Image via Wikipedia

Wondered what famous entrepreneurs Warren Buffett, George Lucas, Donald Trump, and others have to say about college?

Famous entrepreneurs are usual people who have been successful, the obvious, yet they are asked about how they have been in school, college and university. The answer is used to justify one or the opposite view. It usually goes both ways.

The interesting part, most of the famous entrepreneurs are usual not good performer in the educational system or do not take it all that serious. Still they do very often outstanding things in business.

A post on youngentrepreneur, called “What Do Famous Entrepreneurs Think Of College?” inspired this post and here are two quotes from the post:

“We go to school to learn to work hard for money. I write books and create products that teach people how to have money work hard for them.” – Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad)

“I learned a lot about discipline and about channeling my aggression into achievement. I decided that as long as I had to be in college, I might as well test myself against the best. Always look out for yourself.” – Donald Trump

All the quotes have been made by real famous entrepreneurs, but more interesting have been the comments on this post. Here is a taste of two of the many comments found on that page.

“Curt is right. The people that were quoted are all exceptionally intelligent, and not everyone can not go to school or drop out and have the creativity, desire, intellect, or competency to make things happen. Plus, at least for me, college is about learning not only things in class, but also what I refer to as what I learn in “dorm 101″…surrounding yourselves with other students. It grows you incredibly, its a breeding ground for good ideas.” – Peter

“Yes definitely, education has its own benefits, one should keep upgrading his skills to the best levels.” – Naresh Kumar

What is your take on this story?

Related famous entrepreneur articles

• Finding Success as an Entrepreneur (entrepreneurideasclub.com)
• How A Couple Of Freshman Built CollegeHumor Into A Profitable Cultural Phenomenon – with Josh Abramson (mixergy.com)
• Entrepreneurs Love Learning More Than Money (startupprofessionals.com)

There is a pattern that emerges when you take a look at what these diverse women entrepreneurs have in common women like Mary Kay Ash, Anita Roddick and Debbi Fields. I found three things these famous women entrepreneurs knew and demonstrated about success that I’ve found critical in my life as an entrepreneur.

Three Things Famous Women Entrepreneurs Know

1.  Believe in Yourself

Mary Kay Ash quote: “Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember you can achieve.”

I love this quote because the right mindset is the number one determining factor of success in business and in life. I frequently speak about the importance of having a healthy mindset. In fact, I’ve dedicated the entire first section in my Direct Sales Success System to mindset because it’s really the foundation of success.

As you can see in Mary Kay’s quote, to believe in yourself you have to let go of “limiting” beliefs. A “limiting” belief is something that you believe to be true about yourself that is not true and it prevents you from moving forward.

If you believe in yourself you can achieve your goals. Regardless of your past success (or not), it is completely possible to be successful in the future. It requires your belief and ability to change the story you’ve been telling about your past circumstances. Truly knowing what you want empowers you to put your best thoughts and actions forward.

2.  Have a Support System

Anita Roddick quote: “We entrepreneurs are loners, vagabonds, troublemakers. Success is simply a matter of finding and surrounding ourselves with those open-minded and clever souls who can take our insanity and put it to good use.”

What I appreciate about this quote is its self-awareness. Although, I don’t necessarily agree that all entrepreneurs are loners, vagabonds or troublemakers, I do believe that we all have strengths and weaknesses. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned since starting Metromom is that you can’t do it alone. But, you can achieve amazing things when you build a team and leverage each other’s strengths.

If you want to be truly successful, then you must have a fantastic support system. Iz7ve learned to delegate whether it means having friends to carpool my kids, VA’s to set-up my ezine or business coaches to help me discover the next step in my marketing plan. Learn to enjoy the collaborative process of what others add to the process of building your business.

3.  Be of service

Debbi Fields Quote: “The principle was right there – you couldn’t miss it. The more you did for your customers, the more they did for us.”

You can see from this quote that her focus was never just on a single sale, it was about creating a long-term meaningful relationship with her customers. When you step out of your own personal focus and begin

asking how you can be of service to others, you embark on the path to success.

Customers sense when your focus is on being of service and they reward you with their loyalty. Instead of focusing on “What’s in it for me?” – take the focus off of yourself. Shift your focus to “What am I going to GIVE?”

Whether or not you want to be famous, believing in yourself, having a support system and being of service will help you be a more successful and happier entrepreneur. Yes, there is much that we can learn from these famous women entrepreneurs or from other entrepreneurs in our lives that display true leadership.

Selecting the top ten most successful entrepreneurs in the last century is very subjective. Some persons measure importance on net worth alone while others measure how meaningful the entrepreneur’s efforts have grown to be. The finest way to actually select the best group is to mix the two.

Following is a list of ten crazily successful entrepreneurs who are acknowledged as icons all over the world. Their lucrative accounts are nothing short of astonishing and are the material dreams are made of.

• Bill Gates
• Michael Dell
• Larry Ellison
• Ted Turner
• Phil Knight
• Vince McMahon
• Rupert Murdoch
• Steve Jobs
• Oprah Winfrey
• Martha Stewart

Reaching for the Stars

Why are these persons so successful? Why are they unique? What makes them shine?

Whilst the products they present, their private lives, their upbringing and even their business approaches contrast greatly, all of these persons have established empires that will exist for a very long time.

They are all self-developed persons that did not use a family name or exclusive favors to find success. They all possess a relentless drive to be successful.

Dreaming the Unachievable DreamWhen we observe these persons to understand where their excellence rests and what we should be taught by them, there are some qualities that should be observed.

Every one of them are real achievers. “No” simply isn’t an answer they will agree to, if they see something they think has to be “yes.” They are persistent and never renounce on their purpose.

If a door closes on them, they simply discover another solution—even if they have to make up that solution! Making Dreams Come True.

Clearly all of these successful entrepreneurs are not inactive ersons, nevertheless very frequently we take this truth for granted. Lots of individuals expect to be a massive success in their business projects without actually working especially hard.

None of these individuals are what they are now by resting on their laurels or hoping for someone else to get things done. They sacrificed everything for their business ambitions and lived each breath working to move one step forward.

While all successful entrepreneurs are certainly intensely competitive, they are still flexible enough to correct as and when required. We can all be trained by studying these persons and how they attained the top quantity of success that they did.

Not only are these traits significant for business success, but without question are fantastic skills to study and traits to hold to be successful in any expression of life.