[Rich]

Curious what kind of education we hold as painters here on the forum, so here is a poll.

For those of you who have an education- do you feel it has directly or indirectly helped with the success in your business?

For those who don't have an education past high school, do you feel as though furthering your education may help the success or lack of success in your business?

 

[Firemike]

My "OTHER" being various trade schools and other non-colligate learning.

 

[Workaholic]

My "other" is couple of years of college, and a year of heat and air school.

 

[BenPaintinTooLong]

I wish I had at least read more books on running a buisness way sooner than I did. Maybe I would have built a better buisness than being a $50.00 ph employee.
BPTL

 

[timhag]

My other is- i have college credits

 

[Joewho]

My other is also some college credits, real estate training (yrs. ago) and a hell of a lot of self education. English not being on the list. Except for all the time teachers kept me after school to copy pages out of the dictionary as punishment.
Lots of big words, but how to put them together?

 

[slickshift]

High School:
School Of Rock

College:
Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll College

Post Graduate Work at:

Where'd All That Money I Made in the '80s Go To?
And
I Think I Have 3 Brain Cells Left...uh...what was the question?

 

[slickshift]

For those who don't have an education past high school, do you feel as though furthering your education may help the success or lack of success in your business?

Hard to say, you're asking if the education I didn't get helped or not...
I didn't get it...so it's hypothetical or speculation

...though I never would have done it at the time (gone through a traditional business education)
I had no idea I'd ever have the desire to start my own business
That came later

 

[Tmrrptr]

I had enough credits from a few JC's to get the AA but never got my ducks in a row to get it.. Maybe I needed 1 more semester in basket weaving, or something like that.. I had gotten into the trucking industry and the money was too good to stay in school. Built freeways all over the place!
Then I graduated from a computer tech school near the top of my class and had no desire to spend my life chained to a repair bench...
I suppose most of what I learned has been valuable, behind the scenes.
Today, I can't even go to the library and find current information.

Right here on the BB is the best place to get cutting edge information, or at least directions to it. Practical applications are what I need, at the wall.
And Slickshift, I don't mean Pink Floyd!
r

 

[Rich]

Yeah...I could have worded it better. I'm really trying to see if education played a role in the success or lack of success of everyone's business.

I know it's hard to point a finger at education, but I suppose one would know if their business is lacking due to a lack of education in a certain area.

Picture this:
Guy goes to college (even just for 2 years)...gets experience in public speaking, is on the debate team, writes tons of english papers, and learns aspects of the world through sociology, etc.

-I'm guessing a person with this exposure might have a better success rate in a business, but I wanted to hear some testimonials to try and support my theory.

 

[Dave Mac]

imo I think college is great for something that is specialized, like enginering, acounting, etc... running a buisness, Imo, a much better education, is working for a succeseful buisness, that you want to run.

 

[slickshift]

Picture this:
Guy goes to college (even just for 2 years)...gets experience in public speaking, is on the debate team, writes tons of english papers, and learns aspects of the world through sociology, etc.

I dunno...
Maybe in the "Have To Go To College" world that makes sense

Picture this:
Instead of going to college and living at home for a few more years guy moves out and pays his own bills
Gets experience in public singing
Debates bar owners trying to hose him out of his pay @ 2:30 AM
Writes tons of lyrics...and music
Learns aspects of the world through living them

School Of Rock man....

:rockon:

 

[ProWallGuy]

My 'other' was I went to college for almost 2 years, but don't recall ever going to a class.

 

[slickshift]

...I wouldn't be surprised if you had no class....

 

[Kelly Painting]

Would prison time fall into any category? Maybe under sales.. ya know hustling.

 

[DeanV]

I voted bachelors, but I do have almost a full year of my master's also. Bachelor's in Biology with a fisheries and aquatic emphasis and started my Master's working towards the same, except in the Natural Resources and Env. Science's program at Univ. of IL

 

[ProWallGuy]

...I wouldn't be surprised if you had no class....

don't recall ................. class.

:no:

 

[T200]

I'm sure some aspects of an education can be helpful, like maybe economics, accounting, or business classes. English can help too (e.g., that recent post about "here's my competition" with the link to a craigslist ad full of misspellings and bad grammar)...it's part of a customer's first impression. I think some of those business-related courses I took have helped but they may not be all that important in landing jobs or produce them.

I think there are some other important factors.
Sales skills, for example, can be very important.
Experience is important too--I think everybody learns from The School of Hard Knocks in the painting industry.
Then there's determination (or maybe hardheadedness?).
And there's simply fundamental basic skills. For example, it's my observation that there are some people who may never be able to learn to cut a good line--there seems to be a natural ability required for it.

 

[Tmrrptr]

And?

I voted bachelors, but I do have almost a full year of my master's also. Bachelor's in Biology with a fisheries and aquatic emphasis and started my Master's working towards the same, except in the Natural Resources and Env. Science's program at Univ. of IL

And how's that working out for you?
r

 

[DeanV]

I gave up on biology as my career path soon after I left grad school. I make more painting than I would with a bachelors only in biology. In an ideal world, I would have my PhD and be a research fisheries professor somewhere, but the best laid plans..... I ended up leaving for family reasons. I am still glad I have my degree and so forth, but really I do not feel it helps me at all in the painting field. Of course, my field was pretty specialized so there is less broadbased applications for it, I wish I was interested in business when I was in college, hindsight being 20/20.