Starting up a business is nerve-wrecking. There are so many things unknown to you and your self-doubt often get the best of you. Not stopping there, you are often need to spend countless hours of working on your startup – which statistically only have a mere 10 percent success rate.
Seeking mentors and joining training programs are two of the most common paths to starting off on the right foot. Well, if you are looking for one right now, meet Jeet Banerjee, a young serial entrepreneur who has gone through the ups and downs in starting up his businesses.
We have recently had a little Q&A session with Jeet and would like to introduce you with him in this article.
Question (Q): Please tell our readers a bit about you.
Answer (A): Sure! My name is Jeet Banerjee. I’m a 20 year old serial entrepreneur, digital marketing consultant, author, public speaker, blogger, and startup advisor.
I started my first company in high school at the age of 17. I grew that business to 15+ employees before selling it last year. Now, I currently work on a few different startup companies – StatFuse & Visionary Media Group and I’m really passionate about creating value through technology.
Q: What are the challenges of being an entrepreneur at such a young age?
A: I faced two really big challenges actually as an entrepreneur at such a young age. Firstly, I found it hard to get people to take me serious and actually look past my age. My youth seemed to be a barrier of entry into business as most people simply didn’t think I was legit.
The second challenge I faced was trying to balance school and work. Being young, I had to go to school and balancing it with business isn’t always easy. However, as time went along, I got better and better at it.
Q: Entrepreneurship: Born or taught?
A: I think neither. I don’t think you can teach someone to be an entrepreneur and I also don’t think you’re born to be an entrepreneur. I think your circumstances and your life growing up really dictates whether or not you decide to become entrepreneurial-minded.
In regards to learning about entrepreneurship, you cannot expect to sit in a classroom and be a successful entrepreneur. You have to take initiative on your own by taking action, learning from your mistakes/failures and getting the resources you need yourself.
Q: I’ve taken your course at Udemy – How To Start A Business: Turning Ideas Into Income (signup with this code – NOOBPRENEUR – for a $10 discount.) It’s awesome. Can you tell us about it and how it can help entrepreneurs like me?
A: Definitely! Ever since I found success at entrepreneurship, I got tons of emails from others who wanted to replicate my success and wanted advice. Starting a business is very challenging and I realized that 9/10 businesses fail within the first year.
However, I was doing something different and I wanted to share my formula behind building a business with others. Since I couldn’t really share that much information in an email, I decided to create a course where I share everything. I help people turn an idea into income by taking them from start to finish with their business. The course has over 25 hours of content and features a lot of great information!
Q: Lastly – do you have any tips to share with our readers who are considering to jump into the entrepreneurial bandwagon, especially at a young age?
A: I can suggest two things to others who want to jump into entrepreneurship. The best way to get started is by taking action. You’ll never know what happens unless you try.
Many thanks, Jeet, for your time!
I would like to remind you that if you are considering to take Jeet’s course at Udemy, be sure to redeem your $10 discount using this code: NOOBPRENEUR
Updated: December 17, 2013: Here is Jeet’s recent talk on TEDx Youth@BommerCanyon – very inspiring, indeed.
If you want to learn more about Jeet Banerjee, please visit his website, http://www.jeetbanerjee.com/ or you can get in touch with him on social media via Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook