Over a million young people are currently unemployed in
the UK. Many suggest entrepreneurship is a way to decrease this
rate. We spoke to one young person who started his own
business.
Official figures, just released show there are 1.01m unemployed
people aged 16 to 24 in the UK. The rate has
decreased 0.6 percent from February to April to 21.9%, but it is
still extremely high. In comparison, the figure was 14.5% five
years ago. Instead of fighting for a job with hundreds of thousands
of other young people, Chris Bull started his own company when he
was 19 years old.
Bull started Selective Media in 2007 and the business has
quickly grown to become the UK's leading location based on-line
media specialist. The business monetises Wi-Fi and offers
advertising opportunities to a wide range of sites, such as
airports, hotels, hospitals, marinas, coffee shops and shopping
centres, throughout the UK and Europe.
He had no experience in this field before he launched his
business, but he had a solid idea and a strong worth ethic. He
struggled in school and he did not like being told that the only
way to be successful and get a good job was to go to
university.
"I went on a mission to prove that was not right. I came up with
the concept when I was 16 while I was at school and I decided to
start the company," he says.
Bull does not think his age hindered him at all, and says if
anything it helped because people were intrigued, but he did
surprise some people.
"I did have a few shocked faces when someone would show up after
only speaking on the phone or through email. They'd meet me and end
up going 'What?'" he explains.
Today, Bull speaks at school and universities to show students
that there are other paths to success that don't require going to
university. He believes some people are not cut out for the
university world even though they are capable of excelling in the
real world, but he stresses that starting your own business is not
an easy path.
"I think that you should go into it knowing that it is going to
be really, really hard work," he says. "In order to start your own
business, you have to have drive and ambition, not just an idea.
You have to be able to create the idea and actually deliver on it
as well."
For more infomration about Selective Media click here, www.selectivemedia.com
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