After high school, many think college or University is the only way to get a good job. But that’s not true. Homeschool entrepreneurs have an advantage because they learn to think outside the box and find ways to make money from home. There are lots of opportunities available for homeschoolers who are willing to put in the time and effort.
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An Objection
Before we dive in, I’d like to thank one of my readers who asked the following questions after reading my article “10 Reasons to Not Go to University or College: Why I Don’t Want My Children Going There“.
I hope you enjoy reading this blog post. If you want to do my course on how to homeschool, click here.
I just finished reading your article about not sending children to University, but I’m confused as to what kind of job they will qualify for without skills or a degree in a field. There aren’t many high-paying jobs without higher education. Even if they wanted to take up a trade, how would they learn if they weren’t taught in high school? Exactly what is out there that will pay them proper wages?
Let’s begin by answering a few questions from this question, namely:
- What kind of job will homeschool graduates qualify for without skills or a degree in a field?
- Answering the objection that there aren’t many high-paying jobs without higher education,
- What is out there that will pay proper wages?
- Even if they wanted to take up a trade, how would they learn if they weren’t taught in high school?
We’ll look at these separately below.
Remember that most of the examples I’ve mentioned below are homeschool entrepreneurs I’ve personally known who’ve made good money (equal to and often exceeding the average income) with no degree.
Many have made excellent money, making me think entrepreneurship is often a superior pathway for homeschool graduates.
I’m so convinced of this.
This is the pathway I’ll be encouraging my homeschoolers to pursue!
Jobs With NO SKILLS Or Degrees Needed?
It’s hard to get a job if you have absolutely no skills.
However, I assume this question means ‘no skills learned in a textbook or through a degree.’
There are so many ways you can make very good money using skills you haven’t learned in a textbook.
You may have learned them from your parents by tinkering with old computers.
Or you can learn by experimenting so much you’ve finally stumbled on a skill that will make you money.
(Did you know Isaac Newton was almost completely self-taught?)
Examples
Some examples of homeschool entrepreneurship like this include:
- lawn mowing businesses
- gardening or farming and selling produce
- buying rare animals and breeding them
- buying locked phones and unlocking them
- baking cookies for resale in cafes or restaurants
- buying defective products and fixing them to sell for a profit
- purchasing items overseas that aren’t available locally and making them available locally
- researching popular things in other countries and trialing if they would be popular in your own country and
- starting a niche blog website (yours truly).
There are so many ideas around, and if you search the market for a niche, you’ll find one.
Of course, like anything, much of the money is made in niches that people haven’t exploited before.
A homeschool is the perfect environment for entrepreneurship.
Why?
Because students have plenty of time to test ideas and see whether they fail or succeed.
Neil Patel said he would have found his business almost impossible if he had not done it from home, where he didn’t have to pay rent, etc.
On average, one in ten business ideas will succeed, so a homeschool will give you many chances to test ideas.
Below are some examples of homeschooling entrepreneurs I’ve heard of in person.
Homeschool Entrepreneur Examples
Let’s look at a few inspiring true stories.
Age 21 – Already Successful
While listening to a 2009 Kevin Swanson Generations radio broadcast (I would love to link it, but I can’t find it anywhere—if you know of it, please link it in the comments!), I was astounded to hear about a 21-year-old homeschool entrepreneur who worked 90 hours a week and was almost making a six-figure income selling bullion (investment gold or silver in bulk).
He was living with his parents, and after a few failed business ventures (including one where he bought an expensive dog to breed and subsequently found it was sterile), he hit upon the bullion business.
His ‘long-term’ goals were to make a six-figure income by age 23 and to buy a house debt-free.
At 21, he was well on his way to achieving his goal.
Age 14 – Lucrative Business in Rare Reptiles
My personal friend, Seamus, had a roaring business selling reptiles.
At age 14, he made $1,000 selling snakes, geckos, and rare reptiles in his business.
He creatively named Gollums Geckos.
(You can see his interview here.)
Age 15 – Motorcycle Recycling Business
Another personal homeschool entrepreneur friend bought broken motorcycles people were selling cheaply and learned how to fix them.
He was self-taught and spent a long time in the garage tinkering.
He sold them for a good profit.
This was a business he operated when he was only a young teenager.
Lifelong Love Started as a Teen
One good homeschooler mate of mine fixes old planes for a big, prestigious history museum using skills he learned in the backyard.
He is paid handsomely for his work.
Age 15 – Lawnmower Business
Just last week, I talked to a parent whose 15-year-old son was running a roaringly successful lawnmower business (“plus growing veggies to keep even his neighbors in stock”) while living at home.
Other Famous Examples
Of course, we haven’t even touched on the more famous homeschoolers like:
- Richard Lorenzen, who started his business in 10th Grade and grew it into a multi-million dollar business,
- Tim Tebow, the American baseball player, or
- Thomas Edison, who, before his mother homeschooled him, was said to be ‘addled’ by his teacher.
These examples are not people who have just managed to scrape by.
Instead, they are examples of people who have benefited from alternative pathways to traditional tertiary education.
One could only wonder how much good money could be made if we encouraged our kids to keep going on these business pathways instead of giving them up for ‘proper jobs’ with degrees that don’t always seem to pay as much as we think they will.
What If We Took Simpler Pathways?
I’ve had personal experience here, too, and I wish I hadn’t followed the crowd to University.
When I was 18, I was angling to buy my first property, as I’d built up enough money and the market was good.
However, everyone seemed to be attending University as that was the thing to do.
After being talked out of it (after the pest inspection wasn’t overly optimistic), I decided to go to University.
Looking back, I would have made much more money if I’d stayed with my (one-year) nursing trade and bought property as I could afford it as a teenager.
My parents are an excellent example of this.
Without any experience or education, they bought and sold houses and units and made lots of money off these ventures.
Of course, if you had no skills but started working at McDonald’s when you were 15, you could also make a very handsome wage by buying properties or investing in shares to garner compound interest from long-term investments.
This very simple but lucrative method will make you handsome profits with no skills.
Read this article on the miracle of compound interest to learn how this simple plan works.
Family Businesses
Family businesses are also a great way to acquire skills.
You won’t have a degree that shows you have these skills, but you’ll have the expertise to make money if you want to start your own company.
Some examples of family businesses where children have learned from their parents include:
- farming
- cooking
- property development
- pest control businesses and
- running a cafe or restaurant.
Of course, there are many options, and many parents have valuable skills they can teach their kids that they haven’t even thought about yet.
Not Many High-Paying Jobs Without Education?
The payment of jobs depends more on the effort and time people are willing to put in to make money.
For example, suppose you’re willing to dedicate your life to medicine or law.
Your degree will probably pay dividends eventually, and you’ll earn a decent amount of money.
However, if you pursue this pathway, you’ll also find you’re forced to work 80-hour weeks.
In doing so, you learn a lot and acquire many skills.
However, consider spending the same (huge) amount of time developing business and business ideas.
You’ll probably make good money through many trial-and-error ventures, as you’ve learned what makes money and what does not.
If you can do this when you are young and in a homeschooling environment, you’ll have a fantastic headstart on your peers.
They’ll have to wait until they finish high school and college before starting their business or career.
You’ll have started years before!
Earning Without High School Education?
I’m not suggesting children shouldn’t have a high school education (I propose they do this through home education).
High school education is, of course, very important.
My objection is to sending so many young adults to college or University for a great many reasons, as outlined in the article.
Today, there are problems with college that doesn’t always make it a good deal for everyone.
These problems include:
- a glut due to oversupply,
- biased ideology of colleges,
- delayed earning potentials that hamstring students,
- exorbitant college fees that put them at an economic disadvantage for many years to come, and so on).
We need basic education to learn how to read, write, and do arithmetic to enter a trade.
For many, doing the last two high school years may not be necessary.
Many trade schools only want a Year 10 education, which they can easily get by correspondence education.
Why Homeschool is the Perfect Environment for an Entrepreneur
Home is an excellent environment in which to self-educate about business.
It allows you to work on formal education for part of the week while focusing on entrepreneurial pursuits during other parts of the week.
Compared to schoolchildren, homeschoolers have much more time to work on and perfect ideas that have piqued their interest.
Given most business people try and fail at 10 business ideas before they stumble on one that works, home education gives children a great environment where they can try several ideas and not be crippled by failure as an older person with more responsibilities.
Homeschoolers and Entrepreneurs Have Similarities
Zachary Slayback, author of The End of School: Reclaiming Education from the Classroom, claims that people who homeschool and become entrepreneurs share many similarities.
He makes some interesting points, saying home-educated students are like entrepreneurs because they:
- don’t settle for something that isn’t meeting their needs, but try to create new alternatives
- take action to put their ideas into business plans and careers
- are happy to go against the grain
- can change to suit the needs of their customer base or demand pool
- treat it (education or entrepreneurship) as a lifestyle that isn’t over when the school bell rings at the end of the day.
If parents have a vision of entrepreneurship, they can assist their children by letting them follow ideas through and letting the children learn from their mistakes.
Home-educating parents make excellent sounding boards for young homeschool entrepreneurs when they’re gentle and (this is really important) don’t dismiss their fledgling ideas.
You never know if their ‘not-so-good’ idea will morph into a great idea.
How to Start Being a Homeschool Entrepreneur
How do you begin your entrepreneurial journey?
You can form many habits that will help you be a successful entrepreneur.
Homeschool entrepreneur Richard Lorenzen talked about several things he did that helped him form good habits crucial to his success in business, including:
- starting the day early – Richard got up at 4:30 every morning
- build a routine
- dress for the status you hope to achieve- Richard wore a suit every day at home when doing business
- read, read, read – start self-educating your mind in business ways – this way, you’ll go beyond the curriculum and find new ways to do things
Once you’ve read up on the topic thoroughly, give it a go!
Lorenzen said that although he had business mentors and ‘dabbled’ in a year of college education, most of his success came through the habits he learned in his formative homeschool years (outlined above).
Indeed, many successful homeschool entrepreneurs partake in mentorship.
They seek out and find successful business owners who can be their mentors.
This way, they’re not in complete darkness about their ideas and are given tips to help them with their many trial-and-error ventures.
Homeschool Entrepreneur Class
One of the best places to go if you want to do a homeschool entrepreneur class is Masterclass.
Masterclass is a platform specializing in training people in many fields – especially entrepreneurship.
The secular platform has many famous teachers who’ve been successful in their field.
So, your child will be taught by people who know not only how to teach but also what to do in their field practically.
Go check out Masterclass here.
