The Roaring 20’s: Why Starting A Business In Your 20’s Can Be Advantageous

Starting a business and being self employed is one of the most challenging and the most rewarding things I have ever done.  It is mind numbingly scary at times and at times gives a huge sense of freedom and satisfaction.  In terms of personal development, having a business is the vehicle through which I have been allowed to grow, to be more creative, and to become bolder than I have ever been.  The benefits have been enormous; the challenges have been enormous too, but the benefits by far outnumber the challenges.  The only thing I would do over given the chance is go into business earlier; yup I would have loved to go into business when I was in my twenties. 

Right now 20-somethings are the most Impressive generation out there.  They have so much potential and skills that no other generation has ever possessed at such an early age and if harnessed properly, those skills can be parlayed into creating successful businesses and companies.

Learn quickly

Most 20 something’s grew up in a technological world.  They practically have had access to the internet their entire lives.  The therefore are very used to teaching themselves about different topics and things that they are interested in, if they don’t know something, information is at their fingertips.  They learn faster, and know way more than previous generations did in their 20’s.  In the world of entrepreneurship, this quickness comes in handy in the form of adaptability.  Adaptability is important in order to stay current, it also helps in quick assessment of what works, what does not work, and constantly thinking about increasing efficiency, and productivity.  Adaptability is a major key to key to success in business.  The ability to learn quickly and absorb large pieces of information that many 20 year olds take for granted would really put them at an advantage if they used those skills in entrepreneurship.

This is the first generation that was home schooled, which means that for the most part their education has been self- directed, and, self taught, and that makes this generation very good at knowing what they want and what they are good at.  They are quick and decisive and that is a great quality to have in business where you are faced with lots of decisions to make in a day.

Great at marketing, branding and communication

Since most 20- something’s grew up with technology, they have found great creative ways to use technology.  On YouTube you find young people that have created massive audiences who watch them discussing things that are interesting to them.  These young people are so charismatic and confident and sometimes are able to influence their audiences to buy one product or avoid another based on their review of a product.  Many brands would love to have access to that sort of audience and sometimes go into partnership with different YouTube channels and Gurus and market their products directly or indirectly to these built up audiences.

These young you-tubers inadvertently have become experts at defining and communicating their brand and if they created their own products, they already have an audience that could be potential customers to market their products to.

 One of the biggest YouTube gurus is Michelle Phan, she loved make up and started doing make up tutorials.  Something about her approachable style resonated with viewers and she built her channel to over 3 million followers with 720 million video views.  Michelle Phan then partnered with You tube, Lancôme,  NYX  and is now in talks to launch her own make up brand, she is worth according to celebrity net worth in 2012, 3 million dollars and is 25 yrs old. She is known as the accidental millionaire on YouTube and by using technology and combining with something she was interested in she has managed to be very successful at a very young age.

Energy and Youth

Running a business requires a lot of energy, and enthusiasm, it requires to be self motivated and to motivate others.  These are things that 20 something age group posses naturally, think about it, how many times did you party all night in college and make it to class the next day and still function? I know without a doubt I cannot do that anymore.  If that energy was harnessed into running and operating a business, imagine how productive and successful that business would be.

 Think of how enthusiastic and excited about life most young people are, they haven’t had a chance to get disillusioned yet, bad habits have not set in yet or if they have, they are still young enough to correct them without any major consequences to their lives.  That enthusiasm for life is also contagious and draws people in. It motivates others to listen more closely to their point of view or motivates them to work with them or go into business with them, and if harnessed properly that enthusiasm and positivity  and of course  having great products and services can play a huge part growing a large successful organization (think Google!).

The point is, young, entrepreneurial-minded people in their twenties can be very successful by just using the skills that they have picked up and that are unique to their generation.  Some of the most successful business people in the world today started their businesses in their twenties like  billionaire investor Warren Buffet, Microsoft's Bill Gates,  Facebook's Mark Zuckerburg;  they harnessed those unique qualities to work in their favor and created products and services that the world needs today.  What’s your Idea? Can you turn it into a business?  Then truly consider going into business and do not let age be a factor because believe it or not each generation has unique qualities that can be tapped into a successful business. 

Photo Credit: Google Images