Greg and Jeff are doing some amazing things to create social change in developing countries through the power of entrepreneurship. It was amazing to have them on the show and hear about their upcoming program, Career X and how YOU as a member of Successful Dropout can get involved.
If you are interested in entrepreneurship, looking for an adventure, and want to challenge yourself...how better to do it than going to Guatemala to build a business??
The adventure is 2.5 weeks long and you'll experience all the steps of launching a business: design thinking and prototyping, marketing, content creation, supply chain strategy, customer experience and more. You'll also be working with Jeff and Greg who have been building impactful businesses for over 15 years!
The first Guatemala program runs May 24 - June 10 so hurry and check it out here! This is your chance to gain unforgettable and invaluable entrepreneurial experience + have a crazy adventure you'll always remember.
Greg Van Kirk is an Ashoka Lemelson Fellow, Ashoka Globalizer and was recently recognized as Schwab Foundation "Social Entrepreneur of the Year for 2012 (Latin America)" at the World Economic Forum. He is the co-founder of Career X and The New Development Solutions Group. This includes Community Empowerment Solutions, Social Entrepreneur Corps and Ultimiya Social Innovation Consulting. Greg's signature social innovation was the creation of the award winning MicroConsignment Model. He has served as a consultant for organizations such as Levi Strauss Foundation, USAID, Chemonics, VisionSpring, Soros Foundation, Church World Service, Inter American Development Bank, Water For People, Solutions Journalism Network and Fundacion Paraguaya in the US, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Africa. Greg began working in rural small business development as a Guatemala Peace Corps volunteer in 2001. Prior to the Peace Corps, Greg worked in investment banking in San Francisco and New York for five years. Two deals he led at UBS during this time won "Deal of the Year" honors from Structured Finance International magazine. Greg is a graduate of Miami University where he recently received the"Bishop Medal" . Greg lives with his family in New York City.
Jeff leads Your Project X, a social venture dedicated to helping people (re)discover their purpose to build careers they’ll love. He has more than 18 years experience as an entrepreneur, consultant, professor and changemaker. He is the founder of five social ventures, including IBM’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) consulting practice. In 2011, he developed the curriculum for the first MBA in Sustainability on the East Coast, at Bard College, where he was the Leadership professor. He was also two-time Chairman of the Carnegie New Leaders at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.
Thanks again for listening to the show! If it has helped you in any way, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the page.
Additionally, reviews for the podcast on iTunes are extremelyhelpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each and every one of them.
Andrew Schneck is a 26-year old college opt-out and obtained a college degree with the least possible amount of personal time spent in the classroom. He is an entrepreneur in the healthcare industry , building clinics that target addiction and mental health disorders. Prior to entrepreneurship he taught himself long-term investing in the stock market and has enjoyed national investing competitions, shareholder meetings, and selling research to investment firms. He mentors entrepreneurs and finance professionals as they seek out nontraditional careers. His goal is to fix healthcare and elevate those around him.
Andrew has played a very integral role in the Successful Dropout community since the early days. He's the epitome of a Successful Dropout and someone who has overcome some massive obstacles in his journey to build the best version of his life. I loved having him on the show again and I would highly suggest you reach out and get to know the guy!
Here are some of the things we talk about:
91: Working with business partners, the importance of failure and knowing yourself with Andrew Schneck
Working with business partners and how you can get to know yourself through failure
Business partners, failure & knowing yourself with Andrew S
How to work with business partners and get to know yourself through failure with Andrew Scheck
Working with business partners & the role failure plays in understanding who you are with Andrew Schneck
Thanks again for listening to the show! If it has helped you in any way, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the page.
Additionally, reviews for the podcast on iTunes are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each and every one of them.
For this week's episode I wanted to share an interviewed I did on Stephen Warley's Life Skills That Matter podcast.
This was part of an "interview swap" that Stephen and I did, and you can find his interview on Successful Dropout here.
Stephen is an absolute boss and is doing some incredible things to push this new paradigm of work we are entering into as a society. I had a blast on his show and we discussed a lot of things including:
Some inspirational quotes to remember:
“My goals are all, they’re all set with the primary focus being, like, how do I want to spend my time and who do I want to spend my time with and the money, I believe, sort of comes as a result of that.”
“You stick to doing what you love and building what you love, as long as it’s working, you know, I think it’ll pay off.”
“I’ve never wanted to do something just because I’m supposed to do it.”
Some coaching advice:
I recommended these actions to start breaking out of your comfort zone to try new and different things:
1) Don’t get hung up on finding the one right thing, pick one and just get started.
2) Switch, pivot, or quit if the first thing you do doesn’t work or you need to do other things as well.
3) Action begets more action, so don’t wait for the inspiration to strike to get started.
Thanks again for listening to the show! If it has helped you in any way, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the page.
Additionally, reviews for the podcast on iTunes are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each and every one of them.
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to a church door in Wittenberg to protest the sale of indulgences. These were pieces of paper the establishment church sold at great cost, telling people it would save their souls. The church made a fortune doing it. Likewise, universities today are selling a piece of paper at great cost and telling people that buying it is the only way they can save their souls. Universities call it a diploma, and they’re making a fortune doing it. Call them heretical if you like, but the 1517 Fund is dedicated to dispelling that paper illusion. Extraordinary careers are possible outside tracked institutions!
Danielle Strachman (General Partner, 1517 Fund) - In 2010, during the founding of the Thiel Fellowship, Danielle joined to lead the design and operations. She is the visionary behind the Thiel Summit series that has been attended by some 2000 young entrepreneurs. Previous to her work with Peter Thiel, Danielle founded and directed Innovations Academy in San Diego, a K-8 charter school serving 350 students, with a focus on student- led project based learning and other alternative programs.
Michael Gibson (General Partner, 1517 Fund) - Michael was vice president for grants at the Thiel Foundation and a principal at Thiel Capital. For nearly five years working for Peter Thiel, he has contributed research to Peter’s global macro hedge fund, assisted in teaching a course at Stanford Law School on sovereignty and technological change, and helped run the Thiel Fellowship. He serves on the board of the Seasteading Institute. Before his academic apostasy, he was working towards a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Oxford. He has written on innovation and technology for MIT’s Technology Review, the Atlantic, and Forbes.
I had an absolute blast chatting with Danielle and Michael. These two are doing some amazing things for the future of education and work. They've made 45 investments into companies started by young founders and already those companies are seeing some amazing results. This is definitely worth a listen!
Thanks again for listening to the show! If it has helped you in any way, please share it using the social media buttons you see on the page.
Additionally, reviews for the podcast on iTunes are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show and I read each and every one of them.