By Graham Lutz

I didn’t go to college … well, I did for a bit but then I fired all my teachers and got married and started some businesses.

During that time frame, I got more bad looks, condescending talks, and college vs. high school stats than I could ever imagine. Most of them from my friends’ parents who “knew better.” I’m sure they truly believed that they were doing the right thing by encouraging me to go to college, but I think they are a bit misinformed and biased.

It may be because I’m part of this trend, but I feel as though I am seeing it time and time again. Entrepreneurial kid goes off to college at the urging of parents and friends, just to find himself (or herself) bored and uninterested. I am sure that most of them find themselves torn between what they feel is right and what they have been told.

 Today I want to address the 4 most undiscussed and misunderstood arguments against college.

1. 4 Lost Years — That is, if you finish college in 4 years. The average today for a bachelor’s degrees is 5.2 years. Thinking like a business owner, imagine how productive you could be in 4 years! Thinking how the “go to school, get a good job (with a soft ‘j’), and save money” crowd does, imagine how much money you could make in 5 working years. If you get a sales job, it could easily be $30k-$50k per year, with the 5-year total between $150k-$250k!

2. Post-College Earnings — It is a well known fact that college grads earn an average of 62% more over the course of their careers than non college grads. What I believe is that people misunderstand the causal relationship of that earning discrepancy to the education itself. Most say the college education is what makes the difference. I submit that those who go to college are generally more intelligent, more motivated, and more ambitious (i.e. more likely to succeed with or without college). As Forbes.com says, “the profitability of higher education is a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

3. Learning is Not Confined to a University Campus! — That’s right. You can learn anywhere. In fact, I believe I have learned more since leaving school than I did in all the years prior. If you are truly motivated to learn, nothing can stop you. With the Internet, you have access to infinite information. No one ever said learning has to stop when you’re done with formal education.

4. Other People Did Great! — All I know is that if one other person did it, so can I and so can you. You just need to look to others who have accomplished great things without college:

• John D. Rockefeller
• Bill Gates
• Michael Dell
• Larry Ellison

This is just to name a few, and not to mention people like Ryan Allis, the 22-year old entrepreneur, founder and CEO of iContact, and author of Zero to One Million: How to Build a Company to $1 Million in Sales. You can view his Blog here.

Let me know what you guys think. I’d love to hear everyone’s opinion on why they went or didn’t go to college!

* * * * *

If you liked this article, you can check out more from Graham Lutz at OneThousandaMonth.com.

The post 20-Something Business Trends: The High School Graduate appeared first on Small Business Trends.

By Graham Lutz

Generation Y (25 and under) has grown up watching their parents go off to work every day, 40 – 60 hours per week, with fierce loyalty only to be downsized, outsourced, or laid off in their 40′s and 50′s.

This reality has the 20-somethings with a different mindset from previous generations. We do not want to merely work our time away, but to live a life of significance and fulfillment. That means being and doing more than just having.

In order to be the things you want to be and do the things you want to do, you must have time AND money. Yeah, we want the big tv and the fast car, but more than that, we want quality of life, and those of us who have a nice car know that it does not necessarily translate into quality of life.  Tim Ferriss says in his blog:

Only in the last three years have I really come to understand the concepts of time as currency and positional economics. Before I explain how you can use both to exit the rat race and dramatically upgrade your Lifestyle Quotient, let’s look at some numbers …  According to polls on this blog:

46.88% of Americans say they would need to make more than $200K a year to be happy

63.41% of Americans, assuming prices remained the same, would rather earn $50K in a world of $25K earners than earn $100K in a world of $200K earners

74.64% of Americans would rather get Fridays off vs. a 20% raise

Would you be happier if you were richer? A recent study published in Science by a group including Princeton professors Alan Krueger and Daniel Kahneman, winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize for his work in behavioral economics, indicates that annual income is less important than anyone could have guessed. In fact, it gets less important as the per-capita average continues to grow.

He goes on in his book, The 4-Hour Workweek, to talk about quality of life in a way in which most have never thought, speaking to relative income as opposed to absolute income. He also coined the term, Lifestyle Quotient, a measure of the number of hours you work per day of vacation!  I’m sure you’ve heard of the book, but if you haven’t read it yet, it’s a MUST!

This trend of being and doing is showing up more and more with the “Make Money Online” crowd. The site 45n5 has compiled a list of the Top 100 Make Money Online Blogs. Most of these blogs are people with full time jobs who are making money on the side, and some of the more notable sites include:

• John Chow dot Com, though not in the 25 and under category, is nonetheless a clear influence on the Gen Y internet entrepreneur. His site is where you can get the official Make Money Online With John Chow dot Com eBook free when you sign up for his newsletter! This comes from a man making $17,000+ per month from his blog. Needless to say, he knows what he’s talking about.

• CashBulge is “Your authority on everything financial, from the internet entrepreneur to the off-line money mogul.” These two New Yorkers have made over $1000 from their blog and other online ventures.

• Blogtrepreneur is run by Adnan, a young kid from the UK, who I believe is still in high school. He’s making money online and teaching others to do the same. Talk about a real entrepreneur, he’s just started a consulting business, blogLOUDER.

• MindPetals is not just a community for young entrepreneurs, but “a philosophy that instills ambition, determination, and encouragement in the minds of entrepreneurs making things happen, not just talking.” Check out David Askaripour and the 19 other contributors to the site!

• Small Fuel Marketing is “Simple Marketing Guaranteed to Grow Your Small Business.” They are not all about the lowest priced solution; they just want to provide the “absolute best way” to grow your business. Mason Hipp left college last year to go full steam ahead with his own business online!

This is just a small slice of the pie when it comes to making money online, because you have the eBayers and network marketers to add to this group. When it comes right down to it, we don’t see security in the 9-5 anymore, and we are not going to leave our financial future in the hands of someone else.

Question for Gen Y:

What are you doing to take hold of your financial future and safeguard yourself against the tumultuous corporate world?

* * * * *

If you liked this article, you can check out more from Graham Lutz at OneThousandaMonth.com.

The post 20-Something Business Trends: The Online Entrepreneur with Time and Money appeared first on Small Business Trends.