There are several more skills that give a lot of Power, even if you are very young. Again, I’m sticking with tech for the moment. 

The next one on the list is Web Development. This is a fancy word for building websites, and it is something that a 12 year old can learn. (Heck there are people younger than that who have learned this skill). It’s also highly in demand, and there are many opportunities for freelancing. 

You may have already built a website yourself, but it mystifies many people. Did you know that a huge number of Small Businesses in the US still don’t have a website?

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/14/tech-help-wanted-about-half-of-small-businesses-dont-have-a-website.html

According to a CNBS Poll, almost 45% of small business owners don’t have a website. I’ve seen this first hand, just travelling across the country as a consumer. Sometimes I’ll be looking for a restaurant or a haircut in a town and find that many of the search results don’t have a website at all, just a phone number and a Google listing. 

I showed you the message above from Christopher Graphing who sold a $3,500 website to a Dentist Office. Other students have had similar experiences because I show them how to build a website as part of the Digital Marketing Course. 

That’s Nicholas Schulaner, one of my students in Washington State. He started building WordPress websites – sold his first site for $800 and is being paid $400/month to maintain it, which only takes him a few hours a month. That’s more money than most college grads make in a week working full time. 

When it comes to Web Development, it sounds more complicated than it is. It involves “Coding”, but not the super geeked out kind of coding that you’re used to seeing in the movies, like the guys who program Facebook or GPS Tracking Satellites. 

There are two basic types of Web Development —- Easy (WordPress Development) and Everything Else (php, Front End Development, Javascript). Let me explain. 

Okay, so websites are built on code. The original Code is called HTML or Hyper Text Markup Language. This language was first used on the original websites back in the 1990s, and it’s still used in an updated form today. 

There are also new codes that have been invented like Javascript, php, etc. that allow websites to do all the fun things we enjoy, from auto populating search terms when you shop on Amazon to the way Netflix shuffles and organizes your suggested movie titles. These more complex codes for credit cards and banking transactions. 

You can learn all of these codes from online courses or in person bootcamps that are cheaper and faster than college. 

However, I recommend starting with WordPress. So what is WordPress? 

Well it’s an amazing open sourced Architecture. Basically, WordPress doesn’t about 80% of the coding of a website for you. I’m not talking about opening a WordPress.com or Blogger.com account, which is kind of like a glorified Facebook or Tumblr page. I’m talking about being able to build a Professional, Customizable Website without having to learn intense code. 

This is a site Nick built for his own Digital Marketing Business. 

Many Businesses websites are built right on WordPress. Once you do an initial installation of WordPress, you can customize it very easily using a “Theme”. There are literally thousands of themes available that allow you to basically co-opt someone else’s coding and put up a Professional looking website very quickly. 

There are themes for Dentist’s offices, Auto Repair Shops, and more. You can even set up your own Agency website. 

Source: https://themeforest.net/item/seo-wp-online-marketing-seo-social-media-agency/8012838

All my Online Courses are I’ve built on WordPress as well. 

You can learn to build basic websites or get more advanced and learn about the many plugins, add ons, and customizations available for WordPress blogs. This involves a certain degree of Analytical ability and learning, but it’s not as in depth or complex as learning to code php, Javascript or other web coding languages directly. 

You can see there are plenty of jobs in Web Development. 

And right there, you can see WordPress listed among the skills required. And if you want to Freelance, there are many opportunities on Upwork – which is the world’s largest platform to find freelancing gigs. 

The cool thing is all of this can be learned online, through Self Directed learning. 

You can learn how to setup a WordPress site in my course. And there are other resources for learning these skills, which I’ll get into now. 

There’s a few different types of online learning platforms — there’s sites like Lynda.com, Udemy, and Skillshare. They are decent sites which usually have a ton of courses and information on a variety of topics. The problem is, there isn’t any quality control or guidance. They can be good for introductory level courses on topics you aren’t familiar with, but for more in depth training they usually aren’t of the highest caliber. And it’s easy to get lost in the vast libraries of Skillshare or Lynda.com. 

Treehouse and Pluralsight only teach Tech Skills, mostly coding. I like Treehouse the best, because they offer a sensible plan that offers guidance at a low price. Their “degree” programs (not a $30,000 BA) are about $200 a month, month to month and provide a course structure with projects and feedback. 

By the way, this seems like a good time to disclose: I’m an Affiliate for both Treehouse and Pluralsight, and a lot of the other programs and books I’ll be recommending. A lot of these links in the upcoming sections are affiliate links. This means if you purchase their courses through my link, I get a commission, at no cost to you. I only endorse products and platforms that are high quality and I believe in. 

(Funny how this kind of disclosure is required to protect the public from $20 online courses, but no such disclosure is required for College Admission officers or Colleges!).

If you’re reading a paperback version of the book, visit skipcollegeforsuccess.com/resources for links to the resources mentioned!

Front End Web Development, UX, and iOS Development are great skills to learn. You can research more about these skills on Google and go to Linkedin and check out the kinds of jobs and opportunities they can get you. 

You can take this same approach with Pluralsight — they offer tech training in Coding and other related fields like Cyber Security, SQL, Data Science, and Cloud Data Engineering. 

Data Engineering also has a large percentage of which are Entry Level positions. 

Now I am not a Data Engineer. But I know the same Principles I used to learn PPC and SEO can be used to learn Data Engineering, Cyber Security, C+, etc. It’s a matter of diving into these topics and getting your hands dirty. 

The main thing about these fields is this: tech grows faster than any other sector. As jobs like these open up, because the colleges are so out of touch with reality, there are usually more opportunities to get your “Foot in the door”. There aren’t 45,563 job openings in a field when there is a surplus of skilled workers. 

Just like in Digital Marketing you can get yourself up to speed, get some practical experience and begin exploring and applying to Entry Level jobs. 

Same thing with Cyber Security. There are a ton of openings there as well. 

Some colleges have caught on to the fact that their typical BA programs are an absolute waste of everyone’s time, so they have started putting together their own incredibly overpriced degree and certificate programs related to some of these skills. 

Full Sail University, for example, offers a 2.5 years Bachelor’s Degree program in Digital Marketing. It costs students upwards of $80,000. Full Sail also offers programs in Cloud Technologies and Mobile Development —- all costing over $80,000. It’s an insane amount of money to pay, even if the skillsets are in demand. 

I actually analyzed and broke down the entire Full Sail Digital Marketing curriculum, and it’s absolutely mind blowing how bad it is. It’s slow, inefficient, and terribly organized. 

Students have to wait 3 years before they get their hands into an actual business and advertising account, something my students do within a couple weeks of taking my course. 

I’m not an expert in Mobile Development or Cloud Technology, but I understand the nature of learning in the modern era. You don’t want to waste your time or money in an outdated classroom environment. Learning directly through an online course you are going to get access to the same, if not better, information than you would in an overpriced Academic program. 

If you feel you do want to have an In Person experience, I suggest a Boot Camp or Intensive Program. A popular choice is General Assembly. They provide in person trainings on a variety of tech topics – you go into a real classroom with a teacher and they often have connections to companies in their respective fields. 

Bear in mind this will be a pretty big investment – most of their courses in Software Engineering, User Experience Design, or Data Science cost about $10K to $15K. More than any Online Course but still less than a worthless college degree. 

Remember how I said Self Directed Learning is like having a Power, and it’s also something that can be weird? In Reality, going through an online course is usually more valuable than paying through the nose for an “Accredited” program. Unfortunately the cultural conditioning is so intense, many people just apply to these expensive programs because they seem more “legit”. 

But as every graduate soon learns, employers don’t care about a degree or certificate. 

Let’s talk about what they do care about. 

DEMONSTRATING YOUR SKILLS

Some people ask me if my Digital Marketing Course comes with a Certificate of Completion.

No, it does not. Because Employers could give two hoots about your course certificate or degree. I don’t insult my student’s intelligence by offering them a meaningless certificate. Certificates are like getting a Gold star for using the potty when you were a kid. 

Employers care about Skills, not Certificates, and they care about skills that can be put into action to do the job and solve problems. 

The most valuable component of my course training is how I show my students to “Generate Their Own Experience” – to put together Projects and actually Manage live ad accounts. They build a website, they do SEO on it, they run ads, they get clients. This is very different than what happens in most Academic environments. 

In College, students do theoretical case studies. I’ll give you an example. In a Marketing Curriculum, a student might have to do a sample proposal for a new Product Line for Apple. They write papers evaluating strategy of million dollar corporations. And then they graduate, and end up making copies and answering phones. 

It’s very much in alignment with Academia’s love affair with the impractical. Rather than having students actually demonstrate and execute small but real world projects, they have them blather on and on in the world of theory – as if they are going to graduate and become the new CTO at Apple. 

So here’s how you get a Client or get a Job Interview and Wow the Employer. 

Do a Project as a Demonstration of Your Experience. 

It communicates your Soft Skills and Hard Skills and impresses most employers or clients. 

For instance, instead of telling an Employer on a resume that you’re good at Coding and also Creative and a good Collaborator, you’d actually design a Program in a creative way with a team. The Program itself would be the demonstration in Reality of your Hard and Soft skills versus a canned and empty explanation of it. 

Austin Belcak, of the website Cultivated Culture, has a good free course on this. He talks about unconventional, actionable, and innovative ways to impress employers and stand out from the rest of the applicants. A lot of his advice has to do with solving problems for a company and being proactive vs. just submitting a resume. 

Charlie Hoehn also has a good website on this: demonstrating value as a skillset in and of itself for getting jobs. 

The only thing missing from his advice is any mention of the actual skills you’d need to demonstrate your abilities. And it’s a bit vague about the kinds of jobs you’d be applying to with some of these techniques. 

The answer is this: get the skills I’ve discussed here. And then, whatever skills they are, do something with them. Build a website, write a program, enhance someone’s Cyber Security, put together a Data Visualization presentation. Do something that shows the employer that you are one of the rare young people who can actually problem solve, think creatively, and that you also understand at least the basics of the skills required for the job you’re applying to. 

I’ve heard from so many Employers and Clients that are just thrilled then they encounter a candidate that actually thinks out of the box vs. following all the normal ways of doing things.

It’s really that simple. 

THE MOTHER OF ALL SKILLS

You’ve just ingested a ton of information, and now I am going to share a secret with you that will make your life a heck of a lot easier. 

All of these Hard Skills I’ve shared with you are incredibly valuable, and will help you stand out from everyone else your age with only a degree and a hope and a prayer. However, there is one skill set that is more powerful than any of these skills. 

Remember how I said that “Everybody Needs Marketing”? It’s true. Every business does. 

And so do you. 

You, as an individual or as a Professional, need to learn how to Market and Sell yourself and your services. This can include getting a job, but more often includes how to get Clients. 

A person who understands Marketing and Sales can learn literally any of the aforementioned skills and do great with it. Heck, they could even learn less in demand skills and do well. But even the most talented Graphic Designer, Coder, or Bookkeeper will have trouble if they do not know how to communicate their value to other people. 

This vexes people in all fields and from all walks of life. 

I’ll give you an example. One of the programs I’m going to recommend on Bookkeeping is called “Bookkeeper Business Launch”. The founder, Bob Robinson, is a CPA with 20 years experience, and he’s helped thousands start a profitable bookkeeping businesses from scratch. (You don’t need a degree to be a Bookkeeper). 

But a lot of Bob’s clients aren’t newbies. They are people with Accounting Degrees and CPA Licenses. People with years of education and experience, who do not know how to get clients for their business. So they are sitting there with all of these credentials and education but no knowledge of how to actually build their business. 

Now, this is a problem not only with the traditionally terrible college education, but with some online programs as well. The programs I have recommended are very, very good places to learn the skills you need. But most of them will not include guidance on what to do with those skills once you have them in order to turn that into a job. 

Now, that’s fine. You’re paying $35 for something like Pluralsight which offers you a wealth of knowledge. Or you’re paying $199/month for Treehouse, where you get mentorship and professional support on the technical skills you’re learning. You’re not $50,000 in debt and told “Good luck!” by your college and kicked out the door. 

I hate to keep tooting my own horn, but the reason you’ve seen so many great testimonials from my Digital Marketing course is because I actually teach people exactly what they need to do in order to get the job. Or the client. I show them how to put together a resume, how to speak with hiring managers. That is actually part of the course, not a quick little sidenote or elective after the fact. 

So I invite you to consider taking on Sales/Marketing as a skillset to learn on its own. 

Sales has a crappy reputation because of tools like Jordan Belfort (“The Wolf of Wall Street”) and Car Dealers. I lease all my cars through a broker — I don’t have to deal with a salesperson. I tell him which car I want and he plays all the dealers against the each other to get the lowest rate. I once walked into a Lexus Dealership to see if I could get a better deal than through my broker. Within 10 minutes I had three salesmen all surrounding me, pressuring me to lease my car now because the rates were going up. They threw numbers at me, tried to confuse me. 

It absolutely sucked. 

What People Mistakenly Think of When You Say “Sales”

Sales has also been tainted by Telemarketers. Your phone rings and it’s an automated message or it’s someone reading from a script pushing a crappy product on you. 

Sales has been co-opted in the collective mind by these pushy, overzealous, aggressive frat boy type jerks. I also know of some “Closing” programs that have good information but can turn people into pushy and manipulative douches themselves.  

The sad thing is a lot of great people, like you, who aren’t crazy pushy jerks and have quality ideas and services to offer – avoid sales because of these misperceptions. 

So let’s set the record straight. Sales isn’t about any of that. 

Sales is simply about Communicating Effectively. It’s about persuading people to your ideas. This can be done with integrity, enjoyably, and without being pushy. I used to hate sales… when I was broke. Now that I understand and embrace Sales and what it is truly about, I enjoy it and use it to help people, and make money. 

There’s a great book called “The Introvert’s Edge: How the Quiet and Shy Can Outsell Anyone” by Matthew Pollard. Now, I’m a pretty outgoing person, but the lessons in there apply to everyone. It’s about being transparent, honest, relaxed, and straightforward when you want to persuade someone to work with you or buy your product. 

All the life changing stories I’ve shared with you were only possible because of sales. If I hadn’t packaged my expertise and information and guidance into an online course, and used sales to illustrate its value, none of these people would’ve heard about it or gotten these skills. 

Dresean Ryan (front right raising his arm) at his First Agency Job

It’s not the result of being pushy or disingenuous. I usually just interview people about their experience with the program, explain the value, and let people decide for themselves if they want to buy. I usually interview people over Google Hangouts, but in 2018 we had the pleasure of meeting four of our students who all got jobs at the same agency. 

Me & Matt with JD, Brian, Davit, and Athena at Directive Consulting in Orange County.

3 of the 4 students were college grads who had no idea what to do with their life. (Davit was actually a Marketing major and was passing out flyers when he found the course!)

I mentioned Freelancing in an earlier chapter. And we’ll talk more about Freelancing in an upcoming chapter on Taxes. But one missing ingredient for so many Freelancers is how to actually go about building their client base. 

That requires the ability to sell. 

A colleague of mine, Danny Margulies, runs a website called “Freelance to Win”. He has a lot of great articles specifically about pitching and writing proposals to prospective clients. He also talks a lot about how to make sure you don’t underprice yourself (a big problem lots of newcomers have).  

He also runs an in depth Mentorship and training program, much like my Digital Marketing course. It’s called “Secrets of a Six Figure Upworker”. Danny teaches from his experience making over $100K annually as a freelancer on Upwork (the online platform).

Source: freelancetowin.com From Danny’s First Year as an Upwork Freelancer

I recommend this course specifically because it is so practically oriented and Danny has had as many authentic success stories as me. (FYI, I’m an Affiliate of Danny’s. If you click any of these links and end up enrolling in his training, I get a small commission at no cost to you. If you’re reading a paperback version of the book, visit skipcollegeforsuccess.com/resources for links to the resources mentioned!) He’s teaching sales and positioning as an actual skill itself, on top of whatever hard skills you may have acquired.  He’s also been featured widely in the media. 

Source: freelancetowin.com

Some links to his free material: 

• A Guide on How to Get Your First Freelance Client. 
• An Article on How to Raise Your Pricing when Freelancing. 
• A Link to Samples of his Actual Winning Upwork Proposals. 
• A Case Study a Student’s Success as a Freelancer with No Experience. 

And here’s a comforting thought: I’ve found that people who engage in Self Directed Learning naturally do well when it comes to sales. There’s a simple reason. You’ve gone from a passive sheep student into an active learning. That ownership and energy translates and impacts your entire manner of thinking speaking and communicating with people. 

A lot of my students just get so interested in what they are doing and enthusiastic about sharing it that they naturally persuade people to work them. Their Self Directed mindset also frees them from one of the many pitfalls of compulsory education: the childish practices of “grades”. The grading system makes people into little babies, eagerly seeking approval from a Parent figure and fearful to fail. The more you distance yourself from that way of thinking the easier it is to just naturally talk to people and win them over. 

Lastly, here are a couple of sales books I recommend. One good habit to get into is reading, reading, and more reading. Leaders and Successful people are always reading and exposing their mind to ideas and thoughts from people who are more successful than them. These are the top two books I recommend when starting out. 

The first book I recommend is called “All Marketers Are Liars” by Seth Godin. I love Seth Godin’s work, not just because we have the same first name, but because he knows how to shake things up, motivate, call out stuff everyone else won’t talk about, and explain things in ways that click. 

The title actually causes a lot of controversy when it came out (people thought it was too harsh), leading him to change it to “All Marketers Tell Stories”.  The book’s title is a bit tongue in cheek, but it speaks exactly to what I was saying before: in a world where “sales” has a bad reputation, where people are naturally suspicious being sold to and/or lied to by marketers, authenticity is most powerful tool available to connect with an influence people. 

I also suggest “The Psychology of Selling” by Brian Tracy. Brian is an industry leader in the field of motivation, leadership, and sales. The book is a bit old school, but that’s a good thing when you’re just starting out: he covers a lot of the fundamentals and his work is known for being effective and in integrity. It’s a good place to start. 

LEARN TO COMMUNICATE & BE A LEADER

There is another Magical Skill that is in the same arena as Sales: Communication. I’m not talking about Majoring in Communications in School, where you study a bunch of useless information for 4 years. I’m talking about the ability to powerfully get across your ideas, desires, and thought to other human beings. Ultimately, to be able to influence and inspire.

Sales is really a form of Effective Communication. But even if you don’t work in Sales, or don’t have to actually close clients yourself, you want to enhance your communication skills.

The ability to communicate underlies pretty much every human endeavor – in relationships and in business. It doesn’t matter if you’re a CEO, Analyst, or Receptionist, you have to communicate with colleagues and customers. Communication is where a lot of young people are very, very weak. It’s one reason why Job Interviews are so daunting. 

In a Job Interview, you’re face to face with another person. You can’t hide behind your phone, there’s’ no texting. You have to make eye contact and make a case for why you should be hired. 

In Digital Marketing (and most fields), you will at some point have to Communicate with clients – whether you’re at an agency and you’re reporting on the results of your latest changes to their Campaign, or you’re prospecting and trying to win them as a client. 

Powerful communication is a form of Leadership. Leadership is a funny word. It doesn’t mean running for political office or being a CEO. It simply means that you’re a person who “takes the lead” in their own life and inspires others to do the same. 

A Leader can just be the first one to have the guts to do something. Have you ever been with a group of friends trying to decide what movie to watch or where to eat? And everyone has a different opinion or nobody can decide what to do, so you just end up hanging out and doing nothing. We had a group like that in high school, and I remember one of the girls would get fed up and go, “Look, we’re going to Perkins. Okay? Let’s move!” 

And we all followed her and went to the 24/7 Diner we liked. 

You’ve been trained to be a Follower in life, via school, so it takes work to be a leader. Just by reading this book you’re already acting like a leader, because you are taking the lead on exploring advanced ideas that most people won’t. 

To follow the path I’ve outlined in this book requires you to be a leader, not a follower. And a great tool you will need is Communication. Communication is overlooked in schooling. I highly suggest enrolling in some kind of Leadership Training or Seminar. At the very least look up your local Toastmasters club and join to become a good Public Speaker. 

Did you know that Public Speaking is the #1 Fear, even worse than Death? 

Seriously. Most people are terrified. Compared to other things that people are afraid of like snakes, being shot, and skydiving, it’s pretty weird. I mean, it’s just standing up in front of a room full of people and talking. But there’s so many internal reasons why people are afraid of public speaking. Lack of confidence, fear of being disapproved of, looking silly – these are the things that stop people from taking risks and pursuing their passions in life. 

So if you actually stand up to that fear and encounter it, the positive impact on your mind, your psyche, and your entire way of being is phenomenal. It’s transformative. It can also alleviate anxiety and give you more confidence and enjoyment in your day to day life.

Karen C., who I’ve mentioned before, didn’t just stumble into having a freelance client that pays her $52K a year. Karen took leadership courses and did public presentations in high school. This gave her a confidence that most young people do not have. She is able to have professional conversations and give advice to men 3 times her age because of the confidence she got from public speaking. 

Toastmasters is a Nationwide Organization that trains people in Leadership and Public Speaking. In this case, I’m not talking about an online training program. Toastmasters has clubs in nearly every city in the US. When you join, you will have a chance to actually speak in front of large groups and overcome that fear, which is beneficial in every way. 

Toastmasters has a Youth Leadership Program for people under 18. If you’re in high school, I highly recommend checking them out. Just taking the action of standing up in front of a group of people and speaking will prompt you to strengthen and grow as a leader. 

I also suggest a 3 day long intensive seminar called “The Landmark Forum.” It’s an incredibly powerful and transformative conversation where you basically examine all the craziness that goes on inside your mind and clear it out, leaving space for new possibilities. I highly advocate Landmark’s work, though it is very intense and confronting, and even controversial. 

Anytime you start messing around with people’s beliefs, assumptions, and limitations (and challenging or eliminating them), you’re going to get controversy. Just like there are people who are going to cry bloody murder over the title of this book “Skip College for Success”. How dare you say that! It’s not allowed! It’s dangerous for people to think that!

When people do the Landmark work they go through a process of self examination that shines a light on unseen thoughts and behavior (critical thinking) that are usually learned at a young age and enforced by the culture around them/families/teachers/friends. When people go through this process and see some of this self limiting behavior they become freed up. This often leaves people deliriously happy and excited. 

This throws people off. How could you be so happy and excited after a weekend seminar, just by examining your life with a critical eye? I mean people don’t leave the psychotherapist’s office happy and engaged in life, so it seems really weird. 

People come out of the Forum more freely self expressed, less inhibited, less anxious, less easy to control. Sometimes people reconciles with family members or quit their job and and start the business they always wanted to, or ask someone out they had been afraid to.

Personally, I did a Landmark Course about a year after moving to LA. I had become very shy and withdrawn from other people. I didn’t know anyone really when I moved to LA. I’d go to my Accounting job then go home. I had a hard time making friends or dating. I knew this wasn’t my true self but didn’t know what to do. 

I did this weekend intensive and confronted some limiting beliefs I’d put in place when I’d moved. I won’t go into the details, but by the end of the weekend I felt more like “myself” than I had in years. I was making jokes, talking with people at my office, loosened and lightened up. I wore a sombrero to work and started talking back to my boss (which is more of my natural personality. Ironically, the more I talked back the more I was promoted at that job.) I found it easier to be social, make friends, and date. It also helped me get closer with my Parents. 

 Landmark has a Business Division called the Vanto Group, that does Leadership and Communication training for companies. They have worked with Apply, Reebok, Lockheed Martin, Walgreens, NASA, J.P. Morgan, Western Union, Mercedes, Johnson & Johnson and More. While not for everyone, Landmark is a legit organization that has made a huge difference in a lot of people’s lives. 

When it comes to books on Leadership – I have two recommendations. The first is from Seth Godin, and it’s called “Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?” Seth also points out the terrible impacts of compulsory education on people’s hearts and minds, and the book is an inspiring ass kicking into how to break out of the passive sheep like mentality you’ve been indoctrinated into via school to unleash your creativity and leadership. I was inspired that one of my film mentoring students Chris Foster (who shot a feature film at age 19, but that’s another story), read this book at my recommendation and went on to name his Production Company “Linchpin Films.” 

The other book is called “The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life” by Steve Zafron & Dave Logan. Zafron is the CEO of Landmark’s Vanto Group. This is a high level book – anyone in a senior position who hears that a teen has read this book will be shocked and impressed. It’s not just about speaking or confidence, it’s about the entire paradigm of leadership and creating a Future. It’s based on Landmark’s methodologies and helps you discover unproductive or ineffective ways of thinking and approaching things that are holding you back from achieving your goals, and how to disappear them, and create new possibilities in their place. 

I know I’ve been gushing about Landmark, and I’ll shut up in a minute. But this is what Warren Bennis, Founding Chairman of the Leadership Institute at USC and widely considered to be the Father of modern Leadership Training said: 

“I believe this book may be one of the most important written in many years. The ideas are much larger than we normally see in business books…”

And Archbishop Desmond Tutu, recipient of the Nobel Peace Price, said, ““An inspiring, practical book that will assist all who seek to rewrite the future of our world.”

So, I think it’s a pretty good book. 

Plus, the co-author Dave Logan is a Professor at USC’s Marshall School of Business. You can get access to his teachings for $10 instead of dropping $6,500 on a class. 

Look into other local organizations or clubs that give you a chance to get in front of other people and/or connect with Professionals. And you can also work your way into a Management Position even at a Retail Job. Having the experience of being “The Boss” and leading other people, even if it’s while you’re making coffee, is a great learning experience and communicates value on a resume. 

Having good communication skills will naturally make you qualified to work in Sales. This can mean upselling a family of four on Appetizer while waiting tables, bringing in a $20 tip, or working on commission selling pretty much anything. While I don’t think being a salesman is a great long term career, it is a field where your performance determines your pay. That’s a great lesson for anyone to learn. 

When I worked as a telemarketer, I was given a script and made 70 to 100 calls a day. It sucked. But it also built a muscle in me that helped my development. I learned not to be afraid of people, to clear make a pitch, and to be persuasive. It helped me with my confidence when I was looking for my own Digital Marketing clients and selling my own products. 

And remember, Sales jobs are some of the most common for college grads. 

Source: AfterCollege.com

Those are just a few high income powerful skills you can get without college.

We’ve been talking mostly about sales and tech skills, and later I’ll talk about the best 5 Non Tech High Income Skills you can get.

But before that – we’re going to talk about the other bullshit reason people think you need college: Networking. And I’ll show you how to do it quicker and more directly without going $100K into debt.

Making Money appears to be a mysterious and confusing process. It’s a lot like when a child asks “Where Do Babies Come From?” 

And like a frantic Parent making up stories about the Stork rather then just being straight, it leads to a lot of nonsense and unnecessary confusion. 

You’d be better off consulting a psychic than utilizing the many silly tools available to try and somehow associate a person’s academic aptitude and interests with an actual career and means of making money. I’ve seen tests that include sequencing shapes and picking colors. Somehow a test of abstract logic is supposed to help a teen determine their life path. 

“Billy is good at sequencing shapes so he’ll be a good Computer Technician.” 

Teachers will clumsily attempt to have students imagine what their future Career might be.

“Well, Joanie likes people so maybe she’d be a good Human Resources Director.”

Completely divorced from Reality, student are further misled into believing that a Major somehow leads to a related career. Like getting a degree in Philosophy gets you a job at the Philosophy Factory — when in reality it gets you a job stapling earning reports in an office, if you’re lucky. 

Everything is theoretical and skewed, it’s no wonder students are confused beyond belief. 

So I’m going to attempt to explain money from Square One. 

Here’s the Answer: “You Make Money by Providing Goods or Services of Value”.

That’s it. It’s about Value. 

Perceived or Real, you must provide some kind of value to make money. 

The most commonly understood, inefficient, and (typically) unpleasurable way to make money and provide value is through what is known as a “Job”. 

A “Job” is a legal contract whereby a Company pays you Money in exchange for your Time to do certain tasks. Everyone from a Lawyer to the Cashier works a Job, and is compensated proportionally to the value they provide to their company. 

A “Skill” or “Skill Set” is a description of the tasks or actual work done for the company. Being a Cashier is a Skill Set. You have to know how to speak to shoppers, use a cash register, do basic math, get on the intercom for a price check, etc. 

Practicing Law is a Skill Set. You have to Research Case Law, write Legal Briefs, and make possibly make Arguments in Court. 

Cashier Skills can make you anywhere from $8-$15 an hour depending on where you work. 

Law skills can make you anywhere from $55 an hour to $1,000 an hour, depending on the kind of law you practice and where you work. 

Basically, the point is, there is a big difference in earnings for different skills. 

Lawyers are only paid a lot because they provide Value to Clients who need help in Real Life. Whether it’s getting a divorce, suing an employer, or getting out of jail, very often a lawyer can hold a person’s fate in their very hands. The same, of course, could be said of Doctors. They deal with people’s health and literally life and death. 

One thing is clear: these skills and knowledge have an incredible amount of Value.

You can’t really say the same thing about Cashiers. The skill set is not hard to aquire, doesn’t require much intelligence, and doesn’t provide much value. In fact, the Skill Set is so low in value that in many Supermarkets cashiers work right next to automated check out counters where customers, with absolutely no training, can do the job themselves. 

Law and Medicine are two of the most prominent fields in our culture, and they are also one of a small handful of fields where a degree and tons of school is really necessary. 

Unfortunately, this has led to the widespread misconception that school/Academic Credentials somehow leads to skills that make more money.

The problem with Law and Medicine is that since these fields do require so much school, many Doctors and Lawyers are riddled with more debt than the average undergraduate could fathom. Typically $300,000 or more in debt. So, at the end of the day, the overall profit and take home money these Professions make isn’t that much. 

People also have such a superficial understanding of Money and Careers that they turn this into a massive generalization with two extremes. 

One side: More School = More Money 

And if you don’t go to school, you’re stuck being a broke Cashier. 

This is completely wrong, but it is why so many people are locked in a cycle of either being stuck in a dead end job or perpetually going to school, getting a worthless degree, and not getting any further in life. 

The answer is to realize that you can get Valuable Skills directly and through more efficient methods. This is where Self Directed learning will come into play. 

The good news is this: you don’t have to save peoples lives to have a valuable skill. 

SKILLS AS TOOLS, NOT YOUR IDENTITY

The best skills to get are going to be Technical Skills. Because the Internet. 

That’s what I am going to be focusing on primarily. And a few others.  

Someone with Digital Marketing, UX or Web Development skills can make more money than a Lawyer or a Dentist, and without all that damn schooling. You can learn these things online. 

But whatever the Skills we discuss, let’s start with some context. 

When I was growing up in the early 1990s there was no internet. The best we had was BBS boards run by nerds. There was absolutely no way in hell I could learn anything by sitting at my home computer. 

You guys have access to Petabytes of information, and that includes Online Courses where you can aquire many of the skills that have the highest demand today. 

Some people might be thinking, “But I don’t want to learn tech skills. I’m not a tech person.”

I’m a filmmaker. I went to Art School and neglected learning how to acquire valuable skills, and I ended up broke as a joke for 15 years, which left me with no energy or time to focus on making films.

But thanks to the internet, I learned Digital Marketing, got my first job, ended up managing over $1M annual ad spend and making $100,000+/Yr within 3 years. The Power and Flexibility from having Digital Marketing skills gave me the freedom to ultimately pursue my artistic desires and make a feature film. 

The fact is you have to find a way to provide value in this world. Everyone needs money, not just businessmen. Poets and Artists, Writers and Dancers need it too. Some people are so desperate they end up becoming strippers or working 15 hour days in a factory in exchange for money. That’s all the value they think they can provide. 

I say that even if you have other passions in life, which is great, acquire some of these skills as a foundation. When you have a Foundational Skill of Value, you can whip it out and use it whenever you want. You don’t have to define yourself by these skills or work 100 hours a week. 

One thing that annoys me about most Career Advice books, blogs, and articles is that they often feed into this notion that a Career is supposed to define you as a person or be an extension of your soul’s purpose on Earth. A popular one, called “What Color is Your Parachute?” even administers some very colorful personality tests to help you determine your ideal work environment and your mission in life. But it doesn’t get into the jobs themselves and what you actually do. 

So, like in school, a lot of job seekers end up in this endless acid trip of searching for their “ideal career”. And the process is full of struggle and unnecessary difficulty. 

Skills aren’t your “calling” or life’s purpose – they are tools. Just like you use a hammer to put a nail into a wall, you can use these Skills to earn the money you need to live your Adult Life and support whatever Lifestyle you want. You can even use it to finance your exploration of your Mission in life or whatever other path those other career books may send you on. 

I’m not going to provide a list of 200 possible careers or skills, or give you a vague notion of your personality type and send you in a general direction. I’m going to suggest specific skills I believe that pretty much everyone under 30 should acquire, because they give you a base level of power in determining how your life goes. 

By the time you’re done with this section of the book, I want your head spinning with ideas and possibilities. You should have a million tabs open on your browser and be unable to sleep because you’re so stressed/excited about what skills you could acquire to start building your life.

 You’re tapping your foot in excitement, trying to figure out “Which skills should I get? Which course should I take? Which business should I build?” 

This will put you on the path to financial solvency and power over your own life. 

They’re trying to figure out “What should I Major In?” Hotel Management? Political Science? 18th Century French Poetry? 

This will put them on the path that’s going to get them a job at Best Buy…if they’re lucky.  

HARD AND SOFT SKILLS

Hard Skills are tangible, measurable skill usually involving a processes or procedures. A Hard Skill is something like being able to diffuse a bomb. Or Program in C+, Tax Preparation, or Search Engine Management. You either know how to do it or you don’t. 

Soft Skills are more esoteric. Soft Skills are things like being creative, innovative, being able to work in terms, etc. 

Most College Grads have absolutely no hard skills and a limited supply of soft skills. Because of this, when trying to get jobs they frantically try and highlight their soft skills. All a College Grad can offer a potential employer is various intangible qualities about their personality. Saying you’re a “Very Hard Worker” or “Team Player” without Hard Skills is like having Icing with no Cake. Icing is great but without a Cake it’s just a disgusting sugary mess. 

I’ve read a ton of blogs and books giving advice to young people about their Careers. And they almost exclusively focus on soft skills. They talk about how to craft your resume, interview, get people’s attention, demonstrate aspects of your personality… but they never get into the actual jobs or skills necessary to do these jobs. 

So that’s what we’ll be doing. 

JOB SECURITY VS. SKILLS SECURITY

In the Olden Days, there was something called “Job Security.” Your Grandparents could have potentially started working for, say, General Electric when they were 20 years old and worked for 30 years, retiring at age 50 with a nice Pension (a monthly or weekly stipend of cash paid even when you stop working). Those were the glory days!

Grandparents Spinning Tales of “Job Security” and Other Things That Don’t Exist Anymore

It ain’t like that anymore. 

Job Security no longer exists. 

As the Economy continues to tighten, as the population soars, Companies culture has changed. Your Company has no loyalty to you. You are a cog in a machine, and you are only as good as the Value you provide to that company. 

Most people switch Jobs and/or Careers multiple times through their life. The idea that you’re going to pick the one career you’ll have for the rest of your life at age 17, having no previous experience, is like trying to pick your future Husband or Wife at the Senior Prom. It’s insane. 

So rather than freak out about this, embrace it. Understand that a Job is just a way to make money to support your lifestyle. It’s not “Who You Are” or something you should expect long term Security from.

And don’t become attached to one job or career path. Understand that in every job you are going to be evaluated regularly, as companies are under more and more pressure to perform. 

Some people will criticize “Skip College for Success” as being too risky, which is absurd. It’s much riskier to get into debt for college and graduate with no marketable skills or clear direction in life. While there isn’t anymore “Job Security” there is “Skill Security” – meaning you know that as long as you have a valuable skill you can always find a way to get work and earn income. 

Every since I got these Digital Marketing skills, I’ve had a peace of mind I never knew before. Even if I end up broke and bankrupt, I know I can always get a job. I never have to worry about that again. 

Remember Jeremy, who got that job at an Agency with no degree?

Jeremy, with no degree or debt, has a lot more “Security” than those poor grads who are living at home to save up and pay for their loans. 

You are Free Agent – a hustler. You will have to stay on your toes no matter and stay current what field you work in. Stop worrying about find the “right” or “perfect” job and instead focus on what can make you the most amount of money in a way that is congruent with your interests, talents, and lifestyle.

And build upon it. 

WHAT LIFESTYLE DO YOU WANT?

Do you want to work full time 40 hours a week in an office with cool co-workers? Do you want to work for yourself, or part time on your own schedule? Do you want to be able to travel, or have a lot of free time to do things other than your job? 

You actually have a choice about this. 

As I said earlier, most people take a “Job” because that’s what everyone else does. And you may love having a job, especially if it involves a valuable and engaging skillset. You get to be social and work in teams. 

But there is another option, and it’s called “Freelancing”. Or running your own business. This doesn’t mean you go on Shark Tank and look for $500,000 in startup capital. It simply means that you are the person responsible for getting clients i.e. customers to pay you directly. 

Most people start out in a Job, because it’s more comfortable and common. We live in a culture that doesn’t support the freelancing lifestyle. For example, if you post on Facebook or Instagram that you just got a new job, you’ll get hundreds and hundreds of likes. If you post that you have started your own business… not so much. 

Jobs are much more popular because they are easier. If you do get hired, you show up, do your job, and go home. You don’t usually have to worry about the very existence of the company you are working for. A Barista at Starbucks only has to deal with making Lattes and Customers, not with acquiring new customers. 

If you ever do decide to Freelance or get your own clients, you’ll discover it’s a whole skillset of its own. You are the Sales department and the Customer Service Department of your own small operation. This is more responsibility, but it comes with much more freedom

Because Everyone Needs Marketing, it’s a hell of a lot easier to get Digital Marketing Clients than say clients as a Graphic Designer or Personal Trainer. I’ve met clients at parties, casually striking up a conversation at the Supermarket. Even while waiting at the Chevy Dealership for my car. I don’t have to do much selling, I just let people know that I help people get more traffic via Google and Facebook, and a large percentage of the time, whoever I am speaking with has an interest. 

Beyond that you can approach businesses directly, or utilize an online platform like Upwork to find businesses that need Digital Marketing services. 

Most of my students start out working at a company or agency in order to gain more experience and confidence until they feel ready to eventually strike out on their own and freelance, building their client lists. 

Freelancing doesn’t have to mean scrambling for Clients every day. If you do a good job, clients in this field will stick with you. Typically the pricing model is based on a monthly retainer, so you can make anywhere from $500 to $1,500 a month or more per client. 

Just 2 or 3 regular clients can easily replace a typical Day Job income. And this frees you up to do what you want with your life.

This is a completely grounded, practical, and realistic way to earn money. This is how you could actually work from the beach if you so choose. 

The work is conducted completely online anyway – it doesn’t matter if you’re sitting in an office in downtown LA or working via Wifi from a beach in Mexico or Hawaii. So long as you have access to the internet you are able to do the actual work of managing the accounts and communicating with clients. 

You can even do freelance work on the side while you are working at an Agency job. 

In case you missed it, my student Athena dropped out of college at age 19 and got her first Agency job making $50K. Now, just 3 years later, she makes over $75K in salary plus makes over $30K a year with her freelance clients. (Again this is just one of hundreds of similar success stories you’ll find on my Youtube Channel and on this site).

Freelancing definitely has its own challenges… and rewards. 

It’s all part of determining your own lifestyle and life path. Most young people don’t even realize that Freelancing is a possibility. 

The best thing that an In Demand Skill gives you is options. Options you should be thinking about much earlier than age 22. You can start planning all this out when you’re still in high school.

SKILLS: DEMAND & LEARNING CURVE 

We discussed High and Low Value skills earlier. Like how Law skills are worth a lot more than Cashier skills. But the other really tricky component to the whole game is the level of demand for a particular skills. 

For example, my Dad graduated Law School in 1991. He was 40 years old, it was his second career. At that time, the demand for Lawyers was through the roof. He was recruiter while in school and landed a great Corporate Environmental Law Associate job right out of school. 

Flash forward to 2019 — the demand for Lawyers is much lower. It’s not terrible, but it’s not like it was in 1991. Many Law School graduates, riddled with debt, struggle to find their first position if they weren’t tops in their class. Some have to settle for part time hourly work. 

It’s the same in any field – the supply of skilled workers and demand for them should be something you are trained in like boot camp in high school. This way people wouldn’t waste precious time and energy on fields that are either over saturated with workers or fields where there is absolutely no need for the skills. 

Being a Realtor was a huge opportunity in 2005 — then the housing market crashed. Realtors were unable to sell houses and had to find other things to do. 

Learning longhand, mimeograph machine repair- these were once in demand skills. Today they are meaningless. With the advent of the internet many skills have shifted radically. 

Today the biggest demand for skills is in tech. The skillsets have completely transformed in 20 years. In 2000, many of these jobs didn’t even exist. Making websites was a hobby in 1995. Now it’s an essential component of any business. Web Development is a lucrative skill set. 

Linkedin publishes a list of the most In Demand Skills every year. In 2019 it includes: 

• Cloud Computing – UX Design – Mobile Application Development – Video Production – Sales Leadership – Digital Marketing – Computer Graphics – Web Development

I graduated with a Film Degree, and back in 1999 there was almost no demand for Video Production. This was years before Smartphones and the saturation of video on the internet. Now because of that it’s an In Demand Skill. 

So it’s important to be aware of what Employers actually need. 

You can get a sense of this not only from this list but from doing job searches and looking at the number of open jobs.

Beyond straight Tech Skills, other In Demand Skills I will be talking about include Bookkeeping, Proofreading, Transcribing, Tax Preparation, and the Skilled Trades. 

Do this. It’s simple, and your Parents and Teachers won’t do it for you. 

The last factor to consider is, of course, how hard it is to acquire these skills. As mentioned above, the problem with something like Medicine is that it is one of the most difficult skills to acquire, even though it can pay well. 

Certain other tech skills like Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, and Coding are easier to learn than Medicine but still require rigorous analytical engagement. Skills like Digital Marketing, Proofreading, and Bookkeeping are much easier and faster to learn than Coding. 

You can learn many of the skills on Linkedin’s list online, which is something you can’t do with Medicine, Law, or a variety of other fields with varying levels of demand. 

This also relates to how much you will actually enjoy or be able to engage positively with these skills. Like I said earlier, you shouldn’t expect any of these skills to provide your life with meaning and endless orgasms. But it is possible to find skills more suited to you than others. 

THE #1 HARD SKILL I RECOMMEND

I can’t pull a rabbit out of a hat, but I’ve helped a 19 year old get a $40K/yr job. I’ve trained 21 year old to make $52K a year working from home part time. I’ve helped hundreds of people with and without degrees get into great careers. 

That’s Magic to me. 

Out of all the skills you can learn, in my opinion Digital Marketing is the best. You may recall some of the many testimonials I’ve shared in the previous sections of this book. They all came from people learning Digital Marketing Skills. These are the skills that changed my life. 

In 2010, I was just an unemployed art school grad. I spent about 6 months online, learning about how to run ads, build websites, do email and affiliate marketing. I didn’t have too much success learning how to make money online, but I had acquired a bunch of skills and knowledge that, unbeknownst to me, were in demand. 

I’d finally landed a job at a call center doing telemarketing, frantically looking for a better job on Craigslist during my lunch break. One day I saw an ad for “Account Technician”. I had no idea what that meant, but it said you should have an understanding of Google Ads, SEO, and Internet Marketing. All the things I’d taught myself. 

I threw together a resume and applied. To my shock, I got a callback within a couple of hours. Interviewed and a week later I was hired at $16/hr, which at the time was a miracle for me. 

Immediately upon being hired, I was handed $100,000 in monthly ad spend and 32 client accounts. I had never managed more than $100 and now I was going to manage 1000 times that. 

Within a year I had even more valuable experience in the field. I eventually went up from earning $38,000 a year to $60,000 a year at another company. Then I was hired In House at a private company and paid $75K plus bonuses, making more than $100K a year.

All of this happened within the span of 3 years, and it started with me screwing around and teaching myself things on the internet. There are other great skills I’ll discuss later. But Digital Marketing, to me, is the absolutely best place to start. Here’s why.

First off, there is an incredible demand for skilled Digital Marketers and an incredibly low supply. This isn’t something you’d really know unless you met someone, like me, who has experience in the field. There isn’t much news coverage on this and it’s not even understood in most high schools or colleges. 

I call it “The Most In Demand Career Nobody Knows About.” 

It’s actually thanks to the backwards teaching taking place in college that this opportunity exists. I’ve helped many Marketing Majors, students who literally studied Marketing for 4 years, and never learned the practical skills necessary to work in Digital Marketing. Most of those programs are so outdated, students are learning concepts from decades ago. 

Second, Digital Marketing has the one of the lowest learning curves of any of the in demand skill sets. I taught myself most of the necessary skills in a few months back in 2010 — those skills are even more relevant and valuable today, then when I first got them. 

Through my online course “The Digital Marketing Career Blueprint” I’ve been able to take thousands of people from having zero knowledge to getting interviews and hired at agencies within a few months. Students often go from struggling to find work to getting contacted by eager recruiters after learning, absorbing and applying this skill set. 

People are often skeptical about this. They ask “Isn’t the market getting oversaturated?” The answer is no. In fact, since I started teaching the course in 2016, the number of daily job openings in Digital Marketing has risen from about 30,000 to 60,000. Note: this number was down to about 26,000 a day at the height of the Pandemic, but is now back up to around 46,000 jobs a day. 

And students who take this practical approach send me messages like this every week. 

People are usually confused, shocked, or inspired by results like these. Most people simply can’t understand how someone with no previous experience or education can get a good paying job in such a short amount of time. And this is because so many of us were indoctrinated into this system of believing in “Higher” education and credentials vs. skills.

But even so, it doesn’t alway make sense. What exactly are these jobs, why are they so in demand, and how can people get hired into them so quickly?

Because the Internet. 

The Internet isn’t just a place to buy shoes and watch funny puppy videos. It’s absolutely transformed everything about how we live as human beings, in ways that were unimaginable twenty years ago. People laughed at Jeff Bezos back in the late 1990s and now he’s the richest man in the world. Amazon went from being a quirky little website selling books to bringing in $232 Billion Revenue in 2018. 

The Global Economy has been transformed by the internet. And this has affected all the different kind of jobs that exist. As I said before, being a web developer in 1995 was just a hobby, now it’s a lucrative career. 

The Internet has also transformed Marketing and Advertising. Most of us are inundated with Marketing every day but have no idea how this Multi Billion Dollar industry works. Marketing and Advertising is the engine that fuels the economy. 

Every company and small business has to Market and Advertise. They have to tell people about what they offer, whether it’s Amazon or a local juice bar. 

In the Olden Days, the primary avenues of advertising were Television, Radio, and Newspapers. Local Businesses used the Yellow Pages. These are known as “Traditional Advertising” – and they’re dying. 

Digital Advertising refers to advertising online, using ads on Facebook, Google Searches, Youtube, Linkedin, on blogs and websites. Those ads you see before a Youtube video or on Hulu are digital ads. The ads you see while you’re shopping on Amazon are digital ads. 

Digital Advertising is a $200 Billion Industry, and it’s killing Traditional Advertising. 

That’s a recent chart, but if you go back a few years you can really see the trend. This is from a Global Perspective – TV is still a big medium but you can see the Internet sneaking up like a Cobra and just striking it hard. 

Source: http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends

The big difference between Traditional vs. Digital Advertising is ACCESS. 

Google allows anyone with a few bucks to promote their website in the Search results. Same with Facebook and Linkedin. This has no only transformed the advertising landscape, but the jobs landscape. 

Google and Facebook have “self serve” platforms, where individuals can control their own ads, where they appear, how much they spend. These platforms appear to be simple, but they are sophisticated. And hence, Companies end up hiring experts who understand how these platforms work to manage the ads themselves. 

Google and Facebook make their Billions from their advertising platforms, and companies need people to manage their ads. That’s where these jobs and opportunities come from. 

Because of the meteoric rise of this industry and how fast it changes, many people don’t understand it. Some people think of it as a fad that will pass. This career isn’t going anyway anytime soon. Internet Advertising has grown from $40 Billion Annually a few years and is projected to break $120 Billion a year by 2020 and 2021. 

There is such a low supply of skilled workers as the field continues to grow, that my students are regularly contacted by Recruiters, desperately trying to fill open positions. This is absolutely insane for most millennials to experience. The typical college grad is desperately trying to get a single interview or callback, while young people with skills that companies need are actually pursued by those companies. 

I say it’s like being the prettiest girl at the dance. Here are some examples. 

Companies need Skills. They need people who can actually do the job that needs to be done. When Recruiters reach out to me and my students, it’s because they have a client spending Real Money advertising Real Products and they desperately need someone who understand how to manage those ads. They don’t care about that person’s Degree or personal background. They care if they can get the job done, because in many cases there might be thousands of dollars being spent incorrectly every day. 

Learn how to be that person, and you will start to get the same kind of results.

I’m going to move on to some additional skills and points, but if you’re interested in learning more I explain this in more detail in my free mini course at https://www.digitalcareerblueprint.com 

EVERYONE NEEDS MARKETING & SALES SKILLS

Other than it’s low barrier for entry, low learning curve, high demand and low supply of skilled workers, there’s another huge reason why I focus on Digital Marketing. 

Everyone. Needs. Marketing. 

Everyone. 

You could say “Screw the internet! Screw Tech! I’m gonna open a Yoga Studio!” 

Well how are people going to find out about your Yoga Studio? 

Marketing. 

On the Internet. 

Every business on the planet does marketing. From Tom Cruise pimping out his latest stunt on Mission: Impossible to a Dentist Office pimping out their sale on Veneers, companies have to share what they do with the public in order to get customers. 

Lawyers have to Market. Doctors have to Market. Sex Shops have to Market. 

Even if you don’t think of yourself as a marketer and want to get a job as a Grant Writer, at some point you have to submit a resume and give an interview with your employer. 

That’s Marketing – you’re trying to pitch a company on why they should hire you. 

Marketing is the most ubiquitous skill in existence.

That’s why I recommend it. Because when it’s not only an incredibly valuable skill that will get you hired, get you clients… you can use it on your own projects as well. If you ever do decide to open that Yoga Studio, or a Juice Bar, or an MMA Gym, you will have to market it. And then you can do it yourself instead of paying someone else to do it. 

Most people who have Jobs have no idea how Marketing supports their very existence. You could be a Receptionist or a Graphic Designer, but someone at your company has to do some kind of Marketing in order to make the money to pay your salary. Salesman are out there hustling products and Advertisers are out there running ads to make sure the company is solvent enough to support its Payroll. 

The Job Mindset isn’t terrible, but it’s limiting. When students approach me about Digital Marketing I say yes, there are 47,000 jobs open in the US. But that’s not the only way to make money with this skill. 

The important thing is this: most young people don’t even have a clue how valuable skills are. Most are still focused like lemmings into chasing a degree off a cliff. Once you know that you need skills, it’s just a matter of picking which ones you want to use to make a good income.

    The good news is this: by skipping college, your head will not explode. You will not turn into a Pumpkin. You will not end up homeless on a garbage barge outside of Tijuana. (Note: I don’t know you personally. You might end up on a garbage barge outside Tijuana, but it won’t have anything to do with your Educational attainments). 

     The contrary is true. By skipping college, you will access more clarity, freedom, and power than you imagined possible. You will be able to make more money, have more fun, make more friends and have a brighter future than those people blindly attending college. 

• You will be liberated from the stress and inane nonsense associated with standardized tests, college admissions, grades, midterms, and graduation. 
• You will avoid the crushing misery of student debt.
• You will start your life (and making money) 4 years faster than college graduates. 
• You will learn that you don’t need a degree to get a job.
• You will be freed up to focus on what really matters to build a life of your own creation.
• You will see you don’t need to be a Mark Zuckerberg Super Genius to skip college. 
• You will learn how to be well rounded, well travelled, well educated, well informed, and fulfilled without college.

     You really can just skip it. Opt out. Move past it. Accelerate.  

     This goes against everything you’ve heard for your entire life, so actually it’s going to take a while to sink in. That’s why I wrote an entire book. 

     With instructions, details, illustrations, and examples.    

Skipping Success Stories

     We live in a culture where 70% of high school students are indoctrinated into going to college with no other choice or options spelled out. So it’s more likely you’ve met a Civil War Veteran or spotted a Hobbit then met someone who has actually followed this path. The ideas in this book are brand new, unlike a tenured college professor, who is so old he remembers the Lincoln assassination. 

    So throughout this book I am going to sprinkle in some examples. Example of young people living unimaginably awesome lives, free from the stress most people are experiencing. Pioneers on the Skip College for Success path. 

    I’ve spent more than 10 years giving no BS advice to young people on my various websites and YouTube Channel – youtube.com/sethjared. Sometimes I randomly strike up conversations with teens at Starbucks when I hear them stressing about college admissions. Through my Digital Marketing Career Blueprint course, I’ve helped hundreds of people skip past college and begin their lives powerfully by getting jobs in one of the fastest growing and least understood fields (by people over 40).

    Not only that, these young people didn’t sacrifice the “best years of their lives” or become social pariahs by skipping college. They learned how to make friends, network, and be happy all without incurring debt or wasting 4 years in a classroom. 

                                 Me with Some of My Successful Students in NYC

  I’ve also helped hundreds of college graduates who were left clueless and in debt after school. I wrote this book to try and reach more people before they make that mistake.

Here’s an interview with Lorena —

And an interview with another student – Corey – who was making $30/hr at age 19. He took my course right after high school.

The future for these students is so much brighter than every other young person I’ve ever spoken to. Imagine having your life 85% figured out at age 21 – knowing how you were going to earn a living, a flexible schedule that allowed you the freedom to spend time with friends and explore the world and your passions. Imagine being free of the stress of school, grades, tests, and debt. 

     One of my students, Karen, works part time doing bilingual SEO for a big insurance company. She makes $40/hour remotely, about $52K a year, and has no debt. 

     She is 23 year old. She Skipped College for Success. 

     In 2019, she just decided to go to London. She worked while she travelled. 

Later that year, she was hired by Glassdoor with an $80K salary – combined with her  freelance clients, she makes over $100K a year and has no student debt.

I have more to share about Karen elsewhere in this blog – but I wanted to post some screenshots of messages from her over the years. First there’s the one where she was actively hiring college students. Yes, the young woman without a BA was the boss of many students who were getting their Bachelor’s degrees.

Then there’s the college students reaching out to Karen to get advice because she is actually working in the real world while college students are learning a lot of silly theory.

Then there are messages from all the recruiters trying to hire her because of her skillset – with absolutely no regard for the fact that she does not have a Bachelor’s degree.

Lastly, Karen said it best in a message to me last year:

Here is a pic of me and Karen when I finally met her in SF at her new job.

I’m sharing this to let you know that there is hope. A lot of hope. 

And you’ll find even more interviews with smart young people who skipped college and are now making more money than college graduateson this blog.

School Vs. The Real World

This book is written from the perspective of The “Real” World. Also known as “Adult Life”. Or “Reality”. It’s light years away from you’ve lived your entire life, in a fantasy land called “Academia”. 

Academia is the realm of school, textbooks, theory and make believe. “Academia” is as far removed from reality and mystical as anything you’ve seen in the movies. Fairies, Mutants, Witches, Dragons and Elves have nothing on grown adult human beings who think $50,000 in debt and a Philosophy Degree leads to a brighter future. 

Life in the Magical Land of Academia

Everything in Academia is upside down and the complete opposite of the Real World. 

In Academia, the Pythagorean Theorem is incredibly important. In Reality, nobody gives a flying… hoot… about the Pythagorean Theorem. 

Or anything else you’ve learned in school.

I designed the book to help you make the transition from the imaginary land of Academia into Reality in a powerful way. 

In the first parts of this book, we expose the many great lies, myths, and fantasies you’ve been told about college. I will help you find your own peace and confidence to make your own choices in a world that wants to do the thinking for you. I’ll be discussing statistics and realities you’ve never heard in school. Or perhaps things that you’ve thought to yourself but no adult has confirmed them for you. 

It will help strengthen and sharpen you with the inevitable backlash you will encounter when you decide to break free of the herd of sheeople blindly going into debt for college. And to bolster your inner confidence as you set out on your own path.

Then, I will actually answer that question terrified and hysterical Parents everywhere ask when you try to have a rational conversation on this topic, “WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO INSTEAD?” As if a “Final Destination”-esque calamity will befall you without enrolling in school.  

Yes, there is a reliable practical series of actions you can take instead of college that will put you ahead. And it doesn’t require you to be a genius like Steve Jobs either. 

*Spoiler Alert* Once you realize that you should skip college, you are already ahead of the game. You have a 4 year head start on your peers and no debt. You could literally lock yourself in a closet for 4 years and be better off than your peers graduating with a degree and debt at age 22. 

But I’ll do you one better, and actually provide you with actionable and practical advice about building a life of your own creation. And the majority of this advice is about Making Money. 

     Others are majoring in “I Hate School, I’m Learning Nothing, But If I Don’t Get My Degree My Parents Will Kill Me.” There’s also “I’m Finding Myself, Partying, and All It’s Costing Me Is a Debt That Will Crush Me for the Rest of My Life.” That’s the reality. But I don’t have to tell you that. If you’re reading this book, you’re likely one of the millions of teenagers or twentysomethings who is exercising more maturity and rational judgment than their Parents. You’re actually questioning if you should go to college. 

      For almost 12 years, you’ve been told what to read, what to do, and what to think. You’ve been beaten into submission with this concept: “Without college, you don’t have a future. It’s necessary for success, for a good life, a rite of passage, and without it you’ll end up a hollow waste of a human sucking dried cranberries off the bottom of a Mexican dumpster. Babies will cry at your very sight and women will shriek in horror as you walk by.” Well that last part was from “The Princess Bride”, but you get the point.  

     But now, after all this time, something is stirring inside of you. A voice questioning this dogma you’ve been fed since you were in diapers. Maybe it is terror at the thought of starting your adult life shackled to the kind of debt that, historically, only gambling addicts incurred. Perhaps it’s being smart enough to know that you don’t yet know what you want to do with your life. Maybe you’re tired of sitting in a classroom. And maybe it’s a desire to put together your own future. 

     You want answers. You want clarity, a clear idea of how life works and what to do. You want the freedom to think for yourself and the power to pursue that, whatever it may be. 

     The problem is, no adult you’ve ever met has told you the truth. You aren’t even allowed to question this belief or discuss it. If you try and have a candid and mature conversation with your Parents or Teachers about the value or necessity of college, you are berated, yelled at, pressured, and condescended to. 

     It’s a place of fear, constraint, pressure, stress, and misery. The people who are supposed to be guiding you have pushed you into a corner and are sitting on your chest. They call this an “Education.” 

    I remember advising a 17 year old in New Hampshire, sharing facts and realities from the working world about the modern reality of life for college graduates. She attempted to engage her Father in a conversation about the topic. 

    Her Father had a degree, and made less money than her Mother, who did not have a degree. But both Parents were pressuring her to go to a private University, even though they’d saved nothing for her Education. The Father was insistent that his daughter become mired in debt to get something that, by his own admission, is “useless”. I talked to her on Skype and explained the hellscape her life was going to be like after taking out nearly $80,000 in student loans. She changed her course and avoided that level of staggering indebtedness. 

    I thought, “How is it on me, a random dude on the internet, to be speaking sensibly to young people about their futures while their Parents behave like Crack Addicts?”

    It’s quite, as they French say, “Messed up.”