Well all I can say is that my degree got me a brainless job, my masters got me a challenging career and hopefully a phd will give me a good retirement (job)!

Jokes aside, most reputable companies require at least a degree for you to get one foot into the interview. Without it, no amount of good business sense, sweet talk or hidden talents can be demonstrated. Pursuit of happyness is a nice movie. Not an exact representation of his life, but still, a nice movie.

If you have the opportunity, study hard, and be smart. Pick up soft skills on the way, but do not neglect former education. Unless you wanna go into direct sales, be a retail day trader, be a hawker/cafe owner, be a pilot, be an air stewardess etc etc etc