INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Julianna Keeling
Contributor
Julianna Keeling is the founder of Terravive (sustainable packaging company)
Formerly Product at Juicero
If you&re serious about starting and scaling your business in school, treat your time in school like an extended incubator
While you may experience high levels of academic stress, your &real world& financial stress and transition to adulthood are
buffered.
Understand why you&re in school
The key advantage of starting your business in school is that you have the time to test different
ideas and evaluate which idea generates traction without high stakes
You will also gain key subject matter and operational knowledge that you can carry throughout your career.
The challenge of starting a
business in school is that it is not easy to devote adequate focused energy to the growth of that business
Student founders cannot attend to the needs of their business whenever they feel like it
It a 24/7, 365 job that needs to be managed on top of rigorous schoolwork.
When I started Terravive, I spent at least 4-5 hours throughout
each day speaking with our partners and customers and solving problems
Sometimes you must leave class and drop everything to put out fires.
The key to surmounting this challenge is to understand why you want to
If you just want the recognition of starting a business, then I would recommend a different line of work to get the recognition you&re
seeking.
Image via Getty Images / creatarka
If you want to solve a problem that you see in the world and are willing to do anything and
everything to realize your vision, then starting a business may be the right path
When you run into problems in the future or question why you&re making all these sacrifices, remember why you started.
