College Dropout

Posted on September 7, 2006 by Brock Blake

Ok, I’m going to come clean: I am a college drop-out!

But, on the other hand…aren’t you?

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my college days; probably some of the best times in my life. But, as soon as I caught the entrepreneurial bug, school was the last thing on my mind! I’m not down-playing the importance of going to college and getting a degree (Most of the education that is taught is very valuable). But at the same time, entrepreneurship is AMAZING!

One of the things that I like most about entrepreneurship is the opportunity to learn. If you can’t tell by the title of my blog, learning is a very important part of my life and career. Honestly, I think that I dedicate about an hour each day to formal learning and then enjoy the informal learning that occurs throughout the rest of the projects and experiences that I am having. My job is fulfilling. I love to go to work each day because of the challenges that I face.

(I’m getting off topic…back to school). Even though I got the entrepreneurial bug, it is important to me that I graduate from college. As a result, I have been spending the last 1.5 years working on independent study and night classes. To be honest, I can’t stand it (I would rather be spending time with family, working, playing, blogging, or even sleeping!) but for the sake of finishing that which I started — I will finish.

Brock GraduationAll of this brings me to: I finally walked a couple of weeks ago! All of my projects and course work is complete with one final left to go. I’m glad that it’s coming to an end and am grateful for my wife’s motivation to help me finish.

Are there any others out there that wish to come clean? If so, I’d like to hear your story! :)

About Brock Blake

Hello...my name is Brock Blake.
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  • http://www.bartgibby.com Bart Gibby

    Brock,

    Congratulations on graduating!!

    I feel the same way. I have 100+ credits at Utah Valley State College and I took a year off doing an independent study class at BYU. My math is holding me back, but that’s my fault.

    The year I took the math independent study class I also started three internet businesses and well I wish I had more capital so I then got a job which brought me back to asking why am I not in school.

    So now I am back in school part time, (I have too many upper division credits to go full time, like I said math is hurting me). But I too would rather be building and applying my knowledge starting and growing companies than theorizing and doing work that has no monetary value.

    Class work has no value to anyone (exceptions do exist especially in trades and skill based “education”). Not even my teachers truly value my work. If they did they would be paying me, I wouldn’t be paying them.

  • http://www.donloper.com Joshua Steimle

    Congrats Brock. For the next several years you will have nightmares in which you suddenly realize that you forgot to attend one of your classes all semester, or you missed the final and will have to retake the class. A fear unlike anything else will grip you, but suddenly you’ll wake up and realize you’ve already graduated and everything is ok. I never had those dream while in school, but I’ve had several of them since graduating and each time I’m extremely relieved that I already graduated and don’t have to go to school again.

    A former employer which is now a large and famous Utah company offered me $30K and 5,000 shares to drop out of school. I chose to quit the job. Then I started my own business and proceeded to fail my classes due to being busy with my own show. It had the effect of turning my five year college plan into a seven year college plan (yes, seven years of full time college), but I’m glad I finished it all, although I’m not yet sure why. When you run your own business and you get a master’s degree it generally doesn’t mean you get a raise.

  • http://www.chrisknudsen.biz Chris

    Brock:

    Congrats. It took me a while to get through myself but what a relief it was to have it done. Then I went and jumped in MBA school. The first day of class I almost dropped out because it dawned on me that I had two more years of school in front of me and “what the heck was I thinking!”

    Good job!

  • http://www.chadblodgett.com Chad Blodgett

    @Josh – your description of nightmares had me laughing so hard! You hit it right on the money, and it’s nice to know I’m not the only one.

    I too started a business during school and barly made it through to graduation. There are times that I wonder what I missed in those classes – but I’m sure it was just school stuff :)

  • http://www.slssystem.com larry

    Having your own business is great – which I have. But I think you miss the point of education or what it can be.
    1 – You get a variety of informtion background that you can use if you know what you are doing (even math, history, etc.)
    2 – It shows others you deal with you are accomplished at a certain level – a person I met returning to college for an MA degree needs one since she works for Varizon and they need more degreed people to get bigger jobs and accounts
    3 – Most people do not know how to translate study skills into skills at a job or their own company. Don’t forget, Bill Gates was smart to begin with and when he started his company, the guys he worked with had degrees and those he hires now have degrees. That’s smart hiring.
    4 – You can make it without a degree but eventually you hit a wall – in credibility or in how much further you can go or because the market changes and you can’t. Lots of dumb workers who have degrees but that is another matter. Most professors don’t get involved in their own business so they don’t appreciate the entrepreneur or business owner. They are employees preparing employees. Not the same thinking.

    You can make it without college but a college degree in a good major helps you so much –
    When a sports team gets ready pre-season, they do lots of exercises that they don’t use as an exercise during game day but what they use while developing those exercises is valuable during game day. Don’t discount what you learn or just the learning of any idea. If you know what you are doing, and are creative, there’s lots you can use no matter what business you are in. Today’s opportunities may disappear in a few years. It’s planning for down the road that counts.

    Good study skills at http://www.slssystem.com

  • http://www.lanceblack.com Lance Black

    Congrats my friend! When I graduated I told my wife I was never stepping on the campus again, not because I didn’t like the school but because I was so tired of being poor and a slave to school deadlines. The sad part is I found myself back in school 5 yrs later for more punishment.

    You’ll be glad you did it. Not necessarily because of the “education” but mostly because it is a check off the ‘ol life list. The piece of paper is important and i’m sure I learned something along the way. :-)

  • http://www.startupprincess.com Kelly Anderson

    You WERE a college drop out…no more, you are a college grad, you just took a break to dive in to your opportunity. Give yourself credit. I took 6 years to finish my Master’s degree and had to petition the last year of it to stay in the program, but it didn’t matter that it took forever, just that I did it…So did you, congrats!! Yippee. Great to meet you at Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum. I can’t wait to help sponsor/fund a Women’s BP competition someday. That is my goal. Because the BEST thing about my many years at BYU was that BP competition. And I was a THEATRE student. I love business and teaching women that they can create their dreams…You in to help fund a WOMENS only competition someday??

  • http://www.shmula.com Pete Abilla

    Undergraduate and Graduate studies can be helpful for a few reasons:

    1) network
    2) network
    3) network

    The above 3 items pretty much applies if and only if your school has high-powered and influential alumni.

    I dropped out of a Ph.D program at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business. I left to chase money and satisfy my itch to get in the workplace. I ended up with a Master’s and I’m now connected to all the Chicago alumni via the alumni network.

    Networking is key; college alumni is a great step in building a great network.