Post: #51

Quote:Do you think you are the norm?
If most people follow your example will they have the success you have?

And we'll just have to disagree about access to college chicks by being a student versus not being a student.

Why not? anyone can do what I did and do it much better. It won't take you a mandatory 3-4 years either. Why do you think it's more difficult to make money online vs a traditional career?

Quote:What about living expenses?

You lost me here. You don't have living expenses going to college?

Post: #52

(12-09-2012 03:33 PM)OldRich Wrote:  

Quote:What about living expenses?

You lost me here. You don't have living expenses going to college?

That wasn't the question. You said it was cheap to start an online business but you didn't factor in the time and living expenses.

Living expenses at college are normally part of the overall expense. For example, student loans pays not only for classes but living expenses. Not exactly something you can use when starting your own business.

College is normally full time. Starting a business full time without any cashflow will probably make you homeless.

Post: #53

Congrats Dublin. 100k is good money. But again, if your making 200k you can save more than twice as fast and so forth. I have friends who didn't go to college and do well but none of them do "really well." With the exception being a pair of successful business owners. Its hard to make really good money if you work for someone without a college degree.

OldRich, as you know its no longer the dot com boom. The internet has been infiltrated and niches have been carved out to extreme degrees. Very few people for the amount of people trying are going to make a fortune through strictly online business. Online business with a brick and mortars operation is a different ball game.

Post: #54

There are people who get a degree and work at Starbucks. There are people who have well-paying careers they could not get without a degree.

There are people who leave college with absurd amounts of student loans, and there are people who exit with something reasonable.

It's not black-and-white. There's a lot of gray. What's clear though is that unless you're willing to do something entrepreneurial, a lot of high-paying careers will expect you to have a degree because it's so commonplace.

Post: #55

(12-09-2012 03:46 PM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:  

(12-09-2012 03:33 PM)OldRich Wrote:  

Quote:What about living expenses?

You lost me here. You don't have living expenses going to college?

That wasn't the question. You said it was cheap to start an online business but you didn't factor in the time and living expenses.

Living expenses at college are normally part of the overall expense. For example, student loans pays not only for classes but living expenses. Not exactly something you can use when starting your own business.

College is normally full time. Starting a business full time without any cashflow will probably make you homeless.

I see your point but that's reaching a bit, is your parent going to kick you out if you're not going to college? If taking a part time job or staying with your parent for a couple of years is not an option, not sure what to tell you. To live a unconventional life, you have to be creative and have an unconventional thinking. Otherwise, yes you're right-go to college.

Post: #56

(12-09-2012 03:47 PM)lavidaloca Wrote:  Congrats Dublin. 100k is good money. But again, if your making 200k you can save more than twice as fast and so forth. I have friends who didn't go to college and do well but none of them do "really well." With the exception being a pair of successful business owners. Its hard to make really good money if you work for someone without a college degree.

OldRich, as you know its no longer the dot com boom. The internet has been infiltrated and niches have been carved out to extreme degrees. Very few people for the amount of people trying are going to make a fortune through strictly online business. Online business with a brick and mortars operation is a different ball game.

You're right that it's no longer the "Gold Rush" it used to be but that was a ridiculous time but the Internet is still very much in it's infancy.

There were doors that was open but those are now closed. The Internet has more marketers now but has also grown in audience. It was expensive to build a website but are now cheap. It was hard to code a website without any guide but now you have tools like Wordpress and tutorials. You see where I'm going with this? things will always have a way of balance themselves out. It is only marginally harder than it was 10 years ago for those that are willing to put in the time to study the market.

Post: #57

If I was to do it again, I would have gotten a shitty job after high school that was just enough to pay for a full minimalist lifestyle ($300/month rent, $200/month food) and spent most of my free time freelancing and building that up.

The keys to success are:

1. Strong work ethic
2. Constant learning (ie read a lot of books)
3. Flexibility to take advantage of new opportunities

I think following this strategy would have developed these three keys faster.

Post: #58

(12-09-2012 05:09 PM)OldRich Wrote:  I see your point but that's reaching a bit, is your parent going to kick you out if you're not going to college? If taking a part time job or staying with your parent for a couple of years is not an option, not sure what to tell you. To live a unconventional life, you have to be creative and have an unconventional thinking. Otherwise, yes you're right-go to college.

Well, yeah, they may well kick you out if you don't go to college.

Kid: Mom, I don't want to go to college, I want to start my own internet business.

Mom: Internet business? I don't want my kid getting into that stuff. Education is more important.

Kid: But I took a red pill and college isn't the answer.

Mom: Red pill? You're on drugs!


OK, all jokes aside, parents and most people don't understand starting a business. Most people will not back you when you do something outside the norm whether it is jealousy reasons or they just don't believe you can do it. It isn't unusual for parents to try to force their kids to do something they think is right.

I think it is more of a stretch to think parents will sit idle and pay your bills while you build a business.

I have my own business built around the internet. I understand where you're coming from but I also know it isn't as easy as you're making it sound like.

Post: #59

College was one of the best investments of my life. My grades were nothing specials and I had to take a low entry job but guess what, once on the inside I had plenty of opportunities showing what I was worth. Today I hold some very exclusive training and certs that will make sure I never have to worry about going unemployed.

Post: #60

Why college might be worth it:

Chance to study from and be around great minds at the top of their discipline
Chance to learn a hardcore subject for three years (hard science, engineering, computer science) that will be the stepping stone to a high-paying skilled career
Chance to have some of the most fun three years of your life, living and studying with like minded, like-aged people, grow massively socially
Good chance to network with future trailblazers

Why it might not:

Might end up with tens of thousands of debt and no job prospects
Doesnt teach you many core skills necessary for work or business - real marketing,sales (i.e. marketing + selling yourself!) networking, professional skills. Even MBAs dont really prepare their students for business - studies show MBAs generally dont really even "break even" as investments (in terms of income increase vs tuition costs) for most people
You might not like studying - it takes a certain taste for it - alot of cerebral information absorption, exam-passing technique, tolerance for academic weirdery and ivory-tower-ness
You might have a taste for work already and think you could do better
You could actually build useful vocational skills more quickly and cheaply on your own
You're ready to hit the ground running and start making $$ right away, not incurring lots of debt


Totally depends on you. For me it was awesome and worth it.. but then tuition costs in the UK were ~$5k a year back then. Pretty good value.

Post: #61

(12-10-2012 02:26 AM)Vicious Wrote:  College was one of the best investments of my life. My grades were nothing specials and I had to take a low entry job but guess what, once on the inside I had plenty of opportunities showing what I was worth. Today I hold some very exclusive training and certs that will make sure I never have to worry about going unemployed.

My thoughts exactly. College is about getting in the door. It's a screening tool used by employers. I went from a bottom of the totem pole to working with CFOs in six months for a variety of reasons.

Here's a life lesson for the young bucks. Stay in shape and play to your strengths. I'm a former Marine, so I continue to look the part because that's what people expect. If I was fat as fatass and then people found out I was a Marine, what would people think of me? That would affect my employment and ability to move up.

The key to my success was looking at myself objectively and realizing how people inherently judge others, whether good or bad.

Half of the people in this country are below average intelligence. I use that to my advantage.

Post: #62

(12-08-2012 10:19 PM)WestIndianArchie Wrote:  

(12-08-2012 07:55 PM)Samseau Wrote:  Serious question:

Would you rather have 40K in capital or a 40K college degree?


College is a shit investment.

What financial institution is going to give hundreds of thousands of18 year olds with little to no assets $40,000 dollars to start a business?

None.

WIA

What are you talking about? The federal gov. backs over 1 trillion in student loans, and gives out more every day.

Why doesn't the Fed just give students that money directly? It would be better spent than just having kids sit in a classroom all day, where probably no more than 10% of the students actually learn.