50 Day Challenge – Getting young people to start an online business

Two weeks ago we launched the 50 Day Challenge, to help young people at university start their first online business. The challenge costs nothing, but requires passion, endurance and creativity. The 20 or so students who come every week have now completed 25% of the challenge and are well on their way to building their first online business.

See why I am doing the 50 day challenge and my thoughts on entrepreneurship below:

The 50 Day Challenge is based on Ed Dale’s famous challenge and encourages people with little or no internet marketing knowledge to complete 7 weeks of video training on how to research a market niche, develop a website, get visitors to the site and right at the very end, make their first sale online. Every day, after completing the video, the students then have to act on what they have just learned.

Week 1 – “We’re all in this together”

Two weeks into the challenge and we’ve got some interesting business ideas brewing in the classroom. I love how even students with very little money are thinking both BIG and BRAVE. Some ideas are for social enterprises and are not financiall motivated. Two groups are looking into developing charities. Others are helping promote some local businesses such as Pie Boy Clothing. Some students are thinking about developing affiliate businesses by creating video and written content on topics they find interesting and hopefully earning money from the adverts they put up.

As we break for the holiday I want to keep this momentum going so next week I will be hosting my first ever Google Hangout and doing a live stream of week 3. Stay tuned for more…