Help please!

[tomweston]

Hi,

I am a student in the 6th form of a boarding school. I would like to set up a business preferably online but I don't know what to do. Does anyone have any ideas? I have £500 but more can be used if needed.

It would be appreciated if you could suggest some ideas.

Thanks

 

[Tier1Logistics]

Hi,

People seem to be asking this a lot recently and the advise that has been passed out is.... get a job, gain some experience, find out what you want to do, if you think you want to go solo then go for it....

What you doing in 6th form, what you studying, can you make a career out of it etc....

 

[SDLBiz]

Setting up a blog about a certain niche can earn you a fair bit of money. Obviously, it doesn't sound like you can earn much but if you can build an audience, you could find many revenue streams.

For example, you could sell advertising, sponsored posts/reviews, premium content and the like. With £500, you could have a premium, or even custom design, marketing material and still have enough money left over for the marketing itself as well as possibly purchasing content from freelancers to help kick start your site.

There are thousands, if not, millions of blogs but with your budget, which may be considered small to big corporations, can still provide an advantage over blogs set up for a tenner.

 

[Low Cost Sourcing]

If you are looking to sell online you can set up as a seller on marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon and even set up your own ecommerce website to run alongside it.

You say you are in 6th form but not how old you are as you need to be 18+ to sell on eBay and Amazon.

In respect of products to sell, it is usually best to sell in a niche you are interested in and have some knowledge of the products.

Depending on the products you are looking to sell and obviously their cost price you could get a decent number of products to set you up with your £500.

 

[myfairworld]

What you doing in 6th form, what you studying, can you make a career out of it etc....

Students don't always have complete control over what they do in Sixth Form. There is parental pressure, school may only offer certain courses or pressure students to do certain courses.

Personally I'd encourage this Sixth Form Student to think outside of the box and definitely go for trying to run a business. Could be a financial success. Might not be but still be great experience relevant to all sort of later careers. Plus if a student wants to follow a dream career there is no harm at all in having a sideline business to help smooth the way financially, in fact it could make the difference between the dream coming true and it having to be abandoned in the face of sheer financial necessity.

Was most impressed when a friend who needed a cleaner (friend is partially disabled and can't do all her own housework) was able to employ a student from the local university. It turned out this young man was financing his way through university by running a cleaning business, he started out advertising his own services as a cleaner and was so successful by giving a good service that he was able to recruit and employ a small team of cleaners. This is the sort of business spirit which is so much needed in the UK.

If you are in a boarding school I'm imagining there will be restrictions on what you do? Probably you can't go out cleaning for example? My suggestion is that you switch your thinking from 'what can I do?' to 'what do other people need?'. This could be fellow students, or people in the area, or even nationwide but, if feasible, your fellow students would be a good start if the rules of your school would allow this?

 

[Carl Mintern]

Best piece of advice I can give would I be to download, and listen to, the series of podcasts; Seth Godin's Startup School.

That actually goes for everyone.

He is an engaging speaker and I defy anyone who has a mind for entrepreneurship to not both enjoy and also get something out of them.

 

[bowcot84]

Can you outline your skills/interests a little more. To play devil's advocate, what would give your business the edge? Better marketing than the competition, better negotiation with suppliers, the ability to create a niche product etc? If you can work out why you're outstanding, that might help inform the business choice?

 

[Nochexman]

I am a student in the 6th form of a boarding school.

Your business advantage is that you have some insight as to what 6th form students want and what they pay for. Is there something they are itching to get their hands on that you could procure / supply?

Crumbs! The entrepreneurs in my sixth form brought a toaster, breadboard, bread and butter to school and cleaned up the market for snackers.

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Hi Tom,

I'm surprised making websites hasn't been mentioned.

If you enjoy design and are comfortable with tech, you could get yourself a starter reseller hosting package, and start building some Wordpress websites for other students, or even businesses in the area.

We host quite a lot of designers and developers, and on top of being able to charge for a website, you can also get paid for the ongoing hosting of the website.

There's quite some benefit to being able to sit down with someone and set up their website, so if that falls into your skillset/interests then it's something you can do quite easily on a small scale to earn some money and learn and develop your skills.

Finding customers can be the hardest thing, and you've got a wealth of potential customers at the boarding school with you (rules permitting), so if you want to do something online, perhaps getting them online or starting with those contacts would be a good start.

You can also sign up as an affiliate for services that students might want. Most web hosts, including us also run an affiliate programme, so that's also worth considering - especially if your skillset and interests are more in selling and dealing with people, than developing or getting technical.

Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions.

Best of luck,

Dan

 

[Opinion87]

If you have a look at the OP's profile he posts these threads every now and then, all pretty much the same, and never replies to any. Don't waste your time.

 

[Dan_HiHosting]

Thanks, age also listed as 25 but claims to be in sixth form. Name matches the faux western names often used by spammers too.

 

[HazelC]

My personal advice is short and simple - do what you're passionate about.

If you're not passionate about what you're doing or selling, you won't enjoy doing it and it will be harder to sell

 

[MikeJ]

If you have a look at the OP's profile he posts these threads every now and then, all pretty much the same, and never replies to any. Don't waste your time.

"Tom Weston, of Weston Car Services"