You Don't Have to Reinvent the Wheel. Help Is All Around You.

Where can I go for help?

•  In your community:

Look around for entrepreneurs in businesses that might interest you and ask to talk to them. There's no substitute for that personal connection. Look at franchised businesses as well—that means units of a store that are owned by a local entrepreneur but are tied into a national chain. Next time you're at the Taco Bell or Chick Fil-A, realize that some industrious entrepreneur may have built that business.

•  In your school:

Your school may have courses in entrepreneurship or courses that develop basic business/marketing skills useful in business. See what is offered and what prerequisites there are for those courses.

Your school may well have student organizations organized around business, marketing and entrepreneurship. These groups will have lots of resources and will provide friends and companions who share your interests.

Click here for more information about student organizations that foster entrepreneurship.

If there are no such groups in your school, go to the Web sites or these organizations to explore what establishing such a unit could add to your school.

Some schools have student groups or classes who operate a school-based business venture . Usually these are school stores, but they can also be snack bars, concession stands, or businesses like a bank branch. There's lots of room for innovation here. Helping a group in your school set up a business increases your entrepreneurship skills. Being a part of the group that operates the business is invaluable real-life management experience.

Click here for the PDF file - School-based Enterprise Resources.

•  On the Internet:

Looking for information on the Internet is a great way to go, but there's so much that you could get swamped. Ask a business/marketing teacher or your guidance counselor to help you look around for Web resources.

Don't be afraid to look for yourself either. Just be prepared to pick and choose.

For a start, go to these sites.

The Small Business Administration has an appealing site for you to explore. It will lead you to other resources as well. www.sba.gov/teens

One basic site that will teach you what entrepreneurs need to know is www.gwudeca.org , an online curriculum for entrepreneurship. Looking through its learning modules will show you the kinds of information and skills entrepreneurs need. They also have a virtual business you can experiment with (E-Deca Market).

You can learn a lot of aspects of starting an E-business by looking at Yahoo's Small Business site: http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/

Click here for more.