As a millennial myself, I was taught as a child to study hard, achieve good grades, attend university, get a degree, then a great job, and all else in life follows with that plan. Sounds like a good plan, but upon reflection, it really just seems not wrong, but very restricting — and I think that the most of us in this Y generation have been taught the same. We’ve been brainwashed.

As I browse through my social media news feeds, there are seemingly less and less young people doing things for themselves; less entrepreneurs and startups than I would have thought. Most people are studying, or travelling, or working jobs.

To put things into perspective, here are just some of the insanely successful entrepreneurs that were university drop-outs:

• Bill Gates, dropped out of Harvard to focus on Microsoft.
• Mark Zuckerberg, dropped out of Harvard to focus on Facebook.
• Steve Jobs, dropped out of Reed College. Three years later, Apple was born.
• Matt Mullenweg, dropped out of the University of Houston to start WordPress.

It may be the most popular form of adulthood transition, but university (or other institutions) isn’t the only path to success. Millennials need to stop thinking of a career as jobs and start thinking of a career as projects or businesses. This is where web hosting comes in.

What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is the platform to launch an idea into the world, and frankly, without it, many of the revolutionary startups that have changed the way we live and interact wouldn’t exist. If you’d like a simple explanation on what web hosting is, check out our articles, “How to Explain Web Hosting to Your Grandparents”, or “Darth Vader’s Guide to Web Hosting”.

Why Millennials Need Web Hosting

Almost everything is online these days. Think of anything, Google it and it’s probably there (well, I just Googled “purple elephant on a flying monkey” and nothing as interesting came up, but you get what I mean). This means that whatever your endeavour, it needs to be online in some way, shape, or form.

Here are the ways that you need to be online:

Start a business

Startups made up almost 96% of the Australian business scene in 2009 (according to the ABS), and has been growing ever since — around 1 percent per year for the past few years (ABS).

It all starts with an idea. If you have an idea, you can get it out there. Don’t sit in a job for a few years, satisfied with the fact that you actually thought of the idea. Get that idea out into the world and see what people think of it — it may be good, may be bad, or may be ugly, but it also may be life-changing. Whether it’s a mobile app for disabled people or a nursing home on a boat, you need a website.

Now, to “start up a business” sounds like a hefty responsibility, and it sort of is, but don’t get yourself down thinking that it’s too big of a job to do. If you think about it as replacing that extra half hour a day in which you play video games or watch fails on YouTube, with running an eCommerce website, it most probably won’t seem like you’re doing so much work.

Idea: Think about that side of the closet you don’t wear anymore for the dignity of fashion. Maybe you just have a heap of stuff at home — like jewellery, video games, or used items — that you want to get rid of, or have a desire to craft and sell your own products like accessories, figurines, or furniture. You don’t need to sit on eBay all day inputting sale items, then paying eBay for selling it for you. You can do it yourself, and reap all the benefits!

Web hosting gets a business online, and that’s a crucial step in the startup process. Having a business without web hosting is like winking at a girl in the dark, you know what you’re doing, but no one else does (to paraphrase S. H. Britt’s quote).

Create a personal profile/resume

Through the user-friendly WordPress, you can create an online resume or profile the way you want it — the way you dream it. Customise your website for whatever theme you want. Using WordPress is great for those with little technical experience and part-timers with multiple skills and expertises. Be creative, and prove your skills on your own website: whether you’re a babysitter or run a pet care service, or an office assistant or receptionist, or just a hairdresser.

Web hosting would also be perfect for professional freelancers — artists, designers, etc. For example, a web designer/developer can showcase his/her skills on their own website, as well as include a portfolio of websites they’ve created. A graphic designer or photographer can also showcase their works while advertising him/herself.

Maybe your skill is for hire, as a tutor, language or music/instrument teacher, musician, DJ, or personal trainer. Basically, whichever skills you possess, you need to express them online. For more information about getting started online, read this article.

Start a blog

Always wanted to write a blog, but never really got around to it? Sure, it’s a little time-consuming, and social media does most of our life-sharing these days, but if you’re serious about starting a blog and getting your ideas and experiences out there, you need web hosting.

One which sets itself apart from the previous ideas is the use of web hosting to create a blog or community site. Design it your own way, and go. You don’t even have to enjoy writing, you just have to enjoy something to blog about it — it could be cooking, gardening, sports, etc. As an example, you could write reviews on things such as video games, movies, or music. You can blog anything, at any time, any way you like.

Being passionate about something is one thing, but being dedicated to it is the next level. Creating a community site for a certain topic, catered to its fandom, is another useful idea that a student could use web hosting for. You may just enjoy making a fansite for everyone to view and update it with different types of content, or you may wish to develop a forum for fans to discuss various subjects. OR you could combine both of these ideas to create a wiki-like website for that topic, that’ll allow people to contribute and collaborate on (if there isn’t one already).