Career Bound by Praxis

How do you build a life that you want? That's the central question Praxis CEO Cameron Sorsby and Praxis COO Mitchell Earl tackle in this episode.

We share from our own experiences across different stages in our lives and careers, attempting to design lives and careers that are both fulfilling and challenging. We also reflect on a share of our own mistakes, changes in our mindset over the years, and offer some advice for people just starting out on their own adventures into adulthood.

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Praxis is a life and career development program for young adults who want to thrive in the real world. It's your opportunity to shape your future alongside growth-minded peers and dedicated mentors. Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ Apply now at : https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

In this episode, we talk about the impact of mentors, role models, and anti-role models.

There are right and wrong ways to pursue mentorship. There are different uses for mentors at different stages in your life. While mentors can act as a force-multiplier for you, too much focus on mentorship (and not enough on doing the work) can stunt your growth.

Be mindful of the value of your mentors' time. Find ways to be valuable. Take their advice and apply it – show them progress, don't just listen: act.

Check out the full episode and drop a comment below to let us know your thoughts on mentorship!

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Praxis is a life and career development program for young adults who want to thrive in the real world. It's your opportunity to shape your future alongside growth-minded peers and dedicated mentors. Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ Apply now at : https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

In this episode, we break down Paul Graham's timeless essay, How to Make Wealth, discussing several of the key insights and what it means for your career + financial future. Paul Graham is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and founder of Y-Combinator. His essay draws on his experience as both a founder and investor working with early-stage startup companies in the process of "creating wealth". 

Graham discusses the advantages of working at an early stage company – as a way to average your productivity with a small group of other highly-competent, high-output people. As opposed to working at a large corporation, where your productivity is averaged across thousands to tens-of-thousands of people, often times very average, at best. He shares how this difference in your own productivity multiple directly impacts your earning potential, and why startups offer a disproportionate advantage in wealth creation. 

Excerpt from the essay: "Startups are not magic. They don't change the laws of wealth creation. They just represent a point at the far end of the curve. There is a conservation law at work here: if you want to make a million dollars, you have to endure a million dollars' worth of pain. For example, one way to make a million dollars would be to work for the Post Office your whole life, and save every penny of your salary. Imagine the stress of working for the Post Office for fifty years. In a startup you compress all this stress into three or four years. You do tend to get a certain bulk discount if you buy the economy-size pain, but you can't evade the fundamental conservation law. If starting a startup were easy, everyone would do it."

Graham also explains the difference between money and wealth. And what you need in order to create wealth – i.e. leverage and measurement.

This essay offers keen and timeless insights into the process of wealth creation, as well as important perspective about how the types of environments / institutions you work in have a direct impact on your earning potential.

Articles & Links Mentioned:

How to Make Wealth by Paul Graham: http://www.paulgraham.com/wealth.html

The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: https://www.navalmanack.com/

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Praxis is a life and career development program for young adults who want to thrive in the real world. It's your opportunity to shape your future alongside growth-minded peers and dedicated mentors.

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/

Apply now at : https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

The velocity of your decision can have a tremendous impact on your life and career. It can directly impact your ability to win cool opportunities, how quickly (and how much) momentum you build, and how that impacts your long-term trajectory thanks to the power of compound interest.

One useful way to think about decision-making velocity is as a continuum – one one end, you've got an extreme action-bias with very rapid decision making and on the other end, you've got a more methodical, calculating and slower decision-making process. 

At different stages in your career, and as the stakes change, one default velocity may make more sense than the other. However, early on in your career, when you lack experience, skill, and a strong professional reputation, you can often overcome a mountain of inertia by being quick to say yes to the stuff that excites you. Rather than deliberating too long.

Renowned entrepreneur Derek Sivers once said, "No yes. Either HELL YEAH or no!" That's great advice in the long-run. But in the early innings of your career, a better way to think about it might be "Yes to anything that's not a HELL NO!" And as you gain more experience + clarity about your career,  that shifts to "No to anything that's not a HELL YES!"

The reason this order of operation makes sense is that when you're just starting out, you lack clarity, experience, and credibility. Developing those in tandem gives you more leverage over your career. Your increased skills and experience open up for opportunities. Not to mention, you develop a higher resolution vision for your life and career.  Which is as much about identifying what you want to do as it is about what you don't want to do.

That's why decision-making velocity can make such a huge difference early in your career. The rate at which you conduct experiments greatly impacts your own growth and trajectory. The more decisions you make, the more experience you gain. If you can accelerate that timeline by getting 10-fold more at-bats early in your career, you can set your self up for rapid growth. Which means by your 30s, the momentum you've built could put you in a much stronger position, which much greater leverage and agency over your life.

Don't give yourself paralysis through analysis. Learn how to leverage decision-making velocity to your advantage.

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Praxis is a life and career development program for young adults who want to thrive in the real world. It's your opportunity to shape your future alongside growth-minded peers and dedicated mentors.

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/

Apply now at : https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

Ever felt like you were stuck on someone else's timeline for your life and career? We've been there. In this episode, Praxis CEO Cameron Sorsby and Praxis COO Mitchell Earl break down the "Timeline Myth" for your education and career. 

Chances are you've encountered this same myth. You go to high school, then college, and by your mid-20s your holding down a stable career, working towards retirement in your 60s. We say that timeline – and the milestones it implies – is bogus. 

You're on your own discovery process and your own development curve. Different stages along your development curve may call for different velocity or direction. You may want to accelerate and move faster than the traditional timeline. Or maybe go off-script and pursue something entirely different. Which is great! Naturally, there are tradeoffs to consider. But in general, what's most important is owning your journey.

The key is figuring out how to conduct your own discovery process, learning to compare yourself (today) vs. yourself (in the past) rather than comparing yourself to your peers. 

Your life and career are very long. You've got a ton of time to try stuff. Make mistakes. Recover. Pivot. Change directions. And more. 

As real estate developer and entrepreneur Eric Weatherholtz once said, "We overestimate what can be accomplished in a year and we underestimate what can be accomplished in a decade."

The same is true for your life and career. You're on your own journey. You get to set the speed.

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Praxis is a life and career development program for young adults who want to thrive in the real world. It's your opportunity to shape your future alongside growth-minded peers and dedicated mentors.

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/

Apply now at : https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

Looking for a simple way to level up your career quick? Move away from your home town. No, it's not necessarily easy to pick up and relocate. But it can work wonders for your career. Especially if you're from a more rural area with less prevalent economic opportunity. But it's not just about being able to access "better" or higher-paying jobs. Moving away from home also forces independence. 

When you move to a new city, you're presented with the opportunity to re-invent yourself, to solidify and challenge existing beliefs, to discard the identity of your youth, and to develop your own identity – anchored in your abilities, your merits, and your own beliefs. This can be a huge challenge! But it's an essential part of the transition from youth to adulthood. The newfound confidence and independence can work wonders for your personal and professional life.

And the best part? You don't have to move away to a new city permanently. Moving from a small town to a big city to gain skills, experience, and build professional credibility offers you an incredibly long-term career and financial "hack". If you can build a strong enough professional reputation for yourself, and a portable skill set, remote work could offer you the opportunity to keep your big-city income and move back to a lower-cost of living area.

All-in-all, it's not about whether you choose to live in rural America, the suburbs, or a city. It's about designing your life and career into what you want it to be. Moving away at the start of your career offers a tremendous advantage to gain more agency over both.

In this episode, Praxis CEO Cameron Sorsby and Praxis COO Mitchell Earl draw on their own experiences moving across the country multiple times, relocating for jobs, relocating because they wanted to, the pros and cons of transient living vs. growing roots, and more. You won't want to miss this episode!

Cameron and Mitchell sit down for their weekly chat. On this weeks show they answer the question: "If you were 18 again and could start over- what would you do?"

Cameron and Mitchell sit down for their weekly chat. On this weeks show they cover the basic skills and mindsets you'll want to develop early on in your career.

Cameron and Mitchell sit down for their weekly chat. On this weeks show they cover: Do you need a degree to be successful?

Interested in listening to next weeks show live? Keep an eye on Twitter (@discoverpraxis) Tuesday mornings!

Cameron and Mitchell sit down for their weekly chat.

On this weeks show they cover:

• How they came into the world of Praxis
• Gen Z resistance to student debt
• The difference between landing a job vs starting a career
• What young professionals truly need from their higher education 
• A peak behind the scenes of what we're building at Praxis
  

Interested in listening to next weeks show live? Keep an eye on Twitter (@discoverpraxis) Tuesday mornings!

In this episode of Self-Directed, Mitchell sits down with real estate investor Kyle O’Hehir to discuss unconventional ways to break into the high-octane world of finance.

Kyle studied math at a state school before hustling his way onto Wall Street. He started investing in real estate on the side and went full time in 2018. Today he splits time between adding to his 300 unit affordable housing portfolio, growing his $10mm/month private lending business, and angel investing.

In this episode:

• How to embark on a non-linear career journey
• The benefits of becoming comfortable with rejection
• Learning from failures and developing resolve
• The “under-promise and over-deliver” strategy
• When and how to sharpen your career growth plan from general to specific
• How to evaluate advice
• How to prove that you’re worthy of specific, next-level advice
• The risks and rewards of entrepreneurship in the finance space vs. working for an institution
• 
  

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Praxis is a year-long apprenticeship program that matches you with a full-time, paid job at a growing company. The program offers a direct route into high-potential careers for driven young people without the cost and hassle of college. Learn more here: https://discoverpraxis.com/

If you’re working for someone other than yourself then someone’s taking advantage of you, right? Wrong.

This time on Self-Directed, Mitchell and Cameron discuss the downsides of a “employment = exploitation” mindset in contrast to the benefits of a responsible value-exchange mindset.

In this episode:

The “become financially independent because working a job is exploitative” fallacy

The Praxis view of education and value

Recognizing value beyond monetary compensation

Taking personal responsibility for finding win/win value in work opportunities

What to look for when evaluating opportunities

The best way to make sure you feel exploited in today’s job market

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Praxis is a year-long apprenticeship program that matches you with a full-time, paid job at a growing company. The program offers a direct route into high-potential careers for driven young people without the cost and hassle of college. Learn more here: https://discoverpraxis.com/

This week on the podcast Mitchell is talking with Tim Chermak! Tim is a marketing consultant, author, and CEO of Platform, a digital marketing agency for real estate.

They cover Tim's story of growing up as an entrepreneurial kid, leaving college to start a business, how to differentiate yourself in your career, and more!

In this episode:

• What drew Tim towards starting a business
• Tim's first experiences as a kid with entrepreneurship
• How growing up with parents who are small business owners helped Tim learn about entrepreneurship
• Starting a marketing company in his senior year of college
• How Tim starting working with real estate marketing
• You need a hard skill to get started
• Whenever you're starting a business, it's key to focus on and understand the niche that you can dominate
• Why you can build a fantastic career as an employee
• How you can differentiate yourself in your career
• All the freedom in your career comes from expertise and leverage

Learn more about Platform Marketing at http://www.platform.marketing/

This time on Self-Directed, Mitchell is joined by Heather Drabant & Mia Liang to talk about their experience in Praxis and their new book What College Won't Teach You.

In this episode:

• Heather and Mia's background and where the idea to write a book came from
• What were the most important skills they learned when they started working
• The importance of communication in the workplace
• Sharing your work
• Don't be afraid of making mistakes
• Lessons learned from the writing process
• Why beta-readers are important for anyone writing a book

This week on the podcast Mitchell is talking with Nate Baker, Deputy Director of Grassroots Operations at Americans for Prosperity and Praxis Alumni, about his experience with student loans.

They cover Nate's story of experiencing first hand the toll student loans can take, why Nate decided to leave college to join Praxis, and how student loans can affect your career path.

Connect with Nate: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nate-baker/

In this episode:
- Nate's experience taking on student debt to go to college
- Making the decision to leave college after three years and join Praxis
- How student debt affects your career path and what makes it a uniquely bad type of debt
- Why do parents fall into giving bad advice to their kids about college and student debt
- Why the ROI of college is not keeping pace with rising tuition costs
- What are the resources that Nate found the most useful for paying off student loan debt

Books and Resources:
- Dame Ramsey (https://www.ramseysolutions.com)

Praxis is an apprenticeship program for ambitious, hard-working young adults that results in a full-time job at a growing business.   Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ Apply now at : https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

In this episode of Self-Directed, Mitchell sits down with Gabriel Mitchell, a marketing specialist at the Objective Standard Institute, to discuss philosophy and building your career.  

Check out Gabriel's article: https://medium.com/on-breaking-the-mold/love-philosophy-build-your-career-without-the-degree-187a0687c95a  

Praxis is an apprenticeship program for ambitious, hard-working young adults that results in a full-time job at a growing business.   

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ 

Apply now at : https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

In this episode of Self-Directed, Mitchell sits down with Phillip Ramsey and Bryan Dewhurst, the Co-Founders of Uncommon Wealth, to discuss what it takes to live an uncommon life as well as the path they took to get there.

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Learn more about the Uncommon Wealth path here:

https://www.uncommonwealth.com/

Learn more about Phillip and Bryan here: 

https://www.uncommonwealth.com/about-us/bryan-dewhurst/

https://www.uncommonwealth.com/about-us/phillip-ramsey/

New book: Uncommon Wealth: https://www.uncommonwealth.com/resources/book/

https://discoverpraxis.com/uncommonwealth/

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Praxis is a 6-month bootcamp that results in a full-time job at a startup. 

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/

Apply now at: https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

In this episode. Mitchell sit's down with Jada Jones, the podcast/youtube extravagant, to discuss her story and how she approached her career.   

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Topics discussed in this episode:   

Jada's Story, 

Motivation / personal education / influences on her perspective, 

What books / podcasts / creators 

Her optimism   

Follow Jada at:  

Not in College Diaries: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYFY5qPpplNXFXli_KBuGvQ3RYBXx1L8u 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jadajonesss/?hl=en 

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Praxis is a 6-month bootcamp that results in a full-time job at a startup.   

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/Apply now at : https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

In this episode of Self Directed, Mithcell sits down with Ljupco Stojanovski Jr. to discuss his success in dropping out of college and into a career.   

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Some topics discussed in this episodes: 

  -  Why did you (Ljupco) go to college? 

  -  What was it that put you on the fence with regards to college? 

  -  What was your college experience? 

  -  Once you dropped out, what happened? 

  -  After becoming the lead manager, where did you go next?   

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Praxis is a 6-month bootcamp that results in a full-time job at a startup.   

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/

Apply now at : https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

In this episode of Self Directed, Mitchell sits down with Taylor Foreman to discuss how he took a self-directed approach to his career as a writer, as well as some practical steps for anyone looking to follow a similar path.  

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Topics and questions discussed in this episode:

     -    Taylor, what's your occupation? How would you describe this for listeners?

     -    What were you doing before?

     -    At what point did you realize you were creative / wanted to make it as a writer?

     -    When did you finally make the leap?

     -    How long did it take to replace your income?

     -    What's the biggest difference you notice doing what you're doing now compared to pursuing a more traditional career path before?

     -    Looking back, what's the single biggest lesson you learned making the leap?

     -    What advice would you give to young and budding creatives?

     -    If you could go back and start over, are there any specific things you'd do differently or skills you would've started focusing on earlier?

     -    Let's end on a fun one, if you had to pick one book or content piece that's had the biggest impact on you, what would it be?  

Books Referenced in this Episode: 

 - How to Make Your More Talented Friends Jealous by Being Braver https://medium.com/the-ascent/how-to-make-your-more-talented-friends-jealous-by-being-braver-cae361b9417a 

 - 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021  

Find Taylor and Taylor's work at: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/j-taylor-foreman/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-creative-life-is-possible/about/ 

https://www.taylorforeman.com/ 

https://taylorforeman.substack.com/ 

https://foremanjamestaylor.medium.com/  

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Praxis is a 6-month bootcamp that results in a full-time job at a startup.   

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ 

Apply now at : https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

Seth (Lauren's Dad) and Lauren Marlowe (Praxis Alumna 2018). Lauren is a Praxis Alumna from 2018, who is a self-taught UX/UI Designer and just landed an awesome new job as a UX/UI Designer with United Airlines. 

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Topics discussed in this episode: 

 - New job: what are you doing now, how did you land the job? Any hurdles going through the hiring process without a degree?

 - Let's rewind. When did it all start? The conversation about what to do after high school.

 - Was it all-at-once or a gradual decision?

 - Parent perspective, successful college opt out perspective

 - What were some of the biggest challenges you faced?

 - We've chatted about was the social acceptance – how did you approach that? Did this ever get easier? How?

 - What advice would you give to other parents?

 - What advice would you give to young adults out there about how to broach this topic with their parents?

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Books mentioned: 

The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman - https://www.amazon.com/World-Flat-Thomas-Friedman/dp/1598954814 

Stop Stealing Dreams by Seth Godin   

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Praxis is a 6-month bootcamp that results in a full-time job at a startup.   

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ 

Apply now at: https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

In this episode, Mitchell and Cameron sit down to discuss the downsides to delaying life milestones. Full disclosure is a rant episode, full of intense discussions surrounding college's downsides and the things most people don't consider when forgoing life milestones.  

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Some topics discussed in this episode: 

 - "One-third of respondents under the age of 34 would postpone getting married due to student debt." 

 - How so many people are putting their life's on hold due to their student debt. 

 - College delays people from pursuing their life ambitions. 

 - "57% of student loan barrows say student loans are a major stressor in their relationship with their spouse or significant other. 

 - The shift we are seeing in younger generations stepping away from college, pursuing alternatives, and the benefits that they find. 

 - The idea that you have to go to succeed and that without it is a transactional relationship. 

 - How not having student debt changed and affected Mitchell's and Cameron's career, and life, trajectories. 

 - How can you make opting out of college more socially acceptable.  

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Praxis is a 6-month bootcamp that results in a full-time job at a startup.   

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ 

Apply now at: https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

In this episode, Cameron and Mitchell sit down to discuss skills staking, super skills, and career choices.   

Some points discussed in this episode:  

- The worst way to go about pursuing a career  

- The challenge of only approaching your career by well-defined paths. 

- Don't commit to a specific, defined career outcome and forgo every other option/opportunity.  

- Figure out the things that are most important to you right now and start making gains towards those.  

- The subtle ways that people fall into career choice traps.  

- Don't be afraid to quit.  

- How to approach your first 5-8 years of your career.  

- Start thinking of your personal cashflow as if you are a business.  

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Praxis is a 6-month bootcamp that results in a full-time job at a startup. 

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ 

Apply now at: https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

Garrett Smiley, Co-Founder of Sora Schools – an innovative, online high school where students explore their interests, learn however is best for them, and gain valuable exposure to future careers and fields of work.  

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Topics discussed in this episode: 

- What is Sora? 

- Why did you start it? 

- At what point did you look at the system and realize that there was a business opportunity to do something different? 

- Why there aren't a lot of options for alternative high-school options 

- The beginning years of Sora and how it works

- How does Sora's student level of satisfaction compare to "traditional" school 

- How Sora handles socialization while being completely online How do you handle the common arguments and questions that parents have?  

Learn more about Garrett and Sora below: 

Garrett's Twitter: https://twitter.com/gw_smiles 

Garrett's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gwsmiley/ 

Sora Schools: https://soraschools.com/ 

Sora's Website: https://twitter.com/soraschools  

Books referenced: 

Thinking in Systems: A Primer by Donella H. Meadows: https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Systems-Donella-H-Meadows/dp/1603580557  

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Praxis is a 6-month bootcamp that results in a full-time job at a startup.   

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ 

Apply now at: https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

In this episode, Mitchell and Cameron sit down to discuss the impact and effects of customer service, both good and bad.  

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Specific examples of bad customer service

          - Having to call to cancel a service. 

What makes exceptional customer service?

          -Deliver what you committed to deliver

          -You have to care about your customers 

Halls Steak House customer service as an example 

Customer service reps in the startup realm Customer Service is an under-tapped opportunity for early career advancement. 

By consistently delivering value for your customers you can "hack" value. 

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Praxis is a 6-month bootcamp that results in a full-time job at a startup.   

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ 

Apply now at: https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

Mitchell and Cameron sit down to discuss what they're reading, their most interesting ideas, and predictions on the future 

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Some topics discussed in this episode:   

- What are you reading?  

- Cameron: Henry Ford's Autobiography, and Thinking as a Science.  And just finishing Economics for Real People.  

- Mitchell: Prosperity Paradox  

- Mitchell's side interests, grocery stores, shopping, and where he thinks they are going in the future.  

- How remote work is altering the workplace and allowing location independence.  

- How people approach their careers.  

- The idea of personal agency. 

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Book links: 

Henry Ford's Autobiography: https://www.amazon.com/My-Life-Work-Autobiography-Henry/dp/149428300X  

Thinking as a Science: https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-as-Science-Henry-Hazlitt/dp/1519099843  

Economics for Real People: https://www.amazon.com/Economics-Real-People-Introduction-Austrian-ebook/dp/B005O178VO  

Prosperity Paradox: https://www.amazon.com/Prosperity-Paradox-Innovation-Nations-Poverty/dp/0062851829  

Rich Dad Poor Dad: https://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680194  

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Praxis is a 6-month bootcamp that results in a full-time job at a startup.   

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ 

Apply now at: https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

In this episode, Cameron and Mitchell return for a conversation on work-life balance, what it means to them, how their thoughts have evolved, and how it changes with different stages of life.

- Mitchell's thoughts on work-life balance. 

- How has your perspective on work-life balance changed? 

- Mitchells mid-twenties realization that career success wasn't the end all be all.  

- Mitchells use of the question, "Am I living a story I'd want to read?" to put this balance into perspective. 

- Cameron's initial thoughts on work-life balance as a late-highschooler/early college student and how the evolution they have gone through.   

Quotes: 

"The goal of the first ten years in your career is to figure out what you want your long-term scoreboard to be." 

"Go find experiences that are going to build the skills that will contribute to that vague idea [your future]."  

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Praxis is a 6-month bootcamp that results in a full-time job at a startup.   

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ 

Apply now at: https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

Jason is the host of Impact at Work interview series and Superhumans at Work, a Mindvalley Podcast. He has a background in real estate investing, raising private money, online marketing, and sales. His upcoming book on Sales shares how shifting from fear to love in selling can bring abundance to yourself, your community, and even lift the tide for all. 

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Key topics discussed in this episode: 

- Jason's career 

- How Jason got into sales 

- Jason's new, soon to be released, book highlighting his philosophy on sales

- Jason's sales philosophy 

Jason also appears on: 

Why Selling Is The Greatest Expression of Love with Jason Campbell: https://youtu.be/hY7wmlhC6jo 

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Praxis is a 6-month bootcamp that results in a full-time job at a startup. 

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ 

Apply now at: https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

Marla Szwast is a freelance writer living in Marietta, GA, with her husband, six kids, two dogs, one cat, and a bird. (Yes, she is a wee bit crazy.) She writes about homeschooling & the brain @ www.jumpintogenius.com. You can also follow her on Medium for more ramblings on education, parenting, writing, and health. (With an occasional poem thrown in, because everything good starts with a poem.) 

Published regularly in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, she has also written ghost blogs from companies in the health and education industries in addition to having written curriculum published online through www.schoolhouseteachers.com for elementary kids in the topics of modern history and earth science. 

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Questions discussed in this episode: 

- How did you get into homeschooling? 

- How long have you been homeschooling? 

- What are some of the best resources for other homeschooling parents and students? 

- Want to talk specifically about your recent post on teaching teens personal finance – could you summarize some of the big ideas from this? 

Read more at: 

https://jumpintogenius.com/which-type-of-homeschool-is-best-for-you/ 

https://jumpintogenius.com/teaching-teens-personal-finance-2/ 

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Praxis is a 6-month bootcamp that results in a full-time job at a startup. 

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ 

Apply now at: https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

Matt Beaudreau is the Founder and CEO of Acton Academy Placer.  

Matt is a long-time educator, having worked as a teacher, administrator, and athletic director in public and private schools at the K-12 level. He has also been involved in higher education as a corporate trainer, consultant, guest lecturer, and keynote speaker for schools including Stanford, Sacramento State, and William Jessup University, among others.  

After being featured at TEDx Santa Cruz in 2015, he quickly became a highly sought after keynote speaker for companies such as Honeywell, Gray TV, Sandia National Laboratories, and the Jack Henry Group. Once Matt discovered the power of the Hero’s Journey that Acton Academy offered, he was compelled by a vision of bringing that type of community to the Placer County area.  

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Questions discussed in this episode:  

- What is Acton Academy?  

- Let's start with your career. What were you doing before? What was the path that led to Acton?  

- Were you always into education?  

- What was your "Aha moment" That things could be different?  

\- What advice for parents just starting homeschooling?  

- What are you most optimistic about when it comes to the future of school?  

See more of Matt at:  

https://www.actonplacer.com/  

It's About to Get Uncomfortable: Education in America | Matt Beaudreau | TEDxSantaCruz : https://youtu.be/JPAXMNXy5UQ  

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Praxis is a 6-month bootcamp that results in a full-time job at a startup.   

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ 

Apply now at : https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

Welcome, Matt Streck – Financial Advisor. For the better part of the past decade, Matt's been helping people manage their personal financial plan. And today we're gonna get his take on tips + advice for people just starting out. 

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Questions discussed in this episode:  

- What are the most important things for somebody 18-25 to get right about their personal finances?  

- What are the biggest mistakes you see people make?  

- How can people start making progress on their own?  

- What are some of the biggest pains for people early on, financially?  

- What "personal finance" advice seems obvious to you now, but wasn't when you first started working in financial services?  

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Matt's Book Recommendations:  

- The Richest Man in Babylon, George S Clason  

- Unshakeable, Tony Robbins  

- Power of Zero, David McKnight  

- The Intelligent Investor, Benjamin Graham  

- Books by Peter Lynch  

- Atomic Habits, James Clear  

- Extreme Ownership, Jacko Willink  

- Thinking in Bets, Annie Duke

Kerry McDonald is a Senior Education Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education, Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute, and author of Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom (Chicago Review Press, 2019). 

In addition to her regular column at Forbes.com where she spotlights innovative K-12 learning models, Kerry's articles have appeared at The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, NPR, Education Next, Reason Magazine, Entrepreneur, and the Journal of School Choice, among others. 

Her research interests include homeschooling and alternatives to school, self-directed learning, education entrepreneurship, parent empowerment, school choice, and family and child policy.  Kerry has a master's degree in education policy from Harvard University and a bachelor's degree in economics from Bowdoin College.  

You can find her at fee.org/kerry and follow her on Twitter @kerry_edu.  

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Questions discussed in this episode:  

- Where did your passion for education, in particular, education policy and alternative education, come from? When did it all start for you?  

- You've been studying education for a while. What are some of your most important takeaways about education, and in particular traditional education vs. alternatives?  

- When and how did you first become interested in homeschooling? And also unschooling?  

- Some definitions – what's the distinction between homeschooling and unschooling?  

- Why did you choose to "unschool" your own kids? Did you start by unschooling, was it an evolution to unschooling?  

- How does homeschooling/unschooling/self-directed education prepare people for the real world?  

- What lessons from the unschooling approach can people apply to their own educations, even if they've already graduated?  

- What are the biggest myths people believe about education is/how it should be approached?  

- A lot of controversy has been swirling around homeschooling lately – in your opinion, why are some people so mad/hostile toward homeschooling?  

- What are some of the most exciting opportunities technology is opening up for education?  

- You've built an awesome brand talking about education – which you're clearly passionate about. What's your top piece of advice for people who aspire to become experts in their own area of interest?  

- What's your best advice to parents who've made the shift to homeschooling?  

Follow on Twitter @kerry_edu or check out her book, Unschooled. Any other piece of content you'd like me to share?  

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Kerry recently wrote about education models that might gain traction due to COVID: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerrymcdonald/2020/05/11/four-k-12-education-models-that-may-gain-popularity-during-covid-19

Keith Holsten is the CEO/Founder of K/H Financial our mission is to make a difference in our client's lives and our community each and every day.  

https://www.kh.financial/ 

Questions discussed in this episode:  

-How long have you been in the financial advising world?  

-What do you love most about your work?  

-What did you do before?  

-When did you know financial advising was a career path that interested you?  

-When did you know you wanted to "do your own thing" / start your own business?  

-One of the things I love about your business is how invested you are in your local community and building value beyond your business. Have you always been this way / how did you develop this philosophy/approach?  

-What are some personal financial mistakes you see a lot of people make? Any age?  

-What personal finance advice would you give to younger people and their parents?  

-Purely from a personal finance/investment standpoint, what are your views on young people accumulating student debt?

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Praxis is a 6-month bootcamp that results in a full-time job at a startup.   

Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ 

Apply now at : https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

In this episode of Self-Directed we discuss the changing tide of education with Corey DeAngelis.

Corey DeAngelis is the Director of School Choice for the Reason Foundation, an Adjunct Scholar at Cato Institute, and the Executive Director at Educational Freedom Institute. 

You can follow him on twitter at @DeAngelisCorey

Discussed on this episode:  

- Corey – what's your backstory? What started your fire for school choice and education?  

- In your opinion, what's the ideal aim of education? How do you define education success?  

- From your experience, what systems offer the "best" education outcomes?  

- How much choice does the average parent (or student) have over their child's education? How can students/parents with perceived limited choice pursue success on their own / what options do they have? 

- What advice would you give to parents or students who want better alternatives – more choice – than what government schools have to offer?  

- What trends have you noticed in the conversation around education since COVID? One shift in particular from a recent article you published blew my mind – especially in the wake of the Harvard Homeschooling Crisis (congrats on shutting that down, by the way) – here it is:

         "52 percent of parents now say they have a more favorable view of homeschooling and 15% of people polled said they would homeschool kids once schools reopen"

         (Reference article: [https://reason.org/commentary/parents-on-homeschooling-during-coronavirus-and-where-theyll-send-their-kids-when-schools-re-open/](https://reason.org/commentary/parents-on-homeschooling-during-coronavirus-and-where-theyll-send-their-kids-when-schools-re-open/))  

- What kind of impact would a shift like that have had on traditional education?  

- If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about education – across the board – what would you change?  

- What are you most optimistic about when it comes to the future of education?  

- Lastly – What's the best piece of content you've produced recently that you'd like me to share with listeners in the show notes? 

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Referenced: 

https://reason.org/commentary/the-disinformation-campaign-against-homeschooling/ 

https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/why-government-school-monopolists-are-freaking-out 

https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/elites-go-war-homeschooling-just-when-everyones-doing-it

This week on Self-Directed, we're diving into side projects. Side projects are not only a great way to build a new skill, but it is also an incredible way to build a signal to places you want to work for in the future.

In this episode: 

- How do side projects help? 

- Great examples of side projects

- Why businesses like seeing candidates with side projects

- Stories of people landing jobs with side projects

Great side projects: 

- How I went from underemployed waitress to the top 1% of millennials in 6 months, Lauren Holliday (https://medium.com/@laurenholliday_/how-i-went-from-underemployed-waitress-to-the-top-1-of-millennials-in-3-months-4680dc1d7891)

- Gregory Williamson  Hubspot course (https://www.thegregorywilliamson.com/portfolio)

- Dave Gerhardt's "Tech in Boston" (https://twitter.com/davegerhardt?lang=en)

Praxis is a 6-month bootcamp that results in a full-time job at a startup. Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ Apply now at : https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

Discussed on this episode:

- Thinking about confirmation bias when it slows our learning

- Why it's okay to be controversial 

- The rub between finding "Your Audience" and "Learning Quickly"

- The art of charitable interpretation - way easier to learn when you're not taking stuff personally

- When is it valuable to ignore people you disagree with? When should you try to learn from them?

- The dangerous tendency to migrate toward people we agree with / ideas we already believe

- Big opportunity (And HUGE life lesson for me) that it's possible (and valuable) to learn from people you disagree with and stuff you don't like

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Praxis is a 6-month bootcamp that results in a full-time job at a startup.   Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ Apply now at : https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

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Music credit: Swarm by Parallel Park (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Parallel_Park/Demonstration_1225/Swarm_1237)

If I could recommend only one job for you to start your career, it would be a job in customer support or sales.

Why is customer service the best place to start your career?

Customer support and sales jobs are what I call highly-leverageable jobs early in your career. These two job types offer you maximum exposure to the business with the most transferable skill sets to other roles.

Both sales and customer support function primarily as customer-facing roles, which means you need to get smart fast about what your company does, what it sells, who your customers are, who your competition is, and why it matters.

In this episode:

- "You’ve always got a customer.”
- The strength of your brand – As an individual & as a company

Links from this episode:
- https://medium.com/on-breaking-the-mold/five-years-ago-i-graduated-college-without-a-job-or-a-clue-heres-how-i-turned-it-around-d5d34e737eb6
- https://mitchellearl.com/2019/03/the-story-you-tell-shapes-your-customer-expectations/
- https://mitchellearl.com/2019/04/dont-hold-the-customer-hostage/
- https://discoverpraxis.com/how-to-succeed-in-customer-success/
- https://discoverpraxis.com/customer-success-ultimate-launchpad/
- Tony Hseih - Delivering Happiness (https://www.deliveringhappiness.com/)
- Netflix's Culture Deck (https://jobs.netflix.com/culture)

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Praxis is a 6-month bootcamp that results in a full-time job at a startup.   Learn more at: http://discoverpraxis.com/ Apply now at : https://www.discoverpraxis.com/apply

Discussed in this episode:

- How to create your own learning plan

- How do you decide what to learn?

- Using your interests as a guide

- Getting lost in learning rabbit hole

- Documenting your learning process & tips for building your own documentation system

- How Mitchell leveled up his copywriting by diving down a rabbit hole

- Why you should learn how to learn on your own

- Pros and cons of independent learning (and how to teach yourself anything on your own)

- Running learning experiments in the real world

- How to learn from role models (even if you don't know them)

Books Highlighted (on topic of Copywriting):

- Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy

- Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins

- The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert

- This Won’t Scale by Drift