Millennials are the highest-educated group in history but also the most underpaid. With those kinds of numbers the idea of starting a company from the ground up is scary, especially for those who don’t have high startup capital. The idea of breaking out on your own seems impossible, but it’s not. Although most startups never get off the ground, not trying guarantees it will never work. In an era where money rules and jobs are scarce for young adults, striking out is a chance you can afford to take. Young people have full careers ahead of them and are young enough to be able to take the kind of risk necessary for starting a company and still have time to bounce back in the event of failure.
However, startups pose high risks for not only stability but also the outlook for finances. Because starting a company takes so much capital, many people find themselves extremely leveraged or even completely broke because all their personal capital resides within the company. An article in The Atlantic says the average age for a successful entrepreneur is 40. With student debt at an all-time high, the idea of borrowing more money to start a company seems daunting. Fear is only as powerful as you make it out to be, and today’s new graduates make it very powerful. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor found that 25-34 year olds were “significantly more” worried about failure than 35-54 year olds. Fear should never be a reason to not go for something you really want to do or are really passionate about.
Business is a cutthroat and hard industry to crack into, but, if you really want it, no obstacle will truly stop you from obtaining your dreams. Fear is a weakness that should never keep you down and when it comes to futures and careers, young people have long lives ahead of them. So even if it fails, you can try again and again and again. The only thing keeping you from starting your company is your own self doubt.