1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,639
Speaker 1: Hi, I am Rashan McDonald, our host this weekly Money

2
00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:06,520
Speaker 1: Making Conversation Masterclass show. The interviews and information that this

3
00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:09,720
Speaker 1: show provides off for everyone. It's time to start reading

4
00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:13,440
Speaker 1: other people's success stories and start living your own. If

5
00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:15,560
Speaker 1: you want to be a guest on my show, please

6
00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:20,239
Speaker 1: visit our website, Moneymaking Conversations dot com and click the

7
00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:23,480
Speaker 1: bi a Guest button and submit your information. Now let's

8
00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:26,079
Speaker 1: get your show rolling, my guests. The founder and CEO

9
00:00:26,239 --> 00:00:30,080
Speaker 1: of Prep Expert. Prep Expert has helped more than one

10
00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:34,920
Speaker 1: hundred thousand students improved a SAT and ACT scores, get

11
00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:38,160
Speaker 1: into top colleges, and went over this check this out

12
00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:42,760
Speaker 1: one hundred million dollars in scholarship. Prep Expert offers online

13
00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:48,440
Speaker 1: SAT and ACT courses, academic trudering and college admissions consultant.

14
00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:51,720
Speaker 1: Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass. When you say

15
00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:56,480
Speaker 1: one hundred million, he is a Money Making Conversation Masterclass. Guests,

16
00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:59,080
Speaker 1: Doctor Sean Patel, How you doing, Sean?

17
00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,760
Speaker 2: Hey, Rashaan, how are you happy to be here? Thanks

18
00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:03,320
Speaker 2: for having me?

19
00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:03,920
Speaker 3: Okay?

20
00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:06,520
Speaker 1: When it is August started, Prep Expert, How did this

21
00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:07,759
Speaker 1: get out of that mind?

22
00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:08,360
Speaker 3: That brain?

23
00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:11,440
Speaker 1: What what initiated that thought process prep expert.

24
00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:16,560
Speaker 2: Great question. So, uh, this actually started off as a

25
00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:20,959
Speaker 2: side hustle for me and turned into a seven figure business. Now,

26
00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:24,559
Speaker 2: so the way it got there was actually as many

27
00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:27,800
Speaker 2: great businesses do, which is out of my own experience.

28
00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:30,280
Speaker 2: You know, I was like many of the students and

29
00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:33,280
Speaker 2: parents listening to this podcast and that I was not

30
00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:36,800
Speaker 2: a great test taker. I was good in school, got

31
00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:41,920
Speaker 2: good math and science English grades, but had a lot

32
00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:46,160
Speaker 2: of test anxiety. I went to urban public schools in Vegas, which,

33
00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:47,960
Speaker 2: if you know anything about Vegas, it's not known for

34
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:50,800
Speaker 2: its education. So we had like a close to a

35
00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:55,320
Speaker 2: you know, thirty forty percent dropout rate, and so my

36
00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:57,919
Speaker 2: parents didn't go to college here in the US. Didn't

37
00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:00,000
Speaker 2: know the first thing about test prep, college a mission

38
00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:03,080
Speaker 2: and scholarships. But I did know I wanted a high

39
00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:08,760
Speaker 2: SAT score. Problem was first one I took. I scored

40
00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:12,560
Speaker 2: about average, and so I then spent hundreds of hours

41
00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:16,000
Speaker 2: in the library studying for the SAT. Eventually raised my

42
00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:19,680
Speaker 2: score six hundred and forty points to get a perfect

43
00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:23,120
Speaker 2: SAT score, which is something that only zero point zero

44
00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:27,760
Speaker 2: two percent of all students achieve. That completely changed my life.

45
00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:30,560
Speaker 2: Got into the nation's top universities, got a half a

46
00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:33,760
Speaker 2: million dollars in scholarships, even got to meet the President

47
00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:36,880
Speaker 2: of the United States. And so when I got to college,

48
00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:39,840
Speaker 2: I wanted to help other students improve their test scores.

49
00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,520
Speaker 2: I started prep Expert. In the very first six week

50
00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:46,440
Speaker 2: SAT course my students ever took, they had an average

51
00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:49,040
Speaker 2: score improvement of three hundred and seventy six points in

52
00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:52,079
Speaker 2: just six weeks. So that's equivalent of taking a student

53
00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:54,640
Speaker 2: from the fiftieth percentile and putting them in the ninetieth

54
00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:59,440
Speaker 2: percent tile, totally changing their college and scholarship opportunities. Of course,

55
00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:02,240
Speaker 2: I had parents and students who wanted more courses, so

56
00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:05,760
Speaker 2: I began training other instructors to teach my curriculums and

57
00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:09,240
Speaker 2: the rest is history. Over the past fifteen years, as

58
00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:11,919
Speaker 2: you mentioned, we've helped over one hundred thousand students improve

59
00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:14,320
Speaker 2: their test scores, get into top colleges, and went over

60
00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:17,200
Speaker 2: one hundred million scholarships. Of course, the highlight of the

61
00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:19,080
Speaker 2: company was on ABC Shark.

62
00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:20,600
Speaker 1: That's not good there yet, I want to stay on

63
00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:24,360
Speaker 1: you because to be a highlight, you have to start.

64
00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:26,160
Speaker 3: Something and you have to learn how to see something.

65
00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:27,600
Speaker 3: Because That's what made.

66
00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:30,800
Speaker 1: It happened successfully when you went to Shark Tank. Now

67
00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:33,920
Speaker 1: this whole process, you know, like you said, at Perfect

68
00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:39,840
Speaker 1: Score your person that sometimes people would through stereotype, would

69
00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:42,160
Speaker 1: assume you're supposed to get that your hard, stude and

70
00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:44,720
Speaker 1: hard working. But you said, Rashan, I was a bad

71
00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:47,320
Speaker 1: taste taker and I had to learn, and through this

72
00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:51,160
Speaker 1: learning process, I developed this curriculum. And now you converted

73
00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:54,720
Speaker 1: that curriculum to something that you're making money off of. Now,

74
00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:57,320
Speaker 1: in the process of developing that curriculum, welcome through the

75
00:03:57,360 --> 00:03:59,600
Speaker 1: steps of the dudes and don't of what you had

76
00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:03,000
Speaker 1: to do to make it common to everyday people to understand.

77
00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:06,080
Speaker 2: You know, when I was trying to create the curriculum,

78
00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:09,640
Speaker 2: I was actually I wasn't ever trying to start a course. Instead,

79
00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:13,240
Speaker 2: I was trying to write a book. You know, I thought,

80
00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:15,880
Speaker 2: I've got this great idea. I'm going to write the

81
00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:19,480
Speaker 2: first SAT Prep book by a perfect Score student. Everyone's

82
00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:22,080
Speaker 2: gonna love it. It's gonna sell hundreds of thousands of copies.

83
00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,679
Speaker 2: And so I pitched this book proposal out to hundreds

84
00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:30,039
Speaker 2: of literary agents and publishers, and you know, they put

85
00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:32,000
Speaker 2: me in my place they say, you don't have a

86
00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,720
Speaker 2: platform to write the book. The SAT prep markets too competitive,

87
00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:38,640
Speaker 2: there's no way this book's going to work. And so

88
00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:42,520
Speaker 2: you know, I was really discouraged at that point. And

89
00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:45,520
Speaker 2: the way that I was writing my book material was

90
00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:48,640
Speaker 2: to your point. I was trying to make it relatable

91
00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:53,920
Speaker 2: and easy to understand for the average student, because I

92
00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:57,559
Speaker 2: was really average test taker myself, so I knew which

93
00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:01,000
Speaker 2: strategies really resonated with me, for like how to read

94
00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:04,040
Speaker 2: passages or how to do algebra problems, and which ones

95
00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:07,640
Speaker 2: were just way too complicated complex that wouldn't resonate with

96
00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:10,240
Speaker 2: most students. And so that's really how I wrote my

97
00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:13,240
Speaker 2: book material. Of course, the book material, you know, when

98
00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:15,599
Speaker 2: you're writing a book, you really have to think about

99
00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:18,760
Speaker 2: your audience and how to make it simple. But that

100
00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:21,480
Speaker 2: translated perfectly into the course because I was like, I

101
00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:23,800
Speaker 2: could just take all this material and now teach it

102
00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:27,599
Speaker 2: in a course format, and it did work. It made

103
00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:31,000
Speaker 2: it super easy for others to learn. And the funny

104
00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:34,160
Speaker 2: story is that, you know, after about a year or

105
00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:37,760
Speaker 2: two of doing the courses, McGraw Hill, the world's largest

106
00:05:37,839 --> 00:05:42,040
Speaker 2: education publisher, who had previously rejected me, said, hey, we'll

107
00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:44,000
Speaker 2: give you the book deal. Now, we ended up doing

108
00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:47,440
Speaker 2: the book. It sold over, you know, fifty thousand copies.

109
00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:49,680
Speaker 2: We went number one on Amazon for US at prep

110
00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:52,400
Speaker 2: and so it was funny how my original idea to

111
00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:54,920
Speaker 2: do the book didn't come to fruition until I took

112
00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:57,640
Speaker 2: this other path of you know, setting up my own

113
00:05:57,680 --> 00:05:58,640
Speaker 2: courses in business.

114
00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:00,599
Speaker 1: And well, we talk about a lot on this show.

115
00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:03,480
Speaker 1: Don't next you have the word no, you know, modify

116
00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:07,839
Speaker 1: your vision, follow through, and see your dream despite rejection.

117
00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:10,800
Speaker 1: And that's the classic case right there. People rejected your

118
00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:14,400
Speaker 1: idea because they didn't understand or maybe Sean, you didn't

119
00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:15,359
Speaker 1: know how to pitch it.

120
00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:16,680
Speaker 3: Is that your case? Two?

121
00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:20,640
Speaker 2: Oh definitely. I mean I think through all the rejections,

122
00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:26,440
Speaker 2: as I've been through hundreds of rejections, whether it's literary agents, publishers, media,

123
00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:29,240
Speaker 2: I didn't know how to pitch in the beginning. Oh,

124
00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:33,120
Speaker 2: I was stuttering. I was not presenting myself well on

125
00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:37,840
Speaker 2: phone calls, on business investments, whatever it may be. And

126
00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:40,480
Speaker 2: that's one of the beauties of entrepreneurship is you can

127
00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:43,880
Speaker 2: really hone your presentation and your pitch skills, but you

128
00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:48,400
Speaker 2: have to go through sucking at it first, everyone sucks

129
00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:50,800
Speaker 2: out averse and you know there are some people who

130
00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:53,680
Speaker 2: are just naturals, but I'd say most people have to

131
00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:56,680
Speaker 2: hone their pitch, hone their ability to sell, hone their

132
00:06:56,880 --> 00:07:01,159
Speaker 2: skills to present and pitch. And that only comes with

133
00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:03,320
Speaker 2: a lot of practice and a lot of rejection. And

134
00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:05,200
Speaker 2: it's only those that are willing to go through the

135
00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:06,800
Speaker 2: rejection that are going to get really good.

136
00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:07,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, we know.

137
00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:10,120
Speaker 1: When I do these type of shows, Sean, I always

138
00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:12,880
Speaker 1: like to hold people's attention. You know, I already get

139
00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:16,520
Speaker 1: them one hundred thousand students, one hundred million dollars in scholarships,

140
00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:20,960
Speaker 1: SAT ACT. We all know parents want their kids to

141
00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:24,840
Speaker 1: do well. From your words, people are listening, why should

142
00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:27,560
Speaker 1: they take Prep Expert versus the competition?

143
00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:32,440
Speaker 2: And I can put it into our brand motto, which

144
00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:35,520
Speaker 2: is change your score, change your life. That's our brand.

145
00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:37,960
Speaker 2: And what I mean by that is when you come

146
00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:40,520
Speaker 2: to Prep Expert, you're going to take our courses. Your

147
00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:42,679
Speaker 2: student's going to do well on the SAT and ACT,

148
00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:46,520
Speaker 2: but not only that, they're going to open up their

149
00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:49,640
Speaker 2: college and scholarship opportunities. We've had students win half a

150
00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:52,840
Speaker 2: million million, quarter million, one hundred thousand dollars in scholarships

151
00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:56,080
Speaker 2: totally eliminate their student debt. But not only that, they're

152
00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:58,800
Speaker 2: going to change their lives because in our courses, we

153
00:07:58,880 --> 00:08:02,760
Speaker 2: also teach life. We teach you about time management, how

154
00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:06,560
Speaker 2: to study effectively, how to be more productive, how to

155
00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:09,280
Speaker 2: realize your dreams. We give them a goal score in

156
00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:12,080
Speaker 2: the beginning, and we have them visualize and manifest their

157
00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:15,960
Speaker 2: scores and their future careers. No other test prep company

158
00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:19,520
Speaker 2: is doing this, and so we're teaching them at fifteen, sixteen,

159
00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:23,040
Speaker 2: seventeen years old, how to be better with their time,

160
00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:26,280
Speaker 2: be more productive, how to have goals. And I mean,

161
00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:28,920
Speaker 2: how valuable is that for you know, I know we're

162
00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:31,640
Speaker 2: a test prep course, but we teach you so much more.

163
00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:33,959
Speaker 2: And that's why we say, change your score, change your life.

164
00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:36,280
Speaker 2: We have students now, since we've been doing this for

165
00:08:36,320 --> 00:08:40,559
Speaker 2: fifteen years who are executives that NVIDIA, who are dermatologists,

166
00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:44,640
Speaker 2: plastic surgeons. They've become very successful in their lives. And

167
00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:46,480
Speaker 2: I know we're just a small portion of it, but

168
00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:48,840
Speaker 2: I'm hoping that we planted a lot of those seeds

169
00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:51,080
Speaker 2: on how to be successful very early on in their

170
00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:53,600
Speaker 2: lives as high school students.

171
00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:57,520
Speaker 1: Right I'm talking to doctor Sean Ptail. He founded in

172
00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:00,760
Speaker 1: the CEO of Prep Expert Prep expt to have more

173
00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:06,000
Speaker 1: than one hundred thousand students improve their SAT and ACT scores,

174
00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:08,800
Speaker 1: get in the top colleges, which is key, and win

175
00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:12,760
Speaker 1: over get this one hundred million dollars in scholarships. When

176
00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:16,200
Speaker 1: you talk about the process, because this is online, some

177
00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:18,000
Speaker 1: people might say that's very impersonal.

178
00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:19,880
Speaker 3: You know, online you can't touch anybody.

179
00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:23,840
Speaker 1: How do you break that wall and make people feel

180
00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:27,199
Speaker 1: comfortable or students especially who sometimes can have a very

181
00:09:27,400 --> 00:09:28,439
Speaker 1: short attention span.

182
00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:30,959
Speaker 3: Because this is what this interview is about.

183
00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:34,120
Speaker 1: I'm excited you have a brand that can change people's lives.

184
00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:36,800
Speaker 1: But I also want people who are listening to understand

185
00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:40,080
Speaker 1: I want to go to this website right now and

186
00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:44,359
Speaker 1: help my child become a better get a better opportunity

187
00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:47,840
Speaker 1: to set to achieve and exceed. Talk to us about

188
00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:51,880
Speaker 1: the process of contacting you and the steps.

189
00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:55,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, so the process to contact me and how our

190
00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:58,840
Speaker 2: courses work is really parents or students who are interested.

191
00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:02,439
Speaker 2: They can head over to expert dot com and they

192
00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:05,760
Speaker 2: can view all of our online services. So we have

193
00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:10,760
Speaker 2: online SAT courses, online ACT courses, college admissions, consulting, one

194
00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:14,040
Speaker 2: on one tutoring to your point, though, you know, many

195
00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:17,400
Speaker 2: parents may be concerned that you know, this is online,

196
00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:21,520
Speaker 2: it's not in person. And in twenty nineteen I probably

197
00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:24,120
Speaker 2: would have said, you know what, you're right, But in

198
00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:28,920
Speaker 2: twenty twenty, the whole world changed. COVID made everyone go online.

199
00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:32,800
Speaker 2: Students had to learn online. They're more comfortable learning online,

200
00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:37,360
Speaker 2: I would say, than in person. Nowadays. The technology to

201
00:10:37,480 --> 00:10:40,040
Speaker 2: learn online is so much better. We're doing this podcast

202
00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:44,320
Speaker 2: online now, and you know, there's just so much more

203
00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:49,120
Speaker 2: resources and more comfortability, especially among young people on learning

204
00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:53,600
Speaker 2: online and learning in a live online environment. And so

205
00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:57,160
Speaker 2: you know, students do absolutely fantastic in our online six

206
00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:00,800
Speaker 2: week SAT courses, online eight week online four week courses.

207
00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:03,480
Speaker 2: But what I love about online is we can do

208
00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:05,640
Speaker 2: it live. So it's not just the you know, a

209
00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:08,600
Speaker 2: self paced course where your student's never going to go

210
00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:12,160
Speaker 2: through the video modules. They're learning from ninety nine percentile

211
00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:15,040
Speaker 2: instructors who have all scored in the top one percent

212
00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:18,480
Speaker 2: on these exams, who have thousands of hours of teaching experience.

213
00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:21,200
Speaker 2: They can even learn from me directly. So when you

214
00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:23,720
Speaker 2: learn from an expert or a mentor who's done it

215
00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:26,880
Speaker 2: themselves and can give you the strategies, the shortcuts, the

216
00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:31,720
Speaker 2: curriculum to do it. I mean, it just exponentially improves

217
00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:33,880
Speaker 2: your success. And people in the business world know this.

218
00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:36,440
Speaker 2: This is why you hire business coaches consultants who have

219
00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:38,920
Speaker 2: done it before you. And I do that as an

220
00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:43,000
Speaker 2: entrepreneur myself. I will pay people, you know, tens of

221
00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:46,320
Speaker 2: thousands of dollars who have done what I'm trying to

222
00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:50,000
Speaker 2: do to get there faster in entrepreneurship and business. And

223
00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:52,079
Speaker 2: it's the same way in test prep and education.

224
00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:55,120
Speaker 1: Now you said it earlier, just started out as a

225
00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:59,360
Speaker 1: side hustle, Sean, And when did you say the light

226
00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:04,679
Speaker 1: bulb click? You know, I can make some money about that?

227
00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:09,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question. And uh, you know, it

228
00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:11,440
Speaker 2: did start out as a side house. It literally started out.

229
00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:14,679
Speaker 2: I wrote this curriculum in my college dorm room in

230
00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:18,040
Speaker 2: my senior year of college, and I was like, you

231
00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:20,160
Speaker 2: know what, I'll make a little bit of money over

232
00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:23,319
Speaker 2: the summer. It's going to be, you know, just some

233
00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:27,680
Speaker 2: pocket change, and you know, great. But what I realized

234
00:12:28,320 --> 00:12:31,640
Speaker 2: was the students did so well in the first six

235
00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:34,720
Speaker 2: week SAT course as I mentioned they had three almost

236
00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:39,520
Speaker 2: four hundred point average score improvement incredible that I was not.

237
00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:43,400
Speaker 2: Parents didn't let me just quit. They just said, hey,

238
00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:46,080
Speaker 2: you got to do more courses. Like I literally had

239
00:12:46,120 --> 00:12:48,640
Speaker 2: people calling my phone like, hey, my student couldn't take

240
00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:50,800
Speaker 2: that course that you taught. Do you have another one

241
00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:53,640
Speaker 2: coming up? And I was like, well no, but I

242
00:12:53,679 --> 00:12:57,360
Speaker 2: guess I could. Right, So we started out. You know,

243
00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:00,120
Speaker 2: that's when we and then what I realized is and

244
00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:01,679
Speaker 2: this is when you know you have a good business.

245
00:13:01,679 --> 00:13:04,600
Speaker 2: This is applicable to all the business people entrepreneurship people

246
00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:08,839
Speaker 2: out there. The best marketing strategy is word of mouth.

247
00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:13,280
Speaker 2: So it's when people tell your customers, your clients, they

248
00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:16,800
Speaker 2: tell other customers and clients about you. Because literally, for

249
00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:19,640
Speaker 2: the first five years of my business, we spent zero

250
00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:23,079
Speaker 2: dollars on marketing, and we kept doubling our business year

251
00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:26,040
Speaker 2: over year. And that tells you that it was just

252
00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:28,680
Speaker 2: our students and parents telling other students and parents, Hey,

253
00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:30,680
Speaker 2: you got to check out this course over here. My

254
00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:33,440
Speaker 2: student did really well, and that's what you want as

255
00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:34,200
Speaker 2: a business owner.

256
00:13:34,559 --> 00:13:34,760
Speaker 3: Right.

257
00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:36,520
Speaker 1: A couple of things before we get to the shock,

258
00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:42,400
Speaker 1: the shock tank experience. Okay, price points, Okay, you young entrepreneur,

259
00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:45,600
Speaker 1: you got this idea. It's a side housetle making money.

260
00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:48,400
Speaker 1: Now people are saying I need more, I need more

261
00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:50,960
Speaker 1: your one man operation basically correct.

262
00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:54,480
Speaker 2: Mm hmmah oh yeah. When I first started, I was

263
00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:58,840
Speaker 2: a customer service teacher everything.

264
00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:02,400
Speaker 1: How did you set your price points early on? And

265
00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:04,120
Speaker 1: then we're going to talk about and what year did

266
00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:05,440
Speaker 1: this all kind of like start?

267
00:14:06,559 --> 00:14:10,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, So the way that I set my price points

268
00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:12,840
Speaker 2: early on was how every entrepreneur sets them, which I

269
00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:15,360
Speaker 2: think is the wrong way to set them. You look

270
00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:18,040
Speaker 2: at the competition and you set it a little bit lower.

271
00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:20,760
Speaker 3: That's true. Ye, that's true. That's true.

272
00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:24,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not the way to do it. And the

273
00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:26,800
Speaker 2: way that I set them now is I set them

274
00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:30,600
Speaker 2: by valuing our time. So what I you know, I

275
00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:32,840
Speaker 2: set them on a per hour basis. So I think

276
00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:37,280
Speaker 2: our courses are start at about fifteen or twenty dollars

277
00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:40,040
Speaker 2: per hour, and that's a lot of value to learn

278
00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:42,600
Speaker 2: from a ninety nine percent that's that's pretty twenty dollars

279
00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:43,040
Speaker 2: an hour.

280
00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:45,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's pretty long. It's pretty reasonable. But just gonna

281
00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:46,320
Speaker 3: let you know that.

282
00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:49,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so twenty bucks an hour, but it's a

283
00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:52,080
Speaker 2: sixty hour course, so that comes out to twelve hundred dollars.

284
00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:54,040
Speaker 2: So you know, when you look at it at twelve hundred,

285
00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:55,560
Speaker 2: people say, oh my god. But I say, well, you

286
00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:59,320
Speaker 2: got sixty hours with the top one percent mentor and instructor.

287
00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:01,480
Speaker 2: You know, I think it comes out pretty reasonable to

288
00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:04,880
Speaker 2: your point. So that's the way I price it now

289
00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:07,320
Speaker 2: is I price it per hour because you know, once

290
00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:09,640
Speaker 2: people hear that per hour rate, it's it's a lot

291
00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:11,800
Speaker 2: more reasonable than hearing a package rate. And that's that

292
00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:14,160
Speaker 2: would be a strategy I would suggest for all business owners.

293
00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:17,960
Speaker 2: Value your time and price it out appropriately for your clients,

294
00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:20,240
Speaker 2: because if you just tell them the twelve hundred dollars

295
00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:22,280
Speaker 2: price at first, I'll say, oh no, I won't pay that.

296
00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:24,680
Speaker 2: But if you say it's twenty bucks an hour, that's

297
00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:26,680
Speaker 2: a lot more reasonable to when you break it down.

298
00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:30,320
Speaker 4: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more

299
00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:40,040
Speaker 4: Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making

300
00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:45,800
Speaker 4: Conversations Masterclass, hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass

301
00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:50,480
Speaker 4: continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making

302
00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:55,120
Speaker 4: Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, because.

303
00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:56,840
Speaker 3: That's what you did with me. You lay what you're

304
00:15:56,840 --> 00:15:57,560
Speaker 3: twenty bucks an hour?

305
00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:03,520
Speaker 1: I like that price total sixty hours, twelve hundred dollars.

306
00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:04,280
Speaker 3: Okay.

307
00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:06,520
Speaker 1: See I'm already in because you got me in with

308
00:16:06,560 --> 00:16:07,680
Speaker 1: the twenty dollars an hour.

309
00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:11,120
Speaker 3: Okay, I could work with that. Sixty hout. I could

310
00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:12,200
Speaker 3: work with that. Now.

311
00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:16,800
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're making money now now you want investors. See

312
00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:19,960
Speaker 1: that's the part of this conversation I really need and

313
00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:22,200
Speaker 1: it's all online. I'm trying to figure out why did

314
00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:25,080
Speaker 1: you need investors or why did you feel the need

315
00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:25,960
Speaker 1: to grow like that.

316
00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:31,360
Speaker 2: So the reason that I needed investment was actually when

317
00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:34,760
Speaker 2: I first started, it wasn't online, it was in person.

318
00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:37,720
Speaker 2: So we were in Las Vegas, where I grew up,

319
00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:41,080
Speaker 2: and you know, we opened a second location. But then

320
00:16:41,240 --> 00:16:44,440
Speaker 2: I you know, opening locations, as you know in person

321
00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:49,960
Speaker 2: locations is expensive, so we needed investment to start other cities.

322
00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:55,240
Speaker 2: So we started opening in California, in Texas and Florida

323
00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:58,920
Speaker 2: on the East coast. And the problem was that is one,

324
00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:01,880
Speaker 2: it was expensive. But the bigger problem I ran into

325
00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:06,880
Speaker 2: much later was twenty twenty, I couldn't have twelve kids

326
00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:09,480
Speaker 2: in a small classroom because of the six foot rule,

327
00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:12,040
Speaker 2: so we had to shut all our locations and then

328
00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:15,640
Speaker 2: we pivoted fully online, which is where we're at today.

329
00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:17,119
Speaker 3: Now.

330
00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:19,880
Speaker 1: The year you launched it was what would you say,

331
00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:21,240
Speaker 1: what was that year you launched it?

332
00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:25,280
Speaker 2: We launched originally in my first set of courses was

333
00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:28,159
Speaker 2: in the summer of twenty eleven, so we're coming up

334
00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:30,040
Speaker 2: on fourteen years yet.

335
00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:30,720
Speaker 3: Okay, cool?

336
00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:32,880
Speaker 1: And then the shop tank experience.

337
00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:36,240
Speaker 3: How did they come about and why? Yeah?

338
00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:39,800
Speaker 2: So I was really looking for investment in about twenty

339
00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:42,560
Speaker 2: fifteen sixteen time frames.

340
00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:44,400
Speaker 3: This was a brick and mortar This is the brick

341
00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:45,520
Speaker 3: and mortar style.

342
00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:48,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, investment you wanted because that was the model that

343
00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:50,439
Speaker 1: you had prior to COVID.

344
00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:53,679
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was really the play I thought brick and mortar.

345
00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:56,800
Speaker 2: And to your point, parents wanted in person before COVID.

346
00:17:56,800 --> 00:17:59,920
Speaker 2: They didn't really they were scared of online courses, you know,

347
00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:02,920
Speaker 2: they were like, we got to be in person. So

348
00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:05,679
Speaker 2: twenty fifteen twenty sixteen, I was looking for investment to

349
00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:09,639
Speaker 2: expand brick and mortar, expand our marketing because I feel

350
00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:11,520
Speaker 2: like we had really maxed out what we could do

351
00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:15,800
Speaker 2: with our couple locations in my hometown of Vegas, and

352
00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:18,800
Speaker 2: I wanted to go further. So I went to a

353
00:18:18,840 --> 00:18:22,680
Speaker 2: Shark Tank casting call pitch and I stood in line

354
00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:25,960
Speaker 2: with five hundred other entrepreneurs and I was the last

355
00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:27,760
Speaker 2: person in line. Because I'm always late. I was late

356
00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:36,560
Speaker 2: to this interview and consistency. I waited eight nine hours

357
00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:39,880
Speaker 2: to give a one minute pitch and the casting call

358
00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:42,399
Speaker 2: producer was totally unimpressed with my pitch. I was like,

359
00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:44,359
Speaker 2: We've done a million dollars in sales. I've been in

360
00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:46,440
Speaker 2: the New York Times. I was saying all this stuff

361
00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:49,879
Speaker 2: that I thought was impressive, and his face was stone cold.

362
00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:54,359
Speaker 2: Until the very last second. I pulled out my book,

363
00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:56,880
Speaker 2: my sat prep book that I had done with McGraw hill,

364
00:18:57,240 --> 00:18:59,639
Speaker 2: and he noticed my face was on the cover and

365
00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:02,320
Speaker 2: he could believe that I was a published author. And

366
00:19:02,359 --> 00:19:05,959
Speaker 2: I think this is another great lesson for entrepreneurs. Having

367
00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:09,919
Speaker 2: a book can produce so much authority for you. You

368
00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:14,800
Speaker 2: become the expert in your field. And you know, he

369
00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:16,520
Speaker 2: was like, can I have the book for my nephew?

370
00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:18,280
Speaker 2: And I gave him the book and two weeks later

371
00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:20,280
Speaker 2: they were calling me to be buying me out to

372
00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:23,920
Speaker 2: La to be on the pitch Shark Tank. And it

373
00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:25,800
Speaker 2: never would have happened if I didn't have the book,

374
00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:28,400
Speaker 2: which kind of pieces everything together. You know, originally one

375
00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:30,959
Speaker 2: of the book, book didn't happen, Book happened, Book happens.

376
00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:32,720
Speaker 2: I get on Shark Tank. So it's kind of this

377
00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:35,159
Speaker 2: weird string that I would have never been able to

378
00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:37,320
Speaker 2: connect the dots until looking back.

379
00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:40,960
Speaker 1: Now, now let's talk about brick and mortar versus own

380
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,600
Speaker 1: line when it comes to the quality of instructors that

381
00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:48,280
Speaker 1: you're able to get because your own line. Because brick

382
00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:50,439
Speaker 1: and mortar, they basically got to be in the city

383
00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:54,320
Speaker 1: where they ad to go to that location. But because

384
00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:58,399
Speaker 1: your own line, basically these instructors can reside anywhere. I

385
00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:01,200
Speaker 1: would like to believe that you were able to raise

386
00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:04,480
Speaker 1: the quality of people that you brought on board to

387
00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:07,480
Speaker 1: be instructors for your prep expert correct.

388
00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:12,320
Speaker 2: Oh big time. Yeah. Anytime you can increase your applicant pool,

389
00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:14,639
Speaker 2: you're going to be able to have a higher quality

390
00:20:15,119 --> 00:20:17,879
Speaker 2: of person fill that role for you. So instead of

391
00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:20,600
Speaker 2: having to look in the certain cities we were in previously,

392
00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:24,560
Speaker 2: now I can look in all fifty states, and what

393
00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:27,280
Speaker 2: that does is we have a pretty high bar. As

394
00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:31,120
Speaker 2: I mentioned, you know, we only hire ninety nine percentile scores.

395
00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:33,560
Speaker 2: We only hire people with a ton of teaching experience.

396
00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:37,240
Speaker 2: We have them do trials of online teaching for us

397
00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:40,760
Speaker 2: before we hire them to see that they're personable, that

398
00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:44,560
Speaker 2: they can teach well, that they can really command a classroom,

399
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,080
Speaker 2: et cetera. And it's really raised the bar by being

400
00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:50,880
Speaker 2: able to do it online. So that's another big benefit

401
00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:52,080
Speaker 2: that you pointed out for sure.

402
00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:54,960
Speaker 1: Now let's talk about online because you're talking about it.

403
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:57,680
Speaker 1: You said the word classroom, So I'm going to look

404
00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:00,800
Speaker 1: at it as a session, an online session. The instructor,

405
00:21:01,359 --> 00:21:04,199
Speaker 1: what's the smallest session and what's the largest session that

406
00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:06,720
Speaker 1: you have in these training courses.

407
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:10,879
Speaker 2: Yeah, so the smallest session is usually like ten to

408
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:14,960
Speaker 2: twenty students, and the largest session, some of our summer

409
00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:18,040
Speaker 2: courses can get to like sixty students something like that.

410
00:21:18,800 --> 00:21:20,919
Speaker 2: So they do get larger once you get into the

411
00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:25,160
Speaker 2: more popular timeframes. With that being said, every student gets

412
00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:29,159
Speaker 2: to ask their questions. We have teaching teaching assistants, we

413
00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:33,040
Speaker 2: have office hours that they can attend to get even

414
00:21:33,119 --> 00:21:36,480
Speaker 2: more of their questions answered, and we really try to

415
00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:40,119
Speaker 2: make it like in on a classroom experience. You know,

416
00:21:40,359 --> 00:21:43,399
Speaker 2: we have the students call us mister or doctor or whatever,

417
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:46,920
Speaker 2: you know, because it's important, you know, it's important that

418
00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:51,639
Speaker 2: we go back to the basics of just you know, teaching, respect,

419
00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:57,360
Speaker 2: classroom and and students love it like you'd be surprised,

420
00:21:57,480 --> 00:21:59,760
Speaker 2: you wouldn't. You'd be surprised if you read our reviews

421
00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:02,520
Speaker 2: up expert of the students like, I love this course.

422
00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:04,000
Speaker 2: I really didn't think I was gonna like the cos

423
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:05,400
Speaker 2: I didn't think I was gonna like that, say, tea

424
00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:07,359
Speaker 2: prop course. But I learned so much about you know,

425
00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:09,639
Speaker 2: test prep. I learned so much about life, and I

426
00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:13,119
Speaker 2: improve my score for hunder points and it's it's incredible,

427
00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:16,159
Speaker 2: Like it's really really I love that we can do

428
00:22:16,359 --> 00:22:18,760
Speaker 2: good for students and do well for ourselves at the

429
00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:19,280
Speaker 2: same time.

430
00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:21,520
Speaker 1: I would tell you this just on a personal note, Sean,

431
00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:25,280
Speaker 1: You're very likable, you know, very engaging, and I think

432
00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:28,840
Speaker 1: that reflects your business model prep expert, you.

433
00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:31,399
Speaker 3: Know, I hope so it does reflect it, you know,

434
00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:32,680
Speaker 3: very so. I would.

435
00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:34,800
Speaker 1: I'm not shocked that you said that there's a level

436
00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:38,080
Speaker 1: of enthusiasm and the level of care that you put

437
00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:41,440
Speaker 1: into the whole process and people that you want to Yes,

438
00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:43,760
Speaker 1: you are making money, but you also, like you said

439
00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:47,120
Speaker 1: in the beginning, changing lives and then that's your legacy.

440
00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:50,520
Speaker 1: You're building a legacy through academic training. That and that's

441
00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:53,840
Speaker 1: what is the model which should drive this country and

442
00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:57,840
Speaker 1: in any country that that wants to be an academic success.

443
00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:00,520
Speaker 3: Now that's if you want to be a leader. I think.

444
00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:03,240
Speaker 2: I know people talk about getting rid of test. I'll

445
00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:05,320
Speaker 2: tell you China and India aren't getting rid of test.

446
00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:06,600
Speaker 1: So we want to compete.

447
00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:09,760
Speaker 3: We got, you know, on the show.

448
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:12,480
Speaker 1: I wanted to make sure people understand their options out there.

449
00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:14,199
Speaker 1: Like they said, there are some people I brought on

450
00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:17,359
Speaker 1: the show, but your model was really engaging to me

451
00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:18,920
Speaker 1: because I did my research.

452
00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:21,320
Speaker 3: I liked those the extra the purpose.

453
00:23:21,359 --> 00:23:21,480
Speaker 2: You know.

454
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:22,640
Speaker 3: It was like a.

455
00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:25,119
Speaker 1: Student comes to you and they don't feel and I

456
00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:26,959
Speaker 1: didn't feel they were going to be left with that

457
00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:31,840
Speaker 1: one angle to be achieved success. Like you said, there

458
00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:36,119
Speaker 1: are other ways you can communicate. They felt like, no,

459
00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:38,960
Speaker 1: you're not in a building, but you're in a home,

460
00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:41,800
Speaker 1: and this home is here to help you win. Now,

461
00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:44,400
Speaker 1: you first went to Shark Tank. Let's get back over

462
00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:47,360
Speaker 1: there because I want people to this amazing story because

463
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:51,240
Speaker 1: it changed your life financially. You can pitch at at

464
00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:52,879
Speaker 1: one minute pitch, you pull out the book at the

465
00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:56,119
Speaker 1: last minute. Two weeks later they call you, Okay, what

466
00:23:56,240 --> 00:23:58,320
Speaker 1: did you do differently and how did you prep for

467
00:23:58,359 --> 00:24:00,000
Speaker 1: the actual show or did they help you?

468
00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:01,440
Speaker 3: The producers haamp you out.

469
00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:05,200
Speaker 2: I'd spent hundreds Just like I spent hundreds of hours

470
00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:07,639
Speaker 2: prepping for that SAT I spent hundreds of hours prepping

471
00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:11,399
Speaker 2: for my Shark Tank pitch. I watched tape, I watched

472
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:14,600
Speaker 2: all the Shark Tank previous episodes. I wrote down every

473
00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:17,680
Speaker 2: question that Mister Wonderful was asking, that Damon John was asking,

474
00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:20,280
Speaker 2: that Mark Cuban was asking, and then I prepped you

475
00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:24,320
Speaker 2: know answers. You know, one really unique thing I did

476
00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:26,240
Speaker 2: that I thought was really important for my pitch, and

477
00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:28,919
Speaker 2: why I think a lot of people remember it is

478
00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:33,240
Speaker 2: I have the most boring business in the world. It's

479
00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:36,280
Speaker 2: test prep, all right. So, and I know that Shark

480
00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:40,439
Speaker 2: Tank is an entertainment TV show, and I knew that

481
00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:43,840
Speaker 2: they don't air all of the pitches, so I had

482
00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:46,639
Speaker 2: to make sure that I was interesting enough that they

483
00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:51,280
Speaker 2: would air my pitch. So I wrote down every interesting

484
00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:54,680
Speaker 2: story about my life related to how I started the business,

485
00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:57,800
Speaker 2: about entrepreneurship, about how my dad came to the US

486
00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:00,800
Speaker 2: with seventy dollars, and I was like, I'm going to

487
00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:05,000
Speaker 2: share these stories within the questions so that I can

488
00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:08,040
Speaker 2: make my pitch a little bit more interesting than essaykeeprap

489
00:25:08,359 --> 00:25:11,320
Speaker 2: and make it about the American dream. And you know,

490
00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:14,200
Speaker 2: all these larger themes. And it worked. It totally worked.

491
00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:17,000
Speaker 2: It was one of the most remembered and seen Shark

492
00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:21,320
Speaker 2: Tank pitches ever. And you know, the takeaway for entrepreneurs

493
00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:24,520
Speaker 2: out there is make your business, make yourself interesting. Think

494
00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:28,520
Speaker 2: the art of storytelling is so so important in any

495
00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:31,440
Speaker 2: business or any path you pursue.

496
00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,080
Speaker 3: Now again, now we're talking about pricing again.

497
00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:38,040
Speaker 1: How did you say for that amount of money, I'm

498
00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:40,000
Speaker 1: gonna give up this amount of my business. How did

499
00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:43,040
Speaker 1: you come to that decision when it came to prep expert,

500
00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:46,800
Speaker 1: this is your baby, now decide it's a business. Now

501
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:49,760
Speaker 1: the money can come your way, but you also have

502
00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:51,479
Speaker 1: to give up some of your brand.

503
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:53,200
Speaker 3: How'd you come to that decision?

504
00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:57,840
Speaker 2: Yeah, so at the time, you know, we weren't a

505
00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:00,159
Speaker 2: huge business. I think we were doing about half a

506
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:04,439
Speaker 2: million in revenue per year, so I had priced it

507
00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:08,800
Speaker 2: at so I used the strategy, which was I knew

508
00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:11,919
Speaker 2: the Sharks were going to negotiate on the equity, so

509
00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:15,120
Speaker 2: I would be comfortable at a quarter million for twenty percent.

510
00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:17,600
Speaker 2: But I went in asking for a quarter million for

511
00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:20,399
Speaker 2: ten percent, having knowing that I'm going to have that

512
00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:23,760
Speaker 2: ten percent negotiation room. And Mark Cuban must have read

513
00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:25,320
Speaker 2: the room perfectly. You must have been in my head

514
00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:27,480
Speaker 2: because he said I'm only doing a quarter million for

515
00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:30,359
Speaker 2: twenty percent, and I said that's my limit, and we

516
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:36,119
Speaker 2: shook hands and we ask you yeah, so laid out

517
00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:38,040
Speaker 2: to a t. Yeah, I love it.

518
00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:41,280
Speaker 1: You know this whole thing about you know, social media,

519
00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:45,200
Speaker 1: word about website traffic. What type of website traffic does

520
00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:50,240
Speaker 1: you do you generate? Now that let you know, Wow,

521
00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:54,240
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people through curiosity, through trying to

522
00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:57,280
Speaker 1: get understand this brand is really blowing you away. Talk

523
00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:00,239
Speaker 1: to us about the social media aspect of marketing, the

524
00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:02,320
Speaker 1: website traffic part of the business.

525
00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:05,080
Speaker 2: Oh amazing. Yeah, So, I mean, just to give you

526
00:27:05,119 --> 00:27:07,439
Speaker 2: an idea. When we first started, I think our first

527
00:27:07,520 --> 00:27:10,480
Speaker 2: year in business, we had about ten thousand hits to

528
00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:14,720
Speaker 2: the website and now fifteen years later, we get about

529
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:18,440
Speaker 2: two million hits to the website on an annual basis,

530
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:21,080
Speaker 2: which is pretty incredible. You know, what is that twenty

531
00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:22,240
Speaker 2: x or something like that.

532
00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:25,640
Speaker 3: And so you so call, you so called, don't worry

533
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:26,400
Speaker 3: about you so call.

534
00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:32,080
Speaker 2: And we've produced over fifty million in revenue. Now I

535
00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:33,879
Speaker 2: think I told you we did half a million a

536
00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:37,040
Speaker 2: year when we were on Shark Tank. We are just

537
00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:39,280
Speaker 2: crushing it on every We have a you know, email

538
00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:42,919
Speaker 2: and social media list of two hundred thousand followers, and

539
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:45,639
Speaker 2: that's just a function of doing good work for a

540
00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:47,879
Speaker 2: long period of time, building a brand. I think a

541
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:50,119
Speaker 2: lot of people don't talk about building a brand enough.

542
00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:53,040
Speaker 2: You know, as I mentioned, our brand is change your score,

543
00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:55,040
Speaker 2: change your life, and a lot of people like to

544
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:58,560
Speaker 2: follow that message because they know the importance of education

545
00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:01,360
Speaker 2: and how it can change your lives. I'm a result

546
00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:04,280
Speaker 2: of that myself, my own personal story, but also all

547
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:08,880
Speaker 2: my students and hopefully in the larger scheme of things. Really,

548
00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,240
Speaker 2: what I want to embody is the American dream. Go

549
00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:14,760
Speaker 2: back to meritocracy, go back to working hard and getting

550
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:18,160
Speaker 2: rewarded for it, whether that's in business or in education,

551
00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:19,520
Speaker 2: and that's what we embody.

552
00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:22,159
Speaker 1: Wow, you know this is a I looked up and

553
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,520
Speaker 1: I went wow. Twenty six minutes and it's just it's

554
00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:26,479
Speaker 1: just been a fun interview.

555
00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:27,040
Speaker 3: Yeah.

556
00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:29,960
Speaker 1: Like again, I have just compliment you on your personality,

557
00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:33,679
Speaker 1: compliments you on your vision. Is a great story, but

558
00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:36,639
Speaker 1: also you're changing lives and that's what really excites me

559
00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:39,160
Speaker 1: about being able to be a part of your life,

560
00:28:39,280 --> 00:28:42,280
Speaker 1: you know, be able to share this information to people

561
00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:45,560
Speaker 1: who are trying to give their child or themselves an

562
00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:50,080
Speaker 1: opportunity to exceed with that note. I know parents come

563
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:53,080
Speaker 1: to you, do adults come to you? You know, who

564
00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:57,080
Speaker 1: are post high school gets into these course And what's

565
00:28:57,120 --> 00:28:59,719
Speaker 1: the difference in those type of people versus the parents

566
00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,680
Speaker 1: bringing their child to be part of prep expert.

567
00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:06,200
Speaker 2: Yeah. So for the most part, it is parents of

568
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:09,240
Speaker 2: high school students. But there are some adults we've had

569
00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:11,320
Speaker 2: who will come to us who are going to go

570
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:14,000
Speaker 2: back to school and they need an SAT or ACT score.

571
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:16,240
Speaker 2: And you know what's funny is those are often the

572
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:19,320
Speaker 2: most motivated because they've been out in the real world

573
00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:22,880
Speaker 2: and the real world is not as kind as the

574
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:26,520
Speaker 2: education worlds as I know having been in business and education,

575
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:29,880
Speaker 2: and they so they work the hardest, they do the best.

576
00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:33,000
Speaker 2: We've had really remarkable stories of adults doing well with

577
00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:33,600
Speaker 2: our courses.

578
00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:36,960
Speaker 1: Too cool, close out this man, what's the future? Brother

579
00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:40,640
Speaker 1: for prep Expert? You already talked about the thens, the doctors,

580
00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:44,880
Speaker 1: the teachers, the lawyers, probably congressmen who you actually took

581
00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:49,360
Speaker 1: taking your course, and it really is it really is

582
00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:53,320
Speaker 1: a system where you can take control of your lives.

583
00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:55,360
Speaker 3: You know, I was a poor test taker.

584
00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:57,360
Speaker 1: I think I made like seven to fifty on my

585
00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:01,040
Speaker 1: SAT Okay, Yeah, I got a degree in mathematics and

586
00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:04,680
Speaker 1: minor in sociology, so I was just a poor test taker.

587
00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,520
Speaker 1: So you could have really changed my life if I

588
00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:09,320
Speaker 1: knew about you when I was in high school, but

589
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:09,760
Speaker 1: I didn't.

590
00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:13,120
Speaker 3: Those type of things didn't exist, but it exists today.

591
00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:15,600
Speaker 3: So what's the future and what's the brand deal of

592
00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:16,200
Speaker 3: the scale?

593
00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:19,520
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, So I think, as I mentioned, over the

594
00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:22,000
Speaker 2: past decade, we've helped students win over one hundred million

595
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,480
Speaker 2: in scholarships. So over the next decade, I want to

596
00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:26,480
Speaker 2: take that a step further. I'm on a billion dollar

597
00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:30,480
Speaker 2: scholarship mission. I want to help students win over one

598
00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:34,400
Speaker 2: billion dollars in scholarships, get those thousand, two hundred thousand

599
00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:39,000
Speaker 2: dollars full ride scholarships through their test scores, through college admissions,

600
00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:43,400
Speaker 2: and change their lives. Because if I can financially remove

601
00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:47,760
Speaker 2: your student debt when college is so so expensive, I've

602
00:30:47,880 --> 00:30:52,080
Speaker 2: changed your life forever. Because now you're financially free after

603
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:56,160
Speaker 2: college or after your graduate education to pursue your passions.

604
00:30:56,240 --> 00:30:58,760
Speaker 2: You can have more freedom in the careers and the

605
00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:02,440
Speaker 2: entrepreneurship choices you make. And so that's really the future

606
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:04,920
Speaker 2: vision that I have is to help hundreds of thousands

607
00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:08,800
Speaker 2: of students eliminate their student debt, get billions in scholarships,

608
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:11,000
Speaker 2: and do that over the next decade, to change their

609
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:12,600
Speaker 2: scores and change their lives.

610
00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:15,760
Speaker 1: Thank you, brother, I really really appreciate you coming on

611
00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:17,360
Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations master Class.

612
00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:19,400
Speaker 3: Thank you Sean, Thank you Rashwan.

613
00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:21,160
Speaker 2: It's been a pleasure. Thanks for having me. And I'm

614
00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:23,920
Speaker 2: going to do a shameless plug any parents the students interested,

615
00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:26,240
Speaker 2: check out prepexpert dot com.

616
00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:29,720
Speaker 1: Don't worry, brother, we say a prep expert enough, they

617
00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:36,400
Speaker 1: know where to go. I know how to plug your baby.

618
00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:38,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, I trust me.

619
00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:38,400
Speaker 1: I know.

620
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:39,080
Speaker 2: Thank you.

621
00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:42,400
Speaker 1: This has been another edition of Money Making Conversations Masterclass

622
00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:45,600
Speaker 1: posted by me Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our guests

623
00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:48,240
Speaker 1: on the show today and thank you listen to the

624
00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:49,040
Speaker 1: audience now.

625
00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:51,040
Speaker 3: If you want to listen to any episode I want

626
00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:52,440
Speaker 3: to be a guest on the show.

627
00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:57,800
Speaker 1: Visit Moneymakingconversations dot com. Social media handle is money Making Conversation.

628
00:31:58,240 --> 00:31:59,080
Speaker 3: Join us next.

629
00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:01,240
Speaker 1: Week and remember to all always leave with your gifts.

630
00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:02,160
Speaker 1: Keep winning.

631
00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:07,920
Speaker 2: Mm hmmmmm