Growing up
When I was younger, my older brother and I would always be outside trying to build the most amazing tree fort, or in our barn trying to make a gadget or improve a toy. I’d like to think that this is where a lot of my love for creation (and the outdoors) began. This desire for creation carried me on to learn about how things work in the world of business, and how I could get my product or service into the mix. This is the direction my life and education has moved towards ever since.
Education
Having experienced three drastically different structures when it came to education, I was gifted some very unique perspectives. Throughout the years or each program, whether it was Home-school, Charter school, or Public school I noticed a reoccurring trend. Almost every time I was receiving a “valuable piece of knowledge”, it was just the next part to get me closer to completing the standard for a good student. Not the standard for a profitable, happy, or successful student. Just someone who was able to memorize pages and regurgitate information. Throughout my education, I was always seeking how I could pass the standard but focus more time and energy on what I found valuable. The passions I had/have were/are always going to be infinitely better than fitting into some generic standard. So how do I profit from my passions? Near the end of my sophomore year in high-school, I began setting the foundation for my own business. I had a passion for airsoft and saw it as an untapped market here in my home state of Michigan, so I created Nest of Vipers Airsoft (N.O.V.A. for short), a hand-picked team to host events for local players of all varieties and promote the hobby wherever we went. We’ve ran games for about three years now and the experiences have been great. Unfortunately, we cannot sustain our own growth rate. Now it’s up to me to discover new methods of communication, networking, sales, and organization in order to build an increasingly more successful business. I thought about going to a college, but all those institutions just did not blaze the path I wanted to travel down…
Now
My sister sent me a link to praxis once she heard me talking about possibly attending college, and from there I started reading lots of the FAQ’s and blogs, I could not believe something like this existed. Praxis seemed to be the step I wanted to take but could not find, it has all the potential to fulfill my goals for my personal life, my business, and even develop new interests. I needed the Praxis platform to learn new skills while implementing them in real time within the program modules and my personal business. My self-starter mentality and need for creation are what finally drove me to apply for Praxis; a resource that helps to rebuild people into better versions of themselves and truly pushes them to achieve their goals in the business world. As I participate in this program, I will produce content that creates value for companies through personal development projects. These projects include marketing campaigns, videos, and blog posts. I plan to turn what I learn into a flourishing business one day.
