Young people are taking care of business

Posted by The Live UnLtd Team In Employment, News, Work.

With unemployment being the way it is, more and more young people are thinking about starting up their own businesses.

And there’s no reason why not! Some people can be turned off by the idea because it seems too daunting, or they think they’re too young to take on the challenge.

You wouldn’t be alone in thinking that, and it certainly is hard work, but there are plenty of opportunities out there, including the support we offer at Live UnLtd, to get you thinking about taking care of business for yourself.

Doing It For Yourself

This blog post from Adam Lent puts forward all of the ways that lots of young people just get business, and the way the Internet has changed things. He says, ”close to one third now want to launch their own firm,” and he suggests some reasons this is more possible all the time. We’ve broken them down for you here:

• We have huge networks of people already in place through our every day use of Facebook and Twitter and Tumblr, and there will probably be plenty of people in these networks who would be willing to help us out.
• Distribution is simpler and cheaper than ever. If you’re selling something digital then there are no physical delivery costs at all, and if you’re selling physical things there are plenty of services like Amazon Marketplace or eBay to take care of sales for you.
• You can get people involved in the development process. The Internet can serve as a free advice service as you test your product out. A site that offers feedback like this is OpenIDEO.
• Sourcing finances doesn’t need to be through pitching ideas to big organisations or banks (for starters, we could help you out!), but there are also crowdfunding options with sites like Kickstarter or Indiegogo where you don’t have to spend a penny before you’re ready to launch into getting the business up and running properly.

We’re not saying it’s easy! But the determination and resources of this next generation explains why this report suggests that 75% of students want to start their own business.

Youth Enterprise

Here are some stories from people who started businesses when they were young.

Gina Moffat’s Story

Watch this inspiring story of Gina Moffat who was in prison and given the opportunity to set up a florists.

Live UnLtd backs businesses

When people run projects with Live UnLtd they don’t have to have a business in mind, they just need to want to make a change in their world.

However, some people we have supported have started businesses. Take a look at our stories about Sam Harris from Pedal Power and Adam Bradford from The Initiative if you’re looking for some inspiration about starting your own business.