It only makes total sense if you want to make a sustainable career as a recent grad by starting up your own business, but even a side hustle could work too. The job market for entry levels (well, almost everyone) is basically way too competitive, it’s way too hard, it’s just way too everything horrible at the moment, there’s no denying that in the slightest. But for a lot of grads, in this weird way, starting a business right after college feels kind of like starting a giant semester-long group project, except now there’s no professor, no classmates, no last-minute panics, and absolutely no grading curve. Sure, to a degree, but at the same time, no.
It feels familiar at first, which is probably why so many people slip right into those same habits from school. But those bad habits you did in college will absolutely kill your business if you’re not careful, because way too many people treat it like a silly fun project (when the whole point is livelihood here).
College Habits Don’t Translate Well
In college, you probably got used to doing everything at the last minute because somehow it always worked out. Yeah, that’s just the beauty of school. That four-page paper written at 2 a.m., the project you started two days before it was due, the way you skimmed your bank account instead of budgeting, all of that. And yeah, maybe it worked then. Fine. Cool. But business money isn’t forgiving.
Like missing a deadline isn’t a B-minus, it’s a fee, or a bill, or a client thinking you’re not reliable. And the whole “I’ll buy it now and figure it out later” thing hits completely differently. Now, you absolutely need to remember this: college spending is random, but business spending multiplies. So, you have to separate your money early because personal money rules and business money rules are simply not the same. Which is exactly why separation matters from day one.
A lot of new founders open something like a start up business account so their spending stops mixing together (because nine times out of ten that does happen). Ideally, do this the second you register your business.
Influencers Make it Worse
But in what way, though? Well, there’s also the internet problem. What? How? Well, there’s tutorials, business YouTubers, techbros, all those “here’s what I use to run my business” posts. Now, there’s no flak at those, there really isn’t, it’s great people share this with others.
Now, not all influencers and creators are the same, but a lot of teams, huge budgets, affiliate deals that never get mentioned, and so, with a lack of transparency, you might think “yeah, I can do that too”, from a tiny apartment (or their childhood bedroom). But can you? Because money leaks fast, especially if you’re selling things left and right.
There Needs to be Structure
While there’s plenty of reasons why a new business doesn’t work great, it’s mostly from structure. Like a lot of college projects don’t have much structure (unless your professor is overseeing you), and so sometimes you’re winigng it, but you can’t do that in the business world, though. Like it or not, you need to be extremely organized.
