For college students, it's common to hear professors, parents and mentors recommending that you do an internship. There's no better way, they say, to gain real world experience, try a variety of roles on for size without actually committing, and network with important contacts who will be key to landing a job post-graduation.

While that can be true, it's only really so if you land the right internship at the right organization with the right people available to mentor you. More often than not, interns are seen as copy makers and lunch fetchers, which is more of a cynical commentary on the current job landscape for postgrads than something that provides concrete skills to add to your resume. Even worse, if you're sequestered in the back room all day, it's not like you're going to build a huge network of powerful people. And all of this, for little or no pay.

There is, however, another way — one that's much more in sync with how today's postgrad economy works anyway. You could, you know, just start your own thing. What's the risk? You're still in school, so it's not like you're paying off your debts anytime soon anyway. And if you were going to take an unpaid internship, why not get yourself some real world experience that might actually pay you one day? At the very worst, starting your own business will show initiative to potential employers down the line and imbue you with a set of go-getting, business savvy experience it's hard to get anywhere else. At the best, you'll be creating your own job. Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix has been really encouraging more and more entrepreneurship. How much nicer would it be to graduate into that kind of certainty as opposed to making the career fair rounds?

Convinced yet? Let's take a look at a few ways to get a good thing going for yourself while still enrolled.

1. Choose a Focus

Amongst budding entrepreneurs, it's common to see a kind of "eyes are bigger than the stomach" phenomenon. Because many entrepreneurs can do many things, their first attempts at a business idea are way too diffuse:

"I'm a pre-law major and am also an amateur arborist and I love dogs, so, clearly my business should be canine law with free tree trimming thrown in as an incentive."

I'm only sort of joking here, as many first timers' ideas aren't so far off from this. Don't get me wrong. One of the best ways to start scrounging for business ideas is to do an inventory of your talents, skills and interests. It also makes sense to spend several weeks or months keeping a diary of annoyances or problems you encounter as you navigate the world, as well as any services or products you can see addressing them.

But once you've got those initial ideas, narrow them. Ask your friends and family members which products and services they could see themselves actually using. You can always add services down the line once your business is a big success. In the meantime, the start-ups that do the best tend to have an obsessive focus on just one or two things. After all, it's much easier to market "A pet spa hotel app" than an "app that provides spa services for pets and also cupcakes for owners and an accountant who will do your taxes while you wait."

Though that would be nice...

2. Survey the Landscape

Got a brilliant idea? Great! Now it's time to see if someone has already had that idea and put it into action. In this hyper-connected world, chances are, someone has, but don't let that stop you if they haven't done it in a very intuitive or compelling way. Make sure you take a look at anyone who even remotely falls within your field of vision, even if it's in a very convoluted or peripheral manner. You'll want to be sure you've got a strategy and an answer for every person who asks, "How are you different?"

3. Get the Pricing, Accounting Systems and Legalities Set

I know, I know, this sounds like a snooze, but all of these things are incredibly important to any budding business.

• Pricing. To determine pricing for your product, again take a look at what your competitors are doing and see if you can undercut them ever so slightly. Or, if you're doing something product or web-based (as opposed to a service business that requires the repeated selling of your time and labor), launch your product for free as a marketing ploy to get people hooked, and then gradually add in tiered pricing for different levels of membership. More great tips on the tricky business of determining pricing here.

• Legal filing. Choosing a legal entity for your business can also be a tricky thing, and it very much depends on the kind of business you have and what you're planning to do with it. For a service-based business, like videography, a basic sole proprietorship should be fine. For something more high risk, like adventure tourism, you'll likely need the protection of at least an LLC (and business insurance, for that matter). For web-based businesses that involve a lot of coding and design work and that will be employing more than just you, a C Corporation filing may be the best bet. These things may not seem like a big deal at first, but should your company be successful, they definitely will be. With the right legal entity, you'll be doing a lot to protect yourself from various legal headaches that could arise down the line, especially if you choose an entity that requires a charter of sorts to clarify relationships between other founders. A lawyer or a service like LegalZoom can help out with this, as can the advisers at your local branch of the Small Business Association.

• Accounting. I know you think you can keep track of your cash flow in a Word document, but having a full accounting and bookkeeping system like Quickbooks is crucial. When money isn't coming in, you'll still want to be able to keep track of what you're paying in start-up costs, so you can write this off at tax time. When money does start coming in, you'll want to keep tight track of just who that money is going to, what products are most profitable, and what you owe to the state and feds.

4. Decide Whether or Not You Want Investors

If you're lucky enough to attend UPenn or Drexel, you already have a built-in opportunity to win as much as $20,000 in start-up funds. While programs like these are spreading across college campuses, if yours doesn't have one, you'll have to either ask the 'rents or look for angel investors. The latter is doable, but it does take a fair amount of forethought, lobbying and time, and if you go this route, you'll definitely want your legal affairs in order, not to mention a business plan.

In general, when you're just starting out (and especially when you're in college and can't devote yourself to your start-up fully), it's best to keep as few hands in the pot as possible. When you can keep the budget low, invest within your family network, and employ as few people as you can, you'll have fewer headaches and higher payoff. (That is, for certain kinds of start-ups. Some do require a flush of capital right from the start in order to be viable. Whether or not you have the time and energy for that as a full-time student is your call).

5. Perfect Your Product Make Your Product Good Enough

Whether your start-up operates in the digital space or not, it's important to embrace the Silicon Valley concept of valuing a shipped product over a perfect one. Sure, you want to get your marketing, service and product to the point where it's not embarrassing to show to customers. But you also don't want to waste endless months perfecting every tiny feature. Not only will you be able to keep fixing imperfections after launch, but your first customers will also be doing real world testing for you, and will likely find much more pressing issues for you to address first.

Having a beta product for a limited amount of users will give you a much clearer sense of what your customers actually want from you and how your business specifically needs to improve to meet those needs. Of course, you'll need to elicit and listen to that feedback for it to be effective. For that, make sure you're sending prompting emails and following your customers on social media so you can keep up with them in real time.

Another must? Taking advantage of all campus resources. Maybe it's a professor in your product's field who can act as an adviser, maybe it's a relevant course that can actually count towards your major, maybe it's a free meeting space where you can check back in with your co-founders, or maybe it's free library access to expensive research journals to keep you in touch with the latest findings in your field. Whatever your campus has to offer to your business, take full advantage of it in the few years you've still got access to it.

6. Set Up Your Selling Platform and Spread the Word

For many college entrepreneurs, a web-based service will be the way to go. For others, it'll still be all about in-person interaction. Whichever route you go, it's important that you have a strong web presence, preferably including an eCommerce store. Yes, even if you sell an in-person service, it's always helpful to have an online store where you can sell complimentary items, such as a booklet you'll use in your tutoring sessions or that you can sell far beyond your client base. Even Amazon, the biggest eCommerce platform on the web, recommends people start their own stores. At the very least, to look professional and legitimate, your website needs to be well-designed, provide concise yet compelling explanations of what you do, look great across all mobile and desktop platforms, be primed for SEO and work as an excellent base for all of your marketing.

Once that's in place, it's time to become a social media power user. Make an account for your business on every social platform you feel is relevant, and make sure you've got an easy to find newsletter signup section on your website so that you can send marketing blogposts and incentives right to your beta users. Use an editorial calendar to keep your content fresh, interesting and consistent, and make sure to follow every relevant influencer on campus.

And remember: campus events aren't just for fun anymore. If you really want your business to succeed, be at the ready with business cards or your Twitter handle perched on your lips so you can let everyone know what you do, whether at that frat party (hey, that dude doing keg stands might need your service, don't judge!) or your community service club.

7. Be Persistent

I know, this one sounds trite, but you haven't fully appreciated the importance of persistence until you try to sell someone on something. Persistence in the business world means listening to people who you know need your product say no in a thousand ways, not taking it personally, and then figuring out another path to get where you need to go.

As an example, take my friend who started a writing tutoring business during college. Her first approach was to call the learning coordinators at private schools, but to get to them, she first had to pass through receptionists, who were well-practiced in saying no to the many solicitors who called every week. First, she experimented with her pitch. Then, when that still didn't get her past some receptionists, she took a look at the wider organization, and determined that English teachers would have a good sense of which students might need her help -- certainly a better grasp than the receptionists. Then she looked up English teachers on the school websites and guessed at their full email addresses, using the organization root name. When only one English teacher responded, she took that teacher out to coffee, talked about everything to do with writing, and made a connection that got her inside of the school. On the job, she did what she did best, and she was able to build an entire referral-based business from there up.

The moral of this story is that in business, it's not about what many connections do for you, it's about what one connection can do for you. When one door slams, find a different one, and when that door creaks open a crack, thrust it open even wider. You know the services you've got to sell, you know why people need them, and one way or another, you'll get where you need to go.

8. Don't Forget Your Academics

As an entrepreneur, you have to be prepared to do it all. That includes the accounting, employee management, potentially web design, marketing, performing your promised service, and yes, school. School still matters, and is in fact more of a priority than the business itself. If you find your business is pushing your grades down, pull back and reevaluate. Is there a way you can outsource some of your tasks? Is there an initiative you can hold back on until you've caught up? It's important that you don't burn out too early, so constantly keep tabs on your energy and motivation levels.

The Takeaway

Ask most overachieving undergrads about their daily lives, and they'll sum it up in one word: busy. But though time may be crunched while you're in school, it's still far more flexible than when you're graduated and have an 8 to 6 (or longer) and a couple of kids. That leaves a lot more space for experimenting with a start-up, even if you have to stay up late or cram your studies into fewer days.

In another sense, academia is a lot like the entrepreneurial world in terms of workloads, in that there's always something you should be doing, despite it being a Saturday. That means that successful students are already primed to be entrepreneurs, with just a few pivots to be made.

So, are you ready to start your own business? Let us know your big idea in the comments below.

Author Bio
Rob Toledo is a Seattleite who matches the usual stereotypes. Loves coffee, the rain, and prefers dogs to cats. When not rambling about marketing and web design, he can be found in the mountains either climbing or hiking.