MBA1539 Do You Need A Degree To Be a Successful Entrepreneur?

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This is a very hot topic that I wanted to bring up on today's show. Recently I was on Ticker tv, a television program in Melbourne, Australia and when this topic came up and it was discussed, it generated a lot of buzz. A lot of people are a little bit indifferent about the idea of do I need to go to college? Do I need to have a university degree? Whether it's a bachelor's or a master's or an mba, whatever it is to actually succeed in business. Now you might think, of course you don't Omar, because you have the Hundred dollar MBA which is an alternative to business school. Well my answer might surprise you. University and degrees have their place. They can provide something to you and depending on your needs or what you're looking to attain or achieve in your life. They may or may not be useful. So we get into those details and how you can and cannot be successful without a college degree. Let's get into it. Let's get down to business. I can begin today's episode by naming all the famous entrepreneurs we all know that don't have a college degree. Whether it's Mark Zuckerberg or Walt Disney or Michael Dell or Steve Jobs or Steve Wozniak or Bill Gates or Ray Kroc or I can keep going, right? But that doesn't prove that having a college degree is a waste of money or that a college degree doesn't help you become an entrepreneur. First, let's recognize the fact that everybody on that list I just named and more ones I didn't listen to are exceptional entrepreneurs. They're exceptional people, whether they're very bright and talented, whether they have a lot of tenacity like Ray Kroc, or just are willing to work harder than everybody else. I'm not interested in edge cases or extraordinary people that do extraordinary things. I am interested in addressing this question with the fact that what about everybody else? Everybody who may not be a genius or have the special gifts of some of the people we talked about. Can they make it as an entrepreneur without a college degree? Well, let's talk about what a college degree gives you so that we can boil it down to say, do you need those things to be successful? Number one, a college degree will give you an education. They will teach you some things, you'll go to class and you'll learn. Now whether that information is up to date or not is a different matter. But you will learn, you will gain those skills. Number two, it's going to put you in an environment where you're going to meet other people. You go to college, whether it's online or offline, you are going to be networking with other people, other like minded people, other people that want to be successful just like you and often you know in the same field, whether it's computer science or business or whatever it is. So number one, you're going to get information. Number two, you're going to get exposed to people and you'll be able to build a network. And the third thing that college will give you is a piece of paper. They'll give you a certificate, they'll give you a diploma, something that tells other people, employers particularly, that hey, this person knows stuff or knows this area of expertise, whatever your degree is in. So it's almost like a permission slip or sort of like a coupon, like, hey, this paper proves that this person knows something in this area, whether that's true or not. But that's just how society. Whether that's true or not is a different matter. But that's how society views a degree. So those are the three things college will give you. Now can you achieve these three things outside of college without going to college? Information skills. Yep, you can learn that outside of college, whether that is in different programs, online learning courses, online books. Universities don't have a monopoly on the information. Right? You can get this information elsewhere. Network. Well, this is a little bit different because you know, you're not in a space like a actual campus. But hey, you still can go to conferences, you still can meet people online. You could be a, a person that really values relationships and kind of follows some of the advice we talked about in this podcast about how to make sure you build your network constantly. So this is doable outside of college. And the third thing is the piece of paper. Now this is a totally different thing because society has agreed that this piece of paper will allow you to get opportunities, whether it's jobs or an interview or whatever it is. This is the difference between the piece of paper. So do you need a piece of paper? That's the question here. So college is beneficial if you do need a piece of paper, that permission slip. But if you plan to be an entrepreneur, if your soul is, I gotta be a business builder. I want to be an entrepreneur all my life. I don't want to really pursue a career that requires me to have a degree. If that's you tried and true, then really going to college may not make the most financial sense. I'm not going to say it's going to hurt you, but it's a lot of time, often in your prime years, and a lot of money being spent on something you may not really need because you can achieve the things you want to achieve as an entrepreneur without it. Now, if you are not sure if you're like 50, 50, hey, I think I want to be an entrepreneur, but maybe I want to work for a little while. Maybe I want to start a business and then after that I want to go ahead and, you know, work somewhere at a corporation. A degree will help you get that job. That's just the reality of the situation. There are except exceptions to the rules, of course, in different careers. One of them is programming, development, engineering, technology. Many engineers don't have college degrees, but they're so highly skilled and so sought after that they can get a job easily. And there are certification programs Outside of the university structure that you can take in that kind of field, that can qualify you to get jobs. A lot of people say, hey, getting a university degree is sort of like a backup plan. You can always get a job if things don't work out. But that really doesn't help you answer that question of do you need a college degree to be a successful entrepreneur? Well, I don't think you need it. I do believe people that have college degrees can be successful. I do believe that people that don't can be successful as well. So it's a matter of how you want to spend your resources, your time and your money. I can't tell you for certain that everything that I learned in university I don't use at all in my day to day life as an entrepreneur. I'm sure there are some things that I've picked up that I've used, but if I'm going to be completely honest, I don't think there's enough of it that I would say would require me to have gone to college to be successful. So you also have to define what success means. What does success mean to you as an entrepreneur? Is success being able to pursue a hobby that you love and make a profit? Is success being able to replace your current income and your current job with your business? Is it a million dollar business? Is it a $10 million business? Is it a billion dollar business which a lot of people think that's the only meaning of success? No, you need to define what success is for you as an entrepreneur. And for most people, I think it should be being able to make a healthy living that allows you to be financially free doing something that you really feel passionate about, that you love. Really the reason why most people that are successful in entrepreneurship, the reason why they're entrepreneurs, is because they want freedom. They want the freedom to do what they love. They want the freedom of spending their time the way they want to spend it. The thing about doing what you love, it's not about, hey, you know, living your passion. It's about the fact that if you love what you do, you don't get tired of it. If you love it, you don't get sick of it. Love is, you know, endless. You know, I think it was Jerry Seinfeld who said that, you know, will has a limit, but love is limitless. So if you love something, you can do it forever and you can become great at it. But if you are just willing yourself to do something, your willpower will eventually wane and it will eventually run out and this is why having the ability to do what you love every day is such an amazing gift. And that's why most entrepreneurs do what they do. This is why they go through the struggles so they can continue to do what they love. Guys, I got more on today's topic. But before that, let me give love to today's sponsor. Hey Fidelity, Can I get a second opinion on stocks in the Fidelity app? With Fidelity it's easy to get an outside opinion from independent experts in a single score. And then when you're ready, trade US stocks and ETFs with no commissions. That's right. I am always right. Investing involves risk, including risk of loss, online US equity trades and ETFs and retail fidelity account sell order assessment fee not included some account types and securities excluded. Details@fidelity.com commissions Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC Member NYSE SIPC Gas Snacks Tolls this trip is draining my wallet.

Yeah, but we'll be with family.

You're in a good mood. What's your deal?

What's my deal? I saved at Metro with no activation fees and I got one line of 5G for just $25 per month. Kept the phone I love and a 5 year price guarantee on my top.

Tuxt and data detour to Metro. Get that more for your money feeling only at Metro by T Mobile just bring your number $30 first month and $25 after with autopay not available if with Metro or T Mobile in the past 180 days to wrap up today's lesson, I want to talk about two scenarios that having a college or university degree or going down that route is a great idea if you want to become an entrepreneur. Number one, you need structure. You are not an autodidact. You're not somebody who can just learn on their own, build their own curriculum, read books that need to be read. You need structure. You need somebody to tell you what to do and tell you what to read and tell you what to study and give you assignments. This is kind of like somebody who can't just go to the gym. They need to take a class, they need to have a personal trainer. If you're that kind of person and you know yourself, then going to university, having a college degree is going to help you learn the things you need to learn to be successful as an entrepreneur without worrying about building the structure. And for a lot of people it's a must. And I know people like this personally so I would highly recommend them going to university, getting a degree and learning what they need to learn in that Structured environment. Number two, you love your profession. You are a lawyer, you are a carpenter, you're whatever. But you are wanting to build something on the side, some side income, and that's totally fine. Having a little side business to supplement your income, to add to your savings, to plan for retirement. And you're not really somebody who wants to jump two feet forward right into entrepreneurship. You're happy in your career, you're happy in what you do, and you just want to get a degree to supplement and to help you advance in that career. And on the side, you'll learn about entrepreneurship and you'll build that business. I've met a lot of potential entrepreneurs in the last decade and I would say majority of them, I would say about 60 to 70% of people that I've meet that have said, hey, I want to start a business, they fit in this bucket. They actually don't really want to do this full time. What they really want is really just scratch that itch of entrepreneurship. They want to try it out, they want to have something on the side, but, but they actually like their career. Maybe they need a job change, need to work for a different company. Things are getting kind of, you know, stale. And that's totally fine because full time entrepreneurship is not for everybody. I actually think it's not for most. And in these cases, and I would say most cases, having a degree can really help you advance in your career. Now I went to university, right? I had to get, you know, a bachelor's and a master's because I was in education. I was a teacher and a teacher trainer. I had a department because before I started full time entrepreneurship, this was my first career. Now, I'd be lying to you if I said that these steps of getting these degrees were a waste of time. I would say it really helped me financially because I was able to get really high paying jobs that can help me get started in entrepreneurship. It gave me some income, some extra income to invest in the businesses I was starting. It gave me a little bit of buffer, a little bit of leeway to fail sometimes in some of the mistakes I made in my business. I, I would never be able to do that if I didn't have the positions and the jobs I had due to the fact that, you know, they require degrees. So let's just be real for a moment here and understand that this is the world we live in and for many people this is a viable option and it helps them, you know, kind of lighten the blow or the transition into full time entrepreneurship. They're part time for a long time. Hey, I side hustled for over a decade before I became a full time entrepreneur about a decade ago so this is really something to think about. Hey, do I really want to go, you know, two feet forward, two feet into the ring of entrepreneurship or should I just build something on the side, learn as I'm in my career, in my job and advance my career so I can make more money. You know, with a degree I can advance my career and make more money so that I can take that money and build businesses with on the side Guys, I hope today's episode was useful, that you found it insightful, that you found it helpful to you and your business and your career. If so, leave me an iTunes rating and review. I'd love to hear what you love about the show, what your favorite episode is or your biggest takeaway is. But before I go, I want to leave you with this. The best entrepreneurs, the best business builders have really good self awareness. They know their limitations, they know who they are, they know what they need. They and therefore they can make the right decisions to help them help themselves. So sometimes you just gotta be brutally honest with yourself and understand what you actually want and need in life. Thanks so much for listening. I'll check you in tomorrow's episode Q and A Wednesday. I'll see you then. Take care. Of. Gas, snacks, tolls. This trip is draining my wallet.

Yeah, but we'll be with family.

You're in a good mood. What's your deal?

What's my deal? I saved at Metro with no activation fees and I got one line of 5G for just $25 per month. Kept the phone I love and a 5 year price guarantee on my top.

Text and data detour to Metro. Get that more for your money feeling only at Metro by T Mobile. Just bring your number. $30 first month and $25 after with autopay not available. If with Metro or T Mobile in the past 180 days.