Hello to whoever reads this!
I’m a 21-year-old trying to navigate the path my future will take. I come from a lower/middle-class family, the way I’m currently living feels like a potential nightmare if it shapes my future or the resources I can provide for my future children. I understand you might wonder why I’m thinking so far ahead, but with many of my peers progressing in their lives and graduating university, I can’t help but consider my own trajectory. I want to build a name for myself, and in this era of high living costs, a normal job might not suffice. It seems like nowadays the only wealth that lasts is being born into generational wealth, which I wasn’t born into and so now I’ve gotta think outside the box.
Now, during my university break, the idea of starting a business or venturing into e-commerce (specifically, dropshipping) has been on my mind. However, navigating this market proves challenging, given the advice, some say “dropshipping is dead” while others sell their courses. It’s a bit overwhelming, and I’m left wondering where to start and who to trust for authentic guidance. Ultimately I aim to invent and launch a brand, my current wage feels inadequate for such goals. Therefore, my plan is to build my income before diving into the challenges of running a business.
I find myself at a crossroads, uncertain about the best path forward. I’m determined to make money, so any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Help a person out.

  • ohhimaark@alien.top
    BEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Just a few thoughts from a 10-year solopreneur who also has a course business with over 4,000 paid students:

    • Being able to sell via a 1-to-1 interaction is the single best skill you can learn. EVERYTHING that makes money requires a sale at some point. What you are selling matters a lot less than your ability to sell it, and this applies to every business or job you will ever have.

    • the business model you pursue doesn’t REALLY matter that much. Most young people try to find the easiest, most trending one, and all that does is lead you to the most opportunistic course sellers. The best way to succeed is to find a business model where you enjoy the work, and then learn the industry, master the work, and build your sales distribution consistently over time. You will be 100x more successful committing to a tough business model long term than you will trying a bunch of “easy” ones.

    • prior to the pandemic, it was pretty easy to reach a higher-than-average income by just diving into some form of freelance service. Services are still the most consistent initial business model, but startup is a lot more challenging these days. I recommend starting in-house in some form of marketing or sales position and getting paid to learn distribution.

    Also, keep in mind that building your own thing has lot of downsides. I’ve had a $75k month and a $5k month in the same year, and I don’t ever really get to “clock out”, which is mentally exhausting. I have quite a few students averaging $15k months who frequently think about getting a job instead.