[URGENT] I Need Some Objective Sharp Minds On This One

[F430]

Okay so the situation is this:
I'm 23, and almost finished my bachelor (a 'soft skills' bachelor) in International Communications & Media with a specialization in Marketing & Entrepreneurship.

Due to reasons that I wont bore you with I have to redo one more course before I finish my bachelor cum laude- first I was pissed.

Now Im thinking that it might be a blessing in disguise.

In our country you can do additional Bachelors (as far as I know) for the subsidized tuition fee of about $2500 as long as you haven't finished a Bachelor yet.

I've always been extremely interested in design. I look at colors, shapes, textures, light EVERYWHERE and Im very good at drawing and 'creating things'. In retrospect I would have chosen this as my field of study. I also believe it is an extremely useful field of study for people who want to combine it with entrepreneurship because you can basically design and create your own products- AKA YOURE AN INVENTOR.

Now Im pondering whether it would be wise to study Industrial Design (which will take 3years) and deliberately postpone graduation with my current bachelor so I only have to pay a tuition fee.

I've applied the Decision Making Matrix- But I can't decide and I need some objective input on this one.
Pro's: doing what I love, more opportunities for future business (becausecan truly create innovations)
Con's: Ill be 28ish when finished, heavy time investment, financial consequences


Meanwhile I've setup a business before which failed. I wrote 2 books (took my over 2 years of writing actually) that I sell on a site and Im looking to startup a webshop.

I guess the real question is- do I go for 'hard skill education that will very likely aid me in my entrepreneurial dreams' or do I go for 'working and setting up projects at a young age'.


thanks a gazill for any input

 

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[Chris_Willow]

The sooner you get on the narrow road of entrepreneurship the more time you have to make it work.

I doubt the degree can give you a substantial head start over somebody who's spent the 3 years in the trenches creating inventions and gaining experience, but ultimately that is up to you to decide.

 

[mentalic]

The more you postpone 'entrepreneurship', the more money you will be 'giving' to someone else who does not
I guess that a reasonable alternative would be to take courses part time so that you can work on your projects.
The Cons you have already mentioned "Con's: Ill be 28ish when finished, heavy time investment, financial consequences" are very very important, if it was like one of the three (being 28 or heavy time investment or financial consequences) it might have been ok, but for three, no..not in 2013

 

[FastLearner]

Gain knowledge on any field that's most useful to you in every way you can, so education is helpful but remember you don't need a degree to make anything you want to do happen. People have done above and beyond without that piece of paper, keep that in mind before you waste additional years sitting in a classroom when you can use these 24 hours you have available to you everyday and be self-taught and speed your way into the fast lane... Ultimately, a degree just looks good in your office but it doesn't mean it necessarily paid off the Ferrari parked outside. It helps, but take your time into consideration. Good luck

 

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[DeletedUser2]

stop the insanity.

you want to create? you want to invent?

create your own class.

1. get a meetup group together and say, I am willing to pay you 10 bucks to show up and give me your problems.
2. record it.

3. take a hard look at each painful problem someone hands you, look for solutions, or make one up
4. for a couple grand, pay some designer to create the product or solution you think out.

boom your an inventor.


spending more years, going to school so you can "design your own" is total Bullshit.

thats like me spending 4 yrs apprenticing to a plumber so i can save money when my toilet clogs up. WTF????

spending more money to save a few thousand? ugh. more year? way UGH!

(facepalm)

designers are a commodity. you can pay 1 or 20 of them to do work for you.

your better skill, by far, find the pain, narrow it down, ask a ton of questions, ask a ton of people. really Grok the pain points. THEN pay a designer to do it.


you want to learn to solve problems? do lateral thinking exercises.

Hell, here is a deal, pay me half of what it would cost you (including room and board ) for the time it would take you to get that other degree, fly here, and I will teach it to you in a week.

Z

 

[LeungJan]

stop the insanity.

you want to create? you want to invent?

create your own class.

1. get a meetup group together and say, I am willing to pay you 10 bucks to show up and give me your problems.
2. record it.

3. take a hard look at each painful problem someone hands you, look for solutions, or make one up
4. for a couple grand, pay some designer to create the product or solution you think out.

boom your an inventor.


spending more years, going to school so you can "design your own" is total Bullshit.

thats like me spending 4 yrs apprenticing to a plumber so i can save money when my toilet clogs up. WTF????

spending more money to save a few thousand? ugh. more year? way UGH!

(facepalm)

designers are a commodity. you can pay 1 or 20 of them to do work for you.

your better skill, by far, find the pain, narrow it down, ask a ton of questions, ask a ton of people. really Grok the pain points. THEN pay a designer to do it.


you want to learn to solve problems? do lateral thinking exercises.

Hell, here is a deal, pay me half of what it would cost you (including room and board ) for the time it would take you to get that other degree, fly here, and I will teach it to you in a week.

Z

Wow what an offer!

 

[mimedia]

What the others said - in just a few months of hands on learning, you'll probably learn more about business/design than you ever will over the next 3 years in school. Elon Musk taught himself rocket science and founded the first private commercial space company by reading books and talking to smart people. Granted, Musk is a genius, but he's building rockets - you just want to build stuff that stays on earth.

Here's another important factor to consider: at 28, it'll be much, much *much* harder for you to get on the entrepreneurial path, with no money and no work experience. I graduated from lawschool at 25 and jumped straight into entrepreneurship, which is what I always knew I really wanted to do, but after a failed business in undergrad, I gave up on the dream for awhile. If only I knew how easy it is to start a business in your early twenties, and how much harder it gets as each year goes by, I wouldn't have stopped trying after my first failure at 20.

Even at 25, there was a ton of pressure to be making a steady income and moving "forward" in life - it was a very different pressure than my early 20s, when none of my cohorts had money, and my relatively small business successes actually meant I was doing well for my age. At 25, I'd constantly be comparing myself to my peers who were making healthy 5 figure/6 figure incomes, while I would work 90 hour weeks and sometimes be making *negative* money, and wondering if I was just wasting my time. Believe me, building a business at 20 was a lot funner and less stressful than at 25.

Now, 3 years later I'm 28, I'm finally doing well financially and if things don't implode on me (which they very well could - you never know), I should be able to hit my fastlane goals by 30. I can't even imagine being 28 and needing to start from 0 (and by 0, I mean 0 experience, not money) working as hard as anyone but bringing in no income, questioning my ability, struggling to pay rent, and needing to save every penny. I thought getting started at 25 after 7 years of school was late, but believe me, its still damn early and you'll have a headstart on most. You'll also be putting yourself in a position to succeed while everyone else is still pretty much finding their bearings in life, as opposed to starting late twenties-early thirties, when people around you are in senior "slowlane" positions, getting promoted, getting married, having kids, and you can't even afford to date. Heck, even so-called "slowlaners" will be in a much better position than you to start a business - at least they'll have money in the bank and presumably 5-10 years of actual work experience in some form of industry.

When you're a child, anything is possible. Once you hit adulthood - and by adulthood I mean paying 100% of your own bills and not accumulating debt towards a degree you'll never use - you'll realize that every year that goes by where you defer your dreams makes it that much harder to actually pursue them.

This is an easy one. Finish up that 1 course to wrap up your degree, and never look back. You're done with school, welcome to the real world.

 

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[F430]

great to get all these responses- I needed some new input.

@mimedia- this post made a LOT of sense and put things in perspective. you made some good points- especially with the whole peer situation thing which I know would annoy the shit out of me because I too, would be thinking Id be wasting my time

@zen*******- Good input- its appreciated- and I might just hold you up on that


So the conclusion I guess is simple: get in the water and learn how to swim as soon as possible

 

[Mouse McCoy]

[video=youtube;pOaYSGHAEnQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOaYSGHAEnQ[/video]

 

[Kencan98]

Turn a bathrobe around, throw away the belt and you have...A Snuggie.

You don't need fancy degrees to create things that sell. You need to know how to SELL in order to create things that sell.

You need to know how to service in order for the customers to keep it.

Degrees get you ready for a career. Failure and making a fool of yourself a few times gets you ready for success.

 

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