The College Fix

Would you be amazed learn that a college dropout made nearly four billion dollars in one day this week? Well, it happened.

Would you be a little less amazed if I told you that the guy who made that those billions is Mark Zuckerberg–the founder and CEO of Facebook?

A positive earnings report sent the stock soaring on Wednesday. It was up 30% by the end of the trading day, netting $3.8 billion in profit.

What’s interesting to me about Zuckerberg, however, is not the sum of his wealth from one day to the next, but rather how is career exemplifies the risk/reward factor in one’s career choices. Great achievements in business rarely come to those who play it safe.

Zuckerberg famously dropped out of Harvard to build Facebook–a story that was dramatized int he blockbuster movie The Social Network. Many others who followed a similar path to Silicon Valley have ended up facing failure. In fact, very few students could expect to become billionaires by imitating Zuckerberg’s career path. Nevertheless, I think there is a lesson that many students could stand to learn from Zuckerberg’s example–and that’s that entrepreneurship is a powerful and worthy alternative for a young twenty-something.

Entrepreneurship is about owning your own success, following a passion, and betting on yourself. It’s an option that too few young people consider–instead we tend to look at the “safe” and predictable careers offered by the corporate world. Becoming a lawyer or a corporate manager may be a great fit. But how many out there have a secret business ambition that they simply don’t have the courage to pursue? I think it’s a great many.

There were no shortage of future lawyers, business consultants, and investment bankers among my classmates at Yale. Some of them are making very good money now. But how many find their work, each day, fulfilling and exciting? I’d say that’s a small minority. There’s a fellow Yalie I heard of who graduated some years before me who now lives in Brooklyn and makes artisan pickles–yeah, pickles (dill, sweet, spicy, etc) and sells them at a farmer’s market. That’s what he does for a living. And, you know what? He’s probably happier in his work than most of his classmates who became lawyers.

The main point is: You would do well, if you’re a young person, to ask yourself if taking the risk to start your own business is something that excites you. If so, there’s not better time to try. In some cases, it may raise the question of whether college itself is worthwhile. In our culture, the college degree has become the mark of baseline credibility in the workplace, and a mark of elite social status, and intellectual worth. Don’t be afraid to question those cultural assumptions.

Dropping out of college, or even choosing not to go to college, is a perfectly reasonable option for someone who is committed to being an entrepreneur. You might even say that it is likely to make more sense in the long run, if avoiding debt, for instance, is a priority. Above all, you shouldn’t be afraid to be unconventional, or to take risks.

Zuckerberg–the college dropout–made almost $4 billion this week. But I think what may be just as important to him is that he gets to wake up everyday and work on something that he created, and that he believes in. Whether you’re making pickles, or making the world’s largest social network–doing something you love is a priceless thing, if you can attain it.

Before you go ahead and follow the same path all your friends are following–consider entrepreneurship. It’s the road less traveled. But it’s also a path to fulfilling work, and, sometimes, great wealth. Just ask that other famous Harvard dropout–Bill Gates.

Nathan Harden is editor of The College Fix and author of the book SEX & GOD AT YALE: Porn, Political Correctness, and a Good Education Gone Bad.

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