The Student Entrepreneur: Real Life #GirlBoss

If you had told me three months ago that I would be running two small businesses my senior year of college, I would have laughed in your face. And if you told me that I would be given an award for one of them, I would’ve laughed even harder. 

My business started because of a grade, if I didn’t start a business, I fail my class. That’s all I thought they would be, doing a class assignment and calling it a day. Little did I know I would be spending all of my free time working on my companies, trying to get them off of the ground. 

For my Penn State readers who might not know, we’re lucky enough to have an inter-college minor for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, within the minor you can choose a specific cluster that interests you. The clusters include art, new media, food and many others, there’s something for everyone. 

On a whim my Junior year I began Arts Entrepreneurship and Innovation simply because I had spare elective credits I needed to take. I went back and forth in my mind, do I take easy classes to boost my GPA or do I make something out of these credits? I chose to make something. 

Choose to make something of every opportunity you are given.  

I sat in a café downtown for days trying to figure out what type of company it was I wanted to start because at the time I really wasn’t interested in doing anything. I stopped, took a look at the world I live in and identified problems that affected me. Then both my marketing and nutrition businesses were born.

What is the take away from being a student entrepreneur? It’s stressful, it’s hard, but it’s rewarding and most importantly, anyone can do it. Once I began to delve into the world of entrepreneurship, I finally felt safe. Becoming an entrepreneur made my future seem so much more clear, I now understand what it is that I want to do with my life and I know that I will be okay. 

Being your own boss teaches you skills that are hard to develop elsewhere. You can develop a confidence unlike any other. I began as a shy follower, after I began my own businesses I learn how to communicate, how to public speak and to vouch for what I need. When you are in charge of your own success you begin to take charge.

Choose to make something of every opportunity you are given. It might just turn out to change your life.

• entrepreneur
• girl boss
• small business
• work hard