Why I Learned More in 1 Year as an Entrepreneur Than I Did in Thousands of Days as a Student and Analyst

I became a full-time entrepreneur almost exactly one year ago. Yay.

Or should I celebrate?

Before I took the dive, I was a student at Washington and Lee University and an analyst at a successful medium-sized company operating in the insurance industry. I learned a lot at each of these stops. I paid and was paid handsomely to do so, respectively. Yet, I I strongly believe that I have learned more as an entrepreneur than I did as a college student and as an analyst'combined.

In other words, I am saying that it took me just over 365 days to learn more valuable skills 'on my own' than it took me to learn under the tutelage of well-regarded professors and business executives over the course of thousands of days.

Mom and Dad, my primary financial and emotional backers during my tenure at W&L, probably won't be thrilled to read that aforementioned bold statement. However, I have a sneaky suspicion that this occurrence is not all that rare. In fact, I suspect that many folks who have dived head-first into the start-up life could either personally identify with my conclusion or at the very least consider it a realistic possibility.

The Two Factors That Set Learning on Fire

In my opinion, there are two primary ingredients required to literally make your brain's appetite for learning fanatical; they are:

1. When you have to learn to survive
2. When you want to learn because you love the subject matter and/or what it empowers you to solve

That's it. If just one of these factors is fulfilled, an unbelievable amount of learning can take place. If both are satisfied, watch out ' that is when the needand hunger for learning will remain ravenous until the student has survived and the problem has been solved.

Now, take a moment to think of an entrepreneur bootstrapping a business operating in an industry they love and solving a problem that has personally caused them pain. This unique situation fully encompasses the two aforementioned factors: 1) it forces the entrepreneur (student) to learn in order to survive and put food on the table and 2) it makes her crave knowledge in order to build and propel her product or service out into the marketplace to solve a problem that has personally afflicted her.

This unique and awesome experience exactly describes my life in the past year, which is why I can testify to the validity of these factors, or at least provide them as believable rationalizations for my conclusions (after all, how do you measure the value of certain things you learn?).

I wonder how many people crave learning and if, perhaps, those who unfortunately have a distaste for it merely do because they feel too comfortable, are not working on something they enjoy and/or that solves a problem?

Becoming an entrepreneur has taught me a number of things, but among the most important discoveries it has taught me thus far is that a sound indicator of a life well lived is one that entices an insatiable appetite for learning. And to correct a life devoid of that need and desire to learn, try integrating one or two of the factors I've found to successfully set it afire.