
How to Create Your Own Real-World MBA - michaelfairley
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/06/28/mba/
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joshkaufman
I've been doing the "Create Your Own Real-World MBA" thing for ~6 years: it's
called the Personal MBA. My approach is different - instead of assuming you
have $100k+ and are an accredited investor, I recommend a set of great books
to read. Once you master the essential concepts, you're prepared to start
making a difference immediately, without mortgaging your life for an MBA.

Based on my research, these books are the best for business self-education:
<http://personalmba.com/best-business-books/>

Here's an essay about the project: <http://personalmba.com/manifesto/>

My first book (titled _The Personal MBA: A World-Class Business Education in a
Single Volume_ ) comes out December 30th: <http://personalmba.com/book/>

In the meantime, I'm creating summaries of all of the books on the PMBA
reading list: <http://personalmba.com/category/book-summaries/>. (David Allen
just jumped in on my GTD summary.)

Not sure why Ferriss didn't point people to the Personal MBA in his post (I
know he knows about it), but that's not in my locus of control. At any rate,
if this type of approach appeals to you, feel free to AMA - I've been at it
for quite a while, and I love helping people learn business without taking on
crippling debt.

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aymeric
Like he mentioned, his situation was favorised by the fact he lived in the S.
Valley and the fact that he already knew CEOs and top notch people.

But I like his main advice. Instead of paying $XXXXX in theoretical education,
try to find ways to spend it in actual learning experiences.

I didn't realize he was involved in so many startups (I knew about RescueTime
and DailyBurn).

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wallflower
I really am annoyed and almost think it is borderline wrong that he failed to
mention that to be an angel investor (his $120k invested in startups), you
have to be an accredited investor by the standard IRS regulations. My guess is
most of the people reading his blog _aren't_ accredited investors, otherwise
they would not be reading his blog regularly and getting all pumped up 4HWW
style.

"Currently, there are two ways to qualify as an individual:

\- You are single and make $200K/year, or you are married and make $300K/year
as a household

\- You have over $1M in liquid assets"

[http://blog.adamnash.com/2010/05/19/accredited-investors-
fix...](http://blog.adamnash.com/2010/05/19/accredited-investors-fixing-the-
dumb-money-problem/)

~~~
damoncali
You don't _have_ to be accredited, but the company would be playing with fire
by taking your money if you're not.

~~~
angelbob
The actual regulations are that the company owes you slightly more in terms of
unaudited financials as an unaccredited investor, and there's a maximum total
(something like 20 or 30?) number of unaccredited investors they can have.

Companies try to avoid it -- who wants one extra burden as a startup, even a
small burden? But it's not as onerous as you might think.

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jerrell
Like a lot of Tim Ferriss' advice, this is superb - with a pinch of salt.

The core message is inspirational and, I think, a good one. But it's up to the
reader to decide how best to apply it to their own life.

That said, I look forward to the day when I can apply the tips from this post
in a literal way! ;)

~~~
brc
I believe that all good advice comes in the form like this : a mixture of
background theory, personal anecdotes of application, and a suggestion that
the reader applies it to their own situation.

Specific how-to books are only good for concrete tasks like painting a wall.
When it comes to life direction and investments, the variables are so numerous
that specific advice is useless for most people, and so inspirational stories
are much better. But for many, they just read and say 'well, I don't have 120k
to invest, so the advice was no good'.

You coudl even interpret his poitn as something like : it's OK to burn money
on investments as long as you can afford it, and you learn lessons and meet
people along the way.

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pramit
I agree with it. The real world teaches more than the classroom. I have
written quite a bit about the efficiency of business education and have
created alternatives as well.If you will permit me, Do we need MBAs: A 5 part
series <http://bighow.com/tags/doweneedmbas> Do we need MBAs: A presentation
[http://www.slideshare.net/pramitsingh/the-success-manual-
do-...](http://www.slideshare.net/pramitsingh/the-success-manual-do-we-need-
mbas)

Inspired by The Personal MBA, I went one step ahead and created The Success
Manual: Guide to 130 important skills \- It contains summaries of 100+
Greatest business books. Version 2.0 is on the way
<http://thesuccessmanual.bighow.com>

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jackfoxy
Right after our company got bought-out one of the first employees enrolled in
a rather prestigious MBA program that took him over 3 years to complete, still
working for us mostly full time. I heard he dropped $125K to finish the
program. It did nothing to make him a better asset for us. He finally left,
and I think the MBA had something to do with his new position. So maybe it was
worth it, finally.

In theory I like the idea of dropping that money into creating your own MBA,
but I think there are great practical problems in doing that while you are
still employed. In the case of my co-worker, he couldn't afford to quit and
pursue the MBA full time.

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mkramlich
I think approaches like this should increasingly replace the need/desire to go
to business school. Not all forms of higher education can be short-circuited
so easily -- you wouldn't want someone forgoing medical school and just
staying at home and practicing brain surgery on his neighbors, making mistakes
( _ouch_ ) and learning as he went along. But I think it clearly works in the
fields of business, software and writing.

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whatusername
Seth Godin's "Graduate school for unemployed college students" is something
along the same lines:
[http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/06/graduate-
sch...](http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/06/graduate-school-for-
unemployed-college-students.html)

