Frequently Asked Questions:
As you can probably imagine, I get asked all sorts of questions by people in relation to what I teach. I have tried to list the most commonly asked ones below, but if you feel that anything was missed, just shoot over an email and I will do my best to address it for you.
Q: Why is the program called I Failed High School, isn't that a bad thing?
A: The name was specifically chosen because I wanted to convey the message that if I could do this, then pretty much anybody can. I didn't have any special advantages in life and nobody helped me along the way - my success has come about through my own trial and error. I actually really wish something like this had existed when I was getting started as it would have saved me a lot of time and effort.
Q: Do I need to have failed at High School or College in order to be successful?
A: Definitely not, but it might have been helpful! In all seriousness though, it is not a requirement to have failed at anything to learn from me - I have done the failing for both of us and thus you can reap the rewards of my experience and knowledge without having to have gone through it yourself.
Q: Does it cost a lot of money to get started?
A: Absolutely not! In fact most start-ups begin on a shoestring budget. When I was 18 I used to work as a bartender at night in order to earn enough to finance my first business (so did Mark Cuban who sold his start-up company to Yahoo! for $5.9 Billion). In saying that though, you will need a small amount of capital to get started as there will be some expenses involved in establishing your new business. A lot of companies have been founded using nothing more than a credit card and gone on to become incredibly successful - I could list them all here, but I really don't have enough space.
Q: Do I need to be a technology whiz to start a successful business?
A: Again the answer is no. While tech proficiency is definitely an advantage with modern businesses, it is by no means a pre-requisite for taking my course. If you have a moderate level of computer literacy and can do normal things such as browsing the internet and reading emails, then you will be okay. The fact that you have made it safely to this page indicates you should be fine.
Q: Do I need an idea that nobody has ever come up with before?
A: New ideas are terrific and the world can certainly use plenty more of them, however you might be interested to learn that many of the world's most successful companies did not come up with any new ideas or game-changing concepts. A lot of the time being successful is about taking something that already exists and improving upon it or sometimes just having better marketing or being a better business operator. Examples such as Facebook, Microsoft and Apple come to mind - I actually provide case studies on these companies in my course and explain how they have all become successful by taking an existing idea and turning it into a winner.
Q: Isn't starting my own business going to require a lot of hard work?
A: Anybody starting a business needs to realise that they cannot take shortcuts to success. You need to roll your sleeves up and take action to make things happen. There is no such thing as a magic bullet to becoming successful and if you are looking for one then you are going to be disappointed. All of that said, the beauty of what I teach people is that I have done most of the heavy lifting for you. I know what works, what doesn't work and how to execute it. You will benefit from my expertise and I will get you on the quickest path possible to success.
Q: If you're so successful, why are you teaching other people your secrets?
A: Because I find it immensely satisfying to help others and I actually enjoy the feeling it gives me. One of the most important lessons I have learned along my personal journey is that the benefits of helping others is far greater than the fear that you are going to create competitors or people are going to steal your ideas. If you have an attitude of thinking that everybody else is out to get you, then not only are you going to most likely fail, but you are also going to end up pretty miserable. Some of the greatest benefits that you can possibly gain in business will come from sharing your ideas with other entrepreneurs and having them offer advice, feedback and suggestions for how to do it better based on their own knowledge and experience which will be completely different to yours. I also think the marketplace is big enough to accommodate everybody (primarily because so few people actually action their ideas).