I think I can speak with a certain amount of confidence in saying that there aren't many individuals in their early 20s who have a track record, successful or otherwise, with launching businesses. As founder of The Omyx Club, the new lifestyle club for discerning gay men, I am very familiar with the challenges and advantages of being a young entrepreneur, and below I share my insight and practical advice:

Be Realistic with Costs

There are some businesses that turnover revenue from day one and haven't required any funding to get them off the ground, they start small and grow significantly overnight. These viral success stories are hard to find. The truth of the matter is that most start-ups you see out there today have been working hard for months or even years, to prepare for launch, with the financial backing of seed investors, crowdfunding or even considerable personal savings. So, if you're serious about launching a business, at any age, whether it's your first business or your seventh, look at how much you'll need to support the business.

It's all very well considering production or development costs but it's just as important to factor in legal and accountancy fees, employers tax on salaries and a pot of money called ‘other' for those unexpected bills - and trust me there are several of those! All the little things add up considerably, so do your homework and make sure you know the real cost of setting up your business. Once you've worked this out then it's time to find a source of investment.

Convincing Investors

The next point seems rather obvious, but targeting investors who are likely to have a personal interest in your venture usually yields a higher success rate. Simply put, it's a lot easier to sell a product to someone who wants to buy it. With The Omyx Club, seven of our eight investors are gay men who want to use The Omyx Club's product and services. Our investors all understand the market and agree that there's a clear gap that needs to be filled. They get the market, they get the gap, they get the product and they got it within the first 30 seconds of my pitch to each of them. As it stands, we pitched to nine individuals and eight of them said yes. Our investors all feel that what we are doing is going to lead the way for a new and better standard of socialising, networking, dating, travel and many other things, for a more discerning gay man. And they're right, it will. There's nothing on the market like The Omyx Club.

Developing the Business

Now you've got the investment, you need to begin developing the products or services as quickly as possible, but don't rush it. There's a pretty fine balance between calculating when development funds are going to run out and how long it will realistically take you to develop the business to the point at which it's ready for launch. However, do factor in some breathing space and be prepared to miss deadlines as with a first business, it is easy to be optimistic and underestimate the time that goes into each stage.

Understanding Your Consumer
The final thing to consider is your marketing and launch strategy. We live in a highly marketing saturated world where you can't look anywhere without seeing an advertising campaign. The most important thing is to have an in-depth understanding of your target market, what they read, which websites they visit, which social networking influencers they follow and so on and so forth. Knowing this will help you to know where to target your marketing campaigns. Marketing costs money, lots of it. There are dozens of marketing channels so knowing which ones you go for is important. Whether you plan to heavily market your advert offline in print media, in the London Underground or online through search engines, social media, email marketing or many others -ensure you have a strategy!

When you're able to launch, you should probably be feeling rather apprehensive. Of course, there is so much more to consider and I can wholeheartedly relate to this as someone setting up a business at a young age. However, believing in yourself and putting in the groundwork will give you the best chance of success.