Just wondering if anyone here has considered or is planning to offset the cost of med school through a small business venture. I didn't get a very good financial aid package from the school I'll be attending and I've been racking my brain to come up alternative funding sources. It seems like plenty of people have been able to do things like this. The million dollar homepage comes to mind. The kid who did that isn't a genius -- he just had one brilliant idea.

Does anyone else spend 90% of their free time trying to come up with a feasible business plan that could be pursued part-time in school? I have so many ideas, but after my informal SWOT analyses, I always rule them out.

Just wondering if anyone here has considered or is planning to offset the cost of med school through a small business venture. I didn't get a very good financial aid package from the school I'll be attending and I've been racking my brain to come up alternative funding sources. It seems like plenty of people have been able to do things like this. The million dollar homepage comes to mind. The kid who did that isn't a genius -- he just had one brilliant idea.

Does anyone else spend 90% of their free time trying to come up with a feasible business plan that could be pursued part-time in school? I have so many ideas, but after my informal SWOT analyses, I always rule them out.

Once you have a lucrative small business venture and are self employed what exactly is your need for the MBA? It tends to be a most useful degree in terms of getting ahead in a company (particularly in management, marketing or finance in corporate america/financial services/banking, or in terms of management consulting), but of significantly less value if you are already a successful entrepreneur or plan to be self employed. I have known a number of "serial entrepreneurs" who got MBAs, but they transitioned into the banking world.

Law2doc -- thanks for your reply. I really wasn't talking about pursuing an MBA in the post. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. By pursuing a business plan, I didn't mean one that I wanted to grow into a long-term successful business, but a quick and dirty money maker. Perhaps this is the wrong forum for this discussion since it is predominantly for questions pertaining to MD/MBAs. I was just wondering if anyone else thought about starting a small, part-time business during med school -- before an MBA -- to earn extra money. Things like starting some sort of website, selling t-shirts, etc.... These are all generic examples, but I think illustrate the sort of low seed capital endeavors that I am thinking of.

Although I've mentioned it before, I'll mention it again: the million dollar homepage is a prime example of what is possible using creativity and buzz marketing. The business cycle is short -- the desired profit came in only a few months. Something like that would be perfect for a med student. That is the sort of venture I was talking about. Also -- things like free med student papers, etc... are the types of small businesses that can be run on the side.

Just wondering if anyone else has an itch to explore such opportunities. If one can earn only $10,000 profit a year (less than $1000/month, that would be $40,000 knocked off of loan payments (before any interest accrues) -- quite a material sum.