Entrepreneurs
Here Are the 9 Steps to Starting Your Own Business After College

If the regular 9-to-5 workday is your worst nightmare, there is a way to avoid it. Many students prefer starting their own business instead of living in fear of being fired or going to the job they hate to earn money. Starting your career as an entrepreneur is not as hard as it may seem. I prepared nine steps that will guide every college student through this challenging but rewarding process.
Step 1: Get an Idea
You need to know exactly what to start when you want to start a business. An entrepreneur must have an idea. If you can’t even come up with an idea, what kind of business are we talking about? You don’t have to be innovative and come up with something unimaginable. You can take a concept that is already working, analyze it, find some drawbacks in it, or just improve it as you see it, and it will turn into a new business. It is easier to enter the developed market than to form it yourself. And the idea should not be global; you can start a micro-business or business with minimal investment.
Step 2: Analyze the Market
After coming up with a business idea, you need to analyze the market, find out if people even need your product or service. Evaluate the competition, identify the advantages and disadvantages of your competitors, and find out what makes you different from them. Compare prices, quality of service, assortment (if it’s a product business), and look for the best you can do. This is a must. Once you have evaluated the demand and supply, and you have realized that you can compete with existing companies, you can move on.
Step 3: Outlining and Planning
You can compile a business plan for yourself and describe all the expenses, promotion options, everything you need for a start, determine the prices for your goods and services, a break-even point, planned income, etc. You are writing it for yourself, not for a bank or investor, so use the form that is more convenient for you to work with in the future. You make this to keep less information in your head. This way, you won’t forget to do anything, and you can later check the completed tasks and goals.
The plan also prescribes all the costs that you will bear in the first place and try to stick to them. I would highly recommend you to exaggerate with these figures. Most importantly, do not look for ready-made business plans. They mention the mean values, which, in fact, is very different from reality.
Step 4: Investment
You have to invest in any type of business. You can start a business without any money, but it is a rare situation, and you have to wait a long time for the results. In the previous step in business planning, you had to calculate how much money you would need in the initial stages of your business. Take the amount and add at least 20% more to it. This is just in case. It is better when there is little money left than not enough, and you have to look for it in an emergency mode.
Step 5: Validate Your Idea
The first thing you need is a quick test. Develop a minimum viable product or a service, launch a small advertising campaign, and try to sell it. This will help you to study the demand in practice. You need to look at your plan, highlight the minimum things you need in order to start right away. Delay of the launch is one of the mistakes the beginner entrepreneurs make as they are continually trying to improve something. You don’t need to perfect it. You need to start as soon as possible to test the idea in action, to get the first sales and continue to develop with enthusiasm.
If the start does not give the first sales, it is necessary to revise the plan, the idea, and look for mistakes. This validation will also help you to spend less time, effort, and money in case of a failure. It would be more annoying to have been preparing everything for a year and then fail. It’s less frustrating to understand your mistakes right away while you still have not done much. Thus, you can make adjustments as you go along, and everything will start to work out!
Step 6: Make It Legal
You must not miss this step as every business should be legal and registered. This will save you a lot of trouble in the future. This is especially important if you’re planning on taking out loans or seeking investors – says Joe Sturgess, Head of Marketing at LegalDrop.
Step 7: Business Development
Once you have validated your idea, the plan has been adjusted, and sales have begun smoothly, you can develop your business and refine to perfection everything you wrote in the plan. Now you can improve the website, increase warehouses or offices, expand staff, etc. When your idea and business model has shown its efficiency, it is easier for you to set more global goals.
Besides, you have already received money from the first orders or sales and can reinvest it in the development. If there is not enough cash, then you can take loans and credits, because business brings money. If you don’t need much money, you can even use a credit card.
Step 8: Active Marketing
Once you have already felt the firm ground under your feet, improved your website, hired more employees, expanded your facilities, etc., you need to provide all of this with work. For this, you need aggressive advertising to the maximum. You need to use a lot of marketing opportunities. Look for customers on the Internet, do offline advertising, direct sales, etc.. The more advertising tools you use, the better the result. But be sure to capture the results and filter out ineffective advertising tools so as not to drain budgets to nothing.
Step 9: Scaling
Your business works well, brings money, you are constantly developing, everything is great! But there are also related directions or neighbouring cities. If your business model has successfully fired in your town, you can make offices in others.
As you can see, all you need to become an entrepreneur is an interesting validated business idea and plan. Any concept can turn into a successful business as long as it helps the customers solve their problems or cover their needs. Your age has nothing to do with the desire to change the world and help other people with new solutions.
Entrepreneurs
The Leadership Shift Every Company Needs in 2025
Struggling to keep your team engaged? Here’s how leaders can turn frustrated employees into loyal advocates.

In workplaces around the world, there’s a growing gap between employers and employees and between superiors and their teams. It’s a common refrain: “People don’t leave companies, they leave bad bosses.”
While there are, of course, cases where management could do better, this isn’t just a “bad boss” problem. The relationship between leaders and employees is complex. Instead of assigning blame, we should explore practical solutions to build stronger, healthier workplaces where everyone thrives.
Why This Gap Exists
Every workplace needs someone to guide, supervise, and provide feedback. That’s essential for productivity and performance. But because there are usually far more employees than managers, dissatisfaction, fair or not, spreads quickly.
What if, instead of focusing on blame, we focused on building trust, empathy, and communication? This is where modern leadership and human-centered management can make a difference.
Tools and Techniques to Bridge the Gap
Here are proven strategies leaders and employees can use to foster stronger relationships and create a workplace where people actually want to stay.
1. Practice Mutual Empathy
Both managers and employees need to recognize they are ultimately on the same team. Leaders have to balance people and performance, and often face intense pressure to hit targets. Employees who understand this reality are more likely to cooperate and problem-solve collaboratively.
2. Maintain Professional Boundaries
Superiors should separate personal issues from professional decision-making. Consistency, fairness, and integrity build trust, and trust is the foundation of a motivated team.
3. Follow the Golden Rule
Treat people how you would like to be treated. This simple principle encourages compassion and respect, two qualities every effective leader must demonstrate.
4. Avoid Micromanagement
Micromanaging stifles creativity and damages morale. Great leaders see themselves as partners, not just bosses, and treat their teams as collaborators working toward a shared goal.
5. Empower Employees to Grow
Empowerment means giving employees responsibility that matches their capacity, and then trusting them to deliver. Encourage them to take calculated risks, learn from mistakes, and problem-solve independently. If something goes wrong, turn it into a learning opportunity, not a reprimand.
6. Communicate in All Directions
Communication shouldn’t just be top-down. Invite feedback, create open channels for suggestions, and genuinely listen to what your people have to say. Healthy upward communication closes gaps before they become conflicts.
7. Overcome Insecurities
Many leaders secretly fear being outshone by younger, more tech-savvy employees. Instead of resisting, embrace the chance to learn from them. Humility earns respect and helps the team innovate faster.
8. Invest in Coaching and Mentorship
True leaders grow other leaders. Provide mentorship, career guidance, and stretch opportunities so employees can develop new skills. Leadership is learned through experience, but guided experience is even more powerful.
9. Eliminate Favoritism
Avoid cliques and office politics. Decisions should be based on facts and fairness, not gossip. Objective, transparent decision-making builds credibility.
10. Recognize Efforts Promptly
Recognition often matters more than rewards. Publicly appreciate employees’ contributions and do so consistently and fairly. A timely “thank you” can be more motivating than a quarterly bonus.
11. Conduct Thoughtful Exit Interviews
When employees leave, treat it as an opportunity to learn. Keep interviews confidential and use the insights to improve management practices and culture.
12. Provide Leadership Development
Train managers to lead, not just supervise. Leadership development programs help shift mindsets from “command and control” to “coach and empower.” This transformation has a direct impact on morale and retention.
13. Adopt Soft Leadership Principles
Today’s workforce, largely millennials and Gen Z, value collaboration over hierarchy. Soft leadership focuses on partnership, mutual respect, and shared purpose, rather than rigid top-down control.
The Bigger Picture: HR’s Role
Mercer’s global research highlights five key priorities for organizations:
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Build diverse talent pipelines
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Embrace flexible work models
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Design compelling career paths
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Simplify HR processes
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Redefine the value HR brings
The challenge? Employers and employees often view these priorities differently. Bridging that perception gap is just as important as bridging the relational gap between leaders and staff.
Treat Employees Like Associates, Not Just Staff
When you treat employees like partners, they bring their best selves to work. HR leaders must develop strategies to keep talent engaged, empowered, and prepared for the future.
Organizational success starts with people, always. Build the relationship with your team first, and the results will follow.
Entrepreneurs
What Makes an Entrepreneurial Leader? Traits of the World’s Best Innovators
Inside the mindset of entrepreneurial leaders who transform risk, passion, and vision into world-changing results.

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Entrepreneurs
Building a Business Empire: Lessons from the World’s Boldest Entrepreneurs
Learn essential lessons, success strategies, and mindset shifts every aspiring entrepreneur needs to overcome challenges and build a thriving business.

Back in July 2017, I attended a business seminar on entrepreneurship in India. With my appetite for learning and meeting new people, I wanted to explore the latest developments in the entrepreneurial world. (more…)
Change Your Mindset
Why Ideas Are More Valuable Than Resources for Entrepreneurial Success
Discover why ideas, not resources, are the true driving force behind entrepreneurial success, innovation, and lasting growth.

History shows us that the greatest minds, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Walt Disney, Stephen King, and countless others, faced failure early on. Yet, instead of seeing failure as the end, they treated it as a comma in their story, not a full stop. (more…)
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