krutoi
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- South Carolina
Great article about the rise of entrepreneurship and self education
- Thread starter krutoi
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clevernerd
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This was a great read. Liked the information in it and boy do I wish I could get that kind of consulting fee, $5000 a day. I would work 2 days month.
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- Fort Myers, FL
I'll put it on my weekend read, thanks!
As the father of 4 adult kids currently attending college I found the article very interesting but, where do these young kids learn the skills they need to become free agents offering their services and commanding fees high enough to make a good living? I liken it to there are those who are athletically gifted that can go into pro sports but the rest of us need to be more practical and realize that isn't going to happen for us.
I'm one of those parents guiding my children thru the "traditional" education route. If any of my kids had some natural or special skill that I felt they could capitalize on, I would certainly encourage that but until something like that comes along, I am encouraging them to follow the college route.
At the same time I'm scared to death of the rapidly rising cost of a 4 yr degree, let alone an advanced degree. My kids are all taking the route I took, 2 years at a community college before transferring to a university for the last 2 years. I can't afford to foot the bill for 4 kids for a free ride to a 4 yr school and I don't want them to graduate with thousands of dollars of debt.
I'm one of those parents guiding my children thru the "traditional" education route. If any of my kids had some natural or special skill that I felt they could capitalize on, I would certainly encourage that but until something like that comes along, I am encouraging them to follow the college route.
At the same time I'm scared to death of the rapidly rising cost of a 4 yr degree, let alone an advanced degree. My kids are all taking the route I took, 2 years at a community college before transferring to a university for the last 2 years. I can't afford to foot the bill for 4 kids for a free ride to a 4 yr school and I don't want them to graduate with thousands of dollars of debt.
It is difficult strollin, i've been through a similar situation so heres my story
I finished university last may (im from england) and struggled to find a job that used my previous 3 years of study. Now instead of just collecting benefit money or going and picking up a retail job and waiting for the job market to recover i found technibble and decided to set a business up.
I'm currently still living at my mothers house and when i announced this to her she was sceptical - I'm 21 and she thinks that i should be in an office working 9-5 and working on "a career". I said that i wanted to do this so i asked her what amount of money she would be charging me for rent if i had a £15000 a year job. We settled on a figure that i was going to start paying after a 2 week "setting up period" (insurance,logos,business cards etc etc)
My business has officially been up and running since march. The only advertising i have done so far has been through word of mouth and a small business networking group. Since the start of May i have earnt more money from this than if i had been working for minimum wage. My billable time for this month so far is averaging around something like 12 hours a week. 24 hours doing something i enjoy versus 80 hours of crap. and less money.
The scope is huge too - i did a HTPC set up for somebody yesterday. Something i didn't even think about selling to people until i casually mentioned my projector set up to him a few weeks ago while i was doing another job. I also volunteer at a type of old peoples home showing them how to use the PC's there and they have been so impressed that they have been passing my details on to there friends and children etc. I didnt think i would be selling tuition to many people, but its a huge market
Anyway the moral of my story is that i probably shouldnt have gone to university. There was nothing i was 100% interested in studying and i can say that i lost interest about 6 months into my second year. I wasn't suited for university as i'm easily distracted and like to have my brain engaging in several things at once, so when i tire of one thing i can set it to one side and do something else. Running a small business suits this perfectly
However the school system (in england anyway) has you believing that if you don't go to university you are a failure. I couldn't disagree more. I have learnt twice as much in three months of running a business than i did during 3 years of university.
I finished university last may (im from england) and struggled to find a job that used my previous 3 years of study. Now instead of just collecting benefit money or going and picking up a retail job and waiting for the job market to recover i found technibble and decided to set a business up.
I'm currently still living at my mothers house and when i announced this to her she was sceptical - I'm 21 and she thinks that i should be in an office working 9-5 and working on "a career". I said that i wanted to do this so i asked her what amount of money she would be charging me for rent if i had a £15000 a year job. We settled on a figure that i was going to start paying after a 2 week "setting up period" (insurance,logos,business cards etc etc)
My business has officially been up and running since march. The only advertising i have done so far has been through word of mouth and a small business networking group. Since the start of May i have earnt more money from this than if i had been working for minimum wage. My billable time for this month so far is averaging around something like 12 hours a week. 24 hours doing something i enjoy versus 80 hours of crap. and less money.
The scope is huge too - i did a HTPC set up for somebody yesterday. Something i didn't even think about selling to people until i casually mentioned my projector set up to him a few weeks ago while i was doing another job. I also volunteer at a type of old peoples home showing them how to use the PC's there and they have been so impressed that they have been passing my details on to there friends and children etc. I didnt think i would be selling tuition to many people, but its a huge market
Anyway the moral of my story is that i probably shouldnt have gone to university. There was nothing i was 100% interested in studying and i can say that i lost interest about 6 months into my second year. I wasn't suited for university as i'm easily distracted and like to have my brain engaging in several things at once, so when i tire of one thing i can set it to one side and do something else. Running a small business suits this perfectly
However the school system (in england anyway) has you believing that if you don't go to university you are a failure. I couldn't disagree more. I have learnt twice as much in three months of running a business than i did during 3 years of university.
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