The Myth: If you get into a good college, study hard, and graduate with excellent grades, you will be pretty much set for a successful career. The Reality: The biggest thing you won't learn in college is how to succeed professionally. Some of the smartest, most successful people in the country didn't finish college. None of them learned their most critical skills in an institution of higher education. And like them, most of what you'll need to learn to be successful you'll have to learn on your own, outside of school. Michael Ellsberg set out to fill in the gaps by interviewing a wide range of millionaires and billionaires who don't have college degrees, including fashion magnate Russell Simmons, Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz and founding president Sean Parker, WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg, and Pink Floyd songwriter and lead guitarist David Gilmour. Among the fascinating things he learned: How fashion designer Marc Ecko started earning $1,000 a week in high school with his own clothing business and later grew it into an empire. How billionaire Phillip Ruffin went from lowly department store clerk with no college degree to owner of Treasure Island on the Vegas Strip. How John Paul DeJoria went from homelessness to billionaire as the founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems hair care products. This book is your guide to developing practical success skills in the real world. Even if you've already gone through college, the most important skills weren't on the curriculum--how to find great mentors, build a world-class network, learn real-world marketing and sales, make your work meaningful (and your meaning work), build the brand of you, master the art of bootstrapping, and more. Learning the skills in this book well is a necessary addition to any education, whether you're a high school dropout or a graduate of Harvard Law School.
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"I had never considered that starting a business was something that I could achieve. He makes his case that these days, if you want a good, well paying job, you need to create it. Michael shows you where to start in building your dream job. He makes it sound very possible and gives myriad examples of regular people, with and without a higher education, who went out on their own and won."
— Amanda (5 out of 5 stars)
" Loved it, I'm listening to it over and over again on audio to cement the message so I can begin to apply it. "
— Shannon, 12/14/2013" Read it twice. Second time highlighted books, websites, other stuff to look at. "
— Kitty, 10/24/2013" This book just put a bagillion things in perspective for me! Lots to implement. Good overview of the current problem with education today, and lots on entrepeneurship. "
— Jenniffer, 9/8/2013" A very fast read and so positive and inspiring - reading this book, i was reminded to keep finding people who I can learn from and to continue helping those who inspire me "
— Angie, 8/25/2013" Excellent book, full of truth. I really enjoyed it. "
— Meredith, 5/5/2013" Could be better written - it's part interviews and part context - but the message is correct. You can no longer count on "getting a good education and then getting a good job" as the risk-free path to success. "
— Kevin, 2/19/2013" Probably one of the most helpful books I've read in years. "
— Nicole, 1/23/2013" Good, but this information isn't new if you've been reading the cannon of success literature. "
— Jake, 8/15/2012" Great book, grat concept, amazing interviews. Gets 4 stars rather than 5 simply because the later chapters skimped on details. A little bit more meat on the boes would have been appreciated. "
— Shiri, 7/17/2012" practical advice! "
— Eduardo, 5/5/2012
Michael Ellsberg is the author of The Education of Millionaires and The Power of Eye Contact. He writes a blog on entrepreneurialism, career development, and education at Forbes.com. A well-known speaker, he has presented at Dartmouth College, the World Technology Summit & Awards, and the Commonwealth Club of California, among others. Ellsberg’s Eye Gazing Parties, a series of social events based on eye contact, have attracted press coverage from the New York Times, CBS News, CNN, Good Morning America, MSNBC, Regis & Kelly, the San Francisco Chronicle, the BBC, the Times of London, Match.com, and others.
Erik Synnestvedt has recorded nearly two hundred audiobooks for trade publishers as well as for the Library of Congress Talking Books for the Blind program. They include The Day We Found the Universe by Marcia Bartusiak, A Game as Old as Empire edited by Steven Hiatt, and Twitter Power by Joel Comm.