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Does Age Matter: The DEBATE

Posted by Shane Hudson On June - 9 - 2009

For many years I have seen articles, blog posts, forum topics and even whole websites dedicated to discussing whether age matters for entrepreneurialism (including young website owners and designers). As it is my birthday at the time of writing this (8th June), I thought this would be a good topic to discuss, lets see if we can get all of you to give your opinions!

Firstly, we are going to need to figure out the Pros and Cons of age.

Pros

Cons

Less expenditure – One good thing about being young is that there are less things to spend your money on (eg. do not need to pay mortgage or many bills).

Money – Many young people do not have a job, so it is hard to invest into a new venture. Some parents help with this but many cannot afford to.

Impression – Some people find young people trying to succeed early to be very impressive.

Contracts – Depending on what you do, you may need to sign contracts, there are many laws about this that can make it very difficult.

Family and friends “usually” supportive – It is very important for everybody to have supporters, even more so for young people with no experience in the “real world”.

Travel – There are a lot of opportunities to meet people, go to seminars and to learn. However this is something that most young people are not able to do for a long time because of their financial situations and other circumstances such as school.

That should be enough ideas for us all to discuss. If you can think of any more Pros or Cons please let everybody know. Thank you for reading and I hope you participate in the discussion, and if there is no discussion then start one!

Shane

Discussion

Before you comment, if you have not already read it please read How To Write A Comment, thanks! This is to prevent a lot of useless comments we have been getting.

  • I think the ages does matter. The pros and cons shown here are correct.
  • Interesting concept !!! Excellent work ,i appropriated your work .keep it up , bookmark this,.
  • gablecarport
    Young people do have the advantage of being able to get help from others easier. It is great if you can get into business at a young age, but you will face challenges. By starting early you do have a head start on a possible long term source of income.
  • As long as you have the heart, there are some ventures that you will go far in, as long as you have the heart to succeed. There are some areas of business though, where being young will definitely hurt you. But as long as you've got a smart head on you, you will be alright, and you will know when the water is too deep for you to brave.

    Till then,

    Jean
  • Of course age matters. In business a younger person does not have much experience. So you still have mistakes to make and lessons to learn. As others have mentioned some people do not take them seriously or assume they have less credibility. Young people do have the advantage of being able to get help from others easier. It is great if you can get into business at a young age, but you will face challenges. By starting early you do have a head start on a possible long term source of income.
  • Haha well me and my friends were having quite a heated debate about age gaps and they think they don't really matter. Like say for a 17 year old to go out with a 23 year old. But i think at those ages your at such different stages of life.
  • As we are provided with the pros and cons of the certain fact that do matters.
  • I don't think it makes a bit of difference as to the quality of your product or service.
  • One con that I would add to list is "credibility", not many "older" people really want to listen to a younger person. It can be a hard hill to overcome. But credibility can certainly be achieved.

    -Randy
  • I admire anyone in this business that can get started at a young age. I don't think it makes a bit of difference as to the quality of your product or service. In fact, many blogs that I follow are authored by people under 20. Unfortunately, there will always be those that have a hard time taking a younger person seriously.
  • I don't think age is an issue if you're seriously committed to starting a business. In the online world, you have a relatively level playing field. A 10 year old can succeed in the online world without too much of a problem given that he/she is dedicated and willing to work.
  • One of the problems I always thought about starting entrepreneurialism young was the fact the I looked even younger, when I was 16 I looked 14, and no-one would take me seriously.
  • Unfortunately age will always be an issue. Sometimes of course that is for good reasons. For instance a young person could easily be 'conned' into parting with money or getting into debt and so an age limit on loans is a good thing. At other times at both ends of the age spectrum there can be unjust discrimination.
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About Me

What a horrible photo! Yep, that is me. Shane Hudson. If you want to know about me then please visit my about page. I am an active member of Dream In Code a forum which I recommend you to become a member of if you are interested in programming, or anything else to do with computers really!

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