Issue 15: The Dropout's Playbook

Greetings, money hackers!

What if I told you America's greatest genius built his legacy on a felony—and that crime is exactly why your college degree might be worthless?

The Story

In 1723, America's greatest inventor committed a felony. Thank God he did.

At 17, Benjamin Franklin stuffed his pockets with three pennies and ran away from his apprenticeship. Back then, that wasn't just dropping out - it was straight-up illegal. The kind of crime that could land you in prison.

By all normal standards, Ben was done. No education. No money. No future.

But Franklin wasn't normal.

Instead of accepting his dropout status, he turned the entire world into his personal classroom.

His journal became his textbook. Not some "dear diary" nonsense - this was raw documentation of what worked, what failed, and what nearly killed him.

The lightning rod. Bifocals. The Franklin stove. Mapping ocean currents. All from a "criminal" who never saw the inside of a college classroom.

"Tell me and I forget," he wrote, "teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn."

Today, universities are still charging us $200,000 to memorize things we could Google in 2 seconds. Meanwhile, I've spotted three ways to profit from Franklin's 'learn by doing' blueprint…

How To Profit

• The Global Classroom Arbitrage 🌎

Connect ambitious students with successful business owners worldwide. Instead of studying business in classrooms, learn it by working directly with entrepreneurs in Milan, Singapore, New York, or Barcelona.

1. Build a platform matching students' skills with businesses' needs

2. Partner with local businesses that need talented helpers

3. Create structured "apprenticeship experiences" that combine work and learning

Example: Connect students with Bali villa developers. Students get free accommodation and real business experience, owners get social media and marketing help, you take a cut from both sides. Simple arbitrage, zero overhead.

Pro tip: Focus on industries where portfolios matter more than degrees - fashion, tech, media. These businesses care about talent, not transcripts.

• DIY Degree Academy 📚

Who needs college when everything worth learning is free on YouTube? I'm talking real entrepreneurs sharing their playbooks, developers teaching how they built Spotify, investors breaking down actual deals. Package the curriculum for people who want the knowledge without the college BS all using free content on the internet. Charge a membership that is vastly less than you would pay for college.

1. Pick a high-value degree path (computer science, business, etc.) and find all the best free lectures

2. Turn random videos into a structured curriculum with clear milestones

3. Add weekly accountability calls and project deadlines so people don't quit

Example: Build a "Self-Made MBA" program combining Y Combinator lectures, Harvard case studies, and real business projects. Slap some cool marketing on it and print money.

Pro tip: Don't try to create content. The value is in the roadmap, not the resources.

• Gap Year as a Service 🎒

Turn real-world experiences into a structured learning program. Each city becomes a classroom, each project becomes a credit, everything gets tracked and validated.

1. Create location-based challenges that teach practical skills

2. Build an app that tracks and validates completed challenges

3. Partner with colleges to offer "experience credits"

Example: Send students in Thailand with a "First $1k Challenge" - must start and profit from a small business in 50 days.

Pro tip: Partner with hostels and coworking spaces in each location. They'll promote your program in exchange for bringing them long-term guests

The Ace Segment

Speaking of alternative education, here's how our boy Ace Victoria made bank during the 1918 Spanish Flu.

When schools shut their doors, Ace noticed rich parents panicking about their kids falling behind. But instead of trying to teach through windows, he did something clever.

He hired out-of-work experts to teach kids real skills in their backyards. A watchmaker taught engineering by having kids build clocks. A chef taught chemistry through cooking experiments. A trader taught economics by having kids run their baseball card arbitrage schemes.

Called it "The Emergency Academy."

"A crisis," he wrote in his newsletter, "is just an opportunity to learn something useful."

By the time schools reopened, parents were begging him to continue. Turns out kids learned more in three months of doing than three years of listening.

Until next time,

Alex

Founder //LZY MNY CLB