Posted on 03/07/2017 3:00:34 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
In today’s hyper-partisan era, one goal crosses the political divide: the need for more entrepreneurs.
Encomia are everywhere: Politicians praise them, Hollywood lionizes them, venture capitalists chase them, universities foster them. Entrepreneurs, from Henry Ford to Elon Musk, are embedded in American lore. In an earlier era they were popularized in Horatio Alger rags-to-riches terms; today it’s the garage-to-tech-titan stories that have legendary status for Millennials.
Could it be, however, that we’ve hit peak preoccupation with entrepreneurship?
Although entrepreneurial magic is often discussed in “tech” terms, the reality is most startups involve such things as restaurants and lawn services or electricians and car services — much of which require no college degree. By contrast, the vast majority of tech entrepreneurs emerge from universities.
Have colleges and universities received the message? The battle to have schools take entrepreneurship seriously has been won. Consider how much has changed.
When boomers left high schools, circa 1970, there were just 16 colleges and universities offering courses in entrepreneurship, and college-centric startup “incubators” were essentially non-existent, according to Kaufmann Foundation data. Now, over 1,500 universities offer such courses and college-based incubators are everywhere. Unsurprisingly — and whether it’s cause or effect — the share of today’s freshmen who say they want to be entrepreneurs has doubled since 1970. But even with that doubling, the actual share of college students declaring such a goal remains just 3.3 percent.....
Mistake #1: Thinking you need a college class to be an entrepreneur.
Bingo. Also I will expand and say that most people do not need to go to college IF employers would stop making positions over education required. It is so stupid to need a college degree to be a secretary and many other jobs.
I hope that Americans will go back to the days when only doctors, lawyers, teachers, scientists need college education. Heck I am not even sure accountants need a degree as long as they can use a computer and keep up with tax laws which change every year.....why not have accountants go through a course like real estate people do?
But even with that doubling, the actual share of college students declaring such a goal remains just 3.3 percent.....
Because the idiot college professors, even those in the Business department, are pushing students to “get a job with a good company.” Most of my professors knew nothing about business or running a business - all they cared about were grades, resumes, and “you need to do this if you want a job with a good company.” I’d tell them I don’t need a resume, a job = just over broke. I’m running my own business and they would still tell me I might change my mind. You don’t need college to be an entrepreneur but I still enjoyed going. However my professors were mainly clueless if you wanted to be an entrepreneur. Several years after I graduated they added a minor in entrepreneurship but I bet the people teaching that don’t know much about it and you could learn more on your own. I learned more about business reading books on my own and listening to tapes than in college.
I honestly believe that many many people get dumber for evey year of college they attend these days. Brain Atrophe 101
Really? At best the Left sees entrepreneurs as tax-generating milk cows - at worst, as bad examples for the proletariat that must be crushed by government.
The so-called Right is little better, as entrepreneurs represent a threat to the ossified corporate entities that pay their campaign bills.
Had the author postulated that both sides of the political divide despise entrepreneurs with equal venom, he would have been closer to the truth.
I don’t think my brother-in-law can even spell college, and be employs over 160 people.
Speaking of idiot college professors knowing nothing about business:
Rodney Dangerfield in “Back to School” 1986—his first business class:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlVDGmjz7eM
YaGOTTAbekidding..................
Tax them.
“Permit them”.
License them.
“Impact study” them.
Tie the up in REGULATORY KNOTS.
EPA them.
TITLE NINE!
............................!!
(After all, they are likely to be REPUBLICANS, or even (HORRORS) CONSERVATIVES!!)
**Have We Reached Peak Entrepreneurship?**
No.
I imagine that the technology of 2025 will make even the most advanced things we have now look like a VIC-20.
“Mistake #1: Thinking you need a college class to be an entrepreneur.”
I talked to a professor who taught entrepreneurship. He had never started, owned or worked in a business. I thought, what a waste of time this would be. I have had three businesses. Each one was worth an MBA. (My MBA never addressed the problems I saw in the real world.)
As long as motivated and enterprising people can work hard, entrepreneurship will never go out of style.
People will always find a way to make a buck, unless the country outlaws it.
And even then.
This must be a joke. Government exists to stamp out small business and entrepreneurs and use them as ATM machines. Local governments zone and tax people out of business. State governments tax small business, and federal government works with cronies to stamp out competition. Sure, if you hit the jackpot and make millions or billions the government loves you. But if you’re just Pablo’s Auto Repair Shop the government hates him. I’m self employed and my biggest challenges are governments.
Bookkeepers could get away with a simple course or two perhaps, but not CPA’s. I’d argue CPA’s need more education, not less.
> Politicians praise them, Hollywood lionizes them, venture capitalists chase them, universities foster them.
And then legislatures and administrative bureaucracies punish them, if they have the audacity to become profitable and create jobs.
Kind of like kids don’t read Aristotle anymore but they sure can deconstruct him. Everybody’s an analyst, but entrepreneurship is more about synthesis than analysis.
Sorry, but CPAs are not entrepreneurs, even if they own their business. The raison d’être for accounting is regulations. There would not be one CPA without the IRS—they would be bookkeepers.
Entrepreneurs are rule breakers and risk takers; the polar opposite of college. You go to college to learn how things are done in a conventional manner. You become an entrepreneur to prove you can do it against the odds and against convention.
No, we have reached maximum stifling from regulation and stupidity.
You have to start small before you can grow big. And the small businesses are being forced out by paperwork. Gone are the days when you started building something in the garage and your wife handled the paperwork.
Now you need anywhere from two to four people to handle federal, state and local regulations. You need an accountant to handle the taxes, a lawyer to handle the legal issues and another person to file all the paperwork.
Any misstep, filing something late, turning down the wrong customer, cleaning out the wrong culvert to keep your parking lot from flooding will result in financial ruin and possibly jail time.
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