What is a Young Entrepreneur?

I was at a networking event recently, and whilst chatting to someone about the work that The FRANK Team does with young entrepreneurs, I was asked ‘What exactly is a young entrepreneur?’ So many ways in which we classify a ‘young entrepreneur’ immediately sprang to mind – age, mindset, action, personality, experience. So I thought I’d sit down and really think about what it is to be a young entrepreneur.

And then this email came through….

“Hi Frank Team!
I receive all of your newsletters including Ignite, and I just wanted to drop by a real positive comment and tell you how much it has helped and influenced me!
Because of the thought-provoking and inspiring nature of the magazine, I began my own business about 7 months ago at the age of 16! I’m an hsc student now, managing my own local dance school called “Inspire”. I aim to provide a safe, fun and non-competitive environment where children can freely express themselves without being exposed to inappropriate choices of music and ways of moving. My passion and love for dance as an art form is now being passed on, and I just want to thank you for the inspiration, encouragement and guidance that I find in your newsletters!
Managing a business has been an incredible and eye opening experience, so much so that “Inspire” has already received a finalist award in the 30 Under 30 Australian Entrepreneurial Awards!
So here is just to encourage and to thank the Frank Team! I’m so excited to see a build up of strong passionate youth across Australia come together through endeavours like this!
Regards,
Jemma Nicoll”
So who are these young entrepreneurs apart from Jemma?
Firstly it’s important to understand the current career/job/business climate. When today’s career statistics show individuals are expected to have 29 jobs, in five different industries, and be made redundant three times, it pays to have skills that will help you deal with anything that life throws at you. Also, the concept of a job for life is no longer relevant. In this environment, it takes a certain type of person to succeed. This is where entrepreneurs really stand out and where starting your own business can be a very attractive option.
This may help to explain why large numbers of young people are starting their own businesses and carving out an entrepreneurial career path for themselves very early. On last count (2003 FaCS Survey) there were approximately 170,000 young Australians under the age of 30 running their own business. That is quite a lot when you consider that it is a very different career path to take at such an early age when you often have little to no experience and hardly any start up capital.
So who are these young entrepreneurs, or ytreps as we like to call them? What does it mean to be a young entrepreneur? And are you one?
Let’s start with what it means to be a young entrepreneur. Definitions vary, even between countries.
But generally…..
• Are you 35 years of age or under?
• Do you currently run your own business or not for profit organisation either full time, part time or just on the side?
• Are you actively growing your business?
• Have you taken our YTREP SnapShot audit (see below) and come out rating in the 1’s and 2’s in all of those attitude areas?
• Then guess what – you are a young entrepreneur! Yes, even if you are 15 years old and running your own business!
Some countries and organisations say their young entrepreneurs are those aged 40 and under. And others still say young entrepreneurs are those that are young in business, as in only just starting their first business and so it has nothing to do with age. You decide!
Entrepreneurs, no matter what age, come in many different shapes and sizes. Your straight entrepreneur is involved in all sorts of business industries, but generally has the traditional profit-maximisation model at their heart. Social entrepreneurs are those who take on the attitude and model of an entrepreneur, but their businesses or organisations have a social focus. They have usually identified a social problem and created a solution for that, and are applying entrepreneurial traits and models in bringing that solution to the market. Social entrepreneurs sometimes run not for profit organisations, and others do not. Some examples are Anita Roddick who started The Body Shop, Hugh Evans who started the Oaktree Foundation here in Australia and myself, Jessica Schebesta (Kiely), who started The Frank Team. Eco-entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs with a business that has an environmental focus. They have identified a key environmental problem and created a solution for the market that is environmentally friendly. Generally also their internal business is run very environmentally friendly. A great example of an eco-entrepreneur is Ian Kiernan who began Clean Up Australia and now Clean Up the World.
You will find young entrepreneurs in each of those areas in Australia and the world – business entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs and eco-entrepreneurs. They are amazing young people who have been inspired by an idea and have a desire to give it a go themselves despite the challenges of age, experience, resources and self belief.
As a social entrepreneur myself, and having met some awesome and highly successful entrepreneurs over the years it is clear there are some personal attributes and skills that spell success for young entrepreneurs. Get these right and success is yours!
Firstly, young entrepreneurs are packed full of energy. You can feel it coming out of every pore in their body and every word. Their youthful zest for life is being channelled into their business ideas and you can tell they love it. Very often young entrepreneurs have got their business idea through their hobbies like fashion, sports or lifestyle stuff. So they love what it is the business is selling but also love the business side of it as well, as it is allowing them to make money from their hobby and passions. This energy is contagious and people want to be around it and so they often find it easy to attract people to them. So often I would have people say to me, “Where do you get your energy from?” and I would say, “Not sure, guess I enjoy what I do,” but would also be puzzled as I thought this boundless energy that I seemed to have was just normal and what everyone was feeling. But no, up to 60% of people are disengaged at work and not enjoying themselves. So why wouldn’t you leave and just do your own thing?!
An entrepreneur creates their own opportunities – no one hands you your dream job or dream business, or points out that great opportunity that would be perfect for you. Entrepreneurs make it happen themselves, realising that otherwise it won’t happen at all. An entrepreneur uses their skills and experience to turn ideas into reality and aren’t afraid to keep trying against the odds. And for young entrepreneurs the odds can be quite high. They are up against a market and people with a lot more experience and with a lot more resources. However, in my experience young entrepreneurs are very smart at overcoming these two areas. They surround themselves with people they can rely on for advice, they read heaps and are happy to get up and brush themselves off if they stumble. The lack of resources only forces them to be even more entrepreneurial to still make their ideas happen; and they do with great success.
Think about this little test. How many uses does a toilet roll have? Most people would say something to hold the toilet paper. Entrepreneurs and especially young entrepreneurs could easily come up with 100+ ideas on what that toilet roll could be used for. How many can you think of?
Entrepreneurs are great networkers and know how to utilise their networks. Networking is also a great way to create opportunities. You can go along to a networking event to meet like-minded people, learn from their experience and be inspired by them. Remember when you meet new people, you also meet their contact book. Successful entrepreneurs always look for ways to help by sharing their experience or an idea. Networking can be an uncomfortable process, however if you approach it with the right mindset and a willingness to give – as well as receive – your chances of success will increase.
Young entrepreneurs particularly are very good at activating their social networks to help them in business, especially when they are first starting. They will use all of the online networking tools from Facebook to MySpace to spread the word. Their friends are often among their first customers. They use the university or school networks to build profile and publicity. But also for young entrepreneurs by right of their age they love to be out and meeting new people, it is that party time. And this is ripe ground for building a business and spreading the word. This combined social and professional element is something very unique to young entrepreneurs where work is life and life is work and all of it is fun! My business in particular has always revolved around young people as well as being young myself, and so anytime I would go to networking or conference type things for business it was always with other young people and so it was a big party time; and I could have the wonderful excuse that I was “working”.
Entrepreneurs, young and old, are always on the look-out for new and useful information. They are like sponges. They join blogs, e-groups and e-newsletters on topics that interest them. They find mentors and learn from their mistakes and successes. They run new ideas past mentors and develop great friendships in the process. They constantly read inspiring books, such as autobiographies of successful people. The more inspired you are, the more inspiring you will be when it comes time to turn your ideas into action. As young entrepreneurs we have grown up with the internet and so endless information and contacts are at our fingertips and we love to take advantage of that. I don’t know about you but I have a wall and many books full of inspiring quotes, snippets from magazines and newspapers, heaps of business books on my shelves and about 5 books on my bedside table that I am in the middle of reading that are a mixture of business and self development. I would say that is pretty typical of your ambitious young entrepreneur!
Young entrepreneurs take advantage of, in a good way of course, their youth when asking for help. As they are often viewed as inexperienced it is often a lot easier to ask for help and receive it quite often for free, whether this is through mentors or other means. There are so many highly successful business people out there who love sharing their knowledge and tips with young people, you just need to find them and ask them.
Entrepreneurs aren’t afraid of hard work – and many even welcome it. When running your own business, work does not necessarily stop at 5pm on the dot so you can go home and watch the evening news. Long hours and working weekends are common, so decide what you want from your business and what you are willing to put into it. Again, this is because as young entrepreneurs love what they do as it often stems from a hobby. As a result, these long hours never phase them, particularly at the beginning of the journey. Your youth generally means you are at that time in life when there is no wife/husband, kids, mortgage etc and so your hours are your hours. You have just started this business that is like your baby – it is all yours and you are creating it; and so of course you don’t even notice the hours passing. I know many young entrepreneurs who have missed many a uni lecture or tut because they were working on their business. And when your tertiary studies seem so far removed from anything remotely real, practical and useful the idea of spending those hours on your business that will be generating you income and building your career right now, which one would you choose?!
An entrepreneur isn’t afraid of self-promotion. In fact, some love to self-promote. This is a concept we at The Frank team call ‘Me Inc’, or seeing yourself as a brand. Think of the last time you bought breakfast cereal. How did you choose your cereal? Which attributes did you consider – packaging, name, description, features, benefits, appearance? Think about you as a brand – how do you look? What are your added features? What are your skills, experience and benefits? How are you going to successfully compete in your particular category? What are the words you would use to describe yourself and your business? Try using these things to develop a short, sharp positioning statement that you can use to promote yourself and your business. If you really believe in what you are working towards, you will find it much easier to promote yourself and your cause. Successful young entrepreneurs can also often use their youth as a publicity focus, and do so. We as humans love to hear stories of people who are really attacking life and making the most of it, it inspires us. And we seem to particularly like it when that person is young. I remember the first time I was asked to “tell my story” to a group of successful business women. I was running my first business at the time and I was about 21 years old. The women loved the story and raved about it to me and others. For me the lightbulb went on and I then offered to “tell my story” to other business groups and this helped me to spread the word about me and my business which led to other great opportunities.
Entrepreneurs are constantly learning and expanding their horizons. This doesn’t necessarily mean a university degree, but may involve attending a seminar, doing some volunteer work with a charity or community group, seeking out work experience with an organisation that interests you, or reading your idol’s autobiography. The contacts and experience you gain more than make up for your time and you can make a difference to others even while learning. As young entrepreneurs are so adept with technology and the internet, these types of opportunities abound on and offline for them, and they love to take advantage of them.
As we know entrepreneurs aren’t afraid to take risks. They aren’t afraid of setting what we call BHAGs – Big Hairy Audacious Goals that inspire and challenge them. They set goals that they don’t necessarily know how to achieve, then work out how to achieve them afterwards. I learnt this tip very early on from my father who said to me one day “you just say yes, and then work out how to do it afterwards.” This has worked wonders in my business and is an underlying business strategy I continue to use to this day. This is important for young entrepreneurs who are just setting out and they don’t have much experience or past history to call on. Of course when saying “yes” you really do need to be able to back it up, but entrepreneurs back their ability and so the “yes” often comes naturally and is often then followed by “and this is how much it will cost you!”

Entrepreneurs are can-do people – they don’t give up when things get tough, they get going. An entrepreneur isn’t afraid of failure. Failure is a part of life and something we will all experience. The secret is to learn from your mistakes and failures. This is again where young entrepreneurs often have an advantage in that they are not risking much. There is no marriage or mortgage on the line most of the time, all they are risking is perhaps some savings and the use of their time. It is the perfect time in life to be risking things, failing a few times and learning from it to do it better and smarter and more successful each time.
Like most entrepreneurs, young entrepreneurs are happy to bend rules just a little. That cheekiness and desire to do things differently is what pushes their success. We need people to re-look at things, problems, issues differently all of the time to constantly be coming up with new smarter ways of solving them, otherwise it will always just be “the way it is” and how boring is that!
Try a new sport. It’s a great way to test yourself on a number of levels: how you work in a team environment, what capabilities you possess and those that you would like to possess, how you respond to challenges, how you operate under pressure, whether you play fair or dirty and how you respond in a competitive environment? Your level of competitiveness is often indicative of your conscious and subconscious goals and attitudes. Sports don’t have to be physical either – try playing chess or debating.
Looking for ways to constantly improve things is another key attribute of an entrepreneur. “How can I do this better?” becomes more a mindset than a question and relates to all aspects of life. Entrepreneurs think outside the box, looking for creative solutions and improvements. When running your own business the challenge is to come up with new and innovative ways to solve problems and view these problems not as a hindrance, but a challenge. Young entrepreneurs thrive in this environment as they often have less pre-conceived ideas and judgements that cloud or dampen creativity – they just go for it. This means they also like to be able to try new things and change things regularly. Don’t work for a young entrepreneur if you like regular order and don’t like to change things often. They will be changing the strategy and ideas and ways of doing things every day!
Young entrepreneurs are also usually highly adept at using technology in their business – you have to be these days. They are happy and hungry to explore how technology can help them and their business to boom. Anything from blogs, to open source software, to wikis and shared docs are all used from day one to enhance the business internally and externally, and to keep costs low. If you are scared of technology and learning new stuff, then move over and get someone is who can do this in your new business. Plus a good majority – there are no statistics yet – of young entrepreneurs are starting online businesses or have technology of some sort as the key product or service in their business. Having grown up with it, they are now working out how to make money from it and their experience with it.
Above all else, entrepreneurs have passion and vision. They know where they want to go – in business and in life – and set goals to help them on their journey. Some entrepreneurs set out to make money, others want to make a difference to the world around them, and of course, some want to do both! A large part of understanding where you want to go, is understanding where you have come from. Look back at your life and consider the major things that happened, both positive and negative. Think about what you enjoyed doing most and find out more about these things. Finally, ask yourself ‘in an ideal world, what would you be doing?’ and act on the answer. Because entrepreneurs ACT straight away.
Here at The Frank Team we go into schools, universities and other organisations and encourage young people to start their own businesses. We love the energy and creation that young entrepreneurs bring to the world, and we look to do all we can to encourage and support them, as well as igniting the fire in the next generation of young entrepreneurs.
So, go forth and be young entrepreneurs. And of course, contact us and tell us all about your business. We love to profile young entrepreneurs through our resources and blogs!

And now….take your YTREP SnapShot.
A quick audit of yourself and your entrepreneurial attitudes: YTREP SnapShot
Rate yourself in each area according to this scale:
1: That is totally me!
2: That is kinda me
3: Not sure yet
4: That is not really me
5: That is not me at all
ATTITUDE 1 2 3 4 5
Passionate
High Energy
Self Confident
Persistent
Determined
Tough
Hardworking
Creative & can see things differently
Visionary & can think big
Learn from mistakes
Curious & enjoys questioning things
Ambitious & likes to succeed
Enjoys competition
Loves to learn new things
Takes action towards goals
Flexible & willing to change
Think that failure is okay
Courageous
Takes calculates risks
Good at negotiating and persuading people
Honest
Enjoy the idea of being your own boss
Aware of my own strengths & weaknesses
Able to inspire & energise others
Takes responsibility for my actions
Always striving to do things better & smarter
Have inspiring quotes, pics & notes stuck on your wall