A week ago, I heard two numbers that changed my outlook on the future.

A professor presented these numbers in a lecture, not realizing how they may impact students. (No, they weren’t the lucky Iowa Powerball numbers.)

The numbers were, simply, 97 and three. They were just numbers, until they had a percent sign behind them. Aroused your curiosity yet?

3 percent of the U.S. population controls 97 percent of the wealth.

Alarming as this seems, many people are included in the latter because they live life as advised. Go to high school, get your diploma, go to college and get a degree so you can land a great paying job.

Practice interviewing techniques to impress your future employer. Hit the job market hard until you land the “nine to five” job you studied four years to obtain, and start making $25,000 a year. Does any of this sound frighteningly familiar?

Through the past decade, a lack of creativity and living “outside the box” led Americans to remain in risk-free environments. Unfortunately, this results in an uninventive society.

Why wait until we have $85,000 in college loan debt to start a business? Can we rip ourselves from endless hours of tv watching (reruns of course), net surfing, junk food eating, and more mind-numbing activities to invest in our future?

Many of us acquire information in class and at the library only to become better equipped to please future bosses. Why not use these resources to reach a goal that is more likely to affect us as humans and businesspeople? Why not use our entrepreneurial intuition?

Starting a business isn’t for everyone. Many need to have others directing them on what to write, think, and even what time to eat lunch and when to leave the office.

But, for any risk-takers out there, who push ourselves and never want to answer to bosses, success is at our fingertips. Hundreds of opportunities are within our grasp, it just takes initiative.

Some say it takes away time from studies. How many of us sit in our rooms and study 18 hours a day? It takes time management and personal sacrifice.

Many colleges have begun preparing students to own businesses. Brock University and many others have departments in entrepreneurship. Simpson does not yet have courses teaching entrepreneurial skills, although a portion of management class may address the issue.

Another pair of numbers that struck me was one and 100. We were taught to give 100 percent in everything we did, because we could control destiny. Consider self-employment, why not be 1 percent of 100 to try. It’s scary, but so it goes thinking “outside the box”.

So, why not open that coffee shop near campus? Why not sell furniture you painted? Why not take the plunge?