So I have been working on a big project Under30CEO.com which is a place for young people to come together who want to change the world. Now on the project there is a huge focus on the college population. We are trying to work closely with college entrepreneurship and business groups across the country. However I have found there to be a huge dilemma when it comes to engaging this kids throughout the country. Big dreams but lack of commitment!
I think there are a few reasons for this which in order to be successful my team and I will have to find the answers to.
1. College is the best days of your life
Now this is the classic saying that I have been told many times in my life. I can’t say its completely false. The experiences you have in college will be hard to replicate whether its dorm life, partying any day of the week, or just simply being surrounding by thousands of other people under the age of 23.
So I think a lot of kids have trouble stepping up and trying to get really involved in a network like Under30CEO.com or their business club. They have the dreams but they also don’t want all that extra responsibility that might take time away from the college experience.
2. Confusion
They aren’t sure how to go about starting a business, a blog, or how to simply start effectively networking. It’s amazing to see how all these kids who use facebook everyday get put into a business network and are lost. I can’t say I was any different in college. It’s definitely a huge challenge for anyone trying to harness college kids.
3. Don’t think it’s what they should focus on
I’ve found that many kids are obviously focused on their grades in school and getting a job upon graduation. They say how they want that security and then they will go after their dreams on the side but will have that job to fall back on. Many kids don’t think starting a business is really possible right out of school and think it’s something they will start when they have the money from a “real” job.
4. Lack of time
I think all the other points come together to lack of time. Kids want their social life at school and when they are on breaks at home. They don’t want to spend the time to figure out how to do things that they don’t necessarily need at the time. The also obviously have work and a lot of commitment to their classes and it is tough to try and focus on other things while succeeding at all that. Also entrepreneurship is simply not heavily promoted as a real alternative to working for someone else.
So I have found those reasons to be the biggest factors that hold kids back from pushing forward with their dreams at young ages. Making a successful network for college kids definitely has to somehow combine fun, strong reasons for it while teaching and achieving things in as little amount of time as possible. Not to say these things don’t need to be in other networks or projects but I think college kids don’t grab the opportunity as well as someone who is out of school and actually trying to pay the bills each month with what they are doing.
It’s an interesting challenge right now and I’ll be making more posts about the success and failures of trying to harness all of these factors.
Any Ideas?
