Jeff Clark Interview (#3)

Jeff Clark was my dad’s best friend when my parents got married, and Jeff has been a part of my family ever since. I have always known he was a very successful man, but was super interested to find out what he thought about education and how to climb your way up to the top.

Jeff started by telling me that he went to two different community college in Arizona after he graduated high school. He started out at Phoenix College and then transferred to Mesa Community College. He said that he had enough hours to earn a degree in criminal justice, but never followed through to obtain it. After he left college he became a policeman for quite a good part of his life. It wasn’t until the late 90’s that he decided he wanted to do something more with his life, and ended up making millions. In 1998 he took what knowledge he had of construction and started his own housing company. It took a little while to get off the ground, but after it got rolling it never stopped. It only took a few months to realize that he absolutely loved what he was doing, and loved the money that began to roll in. He now has a large home construction company based in Arizona and lives life extremely comfortably.

What I found most interesting about this interview was when Clark started talking about his attitude toward education. I think Clark is a little biased because he has seen how far he has come in life with almost no schooling, but I also think that some of what he says makes pretty good sense. Clark believes that except in a few cases where a degree is necessary, such as a lawyer or a doctor, college is a waste of time. He said that the people who control the makes and media try to make young people think that to get a good job, you need a college education. The sad truth that these people find out later is that there are few jobs to be found, with or without a college degree. He thinks the whole idea of college and student loans is the biggest waste of money. His advice- “If you know what you want to do….DO IT. You don’t need a degree to back you up. If you have the ambition, nothing can stop you.” I thought this was a very different perspective than most people I have talked to. I think it is crazy that  he has made so much money and never really went to college, but I respect his hard work and his ambition to get the money that he dreamed of.