I need advice - Should I drop out of college and start a business?

[AnarchoCarpetalist]

First off, hi! It's my first time posting, looking forward to talking to y'all. I really would appreciate your feedback on this sort of thing, especially if you’ve been in a similar position.Second off, some background.Last year was my freshman year at Colorado State University studying environmental engineering. I hated it (and the school in general) for a variety of reasons. Right now I'm taking the semester off (we're allowed to take a single semester off at my university with no penalty/paperwork) and I've been living at home with my parents. Next semester I have to make the decision to either1.) Go back to CSU2.) Apply to and transfer to a different collegeor 3.) Drop outMy mom really wants me to go to college. She feels like I might go down an undesirable life path if I don’t go to college. I would try to convince her that I’ll be able to be successful without college, but I’m not 100% sure myself if I would like to go to college or not. The main reason I would want to go to college is just to get a degree as a backup in case my entrepreneurial endeavors don’t work out. I probably would get a degree in some sort of engineering, either electrical or mechanical.I know with fair certainty that I want to be an entrepreneur as my profession. The option that I’ve been considering most is transferring to a university that’s closer to home and working on my business as I get my degree.Would doing full time university with entrepreneurship on the side be a waste of time and money or a helpful backup in case things don’t work out?More relevant information: I’m fortunate enough to have a college fund from my grandparents and so student debt will likely not be a problem. Also I’ve already invented and made a semi-functioning prototype of a product that I think has a lot of potential to make moneyThanks for the help

[Pepin]

I don't have a clue as to what you should do.

 

The pros, cons, and risks of dropping out of college contain so many different factors to think about. Trying to calculate these factors in conjunction with the pros, cons, and risks of becoming of entrepreneur seems far too overwhelming. So I suggest breaking it up into completely separate questions.

 

"Should I become an entrepreneur?" seems like the first question to ask. This is where you want to think about the risks, the investment of time and resources need, failure plans, how success or failure will impact your future, and so on.

 

If the answer is yes, the second question may be "do I need secondary education or additional training for the field I wish to go into?". If you want to design some kind of video game, some schooling may be rather helpful. If you know nothing about managing finances, a few courses might help.

 

To be clear, I don't really know the best way to approach this or the right questions to ask, but questions like "would doing full time university with entrepreneurship on the side be a waste of time and money or a helpful backup in case things don't work out?" are only going to paralyze you, as they contain two very real possibilities.

 

This plan likely appeals to you as it seems to minimize the risk to a large extent, but it still bothers you because there are still risks. I will also add that this plan might backfire in that you are not able to give your all to you classes which results in poor grades, which hinders your ability to get a job, or it might hinder your business... Or it might work out great. Very difficult to predict.

 

To be blunt, you really have to be open about the risks you are willing to expose yourself to, and to decide based on what you are willing to risk. There are risks to everything, going to school, not going to school, starting a business, not starting a business, working steady at a job, working many jobs, spending time on a project which may or may not pan out.

[AnarchoCarpetalist]

To be blunt, you really have to be open about the risks you are willing to expose yourself to, and to decide based on what you are willing to risk. There are risks to everything, going to school, not going to school, starting a business, not starting a business, working steady at a job, working many jobs, spending time on a project which may or may not pan out.

Thanks for the advice. You're right. There's probably not going to be any easy answers for what I should do. It's hard to say what I'm willing to risk. Going to college might help me with my business goals if I can use some of their resources to help my business, but it might be a huge time drain on my true goals in life...

 

My experience of college in this last year has been that it has been a complete and utter waste of time and money. That might change if I switch to a new college, and it's possible that I just got unlucky with a bunch of awful teachers.

 

Yeah, it's true, it's just about risk mitigation. Maybe the least risky option in terms of finances is to go to college and get the degree. Since it's my first business I'm not expecting it to work out perfectly. I'm hoping to learn a lot from the experience of starting this business, but ultimately I want to gain the skills to start a series of successful ventures in the future. I guess it's not the end of the world if school gets in the way of this business because there's always going to be other entrepreneurial opportunities after I get done with school.

 

So I think I'm leaning more toward the option of starting up school again. It seems like the most risk-mitigating option.

[luxfelix]

A couple of things to consider:

 

What would you want to do if you knew you could not fail?

 

You can be specific, general, or even just focus on how you would want to feel in accomplishing this, as of yet unknown, quest.

 

If you know specifically what business you want to start etc., then look for examples of people (living or deceased) who have/do/have done what you want to do/have. If they can do it, then so can you. If they went to school, then that may be the way to go. Get a hold of them and talk to them directly for their advice and/or read what they (and others) have written.

 

If you only know generally what you want to do/have, then set smaller short-term goals to try things out. Having tried a semester already is a great example. Decide what you liked and did not like about the experience and trust yourself to follow with an informed decision that is a perfect fit for you.

 

If you only have a general feeling or fair certainty for what you want, than follow that feeling to focus your lens, for what you focus on most becomes what you find in your future.

 

I hope that helps. 

[cobra2411]

I don't know what CSU costs, but lets assume 30k/yr. Despite what's advertised, most colleges take 5-6 years to complete, not 4. They like to offer prerequisites out of order to make it all but impossible to actually schedule your classes to complete your degree in 4 years. So 30k times 6 years is 180k. Debt service on 180k is going to be around $1,000/mo. You can not escape that. So no matter what you need to make $1,000 plus enough for basic food and shelter. Put another way, that's about $6/hr full time just to pay your student loans. 

 

Now, as an entrepreneur myself I can tell you that you're not always successful. There have been times when I've had to work 3 jobs to recover from a failed business attempt and only have about 5 hrs sleep a night for almost a year and a half. Having to pay an extra $6/hr would have killed me. 

 

College has become a giant scam where there are only a few degrees left that really make any sense financially. Sure you can make more per hour, but what if you start work and now have 6 years experience? With a degree just starting out will you earn at least $6 more than someone with 6 years experience?

 

I started out in the computer field and did well till the dot com bubble burst. Recovered, then moved into flipping houses till that burst. I saw that one coming and prepared but the market hasn't really recovered and I've moved into HVAC and that's been working out great. You learn to think differently when you're the boss. For example, I think in terms of systems, I have a system to my advertising, a system for my service calls, a system for my installs, etc. I figure them out and make them repeatable so I can train someone else to do them. When I expand I simply replace myself in that position with someone else which frees up time to work on the other systems. I can then continue to replace and duplicate myself and my systems and grow the business. That's the difference between a business owner and someone who's self employed. Self employed people usually think only they can do it best and they never learn to hand things off. That's ok, but it's limiting. In the computer field it was essential I learned to hand things off, but with the HVAC I could simply go on forever working everything myself and make a nice living. Although, once I stop working I stop earning and if I replace myself I can still make money supervising someone with less physical work. 

 

I would say if you don't know what you want to do then absolutely drop out of college. It's gotten so expensive that there is no point wasting your money trying to figure out what you want to do. If you figure out what you want and you need a college degree then you can go back. There's lots that can be done without a degree and the trades are an excellent field to get into. Electrical, plumbing and HVAC are IMO some of the best. You can get a job now, making good money and you learn on the job. Within 5-6 years you'll be in a position to go on your own if you choose and in many cases that starts part time on weekends and nights working for investors and doing side jobs. You'll have no debt that you can't escape if you decide to go on your own and it doesn't work out and you can almost always find work. There are other certificate and apprentice type fields where you can learn as you earn and also have the ability once fully trained to go on your own, but they're not the only fields that you can go into business for yourself. I know someone who did house cleaning part time that when laid off made it her full time job and it's been working out great.

 

And whatever you do, don't go to college just because your mom wants you do. Do it because you want to and you feel it will benefit you in your life. College isn't "the answer" anymore... 

 

EDIT: Now that I've had some coffee, I noticed my numbers are a bit off. First, CSU is a little over $10k per year with books and fees, so about $62-63k for 6 years. Also, at current rates 180k would be around $2k/mo not $1k. $60k is around $700/mo or about $4/hr full time before taxes. Call it $5/hr with taxes and ask yourself if your degree will pay more than $5/hr more than someone with 6 years experience. And lastly, I'm not saying college is always a bad idea, just that it's not the simple slam dunk idea it was 20 or 30 years ago. It's too damn expensive and there's no escape if your wrong. What's worse is you pay no matter what if they're wrong or if they mislead you... How many college grads work at Starbucks? 

[AnarchoCarpetalist]

What would you want to do if you knew you could not fail?

 

You can be specific, general, or even just focus on how you would want to feel in accomplishing this, as of yet unknown, quest.

If I knew I couldn't fail I absolutely wouldn't go to college. A 'success' to me would be to create and build up my business to the point that it can sustain itself and I can either sell it or continue expanding it. I want to feel like I'm actually making a difference in the world by making a useful product that no one has ever thought of before. Not just that, but I want to empower the causes that I'm passionate about through my new technology.

 

In my utopia world I would be a full-time serial entrepreneur who starts business after business, and doesn't have 100% success, but the failures aren't so drastic I need to take up other jobs or go into huge amounts of debt. I absolutely don't need college for that utopian vision of mine, but I'm still not sure how much college would help me in case it doesn't work out.

I would say if you don't know what you want to do then absolutely drop out of college. It's gotten so expensive that there is no point wasting your money trying to figure out what you want to do. If you figure out what you want and you need a college degree then you can go back. There's lots that can be done without a degree and the trades are an excellent field to get into.

That's a good point. I actually have been learning to code and get good with computers because I could potentially land a decent job with a good portfolio and a few years of experience.

 

I'm 100% sure of what I want to do, I'm just trying to figure out if college would be a worthy investment as a backup. I LIKE engineering, but without having the autonomy to invent the things I'm passionate about in a way I'd enjoy, engineering would probably feel like a high-paying starbucks job to me. My end goal IS sort of to be an engineer, but it goes further than that. I want to be an engineer and inventor of revolutionary products as well as someone who gets those products out into the world in the best way.

 

You're also right about the fact that college is a scam and only worth it if your degree can make you more money than the equivalent experience. You're starting to make me think I should build up other skillsets (like computer science) as a backup for a job instead of a college degree.

 

And also, thanks for the thorough response, this is helping me see some different perspectives.

[tasmlab]

(Me: successful business owner with completely useless college degree)

 

If you don't have to pay for school and you are enjoying it at all, might as well finish and have fun.  Have a beer and chat up some girls.  Maybe start a rock band or something.  No risk, can be a great time.

 

If you've got a product ready to go, go ahead and launch it and see what happens.  If you flame out, you can always finish college later.  No risk, unless you burn through tons of cash with the business.

 

In my personal experience, I needed about eight years in the workforce as an employee to really figure out how business worked.  Maybe you're a natural, but for me it likely would've been a disaster to invest any serious money in a new business right out of school.

 

Good luck!

Check out Praxis at www.discoverpraxis.com.  It's a libertarian college alternative that focuses on entrepreneurship.  It's hard to get accepted though.

[Josh F]

You should do whatever you want.  That being said, I don't understand the logic of spending your time on an undesirable backup plan before trying the desirable plan.  

[AnarchoCarpetalist]

If you don't have to pay for school and you are enjoying it at all, might as well finish and have fun.  Have a beer and chat up some girls.  Maybe start a rock band or something.  No risk, can be a great time.

 

If you've got a product ready to go, go ahead and launch it and see what happens.  If you flame out, you can always finish college later.  No risk, unless you burn through tons of cash with the business.

Yeah, I absolutely couldn't stand school when I went to it last year. Maybe it's because I was trying to focus 100% on academics instead of drinking and girls (the academics were absolutely terrible). Maybe if I go to college for its true intended purpose (getting a piece of paper after 4 years of non-stop partying) then I might have fun. But then again that's completely ridiculous and a waste of money.

 

I am super close to having a working product that I can sell, so I just want to launch and see what happens. That's true that I can always finish school later if need be.

 

Also I checked to the Praxis thing. It's pretty cool, thanks for the link, although I'm not sure whether that curriculum would be right for me, but I'll look into more.

You should do whatever you want.  That being said, I don't understand the logic of spending your time on an undesirable backup plan before trying the desirable plan.  

Haha, yeah I guess it does sound pretty silly in that light. I should at least go for my most desirable plan first.

[hannahbanana]

Here are some things you could also think about, going either way...it's much less than what other posters have said, but it's what comes to my mind:

If you dropped out of college and tried to start a business, there are 2 things that could happen. 1) your business works out, and that's great! or 2) your business doesn't work out. BUT, you'll have that to put on a resume, and from what I've noticed there is appreciation out there for young entrepreneurs. Employers appreciate a worker who understands how a business works.

 

If you stayed in school and also did your business at the same time, I know there are many places that have scholarships, contests, workshops, etc. for young people starting a business. You could also find other like-minded people to collaborate with (although there's nothing stopping you from doing that even if you aren't in college).

Personally, I'd only go to school if I was absolutely ready and sure about it. I meet many people in school who either don't know why they're in college (undecided majors) or don't put the effort in/skip all their classes, which is really just a waste of their money. And hey, if your business didn't work out, you could always re-apply and go back to school later if you wanted. It's not a limited time-slot.

[Josh F]

 

Haha, yeah I guess it does sound pretty silly in that light. I should at least go for my most desirable plan first.

Yeah, and no judging.  I dropped out of college as a Senior, I mean I was maybe two semesters away from graduation at the most.  I dropped out of high school to attend college earlier, so I was still fairly young at the time.  Nonetheless, for me the hardest part was putting my own desires in front of other people's expectations.  My vocabulary and intelligence is such that people tend to assume I'm a college graduate, anyways.  And my fields of interest aren't things which require certification: animation, graphic design, and most importantly being an entrepreneur.  So in my particular context, my resume is my work not my certification level.  BTW, what kind of business would you like to start?  What is your product?

[AnarchoCarpetalist]

BTW, what kind of business would you like to start?  What is your product?

I actually am into animation as well! I've been considering doing freelance work for that for a while, but I've been focusing on other things mostly.

 

My product is an automated water tester and doser for aquariums. It would basically measure all of the important parameters that most automatic water testers don't and it would give the user data on their water over time as well as the option for email alerts and the like if the water gets out of whack. It's going to be an open-source project/product.

 

I already have a prototype in the making that works mechanically, I just need to learn a bit more about electronics to get them fully integrated into the prototype.

[Josh F]

wow thats very impressive!!!

[Boohickey11]

I'll give a few observations:

 

-As a BSEE I will tell you that if you want to be an engineer you will need to spend every second studying your discipline in school. You will fail if you try to run a business and try to get an engineering degree at the same time.

 

-As far as creating a revolutionary product is concerned, I applaud the high goals but don't discount taking something and doing it better, or cheaper, or faster. Just building the proverbial "better mousetrap" can get you some good money.

 

If you go to the right school and work your behind off you can probably get a BS in engineering in less than 4 years for under $50k. To do this you will need to sleep, eat, and breath engineering.

 

Here are some names to look up on YouTube if you want to be an entrepreneur: Jeffrey Tucker and Gary Vaynerchuk. They have both given many talks about pleasing customers and making yourself valuable.

 

Also, listen to this podcast with Tom Woods here.

 

I'll post some more if I think of anything.

[NumberSix]

You should drop out and be an entrepreneur.  Starting a new biz will take 24-7 commitment, you won’t have time for school.  Check out Kauffman FastTrac http://fasttrac.org/ and take a class with them if you can.  College will always be there later if things don’t work out.

[andkon]

Right now I'm taking the semester off (we're allowed to take a single semester off at my university with no penalty/paperwork) and I've been living at home with my parents.

Next semester I have to make the decision to either...

I know with fair certainty that I want to be an entrepreneur as my profession. The option that I’ve been considering most is transferring to a university that’s closer to home and working on my business as I get my degree.

Are you working on your business now before you decide what's happening next semester?

[AnarchoCarpetalist]

Are you working on your business now before you decide what's happening next semester?

Yeah, I'm working on my business right now, although it's still in the early stages (developing the minimum viable product)

[andkon]

Yeah, I'm working on my business right now, although it's still in the early stages (developing the minimum viable product)

 

How much time are you spending on it? If not most of your time, why not?

[AnarchoCarpetalist]

How much time are you spending on it? If not most of your time, why not?

I've been working on it like a full time job ~8-10 hours a day. Still taking a while to work out though because I need to learn a lot of engineering and business concepts as I'm going.

[andkon]

I've been working on it like a full time job ~8-10 hours a day. Still taking a while to work out though because I need to learn a lot of engineering and business concepts as I'm going.

 

Well, all I can say is good luck! Often people will say they want to do something but then don't dedicate the time to do so. That's not the case here then. College might be a good idea to find like-minded people. If the engineering or business stuff is too complicated for you, a partner may help. Google (and so many other successful companies) was founded by two guys after all :-)

[AnarchoCarpetalist]

Alright guys, after thinking it over for a while and considering the risks and different opinions I've decided I'm not going back to college. I have backup plans in case things don't work out, and I'm going to continue to work full time on my business. Thanks for the advice!

[tasmlab]

Bully!  Congrats!