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Many people have a limited view of what is meant by the term education, yet today even the most prestigious colleges and universities are recognising experiential learning as a metric to gain access onto advanced courses like masters degrees.

The true value of an education is found in its ability to help people bring more value to the marketplace by enhancing their skills; now, that doesn’t need to be from studying at a university, it could be as simple as watching YouTube videos, Lynda.com or attending weekend seminars on topics around entrepreneurship.

Essentially, there is no intrinsic value in the piece of paper that higher education provides as an outcome; it’s what you do with that education that counts; for instance there are plenty of people with degrees working in call centres in minimum wage jobs.  

The value of education comes from its ability to catalyse your personal growth, knowledge base, and understanding of an industry so that you are in a better position to create more value.

See, many people will go to university presuming it will lead them on a path toward financial security, or even financial independence, but the reality is that a higher education qualification does not automatically lead to higher earnings; just like how having a gym membership does not lead to a six pack, or how getting student accommodation london does not lead to you getting a first class degree.

In essence, the only way to make more money is to create more value, and whilst formal education can contribute to that, it’s not the be all and end all.  If you’re looking to enhance your earning ability you’ll want to bear the following facts:

PRINCIPLE 1:  PEOPLE EARN IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE VALUE THEY PROVIDE

People are compensated based on the value they create – whether that is to a person (i.e. a customer) or organisation (i.e. an employer).  Put simply, if you want to earn more, you need to create more value in terms of the end result you are providing.

The more value you provide; the more you will earn!

PRINCIPLE 2: LEARN MORE IN ORDER TO CREATE MORE VALUE

There are two ways to learn; one is through experience and the other is through education.

It should be noted that learning is not limited to academic education by studying a course at a university.  In many ways, you might be better off learning how to invest in property from someone that has been there and done it, already, in order to enhance your earning ability.

It’s worthwhile considering the fact there are many highly educated people that work in minimum wage jobs, and just because they have a degree does not set them up for inevitable success.  

Indeed, it’s interesting that you can find many highly educated white collar workers attending weekend seminars on topics such as property investing, and how to set up a blog, in an attempt to escape the rat race… many of which are led by wealthy and intelligent people who don’t have a degree!