Thursday, April 7, 2016

7 Skills that Help You Earn Money: The Education of Millionaires by Michael Ellsberg: Quick Book Summary

Many of today's young millionaires are not college graduates. Michael Ellsberg studied them to find out what they know that many college graduates don't know. 


Michael Ellsberg suggests a quick way to test the value of a college degree today can be found by placing an ad on Craig’s List.  After one such ad was placed in San Francisco for a job paying ten dollars an hour that involved customer service and data entry, candidates showed up with newly minted J.D. degrees, Ph.D.’s, six MBA’s, including  one MBA from Harvard. Although the Harvard MBA was interviewed, he did not get the job.   


In The Education of Millionaires, Everything You Won’t Learn in College About How to Be Successful, Portfolio/Penguin, 2012, Michael Ellsberg, lays out what recent college graduates have known for a while now: the value of a college degree today is not the same as it was fifty years ago. 


That old adage of go to school, study hard and get good grades, and when you graduate, you will be able to find employment that pays well enough to land you in the middle-class is no longer always true if it ever was. Ellsberg acknowledges that a college degree has intrinsic value, but it is no longer a guaranteed entry ticket to a better life after investing about four years of your life and many thousands of dollars.  


If a college degree does not have high intrinsic value today, what does?  Ellsberg posits that learning seven skill sets will put you on the right path to gainful employment. Although education is still necessary, the type of education that helps you to earn an income is often self-education.  


(1) Align how you make money with what provides value and meaning in your life.  


(2) Become good at networking and finding great mentors. 


(3) Learn to market yourself.  


(4) Learn how to sell. 


(5) Learn how to invest in your own success by boot-strapping. 


(6) Build yourself up as a brand. 


(7) Develop an entrepreneurial mindset.  


This book contains a lot of valuable information for young people who are struggling with how to find a job that does not involve taking someone’s order, or some other basic entry- level work that can be done without a college degree.   

If you are a young person in college, a recent graduate who hasn’t found a job in your field, or the parent of a young person in college, this book is valuable in that it can help you make sense of the new business environment that must be navigated to become financially successful in a world that is rapidly changing.  

Rating: **** of 5.  Applying information from this book can help you earn money.  Use your discretion about which sections apply to your situation. 


 Copyright @ 2016 

You can find out for yourself whether this book can help you become successful and earn money by buying the book. This book can be purchased on Amazon by clicking the link below.   I paid for my copy of this book the same as you will should you decide to purchase it.  I have received nothing from the author or publisher for this review. 


Disclosure: We may receive a small commission from your purchase, but this will not raise the amount you pay. Thank you for reading this free book summary and review. Comments are welcome.   



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