Finding Work You’re Passionate About with Thomas Frank, the College Info Geek
“You meet people, you get yourself out there and you constantly try to get better. Because every time you do that, you expose yourself to potential lucky opportunities.” – Thomas Frank
In this episode of Nat Chat I’m joined by Thomas Frank.
Thomas was one of the people I’ve really wanted to have on since the beginning. While he was a student, he started “College Info Geek” which has become the most popular blog on practical tips for college students, whether they want to do better in school or go out and learn on their own. Since then, he’s also started two popular podcasts and a YouTube channel, and we dig into that whole evolution during the episode.
We also covered:
- How Thomas paid off his $15,000 college debt before graduating
- Methods you can use to help find work that you’re passionate about
- Thomas’ methods for reaching out to others more effectively
- How Thomas taught himself design and got started with entrepreneurship
- Thomas and Nat’s thoughts for people who are interested in digital nomading
And a ton more. Please enjoy, and reach out to Thomas on Twitter!
If you want more tips for rapid learning, be sure to check out my episode with Lucas Miller who wrote a book on the subject. You might also enjoy my interview with Scott Britton who started the Life-Long Learner blog, and Connor Grooms who learned Spanish in a month.
Links from the Episode
Find Thomas Online:
Mentioned in the show:
- College Info Geek (Thomas’ blog)
- Napster
- Business Professionals of America
- AirBnB
- How to Build a Hanging Desk (Thomas’ article)
- How to Take Notes in Class (Thomas’ video)
- How to Read Your Textbooks More Efficiently (Thomas’ video)
- Thomas’ book on how to get better grades (free)
- Thomas’ Podcast
- ThinkCon
- Treehouse
- Finish Up Weekend
- CodeMonkey
- Udemy
- Code Academy
- Stack Exchange
- Thomas’ recommended books for students
Books mentioned:
- The 4-Hour Workweek (Nat’s Notes)
- 10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades (Thomas’ book)
- Recession Proof Graduate
- Debt-Free U
- So Good They Can’t Ignore You (Nat’s Notes)
- Deep Work (Nat’s Notes)
People mentioned:
Show Topics
1:06 – Intro to Thomas and him speaking on how he got started with design and entrepreneurship.
6:22 – How Thomas made money during college on the side and paid off his debt before graduation. Also, he and Nat are speaking in-depth on digital nomading.
16:16 – Thomas speaking in detail on how he started College Info Geek and it’s progression.
20:11 – When and how College Info Geek started to become profitable. Thomas also speaking on the major events that promoted growth for the blog and him writing a highly successful book.
30:18 – How Thomas got motivated to help college students succeed and make better grades.
33:25 – Thomas’ plans for the future of his blog and YouTube channel and him speaking on the value of experimenting with various things as well as putting in a lot of work to see things through.
39:22 – Some of the largest misconceptions about college that Thomas notices with current students.
41:20 – Thomas’ advice for students who are looking to make money and/or do their own kind of work.
44:48 – How Thomas learned to do web design early on and his advice for others looking to learn coding efficiently.
48:40 – Some things that Thomas wished he had known sooner in life and some methods he used to reach out to more people.
50:14 – Some books that Thomas would recommend to students at his college and some advice for getting more work done while in college.
53:19 – Some last thoughts and pieces of advice from Thomas to students.
56:04 – Wrap up and where to find Thomas online.
If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://nateliason.com/podcast