Set on being self-employed?

Get to know what it entails to be an entrepreneur

A Eurobarometer survey was carried out during the Spring of this year. 49% of Maltese young people aged 15 to 30 years look to be self-employed. Respondents gave three criteria towards entrepreneurship.

1. Being your own boss,
2. Having control for a work-life balance,
3. Becoming wealthy.

The Maltese respondents showed a certain awe and respect towards entrepreneurs, illustrated through comments of ambition and bravery. A minority thought that entrepreneurs are interested only on profits and thus take unfair advantage of their employees.

The survey indicates that young Maltese respondents believe that employers have defined social goals, especially of mention environmental goals. Young people across all Member States value the fact that employers involve their team in the decision-making in a participatory way.

The top-ranking barrier to youth entrepreneurship by the Maltese respondents is the financial risks involved in starting up a business.

Eurobarometer Survey on Youth Entrepreneurship Published March 2023

Tips for success

Entrepreneurs aim for independence, work-life balance, and financial success.

Here are some suggestions to achieve these objectives:

1. Find Your Passion: Reflect on what you’re passionate about and how you can turn that passion into a business. Consider your skills, experiences, and knowledge as well. Being your own boss is more sustainable when you love what you do.
2. Acquire Business Knowledge and Skills: Acquiring a solid foundation in business management and entrepreneurship, as described in the previous answer, can increase your chance of success. This can be achieved through formal education, online courses, self-study, mentorship, or hands-on experience.
3. Create a Business Plan: A well-thought-out business plan will help you strategize and operationalize your business idea. This is a necessity if you’re looking for investors or loans.
4. Start Small and Test the Market: Validate your business idea by starting small, perhaps with a minimum viable product (MVP), and see how the market responds. This approach minimizes risk and enables you to refine your business model based on real-world feedback.
5. Work Remotely or Freelance: For freedom to work anywhere and anytime, consider industries and business models that allow for remote work. This could involve freelancing, consulting, online business, or a tech start-up.
6. Set Clear Boundaries: For work-life balance, it’s crucial to set boundaries. This might include setting specific work hours, not checking email after a certain time, and ensuring you take breaks and holidays. Be aware, though, that entrepreneurship often involves longer hours, especially in the early stages.
7. Manage Finances Wisely: Budgeting, cost control, and financial management are crucial. Set clear financial objectives, keep overheads low, and focus on profitability. If you can lease, do not buy. If you can buy a good second hand asset do not buy a new one.
8. Diversify Income Streams: Once your primary business is stable, consider diversifying your income streams. This could involve investing in stocks, real estate, or other businesses, developing additional products or services, or licensing your products.
9. Continual Learning and Adaptation: The business environment is dynamic. Constant learning, adapting to change, and innovating are keys to long-term success.
10. Networking and Building Relationships: Cultivate a strong network of peers, mentors, potential partners, and customers. These relationships can offer valuable advice, partnership opportunities, and potential customers.

Remember, success often takes time, and there will likely be challenges along the way. Patience, resilience, and perseverance are key qualities for achieving your objectives.

Educate yourself to avoid very expensive mistakes

The best investment before embarking on an entrepreneurial path is to learn the ropes before setting sail. Mistakes in business can be very expensive, and a failed business venture can damage you. The Maltese legislation does not offer the comfort as in the USA of a bankruptcy protection, and debts in Malta are carried for life — and beyond.

To venture into setting up your business without educating yourself thoroughly can be a big mistake. No University will be able to teach you everything there is to learn, or guarantee your success. But an excellent programme should have a broad curriculum that covers all aspects of business, including finance, marketing, operations, economics, accounting, management, business law, and information systems. The program should offer courses specifically designed for entrepreneurship. These should focus on starting a business, with entrepreneurship strategies, venture financing, entrepreneurial marketing, social entrepreneurship, business planning, and scaling a business.

Which Program?

The best programs have a strong focus on experiential learning. This could come in the form of case studies, project-based assignments, internships, or opportunities to start a mini-business. Entrepreneurship is all about innovation and a programme should encourage creativity and problem-solving. This might be reflected in the course design or in opportunities for collaborative projects or competitions.

Click on the image to find out more on the #1 programme in Entrepreneurship

Achieving Success

Successful entrepreneurs often cite networking as a key to their success. Excellent programmes are meant to provide opportunities to network and receive mentorship from successful entrepreneurs, alumni, local businesses, as well as experienced faculty members. Participation in competitions such as the Junior Achievement Start-Up competition, provides the opportunity to attain hands on experiences and reviews by entrepreneurs and experts in the field.

Participation in competitions such as the Junior Achievement Start-Up competition, provides the opportunity to attain hands on experiences and reviews by entrepreneurs and experts in the field. This competition exposes students to important resources necessary for start-up enterprises such as incubators, accelerators, pitch competitions, and access to seed funding. Team members are exposed to real life leadership training in a laboratory (so to speak).

Take a global perspective

In this age of continued global upheaval, it is imperative to understand international business environments and cultures. Programs that offer a work abroad experiences or courses on international business can be very useful.

At Saint Martin’s Institute you may read for the BSc (Hons) Business & Management conferred by the world renowned University of London led by the London School of Economics & Political Sciences (LSE). Contact us on infodesk@stmartin.edu, call us on +356 21235451 or on socials.