Can GPA Impact Your Potential for Self Employed Success?
The Effect of Your GPA in School on Your Potential for Success Being Self Employed I was one of those students who had a good GPA in school. However, it wasn’t because I studied really hard. It was because I had a naturally gifted mind for retaining knowledge by listening. This made it so I rarely had to study for any subject. That was true in High School, but College was a completely different story. I went from being someone who rarely had study more than 1 hour on a subject, to spending multiple hours studying subjects that had little to nothing to do with my field. I would guesstimate that only 10% of what I learned in college had anything to do with what I used in the job market.
In my opinion, that is a waste of both my time and what was infinitely worse, my money. I have the student loans to prove it. I was one of those students that only wanted to learn what I needed to know about a subject. I didn’t enjoy learning all the virtually useless details. I didn’t enjoy reading long boring material. Just give me the details I need to know. So I ditched the College experience for a Tech School. It had its own flaws that I won’t go into here, but I gained a lot more of what I needed to know, instead of the BS courses they force on you in the General Education segment of the college experience. The tech school also had equal amounts of lab and classroom time. This presented a “sink or swim” atmosphere. If you force someone to apply the knowledge they learn, they will either know it or not. In the end as a teacher you will know one way or the other. You can always guess in exams, but you can’t guess when you must get to a specific result in a lab. Now as far as Self Employment is concerned, I didn’t chase down that path over night. I wanted to get good grades as a student and follow a career path to success. I tried that, but in the end it did not work for me. I ran into situations where in both major corporations and small businesses my ideas went either un-noticed or un-used. I’m not talking dumb ideas, from someone wet behind the ears. I am talking about good ideas from someone with ample experience in the subject revolving around the ideas. Most employers would just flat out ignore my ideas. I only had an interest in bettering the business I was working for, but my ideas still went in the trash bin. Then there was the stability of my job. There were times when I didn’t know how long I would have a job. This lead me to believe my best route was self employment. Through self employment I can point the business in whatever direction I feel works for me. I also don’t have to worry about stability. I know how to diversify my sources of income, and I know how to market a business very well. So I believe that GPA had little to do with my pursuing the self employment path. It had more to do with my personality. I have never been one of those folks who liked following others. I have always been one of those people who were outspoken, and had that “I’ll forge my own path” attitude. I ignore what others say with those “you’ll never make it” attitudes. I know I will have even more success that I presently have right now, because I am very driven and I am always striving to reach that next goal. Every time I reach a goal I set the standards bar even higher. So if you had a rough time in school, or didn’t like school, or never went to college… Don’t worry, because no matter what ideas you have for a business, as long as you put your mind to it, you can accomplish your goals. Just forge your own path, and create your own destiny.