As a high school student, it may seem impossible to start your own business or start up. You may feel as if it is only possible to do as an adult, or after you've taken a plethora of business courses at your college. But this is far from the truth. There are so many success stories of young, high school entrepreneurs, that were able to build business from just an idea! The best way to learn how to start your own start up is to actually do it!
If you're looking for the best ways to learn how to start or grow your business as a high schooler, then you've definitely come to the right place. Below, we've compiled a list of the best programs, courses, workshops, and books that will be able to equip you with the knowledge you need to succeed.
High school entrepreneurship programs
One way to learn how to create a flourishing start up as a highschool student is to join high school entrepreneurship programs. You can check out our previous post here for a list of the best high school summer programs that enable you to start your own business! These programs are a combination of in person programs at top universities and virtual high school business programs that host online workshops and more, so you will be sure to find one right for you!
Taking online college courses
Nowadays, everything is online and available to everyone. Especially during the pandemic, many high schools became virtual and e-learning for students rose in popularity. E-learning doesn't have to be limited specifically to high school though. Platforms such as Coursera and EdX contain many college-level online business strategies, marketing plans, and start up workshops and courses for students. Both of these platforms have different subscriptions and you can choose which one is right for you for Coursera and EdX by checking their website out.
Startup Entrepreneurship Specialization - Coursera
Startup Entrepreneurship Specialization is an online high school course for students located on Coursera offered by the Israel Institute of Technology. This course focuses on innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship and leads you through the entire process of cultivating an idea into a startup. Participation in the course includes hands-on projects that you must complete in order to earn the certificate. This online student training course is not limited to college students - through subscribing to Coursera, you can gain access to it too!
Entrepreneurship Specialization - Coursera
This course is offered by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and leads students through the journey of turning their idea into a funded business. High schoolers participating in this online entrepreneurship course will learn about topics such as pitching, planning, brand management, finance, growth strategies, and more. With guidance from Wharton's top professors and with insights from current Wharton start-up founders and financiers, you will be sure to determine an entrepreneurial mindset upon completion of this e-learning course. At the end, you will not only emerge a better entrepreneur, but a better leader.
Entrepreneurial Operations: Launching a Startup - EdX
Offered by Babson College, this course provides high school students entrepreneurial mindset and leadership skills. Through examining the real-world operational challenges and execution risks associated with getting a new venture started, this start up course will produce you a set of steps and tools to build a startup from scratch. It also serves as a leadership training for high school students through its assignments and projects. If you're looking for an online business course, then consider enrolling in this EdX course!
How to Validate your Startup Idea - Coursera
The University of New South Wales offers a course on how to validate your startup idea. During the ideation process for a startup, it is important to focus on proving the problem you are solving actually exists. This course is suitable for a high school entrepreneur who is looking for guidance and support to make their great idea a reality while also reviewing the basic principles of entrepreneurship. By the end of this course, you will have a validated business idea that you can start working on right away.
Reading books for entrepreneurs
There are many books out there that provide ample amounts of information to the reader on the basics of entrepreneurship, and as a high schooler, they will definitely give you the inside scoop in running a business! These books are good for not only learning about business or entrepreneurship, but they also are good for personal development for high school students.
A Paperboy’s Fable: The 11 Principles of Success - Deep Patel
In A Paperboy's Fable, Deep Patel tells a story of a paper boy who learned the principles of entrepreneurship. As a high schooler, you will learn the basic steps and core attributes to becoming a successful entrepreneur. This book includes lessons on skills valuable for teens to learn, such as goal setting, leadership, design thinking, and more. The book also follows the journey of a 16 year old main character, making it easy to resonate with him on his journey to high school entrepreneurship. Definitely check it out if you're looking to learn the basics of becoming a successful business leader!
Do Cool Sh*t: Quit Your Day Job, Start Your Own Business, and Live Happily Ever After - Miki Agrawal
This book covers the networking aspect of entrepreneurship, and how to effectively build relationships. Agrawal's personal experiences of being a female in this male dominated field are incorporated as well, and she takes the reader along with her on her journey of building confidence and forming relationships that support her. Building strong connections is important for anyone in any field, and learning these skills will be vital in the future. As a high schooler looking to create your own start up, reading this book will definitely equip you with those networking skills you'll definitely need!
Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World - Adam Grant
Adm Grant covers in his books how young leaders and entrepreneurs can fight against norms and help move society and technology faster through combating groupthink. This book discusses anecdotes from a number of business, politics, sports, and entertainment individuals, and describes how they rose to the top through breaking norms. If you're hoping to develop your leadership skills in high school and personally develop yourself or your business, this book is a must read!
Who - Joff Smart, Randy Street
Many startups focus on the question "what?" instead of "who?" and this ends up being detrimental to them in the future in terms of costs and risks. The book "who" talks about the process of creating a team, searching for talent, attracting customers, and the other ingredients needed to make an effective start up in order to answer the question of "who?". As a high school student, it's important to know what types of questions to ask in order to minimize increased costs and risks right off the bat.
Attending virtual workshops
Attending virtual workshops is not only a great way to learn the basics of running a startup, but it also can serve as a networking opportunity as well! There are plenty of online workshops for people of all ages that go into personal development, entrepreneurship, design thinking, and more.
Investors & Entrepreneurs: Top Funding Challenges & Profitable Opportunities
This workshop is a networking opportunity for investors and start-up founders. Start ups will discuss their profitable opportunities and challenges with investors and serial entrepreneurs. Through this online workshop, you can strengthen your business strategy and marketing plan from learning with other professionals.
This online workshop is perfect for high school students who have no idea where to start when starting their own business. It is a monthly session that provides you the basics of starting a business and how to operate it. As a high schooler with no prior experience, this online workshop will help you learn in an entrepreneur-based environment how you can start a start up despite your young age. You will be able to speak with other experienced individuals in this workshop and learn business development along with design thinking as a high schooler.
How to Build a Scalable Marketing Infrastructure for Your Startup
Marketing is essential for any business, no matter what stage they are in. In this workshop, you will learn how to build a robust marketing infrastructure utilizing all the modern technologies, platforms, and tools available. This workshop is led by Sneha Lundia Agrawal - a Silicon Valley engineer and marketing strategist. This online marketing plan workshop can be beneficial to high schoolers who've never marketed for their own business before.
Other online startup events
If you're looking for other online startup workshops, you can click this link to see a full list! There are many different aspects that go into creating a successful startup, and attending workshops is one of the best ways to learn these skills. Simply googling online workshops for high school students will also provide you a plethora of amazing opportunities you can attend from the comfort of your home. Make sure to look for decision making workshops, business strategy workshops, leadership workshops, goal setting workshops, and more!
Skillshare
Skillshare is an online platform that enables people to teach and inform others on skills they know. There are many useful classes on Skillshare that anyone can participate in and thrive off of. Below, you'll see some of the best courses that will help you start your start up.
Goal Setting Masterclass: Goals for More Success
Everyone knows that setting goals is the best first step to achieve something! As an ambitious high schooler looking to create a startup, learning how to set attainable goals to slowly move your way up the ladder is a vital life skill that will help you in the future as well. In this goal setting course that can be for high school students, you will learn the neuroscience behind goal setting and its role in your success, the step-by-step MOMA process for setting goals that stick, and more.
Create a Simple Digital Marketing Plan
Digital marketing is the way to market now because everyone is online! Learning the basics on how to create a simple digital marketing plan will be crucial for your startup's success. This marketing plan course will help you understand the key elements of your digital marketing plan, how to determine a digital marketing strategy, choosing the right platforms for your business, and much more. This course is taught by Tamara Budz who is an experienced marketing consultant that specializes in brand management, ecommerce, and merchandising for small and midsize companies.
The Productive Entrepreneur: Personal Development and Productivity Hacks
Entrepreneurs must learn to work on themselves while running their business in order to ensure greater personal productivity and success. In this personal development course that will be greatly useful to high schoolers, you will learn how you can get more done and be more organized, reduce stress, time management skills, and how to essentially be more productive to earn more money. Take this course to boost your productivity and chances of startup success!
BETA Camp
BETA Camp is perfect for any high schooler who wants to start their own start up - this immersive, online program enables students to learn first hand from industry professionals on the basics of starting a thriving startup. You learn everything essential here, from the design-ideation process to sales and marketing, BETA Camp has your back and will teach you it all. The best part of BETA Camp is that you don't learn from professors or teachers, but experienced professionals. BETA Camp runs all year round, so if you're interested in learning more and being a part of this amazing online high school business program, be sure to check it out!
Whether you decide to invest in some of the books mentioned above, or participate in any of the e-learning business courses, or attend business workshops, all of these things will only benefit you as you begin your journey of becoming an entrepreneur. We know the process may seem daunting at first, but by reaching out to educate yourself and applying the knowledge you learn, you'll eventually be running your own business in no time! Start today and begin working on yourself and your startup!
