Disclaimer: This is about making money. And although a great deal of what we are about to discuss can be utilized by most anyone; this is specifically tailored to the college student due to a few unique factors and opportunities that are exclusively aligned with the college experience. Before we begin I also want you to know why I am offering this to you; I to was once a college student and know well what paths exist ahead of you. Good, and bad. As it is with every generation, you are now in the position to be our future leaders and community citizens. I want you to be as financially prepared as possible.
NOTE: The next few paragraphs may at times feel like a bleat session but I can assure you my goal is to genuinely describe what is necessary for you to understand so that you can do what needs to be done.
Congratulations! You made it to college. You jumped through the necessary hoops, studied hard and found your way to the doorway of success. Yes, I say doorway because you still haven’t been invited in yet. No, that comes much later, if you’re lucky. Let me reiterate that I attended and graduated from a top ranked college institution, and it was one of the best most defining experiences of my life. I was also fortunate enough to land “dream jobs” early in my career. Even still, it was no picnic my friends. I just want to make that clear because some of what I’m am about to say may make you uncomfortable and is in direct opposition to our current higher education model.
College Life
In the disclaimer above I mention the unique opportunities that the college experience offers. Let’s talk about that for a moment. As a college student you have something powerful that most people don’t and most in college will never have again once they leave; and that is time, access, and acceptance. We will discuss how these gifts play a key role in making money in a moment but first you must know; a lot of students squander these gifts in different ways and for different reasons. You have your 4 year partiers who treat college as their personal playground of debauchery. Some of whom are from affluent backgrounds who through lineage already have and understand these gifts as a standard part of their natural ecosystem. However for everyone else, key opportunities become lost in the shuffle when tossed into this new found freedom without real guidance and truth,
Hollow Promises
The truth in my opinion is, most all of the promises you have been made up to this point about formal education directly leading to success are becoming hollow promises. Allow me to clarify. Most all of us excluding maybe the 1% are taught within school systems that are designed to step us through basic levels of understanding at a fixed pace. Ultimately leading to one of two paths: 1. Acceptance into a prized University or 2. Acceptance into the labor force. The outlier or third option being a military enlistment where you will undergo another system of preparation and conditioning to become a defender of the rights and freedoms governing the other two paths. We are all sold the idea that scenario #1 is the more desirable path as it should lead to higher more prestigious pay and a “better life” once we have successfully completed the program. So that becomes the goal; Work hard at school, so you can get accepted into college, so you can get a better job/life after college.
This higher education model is a pretty straight forward concept for the education focused family, and one that does yield desired results in some cases. Especially when the family has a track record of college graduates in a particular field of study such as Med School or the like. But even then there are larger statistical elephants in the room that are rarely discussed. Those are the things we need to discuss before we go any further:
Over Half of College Grads are Unemployed
Yes, although the school loan business is booming, over half of people who graduate with a degree can’t find work in their field of study. This issue exists even when the economy is doing well. Traditionally, the whole reason people pony up all that money to go to college is in the hopes of getting a coveted “high salary job” after graduation. However, that fact of the matter is that those higher paying jobs are always fewer than the amount of people entering the Job market, and even if you are “the best there is” in your field, it often takes longer than new graduates think to be given a shot at jobs beyond “entry level”.
Listen, this is not a formal education bashing session. I do however need you to truly understand what is really happening so you can quickly make informed decisions that will help you bypass the bullshit. I digress.
You may be one of the few
I was one of the few people who had a plan before, during and after college that I knew of. Not because I was a genius or anything like that, but because I didn’t have any choice. I was the first person in my family to go to and complete college. I would also go on to be the first person in my family to make six figures and over per year. A lot of historical first we riding on my success, so I had no wiggle room for error or indecision for that matter.
I remember my first year of college overhearing students being given the advice of “don’t worry about what you want to do right now, you have plenty of time to decide.” That’s bullshit! 4 years go by lightning fast. Especially if you are in party mode for the first two. My honest opinion is that you should actually know how you are going to be financially free before you leave middle school. I actually advise parents with younger kids to start financial literacy and wealth management in elementary school, so the concepts are not foreign once it begins to matter.
The major issue is that most of the people teaching our children are not financially free themselves, and have little knowledge of how to get there. Even if you are one of the few that manage to make it through to the coveted “good job”, without financial literacy you are doomed. It doesn’t matter if you are a doctor, lawyer, or school teacher, money woes will ensue if you are not prepared.
Financial Freedom is Not Taught in School
Think about everything you have learned through our formal education systems thus far. Now think about how many times the core concepts of financial freedom and achieving it in a way that didn’t involve you getting a “good job” and working your whole life for someone else until finally being able to retire at an old age were the topic of discussion. If you can think of one or more times consider yourself lucky! You have at least been exposed to the possibility. Most people are not. In fact, most people don’t start to think about financial freedom until they are already living beyond their means and swimming in debt.
There is Hope! You must be proactive.
There is a perfect storm that involves the gifts of time, access, and acceptance that happens when you are in college. More specifically when you are a part of the college campus ecosystem. Those who are aware of these gifts can and do achieve great financial success. To put it in perspective, Mark Zuckerberg owes much of the initial success of Facebook to these gifts.
Time
There is no substitute for time. It is the great equalizer and it still equals money. Even though you may feel as though you are busy in college, you may never have as much disposable time as you do right now. Jobs/Careers, Spouses, Kids, Etc… all become constants that command and occupy the time of most people after college. Time used wisely while in college can however pay off big in the near to distant future. We will apply this concept in a moment.
Access
A traditional college campus is a tribe, and one you are accepted into that tribe, you have access to all of its members. This is how Mark Zuckerberg was able to proliferate Facebook so quickly. He had access to a tribe of willing participants with which to try, test, and grow his idea.
Acceptance
Acceptance goes hand –in-hand with access. There are few times in life where you get both access and acceptance among such a large audience of peers. College is one of those times. Not only are you a part of a tribe. They have reason to entertain and maybe even trust what you have to say and offer.
Make a Decision
We have reached the point in our discussion that requires you to make a decision; Are you a person of action or not? It matters because the steps I am about to outline for you although free, require action.
For the sake of cohesion we will split these activities into two areas; During College Money and After College Money. Both areas provide lists of things to start doing immediately in 2019. Due to market shifts and saturation, the below lists may evolve over time:
During College Money
- Start An Online Business – Drop-shipping, Amazon, and Print on Demand, are all great online businesses to start while in college as they require low to no out of pocket investments initially and you have access to a large an attentive tribe to offer products to.
- Be a Brand Market Liaison. Help Brands Connect with your tribe for a fee. It’s no accident that big brands spend millions if not billions marketing and advertising to college students every year. You can claim a sizable piece of this pie by helping brands effectively connect to your tribe. There is no fixed way to approach this. You can easily create a business model that reflects your
- Be a Social Influencer – Many of you are already doing this for free and you may or may not know it. Being in college makes social influencing an easier proposition due to your access to immediate audiences and potential customers for brands soliciting your services.
After College Money
- Start investing – With the advent of free stock trading offerings such as Robinhood and others, there has never been a easier time to start investing and understanding the markets of the financial world. Investing is a life skill that is the backbone of building and sustaining wealth. Starting your investment portfolio in college will increase your chances of reaching financial freedom earlier by leaps and bounds.
- Be an early adopter – This could go under both “during” and “after” college money. However to accommodate the amount of time it may take to monetize and actually start seeing financial results, we will leave it under after college for now. The idea here is to be ahead of the curve when new technologies hit the market. For example, most of the people making millions from YouTube monetization were early adopters of the platform. This type of foresight requires you to do the work that others normally won’t do without immediate reward. That is the thing that separates those who consistently win from those who are always late to the party.
To receive more detailed free information about college Money Making hacks and other exclusive content, sign up to our mailing list.