Is your son or daughter an entrepreneur at heart? Are you or they, either one, debating whether college is even worthwhile for a young person aiming at their own business?  This episode, we talk with our son Samuel Adams Young, who's enrolled in an innovative business program at his college - one that teaches the hands-on skills needed to succeed as an entrepreneur!

Tech Giants Not Withstanding ...

We have friends who are skeptical about the need for college experience to succeed in life. After all, they say, neither Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft), Steve Jobs (visionary CEO of Apple), Mark Zuckerberg (creator of Facebook), nor Ted Turner (founder of CNN and other networks) finished college.

Fair enough. At the same time, the exceptions don't prove a rule - and you can't deny that billionaires in Silicon Valley or cable TV are not your average neighborhood business owner.

It's also true that some career fields (particularly in technology) are changing so rapidly that a hands-on apprenticeship is nearly as useful as a four-year degree for starting a life-long career. (Listen to our interview with Ken Auer of Role Model Software, a prime example!)

Yet with all the exceptions and hedges and provisions in place, there are still good reasons a budding entrepreneur might consider going to a four-year degree program.  This episode, we're talking with our son Samuel, who is a rising star in an innovative program to equip young business people with tools they can use to kick start their own companies.

This program was funded by the late Ralph Ketner, co-founder of one of the fastest-growing grocery chains in America, Food Lion. In establishing the Center for Entrepreneurship and Experiential Development, Ketner told the college that true entrepreneurship is hands-on, not just theoretical classroom work, and so the goal of the college is to help students actually create viable, money-making businesses from their ideas. Until his death in 2016 at the age of 95, Ketner maintained an office at the college and frequently counseled students from his long career of growing business from the ground up.

Resources We Mentioned

Center for Entrepreneurship and Experiential Development - Catawba College, Salisbury, N.C.

Donald Miller, Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

Samuel's business startup - DashFireMan

Some We Forgot to Mention

We have a whole section of resources about entrepreneurship on our website - CLICK HERE to find out more!