We’ve heard the dire predictions and alarming statistics for people starting their own businesses. Most operations fail within a few years and leave the entrepreneur deeply in debt. Sadly, this leaves the business major with a difficult decision in this uncertain economy. Do you play it safe by specializing in accounting or marketing, or do you study the broader field of entrepreneurship and eventually start your own company? With a business degree focused on the wide-ranging areas that form an entrepreneurship program, you may be able to beat the odds and grow your business well into the future.

Pros and Cons

First, let’s examine some pitfalls of entrepreneurship. Many people enter the world of startups with a great idea and no clue how to get it to market and turn a profit. They may be brilliant in their field but lacking in necessary business skills such as planning cash flow, developing merchandise, maintaining staff, and marketing products. Some owners may have the luxury of learning on the job, but even the best idea can collapse if there is no business foundation to support it. Those are some of the strictly business risks; your personal life may be in similar peril if you spend every waking moment dealing with your business.

But then there are the possible rewards. Who doesn’t want to be his own boss and skip the politics of larger corporations? Who among us doesn’t want to experience the benefits of entrepreneurship – financial, professional, and emotional? You can improve your personal bottom line, become a leader in a field, and provide support to your community. Win, win, win.

The pitfall paragraph is longer than the one about rewards, but don’t let that alarm you. One of the snares mentioned above is actually the key to preparing yourself for success: knowledge.

Knowledge is Key

Entrepreneurs have long been a valuable resource in our economy, and entrepreneurship degree programs can guide you toward effective business management with courses in product development, capital management, accounting, marketing, and finance. Most importantly for the startup business, quality entrepreneur degree concentrations will produce graduates who can write a practical business plan that is the template of a successful enterprise. In addition, top entrepreneurial colleges support their students with clubs, mentorship programs, and even business-plan competitions with prize money awarded.

Risk and reward, these are the ingredients of entrepreneurship that you must balance, but you can tip the scales by arming yourself with relevant knowledge and skills. You will be responsible for every aspect of your company’s success, from negotiating loans to hiring staff, and entrepreneurship programs offered by quality business schools can help you develop technical expertise, business theory, and people skills. With the degree and the comprehensive knowledge of business that it represents, you will be equipped to enjoy the challenging and rewarding experience of running your own business. Best of all, you determine what constitutes the true reward of entrepreneurship.

What is The Hub? 

Hubs are member-based work and event spaces where social entrepreneurs, freelance professionals, artists, funders, students, mentors, and community leaders can work and interact. Working together, it’s hoped these groups will access market opportunities and capital, build community, and scale ideas.

Hubs are a type of co-working space in which members receive a set of tools and services from a community of professional hosts, mentors and local enterprises who are passionate about supporting innovative ideas. Depending on the location, Hub centers may offer donated legal services, mentor office hours, and unlimited coffee. Aside from the shared services, the real benefit to Hub members is the business incubator environment.

History of The Hub

The Hub began four years ago in London and quickly spread to 18 cities and across four continents. Today, there are nearly 4,000 Members of The Hub, interconnected by a place-based and online network. The Hub Bay Area is the first Hub location in the United States and was started in partnership with Hub Global by a San Francisco-based team who founded Good Capital and The Social Capital Markets Conference (SoCap).

“We are thrilled to be working with the people from Good Capital and SoCap, and the stellar team they’ve put together,” said Jonathan Robinson, co-founder of The Hub Global. “We have known them for years and are impressed at what they have accomplished at the forefront of a new kind of investing, and at the way they have been able to convene and build strong community.”

MBA Students Integral to United State’s First Hub

Hub Bay Area was designed by a team of architects, Hub Members, IDEO and MBA students at UC Berkeley’s Haas Business School. The space at the David Brower Center features collaborative workspaces, meeting rooms, private phones booths, kitchen and cafe, and lounge areas that reflect the dynamic working needs of its members.

Money, Mobs and Media

Being part of The Hub community includes access to their Innovation Series that will regularly produce interactive events focused on inspiration, aspiration and operation of social change. This summer, before the doors even opened, The Hub presented Money, Mobs, and Media, a panel featuring the founders of Kiva, Virgance, and Change.org. They discussed ways to create and scale community-driven non-profit and for-profit social enterprises.

“We are providing a home, inspiring community and support structure for those who are building solutions for people and planet. By connecting change-makers, sharing resources, and cultivating new ideas, we can massively increase the scale the impact of our collective work,” says Alex Michel, Managing Director of Hub Bay Area. 

The Future of Hub Bay Area

Plans are in place to extend Hub Bay Area to the Mission District in San Francisco in early 2010, and into the South Bay in 2011.

“Bringing the Hub concept to the Bay Area and beyond is a natural extension of what we are already doing,” says Kevin Jones, a founder of both Good Capital and SoCap. “We convene many of the people who are making the social capital market happen in an annual conference, but The Hub is where the rubber meets the road every day of the year.”

Prospective members should e-mail bayareahosts@the-hub.net for more information.

“Craig will help us continue the center’s role in supporting economic development and innovation throughout Maryland,” said Asher Epstein, managing director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. “His investment and entrepreneurial experience brings a valued set of skills to lead the Capital Access Network’s growth.”

Economic Growth Through Entrepreneurship

The Capital Access Network is one of the Mid-Atlantic’s largest angel investment networks linking entrepreneurs with potential investors. Together with regional tech councils, incubators and state-funded institutions, Dye will work to expand the Dingman Center’s regional presence and outreach across the university’s campus.

In addition to providing early-stage capital, the Dingman Center provides MBA and undergraduate students at the Smith School with practical experiences and opportunities to pitch their business ideas, obtain feedback from experienced entrepreneurs-in-residence, and access funding.

Angel Investors vs. Venture Capitalists

Angel investors and venture capitalists are similar, but there’s are a couple of key distincitons. Angel investors put their own money into a business, and it is typically less than what can be raised from the venture capitalists. An angel investor is any individual who provides start-up capital in exchange for debt or equity. Sometimes they organize into groups or networks to share research and pool their investment capital, but even when they do, it’s typically their own money on the line. This differs from venture capitalists, who manage the pooled money of others.

The amount invested by angels fills an important gap between the resources entrepreneurs can raise on their own and formal venture capital, which usually considers only very high dollar investments. Angel investment is sometimes a viable ‘second round’ of financing for high-growth start-ups.

Like companies who receive venture capital, their start-up nature makes angel investments high risk. This, plus the fact that if the business is successful, the investment will likely be diluted by future investment (venture capital) rounds, requires that angel investments provide a high return. Similar to getting connected with venture capital, companies meet angel investors by referrals, at investor conferences, and at pitch meetings organized by groups of angels.

Angels Provide More Than Money

On old Broadway, angels were the wealthy individuals who provided money for theatrical productions. Business has borrowed the term. Angel investors may be retired entrepreneurs or executives interested in mentoring the future generation and leveraging their experience and contacts without committing to full time employment. Many angel investors provide much more than capital in the form of advice and access to their powerful networks.

If you’ve run out of cash, but don’t yet need millions, you might be ready for an angel investor. And if you’re in Maryland, the Dingman Center might be able to help you out!

The Role of Business Plans in VC Decisions

According to a study by the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, a business plan has no value as a fundraising tool. Researchers suggest that would-be moguls spend time perfecting their business rather than its representation on paper.

“Spending time and energy tweaking your business plan is a waste of resources,” said researcher David Kirsch, associate professor of management and entrepreneurship. “It’s a limited-use document that will in no way substitute for the hard work of actually building a business. You’re better off investing in your idea, your social network, finding potential investors, potential customers — the intangibles around your business that are going to make it more likely you succeed. Invest your time in any other business-building activity but working on your business plan.”

Kirsch and others pored over the business plans of more than 700 dot-com companies from the late-1990s to early-2000s boom era. They compared objective characteristics of each business plan such as its contents, team make-up and business model, and whether or not the plan ultimately received venture capital funding. This research, “Form or Substance? The Role of Business Plans in Venture Capital Decision Making,” appears in the May 2009 issue of Strategic Management Journal.

What Kirsch and his colleagues founds was that the content of the business plans didn’t predict which businesses got funded. They don’t actually recommend scrapping the business plan completely because it has value as and organizing tool. But they warn that there is no evidence that either the content or presentation of the plan influences venture capital funding decisions.

The Business Plan: Not Quite Useless

Just because the business plan won’t determine your business’ success or failure at raising start-up funds, you still have to have something to show the venture capitalists. Why?

“I think VCs like the plans because they skim them to see what people are doing — to get a sense of what entrepreneurial activity is happening,” Goldfarb said. “But an interested VC will learn the details of a business whether it is in the plan or not.”

This is bad news for all the perfectionists out there who just know if it looks pretty, it must be good. But it’s great news for the real entrepreneurs, the men and women who just want to get out there and dive into their passion. This research confirms that hard work, intuition, and a good dose of luck beats out perfect-on-paper any day.

Knock Out Your Business Plan in a Weekend

Want to get your whole business plan down on paper in a single weekend? You can do that and more at a Startup Weekendevent. This unique business environment is ‘no talk, all action’. Startup Weekend recruits a highly motivated group of developers, business managers, startup enthusiasts, marketing gurus, graphic artists and more to a 54-hour event that builds communities, companies and projects.

Founded in 2007 by Andrew Hyde, the weekend is a concept of a conference focusing on learning by creating. It is known for its quick decisions, unique facilitation technique, and letting business founders show off their talents. There have been events in Boulder, Toronto, New York, Hamburg, Houston, West Lafayette, Boston, DC and on June 5-7 they’re coming to a city near you. If your town isn’t on the list, you can start your own.

When you attend a Startup Weekend you decide what you want to work on over the weekend and come out at the end with several developed companies or projects. Can you start? It’s worth a weekend to find out!

Startup Weekend World #2 Challenge from Andrew on Vimeo.

Some people are natural entrepreneurs, even students. Numerous successful business powerhouses – such as Dell Computers, Microsoft, FedEx and Apple – got started in college. You don’t have to be a geek, but you do need some basic accounting, advertising, market research and business skills, and a specific salable skill (how you’ll earn your income). College is actually an ideal place to start a business because students tend to be bright-eyed, passionate and unjaded. As well, classmates tend not to mind other classmates promoting their business.

Here are a few businesses you can start in college for relatively low capital, then build on them as income comes in. Because you’re in charge, you can take as much or as little work as fits your study schedule.

Offline Businesses

Do you enjoy physical work? Here are a few choices for mostly low-capital “offline” businesses. At the very least, your “toolkit” should consist of business cards and some form of communication – telephone or cell phone.

1. Tutoring.
   There’s always one student that seems to be ahead academically than everyone else in the class. If you’re that person, tutoring is a great, no-capital way to solidify your knowledge, earn money, and help your classmates. (This could also turn into an online business.) The revenue earned from this effort can become the capital for starting another business

   Method of promotion: Word of mouth, the college newspaper, posting on your professor’s door, listing on official course website.

2. Personal coaching.
   Sometimes students need more than course-specific help; they need help developing a good study plan, setting goals, etc. Or you can take the physical angle for personal coaching and help classmates develop a workout program to get/stay fit.

   Method of promotion: Word of mouth is often the best way to promote a personal coaching business. Give out personalized business cards and ask for referrals.

3. Computer help.
   Computers and laptops are a basic tool for pretty much any student. So there are potentially thousands of clients on campus. If you have the skills to set up software, do computer maintenance, or answer software usage questions, this can be a lucrative endeavor.

   Method of promotion: Word of mouth, ads in college or local newspaper, business cards, flyers, student parties.

4. Painting.
   Painting is amongst the easiest of college businesses to start. The equipment is minimal and relatively inexpensive: paint, paint thinner, brushes, ladders, overalls and steel-toe boots. It’s also fairly easy work that can progress into other well-paying home/ office/ college/ warehouse projects such as drywalling. Keep in mind that unlike most of the businesses listed here, none of your clients are going to be students (unless they are student renovators or real estate flippers).

   Method of promotion: Ads in local newspaper, business cards, flyers, word of mouth.

5. Drywalling.
   Drywalling does take more effort, special equipment (nail gun), and in some states might require certain training or even licensing. But if you understand the basics and can do the necessary measurements, calculations and drywall nailing, you’ve got yourself a business. Okay, you also need a van or flatbed for porting drywall sheets around. So maybe you want to start with something slightly easier. Such as landscaping.

   Method of promotion: Ads in local newspaper, networking with subcontractors, renovators and real estate agents, business cards.

6. Landscaping.
   If you like working outside, landscaping is the way to go. Start with small tools and move up to larger equipment and trailers as you can afford them. This of course leads to the larger projects. While most colleges likely have full-time landscapers, there may be a need for occasional contractors.

   Method of promotion: Ads in local newspapers, flyers in local real estate inserts, word of mouth, networking, business cards.

7. Snow removal.
   Many small landscaping firms do snow removal in the winter. You don’t need a truck and plow; you can start by offering local seniors a cut rate on their sidewalk/ driveway. A great way to make a bit of money (usually $20-50 per driveway/ sidewalk) and stay fit.

   Method of promotion: Ads in local newspapers, word of mouth, business cards.

8. Renovations/ subcontracting.
   If you have a mind for planning and project management, a head for staying within budget and on time, a vehicle and the skill of motivating other people and assuaging angry clients, subcontracting renovation work is a logical and lucrative step forward from painting and drywalling.

   Method of promotion: Ads in local newspapers, flyers in local real estate inserts, word of mouth, networking, business cards.

9. Real estate.
   This is one of the riskier options. The conditions have to be just right, but students over the years have leveraged student grants, loans, and/or awards into a down payment for a house, fixed it up while living there rent-free (thanks to the rents of three or four classmates paying the mortgage), then flipped the property upon graduation. If you want to ease into this, sign a lease for a 4-5 bedroom house near the campus and rent out to other students. Consider staying in one of the rooms, to make it easier to collect rents, and to deter damaging-causing behavior.

   Method of promotion: Ads in college and local paper, word of mouth, real estate website/ blog, Craigslist, etc.

10. Personal chef.
    Bryan Zupon, a senior student at Duke University, started a small restaurant (NY Times; requires free subscription) of sorts in his dorm room. And he filled his place regularly, with seating for a handful, starting by just cooking for a few college friends and expanding from there. Alternately, you could run an actual personal chef service where you make and deliver meals. Any of these options – provided you follow health code – could lead to a successful catering business.

    Method of promotion: Word of mouth, college paper, a food blog.

11. Cleaning and laundry service. Let’s face it, some people just don’t like doing laundry or cleaning their dorm rooms/ apartments. If you don’t mind, you could earn a bit of extra money offering cleaning and laundry services for classmates. The earnings could go towards starting another business later. (The Ballinger brothers, who own Webster Hall in NYC, got their start with a family coin laundry in a small Canadian town, parlayed the earnings and subsequent sale into a huge nightclub in their hometown, sold the club and started as many as five nightclubs in Toronto, Canada, then sold those for big money and moved to New York state and built nightclubs there.)

    Method of promotion: word of mouth, ad in college paper.

12. Fashion design.
    Once there was a skinny doofus in college that started designing clothes. Suddenly, female students that formerly ignored him couldn’t get enough of his custom fashions. When he graduated, he had a small clientele list. If you have the creative flair and enjoy fashion, this could become a high-earnings career. Here’s a secret: you don’t even have to know how to sew. If you can translate your design sketches into patterns, you can often hire people with industrial sewing experience who will complete the work for fair wages, on weekends and evenings. (Advertise in the local paper.)

    Method of promotion: On your back. Wear your clothes, with a custom stitched insignia. Bug your classmates. And start a fashion blog, as well as an online shop for your designs.

13. Ride service. If you have a vehicle and leave town regularly, you can probably find other students or recent graduates that need a ride and will pay. If there’s an airport near your destination, a slight detour can earn you significantly more – enough to cover the expense of gas.

    Method of promotion: Word of mouth, ad in college or local paper, ride exchange website.

14. Music instruction. If you are musically-inclined and can play an instrument, you might earn a bit extra by teaching how to play that instrument. Consider offering a lower fee for teaching two or three people simultaneously.

    Method of promotion: Word of mouth, ad in college and local paper, flyer in music stores.

15. Income tax/ accounting. Students do have to file taxes, and you might find several someones willing to pay for some help. Especially look towards other student entrepreneurs confused by the complication of running a business. Just make sure that you really know what you’re doing.

    Method of promotion: Word of mouth, ad in college or local paper, business cards.

16. Portrait and wedding photography/ videography. This business does require suitable camera and studio gear, but wedding photography and videography can be extremely lucrative. That’s provided you can deal with wedding couples that may be under a lot of stress, have a vehicle to get around, have the necessary skills, and have the equipment for processing/ editing images and video.

    Method of promotion: Start by taking portraits of classmates and ask for referrals. Take out ads in the college and local paper, pass out business cards, and talk to engaged couples at student parties.

17. Band bookings/ nightclub or event promotions.
    This is for someone with a lot of stamina, a fair bit of backup and advertising funds, and the ability to build local buzz. One drawback is that if events require you to stick around (say, to collect fees) until late at night, you could find yourself getting exhausted soon after such a business. As well, booking agents of established bands often expect 50% of the band’s appearance fee upfront, before the event. If an event does poorly, you will still be out of pocket for the full fee, as well as advertising and any items requested on the band’s rider portion of the contract.

    Method of promotion: Ads in the college and local paper, word of mouth, flyers, posters, event listings websites, music blogs and forums.

Online Businesses

Do prefer cerebral and online work over physical? For online businesses, most options require pretty much the same “tools”. Here are some necessities and some nice-to-haves.

• Desk and chair.
• Computer, possibly a laptop with a Wi-Fi card (or a “wi-fi to go” modem).
• Internet access of some sort. You might be able to use campus Wi-Fi, but some schools frown on students using such access for business. (Which doesn’t mean you can’t get away with it.
• Telephone, cell phone (preferably one with Internet access) or VoIP access.
• Email address.
• Media player, such as an iPod, simply for relaxation or even for downloading podcasts to listen to.

You can startup most of the following online businesses with little or no startup capital. Additional required/ suggested tools, equipment, gear, etc., are listed in each item.

18. Design.
    If you design skills and access to Photoshop, Fireworks, Coreldraw or even the free Inkscape, ask around for design work at student parties, from student entrepreneurs, or even suitable university departments. This effort could turn into a  design consultancy. Just make sure you maintain an online portfolio as well as a hardcopy portfolio.

    Tools, gear, etc.: Raster and vector software, printer, ink cartridges, paper or glossy paper.

    Method of promotion: Start by designing your own business logo, a variety of business cards, and your own website. Run ads in the college and local paper, pass out business cards, bug your classmates for referrals.

19. Resume writing.
    Do you know a few students who look for work between semesters, during the summer or after graduation? If you have skills in writing resumes, offer them a special rate in return for a referral. Dedicated resume writers can pull in a healthy side income – in tandem with other writing services, possibly online. So getting a headstart while in college is a good idea.

    Tools, gear, etc.: printer, ink, paper, envelopes, paper clips.

    Method of promotion: Ad in college paper, word of mouth, business website, business cards.

20. Copyediting.
    Every business school student you meet will have at least one term paper to write each semester. And  suprisingly enough, many of them seem unable to use a spelling or grammar checker. If you have the mindset for copyediting the writing of others, there are students that need your services.

    Tools, gear, etc.: printer, ink, paper, envelopes, paper clips.

    Method of promotion: Ad in college paper, word of mouth, business website, business cards.

21. Researching or facts checking.
    This sort of goes hand in hand with copyediting of term papers, but you could do it separately. You can also approach college departments and professors for work.

    Tools, gear, etc.: Possibly a printer, ink, paper, envelopes, unless you’re working exclusively online.

    Method of promotion: Ad in college paper, word of mouth, business website, business cards.

22. Writing services.
    Writing services can be offered to professors or fellow classmates, or online to various clients. (Do be careful about writing term papers for other students, as some colleges may look down on this.) This business goes hand in hand with resarching/ facts checking, copyediting, and possibly copywriting. There’s also a demand for content for websites and weblogs and if you prove yourself, the payoff can be large.

    Tools, gear, etc.: Possibly a printer, ink, paper, envelopes, unless you’re working exclusively online.

    Method of promotion: Ad in college paper, business website, online ads.

23. Online copywriter.
    Copywriting for the websites of Internet marketers and online businesses can be very lucrative, though it involves an understanding of what type of writing works online, and might involve additional skills such as SEO/ SEM/ SMM and website analysis.

    Tools, gear, etc.: access to copywriting forums or other suitable references.

    Method of promotion: Your own business website and online ads.

24. SEO/ SEM/ SMM.
    This is very specialized work that has both adherents and detractors, with the latter often being very vocal, thanks to many misconceptions about online promotions work. Suggestion: start as a virtual intern to an established Internet promotions firm, to get a solid grounding in the terminology and techniques.

    Tools, gear, etc.: access to marketing and SEO forums and articles about specialized techniques.

    Method of promotion: Business website, online ads.

25. Website analysis.
    This work requires the ability to not only decipher website performance but also to be able to draw conclusions and suggest improvements in terms of content, design, etc.

    Tools, gear, etc.: a solid understanding of website metrics and analysis techniques.

    Method of promotion: Business website, online ads.

26. Online distributorship/ drop-shipping.
    E-commerce comes in many forms. One way is to sell products on eBay and ship orders yourself – which means not only having storage space but capital for goods. Another way is promote products on your own business website and have the manufacturer dropship orders. It’s important to note, however, that just building your website is no guarantee that anyone will visit or even purchase. You might want to employ the services of an SEO/SEM/SMM (mentioned above).

    Tools, gear, etc.: product to sell (possibly).

    Method of promotion: Business website, online ads.

27. Flipping online properties.
    There are online entrepreneurs who have made tidy sums flipping websites and domain names. Not everyone who does this type of work makes a profit, but those who know what is valuable, how long to hold a property, when and where to sell, and have an automated process can make a very lucrative living in just a few hours a day.

    Tools, gear, etc.: software for registering domain names, access to forum marketplaces for selling/ purchasing online properties.

    Method of promotion: Forum marketplaces, business website, online ads.

28. Online hiring firm or job listings site.
    With so many companies ditching print-based ads for jobs, there are many opportunities for online hiring firms and specialized job listings – especially if you supplement your business website with advice for job seekers and put in place the right kind of filters for better matching of job seekers and employers.

    Tools, gear, etc.: sophisticated employee matching filters, easy job ad placement and job application entry.

    Method of promotion: Business website, online ads, forums.

29. Internship placement.
    Come Summer, some companies are looking to find students to intern at jobs. Students are looking for internship and will even pay to be placed because they want the experience on their resume. You’ll need patience and an ability to deal with hard-to-satisfy employers and students. You can decide to focus on local internships or cover the country.

    Tools, gear, etc.: fax, printer, ink, paper, envelopes, stamps, courier service.

    Method of promotion: Ads in the college and local paper, word of mouth, business cards, college website, business website, online ads.

30. Apartment listings site.
    If you get into the real estate rental/ flipping business mentioned in the “offline” section, you might want to promote it with an apartment listings site that covers more than local listings. You can also accepted paid ads from other landlords, with an emphasis on student-friendly housing.

    Tools, gear, etc.: fax or online listings entry form.

    Method of promotion: Promote online. Also, print off a batch of t-shirts and physical “bookmarks” (that is, to mark a spot in a book) and pass them out on campus and at local businesses.

31. Event listings. This could go hand in hand with an offline, local event/nightclub promotion business that promotes both your business and accepts club/ event listings anywhere in the country. Be creative, come up with a way to be unique and standout.

    Tools, gear, etc.: fax or online listings entry form.

    Method of promotion: Ads in local and college paper, word of mouth, business website, online ads.

32. Tips on how to start a business.
    If you succeed as a student entrepreneur, share your knowledge on a weblog with advertising or as a blogger for hire. If you have the experience and understand professional blogging requirements, you can make a very healthy living writing about business, marketing and entrepreneurial issues.

    Tools, gear, etc.: Solid experience running successful businesses helps but even discussing mistakes and failures is valuable.

    Method of promotion: Business blog, forums.

7 Tips For Raising Capital For a Startup Business

Many of the businesses above can be started with little or no capital. Some do require a few thousand in materials, tools, gear and the like, but you can often build up to it. Here are some suggestions for raising business startup funds, which overlap slightly with finding funding for business school.

1. Tutoring. This is an ideal way to get started with a student business: no startup capital, and the earnings can be invested towards starting another business.
2. Sell your possessions. Well, some of them – anything that has value and which you haven’t used in a while.
3. Borrow from parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles. Just keep in mind that borrowing money can and does divide families and ruin relationships.
4. Use your student grant/ loan. Quite often, this is an ideal way to kickstart a student business. But it assumes that (1) you’re eligible for a student grant or loan; and (2) that you don’t actually need all of that money for school expenses.
5. College awards. Some schools offer small cash awards to students that are at the top of their class each semester and/or school year.
6. Reinvestment. Start with a low-capital business, then keep putting the earnings into a safe investment. Use the return on investment to buy tools and materials for a higher-earning business.
7. Sell your blood. This is more extreme and obviously not something for everyone.

5 Tips For Balancing Studies and Work

Any student can start a business. It takes a lot more to balance work and studies and maintain success in both efforts. Here are some suggestions, partly culled from an article at College Startup.

1. Decide on priority of effort. Not everyone cares about a piece of paper (i.e., diploma) with their name on it. If that’s you, then save on school fees and just start the business.
2. Decide on course priority. Success in course depends on you ability to prioritize which classes require more effort.
3. Multi-task. If you’re taking time out to do laundry, take a notebook or laptop with you to work on business (or school) tasks while you wait.
4. Partner up. You may not find a suitable business partner when you start up, but keep your eyes and ears and open, and let classmates and friends know you’re searching. When you do find the right partner, you might just enjoy a synergy of effort.
5. Enjoy yourself. If you start hating work or studies or both, then maybe its time to take a break – even for a day.

Good luck with your entrepreneurial efforts, as they can help in paying for business school.

In this interview I ask Paul Edmonson how he knew he was on to something and what prepared him to go out on his own.

LD: What gave you confidence that HubPages would be successful.

E: We thought if we made a great product and built a community that people would use the service. We had a simple plan. To try things. To do more of the stuff that worked and to stop doing the things that didn’t. Nearly 6 million people visited HubPages.com last month. One of the things we did well was monetize Hubs, so we introduced a new ad optimization product called YieldBuild that served nearly 200 million ads last month as well.

LD: What in your education prepared you to run this type of business.

PE: There’s the education I received in school that helped get me started in the software industry. I started playing with computers in the fifth grade and making simple programs at school. In college I took programming classes that gave me enough skills to write software, and design databases. School is part of the education, but so much of what I learned to start this business is more about getting after it, asking questions and good old fashion trial and error.

LD: What in your experience working for others prepared you to go out on your own?

PE: My time at Microsoft was a very helpful learning ground. I’m always trying to learn new things and when I see someone do something effective, I try and incorporate into my skill set. Whether it’s about customer support, how to build a product, or even how to give feedback to an employee these are all skills that get developed with experience.

LD: What do you wish you’d learned in school to support your entrepreneurial efforts?

PE: I think part of being entrepreneurial is learning what you need to get the job done from all sorts of sources. School is good for broad strokes, but I think you really have to do it to learn it, at least for me.

LD: What has been the biggest surprise since you started HubPages?

PE: It’s incredibly challenging to build a great product or service, to hire talented people, to manage the finances and grow the business. While I knew it would be an incredible challenge, I didn’t really know how tuff I really am. I think the adversity that you go through with a new business teaches you about yourself in a way you would never know.

LD: What is the biggest myth about raising capital and getting funding for a new venture?

PE: I heard from several people that if five people pass on your pitch, it isn’t fundable. If I gave up after five people told me no, then we wouldn’t be funded. I think it’s important to keep trying, listen to the feedback and then refine your pitch. If five people say no, keep asking.

LD: Do you have any advice to young entrepreneurs?

PE: Start you own company. Today. Just get out there and start doing it.

LD: What is the most striking difference about working for yourself vs. working for someone else?

PE: Ahhh, the hours. Working for a company you start is an incredible commitment. While I’ve always been game to put in extra time when needed, when it’s your own company, almost everyday and weekend require extra time…But it’s worth it.

Need some inspiration after pulling yet another draining all-nighter?

Want to feel like that business degree you’re slaving away to earn could actually pay for itself before your own kids go to college?

Thinking of dropping everything and trying your hand at a Vegas blackjack table instead of plowing through another semester?

Stop and take heart. You’re not alone, and you could be on a fast track to buying your own private jet… or island.

Just like you, the following big business billionaires likely experienced frustrations when they were earning their undergrad degrees. Nevertheless, they clawed and scratched and used their education (mixed with heaping helpings of entrepreneurial spirit and moxie) to land them among the richest of the rich.

Who knows? You could be on the list of “who’s who” sooner than you think, luxuriating in the land of those nine coveted zeroes. Forbes.com noted there were only 946 by the beginning of 2007, so there’s always room at the top for one more.

1. Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Chairman of HDNet

Cuban might have fallen flat on last year’s Dancing with the Stars, but he’s had all the right moves in the corporate world. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business from Indiana University and continues to tango and salsa (figuratively, of course) his way to mega bucks and media appearances.

2. Lakshmi Mittal, chairman and CEO of Mittal Steel Company

You may not hear about Mittal every day, but this Indian-born billionaire used his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Calcutta’s St. Xavier’s College to help become a British steel magnate. Internationally, he’s lauded for his savvy and has never lost a sense of connection with his humble upbringing.

3. Philip Anschutz, American businessman

As the 31st richest man in America, Anschutz was raised in the midwest and earned a bachelor’s degree in business in 1961 from the University of Kansas. Now retired, he invests his wealth in Christian causes.

4. Ronald Perelman, investor

The University of Pennsylvania’s highly regarded Wharton School was Perelman’s choice for both his undergraduate and graduate studies in business. (As a side note, Daddy went there, too. So never assume that parents can’t be an asset to the start of your fortune.)

5. Arthur Rock, Silicon Valley venture capitalist

Rock invested wisely throughout his life… Who knows? He may have been helped by his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Syracuse University. Regardless, he obviously thinks highly of education – he generously gave the Harvard Business School $25 million to open the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship.

6. Ronald Lauder, businessman

As the son of renowned Estee Lauder, this billionaire could have sat back and enjoyed the good life, awaiting an inheritance worth millions. Instead, he attended the University of Brussels from which he received his Certificate in International Business and today is known as a civic-minded philanthropist.

7. Arthur Blank, co-founder of Home Depot

This Flushing, New York born tycoon graduated from Babson College with a Business Administration degree after studying for just three years (no doubt burning the midnight oil.) As the co-founder of one of the “big boxes” which sell home improvement products and services, he’s helped change the meaning of “do-it-yourself”.

Of course, not all businesses can be run that way, but if yours can, you still need to draw targeted web traffic to your site. There are many ways to do that:

1. Traditional advertising. Buy print or other traditional media ads.
2. Online ad(vertorial)s.
   • Buy online banner ads. These can be costly, depending on site, and effectiveness varies.
   • Buy online text link ads. (Frowned upon some search engines such as Google.)
   • Buy online “reviews” of your site, products or services. While these might look like articles, they straddle the line between reviews and advertorials. It depends on whether you use a web service that allows you to indicate to potential reviewers whether or not the review should be “positive” in tone.
3. Build content. Write/buy and post fresh, relevant article content regularly and promote the articles at social media sites. You can package this either as a set of articles or as a blog, but it depends on tone of voice in the writing as well as frequency and expected interaction.
4. Build links. This, in a nutshell, includes commenting on related sites/ blogs and/or forums, guest posting on other sites in your niche, using social media sites and loosely-related services such as Twitter for promotion, buying listings in web directories, etc. Building links does not require that you also build content, but both activities together are usually more effective.

If you need/want to keep startup costs down and thus choose to go the bootstrapping route, you’ll have to do a lot of the work yourself. You need to decide on the following:

1. Readers. Who is your intended reader? Can you define them, build an audience portrait, for your continual reference?
2. Customers. Is your reader also your potential customer? If not, how do you plan to convert them, or to actually draw your potential customers?
3. Authority. Why will they come to your site? What is it that you are offering in terms of content that they cannot get elsewhere? Are you an authority on the topics covered in your content? If not, do you have a plan of action to become an authority?
4. Comments. Will you allow them to comment on your content? If so, will you be moderating comments? What will commenters be allowed to say or not say? Will you post a “code of conduct”, or do you feel that’ll seem to corporate?
5. Trackbacks. Will you allow trackbacks? (If you allow trackbacks on your blog and another blog/site links to one your pages, their link will show up on your page, usually after the article and just above or below the reader comments block.)
6. Conversations. Will you join in the online “conversation”, both on your site’s comments and if someone mentions your business or products on other sites, blogs and forums? Are you emotionally capable of being pragmatic and diplomatic when someone says something negative?
7. Commitment. Do you really have time to do all the writing, promoting, and interacting on your own? Can you define a schedule for yourself and actually stick to it?
8. Advertising. Will you run advertising anywhere on your site? This can be a tricky thing because depending on what it is you’re selling on your site, some readers might perceive ads as an additional cashgrab attempt.

If you’re still convinced that you can run your business online, or at least supplement your bricks-and-mortar business with an online presence, then here are some final considerations.

1. Niche resource. Can you turn your site into a niche resource that’ll draw a wide audience from which you’ll find potential customers?
2. Video tutorials. Could you put together video tutorials of some sort – either live-action or “screencasts”?
3. Viral videos. Do you know what a viral video is, and can you think “outside the box” enough to come up with a video that could go viral?
4. Blogging to build traffic. A blog can be a great way to build traffic to a site, but does a blog fit into your site as a whole? It depends on a number of factors including who you think your readership will be, and whether they’ll ever be customers. If they’ll never be customers, then you might need a different approach.
5. Subscription site. Charging for premium content is not unheard of and can be lucrative. But it’s not a suitable option for all types of online businesses. It’s tough to give a generic explanation here, so we’ll try to cover this in the future.
6. Social profiles and social media promotion. Do you really understand the enormous value of building social profiles and promoting content on social media sites? Do you know where to draw the line between and not come across as too commercial?

Be aware that this is only a superficial treatment of what it takes to build a successful business online. It takes more than the individual elements, plus a solid plan, products/ services that someone actually wants, synergy of effort, and persistence.