Billionaire Mark Cuban was solely 12 years outdated when he launched his first facet hustle, so he is aware of what it takes to start out a enterprise at a younger age.
And, he says there’s one easy factor you have to think about if you wish to do it, too.
“The important thing to beginning a enterprise while you’re younger is doing issues that you are able to do your self — issues you are able to do with your personal time,” Cuban lately informed a gaggle of highschool college students at Lewisville Excessive College in Texas.
Meaning beginning with what you already know, he famous.
“If it is a product, do one thing that is simple so that you can get and simple so that you can promote,” Cuban stated, including: “It actually comes down to at least one easy factor. One of the best companies are issues you may management and do your self. That is what being an entrepreneur is all about.”
Cuban famously obtained an early begin studying to run his personal enterprise as a pre-teen promoting rubbish baggage door-to-door in a Pittsburgh suburb. Later, he bought quite a lot of collectibles, from baseball playing cards to cash and stamps, saying the proceeds helped pay for his school tuition.
In every of these instances, Cuban used home items and collectibles that had been accessible to a child and promote them for a revenue — following his personal recommendation for youngsters immediately.
Equally, as a school pupil, he labored as a bartender and taught dance classes to make more money. Cuban later confirmed off his dance expertise publicly by showing on “Dancing With the Stars” in 2007, ending eighth within the competitors.
“I used to be a hustler … I’ve at all times been promoting. I at all times had one thing happening. That was simply my nature,” Cuban stated throughout a 2016 episode of ABC’s “Shark Tank.”
Now, Cuban says he often tells youngsters and youngsters trying to begin their very own companies to do what he did. Construct round “one thing they will make or a service they will provide to associates, household and neighbors,” he informed CNBC Make It in September.
That is simpler stated than executed, after all: Efficiently launching and rising your personal enterprise is infamously difficult. Roughly 20% of latest companies fail inside a 12 months of launching, in keeping with knowledge from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Being an entrepreneur and beginning a enterprise does not imply it should be simple and swiftly you make some huge cash,” Cuban informed the scholars at Lewisville Excessive College. “Being an entrepreneur is the tougher manner.”
If it was simple, he added, “you all would already be doing it and approaching ‘Shark Tank’ and taking my place.”
Discovering one thing you may management and do your self is difficult sufficient. Turning into nice at it — which, by the way, is Cuban’s No. 1 rule for being profitable — is quite a bit tougher.
It entails extensively researching your marketing strategy and potential competitors, in search of out funding, and creating backup plans to permit for flexibility if you have to alter on the fly, the billionaire has beforehand stated.
So long as you do not thoughts placing in that work, particularly after you select your online business alternative, a world of alternative can open up for you, Cuban informed the highschool college students.
“In the event you’re keen to take the initiative and begin a enterprise, something is feasible,” he stated.
Disclosure: CNBC owns the unique off-network cable rights to “Shark Tank.”
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