Is College a RIP OFF and WASTE OF TIME? | Ask Mr Wonderful #8 Kevin O'Leary

[Vincent] I was wondering how someone who has just graduated college and is attempting (to be) a successful entrepreneur. I was just wondering what outlet you would recommend they learn business through.

[Kevin] Oh, look who's arrived! It's Savannah, my daughter. What if she has a question? All right, Vincent, the first, a quick music interlude here. I was thinking sort of a... That's just a little ditty, kind of a bluesy ditty to sort of cover up the sound of my daughter making all that noise in the background here, but let's listen to Vincent's question. Vincent, what do you got?

[Vincent] Hey, Mr. Wonderful, this is Vincent Ruggieri again from Vinny Theory on YouTube. This is my second question, so I might just scratch the first one, but I was wondering how someone who has just graduated college and is attempting to be an Entrepreneur. A successful Entrepreneur could go about launching a product or starting a business in a way where they can learn business through books, or I was just wondering what outlet you would recommend they learn business through in a way that's actually applicable that they can execute on in a real business manner rather than go to a school that teaches you basically nothing that you're going to use once you graduate.

[Kevin] Vincent, I love that skepticism about school. There's nothing wrong with school. I'll tell you what's great about school, business schools even, or any university or even high school: People you meet. You're gonna forget what they teach you, but you're going to have those relationships for the rest of your life. Now to your question, I wrote a book called "Men, Women & Money". I think it's worth reading. It's a short read, but it gives you a lot of basic principles about how you have to deal with life. Having said that, check that out on Amazon. I think it's wonderful. I've published three of them, but try "Men, Women & Money," the first one.

Now, here's what I've always felt is important about entrepreneurship: go work for somebody else for a while. Try out some business that you think you'd be good at and apply yourself to that. Don't necessarily start up on your own for the first time. That's a tremendous amount of work and it doesn't always work out. Experience is the one thing you can never have unless you spend time getting it, you know what I mean? And it's actually the most valuable thing and it's something you should respect. A lot of people do not respect experience. I do. I always ask mentors and people that have done things before me what I can learn from? Now I'm not against going to college; there's nothing wrong with that. But the experience of life, of actually doing something, is the most powerful way to learn. So get out there and do it again, and I'm not ignoring your first question; that was a good one too. I like all the questions. We all learn together. That's what "Ask Mr. Wonderful" is all about. But thanks for that one, Vincent.

Music Interlude? Maybe, maybe, maybe. What do I got? What do I got? I'm thinking... Yeah, maybe a little Blues. Oh, yeah. Woo. Yeah. Classic. Those three chords, D A E. Alright Sean, what do you got? Let's see.

[Sean] Hey, Mr. Wonderful. Two questions... What are your thoughts on using technical analysis when trading stocks, and can one realistically expect to become wealthy off of trading alone? Thanks a bunch!

[Kevin] Very interesting, Sean. Now, you know there's two schools of thought on technical analysis. You can learn from what happened in the past to a stock price by applying technical analysis to try and determine what's going to do in the future. I have not found that to be very effective. It's not that I'm against it. I do use charts a lot, which are very inexpensive. You can get them for free on any stock platform just to see what the history has been, what the pricing has been, and obviously if a stock is very volatile. It makes me nervous. In other words, there's a huge change in fluctuation of price, but that's what traders like.

Now about trading to make a living: trading is really, really, really hard. That's a fact. It's extremely difficult to make money trading. It's a very nimble skill. I'm not saying you can't do it. I prefer to be an investor. I own stocks for the long term. I use ETFs, baskets of stocks, and even do some fixed income with ETFs on money market things so I can get 2% of my cash. But... you know, if you want to make a living as a trader, to me it's akin to being a gambler in Las Vegas. Very few make money, and I'm not saying you can't try. I'm not against it, but for me, it's not the way I want to work. I would rather create wealth as an entrepreneur in a business and then take some of my proceeds and invest it in the market. Gives me diversification in the long run; that's the only free lunch in investing, but I'm definitely not a trader. But if you are, good luck. You know, try it for a couple of years. If you can actually make a living doing that, maybe you can go longer, but I doubt it. I'm a skeptic. Sorry about that.

Alright, Sean. Okay, so here we are on the set of Shark Tank. And what matters is, what watch are you wearing? That's all that matters. You look at the other Sharks, they're all wearing these discount watches. They have no story to tell. They have no accoutrement. They have no fashion sense. But check this out. The Seiko makes its debut on Shark Tank. It's absolutely beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. Look at that. It's spectacular. And now we have to listen to Laurie when I'm giving this fantastic Seiko story.

Okay, you done yet?

[Laurie] No, Grasshopper.

[Kevin] Alright, well I want to do one now. Alright... Look, what matters on Shark Tank - What pen are you writing with? What are your cufflinks doing? And what watch are you wearing? This is the first debut of the Seiko. The absolutely beautiful lacquered red face with the gold rose, spectacular. Works beautifully with these fantastic Tiffany gold and of course this incredible MontBlanc. It's all together making a fashion statement. And it looks spectacular on camera. That's the essence of a great television watch. And you can tell a story. There's only 150 of these. This is number 110. All the Sharks are jealous, what can I say?

[Laurie] All the Sharks are jealous.

[Kevin] It's all true, Laurie.

[Laurie] So, where is my face?

[Kevin] It doesn't want to go over to you. Now it moves.

[Kevin] It doesn't want to leave Mr. Wonderful.

[Laurie] Wait, oh wait, you're in the wrong spot.

[Kevin] Oh, there you are.

[Laurie] Up, up!

[Kevin] Laurie, what do you think of this watch? What do you think about it?

[Laurie] I like this watch. This watch is pretty. It's made out of like the blood, blood tips..

[Kevin] No, the-

[Both] poison oak.

[Kevin] Lacquer.

[Laurie] That's right. And if it explodes, or cracks, or breaks, he will get poison oak.

[Laurie] That's kind of scary.

[Laurie] But, yesterday he was wearing one that was kind of cool. It looked like the constellation.

[Laurie] It was like blue with little sparkles.

[Kevin] Yes, that was A.P. yesterday. That was Perpetual 11.59 with the red band. But today I'm just loving the Seiko Grand Master.

[Kevin] It's just spectacular.

[Laurie] Yesterday's was my favorite, though. It was really beautiful. Just sorry, no shade on the Grand Seiko.

[Kevin] Oh gee, don't let the Grand Seiko hear that.

[Kevin] Oh my goodness, it might be insulted.

[Laurie] But...

[Laurie] And wait, I'm going to say my favorite pen. Because, of all his pens, I like The Beatles one.

[Kevin] Oh, you don't like this one?

[Laurie] I like this one. I just don't find-

[Kevin] Look at her insult my accoutrement.

[Kevin] She is very unhappy.

[Laurie] Accoutrement. Ah, I love this guitar. Absolutely spectacular. Yeah, it's a... you know, Hess & Dalton. Very, very interesting. Handmade beauty.

Anyways, and today just out of interest, I'm wearing a black face Daytona with, of course, the customary red band for those of you who are into watches.

[George] Hi Mr. O'Leary. My name is George Romero, and thank you for taking the time to answer my question. Here it is: Are there any circumstances in which you would advise an entrepreneur not to make a deal with a Shark? Thank you so much.

[Kevin] Wow, interesting.

[Robert] Because they actually want to get their money.

[Kevin] You know, I've never had that question before, but I'll tell you how I'm gonna answer it. I think you have to think about which Shark you want to work with.

Well, I think it provides a very important platform in America that lets consumers discover new products and services and the trends. Shark Tank is probably at the cutting edge of what's happening out there. There's constant innovation. There's constant new ideas. Some of which have no merit, but many are amazing, and so... Then it's up to the investors to decide which of which is which and take a chance on them.

They don't all work out, but when they work, it's pretty phenomenal. Because Shark Tank's been on for 11 years. It's in its 11th season, so everybody knows every Shark now. I know it gets guest Sharks once in a while, but the Sharks that have been there for over a decade. Mr. Wonderful included, I might add, you've gotten to know by now, and I would do two things: If the deal makes no sense, obviously, you don't feel like it's fair. Obviously, you don't do that deal.

I like royalty deals, I like venture debt, I like, you know, all kinds of different structures because I'm the financial Shark, but I always let entrepreneurs talk to the rest of my company's CEOs and men and women that manage all the different companies that I've invested in. They're my best... I think people to provide due diligence and what it's really like to work with Mr. Wonderful, and I come up with some pretty good grades, I'm happy to say.

They're my best salesmen. I mean, all of my CEOs are my best salesmen. We gather every year, but to actually not work with a Shark is because you've determined that they don't add a lot of value other than money to your situation.

The reason you want to come into the Shark world is that Shark can help you significantly reduce your customer acquisition cost by getting you out on their massive social platform. I've got millions of followers, obviously, and I love all my companies, and you constantly see me putting them out on social media to tell people about the new products and services, that's what I do; that's how I add value.

And of course, I'd love to give mentorship, and I provide capital; I do all that, and I have a great team of people working with me.

But the reason you wouldn't invest with the Shark is you don't think there's a fit. It's that simple. But what a great question.

Well, that's it for this episode of "Ask Mr. Wonderful." Well, isn't that sweet? Go to the minor. Beautiful. Anyway, see you soon on "Ask Mr. Wonderful." Share, share, share. Pass it forward. That's what the Mr. Wonderful YouTube channel is all about!