
Highschool or College Dropouts who made BIG business
I found this article on Retire at 21.com and thought I’d share it with you. It proves that being successful in business isn’t something you can learn at school, it isn’t dependent on having a degree, or a masters in business. It has absolutely nothing to do with having a private education or going to a top university.
Making it big in business and becoming successful is all about passion, drive, motivation and being remarkable.You must have the patience to make it through hard times because it takes time and hard work, commitment and passion, determination and a certain element of luck to turn your dreams into reality.
You’ll find that most successful businessmen and businesswomen have a vision when they set out. Not necessarily a vision for their Company, but a vision of where they they are going, where they want to be and what they want to achieve. Do you have this vision? Do your kids have this vision?
While getting an education and developing your skills through learning is very important, there is a huge gap between study and success for Entrepreneurs. I’m not recommending dropping out for everyone. My kids will go to college and at the point in their life when they know where they want to be and what they want to achieve in life, we’ll discuss whether that choice involves continuing into higher education or not. Some kids will choose a career in which success depends entirely on completing further education. It just depends on where they want to go in life. Further education can be taken at anytime in life. If you have a young driven teenager on your hands, it may be a good idea to let them explore their vision, start a business and, if it doesn’t work out, they can continue where they left off and take a degree later!
What I am recommending though is that we all think hard about stamping out our kids visions and dreams and try to think outside the box when it comes to the traditional ‘go to school, do well, get good grades, study further, get a job, work hard, make some money’ scenario. I am a strong believer in educating yourself, but in saying that, it doesn’t always mean University.
The image below lists some of the most successful businessmen of whom most were completely dropped out of college when they were yet teenagers.But one of the most common thing in their lives is : their motivation and drive. They knew that they wanted to achieve something ; something that meant so much to them that nothing was going to stop them.
1
|
Henry Ford ![]() |
Ford Motor Company |
16
|
Dead
|
$188 Billion (in 2009 dollars) |
2
|
Bill Gates ![]() |
Microsoft |
19
|
53
|
$59 Billion |
3
|
Larry Ellison ![]() |
Oracle |
20
|
64
|
$27 Billion |
4
|
![]() |
Las Vegas Sands Corp. |
19
|
77 | $26 Billion |
5
|
Larry Page ![]() |
Graduated University of Michigan
|
35
|
$18.5 Billion | |
6
|
Kirk Kerkorian ![]() |
Tracinda |
12
|
91
|
$18 Billion |
7
|
Michael Dell ![]() |
Dell |
19
|
43
|
$17.3 Billion |
8
|
Paul Allen ![]() |
Microsoft |
20
|
56
|
$16.0 Billion |
9
|
David Geffen ![]() |
Geffen Records |
21
|
65
|
$6.5 Billion |
10
|
Steve Jobs ![]() |
Apple |
18
|
53
|
$5.4 Billion |
11
|
![]() |
Virgin |
16
|
58
|
$4.4 Billion |
12
|
![]() |
Livedoor |
22
|
35
|
$3.6 Billion |
13
|
![]() |
Ralph Lauren |
20
|
69
|
$3.6 Billion |
14
|
![]() |
Zee TV |
12
|
58
|
$2.3 Billion |
15
|
![]() |
Yahoo |
Graduated Stanford
|
40
|
$1.9 Billion |
16
|
![]() |
19
|
23
|
$700 Million | |
17
|
![]() |
DefJam |
19
|
52
|
$340 Million |
18
|
Matt Mullenweg![]() |
WordPress |
18
|
25
|
$200 Million |
19
|
![]() |
Pinstorm & SeedFund |
19
|
43
|
$200 Million |
20
|
![]() |
YouTube |
21
|
30
|
$64 Million |
21
|
![]() |
Digg |
21
|
31
|
$60 Million |
22
|
Jared Isaacman![]() |
United Bank Card |
17
|
26
|
$50 Million |
23
|
![]() |
Volusion |
18
|
26
|
$17 Million |
24
|
![]() |
Napster |
19
|
28
|
$7.5 Million |
25
|
![]() |
ResellerRatings |
20
|
26
|
$7 Million |
26
|
Rob Benwell![]() |
Blogging To The Bank |
18
|
23
|
$5 Million |
27
|
![]() |
Entrecard |
19
|
21
|
$3.2 Million |
28
|
![]() |
Zooomr |
17
|
20
|
$3 Million |
29
|
![]() |
Box.Net |
20
|
23
|
$3 Million |
30
|
![]() |
ServInt |
19
|
32
|
$2.5 Million |
Source: The Most Successful College Dropouts In History.
Inspiring? You bet! Success based on true grit and determination? Undoubtedly!
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That’s really a great and inspiring post!