Aspirations

[Alex Mast]

I am 17 and lately have been consumed in the process of finding the right college. Recently I read one of the best books I have ever come across called "Rich Dad, Poor Dad". Up until this point I have assumed that all my energy should be generated toward getting good grades, going to a good school, and getting a stable job. For a person of my energy level this gave me so much animosity that I questioned college all together. Begging the question: Why would I want to follow the same path as so many other people? Growing up I watched my parents fight an unjust financial battle that they are still suffering from. Saving all the details; my mother was a talented money maker bringing her company millions of dollars brokering deals. After years of hard work she ended up on the bottom, with a boss who screwed her out of 500,000 dollars. From that point on I vowed never to build my career around proliferating someone else's income. Robert T. Kiyosaki said "the poor and the middle class work for money, the rich make money work for them". One of my favorite double entendres is when Jay Z said " I'm not a businessman I'm a business, man." I wrote this article hoping that someone would read it. If someone could take the time to offer their advice on where to begin that would be amazing. How does an ambitious 17 start their career "making money work for them"?

[Account Closed]

I can appreciate your bitterness, but don't throw the baby out with the bath water.  While sadly, many colleges have become platforms for indoctrinating kids into a political agenda instead of teaching them how to become self-sufficient entrepreneurs, that does not mean college has no value.

I earned a BA from Northwestern University and following, a MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.  I cannot emphasize enough the value of the contacts I made while attending both schools that I maintain today and the doors they opened.  In addition, I learned methods of critical thinking and expressing myself that probably would have taken me years to develop on my own, if ever.  

While I am now independently in business, I didn't start there.  Because of my background I was able to find employment with a large, multi-national real estate company.   I learned the way professional real estate firms operate, and when I left, had the knowledge to put together a real estate syndicate that made hundreds of thousands of dollars for my partners and me.

Currently, I am a principal in a real estate hedge fund and a principal and director in another that is on the verge of launching a crowdfunding platform that will turbocharge the ability of its member owners to raise funds with the new 506(c) rules.

I share this with you not to impress you but to impress upon you the value of a college degree from a good school.  While the paradigm that your mom followed let her down, that doesn't mean you should discount it entirely.  Bigger Pockets, while of value, is no substitute.  Kiyosaki's work, while of value, is no substitute.

The key is to have goals and plans for achieving them:  in the words of Napoleon Hill, a Definite Major Purpose.  I have done extensive work with his work, but this forum prohibits me discussing it here.

In conclusion, I applaud your enthusiasm for this business and more importantly for becoming a self-employed, self-sufficient entrepreneur.  Develop a master plan for yourself and get in the game.  Figure out where you want to arrive, and the journey towards it becomes easy. Focus.