Successful Entrepreneur – No, You Don't Need A College Education to be Successful

Soar Above The Rest By Design

[Note – Please know that I am NOT against college or graduate level education. I have both a BA and an MBA myself. But if you do NOT, don’t let it hold you back!]

So you're thinking about joining the world of the self-employed but you're concerned because you don't have a college education. How can you compete against people who have gone to some of the best business schools in the country? In the world?

Relax.

Some of the world's most successful businesspeople grew their empires without the benefit of higher education.

Let These People Inspire You

When you think about it, one of the big things you've missed is paying 100 grand (or more) to have some professor tell you how to fit into a box. Perhaps for YOUR life, you're much better off being a free-thinker like the following movers and shakers:

Diana Spencer never attended college and wasn't a very good student, but there was something about her that grabbed the attention of the world.

Diana supported charities that brought attention to health matters such as AIDS and leprosy. She was a patron of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, and that work still goes on today in her name.

She was kind, beautiful, and empathetic, and when she died in the Paris tunnel, a little part of all of us died with her highness.

Peter Jennings, the urbane ABC news anchor, dropped out of a Canadian high school at the age of 17. That didn't prevent him from becoming one of the most famous foreign correspondents in the United States.

After over ten years abroad he returned stateside to act as the anchor of ABC Evening News. Who can forget his coverage of the World Trade Center collapse, or the night he announced lung cancer was forcing him to retire?

Wanna travel into space? Well, you might give Virgin Galactic a call. That's one of Richard Branson's companies. Sir Richard never went to college, but Virgin is one of the most recognizable and popular brands in the world.

And he's a Knight of the British Empire. Not bad for a high school dropout.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of our most celebrated novelists, dropped out of Princeton because he wasn't a very good student. That didn't stop him from writing The Great American Novel.

Although not very popular when first published, The Great Gatsby is number two on Modern Library's list of 100 Best Novels of the 20th century. Another of his books, Tender is the Night, is number 28 on the same list.

Another great American writer, William Faulkner, dropped out of high school in his sophomore year.

Faulkner, too, has two books on Modern Library's list: The Sound and The Fury at number 6, and As I Lay Dying at number 35. (By the way, number 1 on the list is ULYSSES by James Joyce.)

In 1949 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Pretty good for a man with no formal education.

When Henry Ford landed in Detroit, cars were built by hand, one-by-one. He figured out how to speed up the process using an assembly line and interchangeable parts.

He also advocated high wages for his employees, which lessened turnover and improved the workers' quality of life.

He received 161 patents, one for a car made from soy-based plastic. He had no education to speak of, just a belief in himself and the drive to make the world a better place.

Oh yeah, he also instituted the eight-hour work day so three shifts could build cars around the clock.

Patrick Stewart, Captain Picard of Star Trek, The Next Generation, and Professor Xavier of the X-Men franchises, has a voice like a university professor. When he talks, you're compelled to listen.

He dropped out of school at the age of 15 to pursue acting and never looked back.

Anna Wintour, the current editor of Vogue, quit school at 16 to enter a training program at Harrod's, London's famous department store.

Today, she's among the world's foremost fashion authorities, setting trends and mentoring young designers. This woman determines what you and I will be wearing in the years to come.

Dropping out of Harvard in his Junior year didn't stop Bill Gates from changing the world as we know it. He's Mr. Microsoft, inventor of the personal computer. Bet you've got at least one at home or know several people who do.

Mr. Gates is consistently ranked among the world's richest men. To date, his charitable organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has given away over $35 billion.

Steven Spielberg dropped out of CSU Long Beach to work in the movie industry. He's directed such classics as Shindler’s List, Jaws, the Indiana Jones series, and Munich, to name just a few.

Considered the most influential American director of all time, Spielberg has a natural talent for film making and passion that shows in every frame of his films.

Hard to believe, but Frank Lloyd Wright can be included in this illustrious group. It's doubtful he ever graduated high school, and he only attended two semesters of college.

One of the world's most famous architects had no degree, yet he was one of the founders of the Prairie School movement, and created beautiful, iconic buildings that still inspire us today.

And for the cherry on top, here's a list of U.S. Presidents who didn't attend college:

Grover Cleveland
Millard Fillmore
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Johnson
Abraham Lincoln
Zachary Taylor
Harry S Truman
Martin Van Buren
George Washington

You Become What You Envision And Work Hard For

Lack of an education didn't prevent any of these men and women from achieving big things in the world of business and politics. They all had ambition, the drive to succeed, and they always believed in themselves.

Success is not something learned in college, and it certainly isn't guaranteed with a degree. It's something you can develop by following certain tried and true steps.

To discover what those steps are, read my article “Successful Entrepreneur – Can I Make It As An Entrepreneur?”

And be sure to leave us a comment below – what OTHER great success stories do you know that were created by someone who hadn't finished college?

Best,

Charlie Seymour Jr
A Work At Home Dad since 1983, succeeding in this economy

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Keep this with this article, please:

Charlie Seymour Jr is an entrepreneurial evangelist and success-marketing coach helping individuals and companies (up to $100MM) explode their success through online and personal-touch marketing. He specializes in blogging, podcasting, photography, video, Facebook, and Twitter applications. Visit his blog at Charlie Seymour Jr's Blog to learn more about his successes.

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Successful Entrepreneur – No, You Don't Need A College Education to be Successful

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