How Can You Start a Business Without College?

Here's what entrepreneurs have to say about starting a business without a college degree and who benefits the most. A successful business requires time, hard work, and perseverance. Entrepreneurship can be a great way to achieve financial freedom. To pursue their dreams, some budding entrepreneurs choose to skip college and get a head start on their entrepreneurial ideas. 

Entrepreneurship can be an excellent way to achieve financial freedom, but building a successful business takes time, hard work, and perseverance. Some budding business owners may opt to get a jump on their entrepreneurial ideas and skip college to pursue their dreams.

While you don’t necessarily need a college education to become a successful business owner, quitting school to pursue entrepreneurship might not be the right choice either. College can help you gain expertise in specific business subjects while learning and honing soft skills like communication, time management, and leadership.

We’ll look at the pros and cons of skipping college to start a business and what to consider when making this decision. Pros and cons of skipping college to start a business Like all life choices, deciding whether to skip college to pursue your entrepreneurship dreams has upsides and downsides—cons of skipping college to start a business.

A college education may provide the only way to learn skills and gain inroads into industries and careers you want to pursue. Skipping college may mean missing out on key certifications: You may need an undergraduate degree to pursue industry certifications, such as information technology (IT) certifications and corporate training and development certifications, that can advance your knowledge and earn you greater prominence in your field. What to consider when deciding whether to skip college to start a business.

According to Lauren Grech, founder of and content creator for international event management firm LLG Events, getting a degree — or at least some form of higher education — can be extremely beneficial for the hard and soft skills budding entrepreneurs need.

At the very least, college helps you hone valuable skills like accountability, time management, prioritizing and emotional maturity. If you wholeheartedly believe you can’t wait to pursue your great business idea for four years, skipping college may be the right track.

Many young entrepreneurs tackle their business ideas as passion projects while they attend college, but it’s crucial to identify at what point your business needs your full attention. If you’re unsure about starting a business without a degree, consider diving into your chosen industry to gain experience — perhaps working on your company as a side hustle before turning your idea into a full-time business.

Grech recommends volunteering with someone in the field before starting your own business to learn if you like the industry, people, and hours. “This will help you decide if you like the career enough to dedicate the time to starting your own business and it will also help you assess your skills to know if you need further education to establish yourself as a professional in that field,” Grech explained.

If you need a sustainable income to support your business, you might want to focus on school first and work in an industry for a few years or on the side to earn money to support your entrepreneurial journey. Entrepreneurship benefits from a strong support network including friends, family, business partners, mentors, franchisors, and other entrepreneurs.

If you don’t have a strong personal support system of friends and family, consider joining community and online groups that cater to small business owners — you may even be able to find a mentor. Entrepreneurs pursuing the following business types often succeed more if they’ve earned a college degree.

Fields that require high skill levels: In some industries and fields, you may not need a college degree, but you may need some advanced, highly specialized education. For example, if you’re looking to start a medical billing or coding business, you’ll likely need at least a certificate.

The good news is that you’ll probably need less than a year to obtain your certificate, but that still requires time and money. However, depending on the business you’d like to start, you might not need a college degree. You may be able to save time and money by pursuing entrepreneurship instead of going to college.

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