Success Advice
10 Reasons Why Entrepreneurs Should Never Enroll In College
The big debate in the entrepreneur community at the moment is whether or not college is needed for a successful business or career.
Journalist, Jason Smith, studies the reasons why entrepreneurs should never step foot into college, what are your opinions? Leave a comment and have your say.
The 10 Reasons Why College Is Not Meant For Entrepreneurs
1. You Will Be More In Debt
2. Social value
You can get the same social value by joining a club or an association to learn the essential values of teamwork without the college expenditure. You can also use social networking to reach out to people all over the world.
3. Restrictions on being more innovative
Do you ever hear the likes of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg ever tout their college degrees as the secret formula to their success. Of course, not, that’s because they didn’t earn college degrees. They earned money instead, it comes in much more handy.
The best way to get a college degree is to get an honorary one after you make a fortune and a name for yourself, then an institution can honor you.
4. Still unemployed after college
In most developed countries around the world, half the college graduates can’t even land jobs when they complete their degrees. The students who drop out after figuring out that they don’t fit well within the framework of the institution are not refunded any funds. They have wasted their money and time with nothing to show for it.
Skipping college and starting your own enterprise will be a valuable experience that will put you head and shoulders above your college peers.
5. The use of backwards and traditional methods
6. Less hands on experience
You can gain expertise through launching your own enterprise. Doing something you are passionate about will be more likely to bring success.
As an entrepreneur, you set your own curriculum based on your passions and interest in life. You then develop a strategic plan to monetize your passion, you can learn the skills you require, follow the blueprint of many entrepreneurs who have succeeded without a college degree. An experienced mentor can steer you down the right path, most college professors haven’t experienced real success outside the classroom, that’s probably why they teach.
7. Rigid learning
However, entrepreneurs need to think differently, outside the box of conventional wisdom.
8. Less individualism
College tries to paint you in a box to accommodate society. You are expected to simply follow along like millions of others without thinking for yourself. The structure of college prepares you for a life of simply following rules dictated by others. Human beings are supposed to be free people with their own ideas.
As an entrepreneur, you can strive to create your own rules, not government mandated teaching or outdated institutional learning methods.
9. Smaller accomplishments towards your future
College only teaches you how to pass exams. As an entrepreneur, if you can create a product or service to market, that’s a real accomplishment that is worthy, most college graduates may never aspire to it.
10. Less risk-taking
College doesn’t teach the importance of risk, instead they promote security and a safe career. Entrepreneurs must take risks to determine their own path in the world. Entrepreneurs embrace the challenge of calculated risk in order to succeed.
Article By: Jason Smith | Addicted2Success.com
“I should write a book,” is something that every single person says to themselves at one point or another. Then, on the occasion that a family member, friend or mentee echo’s the statement, we decide to commit and dive into the process of translating our powerful story into the pages of a book. But here’s the thing, although “Just write” is a widely shared piece of advice for those bold enough to take action to go from idea to finished book, that advice will leave your book collecting dust on virtual shelves and not generating the revenue you envision for your message. (more…)
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Having a scarcity mindset means fearing you’ll lose your source of income, shying away from taking risks, and believing there’s a set amount of success in the world. Its counterpart, an abundance mindset, believes that there’s opportunity for growth, risks are worth taking, and when we win, we all win together. To succeed in business, you need to adopt an abundance mindset. But how do you change your perspective?
Here are 6 ways you can change your perspective immediately:
1. Decide You Want to Change
The first step in changing your scarcity mindset is to acknowledge who you are and decide that you want to change. I compare it to the time twenty years ago when I decided to quit smoking.
Smoking is clearly stupid, but back then it was widely accepted. Still, that’s not an excuse. The first thing I did was admit that I was addicted. The second step was making the commitment to quit. I had to decide that I didn’t want anything to have control over me anymore.
Those who want to change their scarcity mindset have to do the same thing. You may have to break your goals down into doable chunks, but you also have to keep your oars in the water. You have to keep rowing, put your back into it, and look for better opportunities.
One of the hardest challenges will be changing how you view the ideas of others. You can’t think of those ideas as a threat, or the people as a threat. Don’t worry so much about personal success as you do about the success of the group. Remember the adage: there are three ways to do things—my way, your way, and a better way.
This notion of abundance goes beyond wealth. That’s part of it, of course, but embracing the idea of abundance means you want to experience more. You want to help more people. You want to have a greater impact on your family and your community. You have to acknowledge that you’re tired of worrying about your car breaking down and reassure yourself that if it does break down, you’ll find a way to fix it or get a new one. If you decide to buy a new car, donate your old one to the humane society so they can help animals. That’s abundance.
“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” – Jim Rohn
2. Stay on Your Path
If you’re an entrepreneur starting a business, you probably already have an abundance mindset. That’s excellent. But you still need to keep working on your idea, regardless of the failures or setbacks you encounter. Just because you’re optimistic about your future doesn’t mean you don’t have to work hard and swim against the tide from time to time.
3. Talk about the Obstacles You’ll Face
Having an abundance mindset doesn’t mean you blithely glide over every hurdle. You won’t. Instead, you have to anticipate potential problems and start plotting how you’ll get past them. If you’re confident and optimistic, the answers come more quickly and in greater numbers, thus improving your chances of success. You can’t assume your business idea is going to be a mega-hit right from the start, and that you’ll make tons of money. That might happen, but chances are you’ll have to work long and hard hours first.
4. Develop Good Habits
It’s vital that you set strong goals and adopt the habits that will help you reach those goals. Networking is key to learning and to building contacts and community. It’s not just about the help you can receive, but the help you can give. Find ways to appreciate the uniqueness of others, whether you’re working with them or having a cocktail at the local pub.
“I have learned that champions aren’t just born; champions can be made when they embrace and commit to life-changing positive habits.” – Lewis Howes
5. Address One Problem at a Time
Starting a new business is often daunting. You may have a dream of what you want to accomplish, but the task in front of you seems overwhelming. Where do you start?
I like the approach Desmond Tutu once advocated. He said “There is only one way to eat an elephant, [and that’s] one bite at a time.” What this means is that the bigger the endeavor, the more crucial it is that you break up the challenge into smaller pieces. The problems seem less intimidating and more doable when you look at them in smaller, discrete portions.
It’s not unusual for people to freeze up or get discouraged when faced with a big, hairy task, so in addition to the wisdom of Desmond Tutu, it also helps to keep in mind this observation by Mark Twain: “The secret to getting ahead is getting started.” It’s much easier to make progress in your big goal when you chip away at the challenges.
6. Don’t Kick the Can
It may be tempting to put off work on a particularly gnarly problem or to delay a decision on something until you have more information, but be forewarned: you can only kick the can down the road so many times before it becomes the size of a fifty-gallon drum. When that happens, procrastination is no longer an option.
Instead, just make a decision. Whether it’s the right decision or the wrong one, at least you did something. If it turns out to be the wrong decision, at least now you know what not to do, and you’re halfway there. You’ll learn and you’ll be able to adjust. You miss those opportunities when you put off making a move.
Once you have an abundance mindset, the possibilities open to you will seem endless.
How have you developed an abundance mindset in life? Share your thoughts and ideas below!
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Rs
Jan 8, 2014 at 7:54 pm
Its a simple narrative to point to the gates and Zuckerbergs of the world who did not need a university education to make their mark. However I would argue and the data supports the fact that the majority of successful tech entrepreneurs graduated with multiple degrees from a rigourous engineering, science or computing program (google, ebay founders as an example).
Jeanne Yocum
Dec 20, 2013 at 4:45 pm
It’s pretty clear that you haven’t set foot on any of the campuses of community colleges across the nation that are involved in entrepreneurship education. If you had, you would know that they are using experiential learning, including student business incubators, on-campus businesses run by students, business plan competitions and many other methods to help students learn the intricacies of being an entrepreneur – from opportunity identification, funding, team building, etc. Some even have what are essentially VC funds to help get businesses off the ground. All of this comes at a price that does not leave people in debt up to their eyeballs. I know this because I edit the journal of the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE). I can give you example after example after example of students who have benefitted greatly and are already well on their way to success thanks to the education and support they received from their community college.
Passive Income Riches
Jul 10, 2013 at 1:22 am
This is quite an interesting articles for a few reasons.
The way I view it is that the overall level of education has increased globally.
Graduating from a college or university in this era is like graduating from high school say 50-60 years ago. Getting a Masters or PHD now is like getting a college/university degree 50-60 years ago.
I still think that there’s some value in education, but ultimately it’s how you make of that experience. Was it really a waste to go to college? Did you really learned and gained nothing out of it? Sometimes I think that it’s certain life experience that gives you the perspective of what you want or don’t want in life. It gives you a sense of realization. Perhaps you needed the journey to make some decisions to get to where you are today.
So, should you go to college or university or not? That’s a question that you have to ask and answer yourself.
Stephen
Jul 9, 2013 at 10:23 pm
Very good and relevant. I hope your message reaches more people.
Susan Eckley Ruch
Jul 5, 2013 at 4:57 pm
My Take: I do believe we need to go through our first 12 years of school. (K thru 12th grade)
We do need to learn to read, write, math and socialization skills. I did go to college straight out of high school in 1978. I am 53 years old. So, I can say this. I got my BA degree and when I graduated after 4 years and now to think about it I paid for so many stupid classes that had nothing to do with what I wanted to be, do or have. I had an English degree, minors in Political Science and Law. Now, what do you with an English degree? I went to work for a restaurant chain (i.e. Burger King as a Manager) I was working for someone else making their dreams come true, not mine. After getting sick and tired of working for corporate America in 1999 I decided to start my own businesses. In school and in college they never taught us “Leverage”
Over our lives we change our careers as many as 20 times because we are searching for what we really wanted to do. Even at 36 years old went back to college to increase my skills in business and accounting. I thought about this the other day. How much did I remember from college? Not much that had nothing to do with what I am doing now. I still found myself trading hours for dollars. We find ourselves going in a circle and end up in the same place we started. Also, when you own a business, the business owns you. In the past year someone showed me a different way to make $$ and realize my dreams. I believe we need to teach our kids a different way of making a life, not make a living. We need to teach them leverage. We all have all types of insurances (Life, car, house, rent, medical, pet) But there is no such thing as “Income Insurance” It took me a half a century to figure it out. I finally found something that pays me what I am worth and pays me for my hard work. College did not teach me this.
Want to know more, Ask Me How!
Anya
Jul 6, 2013 at 12:34 am
I’m intrigued by your story, can you explain further please?
Passive Income Riches
Jul 10, 2013 at 1:26 am
Hi Susan. Totally get what you are saying. However, I also think that sometimes it’s those life experience that gives you the perspective of what you want or don’t want in life. It gives you a sense of realization. It helps you to realise what you want or don’t want to do. Perhaps that’s the journey that everyone has to go through in order to find a sense of purpose or meaning in life. Thank you for sharing your story.
Michael Berry
Jul 5, 2013 at 12:35 pm
Win or lose = growth = win
Kevin Martin
Jul 4, 2013 at 4:45 am
The way I see it, if you want to take on a job title that society is already familiar with, then go to school. If you want to be an entrepreneur and forge your own path, then go out in the world and experiment because experimenting is how people usually attain unfathomable success.
MANGALISO NKUNIKA
Apr 18, 2013 at 1:19 pm
This is right and wrong at the same time.do you go to college to train your insticts or your social life?
jonathan
Jan 30, 2013 at 4:29 am
Some of the sentence structure in this article makes me think the author could have benefited from some college-level english instruction.
Nope
Jan 22, 2013 at 10:27 pm
This is a completely bs article. The author assumes that Bill Gates and Co are some sort of norm. Let me assure you, they are far far far exceptions. People who drop out or do not go to college do not do well. Sure, some might end up more creative for it, and even do something awesome, but to assume this is normal is idiotic at best.
Entrepreneurs need to be able to think creatively and harness their creativity into real world products. There are plenty of institutions that understand and foster this. Maybe the author went to a state school and learned a trade but to generalize college as such is ridiculous.
A final point, companies like Vemma are not bringing in “entrepreneurs” as they try and promote. Selling somebody else’s product is not and never will be entrepreneurship. It is a sales job like every single other one, you are rewarded based on how much product you sell. Bringing people in to sell under you (while almost a pyramid scheme) is also not entrepreneurship. Just like a COO of a big company does not claim to run his own company when he hires a new employee or starts a new division. Reps for these LLM companies do not realize that nobody cares if they make a bunch of money, its the fact that they try and manipulate their friends and family into working for them that is annoying as hell.
but ya dumb article.
TJ
Jan 4, 2013 at 5:43 pm
I completely agree with this post. Everything I’ve ever tried in college never worked for me because It was never meant for me. Feels good to be an entrepreneur
Simon Ipinge
Dec 28, 2012 at 5:55 am
Maybe in a Developed economy, one does not need education. But in a third world country..if you don’t get education or get to rub shoulders with fellow University students, who will soon be in positions of power then your chances are pretty much doomed before you even begin. In the third world you are not born speaking the language of English..you have to learn it, and of course business is done in that language.
WASEEM TAHIR YOUGOVI (@WTY_D)
Apr 7, 2013 at 11:03 am
agreed
Ron
Dec 28, 2012 at 5:49 am
I’m not a college graduate, I knew nothing about starting a business. My number one rule is, talk to other business people who have been there and done that. You can always tell the real successful from the ones who are not. Truly successful people will tell you everything you need to know and not fear the competition.
Lucas Williamson
Dec 28, 2012 at 5:37 am
As an entrepreneur currently running a small business while preparing the launch of a second brand/venture im the same wrestling market (scholastic) an going to school full time.. I completely agree with every point. But still i am still trying to juggle both running a start up and going to school. My parents, mother mostly has been biggest influence to continue with school. As for me i see benefit in both because I am working on my BSD in industrial design and im currently designing and preparing to launch these wrestling products into the market. Where s the line you ask? Well i would say once it hits the level of profitability that i can manage all those school loan bills. Then again I ask myself how much of school i can continue to put up with knowing what I have learned from getting to where im at.
AG
Dec 16, 2012 at 8:27 pm
I don’t believe that all career paths need a piece of paper. For the people that said you need to go to school to figure it out. Well I will give another point of view. Almost every single person that I went to HS with that attended a 4 year college is now in a dead end job. With the exception of one lawyer, a couple teachers, and a few in the medical profession. Those of us that skipped the wasted time of a 4 year degree are self employed. Most of us in art & music. The others in construction. While a degree will in fact get you a job its not necessarily a good one.
Jeannette Williams
Dec 16, 2012 at 10:00 pm
Maybe not, but there is nothing wrong with an educated society. A piece of paper won’t promise you a job, but it will give you a sense of pride about yourself and that’s priceless!!!!
RetroGrade (@HarjiSingh)
Jun 5, 2013 at 11:36 pm
LOL i hope your pride pays your bills