Designing Education for Real Life with Zach Fleishman

Our standard educational system is designed for the industrial age and it’s just not fit to produce the next generation of well-equipped, sharp and creative graduates. Zack shares a business idea for transforming education into a more useful, fun and productive endeavor.

Nuggets:  

  • Learn how Zack became a tennis champion through laser focus and clarity of purpose starting at the age of twelve. Then hear how he used the same focus and clarity to excel in an entirely new arena, entrepreneurship.
  • Find out the powerful things Zack learned about business through the process of applying for government grants.
  • Learn how Zack’s research of tax law could save investors hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Action Steps:  

  1. Listen to the episode, investigate weaknesses and missing information, fill in on them and report back. (e.g. Research how to become an accredited school.)
  2. Build partnerships and support with those already in the alternative education space. (e.g. Y Combinator, Thiel Fellowship)
  3. Start a high school program. (e.g. Start with one 9th grade class and take them year by year through a new program).
  4. Admit 100 students worldwide into an exclusive new online program to test this idea
  5. Start with a high-priced private school type format, hire great talent (many different teachers coming in on a part-time basis). Raise investment money and/or tuition money. Present a great product that grows itself and spreads by word of mouth. Expect slow, organic growth. Envision a long-term plan to make these systems accessible to a wider audience. Set up an online course, highly accessible version of the high-priced exclusive, high-tuition, program.
  6. Bootstrap by starting with a summer program. (e.g. A 6 week course on life skills to hone a new type of curriculum. This has a low barrier to entry and could start with $10 in fliers put up at the local YMCA
  7. Improvise, inspired by the episode and come up with your own avenues of getting started  
  8. Start by interviewing homeschooling parents about their dissatisfaction with the education system and what they might recommend for curriculum.
Follow through on these action steps and email us your results at update@runwithit.fm. You'll get exclusive access to a private Facebook group of action takers and one listener will earn a free mentorship call with our guest, and potentially, a business partnership.  

Links:   


Zack Fleishman began his illustrious career as a professional tennis player, earning the rank of number one in the United States in the 18 and under division. After his tennis career ended due to injury, he used the skills he developed to launch multiple businesses. His current business is Shark Wheel where he serves as Chief Operating Officer. Shark Wheel literally reinvented the wheel, creating a wheel with better maneuverability over rough terrain. They have appeared on multiple TV shows including the 2015 season finale of Shark Tank.


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Run With It by Chris Justin and Eathan Janney is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.