Prepare for the Unexpected while you're young.

Goal: Have people more fully understand that preparing for the unexpected while you are young is crucial to your future success.

There once was a story of 2 boys. Harry and Benjamin. Both boys are about to graduate high school and have big decisions to make in life. They are both very smart and know where they want to be in 15 years.

Harry wants to pursue an education and become a CEO like his father and his grandfather. He had great hopes to run a company and watch it grow. He imagines sitting around a board room table making executive decisions.

Benjamin on the other hands doesn’t want to get an education. He wants to run his own company. Benjamin doesn’t like that you have to jump through hoops only to get a piece of paper and be in lots of debt when you finish. He likes being his own boss.

Harry graduates high school with honors, gets a full ride to a University where he studies finance. He takes finance, accounting, financial management, and classes surrounding that emphasis. He makes connections with Professors, accounting firms, administrators and attends conferences where he meets other people that are interested in his field of study. Once he received his Bachelors Degree he got a job offer working at Wal-Mart as an Assistant Manager making $80,000 a year. He turned it down because he wanted to further pursue his education and accepting that position wouldn't allow him to do that.

With the help of his Professors he decided to study for the CFA and get his Executive MBA. Over the next couple years he took the test for the CFA and passed it, completed his Executive MBA, and finishes school being $50,000+ in debt. Harry, while studying, was still working a part time making $35,000 per year just to cover his basic living expenses.

Benjamin on the other hand right out of high school started a pest control company. He worked by himself and built up enough capitol to get other equipment to make his job more efficient. After 3 years he started hiring other employees soon his company grew to 20 employees. In 6 years time Benjamin was no longer in debt and was pulling in $100,000 a year for himself. Business was good and he loved having no boss/supervisors and not being in debt. He bought a nice house, nice car, and lived in luxury.

15 years have now passed since Harry and Benjamin graduated high school. Since that time there was a big economic crisis that affected thousands of people. Many people lost their jobs and assets. Harry and Benjamin were no exception to that loss.

Though difficult, Harry had struggled to get to where is today. But he is now working at his dream job. After receiving his CFA and getting his Executive MBA, he started out working at an accounting firm but lost his job during the economic crisis. He felt this loss and was out of a job for a few months. He remembered that while pursuing his education he made strong connections with Professors, Administrators, and other successful people. These people would help him out of this struggling situation. He contacted his connections and a couple years after that found himself as a CFO of an accounting firm making $500,000 per year.

Benjamin on the other hand was struggling to find a job. He had built up a successful company having the luxurous life. But he didn’t anticipate that the economic crisis would have such affect on his pest control business. He didn’t realize that as soon as money was tight, pest control is a necessity people can do without it. Without a proper education and no connections he found himself filling out job application after another. Though he had enough in savings to last him a couple years he knew he had to find work to continue to live his luxurious life. He soon found a job as a business consultant making $125,000 a year.

Harry and Benjamin though they started out with similar qualities of being very smart and knowing where they wanted to go, trials in life happen unexpectedly. The real job in life is to plan and prepare for those trials. Do everything we can while we are young so that unlike Benjamin we aren’t left looking for a job, having no real credentials, and settling for a job just to pass the time.

Preparing while you are young for the future is the wisest thing you can do. Get an education. Make meaningful connections. Success isn’t an overnight process it’s lifelong. You’ve got time. Whether you’re 20, 30, or 40, it is never too late to get an education and more readily prepare for what lies ahead.

Who do you want to be like? Harry or Benjamin?