Some of the readers of this book are young, pre-college age. If you’re at a stage when you’re in college or contemplating whether to go to college, this chapter is for you. All other readers can skip this chapter if you choose.
I first want to make it clear that this chapter is not intended to talk you either into or out of going to college. The short answer to the question “College or not?” is that when in doubt, you should probably go to college. With that said, the purpose of this chapter is to create clarity around the reasons an entrepreneur-in-the-making should go to college. Here’s the data, and you decide for yourself what’s best for you.
For the last twenty years, I’ve asked every successful entrepreneur who has a college degree the following question: “As an entrepreneur, do you use anything you learned from your degree?” The answer is no almost 100 percent of the time. This includes many MBAs. These answers shocked me initially, until I decided to probe deeper.
THE FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS
To be completely honest, when I first decided to write this book (based on the answer to the above question), I really thought I was going to be writing a chapter advocating that if you want to be an entrepreneur, you shouldn’t go to college. However, since then I’ve come to a quite different realization. Because, for the last year, I’ve added two follow-up questions to my first one.
The first follow-up question is: What did you get out of college that helped you become a better entrepreneur?
The second: Would you go back to college if you knew everything you knew today, and if so, what classes would you take?
The responses to these follow-up questions were very telling and, frankly, changed my thinking.
The answers to the first follow-up question mostly described the value of the social benefits, relationships, and connections that entrepreneurs developed in college, which later served them well. Many also said college gave them an opportunity to be entrepreneurial by starting businesses and selling things to fellow students.
As for the second follow-up question, in almost every case, entrepreneurs said they’d definitely go to college again if they had to do it over. However, they said the types of classes they would take would be different.
Here’s a list of classes those entrepreneurs would recommend to help you become a better entrepreneur:
•entrepreneurship
•psychology
•economics
•finance and accounting
•philosophy
•emotional intelligence
•sales
•negotiation
•leadership
•management
•marketing
•communications
•storytelling
•improvisation/drama
•debate
•public speaking
•technical writing
•computer programming (coding)
•organizational development/behavior
•creative writing
•business law
Based on the answers to the above questions, it probably makes sense for most entrepreneurs-in-the-making to go to college. If you do, however, go in with your eyes wide open, knowing how a college education and the college experience will actually help you as an entrepreneur. Know why you’re going and don’t just follow the herd.
People are often surprised when they learn I never went to college. I knew very early it wasn’t for me. I graduated high school with a solid 2.3 GPA, and I couldn’t wait to get out of academia. It was a decision I’ve never regretted. I simply wanted to get to work and make money. I had very specific income goals for the next ten years and, incidentally, hit them all. While not going to college was my choice, it did make my path harder. Some people looked down on me and made the road tougher.
If you make the same choice, you’ll be faced with the same headwinds. In our current society, you’re taking a gamble when you decide not to get a degree, as you’re limiting your options if you fail as an entrepreneur. I urged both my kids to go to college, which they did. Just like a pro athlete who doesn’t develop any other skills, options are limited if you don’t make it to the big leagues.
LIFE WITHOUT COLLEGE
While I didn’t go to college, I spent many weekends at the colleges my friends attended and received many of the social benefits.
Even though I wanted no more of the formal educational structure, I’ve always been a fanatic about learning. Every year for the last thirty years, I’ve typically spent 5 percent of my gross income on education. I’ve read and listened to hundreds of books, attended hundreds of hours of training, and spent a lot of time learning from peers and mentors. I’ve spent many hundreds of thousands of dollars on education. While I didn’t go to college, I’ve spent enough time and money to earn a college degree many times over.
I chose to get educated my way, the way I learn best. I have ADHD, OCD, and a touch of dyslexia. I’m a slow learner and a slow reader. I don’t memorize well. I would be doomed in a normal college program, just as I was in high school.
If you don’t go to college, you must still get educated your way, according to your interests. You can still get an education without college, sometimes a better one. Mark Twain made a remark that fits well here: “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”
The real world is a great teacher.
Entrepreneurs-in-the-making with the six essential traits learn in a variety of ways. Choose the system that’s best for you.
Kazim Ladimeji’s Recruiter.com article “5 Surprising Signs You Might Be an Entrepreneur in the Making” lists the five signs as follows:
1.You dropped out of university.
2.You never attended university in the first place.
3.You just don’t fit the school system.
4.You hate authority and the way things are.
5.You think your current employer’s strategies suck.
In an enlightening Entrepreneur.com blog post, “Richard Branson on Why Entrepreneurs Sometimes Struggle with Formal Education,” Branson, founder of the Virgin empire, who dropped out of high school, states:
Many students want to know how I was able to start my own career while I was a young student, struggling with my schoolwork, and how I eventually got people to take me seriously as an entrepreneur.
Often, their frustration in the classroom was a result of impatience. The greats were eager to get out and build their businesses, which pushed them to drop out of high school or forego college, in order to follow their dreams . . . One thing that entrepreneurs have in common is a talent for seeing things differently. This allows them to identify important gaps in markets, or the need for new sectors to serve specific customer demands.
But this ability often leads budding entrepreneurs to rebel against the conformity that is common in traditional education . . . My curiosity often got me into trouble with teachers . . . I had dyslexia. When I was a young student, this learning disability was poorly researched and was often mistaken for laziness or a poor ability to learn . . . But my learning disability has never been a setback—it actually gave me a great advantage in business since I have been able to bring a different perspective to problems and challenges, which often enables me to see solutions more clearly.
So in many ways, my education has been my career. For almost 50 years, Virgin’s varied collection of businesses and nonprofits means that I have studied and come to understand many sectors. Aviation, banking, media, hospitality, and the fitness industry, to name a few. In the end, solutions to big problems such as these won’t come from doing school reports, but by getting out there, asking questions, seeing things differently, and finding the answers ourselves.
In a Forbes article titled “Make Way for Generation Z Entrepreneurs Saying No to College,” Kaytie Zimmerman writes: “Generation Z have watched millennials rack up hundreds of thousands in student loan debt, all for a four-year degree that has earned them meager entry-level wages. This sobering reality has led many of them to take a serious look at the value of a college degree.”
Young entrepreneurs often have the seed planted in them long before they’re deciding if they should pursue higher education or start a business. According to a Gallup student poll, 40 percent of students grades five to twelve plan to start their own businesses, while 24 percent are already learning how to start and run a business.
If you choose not to go to college, you’re in good company. Here are some other entrepreneurs you might recognize who don’t have degrees either:
•Bill Gates, principal founder of Microsoft: dropped out of Harvard
•Evan Williams, cofounder of Twitter: spent a year and a half at the University of Nebraska
•Jan Koum, founder of WhatsApp: dropped out of college
•Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin empire: dropped out of high school
•Russell Simmons, founder of Def Jam: dropped out of college
•Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers: dropped out of college
•Stacy Ferreira, founder of MySocialCloud: dropped out of college
•Ralph Lauren, founder of the Ralph Lauren Corporation: dropped out of college
•John Mackey, founder of Whole Foods: dropped out of college
•Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple: dropped out of college
•Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s: dropped out of high school
•David Green, cofounder of Hobby Lobby with a $7.2 billion net worth: never went to college
•Larry Ellison: cofounder of Oracle Corporation: dropped out of college
•Rachael Ray, celebrity chef and talk show host: dropped out of college
•Anne F. Beiler, founder of Auntie Anne’s pretzels: dropped out of high school
•Debbi Fields, creator of Mrs. Fields Original Cookies: attended two years at a community college
•Joyce Hall, founder of Hallmark Cards: never went to college
•Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics: never went to college
•Ray Kroc, instrumental in the building of McDonald’s: dropped out of high school
•Sean John Combs, recording artist and entertainer: dropped out of college
•Walt Disney, cofounder of Disney: dropped out of high school
Along these lines, billionaire Peter Thiel, who cofounded PayPal and is a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, founded the Thiel Fellowship, an organization that “gives $100,000 to young people who want to build new things instead of sitting in a classroom.” His fellowship pays entrepreneurs-in-the-making not to go to college and to get a head start on taking their leap.
Again, don’t think that this chapter is biased or anti-college. Most school-age people reading this book should probably go to college. And they will receive tremendous benefits as an entrepreneur-in-the-making.
In fairness, here’s a list of successful entrepreneurs who have a college degree. If you choose to go to college, you’re also in good company.
•Andrew Mason, founder of Groupon
•Bob Parsons, founder of GoDaddy
•Chad Hurley, cofounder of YouTube
•Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist
•David Packard, cofounder of Hewlett-Packard
•Fred Smith, founder of FedEx
•Gordon Moore, cofounder of Intel
•Herb Kelleher, cofounder of Southwest Airlines
•Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon
•Jerry Yang, cofounder of Yahoo!
•John Schnatter, founder of Papa John’s
•John W. Marriott, founder of Marriott Corporation
•Larry Page, cofounder of Google
•Mark Cuban, cofounder of Broadcast.com
•Martha Stewart, founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
•Oprah Winfrey, founder of Harpo Inc.
•Phil Knight, cofounder of Nike
•Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay
•Ralph J. Roberts, cofounder of Comcast Communications
•Reed Hastings, cofounder of Netflix
•Sam Walton, founder of Walmart
•Sergey Brin, cofounder of Google
•Vera Wang, founder of Vera Wang
One last statistic that you might find interesting is a 2017 CNBC/Survey Monkey Small Business Survey. It showed that most small-business owners in the United States don’t have a college degree, while 44 percent of small-business owners have a four-year degree or higher.
SUMMARY
You must decide the right educational path for you, as an entrepreneur-in-the-making. Remember: when in doubt, you’re probably better off going to college.
Before we move on, please take a few minutes and jot down your thoughts on this chapter. What’s the right path for you?
What action can you take in the next seven days to help you make the best decision regarding the right path for you?
WORKSHEET
What action can you take in the next seven days to help you make the best decision regarding the right path for you?
You can download all worksheets and tools at e-leap.com.