Dorm-room business can launch career -- Page 2

Another advantage students have is proximity to what Hills calls "a perfect breeding ground for opportunity." He says the campus is where rapid changes take place and new needs are always developing. "The campus is a great place to test out your idea and see if you are really adept to all the skills necessary for the job," Chereck says. "It's not just about the idea. There's a marketing and accounting component, too, that some people forget about."

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Of course, there's no road map to finding success as an entrepreneur. "Most people find opportunities by the simple act of keeping their ears and eyes open," says Donna Ettenson, vice president of operations at the Virginia-based Association of Small Business Development Centers. "They just stumble upon an opportunity."

In addition, many colleges offer entrepreneurial programs or clubs on campus that can provide a great foundation for launching businesses. Students should also take advantage of all the free professional advice available to them. Student advisors, counselors, professors and even potential investors are often more than happy to evaluate a student's business plan or idea and give their feedback.

There are also companies like Dorm Works, which offers an online training program to help students eliminate debt by starting their own companies. Their mission is to teach students everything they need to know from the concept stage to design and selling.

Ettenson says that developing an online business is the way to go. "This doesn't require a lot of office space -- a student can set up shop with a telephone and an Internet connection," she says.

Geoffrey Cox and three of his peers from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, did just that. They felt textbook prices were too high and set out to make them affordable. During their senior year, they created the Web site www.urshelf.com, which allows students to buy and sell textbooks from each other at reduced prices. "If you try to sell your books back to the college, you get practically nothing back," Cox says. "This way, students can set their own fixed price or list it auction-style." Cox says the site, which went live in August 2004, will start generating money by fall 2005. Sources of income include banner advertising, referral commissions and fees from bookstore vendors.

Garrett Bean, a senior at Duke University in North Carolina, is also dabbling in an online venture. He will launch a dining system that will allow students with university dining cards to order meals in real time via the Internet and have those meals delivered from local restaurants. "I saw how much students were ordering food from local restaurants and saw the inefficiencies of doing everything through the phone -- busy lines were a problem," Bean says. "I just knew the system would be better if it was online."

After reading a slew of "how-to" entrepreneurial-focused books, he hired a Web developer and four other students and developed partnerships with seven local restaurants to help form the company, Gourmet Dining & Bakery. Bean is confident that when classes resume full time in the fall, "I will make more money doing this than I would from any offer I could potentially receive after graduation," he says. "This is how I will make my living."

Alana Klein is a freelance writer in New York City.