Jason Nichols, a twenty one-year-old former St. John's University student, decided to drop out of college to dedicate his time to his patriotic woodwork company.
Nichols, who began making custom American flags during the COVID-19 pandemic, said running his own business has taught him lessons that college never could.
"I started to think, why am I listening to my teacher tell me how I can run a business one day, when I already own one," Nichols told The College Fix who first reported on the story. "And I was learning more in the garage, actually running a business, than I ever would learn sitting in class."
In a statement provided to Fox News Digital, Nichols described the lessons he has learned from operating his own business.
"Running your own business provides you the opportunity to fail and learn. In a classroom you can memorize definitions, but memorizing and executing are two different things," Nichols said.
"Running your own business also gives you a crash course in every aspect of business. You have to learn marketing, accounting, customer service, etc. This allows one to fail, learn and grow exponentially faster than in a classroom," he continued.
TEXAS A&M COURSE ASSIGNS BOOK THAT RIPS TRUMP: ‘WELCOME TO REALITY-BASED COMMUNITY’
Nichols majored in finance and accumulated enough credits to earn his Associates Degree, but no longer felt the tuition was worth paying. He said he aspires to grow his business and "become a household name for wooden flags."
"Ideally I'd like to become large enough where I can employ veterans or first responders and move out of a garage and into a warehouse," Nichols said
He said he has sold over 1,000 flags in the past year and has made shipments to over 30 states.
Upon reflecting on lessons learned from college, Nichols said his experience showed him that nothing is guaranteed and that one must take initiative in their own life to build the life that they want.
"I would say the only thing my education at Saint John's did was light a fire under me. I started to realize that nothing was going to come to me and the only way to truly learn was I would have to go out there and do it myself," he said.
