To Go To School or Not?

We have all seen or heard of them, big names, big monies and their education history is that of either school dropout or did not graduate.

This then begs the question, is formal education a necessity? Do you need to go to school if you want to build a successful business?

There are reasons out there to try and down play the place of education such as:

1. The costs involved. College is too expensive. But isn’t that the case for most things in life that are worth something?
2. Everyone wants results now, without having to wait for 4 years or more to start getting the rewards of hard work.
3. The need to take courses you’re not interested in, or that aren’t practical. Most times the courses that you may “never” use in your life may expose you to something that you never would have thought of and lead you to a different set of entrepreneurial opportunities than you originally envisioned.
4. The negatives of a formal educational structure. People are continually blaming “the system” for their own inability to succeed.

There are many things in college that don’t appear to be relevant to one’s eventual job, not to mention starting a business.  However, it’s very likely that in every course you take, there will be something that will affect a decision you make while running your business, or at least give you another perspective on that business. If you intend to be an entrepreneur, here are reasons as to why you should pursue an education:

1. Development of patterns to hone intuition. The more data points and patterns you are exposed to, the better your intuitive decisions will be.
2. You will make connections during college whom you will be able to tap for the rest of your life.  As an entrepreneur, you will need access to experts in accounting, marketing, sales, law, etc. and your college connections will let you tap into a known network of people who can help you.
3. When you go to seek investors for money, hire employees, form partnerships, or do any of the other tasks as an entrepreneur, you will be more credible, particularly at the beginning, with a degree.
4. Developing a pattern of lifetime learning – This is probably the number one reason for pursuing a degree.  The most successful entrepreneurs, all embrace a life of learning.

Education certainly has its place, and it isn’t completely without merit, but it also isn’t necessary all of the time. There are plenty of entrepreneurs that never had much of a formal education, but still managed to achieve a great deal.

So is education a necessity to building an empire?

A driven personality always finds a way. An education can either be a stepping stone or a road block on the path to achievement. If education proves to be an obstacle, those with an entrepreneurial spirit will push it aside and go their own chosen route.

Lastly, a college degree is not a prerequisite to starting a business, but your entrepreneurial path, will likely be easier with it.  The most important thing to gain from any educational experience is to learn how to learn, not what to learn.  A great college experience will teach you how to learn, and this skill will allow you to be far more successful in whatever path you choose to follow.