7 Ways Internships Can Help You Start Your Own Business

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Five Stages of Business Growth (25-slide PowerPoint presentation). This presentation introduces a framework for entrepreneurs to use when building and navigating their business from a nascent, startup state to an enterprise with a global footprint. This framework, called the 5 Stages of Business Growth, is based on the fact that all businesses experience common [read more]

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An internship is a great way to experience what it’s like to be in the professional world, and experience is golden for those aspiring to go above and beyond. We’ve compiled a list of reasons internships can be advantageous and helpful for those who want to start a business.

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Not having problems with academia at the moment? Then let’s skip to our list:

1. Knowledge is Power

No matter which line of work someone ends up in – they’ll have to learn a substantial amount of information about their niche if they want a chance to become better at it. The same goes for business:

• Business is risky
• Unlike earned income, profit changes from day to day depending on output and planning
• Failure is inevitable
• Rejection is inevitable

Getting into an internship at a company or a field that is related to what you want to do is an indispensable way of acquiring the right knowledge and skills to use afterward. Learning is a process, and having the right stepping stones to achieve whatever it may be is key.

2. Networking

It only takes one right connection to open the right door to a plethora of opportunities and possibilities. Maintaining relationships and networking with like-minded people can help those who are on their way to starting their own business.

In an internship role, you’ll have direct contact with coworkers who are in a career field that is of interest to you. Aspiring entrepreneurs might want to put effort into building relationships with mentor-like figures – someone that they can learn a lot from.

And the reach for solid networking doesn’t stop with just the company – clients, and everyone else who collaborates with the organization can be a good connection. Be polite and be authentic, there’s always a possibility to meet new people that will help you level up.

3. Practical Application

Those who are determined to learn on the job will learn on the job. Internships can provide an aspiring businessman/woman not just the knowledge and theoretical skill to move forward in their plans, but the opportunity to practice that knowledge in real-time.

Being an intern is a direct opportunity to test out what you’ve learned, from mundane tasks to more complex ones and the ability to do these tasks and overcome any hurdles is a relevant skill to have in the journey of making a business.

4. Inspiration

Aspiring entrepreneurs can acquire immediate inspiration from interesting ideas, mindsets and behaviors from their peers at their internships. Emulating aspects of other people that are beneficial to self-development is a great way of adapting new habits that can be for the better of us.

Building a business is not an easy challenge, it not only takes a certain degree of creativity and innovation. You have to have grit, endurance, persistence, and adaptability (amongst a few). Cut out the fluff and learn what you need to, make a habit of knowing what you can use to your advantage.

Emulate people who are already where you want to be, spend time with them if you can. Being around people who inspire is energizing, and can really pave a brighter future for any self-starter out there.

5. Knowing One’s Capabilities and Weaknesses

Being exposed to work will let those in internship positions know what they can do in a job, and where they fall weak. It’s a sobering process but it’s better to know where you stand than to be disappointed because you weren’t successful overnight. It’s the same for building businesses. Many factors come into place when building a business, it’s best to be ready for the ride.

6. Paving the Right Path

Being exposed to work in an internship will also let self-starters know what they want to pursue and what they DON’T want to pursue. This is an important step to building a business – success usually lies in what you’re passionate about, or what you’re good at.  For those who know what they like and what they don’t like, who know what they want to do and what they don’t want to do, the probability of creating a successful business is higher.

A lucid and coherent plan and strategy is key to the success of a business. Self-starters cannot expect to go in without a plan and expect it to work out.

7. Marketability and Professionalism

Opening one’s own business means that you don’t answer to anyone but yourself; however, marketability and professionalism are acquired from experience and knowledge. Self-starters might have what it takes to open a business, but the ability to maintain it and the ability to make it appealing to others is something else.

Aspiring entrepreneurs can learn indispensable values and traits from an internship that will help to make them more professional and marketable.

Conclusion

We hope this list helps those aspiring to become businessmen/women out there. Brainstorming can be challenging, so these pointers might help in clearing the mind’s perspective on how to maximize and take advantage of internship positions to become a better professional.

Moreover, multiple internships (meaning going through maybe two to three internships instead of one) could prove to be a smart move for business-starters, only to have the chance to soak in more experience and learning. However, even one good one can suffice.

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