Inspire Top Students around the World on Less than Five Dollars a Day

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so.

Today my subject is starting your own university.

I suggest this to you . . . even if you haven't yet attended a university yourself.

Why?

This activity is one of the most gratifying ways you can help others . . . and help yourself.

Trust me on this long enough to learn about this opportunity today. I know that this probably sounds bizarre to you.

My introduction to the entrepreneurial university began a few years ago when my college classmate, Peter Gabel, founded the New College of California in San Francisco. Peter described his experience in glowing terms and I was fascinated. You can read about the New College at http://www.newcollege.edu/.

Then, two years ago I was contacted by Mike Cox, founder of Rushmore University, an on-line school. Mike was a big fan of my reviews of business books on Amazon.com and wondered if I would be willing to teach a few classes. I didn't really know whether this was a good idea or not, but I agreed to give it a try. If you want to learn more about Rushmore, go to www.rushmore.edu/.

What happened since has amazed me. I ended up with brilliant students doing cutting edge work from all around the world. Their work has proven to be better than I ever saw done by another student when I was in graduate school at Harvard. I think that part of the explanation is due to the students being mostly older than traditional graduate students and well along in their careers. As a result, the students have a lot of skills and experience that they can bring to bear in their course work that starts them at a higher level.

As an example of how well these students have performed, three of my doctoral students have already been hired as associate professors to teach the material they developed while working with me. A number of my students have had writing accepted for leading journals, and several have published important books.

From this experience, I've learned that the world is filled with people who want to develop all kinds of new skills and knowledge, but have no place to pursue their further education.

Many of my students live in underdeveloped countries where there are no universities near them. Others want to study subjects that few universities anywhere in the world teach. Still others cannot afford to give up their day job, but want to learn at a distance.

Here are some preconceptions that I had that I have found are wrong.

First, unless a university is accredited, it won't be any good and it cannot attract students. Rushmore proves the opposite. It turns out that except in the United States accreditation isn't a very big deal among adult learners. Instead, students want quality education, wherever they can find it.

Second, you have to meet the person face-to-face for any learning to happen. That's also not true. You can tutor people on-line by giving them assignments that require them to apply the key concepts in great books, and wonderful things happen. For instance, many students have taken a tutorial with me based on the book I co-authored, The 2,000 Percent Solution. I ask each student to identify personal and organizational stalls . . . and how to overcome those stalls. Each student also develops a 2,000 percent solution (a way to accomplish 20 times as much with the same resources of the same results with 1/20 the resources and time). They breeze through this assignment. The results can be pretty spectacular. Two students developed solutions that were worth over $100 million to their companies through this brief tutorial. Another student devised a way to reduce waiting time for walk-in care patients in a third world hospital by 97%. You can read some of these papers (see especially Tom Karp's papers and Hiroshi Fukushi's paper) at http://www.rushmore.edu/students/papers.htm

Third, education has to be very expensive. By eliminating the buildings, overhead and usual foolishness of a university, you can also eliminate over 95% of the cost. As a result, you can offer great education on-line for pennies on the usual educational dollar. That places education within the reach of many more people. For instance a Rushmore masters costs less than $6,000 compared to over $100,000 at many universities.

Fourth, it's hard to find students. It turns out that there are hundreds of thousands of potential students searching the Internet looking for programs to take. You can simply start with an e-letter about your program, a Web site and a blog to help attract interest.

Fifth, it's hard to find faculty. It's just the opposite. There are about 20 applicants for every position. There are still best-selling authors in various subjects who still have no teaching posts. You just need to ask them.

Sixth, a university has to be about traditional subjects. I was disabused of that idea when my daughter was touring colleges. She wants to go into costume design. I sat in on some classes, and what the students were doing was the kind of make-your-own-pattern and sew-your-own-clothes effort that my mother had always done . . . after taking classes at her local Singer store. No matter what interests you, there are probably lots of others who want to study the same things. I suspect that this is especially true for life skills like developing a career, giving presentations, solving problems in a family and helping children with their homework.

Here are some steps to help you explore the opportunity:

1. Ask the next 50-100 people you talk to what they've always wanted to learn . . . but never could find a way to learn.

2. Research on the Internet any subjects that they mention that interest you to see what on-line education is available.

3. Identify what isn't being offered anywhere.

4. Start a blog (it's free here on blogger.com) to explore your thoughts and invite people to read and comment on your ideas.

5. Find other people who share your interest (through those who read your blog, those who write blogs on related subjects, Web sites, friends, and experts) and see if they would like to help you form an on-line university.

6. Locate someone with computer skills who wants to help develop a Web site and Web marketing program for the university.

7. Find someone who is good at figuring out what things cost to help you design the program and tuition charges.

8. Hang out your shingle and start offering classes towards a certification certificate (this is very common in the software engineering world) or a degree.

9. Let me know how it goes and I'll share what you learn with the tens of thousands of people who regularly read this blog.

I hope that you will do this. It will be one of the great pleasures of your life.

Tomorrow we move back to everyone's favorite subject as I share with you the secrets of visiting many of New York City's finest mansions.

Friday, I'll tell you how to become a sought-after book reviewer who regularly receives gifts from celebrities.

On Saturday, you'll hear about the opening of training camp for the New England Patriots. If you are going to be in Massachusetts, check out the schedule for attending training camp beginning on July 29 at www.patriots.com. Attendance and parking are free, and there are many wonderful activities for the whole family. I'll be sharing tips on how to get many wonderful autographs from the World Champions.

Sunday, I'll share with you the value of having a special spiritual place where you can find solace and peace.

On Monday, I'll recommend some more wonderful homes, mansions and estates for your visiting pleasure. Hopefully, by then I'll be able to tell you about my plans to visit other properties for the first time through your suggestions as a result of reading today's blog entry.

On Tuesday, I will describe some of the key lessons in Jack Canfield's book, The Success Principles, and share my review with you of that wonderful resource.

Next Wednesday, you will explore how to improve your communications to find out more and to persuade others to be more cooperative. This blog entry can change your life!

Please feel free to let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell