Four years ago I applied to a promising college alternative and career prep program called Discover Praxis praying that I would get accepted. The program boasted a 15% acceptance rate, lower than many colleges, an invaluable network of startup entrepreneurs, and a guaranteed job at the end of the program.
Like every sensible person, I had doubts that Praxis could guarantee me a job – it sounded too good to be true. But I was hungry for success and at that time I had just completed my second year of college at Valencia College and could no longer handle the stress on my mental health which later crippled my physical health so I decided to take a break and hopefully go back to school when I felt better.
My first plan was to take a gap year and work various jobs to discover what I like and what I’m good at. I traveled all over the country to attend economic and political conferences which exponentially grew my network, and I made friends with principled and scholarly people who practiced what they preached. I still keep in touch with them today and in fact this new network would be instrumental in helping me launch my career.
Before I took my gap year, I was already attending Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) seminars on the suggestion (an incentive, actually, to bump my final grade up one letter) of my economics professor, Jack Chambless. He also played a very important role in my success, in fact I wouldn’t have known about the ideas of liberty or FEE if it weren’t for him. Professor Chambless was the beginning of everything for me.
After I signed up for a FEE seminar, I browsed through their content and came across a video of Praxis’ founder, Isaac Morehouse, and I noticed the Praxis logo on his shirt and decided to do some digging to see if they lived up to their promises. I made some friends through my economics network who joined the program and all of them said Praxis was not a scam and gave everything they promised. I figured there was no risk in applying since there weren’t any application fees, so in December 2016 I applied and waited.
A week later I had two interviews with their advisors and it was set up very much like a regular job interview. In January 2017, I received an email but unfortunately I was rejected. I was understandably disappointed but the great thing about Praxis advisors is that they always provide constructive feedback on what they would’ve liked to see from me and gave pointers on increasing my chances of acceptance into the program.
Why I dropped out
Fast forward to May 2018, I reapplied and after nearly a month long interview process, I got accepted. It was a huge relief for me and I was ecstatic to be a part of a growing community of successful college opt-outs. During this year, I finally decided I wasn’t going to return to college but do Praxis instead. I arrived at this decision because I absolutely refused to go into debt and honestly I was miserable trying to trudge through classes completely unrelated to my major. Originally, I was going for IT but then changed majors to Business Management and Administration because I failed physics and all my programming classes.
I dropped out for other reasons too. College was artificially expensive and didn’t teach you real applicable skills and I went in thinking it would train me for my future career. Additionally, the academic environment was increasingly hostile to different political and economic beliefs to the point where I had to be concerned about my safety if I voiced an opinion that went against mainstream academia.
I’m not anti-college at all but I was going for the wrong reasons because I thought I’d gain more knowledge about business than actually learning from a business owner. Credentials can only get you so far since it doesn’t make you stand out from the crowd anymore. Degrees are only useful if you’re planning to stay in academia or you’re going for medicine or STEM.
This is where Praxis steps in and fulfills the unmet needs of lost dropouts like me, and as their name suggests, they put theory into action. The program is set up into two parts – the six month bootcamp and another six month apprenticeship with your employer.
What does Praxis teach?
One of the main lessons Praxis teaches is how apply for jobs in creative ways that will make their students stand out from the crowd. The program is centered mainly around job and career preparation.
The bootcamp half of the program starts off with creating professional profiles like LinkedIn, then creating my own website to showcase projects and my progress of my professional growth, and choosing which business skills I’d like to learn and eventually turn into a job (marketing, sales, operations, customer success, and/or something technical like programming or graphic design).
Another focus during the bootcamp was how to create value propositions for employers, which replaced boring and lifeless resumes with a more engaging video of the prospective employee.
Value propositions are short videos, ideally three minutes or less (even better if it’s a minute), showcasing a prospective employee’s skills that they bring to the table and how they’re a fit for the company by demonstrating proof of skills or qualities that employers are looking for. You can view the value propositions I sent to employers in this spreadsheet of all the jobs I applied to and interviews I’ve landed.
What truly made me successful was this one principle Praxis taught called “forward tilt.”
In short, it’s about demonstrating proof of your eagerness for something; whether that be a job you’re pursuing, apologizing for mistakes, or any other area in your life. It’s easy for a job candidate to say, “I know how to code in Java,” or “I take the initiative and I’m a problem-solver” but without proof it significantly reduces the chances of landing an interview because hiring managers don’t see examples of projects showing that.
I highly recommend this post from Praxis explaining forward tilt.
Over the span of two years in the program, here are some things I learned and accomplished:
- Created a polished LinkedIn
- Created my own WordPress website
- How to take professional headshots
- Email etiquette – how and when to use BCC, CC, and different types of emails
- Created at least three tailored value propositions every week for companies I wanted to work at – I ended up creating 63 pitches in total
- Created a Crash profile in lieu of resumes and cover letters
- Improved my writing skills and got published to FEE
- Blogged for 30 consecutive days
- Learned unconventional ways to reach out to hiring managers and land interviews
- Created a portfolio project by learning a new skill, for me it was Adobe InDesign, designed three t-shirts and sold them
- Basic philosophy and the different fallacies – this aided in communications skills
- Created Youtube videos to improve my public speaking skills
- Learned how to write a speech and how to deliver it
- Publicly spoke for the first time at a Mises Institute event
- Spoke on the radio
- Spoke again for the Mises Institute
- Showing up on time and time management – we had weekly advising sessions
- Weekly workshops with special guests
- How to keep my job hunting skills sharp
- Landed two jobs – the first with Zcash Foundation and the second with the Mises Institute
Praxis certainly delivered on all their promises and then some, at least in my case because I landed two jobs – both of which were operations (backend business/finance) related.
The first job I had, via Praxis, was with Zcash Foundation and they taught me hard skills like spreadsheets but more importantly it was a learning experience. I was thrilled to be working for them after going through an arduous job hunt for a year – I sent over 100 applications and landed about 30 interviews, I had the Praxis network to thank.
However, I was only there for about 3 months before being let go because I wasn’t the right fit for my boss, you can read that journey here. It was no doubt a learning experience that tested my resilience but it taught me what a healthy employer–employee relationship should look like (hint: it requires patience and no micromanaging).
Despite that setback, the skills I learned at Zcash Foundation helped me tremendously in my now current job with the Mises Institute as a market researcher and operations associate. I helped save one of Mises’ larger events from getting canceled by COVID-19 because of the spreadsheet skills learned at Zcash Foundation.
Working for Mises has been a dream come true and every single day I wake up grateful and blessed to have this job during this pandemic. You can read more of my apprenticeship with Mises over here.
What could Praxis improve on?
Before I go on, I do not want to seem as if I’m disparaging anyone or questioning their abilities not is it my intention to scare away any potential Praxis students. I simply wish to provide constructive feedback
There are a few things that could be improved on.
For one, the advisors are too young and many of them are giving professional guidance even though many don’t have years of experience as a coach of some sort. Several of my module/curriculum advisors were 19 or 20, and a few were 23 or older in their 40s. I understand these younger advisors received direct training from their much more experienced colleagues but honestly it’s a bit difficult to respect them as leaders when they’re younger than me and occasionally they came off as arrogant.
One example of this arrogance was the lack of discernment and insistence that I pursue an MLM job that was clearly a scam. For the record, I explained to one particular advisor in detail about why this “opportunity” was actually shady. If these 19-22 year old advisors were a little bit older they would have the discernment that comes with age and experience.
Maybe I’m biased because I come from a culture that values old age and looks towards the elderly for leadership and wisdom. My suggestion for Praxis is to hire older and experienced advisors who are at least in their mid twenties and teach how to look out for these scammers. Doing so could help save someone from getting their life and finances ruined.
Actually I’m not the only student that had run-ins with MLM scammers; several others had as well and I’ve seen how demoralized they got when they thought they finally landed a job only to get the rug pulled out from under them.
Another improvement that could be made is emphasizing on networking as a shortcut to getting hired. In my job hunt and talking to several older professionals, I found that who you know that matters above all else including hard skills and experience. Both of my jobs that I landed through Praxis were due to networking. My former boss worked with the founder of Praxis ten years ago and reached into their mutual network for a new hire. My current boss reached out to me via Facebook Messenger since we’ve been friends for three years and I met him at one of their conferences.
I think another fantastic addition to the Praxis curriculum would be tracks for each foundational business skill. These tracks would be marketing, sales, operations, and customer success taught by experts in those respective categories. During my job hunt I struggled to get hired and I think it was due to me not having hard skills like sales or marketing, and if I was taught any or all those business skills I’d be better prepared.
Perks of Praxis
$13,000.
I paid that amount for the program, divided up into monthly payments, and although it looks like a sticker shock it really pales in comparison to being in debt for $50,000 or a $100,000 degree. A degree that you might not even use.
The best perk of Praxis comes after successful completion of the program: full access to one-on-one office hours with all the advisors, workshops sessions, and curriculum for life. Yes you read that right. Full access to everything for life including professional advising sessions if I’m struggling at my current job.
I’ll let you compare Praxis with college and see which one truly cares about you after graduation.
What’s next?
I hope to stay with the Mises Institute for as long as possible because not only is it my dream job but I have such a wonderful boss and great coworkers. I have never felt more welcomed at any other employer other than Mises.
As for my future? Honestly I don’t know yet. I know I have a lot of potential and certainly don’t want it to go to waste. Lately, I’ve been looking into the aerospace industry and what it takes to become an astronaut or space suit technician. Space has been a passion of mine ever since I was ten years old and started learning about the solar system, and now I’ve reignited my passion after witnessing a SpaceX launch in-person for the first time.
Even if I do end up working in a space related job, I still would like to at least continue working part-time for Mises simply because they’re principled and genuine people. But wherever I end up, I know for certain I want to be in an industry that is building the future for humanity.