 You guys asked for it, I went out and found it. You wanted me to get somebody on the channel who went through an apprenticeship program. And that is exactly what I did. I went out, I researched a bunch of apprenticeship programs, I chose one that I thought was really good, and I found somebody who went through the program. So Leah just graduated from high school and she did not want to go to college. She didn't want to take four to five years to get a degree, she didn't want to rack up a bunch of debt in order to start a career. So she started looking for alternatives and she stumbled upon an apprenticeship program called Discover Praxis. Now, Leah didn't have a clue what she wanted to do with her life. She had no idea what career path she wanted to go down. And the cool thing about Discover Praxis is they will actually help you choose a career path. So this is Leah's story of going from an 18 year old that had no idea what she wanted to do with her life to a 19 year old who was making over $55,000 a year and was very happy with her career. I think you're really gonna love this one. This is yet another alternative to college. So if you appreciate me going out, doing all this work to find these people for you, go ahead, show me by gently tapping that like button. Let's try to get this one to 300 likes and also hit that subscribe button and ring the notification bell so that you don't miss out on content in the future. So let's jump into this one right now. Welcome back to the channel. Today I got Leah to come on the channel. She attended Praxis, which is an apprenticeship. So this is something I asked all of you. You wanted me to find some people who went to apprenticeships. So I went out there, I found some people and I got Leah to come on the channel. So thank you so much for coming on and talking about your experience. Of course, I'm so excited to share about it. Awesome, all right. So just like all my videos, let's go ahead and start at the beginning. So you probably graduated from high school, you're a young adult and you're thinking, what am I gonna do with my life? How am I gonna get a job? You're maybe looking at college, you're maybe looking at some other options and you stumbled upon Praxis. So kind of tell me that story of how that whole situation happened. Yeah, totally. So I've been homeschooled my entire life along with my three other siblings. And I kind of like, you know, got toward maybe like, you kind of, you know, in high school, you're just kind of not sure about your future. And then it all sets in in junior year. You're like, make sure it's gonna be my last year and I'm gonna have to figure out what in the world I'm gonna be doing. And so I have, since I was homeschooled, I've kind of been like, I've kind of known about alternatives and kind of knew that college, which wasn't gonna be my thing. I've never actually like, you know, gone to classes. And so I didn't really feel like that was something I was gonna thrive in. And my mom has always been so good about looking for alternatives for me or just really wanting me to have the best experience in my education as possible and help me feel equipped to launch into my career. And so she's always like looked at, she's followed blogs and stuff and she's stumbled along practice and just casually showed it to me. She's like, I think this would really be your thing. And, you know, me being unknown of what, having no idea on what I wanted to do, I was like, okay, sure, I'll look into it. And so I looked into it and it seemed exactly what I wanted to do because I want, I knew I just wanted real experience and like, and I just kind of wanted to launch into it. I didn't really want to like take extra school. Like I just graduated from school. Why do I want to go to some more school? And I really just want that hands-on experience because I feel like that experience and knowledge is so enabling. I just wanted to feel, I just wanted that confidence. I wanted that confidence. And so I was interested in, so we called in and I just instantly was hooked with the way that they like kind of, they asked me where I was and like really tried to get to know me and make sure, they really make sure that practice is the right choice for you. Like if they think that maybe you'd be better off at college, they're not pushing it. Like if they told, it's totally up to you and they do a great job at that. So I fell in love with the whole idea of the program and then signed up and I started in January of 2021. And so I graduated at the end of December, 2021. This is a year long program. So you attended practice. Now I know that practice has kind of like two different distinct phases. They've got the first six months and then the second six months. So can you kind of talk about the first six months of attending practice and what that was like and how that was? Yeah, totally. So the first six months are kind of your preparation. So there's the first three months which is what they call boot camp. And so this is your like, it's literally a boot camp. You, I would not say it is for the like light of heart you got to be hardcore in order to go through this boot camp because they put you through the ringer. I would not say it's hard, I've been pushed to tears but they put you through because they know that once you know, like once you've been through the hard stuff, once you come out, you're gonna come out a stronger person and you're gonna be so confident. I came out of boot camp feeling like I could do pretty much anything because they cover and they give you so much knowledge. They cover all the topics. Like the first month, they each week you go over a element of like the foundational elements of a business. So customer service, marketing, sales and operations. So those are like the main structures. Maybe what you're going, you wanna go into is kind of like a little different than that or like I know people who've wanted to go into digital marketing or like a little different than maybe just marketing or something like that. And, but it's the foundations of every business. And so you learn and kind of get to dip your toe into like feel the temperature of the water and see how you feel in it. And from that, I figured out that operations was something that I really enjoyed. I love being behind the scenes. And so, and I wouldn't have known that if I didn't go through that program in the way that they set it up. And then in the second month, they do a lot of writing exercises because it really helps like dissect your thoughts if you put it into writing. They have so many like they teach you how to write blog posts and get you kind of in the flow of that. And they teach you about copywriting and all these other things. And do you also have like two week-long projects that you do kind of maybe based on something that you found interesting in the first month. And then the third month, the whole month is dedicated to one big project to add to your resume. So what I did for my month-long project in the third month was I had been working for my aunt in her quilt shop. And so what I did was made a digital brain for them. And so like somewhere where they could keep all their passwords and some, you know cause so it's not all in my aunt's brain. And so that was something that I did for my month-long project. And you do documentation every single week about your project. And this is just a huge thing to add to your resume to kind of show off when you go through the, you know job hunt process is like, hey, this is a project I did. There's so much freedom in the projects you do. They don't have like, they give you a general like, oh, you know, you could do one of these three things but if you want to do something different that's just still along the lines of say marketing then you can totally do that. They'll totally support you in that. So there's lots of freedom in what you want to do. You can totally align it with if you have an idea of what you want to do or if you're just like, well, maybe I'm into sales. Like you can, they have to give you a lot of room to take your project where you want. So that's a bootcamp. And those are hard packed months where you really learn how to time manage and how to organize really your life, honestly. And they do such a good job at like really walking you through the best way to use Google Calendar or, you know, things like that. And they just do a great job with that. And so then after that you're put into placement and this is when you spend like the first week or two weeks depending on how much time you put into your projects. You make a value proposition for a company, for one company and you send it to them which is like pretty much saying like, hey, I noticed that you don't have a chat bot on your website. Here's a chat bot that I built and here's how I could help you improve your company. So that you make a value proposition and send it to them to a company that you find interesting. They are connected with a ton of different companies or if there's a company like local that you would like to send it to maybe you'd like to work for, you can send it to them. And then you also make a pitch video. And so once they've like helped you make those first two things, because those are foundations of what you're gonna use in the rest of your like placement process, placement, finding a job. Once those are two things that you're gonna figure out and then they pretty much just set you on your own. You are reaching out to companies, companies that work kind of like our partners with Praxis will reach out to you, ask for interviews and you like Praxis supports you through all of this. Just kind of if you have questions or you're like, hey, I keep saying in this interview like what are ways that I can stop doing that? And so they do all these kinds of things and to help you out. And then once you actually like find your apprenticeship or get an offer, then you go into the last six months of the program, which is job support, which is super relaxed compared to the rest of the program. They really are just there to support you in your job because you actually have a full-time job. You don't really have time to do all these projects and stuff anymore. So they are just really just backing you up and asking if you have any questions or need any help with anything. And you have access to those connections for the rest of your life. You're always part of the program after you join. So yeah, that's kind of my walkthrough. Got it, well, that does sound really awesome and I can tell that you're very passionate about it for sure. I just wanted to clarify something really quickly so and tell me if I'm wrong. So the first six months are essentially teaching you some foundational skills and then helping you figure out what career path you wanna pursue for your first entry-level job. And then the second six months, you're actually working in a job basically like an apprenticeship and you're getting paid. Is that correct? Yes, that is correct. Yes, the first six months you're just, it's pretty much the education part and they're starting to launch you into your career and then the last six months are just them supporting you and helping you through a paid internship. This is not some kind of like, they literally say that if you get their average salary, I started out in a half-time and a part-time position. So I didn't get paid as much as they say like this is our average payment you come out with. But most of the time, by the time you end the program you've earned back what you put into the program to start with. That's a pretty cool concept right there. You're basically, so at the end of the day you might've ended up with like zero cost to the program essentially. And you learned all these skills, you got work experience, you got an apprenticeship, you figured out what you wanna do with your life so you're not having an existential crisis every five minutes like a lot of people in college do. So that, yeah, that sounds like a pretty good deal to me. And I've heard nothing but good things about practice everywhere I've looked. So that's pretty awesome. Can we maybe talk about the first job which you've just got into a few months ago that you got after you graduated from, I guess graduated the right word from practice or the apprenticeship? So pretty much what happened is during the placement process it can take however long it takes you to actually find a job or get an interview and offer. And I was one of those people that it kind of took a while. I had like 12 different interviews before I actually got a job offer. But I like don't regret that experience at all because I got pretty good at interviewing and I always tried to find value in each interview that I had. And I just knew that a job, the job that was right for me would open up and that I only have so much control over everything and so I can just do my best in everything. And after those 12 interviews I got a offer for part-time with the company that I work for now. So during that apprenticeship time I did not have to pick part-time. They were just like, hey, if you want to go for this role, you totally can. But there are other full-time roles that you could go into. And I was super excited about the company's mission. And so I was like, I feel like, and I'm in a financial position where I wanna take on this part-time role. And so I went on with the company and pretty much before I even graduated the program they offered me full-time and to be an official employee. So the company that I work for now is, we're called Kadoo, where a pretty fresh and new startup all about fitness motivation. And so going from that to a like real, like this is a real job, like I'm sitting at a desk and actually like taking part in helping a company flourish was a big step for me. And we're a pretty small company. I think we're at now, we only have like eight employees. And going from that to suddenly becoming one of the most like integral parts of the company was just a huge jump for me, right? Like I went from like no experience in customer service to being our main customer service rep and changing people's minds when they experience a bug and they wanna delete the app. Well, I support them and it helped change their mind and it's a super cool thing. It's been a really, really cool experience. I think I got my full-time offer in December. And so I've been working for them officially like as a full-time employee for about like six months now almost. Got it. Just to kind of the timeline, you said it took a little bit of time for you to get an offer like longer than typical. How long was that time after you finished the program to where you got the offer? I think it was two, three weeks beyond that is when I was actually in formal placement and then I got my job. So I got so many interviews even in just the like pre-placement when I was like getting ready just because I was getting interviews and trying to reach out to people at the same time. So like they really launched you into it but it took me longer just in the pre-placement part. Okay, so it really only took you like a month and a half or so to get a job, right? Oh yeah, that's not bad at all. Yes, not bad in the idea of actually like finding a job. More of like it took me longer to get through the like actually sending in a pitch, you know, like the things they want you to like hurry up and get done like first thing so that you have that experience and you're like, okay, I've done, I've made a pitch before I can make a pitch for this company that I'm interested in. They like you're supposed to have that done right away. It took me a lot longer but I was also getting like interviews all the time. So in the grand scheme, like they're really flexible and they really helped me get on my feet during that whole time. And really nothing was wrong with it. I don't have any regrets but in like how the program generally goes along I probably should have been in that process a little quicker and I could have been doing interviews a lot faster. So I guess technically it did not take me that long to get a job in the grand scheme of things but how the program is structured. I was a little slow. Gotcha. And then I actually, I can't believe I didn't ask this already but was the whole program just online or were there any like in-person parts of the program? Yes, it is completely remote. We've had people like from India and like there's people all over the world who've joined the program as I have someone in my cohort who's from India, I believe. And like I'm sure he had to wake up really early to join our late at night meetings and stuff but I believe he did really well and he got his job and everything. So there's people all over the world but we do have meetups like once a year but they're more socially structured. They're not like required or part of the program or anything. If you just wanna meet people in real life that you've seen over Zoom for the past year and a half or whatever, then you get to go see them in person. We just recently had one of those in May and it was really cool. It was really cool. Everything is remote. So you don't have to worry about where you live or traveling. Got it, got it. And then I did wanna ask about the sort of the money. I wanna talk about the money a little bit here. So basically you can share whatever you're comfortable with but I kinda wanna, basically what people are gonna wanna know is how much did you get paid during the apprenticeship and then how much did you get paid for your first entry level job after the apprenticeship or just generally speaking for that type of role maybe you could just give a ballpark estimate of how much you would expect to get paid if you're not comfortable saying the specific numbers. Totally. So one thing I also wanna say is with the program start out it is $12,000 to join Praxis. They have like different payment plans if you wanna spread out the payments or if you just wanna pay in full they are great with helping you do that. And so that helped really helped me feel like it was achievable to join the program. Then beyond that, the average I believe is about 5,000 a month depending on like obviously it can change and since I got a part-time position I got like half that when I first started before I became a full-time employee. Right now what I make per year in my full-time like the job that I got from Praxis is 55K per year. So almost like $19 and 10 cents per hour or something like that. So if I work like eight hours a day which since I work remotely I could be flexible with those hours and how things work and I believe I got, I have like the average. Like what you come out of Praxis with is generally a 55K job a year from all the people that have come out that's been their average, so yeah. Got it, that's definitely not bad especially if you join like right after high school you're 19 years old you're already making $55,000 a year no student loan debt. If you start out with a full-time position that gets the average per year salary that you come out with Praxis you end out with no debts like you'll get paid back what you put into the program and it is so much better than college where you put in all this money and all this time and then they just send you out like, okay go find a job and good luck paying off your loans with Praxis they literally help you find a job and support you in that job and they want you to pay like they want you to graduate Praxis with like clean slate ready to fricking go and like tackle your career with nothing holding you back and it is an experience that you really cannot find anywhere else I believe. I believe they actually have a 100% guarantee like if they're not able to get you a job then like they just give you all of your money back so they literally have like a 100% placement rate for jobs. Oh yeah, oh absolutely they will support you like when I had trouble in my like pre-placement time like after a while like the lady who was in charge of my cohort at the time she like scheduled a call with me and she's like, okay let's walk through like with your busy schedule and what everything's going on how can we structure this in a way that will help you like move faster and get through it and be able to solely focus on get on like interviews and getting a job and like totally walk me through that process they really care they really care about you being successful. All right, so do you have any just general advice for people who are possibly thinking about doing an internship or an apprenticeship or specifically practice? I recommend getting experience and whatever and all different areas like while you're in high school like get little jobs and figure out like get experience so that you'll be more confident once you like get into the time where you are gonna find a career but I really recommend practice for anybody who is not sure like if you aren't sure about what you want to do like you're coming out of practice with a job maybe even if you don't like your job practice will help you find a different one but they are so supportive and how they do things and so if you're looking for just a jumping pad to get after something even if you don't know what that is you'll spend your four years to get this degree and then you're in like an office job doing entry level work that and you realize you don't even enjoy it. Awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much for sharing your experience with practice. Thanks for coming on the channel. I really appreciate it and do you have any final words or anything like that for anybody? All if you do end up joining practice I'm on Slack so reach out to me and let me know if you found out from watching this I would love to speak with you. Awesome, awesome. And then you mentioned your company, right? Cadu, right? Cadu, yes. Cadu, okay. Fitness Motivational Lab, so if you're into that. I'll have that pop up on the screen at some point, so. All right, thank you so much for coming on the channel. Have a good one. Yeah, absolutely, thank you so much.