Do Millennials Make the Best Entrepreneurs?

In the last 20 years there has been an 89% increase in student borrowers—almost no one used to borrow money to go to school and now it’s commonplace. The average student loan balance has ballooned by 77% in the same time period, while the cost of college tuition and books has outpaced inflation. This is leaving an entire generation saddled with massive debt and, understandably, wanting to play it safe.

Read more on how to pay off student loans

Unfortunately in an economy that has stagnated, someone has to take the plunge and start small businesses that will employ others. Here’s why Millennials are in the best position to do that.

Despite a massive amount of student loan debt, a college degree will likely earn you an additional $1 million over a lifetime. Those loans aren’t going to be a permanent fixture in your life, in other words. Also, there aren’t enough high-paying jobs to go around in the current market, so some people are going to have to make their own. When everyone plays it safe, no one actually ends up being safe. Risk is a necessary part of life.

Today’s generation is in a better position than ever before to start and run a business. Just a decade or two ago, things like offices, phone lines, and hard-wired computers were a necessary part of doing business. Now everything is cloud based and the internet floats in the air all around us. Business can literally get done anywhere and at any time. The advantages to this are enormous. Payroll can be slimmed down since you don’t need someone sitting behind a desk answering the phone anymore in most cases.

The availability of funding is also unprecedented thanks to Crowdfunding. Fewer people own homes now and those who do have very little equity against which to borrow, so an alternative like crowdfunding can make all the difference.

There are also distribution networks in place to quickly test the marketability of products and ideas. Etsy, EBay, Amazon, and other networks have made it possible to get items to market quickly. If a product falls flat there’s no time investment lost from the distribution and it can go back to the drawing board.

Millennials have all the tools in place to be the greatest entrepreneurial generation in history. It’s up to them to take the plunge, start the businesses, and create the jobs so the economy can make a comeback. Learn more from this infographic!

Author: NowSourcing is an award-winning nationally recognized infographic design agency. Founded in 2005, NowSourcing has strong roots in the human and technical nuances of the web.