If You’re a Student Who Wants to Start a Business While in School… Read This Carefully...
Recently, a few students reached out to me asking:
“What business can I do while in school?”
It’s an exciting question. I love it when young people think about creating, building, and taking responsibility early in life. But here’s the truth I told them:
Your biggest business in school is still your education. Your primary investor is your parent, sponsor, or even yourself if you’re funding your way.
And your main shareholder is your future.
So before you jump into business, hear this:
- Don’t Start a Business That Distracts You from Your Major Goal - STUDIES.
A lot of students make this mistake. They start selling something or running a side hustle, only to wake up months later realizing their grades are suffering, their energy is gone, and their focus is scattered.
Yes, you can make money while in school. You can build a brand early but the reason you are in that campus in the first place is not to make money, it’s to prepare for a lifetime where money-making will be easier, sustainable, and more meaningful.
Business can wait. Education cannot. Opportunities will keep coming, but the time you have now to build your mind, sharpen your skills, and establish your foundation will never come back.
- Build a Business that Compliments, Not Competes with Your Studies.
The best businesses for students are the ones that:
Don’t require you to skip lectures. Can be managed without killing your study time. Teach you skills that can also help your academic or future career.
If your business starts eating into your study hours, your rest, or your mental peace, you’re building a liability, not an asset.
- Remember, School is Your First Market.
As a student, your environment is already full of people who need things, convenience, solutions, and services. If you must run a business, find something that naturally fits into your daily routine and your environment. Don’t overcomplicate it.
- Don’t Build for Now - Build for Later.
The biggest temptation for student entrepreneurs is chasing fast money. You’ll see trends, quick cash flows, and fads that seem attractive. But remember: the best businesses are built on value, not just profit.
Use your time in school to experiment, learn how business works, understand customers, and test small ideas that can grow after graduation.
- Balance is the Real Success.
It is not a win to graduate rich but empty in knowledge. It is not a win to graduate with a degree but no skills in managing life. It is not a win to chase one and lose the other when you could have done both wisely.
Your degree + your skills + your business experience = unbeatable advantage.
But take one out of the equation, and you’ve weakened your future.
As a student, remember this, the best time to start a business is not just now, it’s when you can handle it without losing the reason you came to school.
Let your studies be your foundation, and your business be your extra room. Because if the foundation cracks, the building will eventually fall.
And in the words I often tell young entrepreneurs:
"Don’t let making money cost you the very thing that will help you make money forever."
