Today is a spicy episode. It’s a pretty big hot take on a somewhat controversial topic: is going to college necessary to be an entrepreneur or start your small business?

 We have MANY thoughts on this and we’re about to get into them ALL on the show today. We answer the question of whether or not WE went to college for what we’re doing now, we give our two cents on if college is necessary at all and specifically for small business owners, and we get pretty heated on the why behind our answers. 

 

Before we dive in…

As a preface as we start this episode: we’re about to share our personal opinions and thoughts, and in no way are we trying to give professional life advice. Every single person’s story is unique and therefore your life path will be unique as well.

Lindsey’s background story:

Went to college at the University of Kansas double majoring in theater and film and a minor in business. 

Evie’s background story:

Never went to college. 

 

Do you need college? 

A degree is used to ensure more job security, ensure that you would get a position that you would get paid well. No in days, it doesn’t appear to be the case.

We do want to say that something good about college is it can be a place to build community, meet lifelong friends, and be impactful not necessarily for the degree or education but for the experiences that you have there.

 In our opinion, if you’re set on building your own business and becoming an entrepreneur, a college education/degree is entirely unnecessary. 

College degrees are still vital for certain industries (ex: doctor, lawyer, teacher, etc) but we can’t tell you the number of entrepreneurs we’ve talked to who went to college and have never once used their degree or felt that they gained anything from those 4 years of school except tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

 Honestly, college education call also be extremely textbook and not super applicable depending on your degree and field of study.

 

The Financial Piece

If the value of college is now friendships and experiences. That is a very expensive four-year-long experience. It is a good place to meet people but you don’t have to spend 50k a year to meet people.

Evie went to a one-year ministry program and met Landon there, so there are other options outside of college. If you are looking at college as the only way to have new experiences, expand your worldview, strengthen your faith and make friends. We want to challenge that, that is a very long four years and thousands of dollars to get that experience.

 

Other Options than College 

Invest a few thousand dollars in a mentor, a business coach, or some educational courses, conferences, books, etc. Give yourself a 4-year head start and skip all the unnecessary “training” and “life experiences”

We’re not trying to hate on college. But instead, we’re trying to give another thought and option other than the culturally expected and encouraged route of “graduate high school, go to college, accumulate piles of debt, find yourself a mediocre 9-5 job that you don’t like.”

There are other ways to learn, some of them are more life-applicable and less expensive, and we just feel there are way more options than the traditional education route (especially when it comes to entrepreneurship).

And some people have the greatest experiences with college, have family willing to pay for it, or get scholarships, etc and they feel strongly led in that direction. If that’s the case for you, AMAZING. Again, NO hate on college. Rather, we’re trying to shake up the cultural “norm” that’s been stuck in the past for way too long.

 

ALL THIS TO SAY

We want to challenge the norm of college. If you feel it’s the right life choice for you – WE FULLY SUPPORT IT. However, if you’re only doing it because it’s the “next step” and you don’t think you have another choice, we want to help you think again. 

Input for those who are currently in college and struggling with what to do:

• It’s SUCH a personal, case-by-case-basis decision and situation. We cannot give wise life advice here without knowing you, your goals, your situation, etc personally.
• You don’t have to go to college to be a successful entrepreneur or be successful period.
• It depends so much on your circumstances and situation, but we want you to know there is no shame from dropping or not finishing.

 

 

Show notes 

The Heart Conference: www.theheartuniversity.com/conference

 

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Follow along:

www.instagram.com/mrslindseyroman

www.instagram.com/evierupp

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