In this episode of The Tactical Empire, host Jeff Smith and Shawn Rider discuss the evolving nature of education and the waning importance of traditional college degrees. They predict a future where private mentorships and targeted skill acquisition replace the four-year college model. They emphasize the growing need for financial literacy, interpersonal skills, and adaptability to AI advancements. Both Jeff and Sean share their personal experiences and strategies for teaching these skills to their children, ultimately advocating for a more dynamic and practical approach to education in response to the rapidly changing world.
In this episode of The Tactical Empire, host Jeff Smith and Shawn Rider explore how personal development, education, and skill-building are evolving in the context of technological advancements and changing societal expectations. They discuss the diminishing value of traditional college education, the rise of privatized and focused learning, the importance of financial literacy, and the vital role of personal skills like customer service and interpersonal communication. The conversation also highlights the potential impacts of AI and technology in shaping the future landscape of education and professional development.
00:00 Introduction to The Tactical Empire
00:29 Meet Sean Ryder
01:38 Debating the Value of a College Degree
02:57 Future of Education and Skills
04:02 AI and Its Role in Education
05:22 Personal Development and Mentorship
12:41 Customer Service and Business Opportunities
14:04 Parenting and Financial Literacy
18:29 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
210 full
[00:00:00] How do you find the will to fight back against a world that wants to keep you sedated, averaging, stuck in place? Join us for the tools and strategies you need to create a life of abundance, discipline, and high achievement. This is The Tactical Empire, with Jeff Smith.
Jeff Smith: Welcome to another episode of The Tactical Empire. Today I am joined by Sean Ryder. How are you, my man?
Shawn Rider: Good. You have fancy window shades behind you, and I have fancy college degrees. That makes me smarter.
Jeff Smith: I have no college degrees, so that's fine. All good. Did you not
Shawn Rider: hear this? You didn't
Jeff Smith: Huh?
Shawn Rider: I don't know if you've ever officially told me that.
I knew you went to college for football and then went to the military. So you stopped and then went into the military? Yeah,
Jeff Smith: yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:01:00]
Shawn Rider: What an idiot, like you, you will never be successful.
Jeff Smith: I know, I know, I know. The last 20 years has taught me that, for sure.
Shawn Rider: Don't worry, the little degree is mine, the big one is my wife's.
Jeff Smith: That's how my house is too. My wife, if we hung them, my wife would have a full wall. We don't have that ability. He's got a couple of masters and PhD and like, so I am, I am definitely under degreed in our relationship, but all good. All good.
Shawn Rider: Oh man, we could have a podcast. Maybe we could have a podcast episode today on that.
Goodness gracious. The value of a college degree. Do you, I mean, your kids are homeschooled and have. Non traditional schooling as it is. But, uh, you know, you do have almost, do you have a teenager yet or almost a teenager?
Jeff Smith: Almost a teenager, September.
Shawn Rider: So maybe not by the time she's 18, but I know you got some, some young, young ones like [00:02:00] me.
So in the next 10 years, do you foresee college? Being a thing like it is today.
Jeff Smith: No, no, I don't. I think you're starting to see it kind of unravel with the government funding being pulled from it because I mean, they've been propped up through like taxpayer dollars to an extent. And I, I think what you're going to see is it morph into a more privatized thing where people are going to like, want their dollars sent to a place that is actually going to produce a.
A machine of a human being, if you will, that can actually do what they're supposed to be doing when they get out of college,
Shawn Rider: hard pause, because the topic I had today actually can be related to this, so I'm not going to say what the topic was going to be, but promise to stick with us on this episode. If you're a high achiever, you're trying to do something because this matters, whether it's for yourself or your kids.
So let's, let's hypothetically think [00:03:00] in 10, 10 years, how do either let's start with, how do we see the importance of quote? And I put this in air quotes, education evolving for the better. And, and what areas for your kids? And I'm saying kids because you have kids and I have kids. But if you're a listener, you don't have kids.
This is gonna be relevant to like, The areas you should be educating yourself in. So instead of in lieu of a traditional college education, what would be the most important skills for someone to learn over the next five to 10 years? To be a well rounded, successful individual, and I'm not looking for like, oh, learn AI, like, okay, like, not all of us is going to are going to be AI experts.
I, but like, what skill sets human humanoid skill sets,
Jeff Smith: man. Um, well, I mean, the, the issue is, as I see it, there's. [00:04:00] There's going to be no lack of information because of what you talked about. Everybody needs to be crystal clear on AI. Everybody needs to be gaining skills in that department on how you can utilize it to, uh, complement the human experience, if you will.
And so, I, I think that your kids need to understand that too. Because, so like, for instance, like I was telling somebody in our group the other day to read the book Traction. And, uh, we, we did a one on one and he needed to implement it in his business. And I told him to throw it into AI, have AI read the book traction because it's, it's more of a textbook style thing.
Right. And so have AI read the book traction. Have it, summarize it, then build out a plan of action for his specific business with executable things that he can do over the next 90 days. And that took him like seven minutes. And so I
Shawn Rider: just did that two weeks ago.
Jeff Smith: But, but I'm a big reader. So I don't think you should do that with [00:05:00] every book.
I mean, if it's thoughtful type stuff, that traction to me is more of a textbook. It's implementation.
Shawn Rider: I've read the book twice, now I use AI as a complement to reinforce when I create the traction organizer vision, VTO, Vision Traction Organizer. Yes,
Jeff Smith: yeah, and you need that. But like, so, so where are we going with this?
I mean, I think the easy answer is the trades and you look at other things that will remain for, but ultimately, I think what people are thirsting for more than anything is, it's going to be personal connection, because things are going to move more towards computers and, Tech. And so people are gonna look more for community.
They're gonna look more towards like-minded people that are kind of interested in the same things that they're doing. So, I mean, how does that apply to college? It, it, it doesn't really to an extent. And so you have to really just understand that you need to be aware of the marketplace shifting [00:06:00] and, and it's because of this glut of information.
Like the information now takes seconds to come back to you and it's only getting faster and better. Um, I mean, they're going to be out processing us and not too long. And so there there's, it's definitely a unique time, but I think the things that matter are the people that can help you along the executable journey.
So like you bring me that traction. Executable list can. Do you need somebody to for accountability or a partner or something to execute on that or see eyes on to see how it looks? I don't know. Um, I really don't know what's coming, but I do know it's coming fast. And so as far as what we're doing, I mean, AI because you tried to avoid that.
But I don't, I don't know where college is going, except that I do believe it will be more and more privatized because if people are going to spend 200 [00:07:00] grand, they would like the real promise that they're going to make that 200 grand back and with repeatable results. Right. Like we've gotten to such a point with public education and the higher level systems that you're spending two, 300, 000 and getting a fucking job that makes 60 grand and like.
It's just unsustainable from a payback process because it keeps them in a level of servitude for 10 to 15 years. And as opposed to like building wealth or utilizing that education, and you may see it change into a different model because Education and information is so accessible that it may not be like, Hey, go do this for four years.
It may be like when you're 20, you need to learn this and go do this. And when you're 25, you need to go back to schooling and it's going to be this immersive type thing.
Shawn Rider: Right. Yeah. I mean, I view it, I view it like someone building a business. Like why [00:08:00] can't, why can't 18 year olds. Yeah, they can take out 200, 000 and let's just even cut it in half 100, 000 over the next four years at 18 to have a piece of paper to maybe get a half decent job.
And then they start their career ladder at 22. And you're not peaking income until late 40s into your 50s, right? That's 30 years to peak income. If I view my kids as At that point, what are you interested in getting their brains are still developing. So they got 10 years till they're 28. By the time they graduate high school, they have 10 years till they're like brain mature.
Right. And I see that now 36, like, holy shit. Yeah. I didn't start maturing until I was like 32 and like learn some shit or through some pain. Um, but like how, how, how, Instead of taking 100, 000 for a piece of paper over four years and a quote, experience of college, I could spend 10, 15, 20, 000 a year on private mentors.
And maybe that's what you meant by privatized, right? Like not an official private [00:09:00] schooling system, but like. Private teachers slash mentors. Um, and then now that we're in the franchise space and some of the guys in the group are opening franchises, like what is there to stop an 18 year old who has a skill set or wants to learn a skill set and having their parents be quote business partners and get an SBA loan to start a franchise.
And that kind of goes back to what you said, like from 18 to 23, learn something. And then at that point, Then you as the 23 year old start becoming more of like the manager of that business or the owner of that business. Then you have to quote, like you said, go back to school, maybe hire a mentor to learn the higher levels of business, the actual financials behind the business, not just servicing the business.
And that's where my brain went for that. When I'm thinking of skill sets, so like broad stroke is. Everyone, and I know AI tools will help with this, but like, you still have to understand money, like financial literacy literacy will never go out of style. Now, in 10 [00:10:00] years, maybe you'll input in a computer like what your goals are and how much money flows in and it'll automatically control like where that money goes.
Probably already happening, but I think I'm a visual learner, so I still, even when I use tools, I still want to see, I still want to hand in it, right? Even with traction, like I make my VTO and then I just utilize, uh, AI to clean it up and organize it, maybe, um, but financial literacy, obviously, uh, interpersonal skills, learning how to talk with people and that that's why, like, I'm, I'm still a little bullish on, on the fitness space.
Because I think you can always find 150 to 300 people that want to be around humans, no matter how computerized the world gets. Um, and same thing with the trades, right? You're, you're really big on vocalizing, uh, plumbing, intellectual HVAC, all those home services. They're huge right now. Those are the new age millionaires.
Um, you still have to be good with people. How many people hire a plumber and the plumber is good, but they're a fucking asshole. And they'd stop bringing them into, I know plumbers in my town that [00:11:00] were clients in my other business that other clients would never hire because they were an asshole to them in class.
One time, uh, they interact them one time, right? So interpersonal skills are huge. So I really liked that concept of, uh, looking at privatized schooling, non traditional privatized schooling. And for me, that would just be, uh, coursework mentorship and finding your tribe. Which is really what the Tactical Outliers Inner Circle is.
Jeff Smith: Yeah, yeah, I, I think that what you're talking about is like, because every new level, you need a different level of education and you need to be around different people and things like that. So, like, I mean, it could take a lot of shapes. I think when you're young and like, college is looking for consistency and follow through.
That's what they're trying to get you to do. Um, I don't know if they even do that anymore, but like, it was just show up for class and show that you could show up enough times to not get it. Zero on your grade and then [00:12:00] turn in enough homework to finish, essentially. And, uh, I mean, there was other reasons people went to college.
I mean, don't get me wrong, but like the system has to be set up on a macro level so it can support a lot of people. And ultimately, if you talk about the benefits of what college was, it was a conditioner for like you had to be there at 8 a. m. to be. Counted as present and like, but again that like you can't be a reliable person in the workforce if you can't show up places on time and so there were lessons taught there from 18 to 22 that could be valuable lessons or perceived as valuable lessons and so we're going to need to replace this.
I think customer service is a huge. Area of opportunity. I think ever since 2020 and COVID like our, our customer service in general is just absolute trash. And, and people can't be more distracted with their phones. They can't be more like straight in your [00:13:00] face about like not giving a fuck that you're even there in their restaurant or in their like store and, uh, which is kind of crazy if you think about it, because like all they've been doing is lobbying for more and more like.
Increase minimum wage so it's more and more and then we're getting worse and worse service. So it's it's diminishing returns For these higher pay jobs, which make no sense And they do really make sense if you understand like minimum wage jobs were never to be in for more than like two years You're supposed to be the manager of fucking mcdonald's two and a half years into your mcdonald's career or the assistant manager You're not supposed to still be the goddamn cashier and so I think we've just lost our way from, from those types of things.
But if you can combine an actual valuable. Business opportunity with customer service. These days, people, people jump all over it and they'll pay whatever because they're like, they're not used to being paid [00:14:00] attention to anymore. So, I don't know. It's going to be interesting. We train our kids on certain things, leadership, communication, so, so they do all their own ordering and things like that when we're out in public.
And so, like, they need to learn how to talk to adults, speak to them and, uh, Besides that, I mean, yeah, it's financial literacy. We talk about that type of stuff. And, uh, I think it's really simple and then physical education, like movement and, uh, stuff like that. So it's the rest of life is just a personal development journey.
And, uh, the reality of it is the reason that I never have a college degree going back to the start of this conversation is because I wouldn't ever pass a writing one on one class. And, uh, so. That's why I wouldn't do the, uh, whatever it was, the, the first 10 classes that you have to do, because you didn't get [00:15:00] to pick what you wanted to do, and I was like, that's stupid, I shouldn't have to pick, or I should be able to pick whatever I want to learn about, and so kind of that goes back to what I'm talking about, like, personal development, you got to go learn about whatever you want, unicorns, daisies, hydroponics, like, you, you could choose whatever you want, and, and figure out, like, the, the route you want to take.
And so that's kind of what we're doing with our kids. They're, they're on their own little personal development journey already. So
Shawn Rider: we'll see what happens
Jeff Smith: to college.
Shawn Rider: We do some of that too, is like, Hey, come shred your cheese and Hey, come, come start dipping your, your bread for your French toast. And when I'm taking my kids out, I'll give them the card and be like, go pay for this.
Uh, ask, ask for change and then try and they're not old enough yet to count full of change. But I played Monopoly with my daughter the other, she's seven going on seven and a half play Monopoly with her the other night and she started counting the money out, which was really, really cool to see. So I think those are valuable.
It's weird. I've never done this before, but as you were talking, [00:16:00] I started like running some numbers on my calculator and, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I was trying to think like, okay, a college degree, let's just say you're paying on average 20 grand a year. That's 80 grand. On the I guess maybe average I could Google how much it normally is, but let's just say 80 grand for four years.
But how much of those four years and I know it's not just classroom learning, but let's say how much of those four years is actually spent learning, right? If you have. Three to four month semesters, and you have two semesters. That's eight months out of a year that you're in class. And in class. The average is 15 hours a semester, so that's uh, 15 hours a week, three hours a day or whatever.
I mean, it's roughly 1500 hours over four years. Like it's going to take you four years and you only get 1500 to 2000 hours of learning. How much learning could you fit into [00:17:00] 18 months of pure focus? On a topic, and I think that's the advantage of privatized education is you can take that four year time domain, squeeze it down into a tighter timeline.
So, like, if you're 18 and you think you want to do something and you spend the next year and a half learning about it and actually doing the damn thing, and then you realize you fucking hate it, you're still only 19 and a half years old, you could do that. You could mess up three times. In four years and have learned way more about what you want and transferable skills just because you don't like something doesn't mean you didn't learn something that's transferable to the next thing you try.
So I think that is where I'm, I'm really bullish on and by bullish, I mean, excited to see. I mean, my oldest is seven and a half. That means she's 10 years. Away from making [00:18:00] decisions after high school. So I'm going to go by in a blink of an eye. So I'm real, real excited. It's good to hear the reinforcement from you on on that.
You kind of see it going that route as well. Um, I admittedly am behind the times when it comes to AI and the. Big impact. It'll have. I use it. I don't understand it, but I will certainly, uh, be following people that do. That's a good thing is I don't need to know everything. I just need to be surrounded by some people that do.
So Jeff, if there's anything you want to add, add it. If not, let's send the people out.
Jeff Smith: Yeah, I think we were all over the place with this topic because I think we're five or six years from like everything being different. And, uh, yeah. Like a monumental change kind of like the internet like when we first got the internet How long did it take to evolve into like in a computer in our pocket all the time?
like I think we're in that next iteration of monumental change and [00:19:00] So I don't have all the answers obviously at all I don't know if I have any of them, but like I'm gonna be watching I'm gonna be acutely aware of everything changing and looking identifying opportunities. So guys if you Want to hook up with us on the Tactical Empire on all platforms.
We're out there. We've got the Tactical Empire community It's a free Facebook group. You can also DM us anytime on Instagram or any of the other channels Instagram is probably the best because it comes through. Have a great week. Let's kick ass and we will talk to you on the next episode