It’s just about a week since Steve Jobs unveiled Apple’s latest gizmo, the iPad, and excitement in the media and throughout social networking websites has barely died down.
Jobs himself has assumed a nearly-god like status among techies and business gurus in the last decade.Interestingly, there are many details in Jobs’s own biography that entrepreneurs can take inspiration from. It is particularly his early life, when Jobs was a young entrepreneur looking to launch a fledgling computer company.
Reading through the pre-business life of Jobs, one doesn’t get the image of a fledgling corporate guru. Instead, one sees Jobs as a bit of a hippie. He did two years at Reed College, a small liberal arts college in Oregon, before dropping out. Then he went to India satisfy his curiosity about eastern religion. It was only when he returned to America and started a computer club called Homebrew Computer Club with Steve Wozniak that wheels for Apple started rolling.
After launching their start-up called Apple Computer Company selling circuit boards Jobs and Wozniak became fascinated by the possibility of creating and marketing personal computers. The start-up money they raised was their own, but their idea was golden, as we know now. Personal computing was an untapped niche in computing and Apple’s vision of its potentials has radically changed the way people live their lives now.
It’s important for entrepreneurs to keep in mind that even Apple was once only an idea. Apple’s technological advances may be what define it, but it took a man like Jobs who had vision and belief to make the company what it is. Everyone with a new business concept should look to a man like Jobs, who has no college degree, and find inspiration.
He advised Stanford grads in 2005 to “stay hungry and stay foolish”. And we think that remains salient advice for those looking to launch their own business at the current time.
We blogged about the success of Young Hunks Hauling Junk this week for a reason: we were pleased to highlight the success of young entrepreneurs. We’ve written in the past about how young grads are turning to franchising because jobs in the financial sector and beyond are gone at the moment. And guess what? It works both ways, as franchisors are beginning to search out the best young entrepreneurs.
There was a compelling story in the Wall Street Journal about this phenomenon recently. Essentially, franchisors are casting off worries about young business-people being too green or inexperienced and openly courting them.
“Quite frankly, sharp people coming out of school have choices, and so we’re trying to give them a reason to at least consider us,” says Joe Bourdow, president of Valpak
A lot of the story focuses on Valpak, and in particular, the relationship between young entrepreneur Nicholas Hernandez and his ‘boss and mentor’ Bobby Coco. Valpack has a strong program for rewarding successful young franchisees, and we’d urge our younger readers to explore franchises that go out of their way to train them and show them the ropes. It’s hard getting a business off the ground at any age, and it’s exciting to see a franchise going out of their way to provide incentives for young entrepreneurs.
Mr. Coco says programs like this were unheard of when he opened his first franchise at age 21—a move he could afford only because he convinced the owner at the time to give him a payment plan. “We really weren’t handed the opportunity; we had to stick it out ourselves,” he says. “We’re at least giving them the opportunity, but they still have to earn it.”
Blogging here with Franchise Direct involves taking a keen interest in the franchises that are listed on the website. So when one of the Franchise Direct franchises is singled out for distinction, we like to pass on the honor.
So well done to College Hunks Hauling Junk, who were named among Inc Magazine’s Top 500 franchises. The founders of this junk hauling franchise, Nick Friedman and Omar Soliman had previously been ranked as “Top 30 Entrepreneurs in America Under the Age of 30”, and this ranking is an even greater distinction.
“To be acknowledge by Inc. is a great honor for our company,” said Nick Friedman, President of College Hunks Hauling Junk. “We aspire to be the most preferred junk hauling company in the nation. To be among the most dynamic, innovative, powerhouse companies is a testament to our business model, employees and growth.”
These franchise has shown extreme growth over the last few years, having been started as a part-time business in 2005. There are definitely a few other Franchise Direct franchises on the list, but we’d like to single out the Hunks for acheiving so much, so young. If you are looking for a franchise opportunity, College Hunks Hauling Junk have certainly displayed an innovative streak over the last few years. They are certainly a franchise to watch.
You’re never too young to start a franchise, the saying goes, and that’s truer than ever given the state of the economy. One group directly suffering the consequences of the economic downturn are this year’s college graduates, who enter into a fearful jobs market with most businesses running on threadbare staff.
So for young people, the dream of franchising has probably never been more alluring. That is the suggestion in a recent young franchisees profile by Reuters. They talk to four franchisees under the age of 26, who reveal why franchising has worked for them in their young careers.
“I saw that a franchised system would fill in the missing pieces that would make me successful. It puts you in an environment around other franchisees,” said Greg Meyer of CertaPro Painting. The story says that Meyer had found steady work as a teenager painting houses, but the franchising system allowed him with the solid business foundation to turn his moonlighting gig into a paying careeer.
Maribel Guiste of Top 100 Global franchise WSI Internet says that she’s witnessed a clear rise in the number of young people wanting to be franchisees, with WSI enjoying at least a 6% spike in young franchisees since 2006.
So it’s not just that young people are searching out franchise opportunities. Franchisors are welcoming them with open arms. If you’re a young entrepreneur, you’re likely to find the business for you here at Franchise Direct.
Bear with me during this digression: back when I was an English major, one of my favorite books was Letters To A Young Poet by the Czech poet Rainer Maria Rilke. The book essentially chronicles the written correspondence between Rainer Maria Rilke and a young poet, as the two movingly discuss the beautiful art of poetry and what a young writer must do to become a successful writer (the book is described in the film Sister Act 2 if you’d like a pop culture reference point).
Now, Rilke may not have much advice for aspiring franchisees, but I came across a franchise-related version of his text recently: letters to a young entrepreneur. Over at Inc.com, young entrepreneurial expert Michael Simmons- who’s only four years out of NYU – has been fielding questions from college students considering starting their own small business or franchise. We highlighted the Toilet Paper Book Entrepreneur last week as beneficial for young entrepreneurs, and Simmons, co-author of The Student Manifesto – also has a lot to say on the subject. Follow this discussion here.
Also, those trying to gauge the future of franchising will be heartened to read this report in The Economist. After conducting thorough, exhaustive research, The Economist arrives at this conclusion: America is still the home of entrepreneurship. Lots of interesting material here.
One can only assume the world will be looking to America’s entrepreneurs to trigger the upsurge in the global economy.
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