Happy Monday Blog Readers!

I hope the weekend treated you well. It’s Monday again which means it’s time to remove the stale pizza crust from your unwashed tresses and get serious again . . . if only for the next five days. So, spend a few minutes rummaging around your room for your car keys, put on the cleanest pants you own, part your hair to the preferred side and get ready to head off to class, your internship, or work. And remember, you’re never fully dressed without a smile.

Morgan, one our “Master Interns,” spent some time blogging last week about staying true to yourself and being brave enough to pursue your passion when it comes to career options. I want to feed off of Morgan’s contagious energy and optimism and take you in a new direction. Here is a thought: instead of FINDING the perfect job, what if you CREATED the perfect job?

I’m talking about the wonderful and enterprising world of entrepreneurship, people! Get excited. We here at ThinkTalk are VERY excited because we are gearing up for the launch of Start-Up Town; Our newest show to become a part of ThinkTalk Networks. Start-Up Town will focus on all aspects of becoming an entrepreneur. We will seek advice from leading entrepreneurs from a variety of industries as they school you on finding the right niche, raising capital, investing your mullah, marketing, expanding your business and more.

I will be keeping you updated in the next few weeks and months as we mold and perfect our new programming. Of course the best way to make sure our new programming works for you is to hear from you so never hesitate to hit us up at ThinkTalk and tell us, which entrepreneurs or industries you find the most fascinating and what you want to know about being your own boss. If you have never considering going into business for yourself, I strongly encourage you to spend some time this week learning more about becoming an entrepreneur. A great place to start, and where I get a lot of my information, is Entrepreneur Magazine. Of course going into business for yourself presents a number of challenges. Today I am going to talk about one challenge: age. In the next few weeks I will be discussing other challenges you may face.

According to ZeroMillion, one of the major mental obstacles that young people have when starting a business is feeling inferior when dealing with older customers. “It is natural for young entrepreneurs to feel insecure about their age when dealing with people that are older. Not only does this type of thinking get you nowhere, it can drive your client prospects to your competition.” Instead of seeing your age as a setback, regard your age as a strength. You offer a fresh perspective to whatever industry it is you are delving in to. The interactions that you have with your friends on a daily basis can be used as market research to find out how to best serve your potential customers.

Youth is also on your side when it comes to choosing an entrepreneurial path that excites you; here is what I mean when I eluded to following your passion earlier. I was thinking today about whether I knew any young entrepreneurs and the answer is an overwhelming YES! Not only that, but I bet they are having a lot of fun doing it. Two of my friends, both in their young twenties, are on the ground floor of entrepreneurial businesses one is a dog walking business and the other is a cupcakery. Now seriously, name something better than dogs and cupcakes? The point is that both are pursuing a business opportunity that ignites a passion that stems from their personalities; fuzzy pets and sugar. I am sure they faced a number of challenges in gearing up to take part in a new opportunity, especially since they were both full time students/employees when beginning. And if they can do it, then you can do the same. If you are a gamer, think about setting up a pay for play network with your friends. Interested in sports? What about a travel service to get students from your campus to away games at other schools? Do some market research with your friends to find out what services they may need and try to combine that with your own passions. You just might stumble upon something great!

Youth is on your side and there is no time like now; you probably have the most free time you'll ever have right now (despite how busy you feel) and with the use of social networks like Facebook and Twitter, you have invaluable access to friends (also known as potential customers) to garner their feedback and support. I’ll leave you with a video of one of my favorite entrepreneurs, Russell Simmons, who was a guest on Spotlight as he gives advice on succeeding in the business world. Enjoy!