College drop-out turned businessman

    “I am able to make more money than even when I’m playing poker.”

    Marc Ioan is a young, successful entrepreneur from Romania who decided to quit college to follow his dreams.

    Marc Ioan / Photo: personal archive

    His ambition was to create a business which is focused on selling personalized phone accessories to anyone wanting a fresh look for their phones, and men’s luxury accessories for their clothing. His business has the mission and the desire to bring unique and high-quality clothing for men, and phone accessories,  at the most reasonable prices.

    “Ever since I can remember I wanted to be my own boss and do my own things and when I was able to get the necessary funds to start my own business I did it. I guess you can say I was born with this inspiration.” – he said.

    The college drop-out rate in Romania in 2016 stood at 18.5% of the school population, according to data from the EU’s statistical office Eurostat. This is the third highest share in the European Union, after the 19.6% registered in Malta, and the 19% in Spain. The colleges most affected by drop-outs are the arts departments. Furthermore,  the lowest school abandonment rates in the EU in 2016 were reported in Croatia, at 2.8%; Lithuania, at 4.8%; Slovenia, at 4.8%; Poland, at 5.2%; and Luxembourg, at 5.5%. (Ro Insider, 2017).

    Presented with the above facts, Marc Ioan said: “I believe this is what happens when school teachings don’t resonate with the needs of the real world. I am not surprised many don’t want to continue pursuing something that won’t help them.”.

    When asked why he chose to quit college, Marc Ioan responded by saying: “I was at a business department at college and after one year of study there because I didn’t find what I needed to help me grow my business, I decided to quit. I was just being taught theories from books that had no practical point. So I quit and started my own business.”.

    After he quit college, he started working on his business and it took him almost a year to set everything in order. Help from friends and family is the reason why everything went smoother than he believed it could have went.

    In his own words: “I had exterior help, like friends and family supporting me and helping me out as well so it wasn’t so bad and so hard as I thought it could have been.”.

    Every businessperson after launching their own business is eager to make that first sale and experience the fruits of their hard work. Marc Ioan is no different, because when he made his first sale, he said that: “It felt great! I was very happy and proud, but I knew that was only the beginning and if I wanted to continue I had to sell a lot more. I had to sell a lot more not only to keep the site going, but also to pay back the people that helped me and to support myself as well. And now, I am able to make more money than even when I’m playing poker”.

    Marc Ioan / Photo: personal archive

    College-wise, he explained what the school system wasn’t allegedly teaching him that would have been useful to know. He said: “Maybe one of the most important things you need to be taught when in college would be practical experience. I think that you can’t teach someone how to be a businessperson by giving him or her a set of questions and grading them by how good or bad they can remember certain theories. In order to know how business is like in the real world you have to go out and experience it yourself.”.

     “As a start, I would change what’s being taught. When I went to college, business department specifically, and I saw how many things you had to learn I thought that business would be almost impossible for me to do because I didn’t understand half the things that were being taught. I mean you had books upon books filled with information that you would never use in real life. And after I started my own business I found out that schools don’t understand business. The reality is that you don’t need to know all the theories and studies in the world to understand that if you have a good idea and if you have the funds to back it up, you can start your own business and run it however you want.”.

    Going back to Marc Ioan’s business, he said that he does not bother himself with questions about the future of his company as those questions are better to be answered by a higher order. “I leave such future circumstances to be decided by God.”.

    Lastly, Marc Ioan gave a piece of advice to everyone that wants to start their own business and be their own boss. “Be careful what you spend your money on!”.