Lately my posts here have been sporadic. The blog has taken a back seat with everything I’ve been up to. My work at Praxis has been challenging and engaging, plus I have some exciting new projects in the works. Here’s an update:
Reading
In January I set a goal to read 52 books in 2017. Surprisingly, I’m actually right on track. 3 months in, I’ve read 13 books. Here have been some of my favorites:
Philosophy: Who Needs It? by Ayn Rand: After reading The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, and Anthem, I had to get my hands on some objectivist non-fiction. It’s surprisingly quite similar to her fiction, since her characters live and portray her philosophy very clearly. This book outlines the dire importance of developing an individual philosophy by thinking for yourself–something that is all too rare in people these days. Rand has a way of breaking everything down to first principles. It’s awesome.
Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill: This one didn’t have a bunch of new content for me, but it served as a reminder of my own ability. It presented Hill’s philosophy of achievement outlined in other books like Think and Grow Rich and Law of Success in a new way. This quote depicts the theme nicely:
“Remember that your dominating thoughts attract, through a definite law of nature, by the shortest and most convenient route, their physical counterpart. Be careful what your thoughts dwell upon.”
Hustle by James Warren Tevelow: This guy wrote, edited, and published this book in 7 days. I love the idea of taking on a hyper-speed side project like that. It got me thinking about what I could do if I committed to it for 7 full days. Fun read.
Finite and Infinite Games by James Carse: Recommended by Isaac Morehouse, this was one of the most engaging books I’ve ever read. Philosophical but playful, it breaks down life into a series of games we play. With that frame of mind, fear of consequences slips away and everything becomes a fun challenge.
Next on my list:
- The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz
- Anything You Want by Derek Sivers
- Start With Why by Simon Sinek
Praxis
Praxis has been my primary focus lately. We were recently featured on Fox News which caused a huge influx of new applicants. Luckily, the entire Praxis team is full of complete rock stars so we handled it quite well despite the unexpected nature of it. All hands were on deck and it was cool to see every department jump in to help, outside of their typical domains. These growing pains have forced us to buckle down and improve our processes, which happened quickly.
I’ve mostly been improving the placement process and working with our education team. We’ve had some exciting new placements as a result. I get giddy every time I help another participant land an apprenticeship. That’s one more person learning to rely on their own ability instead of a credential, and one more business who gains a kick-ass employee.
I implemented some customized Placement Workshops to help participants build cool projects, refine their personal brands, pitch companies, and crush interviews.
Cassius Carvalho wrote this awesome sales article which has several of our Business Partners wanting to interview him for a sales position.
Andrew Epps has pulling together a few opportunities with startups at the Capital Factory simply by offering to do projects for free and following up consistently.
Luke Ruffing closed his first deal within a month of starting his apprenticeship at PandaDoc. He’s one of 6 Praxis Participants we have at Panda, and they’re already asking for more.
Writing
You might know about my first book, Undecided. I released this one 2 years ago and had a blast. It was the first time I wrote about something I cared about, and sharing it with the world was liberating.
Despite not having published many blog posts, I’ve actually written over 30,000 words in the last month. I have another book coming out soon.
This one I’m doing differently. My first book was a passion project–it was all about the act of writing it, proving to myself I could do it. This time, it’s about the content. I want to create something truly valuable that lasts for a long time. My goal is to put out evergreen content that I can point back to for years. I want it to become the definitive guide for college dropouts.
It will be an exploration of my philosophy of education along with tons of hyper-practical tips & processes for how get a job, start a business, and step into the top 1% of young professionals out there. It’ll essentially teach you everything you need to know about starting a career without a degree. All for less than 0.001% of the cost. Literally.
Hop on the pre-launch list for updates, early content, and free giveaways. Plus you’ll get an opportunity to watch the book launch process first-hand.
I don’t have a launch date yet, but expect it some time during the summer. Until then, I’ll be here on the blog every once in a while and feel free to reach out to me and start a conversation. I won’t bite.