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Where to start? - [General business advice]

by Hipster
6 replies
I'm pretty new to the forum, only having signed up for an account last night, though I have been stalking these forums for a few months now.

Only being 16 years of age, I havn't got a depth of knowledge in business and earning money online. Though while saying this, I've been trying to sell stuff to earn profit since I was about 10 years of age. (From buying things on eBay and then reselling them, to breeding fish in order to sell the fishlings (is that what you call 'em?).

I've always had a fairly good idea what I've wanted to do with my life, always being set on going to uni and getting a degree in Engineering. But recently I have come to the realization that a 9-5 office job really scares me. I don't want to be stuck working the SAME old thing EVERY day for the rest of my life.

I was actually thinking of leaving school at the end of this year (currently in year 10), studying 'business' at TAFE (Home). I would then focus HEAVILY on learning 3 instruments as well as saving as much money as possibly for the next 3 years.

And from there, I'd just travel and: Make YouTube videos (Eg. ) and tour with my music, making money from that.

I'm in the process of starting a clothing company online presently, so I'm hoping to make around 2K/month from that, with not a whole pile of work.

The question I'm asking is, does this idea sound like it could work? Would it be possible to save, say, $20-30K over the span of 2 years? What other methods could I use to save this amount of money?
#advice #business #general #start
  • Profile picture of the author TeamBringIt
    Finish, highschool..maybe skip college, but finish highschool... You will need, lots of work/effort to have a successful clothing business...
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  • Profile picture of the author frettcarla
    Great idea you have. I really appreciate that. Even I too had plans of doing business at my earlier days but see to my bad luck that at our times I din't get much exposure and opportunity as you are getting. I completed my studies and stated doing jobs. After a whole long time I got some money and opportunity as well to start up my own business.

    But still I struggled a log to come into form. From my personal experience I have learned a lot and would like to give you some free advice that where ever possible try to get more technical in terms of business. I mean to say where ever possible try to visualize and carry out the work with the help of tools and softwares which ultimately helps reducing work pressures and makes things really happen.
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    • Profile picture of the author PCH
      I like your enthusiasm young man, but I'd say be prepared to put in a whole lot of time to make it big in this business.

      Despite what you might have read, not many make it big unless they absolutely deserve it. And that takes time, effort, persistence and dedication.

      I did a post this morning that lays it out in basic style, suitable for newcomers. It's here ... http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...icult-you.html

      Enjoy
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  • Profile picture of the author Hipster
    Would it be possible to earn 20-30K though in 3 years? I'll be working a full-time day job along-side this.
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  • Profile picture of the author ReferralCandy
    Always nice to see a motivated individual. Here are my thoughts:

    1: Don't quit school. Just get it over and done with. I know a few people who quit school, and you'll need to be very dramatically successful to get over something like that psychologically. The media loves to seek out such success stories, but they're the exception rather than the norm. See school as a training ground to develop work ethic- that's really what will get you buy.

    2: You seem to be spreading yourself too thin. I've been guilty of this myself a lot too. I sell t-shirts, I play music too (got my band some degree of national acclaim a few years ago, but we split up afterwards... long story.) Saving as much money as you can is a great idea and you should do that.

    3: Don't knock the idea of a full-time job. Getting one doesn't mean working until the day you die. It can mean developing yourself within a stable framework. You can become a pretty fantastic musician, videographer, whatever while working too.

    I'm hesitant to give you overly-specific advice- nobody wants to be responsible for another person's life decisions. Things can always go bad. Focus on building a safety net, focus on having savings, experiment within your means without going too crazy.

    Cheers and good luck. Always keep learning, always keep saving, and always pick smaller projects over ambitious ones, because you'll learn quicker and you're less likely to be incapacitated by a bad blowup.

    I recommend reading some of Paul Graham's essays- they gave me quite a bit of clarity and I think they saved me a lot of unnecessary trial and error. Learn from the wisdom of others.
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  • Profile picture of the author isadoregregory
    I would suggest that you finish your studies first. It's still different when you have your diploma. That way, if your plans doesn't work out, you have other options. A lot of people definitely doesn't want to be in 9-5 jobs but they are in it because a lot of them are just too scared to take the risk.

    I'd say go on with your dreams. Nothing is impossible. But, yes, you must be prepared to put in the hard work. You'll gonna have to do it especially in the beginning. but once your established, you'll see that you can turn your income into a passive income, where you do less and less work.

    Goodluck with your dreams.
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