This is bad advice.<p>Even the stereotypically low-earning majors (Education and English) are very (financially) rewarding to those who complete degrees. This is true even though most majors confer almost no useful skills or knowledge. The only caveat is that there is almost no reward for attending college, so you should only go if you are reasonably certain that you will complete the degree.<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Case_Against_Education" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Case_Against_Education</a>
Let me outline this for you:<p>1. Pontificates a bit on the “Don’t go to college, start an online business instead” meme, arguing it as good advice.<p>2. Claims writing is an important skill for starting an online business.<p>3. Provides call-to-action selling online course about writing: <a href="https://writeofpassage.school/" rel="nofollow">https://writeofpassage.school/</a><p>We were all just making fun of the dropshipping cargo cult a few days ago and here we are upvoting this.
I get the sentiment, but it would also be good for a lot of people to goto junior college and knock out some pre-reqs at the same time.<p>Also, I think you should make it the whole school year, not just a semester (if we have issues this fall, we're likely to also have them in January and February of next year).<p>This gives you several advantages:<p>1 - you don't fall a year behind in schooling<p>2 - you can still start a business, as junior colleges aren't trying to weed out students<p>3 - your cost will be lower (no room & board, lower tuition)<p>I fully agree with the author that now is a time to try something new, even if you fail completely, you'll learn a lot more than you ever thought you would.
> Use your time to start an online business.<p>I feel like some people have been in the startup world too long and forget not everyone is trying to be an entrepreneur.<p>> But what if my college goes out of business from a lack of tuition dollars?<p>Students aren't concerned about this. No one goes to college with the goal of funding their college.<p>Degrees still matter in many industries, and this article seems to be targeting too broad of an audience.
Honestly, it sounds like the author lives in his own bubble. There are a ton of people who give zero shits about online businesses. I'm sure all of us heard of those people, you know, they call them doctors, architects, teachers, actors, police officers, etc.
> The smartest people I know are mostly self-educated. They already know the secret: With an Internet connection and strong work ethic, you can teach yourself.<p>> To sum up, don’t pay $30,000 for Zoom classes. Start a business instead.<p>Author seems to be trying to be provocative, but at the risk of stating the obvious - there are lots of other in-between options too, including a formal education that doesn't cost $30k/yr (zoom or no zoom).
> In the best-case scenario, you’ll end the year with a path towards a profitable business and the money-making skills you thought you needed student loans to build.<p>Author should include a pie chart (or something) of the odds of this happening. When you're unable to see the "profitable business on first try after 4 months" slice for how vanishingly small it is, that will put this advice into context. Basically, if someone wants to do this, they should definitely do it _for the experience_, not because this is a viable means of starting a profitable business.<p>I say this as someone who is not a fan of "college for all" and think that taking a year after high school to work & experience life without grades (and without someone else paying the bills) before heading to college is very good idea.
In general, this advice can make sense in some cases. However, I want to share some advice that I've found while both investing in hundreds of businesses and running a few myself:<p>1. Don't start something you're not actually passionate about. The easiest way to work your a<i></i> off and never procrastinate is to love what you do.<p>2. If you build it, they will /not/ come. It's all about marketing, marketing, and, did I say, marketing.<p>That said, I agree with many of these comments here. Having a degree really will help you get a job unless you're the top in your field already.
And what if you are going to College to learn something, rather than "for the experience", or "to socialize"?<p>What if you don't care how many amenities they have, or that the cafeteria is something special? You just want some classes?<p>It seems to me college has gotten more and more expensive as teens are treating it as some sort of adult theme park/experience.
"Use your time to start an online business" instead of going to college? Does that strike you as a good idea? A better strategy is comm. college for a year especially if you live in i.e. CA that has very good ones.
This is self-promotion. He urges readers to "Learn by watching YouTube tutorials and taking online courses" instead of going to college and talks about his YouTube videos and then links to his online courses.