r/smallbusiness • u/Careful-Bet8065 • 6h ago
20 years old & Lost
So I've always been very entrepreneurial. I've tried multiple avenues of businesses but normally don't end up sticking with them because I'll lose interest or realize it wasn't really for me.
I started a supplements business and lost some money after not following proper packaging laws in Canada when I was 18, I was like okay I will try something else maybe less complicated so when I was 19 and in university I thought it would be interesting to try a business where I matched university students to businesses for short paid projects like fiver but only for students. But I found that getting businesses on board was really difficult and I didn't enjoy just being on my laptop all day, so I gave that up despite having over 300 student applications and a few interested businesses just because it wasn't making me feel fulfilled.
Then now I'm 20 I was like wow I am really good at cold email outreach which was how I was getting some of the businesses on board for the university idea and I've been getting 25% reply rates with many opportunities coming from that, but once again it was really difficult and just not satisfying (maybe because I never had a single actual client), and then I finally started knife sharpening which is my most recent endeavor, month one I made 1k net and I have no overhead expenses. I just fear that it isn't particularly scalable due to the fact I move around a lot. I haven't really found "my place" in the world and I travel a lot trying to find it and I am just worried I will never find anything to satisfy me. The knife sharpening was something I enjoyed before making it a business which makes it easily my favorite but I find it so hard not to compare myself to people talking about how they make 20k a month with an online agency and here I am looking like an idiot making 1k a month doing stupid knife sharpening. I also dropped out of uni and I don't really have a "home base" so I feel very lost on what to do, I love adrenaline, the idea of making money, success, risk, outdoors, the sun, being outdoors, freedom. I just fear I am getting old and will never make anything of my life. If you have any advice for me I would really appreciate it. I am always in my own head about stuff and I hear the same advice over and over and it never makes me feel any better.
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u/MrMoose_69 5h ago
lol bro you're a literal child.
You gotta stick with an idea man.
1k is good for your first month. It's really good.
Some people never make a sale.
Maybe you would do well if you got a job in sales. Do that for a year, then see where your head is at.
Your brain needs time to process everything and form a vision.
Once you have a vision, it all gets easier.
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u/Careful-Bet8065 5h ago
Thanks man appreciate it, it’s just difficult especially with social media to not compare myself with people my own age or younger making significantly more, I mean even a min wage job would make more than me. So it feels as though each decision I make is the wrong one but it’s true I do think you need to give things time but I just want something to click and fall in love with the process, I want something I love to do and make a lot of money and when it doesn’t fulfill that it makes me double back on the idea and give up.
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u/SeaBurnsBiz 5h ago
Get off social media...run your own race. Optimize for finding what you really like and what you're really good at. No one is good at everything in business.
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u/MrMoose_69 5h ago
Then you need to stick with something.
NO IDEA will pay off immediately.
You can't quit after a month.
Boomer moment: quit whining and get to work. Stop doing anything other than working on your idea.
I started my current business in 2021 and only just this year 2026 did I stop doing my old business. So 5 years before I reached sustainability.
I feel like I just started.
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u/Careful-Bet8065 5h ago
Don’t worry boss, I was working on it today, I appreciate the advice and it’s very true whatever the saying is an idiot in motion is faster than a genius at rest.
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u/Life_Yoghurt7119 5h ago
you're 20 and panicking about getting old, that's wild. 1k in a month with no overhead from a thing you actually enjoy doing is better than 90% of the "online agency" guys who spend half their day lying on twitter. keep the sharpening gig, ride the horse when your head gets too loud, and stop measuring yourself against imaginary numbers.
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u/doubleflusher 5h ago
You're 20
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u/Careful-Bet8065 5h ago
I get that but with everybody investing and building businesses/figuring their passion out it makes me feel behind at 20. I know people say they are all on their own journey but mine feels lacking.
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u/thatdude391 5h ago
Honestly if you are good with sales, go sell cars or rv’s. It can be boring at times but it can certainly pay your bills very nicely.
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u/Careful-Bet8065 5h ago
My friend sells cars, and he makes good money I’ve just always loved working my own thing but maybe it’s time I put work in at a company and learn a different perspective. Thanks for the comment
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u/jamaican4life03 5h ago
This post is wild.
Feeling "lost" at 20 is the so stupid.
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u/Careful-Bet8065 5h ago
I think quite a few people my age would definitely relate, or at least a lot of the people I’ve spoken to my age do.
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u/RDW-Development 5h ago
These days the boring businesses are the ones to be in. Think landscaping, cleaning services, etc. running one of those well will pay for many jet skis later on.
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u/Careful-Bet8065 5h ago
True, I wouldn’t mind being an arborist seems like a fun job/business to do.
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u/CricktyDickty 5h ago
Get off TikTok and YouTube Shorts. Overnight success takes many years of hard, sometimes grinding work. You’re not special. There are literally millions of people like you and there are two main differentiators. First is persistence and hard work and you have control over that. The second is luck. You don’t have control over your luck but persistence opens up opportunities.
Did I mention you should stop watching business influencers on TikTok and YouTube? Stop.
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u/Careful-Bet8065 5h ago
The reason my persistence sucks is because like imagine your digging a hole to race to the middle of the earth and your working so hard, and then you look to your right and the guy next to you who is also trying to get to the middle of the earth is going faster even though he’s putting in the same effort as you, and then I’m like oh well since he’s going down faster I’ll try something that might be faster than his. Does that make sense, I know it’s not the best way to look at stuff but it’s just my perspective at the moment. And you’re right I will try and not watch that stuff.
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u/CricktyDickty 5h ago
You’re literally describing what I’m saying. You don’t have a clue what the guy next to you is doing other than whatever glossy presentation they’re showing you. Yeah, it’s brutal out there. You’re competing against all the 20 something year olds around the world. But there no magic and success is what you define it as.
There’s a whole generation that grew up being told that they can be whatever they want 🦄. That’s hogwash. I used to tell my kids that the US has only one president at a time so it’s very unlikely they’ll be presidents. They’re both doctors now. Modulate your expectations.
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u/Daratirek 5h ago
Dude I was on like my 5th minimum wage, or close to it, job by the time I turned 20. Just go find a decent job, or go to trade school. You have decades to figure out something. I am now pushing 40 and am switching careers after 15 years doing the same thing. Just do something that makes money and don't worry about what some fake social media profiles are doing. You'll figure it out.
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u/Careful-Bet8065 5h ago
Thanks boss, I’ve had a couple and loved one, hated the other. Good luck with your new career!
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