The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

Business Degress?

BLK85

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
4%
Sep 22, 2007
27
1
South Dakota
Im kind of considering a business degree(Ebiz). What are they worth with people like me just wanting to start a business from the very basic level? I was thinking about starting in January but now I got thinking are they really worth it? I dont need a degree to start a business, some of the richest people in the country dont even have a Associates degree(like me). What is everyone opinion on these degrees?
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

michael515

Bronze Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
114%
Aug 27, 2007
91
104
44
What's the cost?

Agree with all Jscott said. I will add that case studies alone are very powerful ways to learn. Philosophy and theory only take you so far.

College is a medium to learn and network. If you want to run a business you have to learn the skills somehow. Experience is huge. People who don't read I will never understand. You can broaden your mind so much learning new techniques, ideas, or simply encouragement of the successes, failures and adventures just by reading the words of others.

Too often we are too black and white. What I mean is always be learning whether it's college, books, through conversations, watching others, etc. Also, if it doesn't cost too much (time and $$) - get your degree and you could learn business from working on the inside. One of my favorite Rich Dad ideas was "never take a job for the money - but for what you'll learn."

I'm convinced that if we simply learn, apply this into action, evaluate the results and then repeat this cycle based on the results there's no way to fail!!!
 

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,079
169,498
Utah

kimberland

Bronze Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
15%
Jul 25, 2007
822
121
This isn't just about college or no college.
Is college a good grounding for eBiz?

Honestly, I don't think so.

I went to school with a programming buddy.
He had a lot of fun but didn't learn anything his first couple years.
The profs couldn't keep up with the industry.
Everything they taught was old and no longer in use.

Then the head honchos at Microsoft told him
(actually Bill Gates himself)
he was decreasing his market value by going to school
(because he wasn't learning anything new).

So he quit and went to work full time.
Seemed to have worked for him.
He paid a million dollars in taxes last year.

Though I did benefit from him going to school.
He wrote a few custom programs for my business classes
(and then sold them)
and he's still a bud today.
 

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,079
169,498
Utah
This isn't just about college or no college.
Is college a good grounding for eBiz?

Honestly, I don't think so.

I went to school with a programming buddy.
He had a lot of fun but didn't learn anything his first couple years.
The profs couldn't keep up with the industry.
Everything they taught was old and no longer in use.

Then the head honchos at Microsoft told him
(actually Bill Gates himself)
he was decreasing his market value by going to school
(because he wasn't learning anything new).

So he quit and went to work full time.
Seemed to have worked for him.
He paid a million dollars in taxes last year.

Though I did benefit from him going to school.
He wrote a few custom programs for my business classes
(and then sold them)
and he's still a bud today.

Your post makes me wonder Kim, do they still teach Fortran and Cobol in college?
 

kimberland

Bronze Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
15%
Jul 25, 2007
822
121
LOL MJ.
I know its still being taught in some high schools.
Heck some schools are still using punch cards.

Its not really the prof's fault.
In a fast moving industry,
it is difficult for anyone to keep up,
not to mention keep course material current.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

michael515

Bronze Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
114%
Aug 27, 2007
91
104
44
On a side note - if you choose college do some CLEP's and DANTES. Both are "credit by exam" and most institutions accept 30 semester credits by exam. Some will accept much more. Go to collegeboard.com and getcollegecredit.com to check both out.

I've taken 10 exams over the last year and accumulated 30 credits. The cost of the exam is only like $75. Save much time and lots of cash.

Hope this helps.
 

australianinvestor

Bronze Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
22%
Aug 4, 2007
467
104
Australia
I just finished an MBA at one of the world's best business schools.

I agree with the people who say it's a great place to network, but that's not saying enough: it is the best place to network that I know of. As a result of attending this school, I could assemble a team of people who are the brand names in business in my country, and if I had a proposal to pitch, I know a few people who could write me a cheque ("check" for my American friends!) for $10 million within a couple of weeks (depending on due diligence).

More importantly, it's not only the people you meet/know, but who THEY know. In my network, I am one person away from Robert Kiyosaki and some other brand-name business and government people, and two away from the Google and Amazon guys. Not bad company to be in. Oh, and one of my friends from the MBA class will be a multi-billionaire in the next 3 years. Smartest guy I know, and he knows some very cool people :)

Someone mentioned that a business degree is not great for e-business. E-business is still business, and while the professors might not be able to keep up, having solid business skills will put you far in front of other e-businesses, providing you can supply the technical/creative stuff yourself, or find someone who can. Imagine two guys in their garage with the next Google. Imagine having a similar technology yourself, and an MBA. You could outmanoeuvre them like you were in a Lambo and they were on tricycles.

Someone else mentioned the cost. My cost was about USD $250,000 (only for the last two years, not for the degrees before that). In today's dollars, if I only worked about 15 years and then retired, I could earn easily $10-15 million (remember, today's dollars). If I use the MBA in my own business (like I am), I will "retire" in about three years (freeing me up for fast track investments and building non-religious, free schools in third world countries), and my life income in today's dollars would be orders of magnitude bigger.

I'll leave you all with this thought: I took a single, three hour class about two months ago which alone was worth the quarter of a million dollars the MBA has cost me. That's almost $1,500 a minute I was there. It bridged a very profitable gap in my knowledge, and I am working on converting that class into bankable income. I should be able to do that within about 4 months. If I only ever worked for some Fortune 500 company for a salary and performance bonuses, that class would easily make me a millionaire. Every company I start will benefit from it, and will have a massive competitive advantage over most other companies I will be competing against. How's that for value? :)


Daniel
 

australianinvestor

Bronze Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
22%
Aug 4, 2007
467
104
Australia
Hi JScott, how's it going?

I have just written my response, but I feel terrible that I am hijacking this thread, so I'll cull it down a bit. During my response, I've also decided that one component of my fast-track strategy is worth writing a book about, so I'll keep you up-to-date on that.

During my MBA, I've started three companies and discontinued one. One was an import/retail business (stopped due to average returns, difficult to sell, gross misalignment with my new life strategy), my current one is in convenience stores, and my new one (as of a few months ago) is media production.

I don't intend working for anyone. I intend on doing some consulting soon, but only for the inside contacts and knowledge I can gain.

I don't know how schools in the US run their MBA programs, but mine required a minimum of 5 years of management experience, so it's not like I'm just fresh out of 17 years of schooling and still have a squeeky voice! ;-)

My specific plan: I am using the equity I have built in the convenience store business to assist the media production business start-up. There is a specific way I'll manage the resulting cash flow, and once the business does not require all the profits for its operations, I'll be splitting profits into other investments in a very deliberate way.

Feel free to ask more, but perhaps by private message (if this forum has such a feature), so we don't steer this thread away from the original poster's topic :)

Daniel.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

tylerblue

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
17%
Nov 15, 2007
6
1
For the sake of responding to the first poster, I will share my experience with obtaining a business degree from an accredited school.

I recently completed a Finance degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and while I cannot speak for all schools in the country, I can put in a good word for this one. Cal Poly's business school is a "hands on" school whereby we study real world applications for everything we learn. So far in the real world, there are an entire host of scenarios that my college training has either prepared me for, or put me ahead of the competition. Cal Poly also offered real estate investing courses and real estate finance courses that worked towards my Finance degree, further implementing the "hands on" mantra I explained earlier. Despite all of this, the school has every resource necessary, for those who seek it, to expand your financial knowledge.

What is the benefit of all of this? Why take 4 years out of your life to complete a degree? The real question for me was -- why not? Sitting here today I am able to converse more intellectually with professionals and investors. I am also able to see things from a theoretical standpoint (classroom) as well as a practical standpoint (real world). Moreover, whether we like it or not -- and whether we care or not -- certain people will take you more seriously if they know you have a college degree. One of the things completing college says to the world (lenders, investors, your employees, etc.) is that you are able to put your mind to something and complete it, or in other words you are able to set goals and achieve them. Someone mentioned above that a lot of successful people don't have a degree, but also failed to mention that an overwhelming amount have MBA's, law degrees, master's degrees, and so on.

In conclusion, while I do not think a college degree is required to achieve financial success, I believe it is a fantastic supplement. College, for me, was full of relationship building. I have made life-long friends and learned life-long lessons about people all because of my collegiate experiences. A multi-millionaire developer once told me that the greatest aspect of your journey to financial success should be the relationships that you build. The journey should be an enjoyable part of your life, not simply a means to an end. My .02....


-Tyler
 

czach41

Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
45%
Oct 11, 2007
207
93
38
Denver
As a senior in a decent state college; I only wish that I was obtaining a business degree. As it turned out, it took me about two years to realize what I really wanted out of life, and therefore, what I should be doing to best position myself for success. Better late than never right? (I am obtaining my 'biz' degree through toilet U and Fastlane)!
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top