Katie, Im in a late twenties and i have MBA. I am thinking of getting into business in next five years. I dont think i will be ready until for various reasons like personal, financial, maturity, business exposure, and time to research. I cant really suggest u wehter u need to have the business degree or certain age. U would just need to know that urself. U dont really need connections for that. U can start as a third tier consulting company, meaning u provide consultants to other consulting companies and they will place ur ppl with their clients with some commission. There are several other ways to market ur consultants as well. I mean u need to start it small and i have seen companies growing to 50 consultants withing couple years. So it really depends on ur team. U need to have a strong marketing team, Cunning HR and strong motivations. Consulting doesnt require huge investment either. Just time and motivations and may be 10,000k for registering ur business and renting an office to start with. U need to open ur company with some capital though. Need to show enough cahs to sponser h1s.