You know it since you can remember - education is the key to success. But is this rule still valid?College degree is usually considered as an obligatory first step to any respectable career, but times are changing, so are the standards. The way to make a fortune could be totally different from what we had once imagined.
The global recession gave us all a lesson - nothing is certain. There are so many people out there who have graduated college with honors, but found themselves out of work after all. Having a marketable degree turned out to be not such a secure investment in people’s future. There are lot of things that might affect on the direction of our lives and careers: our interests, the current business tendencies, our entourage, and most of all - our luck and the chances we dare to take advantage of...
We are not saying college education should be underestimated. We are just giving you another point of view. Of course, college years indubitably have a priceless contribution not only to people’s theoretical knowledge, practical skills and general culture. College times are also incomparably valuable for people’s life experience. They could enrich our world outlook.
And still... It turns out that there are some very rich and famous people who did not finish or did not even attend college. Yes, these wealthy people managed to find the right way to realize their dreams skipping the college degree. Today they are not just popular and rich. Their names have turned into synonyms of success:
Henry Ford
He is the founder of Ford Motors - he must have been an engineer, right? No! Here is a big surprise: this innovation genius not only did not go to college, Henry Ford did not even finish high school! It turns out that the person who invented the assembly line and who was ranked among the most influential and innovative individuals of the entire 20th century has no education. This lack was obviously no obstacle for Henry Ford. By using the assembly line Ford Motors was manufacturing and selling cars at the lowest prices. The sales volume and the profits climbed year after year and Mr. Ford managed to build one of the most successful companies ever.
John D. Rockefeller
Another man whose name is an equivalent of wealth and success, and another man who has not completed even high school. This oil mogul was one of the businessmen who has always found the most clever way to manage their money. His monster business, Standard Oil, was founded back in 1870. The company had rapid success and gained almost complete control of oil refining and marketing in the United States. In order to avoid the charges of monopoly Rockfeller had to break his huge company into several separate smaller ones. Rockefeller is still considered to be one of the richest persons in history.
Michael Dell
You probably think it was different and easier to be inventive and revolutionist during the 19th and the early 20th century? Well, if Henry Ford or J.D. Rockfeller were not such big surprises for you, check out our next three non-highly-educated persons! They are dealing with computers and modern technologies. And they still have neither technical nor any college education at all. First of them is Michael Dell CEO of Dell computers. He dropped out of college when he was only nineteen. Until then however he has already begun his computer company. It started in his dorm room and developed to a company that worths more than $40 billion dollars.
Bill Gates
Yes, the richest person on the planet is in this list too! Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard University to create his partnership with Paul Allen. You know how the story goes on further - this partnership later became Microsoft. As a matter of fact, nowadays Gates does have a degree. In 2007 Harvard awarded him an honorary doctorate degree. But it has nothing to do with his success though. His company is worth about $79 billion dollars.
Mark Zuckerberg
He is young and successful, and he totally changed the way people from all over the world communicate with each other. Yes, he founded his platform at the time when he was in college, but he never graduated. He borrowed money from PayPal founder Pete Thiel and developed the social networking site which quickly made a world social revolution. Today Facebook is not only the favorite online spot where millions of people spend many hours every day. This is also one of the most sought after advertising venues around. Even the already mentioned Microsoft paid a huge sum for a 1.6% share of Facebook. The company net worth is $36.1 billion dollars.
Mary Kay Ash
The only lady in our list. Mary Kay is the woman who has founded a multi-million dollar cosmetic company and one of the most successful female entrepreneurs at all. And she has no college degree as well. The woman who is synonymous of beauty and success has only finished school. Then she attended college, but never graduated, because she choose getting marry. Then she founded her cosmetic company and managed to shoot it to the top by using the concept of client becoming partner and retailer. Mary Kay considered the company and its clients to be a part of one big family. And the success, she thought, should be also spread among all of the family members. And it worked flawlessly! Obviously education has nothing to do with the fine business acumen.
Steven Spielberg
It was about time to include someone from the entertainment industry in our list. Surprisingly it is not some actor or singer, but one of the most famous directors in Hollywood, considered to be one of the best movie directors of all time. Spielberg was studying in California State University, but dropped from it in hopes of getting into film school. He applied twice but was denied admission. Step by step Spielberg’s carrier developed and his DreamWorks Movie Studios produced some of the most successful and profitable movies. The company is estimated to be worth $3.6 billion dollars.
Walt Disney
The founder of a huge cartoons kingdom could not receive a high school diploma. He was not just a bad student, he went even further by writing a letter to his high school principal about just how much he hated school. But Disney had some things much more valuable than formal education - he was innovative, creative, imaginative and managed to realize his animation dreams.
