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Cool Jsbrads, I'll make the design and send it over to you. We can have a brainstorm over how to get it out. I'll be rocking it in China, and wear it the next time I go on TV.
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Hey everybody, just had an idea for a couple shirts... One would be a white shirt with black font, all caps, saying "K-SELECTED" Another would be "Logical AF" Maybe put the FDR logo somewhere inconspiciously on it if that's cool with the team. So I live in China, and can produce these myself, you can make everything here, but I was wondering if you guys had any interest in these too? Maybe crowdfund 100 or so and then ship em out to someone in the US who can further distribute? I'm gonna make em and wear em here!
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1000+ Gang attack/Rape in Cologne on New Years Eve
MichaelMcGillicuddy replied to mlsv2f's topic in Current Events
My friend was nearly raped in Egypt in March. Egypt was the poorest, most dangerous-feeling country I have ever been to. I’ve been to 20. When I was younger, I didn't mind going to those types of places, in fact I kind of enjoyed it. I had a great time in Egypt, but I noticed when I got back to China how on-edge I had been the entire time. This was my 2nd time to the Middle East (1st in 2007 to Jordan and Lebanon), and what I saw this time was quite different than the last. Egypt was the poorest, most dangerous-feeling country I have ever been to. I’ve been to 20. When I was younger, I didn't mind going to those types of places, in fact I kind of enjoyed it. I had a great time in Egypt, but I noticed when I got back to China how on-edge I had been the entire time. This was my 2nd time to the Middle East (1st in 2007 to Jordan and Lebanon), and what I saw this time was quite different than the last. Threatened to fight by the Sphinx. Hundreds of dollars extorted from our group when people came to "help" them take pictures. Men threatened and followed women until they paid them money at the Sphinx and Pyramids. My Chinese friend was nearly raped in a bathroom in Egypt 3 months ago. When I led a trip to Egypt, our Egyptian tour guide weaseled his way into a few different moms' rooms and had to be pushed out. -
Alright. we're not paying kids to do their homework or pass a test. It's not school. I'll frontload this: Watch my teaching video series: If you can do this, we want you. I self studied A LOT to engage the kids. And our founder is a master teacher who can give you everything you need to be fantastic. We want teaching partners: We cover the costs of running them, and then split the profit. If you teach in this fun engaging way, study brain science, neurology, education on your own you will make MUCH MORE than a typical salary. And I'm happy doing it because it takes away the huge headache of bad teachers and allows us to focus on building our dream. For example a teacher asked, "Hey can I have my salary early so I can move into a new apartment?" I said should be no problem, but to do this, please study this series of videos from our founder teaching. Watch it every day until you really understand it. He agreed. And then he got his money early, and didn't watch them.......... That's short-term: Teach like me in the videos. Long-term, read below: We've made our own playing cards based on a very popular computer game. Yesterday we made an announcement to our older kids to come for a special lesson. About 15 showed up with some parents. There are 10 cards in a pack. We made 2 teams and made a game out of an assembly line procedure. Pick 10 cards, do QC, put a rubber band on them. Team with the most correct packs after 5 minutes gets a point. Also points were added for positive attitude, innovation, et c. Then we asked the kids who showed natural leadership to innovate and make the process more efficient. Most of the kids are 9 years old. Then we asked them who wanted to go out and sell them. EVERYONE's hands shot up! We negotiated a commission percentage, delegated a cashier, a marketer, and then the salespeople. In an hour we sold 16 packs, just about everyone got a sale, and it was SO cool watching them be super shy at first, and then after 20 minutes running up to people, making deals with other kids, selling them on it. They were ALIVE, and didn't want to stop. We want to So this is the beginning. But it takes the right kind of person to teach that. Most teachers I've met here are fucking lazy. Or depressed. Or say some joke about it being "Child labor." That was a "joke" from a teacher who then said (he's Irish): I don't give a fuck about profit margins, or selling cards. I'm a Teeeeeeeeacher; I'm a care worker. I'm not a marketer or a salesman, or an advertiser." Your ideal school is what we're building: -One of our students' dads helps run a factory that produces drones and RC planes. We had lunch last week and he brings his scooters for us to test out. -Electronics: Our founder was an electrical engineer before becoming a teacher. We've taken apart computers before with our older students. -Coding, we use Minecraft. -We're partners with an AR firm. Great ideas for going to Mars. -3D Printing: Not yet. -Siftables: Look those up, they're freaking cool. Right now, our profit model is still based mostly on tuitions. But it's the old system and brings in salary-mentality dudes. Long term Profit Model: Produce educational content, put it online. Get royalties from an early age. But it takes the right kind of person to teach that. Short-Term: There is a market gap for GREAT teaching. But most don't want it, they just their salary. Does that answer your questions?
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Thanks for the questions guys, and J-William good for you. Are there any APPs online yet? You're the kind of person we are looking for. We're talking about 2 different things here: One is the big picture, the other is the immediate. Immediate: You'd be working out here with us in Shenzhen. We most likely will have students for you to start with (I don't want to say we will because the situation changes every day). But we WILL show you how to be a student magnet. The founder of the school is a magnet, he's been teaching 14 years, and could have amassed a small fortune teaching alone, but it's not his passion. He wanted to create a children's TV show in China, educational in nature like Sesame Street. But, all Chinese investors said, "TV is not education. Puppets, songs, games are not education." So he had to start a school to show them. For the business side of it; we make sure our costs are covered (rent, overhead), and then work out a profit share which both agree with. With the student numbers . Our partners have to meet quality standards, such as monthly assessments of students, fun home practice assignments to ensure rapid fluency. So we want people who identify as entrepreneurs, and not as teachers. An entrepreneur can become a great teacher pretty easily and simply. You'd work at our academy, but be acutely aware of the financial situation. I.e. if a class only has 2 students, that's not enough, and our partner will know "Ok, time to take them outside, have fun, and attract more students." Not, "Yeah, I'm working on it, but it's difficult you know, they're still not ready." Or, "I forgot." Big Picture: Schools pay students. Imagine being taught how to support yourself and how to make money from the age of 5, 6, 7 or 8 from people who'd already done it. Teachers in school are the ANTITHESIS of a self-made person. Making money and supporting yourself is a skill like any other, and imagine how good you'd be at it by the time you're 17, 18, 19, 20. However, that's when most people start. Just ask all the people living with their parents after they graduate college. Because that's the ostensible point of school right? (I know it's not, but it's what they say). To prepare you for life AFTER school. And just about everyone (me included) was not ready to support themself. And if there wasn't "a job" to find, to create your own. Creativity abounds in young kids. As does innovation, effort, energy. But 99.99999% of it is dissipated in useless tasks or sapped by people who can't make it on their own. Does that answer your guys' questions? J-William, where are you located currently?
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Thank you very much! I'm going to contact him, we're innovators too. His approach is very similar to ours. I've gotten a few replies from FDR forum members. Who else is interested in being part of a school like Elon Musk's. We've been doing it a little longer than him though. Except Chinese are usually more fun to be around than Americans...At least they think I'm funnier here.
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No I haven't, please tell me more. I don't know a lot about Elon Musk besides a real cursory overview of what he's done, and the examples Tai Lopez has given in his talks. Sure; it's a pretty different idea. What we want is GOOD PEOPLE with an entrepreneurial mindframe. Even though our Academy focuses on education, it's still a business. If there's not enough students, that means there's not enough cash. If we tell people that, they say "Ok well when will we get paid?" "When we have enough students and enough cash." "Ok, but WHEN?!" Do you know what I mean? Rather than paying a set wage, we'd rather pay a set percentage of profit. And our teaching methods WORK, and the kids love them. I never had a problem attracting students, because I learned from our founder and worked on my own methods. Look up my YouTube series: Stella Teaching: Watch the Magic. So there is a huge market gap for GREAT teaching (and I'm only good in that video) here in Shenzhen. You can make a great living as a foreigner teaching here. We have decades of teaching experience between us, super-effective teaching methods, a solid Chinese staff, good marketing, and a trusted brand. But you are the one who must MAKE THE CONNECTION WITH YOUR STUDENTS AND THEIR PARENTS, study these teaching methods, improve yourself, learn some neurobiology and how it relates to memory and learning. More specifically, you can be a super badass entrepreneur teacher like this. You are a writing teacher for young kids. They come up with a story together as a class (our max. size is 8). Like 1 person says a sentence, then the next person says a followup sentence, et c. They love it. Rather than saying, "Oh that was nice." WRITE IT DOWN! Illustrate it! Teach them how to paint a little bit and then let them make the art for the book. Teach them math using how many pages the book has, basic addition and subtraction! PUBLISH THAT SHIT ONLINE! Maybe it won't make a fortune, but divide up the royalties, for a 6-year old, giving them 10 RMB a month is worth its weight in gold. Give them a percentage of the royalties Teach them most importantly that the work they do has MEANING and a PURPOSE. ' I can tell you my personal example, what I'm up to, but I want to hear what you think, and what the other guys on this forum think. I got excited writing that! -Michael
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Hi guys, My Academy in Shenzhen (Stella's International Learners' Academy) is looking for great partners. One of our teachers just quit (I found out he was at Occupy Wall Street and wanted to organize them, UGH!), as did another (he was a socialist I found out after he started working with us). So forget teachers. Teachers are too much trouble. They expect to be paid whether they have full (6+ students) classes or not, they've been resistant to change or coaching, saying the schedule is too demanding, or there's too much change, et c. They're pretty entitled, pretty soft, and not very interesting. So I'm looking for entrepreneurs. Those who are tough, hard-working, compassionate, and WANT to make their fortune doing good work because the opportunity is definitely here. There is a HUGE market gap for great teaching, which we will help you do. I want to share my success story. I came out here in May 2014. I talked to Stef in December 2014 about my situation and some doubts I had about this place (in Call-in Show 2863). Since then I'm now the CEO. Now, with the connections I've made, our good reputation, and being around good people, I'm in talks to bring in my peanut butter (a past business venture) to China, full container loads. I feel like I'm living the American Dream in China. Our vision for school is to turn it into a place which teaches the skills you really need to learn to succeed in life. And a place which pays its students, rather than the students paying them. Our big hairy audacious goal is to produce the world's first 18-year old billionaire by 2030. So if this appeals to you, send me a message. [email protected]. Or reply here. -Michael McGillicuddy www.stellateach.me
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% school teachers who just show up for the paycheck?
MichaelMcGillicuddy replied to AccuTron's topic in Education
Of course it is. We'll have a good test soon. Our school (in China) is transitioning from having "employee-based" teachers to teacher partners. Renting out our facility to one-man schools. And not really teaching English, because English by itself is useless, but real life skills. -
% school teachers who just show up for the paycheck?
MichaelMcGillicuddy replied to AccuTron's topic in Education
One of my jobs is to run a completely new type of school, currently in Asia. The mission is for schools to pay students. Our tag line we tell parents is, "We don't teach English. We teach life skills. We USE English." Our Big Hairy Audacious Goal is to produce the world's first 18-year old billionaire by 2030. I cannot tell you the trouble I've had with teachers here. We're teaching entrepreneurship to the kids, and just about every teacher we interview says, "Sure, I think I have an entrepreneurial mentality." But they don't. They don't. They expect their salary. One teacher quit, then demanded his last month's salary. Per the contract we have the option to withhold it. He was not a good teacher, didn't love the kids, give his best. He often missed work and was "physically present." His student numbers were the lowest of any teachers. When we met with him after telling him it'd be really hard to pay for his time, since he didn't produce much. His student numbers stayed low, et c. He just kept hammering that "He deserved to be paid for his time." This guy also wanted to organize the Occupy Wall Street protestors I found out after he starting working with us...Ugh. Anyway, I gave him the analogy that if we were on a farm, and we spent all our time DOING nothing, but we were in the fields the whole time, and no food grew...He cut me off saying, "OK THANK YOU TONY ROBBINS!" I felt proud. But yeah, just about all the teachers we've had at our school and most I've interviewed have been ALL ABOUT DAT STEADY CASH. And my experience has been that the ones who say "Money's not important" are the first ones to object if there's a problem with their salary. Ayn Rand was right, "Run for your life from anyone who says that money is evil. That sentence is the leper's bell of an approaching looter." So yeah, I'd say most are there for the taken-by-force paycheck. What do you think would be the value of most teachers on the marketplace? -
Hello good people of the world, I got into a discussion about a free society with a couple of guys my age whove never dealt with shitty childhoods, and their counter example to a free society went something like : No it wouldnt work because what if your neighbor doesnt buy fire protection, his house catches on fire, and then your house burns up as well. See, it CANT WORK!!! Im curious to hear how yall would have responded. Just to get inside their heads a bit, I replied with: well why doesnt the neighbor have it? Maybe you could help him out. Maybe you could go over and talk to him and tell him your concerns (them: No! Hes an asshole!). And then I got personal, "so would you pay for fire protection if you had a choice....uh yeah! It was the day before I moved to China, so I dont see these people on the reg, the reason Im asking is because Im writing a book about how violence is at the heart of our society and interactions, and then explaining how a free society would take care of all problems without the need for force, and a bunch of heads are better than one. Thanks guys Michael Ps, if anyone lives in Hong Kong or Near there I am moving to Shenzhen so please drop me a line!