I am sitting writing this article on a nice laptop, in a nice coffee shop with my very nice business partner next to me, tapping away on her very nice laptop. For me, the nicest thing about this experience is that on my laptop I have a sticker and the sticker says ‘I’m an Entrepreneur’ and I still remember sitting in my student house dreaming about even the possibility of claiming this title one day.
I graduated five years ago, in 2007, with a BSc in Psychology and absolutely no clue what to do with it. I’d been travelling, twice, I had no money, a million and one debts to pay back after being the best dressed student in London and parents who didn’t really want me back at their house. I was lucky that I was fairly academic. I got all the shiny brochures and lots of large companies thought I would be great at everything from management consultancy to accountancy and even law. Yet I didn’t really know what any of this meant. It just looked like a bunch of people in suits doing boring stuff. The stuff they were being told to do, making money for a big fat cat somewhere and having their progression and opportunities limited by corporate structure and internal politics. I didn’t know much but I knew I didn’t want that.
I went to talks, I went to see career advisors and I read some books but the problem I had was that I didn’t know what anything meant. People didn’t seem to realise that I hadn’t worked before so I didn’t understand the difference between marketing and advertising, strategy and planning or management and leadership. I didn’t know why flexi working might be beneficial, if I wanted a pension scheme, a bonus structure or a gym in my office. I didn’t really know what I was good at other than studying, getting drunk in the union and doing a few admin jobs for money to fuel my former talent.
It’s funny to think it now but most of the people around me knew I was entrepreneurial - it was again only me that didn’t really know what that meant. How did they know? In hindsight it was because I was interested in business. I hadn’t studied business, I didn’t have a clue about finance but I was curious about how people made money, how people attracted customers, why some advertising campaigns were better than others and why some of my friends loved their jobs and others hated them. I suppose I never really switched off - always prepared to go the extra mile to make something right and often unable to take what a lecturer had said as gospel. I always wanted to know why, how and if it couldn’t have been done in a better way. I am also stubborn, single minded and determined to do well in whatever I put my mind to whether it be writing an essay or organising a birthday party - I would never leave anything until it was just the way I wanted it.
So, I was still face with a load of forms, a looming graduation date and a need to get out of my university and into the real world. For me, my moment of inspiration came from a book. I picked up a copy of ‘Bringing Nothing to the Party’ which is a autobiographical book written by Paul Carr, an ex-journalist and tech entrepreneur. I got to the end of the book and suddenly knew, that was what I wanted. It was like he had spoken to me whilst he was telling his story and I knew, there and then that I needed to meet him and the characters he had described. I didn’t even know, really, if he was real and if these characters were figments of his imagination but I went on my quest and thankfully met Paul a few weeks later.
When I met the people I had read about (one of whom is a co-founder of Start Up Britain) they all, of course, asked me what I was doing. I still wasn’t sure so simply said that I had read Paul’s book and wanted to be an entrepreneur. Finally, people began to talk to me in a language I understood. They shared with me the highs, the lows, the challenges and the achievements of their entrepreneurial journeys. They told me how they got started, what motivated them, what nearly broke them and what they would tell their younger selves if they could go back to the start. More than that, and what really surprised me, the handful of entrepreneurs I had met, were happy to help me. They gave me their time which was invaluable - they introduced me to people, taught me how to move forward and practically held my hand as I got my first business plan together, raised my first round of money and a few even sent me flowers when I opened my first office.
I was amazed by their kindness, generosity and expertise. I am lucky enough to be able to say that however hard my entrepreneurial journey has been, I have never been alone and have never been as unsure as I was when I was flicking through the career prospectus at University. I try and remember two things at least once a day: 1. Anything is possible when you dare to dream and 2. However challenging my entrepreneurial adventure may be, I am literally living my dream every day.
And so, what does this all mean to you? Well, a group of super smart entrepreneurs realised that it was selfish of them to only share their expertise with me, that we couldn’t expect everyone to trawl through the pages of google looking for email addresses and that unless Paul Carr’s book became as popular as Harry Potter, lots and lots of people would be missing out. So, the gang are on a bus - and it is touring the country over the next 4 weeks, visiting 10,000 students in 40 towns and cities. This is your chance to go, grab a seat and chat to people that will understand you. My advice to you, is that whatever the people on the bus have achieved, however amazing they might seem to you, they have all been in your shoes and they will all remember just what it feels like.
Entrepreneurship isn't about what you know, what you can do or what grades you get in your exams. Entrepreneurship is a mindset. A belief and a desire and if you have even a tiny part of it, you are part of our gang. We want to help you, we want to see you and we want you to start your journey on our bus so come on, say hello and start your journey now.
Written by Charlotte Hogg, founder of The Change Gang, StartUp Britain business adviser and supporter, people can find out more at http://www.startupbritain.co/tour/
