Millennials face a huge number of challenges in their lives. Rising rent and home costs are preventing millennials from becoming homeowner; the Gig Economy, while flexible, provides no benefits for a large portion of working millennials; and seemingly endless debt from college loans is constantly looming. Despite all of this, millennials are one of the most entrepreneurial generations that the world has ever seen, even though they face many challenges in that regard as well.
Education Can Make a Difference
While many millennials are starting to reconsider the importance of a college degree due to the debt involved in obtaining one, having a degree actually gives young entrepreneurs a huge leg up in the business world. Though the degree itself is useful, another invaluable aspect of attending college for entrepreneurs is the networking that you can do while attending college or university. The old adage, “it’s who you know” is still relevant and applicable today, and the connections you make during college can help to make entering the business world a much easier prospect.
One of the most obvious degree paths for the aspiring entrepreneur is to go for a Masters of Business Administration. An MBA helps with an entrepreneurial career by teaching financial literacy, how to operate efficiently, and gives young entrepreneurs the interpersonal skills they will need when they are the boss of a team of employees. College is a great opportunity for a millennial to develop the necessary business skills to become successful, and though the debt might pile up, if a millennial goes in with a driven purpose they will most likely be able to pay the loans off when their business becomes successful.
Becoming a successful young entrepreneur isn’t the easiest thing in the world. Many of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, like Richard Branson and Michael Dell, were initially met with skepticism when they were first presenting their ideas. While young millennials will run into their fair share of hardships on the path to success, having an appropriate college degree under their belt allows them to be taken just a bit more seriously when they are first starting out.
Maintaining Values and Passion
Millennials tend to eschew the traditional method of climbing the corporate ladder to success. Instead, millennials are an entrepreneurial generation that values independence, flexibility, and to work for or run a company that they are passionate about. While their parent’s generation was perfectly content working the same 9-to-5 job day in and day out until they received their gold watch at retirement, millennials are disillusioned with that process and desire to work towards a goal that makes a larger impact in the world.
Businesses that give back to their communities are especially attractive to millennials, so when they are starting up their own businesses, they tend to take corporate social responsibility seriously. However, fledgling companies generally don’t have the capital or manpower to make huge differences, and this can lead to burnout for a lot of young entrepreneurs. Keeping the passion alive for the causes they believe in can be difficult when they are faced with all of the challenges posed by starting up their own company.
One of the reasons millennials are so into starting up businesses of their own is that many companies fail to properly manage the millennial workspace. Millennials want empathy and open communication where they work, and far too often businesses are already too set in their ways to accomodate for a new style of management. Because of this, many millennials find themselves bouncing around from job to job, or becoming entrepreneurs themselves in the hopes of creating a business that they would like to work at.
Mountains of Debt
Probably the biggest reason that millennials have a difficult time becoming entrepreneurs is also the most obvious: A severe lack of personal savings due to debt acquired while obtaining their degree, coupled with low wages and steadily rising housing costs keeps many millennials living from paycheck to paycheck. Many don’t expect that they’ll ever be able to retire, let alone raise enough capital to start up their own business.
The rise of the gig economy has definitely provided millennials with the ability to set their own schedules and not be tied down anywhere. However, there can be downsides. Gig workers do not qualify for benefits from employers, so they are paying for all of their insurance and medical costs. Additionally, the gig economy doesn’t provide the financial stability required to start up a business, as gig workers only get work as it comes and things can dry up quickly.
Despite the huge amounts of debt many millennials are burdened with, it hasn’t stopped them from exercising their entrepreneurial spirit. They seem to find a way to get the funding and time to develop businesses that they are passionate about that also fill a need in the market. Even though the deck is stacked against them, millennials make the best out of a bad situation and try their best to come out ahead.
At the end of the day, millennials, Gen X, baby boomers and Gen Y are all after the same thing. No matter their age or standing, people crave success and want to make it happen, whatever it takes. Unfortunately, millennials have had it a bit harder than the previous generations, but that isn’t holding them back.