A student-entrepreneur from Kent Business School (KBS) has offered his advice to anybody thinking of launching their own business start-up.
Third-year Marketing student Giovanni Morgan launched his denim customisation service brand MGX Jeans from his home in Lewisham, South London, when he was 18. After enrolling at KBS in 2018, he undertook a Selfie Year in 2020 to take his business to the next level, learning how-to, and becoming, a limited company, opening business accounts and arranging taxes. From there Giovanni developed his brand, focussing on his digital marketing skills and the ongoing sustainability of his products. As described by Giovanni, Selfie Years ‘allow Kent students to take a year out to run their own businesses rather than take up an existing business placement’.
Throughout his Selfie Year, Giovanni grew his social media channels and increased the weekly orders for his products. He credits the School’s ASPIRE programme, designed to support KBS students develop entrepreneurial skills for helping make his business a success.
He said: ‘The Selfie Year provided me with a great opportunity to combine what I have learned from my Marketing course so far and the ideas ASPIRE has given me. Things are definitely going in the right direction for my business; for example, I’m currently moving to new premises in Canterbury and employing additional staff. My aspirations lie within entrepreneurship, so I’m always finding ways to tailor it to management as a whole. My ambitions and plans for the future remain on track.’
Giovanni’s advice for launching a start-up:
- Have a clear vision. Know exactly what you want your business to do, visualise your furthest businesses goals and plan accordingly on how you’ll get there. A great place to start is to develop a vision and mission statement. It’s important to remember it doesn’t have to be set in stone, as a vision can evolve and change too
- Be solution based. It should be a priority to provide value to customers first and the best way to provide value in business is to solve a problem faced by customers. Building a business around a value proposition is key and as long as you provide enough value, you’ll always be in business.
- Don’t rely too heavily on the support of family and friends. Family and friends support is great and should be your first go to steps when starting a business. However, a sustainable business is ultimately its own entity and must be able to attract external customers. It’s also important to have an unbiased perspective to continue developing your business.
- Don’t forget to use the internet. It’s inevitable that you’ll run into challenges and hurdles on your journey. Every problem has a solution and most if not all can be found on Google or YouTube.
To learn more about Selfie Years at Kent Business School, click here.