Advice for 20-Something Entrepreneurs

I frequently speak at colleges, including USC's Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, and students are always asking my advice on starting their own businesses.

My advice to young entrepreneurs is to get experience working in their chosen field. It's not usually what they want to hear, because they are young and hungry, but I find that dedicating 2-5 years of your life to some form of real-life apprenticeship far exceeds the value of a college education and is invaluable in running your own business.

For example, if you want to build a software company, work at a software engineering firm. If you want to launch a clothing line, work with a designer, or at least in a retail store. By getting a job in your chosen field, you will fast-track your learning in terms of customer understanding, employee management, billing, and operations.

It is my experience that great chefs will fail as restaurateurs if they don't know how to manage food ordering, hiring and firing, and the myriad other day-to-day headaches that go into running a business. These are things that you just can't learn in school.

Virginia Ginsburg is founder and chief consultant at Swell Strategies. She is passionate about supporting small business owners and entrepreneurs in starting and running successful enterprises. An avid reader, in this blog she reviews books and articles and relates specific learning points back to entrepreneurial businesses.