C.E.O.- College is Extremely Overrated
Michael Hamlett, Jr.
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Copyright 2011 Michael Hamlett, Jr.
Smashwords Edition
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Disclaimer
“Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”- Steve Jobs
This book is not for everyone. Some of the content in it may offend some people. It may enrage you; put it down, and maybe even burn it or delete it from your mobile device. It may even seem ridiculous or absurd to some. But this book is not for those people. This is for the people that dare to be different. This is for the people that are tired of the status quo and want to take control of their lives. This is for the people that ask questions, take challenges, and solve problems. This book is for entrepreneurs.
Table of Contents
C.E.O.- College is Extremely Overrated
C.E.O.- College is Extremely Overrated
Introduction
Dropping out of college was the best decision I made. It forced me to be creative, and adjust to what most people avoid their whole lives- reality. Would I recommend everyone drop out of college? Of course not! I also wouldn’t recommend everyone go to college either- which has been force fed to many people from the time they are until they begin taking their SATs. So why was dropping out of college the best decision I made? Because I learned a secret many people never learn, or learn the hard way. The secret is that in order to be successful in the real world, you need to do what most people avoid doing. You need to think. Like many teenagers, I had a problem. I had no money, worked a job that I hated, and realized college was not going to answer my problems, because tuition was one of the problems. After many days of brainstorming, I decided I would pursue a dream I had always had, which was to start my own business.
Now, this is not a fairy tale filled with giggles and unicorns. This isn’t an autobiography of how I did it, a get rich quick scheme if you follow my simple steps, or an unraveling of a secret only revealed to me so I can share with others. Most of the concepts shared have been stated in other books, and many more will be written about this topic afterwards. Using my experience, as a recent college dropout turned business owner, and your experience, and any other friends’ experiences, I want you to seriously consider all the real world decisions you are going to make concerning college and business.
There’s been the age old debate of whether entrepreneurs should attend college, or dive straight into their business. I’m personally for the latter. When I started my company, Don’t Feed The Animals Inc., I knew two things: I had no prior business experience, and I knew I wanted to create an iconic clothing brand. To get DFTA where it is today, I knew I had to do everything in my power to learn and acquire the necessary skills to create, run, and operate a business. It didn’t happen overnight, and I made countless mistakes that taught me many lessons. But one thing was certain, and that was that college played no part in my real world business education. I didn’t need college, and if you’re serious enough about your business, have confidence in yourself, and are willing to put it all the work necessary to create a successful business, you probably don’t need college either.
And if you don’t know, now you know
Let’s get one thing clear. Education is the key to advancing and becoming prosperous in any society. Proper education and understanding lead to knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is power. Without knowledge, and the prudence to use the knowledge gained through education, a person is rendered powerless, and the only decision to be made is to conform to the status quo. The status quo is never fun; no one wants to be mediocre. As an entrepreneur, the status quo should never be an option. You must constantly think of new ways to improve yourself. An entrepreneur does not simply take things at face value, but instead questions everything. Ask yourself, “Is college the best option for me? Do I need it? Is starting my business right now the best option for me? Should I wait?” There is no such thing as a bad or dumb question, because asking a question signifies that many thinking processes are taking place. We’ll get to those processes later. Now you may be asking “Don’t you receive an education from college?” and believe me when I say that it pains me to tell you that you are wrong so early into a book. Sadly, people have created the misconception that college is the only way to become educated. They have even nicknamed it “higher education” as if this is the pinnacle of learning. There are many other cost effective, flexible, and convenient ways to learn what you need to start and run your own business, without college.
There is another myth that by graduating from college, you are more likely to be a successful member of society than a person who did not attend college, or (gasp!) dropped out. This is where the (dead) mantra “go to college, get good grades, get a job/career with nice benefits and a pension plan” stems from. Let’s stop beating a dead horse. It’s heartbreaking to hear people preach this mantra with such conviction as if it is some sort of guaranteed formula. It’s also quite annoying. This advice may have been true for the “Baby Boomers” and even “Generation X” to a certain extent. But this is the “Facebook Generation”. What many people fail to realize is that the world is always evolving, and the “guarantees” from yesterday are worthless today.
No Money Back Guarantee
The one guarantee you have when leaving college, whether or not you graduate, is debt. I know that this was a major problem for me, and I didn’t even graduate! Many would argue that taking on student loans are an investment into yourself and that the salary you’ll be making after you graduate should compensate for it. First of all, it’s never ok to put yourself in a financial hole without having a guaranteed plan to get yourself out of the hole. You’ll end up being buried alive in debt, literally, and you’ll kiss your dreams of home ownership goodbye if you can’t make student loan payments. Why set yourself up for failure? Next, this reasoning is based on two key variables, the first is that you actually graduate and the next one is that you actually find a job after you graduate. The one thing you can bank on after attending college (whether you graduate or not) is a mountain of debt. Also, if you select a career path with a lot of competition (many applicants with a small number of available jobs) or if the major generally does not lead to a high-paying job, it makes no sense to get into debt for a job you hope you’ll find; especially if it pays less annually than the debt you took on by going to college.
Unless of course you paid everything in full and never swiped your credit card to make a purchase. Oh wait! How could I possibly forget the lovely “Class of (enter year here)” tees/hoodies and the wonderful “Proud parent of (enter school name her) graduate” bumper stickers? And let’s not forget that they do give you a nice piece of paper that you can frame, stating that you have indeed graduated. Unfortunately, you can’t trade these in for any real cash value to pay off those lovely student loans you’ve accumulated. The median household income in America was about $44,000 in 2010. In 2010, the average student loan debt was about $25,000 for those that graduated. That’s more than 50% of debt to the average income for one year! Be certain of this, college does not in any way guarantee that employers will be sabotaging each other to hire you at your graduation. The fact is that on paper, resume paper, you may have the same credentials as thousands of other applicants. Even if you graduated from one of the top schools in the country, if the economy is down and no one is hiring, you better start thinking of more creative ways to beef up your resume, or start a business. College also fails to guarantee that you will find a job relevant to your major. I’m sure you can name five people whom have a job that has nothing to do with what they studied in college. I can name at least ten. Now, if you are somehow able to pay off all your student loans, graduate with little to no debt, receive employment relevant to your major, all within the six-month grace period after you graduate that student loans/financial aid gives you before you are required to make payments, then you must be a leprechaun riding a unicorn over a double rainbow with a rabbit’s foot around your neck and the number 7 tattooed to your chest in 24k gold ink.
Here’s the kicker: even if you are able to get hired in a reasonable amount of time, let’s say 6 months, after you graduate, there is absolutely no such thing as “job security.” It is a myth preached by those who embrace “the mantra.” If a company gets downsized, or even worse, if the company goes out of business, no one’s job is safe. This is a fact. It doesn’t matter if you were the vice president of an important department with a fancy name; you will be pounding the pavement sending out resumes if the company you work for isn’t generating profits. Unfortunately, I also know people who have been downsized, and I’m sure you do as well. As an entrepreneur, you must not become trapped into thinking that college is the only path to education, you cannot believe in “job security”, and you need to stop spreading the “mantra” to others. “Go to college and get an education” is probably one of the most closed-minded phrases. “You’re wrong” is one of the few that tops it. This “mantra” tries to give you a simple formula: College = Success. However, I dare you to Google “Successful Entrepreneurs Without a College Degree.” I want you to see with your own eyes all the lists that have been compiled. There are many entrepreneurs you’ve never even heard of that make these lists, and even more that don’t!
I’ve included a small list of very successful entrepreneurs who never attended college, for your convenience, at the end of this book. Money isn’t the ultimate indicator of success, but it sets a nice benchmark for it, so I’d also dare you to count how many people on just one particular list that are at least a millionaire. I’m sure you’ll be surprised at the number of billionaires you find.
ACTION!
In the next couple of chapters we’ll discuss one of the most overlooked alternatives to college/formal schooling. You’re welcome to skip ahead if you’d like, but I hope that you come back and finish this chapter.
The Great Divide
“In life and business, there are two cardinal sins: The first is to act without thought, and the second is to not act at all.” - Carl Icahn
As humans, we like to complicate things. Some of the most complex questions are solved by the simplest solutions. There’s a big difference between successful entrepreneurs and everyone else. How did that happen? Some think its luck, a good idea, a “big break”, or that they were smarter, better, richer, than the Average Joe. As an entrepreneur, you should avoid thinking in terms of luck.
Luck is defined as a force that brings either good or bad fortune, and fortune is described as a personified power that unpredictably determines favorable or unfavorable events. If you can honestly look yourself in the mirror and say that you are in a situation because of an unpredictable outside force that is determining your life, then I would encourage you to repeatedly head butt the mirror with all your strength until you can’t spell “luck.” The only thing that determines where you are in life, where you will be, and what you will become is YOU. As an entrepreneur, luck should be annihilated from your vocabulary, because if you are able to achieve success, then it was because YOU created the situations and circumstances that lead to your success, not luck. Otherwise you should write a nice check to Lady Luck for all her help and support. You are accountable for every action you take, and you are the only one with the power to get yourself out of any circumstance. You are the sole person responsible for your future, no one else. When things go terribly wrong, you must be able to accept the fact that it was you that put you into those situations that lead to your demise, that you’re the only one to blame. When things are incredibly good, you can then be confident in saying that you were the person responsible for your success.
That was a tough lesson for me to learn. It’s easy to blame others for your demise. No one wants to take responsibility for their actions, and I was no different. It’s easy to blame colleges for charging high tuition, or jobs not being available because of corporate greed, or that “life isn’t fair.” I had to learn the hard way that every decision I made put me in the situation I was in. The only person I could blame was me. I also realized that I had the power to change that situation. Being a college dropout, or working at a deadbeat job, was not going to stop me from making Don’t Feed The Animals a success. This realization required me to pay close attention to every choice I made, because I was also responsible for the success of my business. I had to make decisions that would require sacrificing certain “luxuries”, so that later on in life I wouldn’t have to worry about not affording the things I truly wanted. It was through accountability and responsibility that I made the sacrifices necessary to progress.
“Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” - Thomas Alva Edison
“Big breaks” don’t just happen, and opportunities are not just going to fall into your lap because you waited patiently for them. The good thing about opportunities is that they are endless. You just have to be willing to find them. Opportunities can also be created, so even if you’ve looked under every rock and turned every stone and couldn’t find an opportunity, you can still create one. Opportunities are a very important aspect of success. They are part of the foundation for success. Another crucial part of the foundation for success is an idea. An idea, combined with an opportunity to take that idea and make a profitable business, requires action. Without action, opportunities will pass you by as if you were a snail on the freeway. The opportunities may still be there, it’s up to you to act on them or create them. “Big breaks” do not occur by sitting and wishing for them to occur. When the opportunities to advance present themselves you must not only be prepared for them, you must also be willing and able to act on them. Otherwise, the opportunity is useless.
It’s easy to expect things to simply happen in your favor, and have the world handed to you on a silver platter. It’s a lot tougher to put in the work to achieve your goals and dreams. I can’t say I never expected a “big break”, or that I was never jealous of other people’s success, or blamed their success on a stroke of luck. When I finally realized that in order for me to improve the circumstances I was leaving in, I needed to change my perception of the world. I had to accept responsibility for my actions, change the bad habits I had, and act on the good habits I had. I also had to accept that if I couldn’t find an opportunity to use, I had to be very creative and think of ways to create them.
Everyone who is capable of forming an idea is also capable of creating a good idea. Ideas, just like opportunities, are endless. Not every idea will be a “eureka” or epiphany, but the fact is that we run through hundreds and thousands of ideas, possibilities and scenarios in our minds each and every day. Those people that have come up with a good idea also have the potential to turn that idea into a profitable one. As an entrepreneur, there is no reason you should be afraid to take your idea and try to make a profit. There is no reason you should not have at least one good idea, or that you aren’t thinking of one each day. There is no excuse. Everyone has an idea. Whether you’re a CEO, high school student, cab driver, cashier, whatever, you have an idea that can generate income. So why isn’t everyone sipping martinis in their private jets on their way to a party on a yacht near a private island? Action, or rather, inaction. This is why this book isn’t for everyone. The foundation to becoming an entrepreneur is action. This is what separates entrepreneurs from everyone else. They act on their ideas, while everyone else is hoping and waiting to get lucky. Everyone else is waiting for their “big break.” Everyone else is too afraid to try. How many times have you heard people say “that’s so simple, I could of done that” when they refer to a new business, product or service? They deserve the response “so then why didn’t you?” Of course you can add any type of degrading term at the end of that question and they would definitely deserve it for making such a stupid comment, but let’s take the high road. An even worse comment than “it’s so simple…” is the “I had that same idea (insert however many minutes, days, months, years) ago” It’s not enough to say you could’ve, should’ve or would’ve come up with a multi-billion dollar company.
One of the most important factors for starting a business is being one of the first to provide a certain service or product. Of course there are many other factors that we’ll break down later, but being first, or one of the first, is vitally important for innovation. Now being first has its disadvantages. Your competition can exploit your weaknesses and try to create a rival product, and people are always reluctant to change, which could damage your start-up if your product is revolutionary. If you’re a really good entrepreneur, you’ll be able to adapt to the changes within your market so you can better serve your target audience. This is not your high school prom. It’s not “cool” to show up late to the “profit party” because you thought people weren’t ready, or you were scared because no one has done what you plan to do, so there’s no frame of reference to build upon. The point is to start, make mistakes, and improve every step of the way. Act and you become a driving force, industry leader, revolutionary, and innovator. If you wait, you might as well write rough drafts of the fairy tales you’ll tell your grandkids of how you almost created the next billion dollar industry. You might want to add an apology note in there as well.