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Newsflash. Most entrepreneurs are not Ivy-League whiz kids like Robert Sundara hen, who graduated from Stanford and founded a multimillion dollar sporting-goods site, FogDog.
Still, it takes a certain kind of person to go it alone as an entrepreneur. You must be a risk-taker, for one thing. You must be creative and enjoy working hard in an area you find fascinating.
You also must enjoy the independence and responsibility of being your own boss. "I like having my own hours," says D'Arcy Marlow, 18, who operates a bench-building business. D'Arcy makes benches during spring summer and winter breaks an West Texas A&M University.
To succeed as an entrepreneur, in also helps to be skilled in a practical area. May be you like to garden, make crafts, or build furniture. Or perhaps you can fix appliances or bikes or whip up a tasty dessert.
For example, brothers Sean, Brenden, and Paddy O'Connell realized they had the skills o teach younger kids the basics of basket-ball. So the three teens organized the O'Connell Basketball Camp in River Forest, Illinois.
They turned a hobby they loved into a business that pays did Regina Jackson, 18, of Washington, D.C. She took $50 and talent for crafting beautiful ornaments and opened a jewels design business. Her long range goal is to own an international chain of shops.
Entrepreneurs also must be working hard. By the time Katie Beeman, from Duluth, Minnesota was 18, she had started and operated two successful businesses a lawn service and a Christmas tree lot. Thanks to this experience and her school accomplishments she won a four-year Young Entrepreneurial Business Scholar to the University of St. Thomas.
It's important for business people to be able to recognized good idea and act quickly implement it. Take Claire Meunier. The 17-year-old New Orleans high-school campus survival pack as a gift for an older brother going off to college.
When the idea began attracting attention, Claire recognized its money-making potential. So last year she surveyed college kids, tapped family friends for financial information, and wrote a business plan for Meuniers"s Commodities. The plan won the Independent Means National Business Plan Competition. Now a freshman at Vanderbilt University, Claire has opted to become a business major.
Turn Bytes Into Bucks
A knowledge of computers is vital to becoming an entrepreneur, reports Young Biz's "Report on Youth Entrepreneurship." At least 75 percent of the top 100 businesses use computers to perform tasks. And the three highest moneymaking categories are computer-related.
Take Rishi Bhat, 15, for example. A 10th grader from Chicago, Rishi co-wrote the computer program, SiegeSoft, which lets people surf the Internet anonymously. He then set up a Web site to market. copies of the program. Within a few months, Rishi sold the program for $1.6 million.
Students at St. Helens High School in Oregon also have taken advantage of the demand for technology. They started a computer company--one of the nine businesses the students operate. Other businesses include a catering company, an art gallery, and a construction firm.
Most of the students working in the companies receive class credit for their jobs. But a few of the jobs pay.
Still, it takes a certain kind of person to go it alone as an entrepreneur. You must be a risk-taker, for one thing. You must be creative and enjoy working hard in an area you find fascinating.
You also must enjoy the independence and responsibility of being your own boss. "I like having my own hours," says D'Arcy Marlow, 18, who operates a bench-building business. D'Arcy makes benches during spring summer and winter breaks an West Texas A&M University.
To succeed as an entrepreneur, in also helps to be skilled in a practical area. May be you like to garden, make crafts, or build furniture. Or perhaps you can fix appliances or bikes or whip up a tasty dessert.
For example, brothers Sean, Brenden, and Paddy O'Connell realized they had the skills o teach younger kids the basics of basket-ball. So the three teens organized the O'Connell Basketball Camp in River Forest, Illinois.
They turned a hobby they loved into a business that pays did Regina Jackson, 18, of Washington, D.C. She took $50 and talent for crafting beautiful ornaments and opened a jewels design business. Her long range goal is to own an international chain of shops.
Entrepreneurs also must be working hard. By the time Katie Beeman, from Duluth, Minnesota was 18, she had started and operated two successful businesses a lawn service and a Christmas tree lot. Thanks to this experience and her school accomplishments she won a four-year Young Entrepreneurial Business Scholar to the University of St. Thomas.
It's important for business people to be able to recognized good idea and act quickly implement it. Take Claire Meunier. The 17-year-old New Orleans high-school campus survival pack as a gift for an older brother going off to college.
When the idea began attracting attention, Claire recognized its money-making potential. So last year she surveyed college kids, tapped family friends for financial information, and wrote a business plan for Meuniers"s Commodities. The plan won the Independent Means National Business Plan Competition. Now a freshman at Vanderbilt University, Claire has opted to become a business major.
Turn Bytes Into Bucks
A knowledge of computers is vital to becoming an entrepreneur, reports Young Biz's "Report on Youth Entrepreneurship." At least 75 percent of the top 100 businesses use computers to perform tasks. And the three highest moneymaking categories are computer-related.
Take Rishi Bhat, 15, for example. A 10th grader from Chicago, Rishi co-wrote the computer program, SiegeSoft, which lets people surf the Internet anonymously. He then set up a Web site to market. copies of the program. Within a few months, Rishi sold the program for $1.6 million.
Students at St. Helens High School in Oregon also have taken advantage of the demand for technology. They started a computer company--one of the nine businesses the students operate. Other businesses include a catering company, an art gallery, and a construction firm.
Most of the students working in the companies receive class credit for their jobs. But a few of the jobs pay.
