Who says you actually have to complete you education to change the world? Well, tons of people, really. But, still. There have been, and there still are, plenty of very successful people out still that gave up on school to achieve their dreams. And they did. In a big, big way.
Back in 1918, Walt Disney, the man that would one day on to be one of the most recognizable names in the world, was merely a high school student that had dreams of being a cartoonist. To take his first step in to this world, he supplemented his high school education with night classes at Chicago’s Academy of Fine Arts.
By 16, Disney was fed up with school and decided that it was time to join the army, but he ran in to a bit of a problem: He was too young. So he joined the Red Cross with a fake birth certificate. Why he didn’t just use the fake birth certificate to get in to the army is anyone’s guess, but it worked and Disney was off to a World War 1 France where he was an ambulance driver. In love with drawing, Walt decorated the sides of the ambulance with large pictures of some characters of his own creation.
After the war, Walt found himself back in America without a job. He picked up a few paying art gigs with magazines, movie theaters and such, but nothing that stuck. He partnered up with a buddy of his, Ub Iwerks. Together they formed Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists. It was with Iwerks that Walt Disney co-created the now globally known character of Mickey Mouse.
Disney would eventually go on to become a multi-millionaire and, at the age of 58, was given an honorary high school diploma.
If the name isn’t familiar to you, it’s okay. Rockefeller was only the world’s first recorded billionaire and founded one of the biggest oil companies the world has ever seen in Standard Oil. But before all that, he was a high school student…
…and then he wasn’t when he dropped out of high school 2 weeks before his graduation. He immediately enrolled in Folsom Mercantile College (which he also dropped out of), and later started various small businesses. But in 1870, Rockefeller started the Standard Oil Company of Ohio and quickly became richer than he could have ever imagined.
Rockefeller was a very different kind of billionaire than the ones of today. He gave and gave tons of his own money to charity and to health causes. In fact, the last 40 years of his life was basically on big spending spree as it seemed like he just keep throwing more and more money at charitable causes. And, to top it all off, the self-made billionaire that didn’t graduate high school even helped people all over America receive an education with his many donations.
You know those glasses you’re wearing? Edison. The cameras that the movie you just watched used? Edison. All of those light bulbs you see everywhere, wherever you go? Edison. Thomas Edison invented all of those things, held about 1,000 other patents, was a millionaire and won a Congressional Gold Medal. Pretty good for a person that not only never graduated high school, but only received 3 months worth of an education in his entire life. 3 months!
You see, when Edison was just a boy, he was very sickly. He suffered from Scarlet Fever and, as a result, had middle ear infections. His aliments prevented him from starting school with all the other kids his age, so he just stayed home and was taught by his mother, who was a teacher at one point. When his infections subsided, he finally attended a real school but, as mentioned, only went for about 3 months before he found his mind to wander and he was being made an example of by his teacher.
There’s something about the age 16 that just makes brilliant people give up on formal education and just reach for the stars. Modern day billionaire Richard Branson is one of them. Suffering from a cast of mild dyslexia, Branson dropped out of high school because he lagged behind in his studies and his grades were poor.
An entrepreneur at heart, Branson started selling records that he purchased wholesale from manufacturers to large retail stores. After partnering up with some friends, Branson eventually called their company Virgin, the name being a reference to the fact that neither he nor his friends knew a thing about the world of business. He went on to open his own record store, which earned him enough money to purchase a plot of land that he built a recording studio on. As made more and more money off of the studio, Branson decided to turn Virgin in to music production company, signing various artists to deals.
As he made money off of the record company, Branson branched out and tried other ventures; buying night clubs and television stations. By the 1980, Branson had made so much money that he decided to open his own airline called Virgin Air. This eventually led to perhaps his greatest and what will probably be his most lasting achievement: Offering normal people (albeit, very rich people…for now) the chance to fly to space with his new business venture Virgin Galactic.
The man that didn’t graduate high school and couldn’t pay attention to save his life is now offering people the chance to go to space. Pretty astounding.
Sure, one can make the argument that you can still become a successful business man while never going to school. But being a successful writer is a different matter. Well, again, that’s very wrong, as proven by one of the world’s most renowned fiction writers, Mr. Charles Dickens.
At the age of 12, Dickens’ father was sent to prison due to some very heavy debts that were left unpaid. Needing money, Dickens left school and started working 10-hour work days in a shoe factory. As the years past, Dickens held various writing-related jobs including court stenographer and law clerk. This led to a job in journalism, specifically, court reporting. Once he caught the writing bug, Dickens began to write his own short stories, which were eventually collected and printed as his first book, Sketches by Boz.
This opened the doors to his first of many classic novels, The Pickwick Papers.
Everyone knows the story of one of the richest men in the world, Bill Gates, so I’ll keep this one quick.
In short, Bill graduated high school and went on to Harvard University. He was doing fairly well until his junior year when he read an article in Popular Electronics magazine about a microcomputer called Altair. Bill was so passionate about technology that he deiced that he was going to make himself a career in technology rather than have to wait another young year to graduate, and then try to find a job.
After partnering up his friend Steve Ballmer (the man that would eventually become the CEO of Microsoft), Bill had a long conversation with his parents about dropping out and his plans for the future. After the talk, Bill had his parent’s blessing to do as he pleased. What he pleased was to create a software company. The company’s name was Micro Soft. The space was later removed.
Walt Disney
By 16, Disney was fed up with school and decided that it was time to join the army, but he ran in to a bit of a problem: He was too young. So he joined the Red Cross with a fake birth certificate. Why he didn’t just use the fake birth certificate to get in to the army is anyone’s guess, but it worked and Disney was off to a World War 1 France where he was an ambulance driver. In love with drawing, Walt decorated the sides of the ambulance with large pictures of some characters of his own creation.
After the war, Walt found himself back in America without a job. He picked up a few paying art gigs with magazines, movie theaters and such, but nothing that stuck. He partnered up with a buddy of his, Ub Iwerks. Together they formed Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists. It was with Iwerks that Walt Disney co-created the now globally known character of Mickey Mouse.
Disney would eventually go on to become a multi-millionaire and, at the age of 58, was given an honorary high school diploma.
John D. Rockefeller
…and then he wasn’t when he dropped out of high school 2 weeks before his graduation. He immediately enrolled in Folsom Mercantile College (which he also dropped out of), and later started various small businesses. But in 1870, Rockefeller started the Standard Oil Company of Ohio and quickly became richer than he could have ever imagined.
Rockefeller was a very different kind of billionaire than the ones of today. He gave and gave tons of his own money to charity and to health causes. In fact, the last 40 years of his life was basically on big spending spree as it seemed like he just keep throwing more and more money at charitable causes. And, to top it all off, the self-made billionaire that didn’t graduate high school even helped people all over America receive an education with his many donations.
Thomas Edison
You see, when Edison was just a boy, he was very sickly. He suffered from Scarlet Fever and, as a result, had middle ear infections. His aliments prevented him from starting school with all the other kids his age, so he just stayed home and was taught by his mother, who was a teacher at one point. When his infections subsided, he finally attended a real school but, as mentioned, only went for about 3 months before he found his mind to wander and he was being made an example of by his teacher.
Richard Branson
An entrepreneur at heart, Branson started selling records that he purchased wholesale from manufacturers to large retail stores. After partnering up with some friends, Branson eventually called their company Virgin, the name being a reference to the fact that neither he nor his friends knew a thing about the world of business. He went on to open his own record store, which earned him enough money to purchase a plot of land that he built a recording studio on. As made more and more money off of the studio, Branson decided to turn Virgin in to music production company, signing various artists to deals.
As he made money off of the record company, Branson branched out and tried other ventures; buying night clubs and television stations. By the 1980, Branson had made so much money that he decided to open his own airline called Virgin Air. This eventually led to perhaps his greatest and what will probably be his most lasting achievement: Offering normal people (albeit, very rich people…for now) the chance to fly to space with his new business venture Virgin Galactic.
The man that didn’t graduate high school and couldn’t pay attention to save his life is now offering people the chance to go to space. Pretty astounding.
Charles Dickens
At the age of 12, Dickens’ father was sent to prison due to some very heavy debts that were left unpaid. Needing money, Dickens left school and started working 10-hour work days in a shoe factory. As the years past, Dickens held various writing-related jobs including court stenographer and law clerk. This led to a job in journalism, specifically, court reporting. Once he caught the writing bug, Dickens began to write his own short stories, which were eventually collected and printed as his first book, Sketches by Boz.
This opened the doors to his first of many classic novels, The Pickwick Papers.
Bill Gates
In short, Bill graduated high school and went on to Harvard University. He was doing fairly well until his junior year when he read an article in Popular Electronics magazine about a microcomputer called Altair. Bill was so passionate about technology that he deiced that he was going to make himself a career in technology rather than have to wait another young year to graduate, and then try to find a job.
After partnering up his friend Steve Ballmer (the man that would eventually become the CEO of Microsoft), Bill had a long conversation with his parents about dropping out and his plans for the future. After the talk, Bill had his parent’s blessing to do as he pleased. What he pleased was to create a software company. The company’s name was Micro Soft. The space was later removed.
