A lot of people freak out when I say this; understandably, because it’s simply a misconception.

It’s this misunderstanding of the way the world works which will be the destruction of civilization itself. This narrow-minded, often life-ruining decision made by millions of young Americans will destroy our society.

The misunderstanding is that College = Education.

I’m all for education. In fact, educating myself is the ONE reason why I’ve “found success” so early! However, the difference in my education and that of millions of Americans is in the “how,” not in the “what.”

What I mean is that people think that college = THE ONLY WAY FOR EDUCATION, when, in reality, college is but ONE form of education!

I’m sure 50 years ago college was an amazing thing. In fact, it was probably one of the few ways one COULD obtain education. Now, especially with the advent of the Internet, you don’t exactly need college!

Before everyone starts replying with a big “F**# YOU,” let me explain myself:

Our society has completely forgotten the idea of “Opportunity Cost.” You see, “Opportunity Cost” is a business term used to describe the cost of making a decision (or advertising). If I’m selling a $10 product, and I pay $5 to advertise said product, my opportunity cost is $5 per sale.

We can apply the same principle to college, which is how I quite quickly realized that college is a terrible, life-changing path for many Americans.

What is the opportunity cost of going to college?
-4 Years of sitting in a chair listening to useless professors
-Learning outdated information in a rapidly-changing economy
-Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands dollars lost in courses, books, etc.
-Super-slow learning environment that promotes inefficiency
-No sense of creativity
-And many more…

One thing that kind of freaks people out is that I had a full-ride to college opportunity! I graduated high school half a year early, and there are many colleges I could’ve gone to which would’ve paid for my whole tuition.

Remember, I still would’ve paid for it by losing a lot of years of my life, health, and sense of adventure!

A lot of people “freak out” when I say “don’t go to college” because they believe it’s the ONLY way one can find success. That’s just totally wrong. There are a myriad of other “ways” you can educate yourself to find success quicker.

Right now I’m making a full-time post-grad income working less than 20 hours a week. It really saddens me, watching my friends work so damn hard “in the machine” while I kick back and plan my world tour.

I can also work anywhere, anytime- which means that when I start traveling, my “full time job” will really just be having a TON of fun, with a tiny bit of work done on the side.

I watch as my expert-coder friends go to college… FOR WHAT?!? Did you know I just sold a website for $1,000? It took me about 8 hours to complete! That’s OVER $100/Hour, a lot better than the $10.50 / Hour I was making last year!

These coding-friends are SO much better at WordPress, Shopify, and code than I am. Hell, I barely know what I’m doing! But I know a little bit- and I go out and sell what I do know.

Start educating yourself. But give yourself a TRUE education. The world is quite simple: Give value, get paid. In my previous example I built a website, so they paid me $1,000.

Once you realize that all that making money is is delivering value is some way or another, suddenly success appears to be quite easy! The ONLY thing you have to do is develop a skill!

Most of you reading ALREADY have a skill developed you can sell- you just don’t know it yet. Even if you don’t have a skill, it really only takes 3-6 months to develop a skill and make a nice, full-time income!

My “Success” is really not something magical or mysterious. I THOUGHT I wanted to go to college, until I moved to Phoenix and hung out with REAL entrepreneurs. I observed first-hand how a lot of these guys dropped out of college (and one out of high school) and are now making more than my parents, whom so strongly urged me to go to college.

They taught me a one simple thing. The only secret of money you need to know is this: Give value, get paid.

How can you give value?

Develop a skill. Read a book. Learn how to sell your services. If you have no money to invest in education, don’t pull out student loans! Walk into Barnes N’ Noble, get a coffee, and sit down and READ BOOKS all day. That’s what I did.

The awesome thing about REAL business books, is that they’re written by people who were TRULY successful. Not some random college professor saying, “aye do this i think it works now do your homework.” When you read books written by proven experts, you are getting a first-hand mentor advice.

My story began with the book “The 4 Hour Work Week.” It was July, 2016. I was in the middle of a crisis: What the fuck am I going to do with my life? I didn’t know what to get a degree for! I was already reading self-help books, and I stumbled across “The 4 Hour Work Week.”

My life instantly changed forever. After reading it, I reached out to so many people.. I met them in person. These guys are the “New Rich.” They had nothing better to do all day but take me under their wing, buy me free food, and teach me. They taught me because they were so passionate.

They taught me because they saw that I was willing to learn this. I read “The 4 Hour Work Week” 4 times in one week. I read it 3 more times after. It blew me away.

Instantly I realized there’s a WHOLE WORLD out there which the masses know nothing about. There are those so loaded rich they work 10 hours a week making $100,000+.

I wanted in.

And in about 3 months, I estimated I’ll be making $5,000 / Mo. working about 10-15 hours a week.

It really was simple. So damn simple I’ll say it one last time: The world works in that when you give value, you get paid. Invest in your education, and develop a skill people want to pay you for!

And remember- college is ONE form of education. There are MANY forms of education. Sit down and calculate it out. Do you REALLY want to wait 4 years being sold on the “college lifestyle,” or would you rather start your grand adventure NOW?

There’s a whole world out there. Go explore it. You deserve it!

-Michael 🙂

P.S. Hit “reply” and let me know what skills YOU might have! If you don’t have any, let me know what skills you want to develop, and how you plan on getting paid. It’s easily possible!

**Note: I understand in some cases that college is required. For example, doctors. However, I hope in the future we can see new, more affordable methods of education open up for people wanting to become expert-level doctors. This is targeted at everyone whom could find ANY other way to success than college, because besides the medical field and a few others, college has a terrible return-on-investment especially when there are free (and much faster) ways to gather the same education.