Katie Witkin

Co-founder and COO of AGW Group

At age 25, Witkin started her agency, AGW, a Brooklyn-based culture marketing and integrated communications agency. She was a college marketing representative for Sony Music Entertainment and worked in several social media roles before making her entrepreneurial leap.

Her recommendations before working full-time on your own venture:

Speak to as many entrepreneurs as possible, both seasoned and new. Others have gone down the new venture road before you. They’ve been there, they’ve done it, they understand what you’re about to take on and they can offer powerful advice.

Talk to your family and friends. These are the people you’ll need to turn to during the good and bad times. This support is paramount to getting through rough days.

Confirm that you’re willing to sacrifice a lot — financially, personally, socially — in the pursuit of success. It takes a lot of courage to make your ideas and dreams a reality.

Don’t go it alone. Align with a strong, trusted business partner who balances, challenges and motivates you.

Be prepared to be unprepared and admit what you don’t know.

Witkin also offers up these words of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs:

“Save and plan. Save what you believe you will need to reasonably live your life and plan for very little profit during those first formidable years. That’s not to say your business won’t have revenue, but ... appreciate that most, if not all, incoming cash should go directly back into growing your business . ... As a business owner, your company’s health is your first priority, your personal bank account is your last. When you put your all into your startup, you tend to see these realities as less of a sacrifice and more of a necessity.”