#Entrepreneurship #SelfEmployed #SoftwareDevelopment #AdviceNeeded
Hey everyone! 👋 So, I’ve come to the realization that I don’t want to work for anyone else and I want to be my own boss. I’m a 20-year-old guy currently studying software development in university, with a year left to go. I’ve been gaining experience in building websites and soon will be diving into app development too.
I’ve always had this drive to be in control of my own destiny and I believe my experience in sales has given me a taste of entrepreneurship. The job market in software is crazy right now, and I don’t want to rely on others to evaluate my skills. I want to take control and make things happen for myself.
So, I have this big idea that I believe can benefit a lot of people, but I’m not sure where to start. Any advice or tips for a budding entrepreneur like myself? 💡
One solution I can think of is:
– Network with other entrepreneurs in the software development field to get insights and guidance
– Start building a strong online presence showcasing your skills and projects
– Consider taking courses or workshops on entrepreneurship to enhance your knowledge and skills
I’m excited to hear your thoughts and suggestions! Let’s help each other grow and succeed in this exciting journey to self-employment. 🚀 #Entrepreneur #SoftwareDeveloper #BeYourOwnBoss
Everyone has ideas. Everyone doesn’t want to work for someone else. No one wants to take risks. Take risks
What field did you work within sales?
I would suggest getting some experience with B2B [sales.No](http://sales.No) matter how good the idea is if you can’t sell it, it will go nowhere.
Ah, to be young and niave. That is your superpower right now.
My advice is to dive in hard and fast before you lose that. It happens quickly.
Ride the wave before the reality of actually being a business owner sets in. At some point you may be wondering if working for someone else and “being told what to do” isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There are a lot of benefits and security with a 9 to 5.
For starters – good for you for coming to the conclusion you want to do this for yourself.
But for the real deal, come to terms with the notion that working for yourself is not actually working for yourself – it’s working for your customers (or worse investors).
If you can’t land or keep customers – it is 100% your fault.
The market is who’s going to evaluate you – not a manager. You will be responsible for and relying on your customers to pay you. If you can’t get them to pay you – it is 100% your fault.
Also know and understand – it is 100% up to you to get to work, build out what you need and get it done. No manager assigning you tasks, no boss making sure you show up on time etc.
Everything, is up to you. You are responsible for the outcome good or bad.
If after really considering all that, you still want to work for yourself – go for it… and give it absolutely everything you’ve got!
Go for the idea, nothing like taking a risk to win it all!
Leveraging your sales background alongside your tech skills is a powerful combo for starting your own venture. Dive deep into refining your big idea—validate it with potential users, start small to test the waters, and stay hungry for knowledge and growth. Don’t hesitate to seek out mentors or resources to support your journey. You’ve got the passion and skills to make a real impact—go for it!
You always have to work for someone else. Even if you do this entrepreneur stuff your bosses are your clients and you have to convince and capture funding. Your bosses could be the general public or public opinion.
For software get involved in pre-accelerators and incubators but fair warning if you have never done industry before you will not know what it is like or what a workplace is like. You will create something people don’t want to work on or work at most likely.
Selling is probably the best skill and entrepreneur can have and you’re doing that.
You can pretty much outsource everything else day one.
I started my own thing at 35 after being in employment for 13 years. I’m 49 now so althought it feels weird to say I’ve been self employed longer now.
I thought I’d either be a head of marketing something or a Marketing consultant. But honestly neither appealed or made sense financially.
Instead I’m essentially a niche lead generator.
That only came from job experience and discovering an opportunity
Learning on someone else’s time is a valid strategy.
It’s also far easier to build a business in the side than ever and I would have done this rather than what I actually did which was start with a few hundred quid in the bank.
Brother, even if you run a business, you work for somebody else. Whether you have an investor or a client. You are still going to be a slave working until you make enough for financial freedom. Don’t think you are free just because you are going to become an entrepreneur. Everyone has a daddy telling them what to do
Ideas are not worth much. That said, if you think you can act on your idea and you drop everything to chase it, then it can be worth a lot.
I have worked for myself the last 10 years and it’s been great financially and for my feelings of how I like to work.
I do think I’ve been 5x more successful BECAUSE I worked for someone else first.
Work for someone else for a little while. You have no risk, salary, etc. Use the time to understand how the BUSINESS works (unless you just want to be a freelance dev) and build relationships.
Be strategic with where you work. After 2 years, you’ll be much better positioned to start your own thing.
I’d say instead of going for the big idea, go for the smaller ones first and build your confidence. Most business people will roll their eyes when they hear hat someone young has a “big idea,” because it sounds naive. They too also had big ideas in their 20s that went nowhre. What would be far more impressive to them is if you could show you could make your first $500 through combining entrepreneurship and what you are learning now, and to do that consistently and grow it over time.
Many people have said to me over the years that they wish they could have done what I have. My answer is always the same, they could have. The only difference between me and them is that I started. That’s my big tip, just begin. Even if you pursue your idea on a small scale, or just work to validate your concept, just starting will set you apart from those with an idea and a dream.
However, having been an entrepreneur for around 20 years now, I wouldn’t recommend you write off having a “real job” completely. The reality of working for yourself is often very different from the dream.
I was 21 when I had my first successful business – I was ents rep at Edinburgh Uni, booked their bands, then created a business that supplied bands to venues around the country – so your age isn’t factor. But, I then spent several years having a more traditional career where I also learned a lot before I finally quit for good.
Working for yourself is great, but it quickly becomes a job, just like any other. While my career as an entrepreneur has been awesome, I don’t think working in my early 20s was a bad thing.
**tl;dr**
*My big tip is to start. This is the only way you’ll succeed and set yourself apart from those with an idea and a dream.*
*You are still super young. There are many advantages to having a more traditional career in your early 20s.*
Start offering a service: engineering calculations, it, design, … Easy to get into, low risk and allows you to understand what a business really is.
Building your idea is the easy part. Gaining traction, user base and clearing profit is without a doubt, the hardest part. Good luck!
If you’re going for entrepreneurship, you need to know it’s hard.
You know it’s hard and you’re still going for it? you should not be worried then.
Fair warning. You’ll work a lot harder on the front end. Maybe for years.
Ideas are cheap. Labor isn’t.
It’s awesome you have a plan in your mind and a great idea but what you miss is on-hands experience. I own 2 businesses so far but I worked for someone else to gain experience and be able to use it on my business. I would suggest to work for someone, learn as much as you can and build at the same time your idea. When the time comes, you will be more than ready! Good luck!
Instead of working for one boss or company, you will now need to work for hundred of ‘boss’ , who all have their own demands and personality.
Lol it’s hilarious when people think that owning your own business means you don’t have a boss.
OP at 20 you need to get a job and stop this line of thinking
Any idea is 1 cent (it used to be 1 dollar before AI :D)
Dont picture the final product on your mind.
Just start your building process. You will learn and do it on the way.
After 2 days, while sleeping, if you don’t feel that you have to get up asap to get back to building it, just start searching for a job. The reason is that probably you’re not in that era yet, or you have to kill this idea.
Maybe you need to see the real world more before starting your own business or you’re not that guy yet!
I know my approach may sound bullshit, but you’re just 20 and you shouldn’t waste your best time in your life.
Start today – fail fast or be your own boss tomorrow!
What problems do you want to focus on?
Thinking through this is the first step to building something that adds value and gets others to pay for it.
(Not a rhetorical question, please do answer it)
You’re not working for someone else when you have a job. You are working on gaining skills, experience, client contacts, peer network and industry instincts to use when you run your own business. You can go off on your own now, but you miss out on the entire journey of working with others in the industry to truly understand what it is like. You can meet amazing people AND potentially get involved in a great start up. No one builds anything great on their own, it always requires a team.
Be patient with yourself and with the building process. Its easy to think it might take a few months or a year but it could and usually takes longer. Dont let it consume you 24/7, still be present with your family and your partner. Network, talk to everybody.
Yeah, wait until you have to pay rent in order to get motivation.
Being a software developer and running your own business are two vastly different skill sets. “Working on” and “working in” your business require way more time and effort than a 9-5 job. Are you willing to take risk? What entrepreneurship courses can you take while still in school to help you learn how to run a business? What capital do you have to start the business ? What financial resources will you have to live on while you work to get your first customers? Where’s your business plan ? Being an entrepreneur is amazing and has its rewards but it’s definitely not for the faint of heart. Good luck and happy to be a resource if it’s helpful to you.
As many have clearly mentioned, making excellent lemonade is but one of the many challenges of running a successful lemonade stand.
focus on the things that make you happy
Congratulations. Instead of one boss you now have 10s of thousands (customers) if you’re lucky
Somewhat similar to what others have said, here are a few points I have gathered:
1. B2B sales is always a good place to look at
2. Working for someone else may actually teach you a lot about where gaps and issues lie which you could use to develop a solution
3. Talk to people as much as you can. People who have different jobs and work in different environments will offer a lot of variety and help to also identify those gaps and issues that they face
Working for someone else (as you’ve done) helps recognize what you *don’t* want or identify things that are good business practice. That being said, when I opened my small bricks and mortar business I WAY overestimated how much risk most people are willing to take (little to none) and vastly underestimated how much risk I was willing to take. You’re young, take risk. I didn’t have the balls to when I was younger and really wish I had. Entrepreneurs can make stupid mistakes as older people just as much as they can as younger people.