Durkin doesn’t believe you’re ever too young to start a business. In fact, she encourages people to start as early as possible, if only for the learning experience.
“Before I started an actual business at 15, I would make and sell stuff all the time – jewellery, paintings, dresses, bags, cookies – from the age of about seven,” she says.
“You may lose a bit of money when you are young and inexperienced, but everyone has to start somewhere.”
Similarly, Groom says school-aged entrepreneurs shouldn’t be afraid to make mistakes.
“Honestly, I wish I had learned this earlier. You learn the most out of your mistakes,” he says.
“I do feel it’s important not to take it all too seriously when you’re very young. It’s best to enjoy yourself and let it become more serious as you grow up and need to start earning money.”
Durkin believes eBay is a great place to start if you’re a school-aged entrepreneur, mainly because you don’t need to worry about building a website and marketing it.
“Start small and test a product in the market before throwing more resources at the project,” she says.
“Drop shipping can be your best friend if you don’t have the space and time to store and ship out items.”
Durkin says school-aged entrepreneurs also need to learn how to systemise their business.
“I didn’t really grasp this concept whilst I was in school,” she says.
“So I was doing all the grunt work of processing orders and customer service myself during my school classes so that I had enough hours in the day to get everything done.”
“Systemising my business would have freed up my time to focus on growth.”
Smith, meanwhile, has mixed feelings about home-based online businesses.
“I think there are way too many people registering a domain and calling themselves a business person or an entrepreneur,” he says.
“Home offers such a huge safety net that it cripples a lot of people from growing, taking a risk… In saying this, online is a great way and easy way to get started. Just don’t let it limit you.”
“Multiple streams of income is the end game… Online is just one of them. I think the major thing is if you are online you need to know you’re on the world stage.”
“You’re not local – you’re competing against the guy in the US, you’re competing against the guy in India, [so] you better know your stuff, you better be hungry as hell and you better push your boundaries.”
