Avant Garde Ideals

Avant Garde Ideals based in Edinburgh, Scotland reviews the headlines “unemployment at an all time low” and more recently “Scottish uni students show degree of pessimism.” A report by the Higher Education Careers Service Unit found that around one in 12 graduates were unemployed six months after graduation.   Combine a challenging job market with youthful creative spirit and you get a crop of recent college graduates contemplating the entrepreneurial life. Paul Weston CEO of Avant Garde Ideals was in a similar position as a recent graduate himself. Graduating from Roehampton University with a BSc in Science of Sport and Exercise with Education he was eager to get his foot in the business world. But who would hire him? And after countless months of job interviews with no call-backs, Paul Weston entered an opportunity to start a business of his own in January 2010.  “Entrepreneurship allows us to become creative and can make us express our greatness as a person.  I do believe that all of us have an entrepreneurial spirit that once this is developed or enhanced we can achieve more.  Entrepreneurs are normal people but willing to do extraordinary things because they believe that they are born into greatness,” says CEO of Avant Garde Ideals, Paul Weston. John Maxwell, internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, and author states, “Entrepreneurs become the envy of others because oftentimes they do what others wanted to do and what others could have done but they won’t do.” Paul Weston, of Avant Garde Ideals discusses how his friends and family now all admire his new lifestyle after working to run his own business but how none of them are willing to put in the ground work that takes to achieve such a free lifestyle. Avant Garde Ideals CEO continues on to discuss with recent graduates that if they want to have more opportunities then they are able to create these opportunities themselves. Many graduates are already experimenting with self-employment while in college and university. According to the Youth Entrepreneurship Council and Buzz Marketing Group of more than 1000 college students and recent grads, more then 36% were side-preneurs, meaning they started businesses while getting their degrees and about 21% started a business after college because they couldn’t find a job. Avant Garde Ideals teaches graduates how to be successful in entrepreneurship. For recent grads the first step is changing your mentality and remembering that a professional career is a marathon, not a sprint.  For many people the thought of a new business or passion can cause a lot of excitement but with this excitement comes emotion. Emotion tends to get in the way of logic. To prevent this it is recommended to take time to prepare against the “negatives” or odds of success before you begin. Pre-empting everything is key, says Avant Garde Ideals CEO. Assess your opportunity, “are you wanting to have more power, fame, be rich, and have more free time?” Then you may not understand what it takes to be an entrepreneur. However, if you believe you can do everything better than anyone else and you have a business plan that can be duplicated (not dependent on your skills but a system), and you are willing to work long hours, wear many hats and balance responsibilities, you have the right mind-set to self-employment.     Despite the economy, a good idea is a good idea. More than half of the companies on the 2009 Fortune 500 list were launched during a recession or bear market, according to the Kauffman Foundation. "Mentally, there may not be a better time than starting right out of college because you haven't experienced the comfort yet of receiving an automatic paycheck every week," says Paul Weston, CEO of Avant Garde Ideals. "So many dream about their own business but fail to make the jump after starting employment with someone else ... start now, and you're way ahead of the game!" Weston opened his first business Avant Garde Ideals in June 2012 in Southampton and since then has franchised two other locations in Edinburgh and Newcastle. Many graduates may be alone on their journey to entrepreneurship but it doesn’t mean there isn’t help out there.  Avant Garde Ideals prides itself developing young entrepreneurs and already has had success with two recent graduates running the Southampton and Newcastle offices. Robin Parker, president of the National Union of Students (NUS) in Scotland, said: “Graduates in Scotland are understandably concerned about the difficult jobs market they are about to enter. Graduate unemployment represents a huge waste of talent, and far too many students still face an uncertain future as they wind up their studies.” Avant Garde Ideals aims to improve graduate unemployment by offering graduates an alternative route to employment.