Why be a corporate drone when you can run the show yourself?
That’s the attitude of a growing number of young people who are eschewing traditional career paths and instead launching their own entrepreneurial ventures.
Inspired by the growing prominence
of small businesses and proficient in the computer skills now required to run a start-up, 20-somethings are opening firms at the most robust pace in years.
‘There’s a vast number of young people who are opting to be their own boss,’ says Daniel Kehrer, founder of BizBest and author of ‘100 Best Resources for Small Business.’ ‘There’s an appeal to it, and the barriers to entry have dropped because of the technology.’
The level of people ages 20 to 34 starting small businesses began growing during the ’90s Internet boom but fell off when the dot-com bubble burst. More recently, though, the young entrepreneurs have returned, starting an estimated 202,190 businesses a month in 2004, up from 186,041 in 2000, according to the most recent research from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City, Mo., nonprofit that supports entrepreneurship. Even among teenagers the interest is high: 69% of teens surveyed last year by Junior Achievement said they want to start their own business, up 5% from the previous year.
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