Speaker 1: Welcome to my show. I'm Rashon McDonald, a host of
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass, where we encourage people to stop
Speaker 1: reading other people's success stories and start planning your own. Now,
Speaker 1: you don't want to miss an episode, so please take
Speaker 1: a moment right now to follow or subscribe to Money
Speaker 1: Making Conversations Masterclass. It's free. You can follow me on iHeartRadio, app, Spotify,
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Speaker 1: keep you on alert because my guests provide tips on
Speaker 1: how you can uplift your community, improve your financial planning, motivation,
Speaker 1: or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Now,
Speaker 1: let's get this podcast started.
Speaker 2: My guests journey towards educational innovation and community impact took
Speaker 2: shape with the founder of The Simple View Academy SVA.
Speaker 2: The Simple View Academy is committed to building a school
Speaker 2: culture where students thrive academically and emotionally, just bridging the
Speaker 2: gap between education and entrepreneurship and shaping future leaders of tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Money Making Conversation master Class and why how.
Speaker 1: You doing ND I'm Okay, thank you for you know. Edward,
Speaker 1: that's fancy, fancy dancy last name there.
Speaker 3: Yes, my dad is Haitian songradulations.
Speaker 1: You had that foreign flavor working over here.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: Charter schools, Yes, I have another friend. He has a Utopia.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's somebody I mentored when we were with Steve Harvey.
Speaker 1: I'm very proud of his charter school and they're growing.
Speaker 1: But I never asked this question. I've interviewed him several
Speaker 1: times on my show A Tezius And how do you
Speaker 1: start a charter school?
Speaker 3: Yes, starting a charter stu school is pretty complicated. There
Speaker 3: are two pathways in the state of Georgia. So I'll
Speaker 3: start by saying every state is different the way they
Speaker 3: do charter schools. In Georgia, you're either locally approved by
Speaker 3: your local school district or state approved by the State
Speaker 3: of Georgia. So you have to petition for your chart,
Speaker 3: which is basically a big kind of dissertation of your data,
Speaker 3: the research, the community interest for your charter school, and
Speaker 3: you go before a group of people, usually the Board
Speaker 3: of Education, and you petition for it. You bring your board,
Speaker 3: which is the people who govern and hold you responsible
Speaker 3: for what happens within the school, and then you guys
Speaker 3: kind of try to convince them to allow you to
Speaker 3: come into their system, either the traditional public school or
Speaker 3: the state side. We are a state approved school. We
Speaker 3: petitioned our local school districts, but they denied us. And
Speaker 3: then we went before the State of Georgia and the
Speaker 3: State Charter School Commission and they said, yeah, let's bring
Speaker 3: an entrepreneurship focused school into our fold. And we got
Speaker 3: approved in July twenty twenty four, and then we opened
Speaker 3: our doors August twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's great, Thank you for explaining that to me.
Speaker 2: My thought process is there's local in their state, YEP,
Speaker 2: a local person, a local school district. If they approved you,
Speaker 2: it would almost seem like you're their acknowledging.
Speaker 1: They are not providing a skill set that you expect
Speaker 1: them to provide for their school. Correct. I wouldn't assume
Speaker 1: the students.
Speaker 3: What I would assume is that they want some type
Speaker 3: of innovation, maybe a smaller setting for a subpopulation of students.
Speaker 3: And yes, there might be some interest in the design
Speaker 3: of the school. Every charter school has some sort of niche,
Speaker 3: which is why it is an innovative school. So, for
Speaker 3: the simple view, our niche is entrepreneurship and financial literacy
Speaker 3: through a project based learning model.
Speaker 1: Now, entrepreneurship, let's talk about that. You know, everybody wants
Speaker 1: to be a business owner, people of color, having a
Speaker 1: clear understanding that there's life beyond the forty hour week
Speaker 1: job correct or manual label jobs, which you know we
Speaker 1: see at the forefront. That's what we see. We see.
Speaker 1: We don't see education beyond high school most of the
Speaker 1: There's a certain core students who do see it, but
Speaker 1: the majority of students just want to jump out. Yep.
Speaker 1: You have eighty students currently at your Let's walk on
Speaker 1: the sixth through the twelfth grade.
Speaker 3: Correct, Currently we just have six and seventh graders, seven,
Speaker 3: and we grow every grade, every grade level we add.
Speaker 4: Every year after that.
Speaker 1: Okay, So you started in twenty four, we started in
Speaker 1: two twenty five. Okay, cool, you were chartered in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four, correct, And then you started in twenty twenty five, correct,
Speaker 1: And then.
Speaker 2: So every year you're adding another grade level. So you
Speaker 2: sixth through the seventh grade, correct right now?
Speaker 4: Okay, next year will be six through eight.
Speaker 1: The ultimate goal is six through twelve, correct, Okay? Cool.
Speaker 1: Just want to make sure we get the story the
Speaker 1: simple view correct as view with the you eat correct
Speaker 1: and why is that good question?
Speaker 3: View means to be seen and that is really big
Speaker 3: to me and the families that we service. Our core
Speaker 3: values also are spelled out with view voice A Buntu
Speaker 3: and empowerment are our core values. Voice because we really
Speaker 3: value our student in our community.
Speaker 1: Voice.
Speaker 3: A boom too means I am because we are. So
Speaker 3: we have a community feel we have to work together
Speaker 3: and then ease empowerment because we really truly believe that
Speaker 3: our young people know where they want to go, have
Speaker 3: passion driven work that they want to do, and we
Speaker 3: just need to be the guidance to get them.
Speaker 1: Boom to A boom too sounds like one of them dances.
Speaker 4: It comes from African culture.
Speaker 1: But when I hear that boot, I just say that,
Speaker 1: you know those dances those little kids get out there
Speaker 1: go They always make those kids dance those little dances.
Speaker 1: They just be with these carves. Let's be two of
Speaker 1: them out there, maybe three at the.
Speaker 2: Moment, just running from side of the state, this side
Speaker 2: of the state, that side of state. So it's a
Speaker 2: very emotional addition to the to to your pillows.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So, because we serve as middle schoolers and as soon
Speaker 3: to be high schoolers, they need a lot of support
Speaker 3: socially and emotionally, and so our design has to be
Speaker 3: driven around keeping them safe emotionally as they journey through entrepreneurship.
Speaker 4: It's hard.
Speaker 3: Entrepreneurship is not a truly state career choice. You have
Speaker 3: to be pretty mentally stable and mostly stable to actually
Speaker 3: be successful.
Speaker 1: Well, I agree, I you know I was. You know,
Speaker 1: I left IBM, which is a classic forty hour week
Speaker 1: job for one k retirement type package and vacation days
Speaker 1: and you know, a consistent check right help benefits. Correct,
Speaker 1: that's very safe. But what we learned is those type
Speaker 1: of jobs don't carry you to the finish line like
Speaker 1: they used to. Yes, but entrepreneurship and people need to
Speaker 1: understand this. Now, you don't get paid overtime be an entrepreneur.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of work you don't And so eighty
Speaker 1: hour week is a norm for an entrepreneur. Yes, now
Speaker 1: you made this big decision. You're spelled mcgred. They born
Speaker 1: and raised in Atlanta, Join went to Jersey Village in Houston, Texas. Correct,
Speaker 1: got academic training and then went up to Brooklyn. Yep,
Speaker 1: So you've had some nice, big markets outside of Atlanta. Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: what made you by Frandy to be so bold? Because
Speaker 1: it so bold, boy, because you're telling people that the
Speaker 1: educational system that they're providing in this particular city can
Speaker 1: be better through your vision. Yes, sir, talk to us
Speaker 1: about that.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So, going through all the different realms of education, teaching, leading,
Speaker 3: seeing other people's vision out, I just said, there's got
Speaker 3: to be a way to do this that is different
Speaker 3: because I've seen brilliant, beautiful black and brown children not
Speaker 3: get fulfill through their educational experience from K through twelve,
Speaker 3: And so I said, how do.
Speaker 4: I flip this on his head?
Speaker 3: And one of the biggest things I needed to do
Speaker 3: was come back home. I was in Brooklyn at the time.
Speaker 3: I was a part of somebody else's mission, and I
Speaker 3: was just like, I can do this better. So my
Speaker 3: support system, my village is here in Georgia. So I
Speaker 3: came back home. I started in a fellowship program which
Speaker 3: supported me in understanding the nuances of education as a business.
Speaker 3: Because I think people think that I'm just a school
Speaker 3: teacher or a school leader opening a school, but there
Speaker 3: is a serious business side to opening a school that
Speaker 3: people don't understand until they're in it. After talking to
Speaker 3: a few people and understanding what they wanted from a school,
Speaker 3: I said, cool, let's see what this is all about.
Speaker 3: And I started a summer program. So we really started
Speaker 3: as a summer camp that then turned into a charter school.
Speaker 3: Our families in our summer camp program were like, how
Speaker 3: do we do.
Speaker 4: This every day?
Speaker 3: This has been an amazing experience, but I want my
Speaker 3: student to be able to do this every day.
Speaker 4: And so I said, okay, let's start a charter school.
Speaker 1: Now again, I'm digging deep into this hole because our
Speaker 1: teachers at Autopia Academy, you know, he was already up
Speaker 1: and running. Yes, I'm getting you like year two correct,
Speaker 1: this is year one literally and you want so because
Speaker 1: I really got to delve into your mind because I'm
Speaker 1: very impressed, because because it's very courageous. So how do
Speaker 1: you recruit students? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Outside, we are outside tabling at an event or something
Speaker 3: community focused. Every weekend we posted up Thanksgiving time, Christmas time,
Speaker 3: Easter in front of public SAMs at the mall places.
Speaker 1: Those people usually just walk by, they bother me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and it's a lot of that.
Speaker 3: But I think when you sell tell people do you
Speaker 3: want something different? For your student, When you tell them
Speaker 3: that they can create wealth for themselves and their families,
Speaker 3: I think it tunes to the ear a bit differently,
Speaker 3: especially for our people who are looking for outlets and access.
Speaker 3: As such, entrepreneurship is the way to economic mobility. It
Speaker 3: is the way to create for yourself. It is the
Speaker 3: way to bridge community. And so when I have those
Speaker 3: type of conversations with families, they're like, Yeah, I wish
Speaker 3: that I had this type of education, So I want
Speaker 3: my child to be able to experience this as well.
Speaker 2: What has been the most profound statement a parent has
Speaker 2: made to you about the simple view?
Speaker 1: A simple view?
Speaker 3: I think what has been really amazing is the things
Speaker 3: that students are learning.
Speaker 4: In the classroom.
Speaker 3: They're telling their families, and then their families are coming
Speaker 3: to ask about how to do that thing. So, for example,
Speaker 3: we talked about how to fund your business or how
Speaker 3: to fund your nonprofit, and we talked about grants and
Speaker 3: getting grants.
Speaker 1: To help your writers, right, and so we talked about
Speaker 1: this and what you need in order to have a
Speaker 1: good grant.
Speaker 3: Somebody went home and told their family about it, and
Speaker 3: then their mom reached out to me and was like, Okay,
Speaker 3: my daughter came home and told me about grant writing
Speaker 3: and I need I want to start a business and
Speaker 3: so I need some help.
Speaker 1: Now you get me excited. I'm not saying I wasn't excited,
Speaker 1: but that grant writing, Yeah, that is like the most
Speaker 1: in demand skill set. Yes, in this country.
Speaker 2: Yes it is because everybody wants a grant, but nobody
Speaker 2: knows how to facilitate the process correctly.
Speaker 1: Do you have a course over that you're teaching for
Speaker 1: grant rights.
Speaker 3: So it's embedded into our entrepreneurship program. And so one
Speaker 3: really cool thing about our school is that all of
Speaker 3: our courses intersect in some way. We have an interdisciplinary model.
Speaker 3: So you're not just learning math and math class, you're
Speaker 3: also learning financial literacy and math class. You're learning business
Speaker 3: and social studies. And so we hit them in different
Speaker 3: functions through all of their classes. And so in entrepreneurship,
Speaker 3: we were talking about how they're going to build their
Speaker 3: businesses and what they might need, and so that was
Speaker 3: a portion of the curriculum to tell them here are
Speaker 3: the different outlets. We talked about credit as well, and
Speaker 3: how you get a loan from the bank, and how
Speaker 3: you have to have a good credit score, and how
Speaker 3: you get a good credit score, because all of those
Speaker 3: things matter, and so telling them now because they have
Speaker 3: to start making the choices now. Some of their families
Speaker 3: have already given them cash app cards and things like that,
Speaker 3: and I'm like, okay, but what are you doing with
Speaker 3: that cash ap card? Are you saving your money? Are
Speaker 3: you investing your money? How are you getting more money?
Speaker 3: And so we have those type of conversations with our
Speaker 3: kids because we have to prepare them for what comes
Speaker 3: after twelfth grade, which we hope is that they create
Speaker 3: something for the community in which they're serving that only
Speaker 3: betters us.
Speaker 1: Right, It's important that you say that very clearly when
Speaker 1: I think about let everybody know what I'm talking to.
Speaker 1: Non diad whah. She's founded the Simple View Academy SPA.
Speaker 2: She's a native of Atlanta, Georgia. You know, she wanted
Speaker 2: to change the perspective of education for black and brown kids.
Speaker 1: Yes, sir, And if you see outside publics see you outside,
Speaker 1: you know Sam's or whatever. She's recruiting to.
Speaker 2: Promote an academic training session for entrepreneurship and emotionally charge
Speaker 2: your child to be a leader in difficult circumstances. Yep,
Speaker 2: that's important. Yes, I think about my life. Everything is
Speaker 2: learned on the job. On the job of learning good
Speaker 2: and bad.
Speaker 4: Correct.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. If you can avoid a mistake,
Speaker 1: whye experience?
Speaker 4: Correct?
Speaker 1: How do you do that?
Speaker 3: A lot of sharing of our lives and the different
Speaker 3: circumstances that we've been through. Majority of my teachers are
Speaker 3: entrepreneurs so that they can talk from experience. So I
Speaker 3: looked for a certain caliber person to lead this type
Speaker 3: of learning for our students. Because while you might be
Speaker 3: a great math teacher, do you know how to help
Speaker 3: a student navigate a budget gap and what to do
Speaker 3: to bridge that. So, for instance, we had our marketplace
Speaker 3: for our students.
Speaker 4: This was the first ever. So some of our students were.
Speaker 3: Super prepared because they come from entrepreneurship families, and some
Speaker 3: of them don't come from families who practice entrepreneurship, and
Speaker 3: so we had to bridge that gap for them, which
Speaker 3: is like, okay, so if you're going to spend thirty
Speaker 3: dollars to get whatever supplies and you're only selling five
Speaker 3: of these things for five dollars, are you going to
Speaker 3: make back your money?
Speaker 4: No, you're going to be five dollars short.
Speaker 3: So are you really going to sell for five dollars
Speaker 3: or do you need to sell for ten so you
Speaker 3: actually make a profit to actually put back in your business.
Speaker 3: So these are the type of conversations that we're having
Speaker 3: the students so that they can see their learning in
Speaker 3: real time and really be prepared to take the next
Speaker 3: step with their business.
Speaker 1: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass. I need for you to do
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Speaker 1: You know, I really appreciate you coming on my show
Speaker 1: because I like to be educated too, and the process
Speaker 1: of doing that you know, like I said, you started idea,
Speaker 1: what inspired you or what mentors had you had on
Speaker 1: the sidelines, Because this is a great idea, but there
Speaker 1: has to be a support system. Yes, what was your
Speaker 1: support system?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: So I come from a family of entrepreneurs, I'm truly correct.
Speaker 3: And my mom's from New York but Barbados, So.
Speaker 1: That's a Rihanna's country, correct.
Speaker 4: And so I was the only true traditional.
Speaker 3: Child in my family, you know, going through primary school,
Speaker 3: secondary college, master's degree, getting the job. My brother engaged
Speaker 3: in entrepreneurship very early too as well. So I come
Speaker 3: from a family of entrepreneurs. So I've been able to
Speaker 3: see them go through the ups and downs of their
Speaker 3: business journey along the way.
Speaker 4: Of course, I have.
Speaker 3: Developed relationships with amazing educators who helped me put the
Speaker 3: instructional design together because while I have this great idea,
Speaker 3: I do need people to be like, you're not going
Speaker 3: to reach that standard if you do that activity, or
Speaker 3: you're gonna have to push students here to bridge their learning.
Speaker 3: So the Georgia Charter School Association has been an amazing
Speaker 3: support system. The State Charter School Commission, my authorizers have
Speaker 3: been amazing support systems to helping us understand the legality
Speaker 3: of charter school, how to make sure that our money
Speaker 3: goes in the ways that it needs to for our students.
Speaker 3: Family that has been involved along this journey. I tell
Speaker 3: people as soon as they enter our doors or as
Speaker 3: soon as they interact with something with the simple view,
Speaker 3: they're my cousin because they're a part of our family.
Speaker 4: They're part of our village.
Speaker 3: So we've had many people come along the journey and
Speaker 3: help us out. Some of our key partners right now
Speaker 3: are the one hundred Black Men of North Metro Atlanta
Speaker 3: and Douglasville because our students come from Cobb and Fulton
Speaker 3: County along with Douglasville and Paulding County. Some state institutions
Speaker 3: like Spelling College, Moorhouse Clark, Atlanta, the whole auc Center
Speaker 3: has been really helpful.
Speaker 4: There are so many partners.
Speaker 3: AUBUNTU wouldn't be a part of our core values if
Speaker 3: community wasn't at the center.
Speaker 1: Okay, it's all balls down the money, some of it.
Speaker 1: How do you fund your charter school?
Speaker 4: Good question.
Speaker 3: So every because we are a public school, every student
Speaker 3: we get in allotment for.
Speaker 4: Who enrolls in our school.
Speaker 1: So every.
Speaker 3: Nottment, So charter school gets funded thirty three percent less
Speaker 3: than the traditional public school, and so oftentimes you'll see
Speaker 3: charter schools fundraising or going for grants because we have
Speaker 3: to make up the difference in some way, shape or form,
Speaker 3: because we're still held to the same exact standards as
Speaker 3: a traditional public school system. So every student who comes
Speaker 3: in and if they have a need an IEP five
Speaker 3: or four specialized service, we have to meet them because
Speaker 3: it is our duty and is the law to be
Speaker 3: a public school. So every student comes in with an
Speaker 3: allotment and we put that in our budget, and then
Speaker 3: we figure out how we make up the difference.
Speaker 1: Through donations, fundraisers and stuff like that. If one wants
Speaker 1: to make a donation, where would they go?
Speaker 3: They should visit our website, the simple view academy dot
Speaker 3: org and hit our donation button link and put the
Speaker 3: money in our pocket.
Speaker 1: And how is that distributed for food for the kids?
Speaker 1: Close with great questions, academics.
Speaker 3: Yes, so transportation and nutrition are our biggest expenses. Of
Speaker 3: of course teachers are top expense, and so oftentimes the
Speaker 3: money that is donated to us, we make sure that
Speaker 3: we have enough to cover our teachers and our educators,
Speaker 3: and then the rest goes for like enrichment. We just
Speaker 3: had a fashion show where we had kids dress up
Speaker 3: and go down the hallway and we had them kind
Speaker 3: of strut their stuff.
Speaker 4: We had a field trip.
Speaker 1: But on social media, I'm sure.
Speaker 3: There's videos that the children gotta gotta promote what.
Speaker 4: You doing that you know, that's thank you for pushing
Speaker 4: me there.
Speaker 3: Oftentimes I'm so in it with them that I don't
Speaker 3: even look at my phone or take pictures.
Speaker 1: Unique story. Yeah, and I think that social media will
Speaker 1: be very friendly and passionate about your story. Yeah, because
Speaker 1: you know you're rep sending a educational format that's non traditional. Yes,
Speaker 1: but needed, you know, we know, you know, with the
Speaker 1: just with the purpose of AI and social media. Being
Speaker 1: a person like when I grew up, I didn't have that,
Speaker 1: you know, so being able to go out there and
Speaker 1: say I want to be successful by myself.
Speaker 2: I used to pay for that. Pay for a radio commercial,
Speaker 2: pay for a TV commercial. If you're smart, you pay
Speaker 2: for none of that. You can start your YouTube channel,
Speaker 2: you can start your social media. People will pay you
Speaker 2: for your creative being an influencer. So I know one
Speaker 2: of my employees. He has over three hundred thousand TikTok followers.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 2: Okay, And so that's that's a person I've hired that
Speaker 2: has developed that skill set outside of a traditional job
Speaker 2: format that he also works, so he has his own
Speaker 2: outside revenue opportunity or career opportunity he has as an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2: But also he falls under that traditional for they are
Speaker 2: weekend for So that's the that's the that's the people
Speaker 2: we have.
Speaker 1: Now, that's a kid.
Speaker 2: So if I push you to do anything, post yes,
Speaker 2: tell your story. Tell your story on LinkedIn too, because
Speaker 2: you're talking about entrepreneurship, you're talking about future business leaders.
Speaker 1: That can fall under the whole world of LinkedIn. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1: So why are we waiting so late to teach kids
Speaker 1: about money?
Speaker 3: Great question, And I don't have the answer to that.
Speaker 3: I don't know why. It doesn't make sense to me
Speaker 3: at all, which is why we teach our kids about
Speaker 3: money when they enter our doors. I think we are
Speaker 3: waiting way too late to teach kids about money. I
Speaker 3: know that when I went to college, when I got
Speaker 3: my first refund check, I was at the cab buying
Speaker 3: up stuff at the party, buying things that I shouldn't
Speaker 3: have been buying instead of my books and making sure
Speaker 3: that I had my rent to pay, and thinking about
Speaker 3: our next generation. The economy is just getting tougher and tougher,
Speaker 3: and so to not teach our students about how to
Speaker 3: manage their money or how to get money is irresponsible
Speaker 3: at this point.
Speaker 2: At a Simple View Academy, what are results are early
Speaker 2: results have you seen since launching the school?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so what's been really incredible is that our students
Speaker 3: when we first tested, had our first diagnostic tests, were
Speaker 3: below state averages. In month six, which is probably like
Speaker 3: midway through the school year, we saw twenty to thirty
Speaker 3: percent gains in math and reading, which is pretty significant.
Speaker 3: Our students entered in not really knowing how to do
Speaker 3: on gray level math or on Gray level reading, and
Speaker 3: by the time we got them to January, they were
Speaker 3: able to do it. So knowing that it kind of
Speaker 3: just propelled us forward and got us excited about what
Speaker 3: we could do next, which was get them to marketplace
Speaker 3: and get them to the expo. And they did that
Speaker 3: all themselves with their math skills and their writing skills.
Speaker 4: So it's been amazing, you know.
Speaker 1: At the Simple View Academy viewer spelled v U E
Speaker 1: because when you look, I want to make sure you
Speaker 1: find it.
Speaker 2: Entrepreneurship, teachers, child entrepreneurship. How does that alter their perspective
Speaker 2: about their future?
Speaker 3: Many of our students are saying now that they did
Speaker 3: not know they had the ability to do this, to
Speaker 3: create change. I think our students walked in wanting to
Speaker 3: change or create just for themselves and like what they liked.
Speaker 3: And then after this training, these experiences, they're trying to
Speaker 3: now figure out what their target audience wants. That's something
Speaker 3: that we talk about often. It's like, well, is that
Speaker 3: who's your target audience? Who would want to purchase or
Speaker 3: engage in that thing? Because even if you just like
Speaker 3: pink slippers, how many other people might want pink slippers?
Speaker 3: And you should investigate that and you should find community
Speaker 3: in what you're trying to get off the ground because
Speaker 3: there's there's a niche, there's a group of people who
Speaker 3: want to engage what you're with, what you're doing.
Speaker 4: You just got to find them.
Speaker 3: So I think that they found community, they found their people.
Speaker 3: I think through this experience they have understood money way better.
Speaker 3: And our families are saying now They're not asking me
Speaker 3: for McDonald's because they know I got a budget to keep.
Speaker 3: Now they're going to the grocery store with their families
Speaker 3: and couponing and saying, Mmmm, we could probably get this
Speaker 3: this month, and you know, forego that next month.
Speaker 1: You know a lot of people when you start talking
Speaker 1: about change, they really can go to extreme. You're talking
Speaker 1: about entrepreneurship. Yes, what are people getting wrong about the
Speaker 1: fact that you are leading in academic training about entrepreneurship
Speaker 1: and why people are making a mistake that it may
Speaker 1: not be the right path to teach your kid at
Speaker 1: such an early age.
Speaker 3: Yes, because I think one when you say entrepreneurship, people
Speaker 3: automatically think, oh, small business owner, Oh I got to
Speaker 3: go create a business. But what we're trying to really
Speaker 3: infuse is the entrepreneurial mindset and what it means to
Speaker 3: create change.
Speaker 4: Be it.
Speaker 3: If you go within a business, you could be an entrepreneur.
Speaker 3: There might be a routine, a system that you might innovate,
Speaker 3: maybe something that has been antiquated or happening for years
Speaker 3: it's not really working anymore, and you go into a
Speaker 3: business and recreate that thing. And so I think oftentimes
Speaker 3: when we say entrepreneurship, people automatically think I got to
Speaker 3: go start a business, rather than I'm expanding my mindset
Speaker 3: around how to create and how to innovate something. I
Speaker 3: also think that when we say entrepreneurship, people don't assume
Speaker 3: that we are getting kids college prepared. They only think
Speaker 3: about career readiness. But entrepreneurship is college preparation. It is
Speaker 3: balancing your checkbook. It is organization, it is collaboration. It
Speaker 3: is making sure that you cross your t's and dot
Speaker 3: your eyes. And so we are preparing our students to
Speaker 3: be leaders and change makers, not just in their careers,
Speaker 3: not just in their communities, but or the for higher
Speaker 3: education as well.
Speaker 2: What is an entrepreneurial mindset versus a traditional academic mindset
Speaker 2: in the middle school leading into high school.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I believe that an entrepreneurial mindset looks like
Speaker 3: pushing the envelope. It looks like asking questions, it looks
Speaker 3: like taking action. While traditional education is pretty much sit
Speaker 3: and get it is you digest information and you put
Speaker 3: it on a test or a piece of paper, and
Speaker 3: they say, great, you got it done. While we are
Speaker 3: pushing our kids to not only great, you got it done,
Speaker 3: but show me, how do you know that thing is
Speaker 3: going to work?
Speaker 4: What have you tested?
Speaker 3: What have you what questions have you asked to really
Speaker 3: know that this thing is actually going to change. We
Speaker 3: are developing curious kids who are not just allowing information
Speaker 3: to just come to them. They're questioning what they're receiving.
Speaker 3: We asked them the pushback on what we're telling them
Speaker 3: so that we can be better. I know that my
Speaker 3: teachers had to have their own kind of like cultural
Speaker 3: shift around kids, basically being like, doesn't make sense, Like
Speaker 3: you're going to have to explain that to me in
Speaker 3: a different way, And oftentimes adults are like, what, Like,
Speaker 3: that's what I told you.
Speaker 4: You need to do the thing that I told you.
Speaker 3: There's rules and expectations, But we do allow our kids
Speaker 3: to say, well, I could do this in a different way.
Speaker 3: Here's how I solved the problem, And our teachers are like, okay, cool, Yeah,
Speaker 3: you got the same answer and you solved it in
Speaker 3: that way.
Speaker 1: Cool.
Speaker 2: You know, it's really interesting now when you go through
Speaker 2: the process of you know that level, you know, elementary school,
Speaker 2: it's really amazing. Now I could really as old as
Speaker 2: I am, I could really clearly remember moments in my
Speaker 2: life fifth grade. You know, I can remember moments in
Speaker 2: my life in the seventh grade. You know clearly instructional habits.
Speaker 2: They will told me I should do it this way,
Speaker 2: and it stays there because it allows me to say,
Speaker 2: this is what these were these key moments at the
Speaker 2: Simple View Academy. What are those moments that you are
Speaker 2: training that will stay with these young people for the
Speaker 2: rest of their lives.
Speaker 3: We often say, like our underlying core value is managing
Speaker 3: the pivot because entrepreneurship is unexpected often and our kids
Speaker 3: are so used to tradition and here's how the thing happens,
Speaker 3: and it should happen this way. And so I think
Speaker 3: what they've learned over this year is like, Okay, it
Speaker 3: can happen that way, but it could happen this way
Speaker 3: as well, and thinking outside of the box. And so
Speaker 3: that is really what we are pushing. Whatever they're giving
Speaker 3: you in the box doesn't have to be the box.
Speaker 3: You can recreate the box. Let's figure out how to
Speaker 3: recreate the box. And sometimes the box might be bigger
Speaker 3: than you. You might need to call on some people
Speaker 3: to help you recreate the box.
Speaker 4: But try it.
Speaker 1: Okay, cool, one more time? How do we offer an
Speaker 1: opportunity to contribute to donation.
Speaker 4: Yes, you can visit our website.
Speaker 3: You can put some money in the mail thirty two
Speaker 3: sixty four Brookmont Parkway.
Speaker 1: Lord Town. What was that address.
Speaker 3: It's thirty two sixty four Brookmont Parkway, Douglas, Still, Georgia,
Speaker 3: three one five. And then you could just go to
Speaker 3: our website and hit that donation link and put whatever
Speaker 3: amount of funds that you can afford to give us
Speaker 3: to really help this design continue coming to life and
Speaker 3: continue feeding the community that is being serviced by this design.
Speaker 2: Nondi head, while you're very courageous, I'd say that because
Speaker 2: anybody who thinks out of the box have to come
Speaker 2: or have to overcome a lot of naysayers.
Speaker 1: Yes, a lot of people. That is not going to work.
Speaker 1: Why are you doing that?
Speaker 2: Because you can explain to people with your your dream sometimes,
Speaker 2: you know, because people it's very simple as to say
Speaker 2: I'm a postman, very simple say I'm a banker or
Speaker 2: an engineer, architect. But you said I want to build
Speaker 2: the most successful charter school in America.
Speaker 1: I know that's correct. You're not trying to limit this
Speaker 1: to just to Atlanta or the state of Georgia. You
Speaker 1: want to put their charter school a Simple View Academy
Speaker 1: or the Simple View Academy on the map. Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: is that the goal?
Speaker 3: That is the goal, trying to change the life of
Speaker 3: a lot of different people in a lot of different ways.
Speaker 3: I've been able to see it in just the year
Speaker 3: change the trajectory of eighty kids. So if I can
Speaker 3: get eighty to change their mindset and just the year,
Speaker 3: how many more can we get?
Speaker 2: So how do you is there a what is that
Speaker 2: growth criteria? You have eighty kids? Now what's the next level?
Speaker 3: Yes, so eighty kids this year, next year one hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty and every year after that we're adding more
Speaker 3: school We value small schools, so we probably will not
Speaker 3: get bigger than five hundred just because small classrooms is
Speaker 3: how we are able to have these kind of conversations
Speaker 3: with students. So right now we're probably at one to
Speaker 3: twenty two in a classroom or so, because if we
Speaker 3: get any bigger than that, we're not going to be
Speaker 3: able to have the opportunities that we've been able to
Speaker 3: create the Simple View Academy.
Speaker 1: Talking to the founder Nonde Edward, Yes, thank you for
Speaker 1: coming on money Making Conversation Masterclass. Thank you, Thank you
Speaker 1: for listening to this episode. No I need for you
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