FAMOUS COLLEGE DROP OUTS – THE TRUTH BEHIND THEIR STORY

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Ever wondered what would happen if you just up and left your education, job, family, yada, yada to follow your dreams? Yeah, you’d probably end-up owning a momo-stand in front of JNU to meet days end. But not these fellas, these guys did it differently. And I know you’ve probably read A LOT about them, but nobody tells you the real deal. As exciting as it may sound, fast cash without a proper education; may ‘be’ the dream, but what happens if your ideas and plots fail? What do you do then? Do you go back to the community with a permanent shame-scar on your forehead or do you resort to the lesser evils, like drug dealing or working as a waitress?

People may choose to believe that I have an innovative idea going about in my head, let’s just drop everything and pursue it. Many do, mind you. But not all succeed. In today’s world, only and only if you’re a rich brat, who has enough money to initiate ten start-ups and fail at them, can one afford to try and become the next Bill Gates. Even if you’re low on cash, you have got to be shrewd, conniving and ready to leave behind all self-respect if duty calls.

This, my friends, is how the top-notch billionaires of the world came to be.

1. COCO CHANEL: A LEGACY OF ELEGANCE

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Official party tonight:

LBD (Little Black Dress): Check

Chanel No. 5:  Check

Les 4 Ombres (For killer Eyes): Check

Silk Crepe Pumps (To stand tall): Check

All these and much more are what you could say the ‘sine qua non’ or requirement of the fashion industry and every-second woman (the elitists per say). Be it career-women, housewives, actresses, models or teenagers, all utilize these products on a daily basis. Chanel, one of the leading fashion names around the globe made its mark in the early twentieth century when the world was moving on from the Edwardian era to the modern age. Started by a young girl impassioned with a vision to change the face of how women should dress themselves in order to magnify their true beauty and body structure, Coco Chanel left her education at the tender age of 18 and followed her dream to change the face of the male dominated fashion industry.

Coco started off with a small hat shop where she designed out-of-the-box hats which were highly different from the pre-dominant ones of that age. She kicked-butt with her odd designs (go woman-power!) and slowly crept up the success-ladder.

Her career is highlighted by the long-lasting gifts she gave to the fashion industry:

a. The Little Black Dress

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“A girl should be two things: Classy and Fabulous” – Coco Chanel.

They say that the more educated a person, the greater aesthetic sense he upholds. But I beg to differ. Did you close-minded-chauvinistic-creatures think that women would hide their true selves under layers of cloth for eternity?

Well, think again and they did! This dress was devoid of any cumbersome material and for the first time, women could feel themselves breathe with elegance (Prior to which that dreaded corset churned their organs into mincemeat)! (See image for a visualization!)

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b. Chanel No. 5

“What do I wear in bed? Well, Chanel No. 5 of course!” – Marilyn Monroe.

The world’s most worn and sworn by perfume would be the Chanel No. 5.  Launched in 1921 when the world was at war, Coco thought that women, even during troubled times, must appear with a sense of grace and calmness about them.

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REAL DEAL:  Amazing! Isn’t it? But did you know that to reach to where she was, Chanel took refuge under the roof of a rich ex-cavalry officer but never married him. Under his care she made relations with other wealthy men which shortly led to her gathering sufficient funding for her own boutique which kick-started her life. So it’s safe to say in her context, that behind every successful young woman are several wealthy-frustrated men (where’s the self-respect in that?)!

 

2.  MARK ZUCKERBERG – THE PROGRAMMING PRODIGY

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On an average a person is said to spend 17 minutes on this site. But I agree to disagree. I think an average person opens it up at least 17 times in 30 minutes! Yes, you got it right, its FACEBOOK. It destroys lives and brain cells. What started as a poll-site called FACEMASH to compare the Harvard students with each other on the basis of ‘Hot or Not’ suddenly turned into an on-line addiction when he revamped it to create a social-cyber-hub.

He dropped out of Harvard during his sophomore year to take his dream international. And make it fly he did! Today, our lives are literally owned by this college-drop out tech wiz. Not to mention that Mark Zuckerberg was the world’s first youngest billionaire with a market value of 33.1 billion dollars and the capacity to buy out the leading smartphone chat messenger, i.e. WhatsApp at a whoopingly-mind-bogglingly-teeth-clenching-tongue-biting-falling-on-our-two-dollar-faces-ly 19 billion dollars!

 

 

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To be honest, where would we be without FACEBOOK? How would we stalk the people we trust? How would we share the image that mouth-watering cheesy-burger and rub it in our friend’s faces? How would we know where anybody is?

REAL DEAL: However, initially he had built a site called thefacebook.com for which he had to later face three of his seniors who filed a lawsuit against him as they were promised a helping hand by Zuckerberg in building a site for Harvard. These three seniors were also the major brains behind the whole concept without which Zuckerberg would have never achieved such success and fame. He cheated, back-stabbed and snubbed the ones who trusted him.

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3. STEVE JOBS – FATHER OF THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION

 

What started out as a small little computer workshop in the garage of his parent’s house, Reed College drop-out Steve Jobs built an empire so vast and different from it all, that the way he rocketed to the top was all within a blink of an eye. With his brilliant brain and computer skills, his shrewd business sense he ran his company like a dictator to develop a legacy which gave Microsoft a run for its money.

Creating the first personal computer, APPLE Inc. set standards high for the IT world to see. Slowly and steadily this college drop-out became one of the top leaders of the Silicon Valley. Later on, Steve Jobs went on to also form the movie-making company called Pixar and in 2006 was named one of the Directors of Walt Disney Productions.

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At the turn of the 21st century he introduced the sensational, the magnificent, the almighty APPLE I-POD! Even though he breathed his last after a long fight with pancreatic cancer in 2010, he left behind a words and memories which millions swear by (his last speech a Stanford University gave me Goosebumps in my eyes for Pete’s sake!)

REAL DEAL: But then again, what was his real success story? No, he did not come from money, but he knew one thing for sure, in order to make a mark, he would have to break a lot of vows and rules. Like Zuckerberg, he cheated his most trusted ally, Steve Wozniak, out of thousands of dollars, even though Wozniak played a key role in building Apple. He fathered an illegitimate child and refused to acknowledge her for years to come. Jobs would treat his employees like slaves and lash out heavily even if they made a single mistake. He never took well to criticism and refuted with foul words to the press and donated only ‘once’ to charity.

Hence this says that being smart doesn’t guarantee success; even if it does, it most certainly doesn’t guarantee a humble heart.

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4. BILL GATES – THE BUSINESS MAGNATE

 

Ever wondered WHAT your computer/laptop would run on? What software? What programme? What what what indeed?! Yeah, brain-overload? Happens. Well, at least we have Billy boy to thank! Another Harvard college drop-out, started his own humble business in 1975 and with much success launched the retail version of Windows Microsoft in 1985.

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This sensation of the Windows software spread like wild-fire only to be ever challenged by Apple. Microsoft also created the Windows Office software which has made work easier for millions – from nine year olds to 90-year olds – around the globe. PowerPoint, Outlook, Microsoft Word et al are like the daily bread for us humble technology-dependent. Devices created by Microsoft are used today in gaming consoles, automobiles and smartphones. With its creation embedded in the X-Box One (what a waste) and its takeover of Nokia to save their sorry hinds alongside the new CEO Satya Nadella (Go Desi Boy), Microsoft emerge ever so powerful under philanthropist Bill Gates.

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REAL DEAL: Capable of affording a Harvard education without a scholarship already suggests that he came from a moneyed family and the fact that his mother Mary Gates, a prominent Seattle businesswoman who helped him get the contract that led to a lucrative relationship with I.B.M. for his fledgling Microsoft Corporation, shows that he wouldn’t have been able to accomplish much as a freshman single-handedly. The only thing that stood him out form other rich-brats was the fact that during his teens, he spent time programming and coding all day. Thus, being a millionaire prodigy, he had the stars on his side.

5. DAVID KARP – TUMBLR WIZ

Tumblr kajillionaire David Karp dropped out of high school at 14 because his mom suggested he should focus on computers. Now that’s interesting. Never knew that a mother could be so supportive of our childhood dream of skipping school and sipping lemonade! David Karp worked his way up through various internships, gaining knowledge and experience only to finally build the micro-bogging-social networking-other-things-sharing site called Tumblr wherein a user may share pics and blog about the same.

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Now, though it’s just a baby compared to the other companies started by drop-outs, it has already received rave reviews from the tech-generation and been bought over by Yahoo for a whopping 1.1 Billion dollars. All this at the tender age of 21… Is he the new Mark Zuckerberg?

REAL DEAL: his mother, as seen before, suggested that the wealth is where the computers take root. Hence, again, with his wealthy parents backing he, too dropped out of education to focus on his IT skills with ample backing from his loved ones, so much so that his start-up was taken over by Yahoo and made him rich over-night.

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All in all, we come to a conclusion that unless you don’t have a damn good reason (brains included) to quit college or the Greek Goddess of Luck – Fortuna – sitting on your head, don’t. If you have an idea that stands out from the rest of the world and is completely mind-crackling-throat-gripping-earning-myself-a-million-bucks-beacsue-I’m-a-genius-ly, then go for it!

The real deal though is that this glamorous life of young-earners is not all glory and sparkle. Many who remain behind the scene are un-acclaimed for and many don’t even make the cut. It’s more of a farce that if you drop-out, your future is secure. Articles and newspapers usually tend to leave you all moony-eyed with the hope that one day you’ll do as well if you start a business in your parent’s garage or climb your way through to the top by stepping on others hopes and dreams.

If it weren't for successful H.S. dropouts, who'd hire the college graduate.

 

 

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