What do Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, Richard Brandson and Steve Jobs have in common? Yes, they are all very rich and successful – they also all dropped out of school or college. But what is the reason for their success? Is it because they are drop-outs and being over educated is a restriction to success? As there are many college dropouts not nearly as successful, I think not.
Not having a formal qualification does put pressure on you to be more innovative, but I think that important thing that most people miss is that with all these successful guys that dropped out were moving onto something else. It was a side project, a dream, a hobby that they managed to make a business out of. Some other project in their life just became more important thatn getting a degree at that point.
Most successful people that I deal with are the types of people who have laods of projects on the go, or at least did before they dropped everthing else to focus on one specific project. When they werre at university they were involved in other societies, clubs, hobbies or businesses. Like Steve Woznaic who designed and built the entire Apple I and Apple II computers in one year… all while working a 9 to 5 job at HP. It was Sergy Brin’s hobby to “donload the whole internet” that lead to the PageRank script that was the foundation for Google’s search.
The fact that many wealthy people don’t have degrees has very little to do with the value of a degree or not. I believe it has way more to do with what they do in their spare time. Hobbies and side projects are far less constrained by the rules of society and are often far more out-of-the-box than the convential 9 to 5 job that you rely on. After all, the more side projects that you run the higher the chance that one of them might just work out.
So next time you meet someone interesting, instead of asking what they do for a living, ask them what they do in their spare time.
Nice post. Also, don’t forget that, in the case of Google, the PageRank algorithm came directly as a result of PHD research and the that patent was inititally assigned to Stanford, not Google. This may be a reason that a lot of the successful ideas start off as side projects; ideas that are directly related to university research are normally tied to IP-related issues.
In any case I agree with you. The “no successfully people ever finished varsity” idea is a symptom and not a cause. However, I think there is something to say for the guy who believes in his/her idea so much that they are willing to risk everything for it.
Interesting point Roger. However whilst that is what they have in common, it’s more inherent than that. Each of them creates their wealth in a different way. Steve Jobs could not successfully replicate what Bill Gates did and make millions, nor could Richard Branson replicate what Sergey Brin (& Larry Page) has done (and I’m not speaking from a knowledge base either).
If one looks at the successful entrepreneurs in the world one can see that each has followed a particular wealth profile. Each of us has it, we mostly don’t know how to tap into it.
I highly recommend a book called Your Life, Your Legacy written by Roger Hamilton. He wrote the book, which includes case studies of all the men you mentioned plus numerous other entrepreneurs detailing wealth profiling. He also developed the Wealth Dynamics Profile test which has been based on the I-Ching. It’s fascinating and I can say from my own experience made a difference in the way I go about creating my wealth and business.
I can access the book for you if you want.
@Jacqui: You might find some of the answers in my other post on billionaires.
http://rogernorton.net/blog/2010/what-i-learnt-from-billionaires/
It should clarify some of the points on how diverse the ways to make money are.
I really digg this mindset! I also stumbled upon it when I read Malcolm Gladwell’s outliers, when he talked about getting into 10 000 hours. Basically that passion that formed a business – tipped at 10 000 hours. Go well.
Dirk