Formal education necessary?

[BusinessAdviser]

Another controversial thread:

In your opinion, will the typical entrepreneur be better off with or without a college education? Why or why not?

[wannabeMogul]

Yes, you're better off, but only if you go for the right reasons. Don't go to whine and complain. Go if you are going to network, study what you need to know and expand upon what you get from classes through independent study.

If you are going to go into it complaining and feeling like you are wasting your time, you are probably better off not going to college--at least not yet.

[tazman9r]

Success in the entrepreneurial world has to do with 3 things (basically) -

1. A product or service people perceive is valuable. Certainly we all want our concepts to be considered important and valuable to society, but if your business does not directly address one of Malsow's needs, it's just window dressing.

2. Good marketing and packaging. Not "slick" or dishonest marketing, but an efficient method of motivating your customers to buy.

3. Good "business" sense. As long as your cash outflow does not out way your inflow, your making money. Painfully obvious, I know. Once those basics are covered, a person can impress themselves and others with how complex their business concept is all day.

Now, does one have to go to college to learn these things? Obviously not, but as I have stated in other posts, there are certainly things to be learned in a school setting that translate to success in the entrepreneurial world.

I hate to think I just repeat myself when I make these comments, but I have gone done the road of believing that if I was good enough and smart enough, gosh darn it, people would like me, and that would translate into a good job with good benefits and zero worry forever and ever, amen. But as it turns out, it just ain't so. Aviation is a highly competitive industry, but every industry has it's level of competition.

To state that a college education is better for entrepreneurs misses the fact that people learn differently.

[Nigami Enterprise]

It's really up to the individual. There is no right and wrong answer and never will be, some people need it some people don't.

[mattSantill]

I really think a college education makes for a well rounded person.
- Statistics, Law, Foreign Language, Music, Mathematics, Philosophy, Biology, Finance, Geography, Accounting, Culture, Economics, Literature, Psychology........etc.

I feel I have a better understanding of many subjects... while not an expert in any particular one...I can still hold a conversation without shying away. College has allowed me to communicate in confidence with diverse groups of people. Does this make you a better entrepreneur? I would say yes...

[chuff1026]

College has allowed me to communicate in confidence with diverse groups of people.

I think you mean to say "communicate with confidence".
lol...just felt like being an ass

anyway.
I think formal education is for some people
i do not think we can make a bold statement and say it helps

it helps some people....
some people do better learning on their own and networking.

[mattSantill]

I think you mean to say "communicate with confidence".
lol...just felt like being an ass

anyway.
I think formal education is for some people
i do not think we can make a bold statement and say it helps

it helps some people....
some people do better learning on their own and networking.

Did I mention English above?
Just wait till I bust out the ebonics...

[akula]

Another controversial thread:

In your opinion, will the typical entrepreneur be better off with or without a college education? Why or why not?

i know that in sydney, there is a strong bias in the venture/angel community against people without postgrad qualifications...people avoid entrepreneurs who don't have the right degrees and employers on their cv

[Young_Mogul86]

Ok, when you say college education do you mean college education or a college degree? I can say from my own standpoint, not having a college education... I wish I knew more. there are things I ask people here in the forum that Im sure I would have learned if I had chosen to attend college after highschool, But I didn't. Not saying that im disappointed, or that I won't attend in the future, But I personally feel that too many people attend colleges for the wrong reasons. They wish to get a degree in whatever, so they can get a job in that field... I know if i had chosen college instead of my business after highschool, that I sure wouldnt be going in hopes of working for someone else for the rest of my life. That said, knowledge IS power, but all the book smarts in the world can't prepare you for a competative lifestyle, can't help you make a good deal, and you defanitly can't learn the value and power of a dollar from a calculus book. BUT, If you wish to be a successful entrepreneur, you would first learn to absorb everything educational you can. by educational im speaking loosly, everything and everyone has something to teach you.

[Gaulkin]

Another controversial thread:

In your opinion, will the typical entrepreneur be better off with or without a college education? Why or why not?

Do you think your formal education was worth the investment, whether you paid for it or not.

[BusinessAdviser]

The question still remains:

In your opinion, will the typical entrepreneur be better off with or without a college education? Why or why not?

[Gaulkin]

The question still remains:

In your opinion, will the typical entrepreneur be better off with or without a college education? Why or why not?

lol but im asking you your opinion, do you have one?


I guess ill rephrase, did it make you better off in your opinion or not?

[BusinessAdviser]

lol but im asking you your opinion, do you have one?


I guess ill rephrase, did it make you better off in your opinion or not?

Aw, putting me on the spot, huh?! Fair enough.

To answer your question, I am in a much better position now to succeed as an entrepreneur than I was prior to entering college. I have much more knowledge in many more areas, a greater skill set, better social skills, a more extensive network, etc.

I don't think that one can be better off by skipping college. Or to answer my own question, an entrepreneur will be better off with a college education than without, for all of the above reasons and more.

[BusinessAdviser]

Aside from the cost-
benefit analysis which shows a college education to be one of the safest and best investments available, it has prepared me for entrepreneurship in ways that I never could have imagined or understood without having gone through it. See my post above for a few of the specific reasons. Without it, I would never have been able to effectively recognize or take advantage of opportunities in a way that I am now, if nothing else.

Do you think your formal education was worth the investment, whether you paid for it or not.

[Nigami Enterprise]

Just to stir up the worms a little bit, why does it have to be a college education.
I think its such an UNEDUCATED opinion to believe that everyone must have a college education.
You can get just as good education through other means. What is the different between tafe and uni apart from a degree or diploma.

When employing new staff i couldnt care less were they have been in the past or what they have done, I want to know where they are going and how they are going to get there.

I just want it to be clear that not everybody needs a degree, some people need it some people don't.