I am reading Sam Calagione book on “Brewing Up A Business”.  Sam started Dogfish Head Brewery, and he has been very successful.  Sam also was expelled from high school, so he does not have a high school diploma.  He states he is one of the select few who never graduated high school but has a college degree.  His degree is in writing.

What Sam did for his goal of starting a brewery was to go to the library and self-educate himself on the brewing business.  I would say he did a great job of educating himself with the success he has had.  I am finding it a fascinating journey, but I have only started it.  I hope the next 200+ pages are as educational as the first 20.

Another high school dropout “loser” was Billy Joel.  Yes, he got his diploma 25 years after being unable to graduate high school due to his workload of helping his mother make ends meet.  My wife did a blog on one of Billy Joel’s song from 1973 (http://lisadblog.wordpress.com/2014/08/09/sing-us-a-song/).  Amazing longevity of success.

I think education is so important in life.  I have a couple of degrees, and I push my daughters in school.  My big thing is to make sure they have every opportunity to be successful on achieving their goals.

Sometimes, life has other plans for you though, but nobody should give up.  Like Billy Joel who could not get a diploma due to playing in piano bars to help his mother, life is just not that easy, but you can still achieve the goal of being a successful musical artist even if you have to educate yourself.