Having been in school myself until just recently, I know the struggles of needing money. It’s especially hard to make it while in school, with the time constraints. How to balance school and entrepreneurship, when having homework from classes, extra curriculars, yet also needing money? All of those things together add up to more hours than there are in the day. Yet there I was, rolling in cars, motorcycles, and various other toys. The question I’m here to answer is “How did I do it all, while still maintaining school, sports, and hobbies?”
Balancing With School
Now, keeping my schooling life while I was making money, wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done. It turned into much more of a challenge than just making money ever was. With the load of five AP (college level) classes, the homework was at least two hours every night. This amount of homework, and me getting home at 3:30 every night, plus an hour for dinner, leaves from 6:30 to nighttime for anything entrepreneurial. That’s really not enough time in my mind, considering healthy sleeping habits need ten hours, and I have to be up at 6. That leaves an hour and a half per night, at the very maximum.
Now with such a small time, how to balance school and entrepreneurship would seem impossible to most. How could I try to build my own life, work my fortune, with only an hour and a half a day?
The short answer is that I turned my priorities around. I knew that my future was more important than my now. I started to move my tasks around. Instead of homework when I got home, I sanctioned off the time for money, then dinner, and after dinner I did my homework. When I finished my homework is when I slept. Now, it cut into my sleep time a *little*, but that was the price I paid for the start of success
The Full Steps On How To Balance School And Entrepreneurship
I’ve given the short answer already, and I get it if that’s all you wanted here. When I was younger, that’s all I wanted too. But there’s more to it than just swapping priorities. So much more!
- I had to accept that school wasn’t the only thing in my life anymore. I had started growing, turning from just a student into a business person.
- Not only that, but I had to figure out my own life, and how it could continue to change as I was earning more and more.
- The biggest issue was how to keep it from other people. The nay-sayers, I knew, were going to be my downfall. Thus, I decided to keep what I was doing on the DL (down-low, meaning nobody knew about this) until I had gotten on a roll, and had “got my mojo, baby!” I had known that if I were to be stopped early, that I’d never be able to get off the ground and build my fortune.
After making these changes in my routine, that freed up the room, and more importantly the mental capacity, to start my path to my own fortune. Now, it may not be the same for everyone, but for me, these changes also reduced the stress levels in my life. I was feeling better, in and out of school. I was getting things done, moving on with my life. Most importantly, I was free of the trap I had set in my own mind, and was ready to get at ‘em.
Keeping up with Sports
A quick tidbit about the author: I was the Varsity Singles 1 for our school team. For those who don’t know tennis inside and out, that all means I was the Ace of the team. That in itself put a lot of pressure and stress on me to perform consistently. Now, a big problem was that in the spring, practice lasted for two and a half hours after school, every day. That took more time than I had, really.
For this season, entrepreneurialism became very tough. I had gone back to needing more hours in the day in order to keep up with my responsibilities. But again, I had to make it work, because I knew this was the way that I was going to avoid the general monetary stresses during high school. I really couldn’t just skip practice though. So, I had to be creative about how to balance school and entrepreneurship
I couldn’t keep doing restoration projects during sports season. I didn’t even have time for my own homework, let alone a restoration to make money. So, when spring rolled around, I had made sure that I had purchased my investment *prior* to the beginning of sports season. I didn’t have to worry about surfing Craigslist or any other mediums to locate investments. Selling took much less time than buying, and that was what I used to maximize the little time I had. I repeated this process every year of school, buying in the winter when prices were lower, and selling in the spring, when the market picked up again, and when I had less time. I did this with a couple cars and an ATV, as I wrote about in my story, which you can read here.
How I Had Time to Enjoy Myself
Through it all, I was many things: A student, a tennis player, a business person, but I never forgot who I was under all that: a teenager. Now, ask most people, and they’ll tell you that they loved their teenage years, and describe all the things they did when they were young. Well, I’d heard my fair share of stories about people’s teenage years being the best of their life.
I vowed that I wouldn’t lose my teenage years in pursuit of money. I was going to be both wealthy rich, and experience rich, by the time I graduated high school. There was one big problem though, and we’ve talked about it twice before in this article alone: There still weren’t enough hours in the day! How the hell was I supposed to go to school, do homework, be a business person, be a tennis ace for school, *and* find time to have fun on top of all of that? This was one of my biggest challenges on How to Balance School and Entrepreneurship.
Well, the answer might be disappointing to some, and downright cliche to others. I just took a day to rest. I wasn’t allowed to do any work on that day, no matter what. Every Sunday (not for religious reasons), I took the entire day in order to de-stress, to enjoy myself, and most importantly, to avoid burning out. I had seen the effects of burnout all throughout school, home, and everywhere else I go. No matter where I go, you can’t escape burnt out people.
Saving Myself From Burnout
On average, 63% of Americans report that they’re stressed, or believe the next generation to be stressed. That’s roughly two out of every five people. Picture this: You’re standing in line at your favorite to-go restaurant. There’s two people in front of you, two people working the kitchen, and one taking the orders. Of those five people, the two in the kitchen are both completely burned out, as well as the one taking orders. They don’t have the will to keep going, there’s no joy in life for them. That’s what I was desperately trying to avoid. That’s a big part of How to Balance School and Entrepreneurship.
Now, whether you’re an adult, a kid, or anywhere in between, burnout is a bad thing. Every time I would take a Sunday off, I would try to do as little as possible. It’s not only because I can be lazy too, but because I care about my own well-being, and that of those around me.
BONUS ROUND: Relationships and Entrepreneurialism
Now, for high schoolers, both boys and girls, dating can become a factor. But, if dating can affect kids with loads of just schoolwork, how can it be managed alongside entrepreneurialism too? Well, it’s honestly rather simple. If you’re dating in school, then maybe pick someone that agrees with the idea of being an entrepreneur. That’s what I’ve done. When I have dated, It’s always been with a girl that understood what I was doing.
How to Tell If She’s Entrepreneurial
Now, if you’re looking for a girl and are already being an entrepreneur, that’s a different story. There’s a couple of ways to see if she’d agree with the ideals.
- How does she feel about setting her own schedule?
This seems like a bit of a loaded question. And let’s be honest, it kinda is. Almost everyone would agree that setting their own schedule would be great, and this is more a test for common sense than for entrepreneurship. - Who does she want to answer to, her boss, or herself?
This sounds like something that might be a pretty obvious thing to ask. And, again, it is. It’s just seeing what her immediate response is to the prospect of owning herself. Not having to answer to her owner, so to speak.
And finally, what about owning her own business?
This is such a big idea, it deserves its own section.
What Does It Take to Own Your Own Business?
This can be a daunting idea to some people (to most, actually). Having to accept that everything from here on out is yours to own up to, good or bad. I still have a hard time with this sometimes. Accepting that things are my own fault, that’s where I struggle most. It’s going from being able to blame life, to everything all of a sudden being your responsibility. It’s rough, but it’s definitely a good life lesson to learn early on. The sooner you learn to take responsibility for your actions, the sooner you realize that what you do matters a hell of a lot more than you think.
That lesson isn’t just good for business though, as most parents would probably agree. That kind of a lesson is something that sticks with someone for their entire life, and helps them every step of the way. Without the concept of responsibility, laws would be meaningless. Nobody would be punished if they broke them, so they couldn’t be enforced in the first place.
Responsibility and accountability both have tremendous share in whether a business succeeds or not. Accountability, according to Webster’s Dictionary, means “an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions”. If nobody took responsibility for their actions, the world would simply cease to function.
If you want to read more on what it takes, and how to become, an entrepreneur, click here.
How is This Relevant?
Well, that’s a fair question. Where is the relation to How to Balance School and Entrepreneurship? Well, don’t get your panties in a wad, I’m about to put a nice bow on it all. School isn’t just about education, it never really was to begin with. School is a social environment, with learning, activities, and other people. These schools and their sports take up a very large part of our time. The other kids in the schools take up some time as well, both in and out of school. Dating kind of belongs in the previous sentence, as it’s part of other peers taking up time.
As for what it takes to own a business? Well, the two traits we mentioned, Responsibility and Accountability, those are two traits that you should look for in any partner. That kind of advice is better found on a different website though, we’re here for the business side of things (though I don’t mind talking girls lol).
As a bit of an extra, I’ll toss in the CliffsNotes of my dealings through high school. I did four years of both tennis and robotics, and to top it all off I did MMA a few nights a week. Not only did I do the prioritization that was mentioned up top, but I also had a date night. Whether it was with my girlfriend at the time, or if it was just hanging out with friends, I set aside Saturday nights for friends and social time. That time couldn’t be infringed upon for work, even if I didn’t have anything planned whatsoever. That was unwind time, as were Sundays.
