The worst advice I ever received was from a ‘trained’ University counsellor with minimal life experience.

People’s life’s are ruined if they don’t get what they want. Which is what I think Penelope’s is saying - find out what you want and go for it.

As for selling Rick Terrien is spot on, selling is being truthful. But remember too, it’s also filling a need. You objective is to have your customer want to BUY from you. In most cases you’re going to have competition, so what you need to do is convince the customer that has a need that you can fulfill that need better than the other guy.

Your last sentence is diametrically in opposition to what you said a couple of years ago. You previously had said it will be wasteful to stick to one plan, but now you say you need to figure out a fixed plan.

What about you? Did you have a plan when you finished college?

I generally used to read all your articles, but I am getting a little weary of them. You present no facts, just your brainwaves. You could be giving incorrect advice, and ruining lives out there.

Sorry!
-Observer

Now, the opportunities for students have really grown! At my canadian university it’s not unusual for students to work on 2 degrees at the same time AND take on a co-op program. Do they have co-op programs in the US?. It is an extra year in university but the students get hands on experience at some very good companies in our city or some very cool projects on campus. If I were working on my degree now I would go this route. Also, volunteer gigs are now abundant and are good opportunities for leadership experiences. There is a lot of competition for these as well.

That being said, without being with a good group of open minded college kids and having the freedom to throw around ideas, (and plenty of time to jump on the Myspace bus-which is my company)I would not be in a position to do the things that I’m doing.

College is as much about the connections, networking, and experimentation as it is about the classes. And yes the student resource center is the most underused building on our campus too (UCF).

Oh and love the story about the coffee shop in the dorm room, classic!

This is where I see many fail. They expect solutions to be clean and tidy and linear, when the solutions need to be omni-directional. The seemingly daunting task of selling in all directions can look overwhelming and they don’t do anything but think and worry.

New entrepreneurs typically think too much and sell too little. There is nothing hard about selling, except when you’re trying to peddle smoke and mirrors. Real selling is simply telling the truth.

That’s the only way for very small startups (and all the rest of us) to manage the multilayer, multidirectional selling process of launching new enterprises. You can never get caught up in misconceptions or worse, when you sell by telling the truth. Given that, selling is not hard at all.

This is the renaissance age of entrepreneurship and it’s just beginning. Keep up the great work Penelope.

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Oh, love this comment. Such important things in it. If you want a flexible work life you have to sell. There’s no way around it. You either sell your company, or your sell your freelance capabilities, or you sell you skill set to potential employers. But you are always selling so that you always have the abiliy to choose opportunities that will accommodate your life.

-Penelope

“Thinking” in startup mode is one part of the equation, but everyone out there can have cool ideas and try to solve problems. From my observations (and this is obviously one person’s opinion), those that are successful are the kinds of people that have that idea and go out there and make it happen. It’s about initiative and making things a reality by working hard and being determined.

Doing sales is the best way to get out there and convince people that your product is the best. In startups all you do is sell - convince employees to come on board, investors to invest, and most importantly customers to buy. If you can’t sell, your company will never survive. I did door-to-door sales in college and found that experience invaluable. It’s tough and tiring and stressing, but better than trying to just think of cool ideas that one will never make happen.

I agree with Penelope’s advice that a good way to prepare for a startup after college is getting a “typical” summer job at a bank or consultancy. But I think this is a good way to prepare for being employed at a startup (rather than starting your own co.). The employment history legitimizes you as a hiring manager takes the rubber stamp you’ve received as a seal of approval from someone else’s selection process. That said, what you learn in a professional services company maybe helps with very little of what you need to do at a startup (and that I can say from experience).

I actually met Meg Whitman (CEO of ebay but worked as a consultant-partner at Bain for 8/9 years) this past year and she said that what you learn at a consultancy is 5% of what you need to know for a startup. Interesting.

If you want to hear some interviews I’ve done with entrepreneurs and some advice they’d have for undergrads, check out the a href=”http://iinnovate.blogspot.com”; podcast.

If you’re looking to get involved with a startup (Tim!) drop us a line at Experience Project. We host a href=”http://experienceproject.com”; anonymous communities on life experiences.

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Great comment, Julio. Thanks. My favorite part of this comment is that so much of entrepreneurship is sales. Very true. It’s true that one person is always selling the investors, and one person is always selling the employees to keep to the plan for execution. But there’s another thing: You have to keep selling yourself. So much of starting a company is about making a largely insane leap of faith that the company will work out. So many days you have to convince yourself that you’re not crazy.

-Penelope

I spent my senior year of college surrounded by people who loved entrepreneurship and either planned to start their own company or already had. Entrepreneurs are really excited, very positive and have wonderful stories about why they’re passionate about what they do.

I’m now at a start-up company, one of 6 employees, and much happier than I was last summer. I look forward to more uncomfortable as well as fabulous situations and lots more learning about myself in my very nascent career!

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In a weird way, this story illustrates how entrepreneurship is a sort of safety net today. Most of us would like to graduate from college and find our way to a corporate job that will take care of us and set out a long-term path and mitigate the risks of adulthood. But those jobs don’t exist. Entrepreneurship is a great place to turn when corproate life is completely not working.

–Penelope