Has Your College Education Paid Off?

I’m probably not the best person to ask. I don’t have a college degree yet I’ve written three books, one of which has been a textbook at two universities.

So the question would be how much of the couple of years I did spend in the college classrooms is in the book?

Outside of a few math equations I learned in business math, such as how to compute markups, margins, sales ratios, and a breakeven analysis, not too much.

College Is Mostly Theory

Business classes teach something called the “Four P’s.” Product, Position, Price and Placement. The detail of these four P’s, and how to use them, are learned on the job — not in the classroom.

Every business someone starts is different from every other business. You might say a bakery is a bakery but is that really true?

Every business owner brings something to his or her business that no one else does — mostly from personal experiences.

No Degrees In Selling

Nothing happens in this world until someone sells something. Yet with all the exchanges of business goods and services going on there’s no university that I’m aware of that offers a degree in sales.

You would think that curriculum would be offered in every business school on earth. At minimum it should be a minor.

An M.B.A. with no sales training? What’s that worth?

Success Requires At Least Six Things Colleges Don’t Teach

Those six things are the ability to Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide, Read and Write. If you can master those six things you have the foundation to succeed at almost anything you want to do in life.

The good news is the bulk of those six things can be done with a handheld calculator. The other two — communication skills — separates the men from the boys.

Some Final Thoughts

If you have a degree in one of the S.T.E.M. disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) then you are probably making a livable income if you’re in a larger city.

If you can repair things or build things you’re also probably doing alright. I got a “B” in auto mechanics in college.

That did help me get a summertime job with a dealership in my hometown. So maybe that college did pay off.

“Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school,” ~ Albert Einstein

I guess he would know.

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