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From One Entrepreneur to Another

Article Contributed by Sylvia Rosen

The poor job market and frail economy have created a type of panic throughout college campuses. College seniors who have worked very hard for the past four years are starting to realize that it might not pay off. Good grades, a high GPA and great recommendations won’t get their feet in the door –because there aren’t enough doors open.

According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, only 24.4 percent of 2010 graduates who applied for a job had one waiting for them after graduation. Nevertheless, these challenging times have forced college students to evolve into something more than young professionals; it has forced them to become young entrepreneurs.

Today, college seniors are taking bigger risks sooner rather than later. Such was the case for Joe Shartzer, who made the risky decision to start his own business after graduation. Looking back today, Shartzer can highlight what steps he took that lead him to where he is now, a young entrepreneur who has already worked on projects for The New York Times, Williams-Sonoma and Food & Wine Magazine.

The secret ingredient to starting out

The saying you’ve been hearing throughout your education and work experience is in fact true: it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.

“It’s all about connections,” says Shartzer. “When I wanted to get involved in consulting and starting my own business, I leaned heavily on people I’d met from internships and from my education.”

Shartzer explains that although it’s important to acquire good grades, it’s more important to acquire strong relationships with the professors. One of the professors Shartzer never fails to recognize as someone who inspired him is Chuck Martin, CEO of The Mobile Future Institute and Director of the Center of Media Research.

“Chuck Martin gave me my first shot working with his company. That’s the biggest value I think a lot of students miss; the business potential from professors and others at your university,” Shartzer says.

The one area where Shartzer did want to rely heavily on himself was funding:

“I’d rather work hard, grow my business and keep complete control versus selling off partial ownership for an immediate increase in resources.”

Although funding your own business is the riskier option, Shartzer explains that a lot of small businesses start out bootstrapping their first company as a way to maintain focus and control.

The big challenge for young entrepreneurs

Being your own boss has its perks: you control what you want to do, when you want to do it, and who you want to do it with. The big challenge with this work ethic, however, is maintaining the focus needed to make these decisions.

“The focus always has to be on your bottom line,” says Shartzer. “I think there’s a tendency to work on a venture until it’s perfect but that’s a great way to exhaust all your startup resources and fail. The balance between day-to-day focus and strategic planning is one of the most interesting aspects of being an entrepreneur,” he explains.

This is likely to be the toughest challenge young entrepreneurs will face because they are just coming out of a college environment. In college, students are told what assignments they need to do and when they need to do it by. When you are your own boss, you are responsible for assigning yourself the work and the deadline; this requires a lot of discipline. However, if done successfully, the payoff is great.

“It’s the truest form of commission out there,” Shartzer explains. “Complete control of strategic vision and being able to take ideas in a direction that only you might see.”

The tools behind success

Shartzer considers himself reasonably successful and in a good place with his first project. The resources and tools that he said helped him and that recommends include:

If you are a college senior and thinking about starting your own business, know that it will take hard work, discipline and the right connections. The first year might not be the best year but it should definitely be the year when you take the most chances.

For more information about Joe Shartzer and his business venture, you can go to his site: http://joeshartzer.com/

About the author:
Sylvia Rosen is a web content writer with a background in newspaper journalism. She connects with business professionals to write articles on a variety of industry topics such as small business phone systems, business software and online management tools.

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