
What are your options if not going to college these days?
Some people would tell you you’re crazy if you don’t go to college.
I’m here to tell you otherwise.
The reality is you can make an incredible life for yourself through self-education, a good work ethic, and a passion for something.
Plus you don’t need to incur $100,000 dollars worth of debt and a college degree that might not get you a job.
College Dropout Makes 4-Figure Monthly Income Online in 6 Months:
Options if Not Going to College: Be Successful Anyways!
Here is a list of 10 famous people that didn’t go on to college, yet led extraordinary lives.
Heck, some of these famous people below didn’t even go to high school.
Check out the list and see if you recognize a few names:
- Abraham Lincoln: Lawyer, President. Dropped out formal school and taught himself trigonometry and law, became a lawyer without formal education.
- Milton Hershey: Founder of Hershey’s Milk Chocolate never even went to high school. God bless that man, I love Hershey’s Chocolate Bars!
- Ansel Adams: World famous photographer.
- Benjamin Franklin: Famous inventor, scientist, and author. Self taught through home-schooling.
- Coco Chanel: Founder of the brand Chanel. Maybe you’ve heard of Chanel No. 5?
- David Geffen: Founder of Geffen Records and billionaire, co-founder of DreamWorks and college dropout after 1 year.
- Walt Disney: Built the Walt Disney Empire that tourists spend over 3 billion dollars at per month. Walt dropped out of high school at age 16.
- Thomas Edison: Famous inventor that has shaped the world we live in today. Invented the light bulb, phonograph, sound recording, and much more.
- Simon Cowell: Most famous for his role on American Idol and The X Factor, dropped out of high school.
- Rachael Ray: Known for her cooking show and as a food industry entrepreneur, she had no formal culinary training nor went to college.
The list goes on and on. There’s actually 1000’s of famous and successful people that never went to college.
Some never went to high school, but they all went on to build awesome lives for themselves.
How’d They Create Success without College?
Well, each famous person listed above has their own unique story as to how they found fame and fortune.
But, you’ll find some commonalities shared among them.
They found a niche in life, something they were passionate about, and they pursued their dreams relentlessly.
Notice that many of them we’re also self-educated.
When it comes down to it, if you are passionate about something and enjoy learning, you too can create a successful life without going to college.
Now if you are one of those high school students that doesn’t want to do anything after graduation, then do that, enjoy a little time off.
But realize that you will eventually have to get some kind of job.
And mostly likely, it will NOT be a glamorous or rewarding job. And without advanced training or skills, life will most likely be the typical 9-5 grind.
Wouldn’t it be better to invest your time now while doing something that you love?
How cool would it be to build an awesome website that will pay you thousands of dollars a month.
You could go traveling while you college bound friends are in class. 😉
And as your online business grows, so does your monthly income.
In fact, I know many website owners who now work on autopilot.
The have essentially created passive income through niche websites and affiliate marketing.
When you are young and unsure about the direction you want to take in life, there is nothing wrong with taking time off to figure life out. To find your own path in life is one of the most rewarding things that one can do for themselves.
“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune”
Jim Rohn– famous entrepreneur and motivation speaker
Become An Innovator In Today’s World?
In today’s world, we have an amazing opportunity in front of us that has never existed before in time.
Today we are blessed by incredible technology that makes every aspect of our lives more convenient.
The world wide web is growing at astonishing rates, there are 691,000 new internet users a day.
Can you fathom this number. Incredible! (source)
What does that mean to future online entrepreneurs?
It means that the internet provides an incredible marketplace to start an online business!
You just have to have some basic skills that I bet 95% of all high school students already have.
Do You Have What It Takes?
Do you like to talk with your friends online?
Some people are naturally more social than others, but if you like to spend time on Facebook or Instagram sharing your photos, ideas, or just hanging out chatting with your friends, then you’ve got the starting skills to build content to your website.
Can you write a Book Report?
Seriously, building an online business takes about the same skill set as writing a book report.
The same skills it takes to investigate a subject, formulate your thoughts, and create a book report is about the same level it takes to write articles that naturally rank in Google.
Do you have decent computer skills?
Can you type and use your computer relatively easily? Most high school students have awesome computer skills.
These skills can be utilized to build websites, blogs, landing pages, graphic designs, you name it.
Do you like to Learn?
You enjoy learning but don’t want the structure of typical college classrooms. Maybe there are subjects that you just don’t care for.
Perhaps you can’t afford to go to college right now. Or maybe you feel like college is a big waste of time.
Shoot, 49% of college graduates find work that’s different from what they studied in college.
And most college students end up with an enormous amount of debt (about $50,000 dollars on the average).
Enjoy paying back that debt for the next decade or two.
That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when you think about it.
Does it?
The Solution – Forget College, Do This Instead:
Learning how to build websites, understanding internet marketing are amazing skills to have.
And affiliate marketing, in particular, is an amazing field to get into right now.
It offers numerous advantages like..
- Low Cost to get Educated
- Low Cost to start an Online Business
- No risk of owning or selling products online
- The ability to create passive income
- Work from anywhere in the world (I’m currently traveling in Colombia, South America – it’s great)
How To Get Started
For those that want to forget college and start working on their own online business, I recommend the educational program called Wealthy Affiliate (click here to read our review of them).
They provide the best online education available today, they also are extremely affordable.
Plus they have a cool policy of letting wannabe entrepreneurs come in and check them out for free.
They offer a Free Starter Membership to experience the full educational program for a week as if you were a Premium Member.
This includes…
- 2 Free Websites including Free Hosting
- Full Access to their Online Entrepreneur Course
- Supportive Community support
- Daily Classes and Daily Tasks to help you learn and build your own online business at the same time
- And they are loaded with Webinars, Video Courses, and Tutorials
What To Do Next?
Step 1: Sign up for the Free Starter Membership
Step 2: Fill out your profile and basic info – then start taking classes
Step 3: That’s it, Your In!

After spending a week in the free program, you’ll find that this is one of the greatest opportunities that life will ever present to you – continue your education and develop your own business.
Join the Wealthy Affiliate Premium Membership, the value is incredible. The 1st month is discounted at $19 dollars, then the monthly price is $49/mo or a discounted rate of $359/year (a bit less than $30/mo).
Can you believe that?
You can get an online university level education specializing in business development and website creation for $359 dollars per year.
This is unheard of. Have you checked out the fees of local community colleges and universities? The cost alone for schoolbooks for one semester will be more than the yearly fee at Wealthy Affiliate.
Imagine this: You put in 3-4 hours a day, maybe you have a part time job on the side. But invest in yourself and you can grow your business to make serious money (maybe more than your parents make), but for sure more than your fellow high school friends that are going off to college.
Gain the skills that colleges are teaching for a fraction of the price.
My #1 Recommended Training Program Has Been Training Students How to Make Profitable Online Businesses for Over a Decade:
You’re Smart: Click Here to Get the Training You Need >>
I encourage you to let others know about this article. You may be able to help a friend find an amazing new path that will forever change their life in a positive direction.
To have options if not going to college is the key in today’s world.
Take advantage of life and make it happen.
You are absolutely right about learning to grow your wealth. Although there are several ways to grow your wealth these days, I would have to agree that building an online business is the most lucrative and passive income stream. What could be better than making money in the comfort of your home? If I could go back and do it over again I would have skipped college and started building an online prescense at 19 years old.
I hear you Garrick. I feel the same way. You get a excellent education to strategically teach you how to put up an authoritative website that brings in the dollars once you build out your foundation and learn how to build traffic.
It takes the initial time, but once you get it rolling, it’s one of the coolest things that I’ve ever done.
Thanks for your feedback, maybe it will help some 18 y.o. college student that doesn’t want to fork over 100K in college debt to make a great living based on something they’re passionate about.
Best,
Todd
Enjoyed reading your post, i never went to collage or did well at school, i always felt like a failure, but in truth it was just because i wasn’t academic and i wasn’t suited to education, everyone is different.
My passion in life is to create websites and i love Wealthy Affiliate’s training platform, it’s one of the best training programs out there and i am glad i have found something that i enjoy
Great points Jenny, college is not for everyone and there are different forms of education and not all work for everyone. I find WA’s educational program to be refreshing and a bit revolutionary. Where can you go for less than $1 dollar per day and get a college level education using videos that you can work from anywhere in the world.
One that allows you to earn while you learn, it’s the new norm in education and WA is leading the way.
Thanks for your feedback and best of luck to you and your online business.
Todd
Thanks, this is a great article. As a Mother of a son who does not want to go to college, this looks like a very real option for him. There is such pressure to go on to higher education and this just blows that out of the water. I will be passing this on to my son. Thanks again!
Thanks Pam, much appreciated. I look back at my college education and I’m thankful for it, but if I could do it over again and start learning and earning at the same time by creating an online business that can provide passive income, I’d have taken that path instead.
But I agree, if you want to create an online business and go to a college like environment where you can take classes at home for an extremely low price, the choice becomes obvious.
For those that want this type of education, check out my #1 Ranked Training Program, you won’t be disappointed.
Thanks,
Todd
Hi,
Just want to compliment you on your site and this post! College students need to realize there are some great options out there that don’t cost $25,000/year and no guarantee that you’ll have a good job after college.
Your take on wealth and earning beyond the need for a mass of education is a nice touch. I particularly like you ‘Top Ten people’ as examples of this.
There is a lot of decent information moving forward from this page too…. keep up the good work!
Jon
Hi Jon,
Thanks for your kind feedback on our site and this post. I really enjoyed putting it together and was impressed with who I found to make up my list.
College can be perfect for those that really are seeking a specific career that requieres a degree, but for those that want to create a cool online business, based on something that you’re into, now’s a great time to do it.
I met this really great college student the other day. I was buying a road bike for my wife and we got to talking. He’s been paying about 25K/year to go to Colorado State University to learn what I’ve been doing for 2 years.
The major difference is that he’s racked thousands of dollars of debt and I paid less than $720 in 2 years for my education.
Oh, and my business started making money within the first couple of months, and now it makes full time income. How cool would that be, go to college and in less than 2 years you’ve got an online business that is working for you 24/7.
Best,
Todd
Well said. I agree that you don’t need a degree to be successful.
Thanks Daniel for your comment, I agree too!
Hey Todd.
Great read. It was very inspiring, I’m a young person who didn’t go to college and after reading this, I plan on joining WA thanks to this post. I just wanted to let you know and say thanks for the information.
Julian
Hi Julian,
Thanks for your comments and I agree, when you compare the WA education with a traditional university that teaches similar subjects, WA provides superior training at a fraction of the cost. I just read a great article from Kyle comparing the two. Check it out if you have a few minutes. You can read it here at this link….https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/kyle/blog/it-s-conclusive-university-is-a-scam-proof-inside/a_aid/b376857a
Hi Todd!
You have some good inspiration and encouragement here for young people who have either chosen not to attend college or who lack the means.
Thanks Ginge,
Appreciate your comments and thanks for stopping by, come back again soon.
Todd