Josh Roberts Editor | Online
With Careers Week now a distant memory, for many of us, the long and tortuous road of online applications lies perilously ahead. It is a road fraught with meaningless platitudes (e.g. “I have been passionate about financial audit since I was a toddler”) and inevitably shattered expectations.
You know the drill. Register, spend four hours trotting out the same middle-of-the-road toot that everyone else will be, get invited to undertake an online test, fail-it, cry for four hours, watch an episode of Entourage, start over again.
But what if there was another way to start your career? What if this way didn’t involve wearing dodgy suits and feigning interest in Excel spreadsheets? What if you didn’t have to answer to some jumped-up middle manager? What if you didn’t have to spend three days at the regional conference in Kettering? Would that be something you might be interested in? Assuming the answer to the above questions is a big, fat ‘yes’ then why don’t you explore the idea of working for yourself?
Imagine it – you could work when you want to, with people you want to, on something that interests you. Indeed, while it may be far less secure than joining a grad scheme, a career in entrepreneurship does have some big draws.
Two cases in point are Curtis Hunter and Ben Keighley, the two 20 year old students behind YourStudentShoes.com. Their website, launched this summer, aims to deliver students “trendy, comfortable and affordable shoes” and was inspired by both an admiration for “the work ethic of our families and parents” as well as “a long-standing interest in business”.
Having started their site with the remains of their student loans, the business has gone on to enjoy an enviable level of success. “Over the last four months the business has grown from strength to strength”, say the UK-based duo, “we’ve had great sales and garnered 9,000 loyal twitter followers”.
But, as Hunter and Keighley are quick to point out, the life of entrepreneur isn’t as easy as it may seem: alongside the long hours they devote to YourStudentShoe.com both entrepreneurs also juggle other jobs, as well as university degrees.
What advice would they impart to the budding entrepreneurs amongst us? Primarily, and perhaps unsurprisingly, it seems that a marketing strategy based in social media is the way to go for young start-ups. “We have used social media to its fullest capacity”, they explain, “word of mouth has always been very successful for us and has helped us create attention”.
The success of YourStudentShoes.com illustrates how, with a little money, a good idea and a lot of hard work we need not waste the next three years in a grubby office that we hate. We could do our own thing. If it works out then whoopee; but even if it doesn’t, having started your own company must give you an unrivalled insight into business (as well as some great CV fodder)…
The University Times and YourStudentShoes.com have teamed-up to offer readers the chance to win 3 pairs of their great shoes. To be in with a chance of winning simply Like this article through Facebook or follow @UniversityTimes
