the more luggage you carry around with you trying to reach your dots(family etc), the more you have to consider security, and the lower your risk threshold should get, unless you never really care about marriage, family, and the consideration of others other then yourself, which I am not criticizing, but most people do not take that route.

You're about 20 I would guess, nothing wrong with engaging in something that could mean so much to you, if not fiscally, then at least cognitively...much talk about the worth of amassing experience in corp america before venturing off on your own, of course, it goes the other way too, the mental strength achieved from giving yourself credit and taking a shot, pass or fail, is a great reflection if/when you enter corp America.

You're young, take the risk, set realistic goals, consistently stop to think about what you're thinking, evalute what you're doing in the grander scheme of things, and follow a general time frame...if you do that reasonably, you will not only have the experience of following your personal goals, not only possibly have the rewards of a successful operation you created, but you can still then enter corp america if need be, then come back out again from the other side, having gotten the best of both worlds, with not only corp experience...but you experience...you just have to be mature, reasonable and realistic about it. The older we get, the less risk we can really take on generally.

I am by no means trying to overstep the other great and rational input, but it really isn't a dichotomy, merge your wants in life and organize your years in a way that allows your mind to have it's cake and eat it too...it can be done...maybe not everyone can, but if you can, then you should.

It's like taking a shot at a higher limit, you really have to be mature about it...you set x buyins and say if this works, the rewards will be so great, if you fail, you need to stop at x, period, and move back down....fortunately, if you unfortunately reach x, your "back down" will be a well paying job at corp america...set your sights and go full speed ahead.

As for doing what you love etc...well there are people who sincerely don't care about money, if that is you then great...if you do care about money, and want lots of it, as it appears you do, then there's nothing wrong with doing something a little more annoying for it if the need arises for that, no one likes writing exams either but they're means to an end...play needs work, fortunately there is much opportunity to combine the two, but if it doesn't work out, nothing wrong with simply working a bit to achieve your play through now different and affordable work, and your personal life, which capitol obviously helps with.

In the words of McBain..."up and aut'thum"