General Business: Leaving College For The "Real World"

I am becoming increasingly sick of college and am seriously considering leaving school after this semester. However, I am practical enough that I want to thoroughly research everything before making such a decision. On some level I figure that being forced to actually earn a living would light quite a fire under my ass very quickly, but I'm not one to just trust that that will work.

Anyway I want to hear from those of you who either went straight from high school to being an entrepreneur or stopped going to school. Right out of the gate, what kind of businesses did you start or run to build a basic level of income? Did you initially take a job and do business on the side (This is what I am leaning toward) until you could work for yourself? Did your parents offer a "safety net" for you during the transition? (I do not expect mine to do this, or generally be very supportive.) Thanks - I will probably have ongoing questions like this as I try to prepare myself and my finances for possibly making this transition. And also, I wouldn't mind hearing arguments against doing this - I know this is a risky idea.

After this semester I should have 55 to 60 hours toward a 128 hour degree. In terms of year, this is the second semester of my freshman year - I brought a lot of hours in with AP credits.

Jimi,

My opinion: You will never learn how to really run a business in school. But there are a lot of things you never learn by running a business that you will learn in school.

Start your business and go to school part time but you should go to school and not just to get a degree. Get the degree you would want if you didn't need it. Do something you enjoy in school and start a business part time.

Posted By: SSM

If you are sick of college, just wait til you're out...it isnt nearly as fun as college.

Maybe you just arent having fun then? I partied like an animal. got a 3.8 and would go back in a second if I were 18 again.

I can vouch for that...and I never even went to college.

I started businesses fresh out of high school and like SSM said, it's not nearly as fun as college. Yeah studying sucks, yeah tests suck, yeah it's boring sometimes too and sometimes you feel like you're just wasting your time and perhaps killing your entrepreneurial energy. If you were feeling like this before going to college to start with, I'd say screw it. But since you're there and halfway done, you've got to stick it out. Get whatever degree you're going for and get out.

Use school to your advantage for future business. Start networking like crazy and start making friends with other like minded people because they're the ones that are going to be your partners/employees in the future. Start using all the schools free/cheap resources to educate yourself on business, marketing, etc.

College is a party, running a business is not. If you're also sacrificing the relationship you have with your parents and their support, that's also going to hinder you in the future, especially mentally.

I vote you keep it together and maybe change up your routine at school to make it more interesting and gear it more towards that entrepreneurial hunger you've got inside.

Like I said I never went to college - but despite some moderate success and a happy life I've built without it, I wish I had - not for the education, but for the experience. There's never another chance in your life to take a stab at it.

Start a business yourself, you will find being at uni and running business will make you look much better to the teachers and staff.

Im making about 26k a year from my business while doing uni fulltime, also taking on more of a work load to just keep me going and trying my best, im in my 2nd year now of a 3 year degree and also plan to add my Masters of Digital Design after that for another year fulltime.

My teachers seem to talk to me less like a student because they know im making good money for my age doing graphic design, I wear clients shirts to uni and use a lot of uni services to network and do work.

Knowing I wont be out of uni for about 3 more years (will be 21 the year I graduate) I have it set in the back of my head that I can go pretty much making AUD$50k by myself a year min with a bachelor and masters in the design field.

Think about the future, pretty much all my friends are starting uni now after a gap year (waste of a year to me) and aren’t really sure where they want to go...
Sort out a plan of where you want to head and what you need to get there and also what would be helpful to get you there.

Talk to someone at uni about it, someone who you want to be like or are on the path to where you want to be.

On another note, will you have enough work to be living off your business? Build it up while at school so in the end you can walk out and be making good money yourself in an established business of your own.

Make the most of your time if you can, but it really depends on the industry. As web / graphic designers Jam and I can work on client stuff in the middle of classes if it gets boring :) Just because you are there doesn't mean you have to be 100% focussed on the class - hell, most of your classmates probably aren't! Bring another notepad and get started on business ideas or something.

I think while it is good right now to get more cash from a business, in 20 years it might be better to have a degree - so i'm hedging my bets!