| I (Lauren — hi!) talked to Jake Paul about his “financial freedom” courses and, well, woof. financialfreedommovement.com/ When I first heard YouTuber Jake Paul had launched what sounded like a total scam, I had to investigate.
Paul’s new online courses are called the Financial Freedom Movement. For $19.99 per month, you get access to a series of video classes on how to leverage social media and the internet to make money and start a career. On the one hand, Paul should know something about that. But on the other hand, surely it’s total crap, right?
Right.
I signed up and was totally underwhelmed, so I talked to Paul himself about the ~movement~. He sincerely seems to believe in what he’s doing, although I’m sure he also sincerely wants your 20 bucks.
Here’s what he had to say.
On traditional school:
“I’ve always been super upset with the American education system having gone through it, learned nothing, got nothing out of it, and finding my own success on my own, but through that success, making a ton of mistakes and having to learn a ton about how to make money and be successful.”
“If you want to become an entrepreneur and you want to become financially free, you don’t need school. But my message is not to drop out of school.”
(Once he started making money, Paul dropped out of high school in 11th grade and later finished his diploma online.)
He also described high school as “kids sitting in Geography to learn where Timbuktu is for no reason.”
On why parents should definitely buy this for their kids:
“Your kid is wanting more. If they’re the kid in class that is maybe not applying themself but are super smart, this will teach them skills they’re not learning in school and they’re learning from someone they look up to.”
“Think about learning from someone you look up to versus some Mrs. Smith who you don’t even know.”
On why he’s doing this:
“This is something I’m super passionate about, and before I die, I want to make a difference in the world.”
He also wants to “inspire the youth to chase their dreams and goals and how to do that.”
On why he’s the right person for the job:
“If they took away my YouTube channel, if they took away everything, I know I would still be a millionaire because of the things I’ve learned.”
“I think the biggest thing is there’s no one out there. A lot of the guys who do this shit are old and they’re like 30 and above, and there’s no one who has just recently garnished a ton of success and then is teaching those tips now because the world we live in changes so fast and I’ve done and I’m going through it now.”
As a 30-year-old, ouch.
Look, I’m sure Paul really does believe he has something to offer kids, but all this totally leaves out the luck, privilege, and access that it actually takes to make it big online. For every Jake Paul in the world, there are thousands of others trying to be him, and most of them will not make it.
I also seriously think his message about school is wrong and borderline dangerous. I know algebra doesn’t feel very useful to a lot of people, but school and post-secondary learning teach you critical thinking skills and how to be a better person in the world. Maybe Paul could have benefited from going.
My advice to you is to save your money, especially since I can’t seem to get the “cancel subscription” button to work.
—Lauren Strapagiel
I love this mom’s extremely excessive photo shoot to announce her family is going on vacation @happygreylucky / Instagram I can’t help but be both tickled and impressed by Toronto mom blogger Sina (@happygreylucky) and this photo shoot she orchestrated to announce a family vacation to Orlando.
This concept photo is the stuff homemaker blogs were born for! The socks as a sun. The baby pants as kelp. The Amazon box as a boat. The ruched sheet as a rippling ocean. Sina herself lying on the floor in a swimming position. It’s so fun — and so excessive.
“2 more days until we escape this very strange Canadian winter for sunshine and warm air!” she wrote to her 427,000 followers on Instagram.
Sina, if you’re reading this: How long did this take you to put together? Did you intentionally purchase socks and tiny green pants for this? Or did you have to pull the sheets off your bed? Clothes from your kids’ closets? Are you at home? In a professional studio with a photographer hovering above on a shaky 10-foot ladder? What’s the next creative photo shoot for another life update, like filing your taxes? (I actually emailed Sina with these questions.)
I can’t wait. I love this.
Until next time,
Tanya
Want more? Here are other stories we were following this week. A microinfluencer in the knitting Instagram community incited a lot of drama after naming her yarn “SJW” terms. A trail of controversy and drama is following a woman named Maria Tusken after she used terms she deemed as "social justice warrior lingo" for a recent yarn giveaway.
How not to steal $1.5 million: Inside an Instagram influencer’s alleged debit card scam. Quartz details how YouTuber Kayla Massa committed large-scale bank and wire fraud using social media that brought her more than $1.5 million in illegal funds.
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