1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,900 Tell me your first and last name and your business. 2 00:00:04,900 --> 00:00:07,040 It's John Foster. 3 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:10,880 And my business is middle school MBA. 4 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:11,520 Got it. 5 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:11,960 Got it. 6 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:13,560 Tell me a little bit more about that. 7 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:14,440 I did read on it. 8 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:17,400 I didn't want to act as if I didn't read on it at all. 9 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,800 But tell me some more about that, please. 10 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:26,400 So we're a SaaS business, service as a software. 11 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:27,080 OK. 12 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:31,080 Or software as a service, I should say. 13 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:32,280 So we sell software. 14 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:36,680 But the cool thing is the content. 15 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:40,800 We teach business and economics to kids younger and faster 16 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:42,720 than anybody in the world. 17 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:50,480 And we've really achieved the promise of blended learning. 18 00:00:50,480 --> 00:00:53,960 Online education has a lot of problems. 19 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:55,800 Particularly, the way it's typically done 20 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:59,440 is you read a paragraph, and you answer some questions, 21 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:01,000 and you click that. 22 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:02,400 And that's awful. 23 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:05,440 Nobody likes that. 24 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:10,400 What we do, blended learning is supposed 25 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:16,000 to be a situation where you use internet resources combined 26 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:19,760 with a teacher who's there in the classroom. 27 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:24,080 And that often just doesn't come to pass. 28 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:25,960 It's either what I just described 29 00:01:25,960 --> 00:01:29,120 or it's queuing up a video and playing that. 30 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:31,000 Neither one of those is very good. 31 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:37,320 What we do is we bring the materials and the understanding 32 00:01:37,320 --> 00:01:38,000 to the teacher. 33 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:40,760 So we do a mind meld with the teacher. 34 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:47,040 And then the teacher delivers our stuff to the classroom. 35 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:48,720 We're actually in the teacher's head. 36 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:50,520 When we're writing curriculum, we 37 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:51,800 don't think about the students. 38 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:53,400 We think about the teacher. 39 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:55,680 And that's where we're going. 40 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:58,160 So we're able to drop into any classroom. 41 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:01,520 We don't need a subject matter expert. 42 00:02:01,520 --> 00:02:04,320 We're like an executive MBA for kids. 43 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:08,600 So we're teaching college level business and economics. 44 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:10,600 But we do it through their teacher. 45 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,160 So everybody's punching way above their weight. 46 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:15,280 And everybody loves it. 47 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:20,240 And it's just been a huge amount of fun for everybody. 48 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:24,440 OK, so because I'm trying to grasp it all together, 49 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:26,240 you sell the software. 50 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:28,800 And this is pretty much a teacher 51 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:33,320 who wants to be able to teach what you have. 52 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:36,440 And then that teacher purchases that software. 53 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:38,040 And through that software, they're 54 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:41,200 able to teach their class your curriculum. 55 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:43,680 Right, we give them a new superpower. 56 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:45,120 Nice. 57 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:47,360 I was wondering how that works. 58 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:50,600 So tell me about your vision and where it came from. 59 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:53,520 Where did this vision come from? 60 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:57,800 Well, I started many years ago, I guess 61 00:02:57,800 --> 00:02:59,120 even further back than that. 62 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:04,400 I graduated from school with an engineering degree and an MBA. 63 00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:06,640 And I went into the corporate world. 64 00:03:06,640 --> 00:03:10,880 And I built plants and managed plants, 65 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:15,280 and then ran businesses and did M&A and all that stuff. 66 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:18,760 But along the way, I volunteered with Junior Achievement. 67 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:25,240 So I was teaching business in classrooms as a volunteer. 68 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:28,520 And I just kept adding things to the curriculum. 69 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:30,800 Until one day, I just had my own program. 70 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:33,600 And I was teaching that in schools. 71 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:35,280 And everybody loved it. 72 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:37,320 And then one day, I was walking to class. 73 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,080 And I said to myself, why am I teaching 14 kids? 74 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:42,480 I should teach 14,000. 75 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:45,640 And that's when Middle School MBA was born. 76 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:46,920 Wow. 77 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:48,040 That's awesome. 78 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:50,880 How long has this program been? 79 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:54,320 We've been, as Middle School MBA commercially, 80 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:56,560 we've been doing about six years now. 81 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:57,060 OK. 82 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:02,840 Many years prior to that in development. 83 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:04,120 Right, right. 84 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:09,400 And how many teachers or schools are you currently in at this moment? 85 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:13,680 We serve between 1,000 and 2,000 kids a year now. 86 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:16,920 We haven't gotten to the 14,000 mark yet, but that's coming. 87 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:21,640 We've got some very big customers in the pipeline. 88 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:25,640 So I expect to get there in the next one to two years. 89 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:26,140 OK. 90 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:30,960 That's very different. 91 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:32,720 That is very different. 92 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:35,880 I tell you, as I was reading your information, 93 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:40,560 I was thinking about how now high schools have the dual credit, right? 94 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:44,360 And that credit is to be able to have your associates by then. 95 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:49,880 What's the biggest difference from this? 96 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:53,560 I did see that it was from the age of 11 on up. 97 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:54,480 Is that correct? 98 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:55,280 Correct. 99 00:04:55,280 --> 00:04:56,160 OK. 100 00:04:56,160 --> 00:05:03,760 So what's the difference between a teacher being able to provide this, 101 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:08,360 or the difference of them actually utilizing the dual credit? 102 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:17,440 Well, so we're not so much in the business of awarding degrees 103 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:25,640 as it is as equipping kids with life skills that they'll use forever. 104 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:27,560 Got it. 105 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:32,080 We were predominantly in middle schools, 106 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:33,880 but it's not too young for high schools. 107 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:36,440 We do have high schools that are using it. 108 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:44,720 But our goal is not to be a me too. 109 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:49,440 OK, we're going to award you this credential that 110 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:51,200 is already sitting out there. 111 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:57,000 We're bringing something entirely new that basically isn't even credentialed yet. 112 00:05:57,000 --> 00:06:01,520 I mean, you can get AP economics credit for college, 113 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:03,000 and that sort of thing. 114 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:12,320 But there's really not an executive MBA kind of curriculum like we have. 115 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:17,480 We integrate business, economics, and entrepreneurship. 116 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:22,680 And we have both the practicalities of business stuff, 117 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:26,600 negotiating, making a P&L, et cetera. 118 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:29,320 And we have the theoretical stuff of economics, 119 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:34,360 the subjective theory of value, supply and demand, that sort of thing. 120 00:06:34,360 --> 00:06:40,920 So by integrating them, it makes them all relevant and useful 121 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:43,720 and just part of a kid's tool set. 122 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:47,640 They start adopting business lingo into their own speech 123 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:55,120 and thinking in terms of a principal recently told me 124 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:59,040 that she overheard two sixth grade girls in the lunch line. 125 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:02,440 And one says to the other, how much you think the profit margin 126 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:04,040 is on those neutral-grade bars? 127 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:10,840 We're in their heads like 24-7. 128 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:13,440 That makes a lot of sense. 129 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:18,440 They definitely have a child thinking on a different level, 130 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:20,280 a completely different level. 131 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:22,680 Yes. 132 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:28,000 Teachers tell us that they become more serious about all their classwork 133 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:31,200 because they develop this vision for the future. 134 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:33,160 This is where I'm trying to go, and here's 135 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:34,640 the things that I need to get there. 136 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:38,600 So it's a different mindset. 137 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:39,600 Absolutely. 138 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:40,360 Absolutely. 139 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:44,520 Interesting enough is myself and some family. 140 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:47,040 I just came from a family reunion, and we 141 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:51,360 were talking about the younger adults taking over 142 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:53,120 for the older adults. 143 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:54,200 Absolutely. 144 00:07:54,200 --> 00:08:00,040 They are so scared of us, and I can't say I'm on the younger side, 145 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:02,520 but I'm younger than the elders. 146 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:05,560 And we were just talking about technology 147 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:07,080 and how different that is. 148 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:10,400 And so we're utilizing other areas to figure out 149 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:12,600 how to fund the family reunion. 150 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:15,480 I tell you, John, they were blown away. 151 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:18,400 But yet I think that they probably 152 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:22,320 didn't trust us a little bit more because we 153 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:24,640 have a business mindset. 154 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:26,760 And so at the end of the family reunion, 155 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:31,600 they said, don't forget about why we're here with the family. 156 00:08:31,600 --> 00:08:34,800 And it's interesting you said that you're probably even 157 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:36,960 in my head, and I don't even have your program. 158 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:43,240 But it's the thought process of they're asking for donations, 159 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:45,280 and we're like, we'll do a GoFundMe. 160 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:48,000 We'll sell popcorn across the states 161 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:49,520 and things of that nature. 162 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:52,480 So when you told me the little girl said the profit 163 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:57,200 margin on the neutral bars, absolutely. 164 00:08:57,200 --> 00:08:59,320 It's definitely a different mindset. 165 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:02,080 But I wonder, is it even just a little scarier 166 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:06,200 to know that we're going into the thoughts of, do you think? 167 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:08,000 So this leads me to a question. 168 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:11,440 Do you think that there's a challenge 169 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:14,600 between finding relationships and having this business 170 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:19,960 knowledge, if that makes any sense? 171 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:21,800 Say that again? 172 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:23,960 Between? 173 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:26,640 Creating relationships with people, right? 174 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:28,800 And then having that business mindset. 175 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:30,240 Because as I was saying. 176 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:31,920 No, not at all. 177 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:33,560 Absolutely no. 178 00:09:33,560 --> 00:09:36,280 That's a great question, but there's no conflict at all. 179 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:39,440 In fact, all of business and economics 180 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:43,360 is about interactions between people. 181 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:48,640 And that's one of the reasons that we build our course 182 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:50,440 the way we do with a lot of activities, 183 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:53,160 where kids are doing things together, 184 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:55,040 they're negotiating against each other, 185 00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:58,200 they're building parks, they're pitching companies, 186 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:05,160 is to create those interactions so that they can feel that. 187 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:09,400 The way we discover prices is through negotiations. 188 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:11,080 Many different kinds of negotiations. 189 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:14,640 But it's always a negotiation to, nobody knows in advance 190 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:15,960 what a price is, right? 191 00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:18,440 We have to discover that every day. 192 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:22,040 And so it's not just some sterile number that 193 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:23,320 sits out there by itself. 194 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:30,080 This is the outcome of interactions between people. 195 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:32,000 And so we create those interactions 196 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:33,560 so that they feel that. 197 00:10:33,560 --> 00:10:38,240 And then they see that a price is not just some number that 198 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:39,280 fell out of the sky. 199 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:41,480 It's kind of flexible. 200 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:43,880 And you discovered it between two people. 201 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:46,360 And there's a lot of things around it. 202 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:50,520 So once they've experienced that and felt that 203 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:52,960 and had to tell somebody else, I'm 204 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:56,640 sorry, that's not good enough, that's what they think. 205 00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:59,760 Then we explain, here's how that happens. 206 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:02,520 And here's how those laws of supply and demand 207 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:06,000 work in the larger market to find prices. 208 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:09,920 But everything is about, if there weren't people, 209 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:12,240 there would be no reason to have an economy. 210 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:14,840 There would be no reason to do business. 211 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:18,160 Business is about serving other people. 212 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:22,960 And profits are the result of having done that well. 213 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:24,560 Profits are a badge of honor. 214 00:11:24,560 --> 00:11:27,960 It means you've served somebody else better 215 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:29,680 than anybody else could. 216 00:11:29,680 --> 00:11:32,920 Because if somebody else could do it better, they would have. 217 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:35,520 The customer would have chosen those people. 218 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:37,960 So you brought something to that customer 219 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:40,680 that they couldn't get anywhere else, at least not 220 00:11:40,680 --> 00:11:42,480 for as good a value. 221 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:44,920 And that's actually something to be proud of. 222 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:47,080 And that's reflected in your profits. 223 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:50,560 And if you don't make profit, if you have losses, 224 00:11:50,560 --> 00:11:54,240 that means that you've wasted society's resources. 225 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:57,480 And if you continue to make losses, 226 00:11:57,480 --> 00:11:59,400 you're going to be pushed out of business. 227 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:01,200 And your employees and your assets 228 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:03,440 are going to be used by somebody else who 229 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:05,400 can do a better job with them. 230 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:08,920 So it's all about people and relationships. 231 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:09,800 It's all about that. 232 00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:13,520 There's no conflict at all. 233 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:15,320 That is an amazing answer. 234 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:18,160 Because we tend to think that technology 235 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:20,520 is going to take over everything, or businesses. 236 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:22,360 And we'll move aside. 237 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:27,040 And that relationship will be damned between the two people. 238 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:30,680 But people definitely have to know that we're still here. 239 00:12:30,680 --> 00:12:34,440 Like you said, there's no business without relationships. 240 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:36,440 And there's no relationships without people. 241 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:37,800 Thank you for being here today. 242 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:40,280 I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live. 243 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:42,920 I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions 244 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:45,160 as these episodes continue to move forward. 245 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:46,880 This is going to get more and more fun. 246 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:48,800 We'll have more and more engagement as well. 247 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:50,840 We'll invite people to participate in the show. 248 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:53,200 And thank you for giving us your time and attention. 249 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:55,920 Have an excellent time building out your vision 250 00:12:55,920 --> 00:13:04,760 and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.