Use Your Youth to Your Advantage Find out what 6 advantages young entrepreneurs have--but probably don't realize.

You should wait until you're older and have more businessand real-world experience before starting a business. You shouldjust focus on school for now. Nobody will take you seriously atthis age.

You'll hear all these reasons--and more--about why youshouldn't start a business from your friends, your parents,your advisors and many others who only have your best intentions atheart. But before you start believing what you hear, take a momentto think to yourself, What would have happened if somebody had toldthese arguments to and convinced:

• Bill Gates who left Harvard to start Microsoft
  
• Michael Dell who left the University of Texas to startDell
  
• Milton Hershey who opened his first candy shop when he was18
  
• Fred Smith who, while attending Yale, received a "C"on his Fedex business plan and decided to start his businessanyway
  
• Steve Jobs who left Reed University to start Apple
  
• William Hewlett and David Packard who started HP out of agarage after graduating from Stanford
  
• Or the thousands of other young people who have started abusiness and been successful

Imagine the potential that would have been stifled if thesevisionaries hadn't started businesses when they were young!Imagine how our world would have been different without an HP, aDell, a Microsoft, a Fedex, a Hersheys or an Apple.

Young entrepreneurs are not anomalies. Below are six ways thatyouthful entrepreneurs have the cards tipped in their favor:

1. It's easier to exceed expectations and harder tonot meet them. The fact that adults expect less fromyoung people can be used to your advantage. It's OK ifyou're not perfectly polished. It will take less effort toplease clients and make a name for yourself with the media.

2. There's little competition from other students.How many students do you know who are entrepreneurs? There aredefinitely not many, which makes your story more press-,scholarship-, competition-, client- and award-worthy. And remember,accomplishments that are incredible in college become lessimpressive as you get older.

3. There are resources that support youthful endeavors.There are many nonprofit organizations and individuals that focuson or are more than willing to specifically support entrepreneurialyouth. First on this list is your school, which probably hasteachers who can assist you or who have contacts in the businesscommunity that can further your goals.

4. You have an existing passive secondary stream ofincome. Students often have income coming in from theirparents. Enen if it's not consistent, then it's at leastsomething you know you can always fall back on. If you'reventure fails when you're young, you probably won't starveor lose your house in the process.

5. There's a synergy between your school and yourbusiness. The practical knowledge you learn from running yourbusiness can help your academic work and vice-versa. Some schoolswill allow you to earn academic credit from or do an independentstudy of your business. You can also base class projects on yourbusiness. That means, you might be able to create a marketing planor develop new sales strategies or markets for your business onyour "school time."

6. Your creativity is probably at a high point. Youngpeople have a fresh perspective on the world. This perspectivelends itself to seeing many opportunities that haven't alreadybeen exploited. The founders of Microsoft, Yahoo, Dell and FedExall saw unique opportunities and capitalized on them when they werestill students.

Michael Simmons is a student at the SternSchool of Business at New York University and the author ofThe Student Success Manifesto: How to Create a Life of Passion,Purpose and Prosperity. You can download his free ebook byvisiting his Web site.