raise kids who create, not conform
Your kid’s future is slipping through a broken system. Fix it.
The traditional education system isn’t just failing, it’s a soul-crushing relic. Growing up in Romania, I’d sit there for hours, copying the teacher’s notes word-for-word, my pencil scraping out dates and definitions like some lifeless machine. My brain screamed to tinker with something real, but the classroom was a cage, the chalkboard a wall, and the bell my only shot at freedom. It felt like a total waste of time, sucking the life out of learning and turning me into a drone. And guess what? Kids today are still stuck in that same grind: rows of desks, endless busywork, trained to parrot instead of think, prepped for a world that doesn’t even exist anymore.
“You are told to learn things you don’t care about, to complete projects you don’t care about, to prepare yourself for a life you don’t care about.”
Dan Koe
Think of it like an assembly line. Kids roll through, each stamped with the same tired template – built for obedience, not innovation. Desks line up like conveyor belts, churning out followers for a system that’s already cracking. It’s not education, it’s programming, and it’s killing curiosity.
That’s a problem. The world doesn’t need more drones. It needs bold creators, sharp problem-solvers, kids who can think for themselves.
Now imagine a maker’s workshop. Tools are everywhere, ideas are messy, and kids dive into projects they’ve cooked up themselves. One’s tinkering with a windmill made from junk, another’s designing a game she’ll code by sundown. No worksheets, no rigid rules – just real challenges they’re hungry to solve. It’s loud, it’s chaotic, and it’s where real growth happens.
Assembly Line vs. Maker’s Workshop
Assembly Line: Uniformity rules. Kids memorize, repeat, and conform.
Maker’s Workshop: Freedom reigns. Kids experiment, fail, and invent.
Outcome: One churns out followers, the other cultivates leaders.
This isn’t just a nice idea – it’s survival. My wife Oana and I figured that out the hard way. In 2010, we left Romania for Australia with nothing but two backpacks, a motel pin code, and a wild hope. We had no playbook. We stumbled, scraped by, and pieced together a life step by step, trusting our instincts over someone else’s script. Now, raising our son Dom, we’re not forcing him into anyone’s mold. We’re raising a kid who’ll build his own path in a world that shifts every day.
You can too.
Let’s give our kids the freedom to lead – not just follow.
Thinking Like a Creator Mindset
An entrepreneurial mindset isn’t about turning your kid into a mini mogul with a corner office. It’s about high agency – that raw drive to spot a problem, seize it, and shape it into something better, no hand-holding required. Picture a kid who doesn’t wait for the green light but dives into the deep end because they see a chance to fix, build, or invent. That’s the mindset we’re after – a spark that turns chaos into opportunity.
This boils down to three core traits:
Curiosity: The kind that tears things apart to see how they tick.
Adaptability: Rolling with the punches when plans go off the rails.
Passion: Fueling ideas with purpose and turning them into action.
Think of a kid dismantling a toy – not to trash it, but to master it. They’re not reciting a script, they’re cracking the code. That’s the foundation. It’s not about grades or gold stars, it’s about owning the game.
I didn’t pick this up from a textbook, I lived it. At 24, I was running Stoc Computer in Romania. One night, a server tanked at 2 a.m. – deadlines screaming, cables a mess, no guidebook. I wrestled that beast solo, fumbling through error codes and frayed wires.
Every glitch was a lesson: how to think on my feet, how to keep my head when the clock’s ticking.
Later, in Australia, Oana and I started from scratch. Some ventures crashed – one business imploded after weeks of sweat – but we dissected the wreckage, adjusted, and charged back in.
That’s not just scraping by, it’s thriving by embracing the mess.
For my son, Dom, I want that same fire – a mind that sees problems as puzzles to crack, not walls to cower behind. The old playbook’s toast. Kids today need to be builders, not bystanders, ready to tackle whatever’s coming.
Owning the Moment
High agency is the guts to act when others freeze. It’s spotting a gap and filling it – no permission, no excuses.
“High-agency individuals are those who create their own goals and actively pursue them without permission from another.”
Dan Koe
Elon Musk: Didn’t wait for NASA to greenlight rockets or for Detroit to bless electric cars – he built them because he saw the need.
Sara Blakely: Took $5,000 and a hunch, invented Spanx, and solved a problem no one else cared to touch.
Dom: At six and a half, he decided to sell his old Legos online after watching a kid on YouTube teach others – now he’s building a channel called ‘Curious Dom’ to share his own ideas.
These aren’t one-offs, they’re patterns. Agency is the muscle that turns vision into reality. For kids, it’s about starting small – hand them a challenge: “How would you make this better?” or “What’s your fix?”. Let them stumble, tweak, and triumph. Dom’s Lego hustle isn’t just a sale – it’s proof he can spot an idea, chase it, and make it his own. That’s the win: persistence, creativity, guts.
Try this: Give your kid a cardboard box. No rules, no blueprint. Let them build something, break it, build it again. You’ll see their eyes light up when they crack it. That’s agency taking root.
Bending, Not Breaking
The world doesn’t play nice – it shifts, it flops, it throws curveballs. An entrepreneurial mindset thrives in that mess. Back in Romania, that server crash wasn’t a one-time fluke – tech broke, clients yelled, timelines shrunk. I learned to pivot fast, swapping plans when the ground shifted. In Australia, our first business tanked, but we didn’t sulk – we scavenged the lessons and started over.
Adaptability isn’t about dodging failure, it’s about using it as fuel.
Kids need that flex. Dom’s pulley didn’t work the first time – string snapped, wheels jammed. He didn’t quit, he grabbed tape, scavenged a new gear, and kept tinkering.
“Problems are the limits on your mind and potential. Once solved, they allow for growth, expansion, and evolution.”
Dan Koe
That’s the muscle we’re building: the ability to bend when the plan buckles. Teach them to ask, “What’s next?” instead of “Why me?” – it’s the difference between stalling and soaring.
Making It Matter
Here’s the heart of it: skills alone don’t cut it – purpose does. Kids need to chase what fires them up, not just what’s handed to them.
Purpose turns work into a mission.
“Purpose does not exist without problems. They are bound by relationship. Your purpose is the inception of your suffering, and you have the option to choose what you suffer for.”
Dan Koe
Take Dom’s latest obsession: a glow-in-the-dark T-Rex he’s dreaming up for our future laser cutter.
The Vision:
Dom, at six and a half, has a big idea: designing a glow-in-the-dark T-Rex with a laser cutter.
We don’t own a laser cutter yet, but we’re planning to get one soon.
He’s already sketching his T-Rex, working out jagged teeth and a sturdy tail – playing with angles and shapes as he goes.
Skills He’s Building:
Geometry: His sketches teach him about shapes and spatial thinking.
Math: Scaling the design so it stands up involves basic calculations.
Physics: He’s asking how the laser cuts wood without burning it – curiosity about forces at play.
Planning Ahead:
As a family, we’re researching laser cutters and budgeting for the purchase.
Dom’s learning to think practically – asking about tools, materials, and next steps.
Decentralized education in action:
Dom’s driving his own learning, fueled by excitement.
He’s building real skills naturally through a project he cares about.
Once we get the laser cutter, he’ll bring his vision to life.
When I was debugging that server at 2 a.m., it wasn’t just a job – it was keeping a promise to clients counting on me. For kids, it’s the same: let them pick their battles. Dom’s T-Rex isn’t homework – it’s his mission, his victory.
That’s how you spark creators, not followers.
Why This Matters Now
The old sit-quiet-and-obey model is dead.
“The future of work will consist mostly of entrepreneurs, specifically creators.”
Dan Koe
The world’s moving too fast – jobs morph, tech leaps, problems stack up. Kids raised to wait for instructions will sink, kids trained to create will rise. This mindset isn’t some fluffy ideal – it’s the edge that splits leaders from followers. Give them room to wrestle problems, fail hard, and come back swinging. That’s not just education, that’s liberation.
Start where you stand. Toss your kid a challenge – a broken gadget, a blank page, a wild “what if.” Let them run with it. Watch them grow into creators who don’t just survive the future – they shape it.
Dom’s Lego Hustle and Curious Dom
Dom’s six and a half now, and his latest adventure started at six when he had an idea to sell the Legos he’s not playing with anymore, online. It kicked off one day when he stumbled on a YouTube video – a kid teaching other kids how to build Lego sets, do science projects, and tackle math tricks, sharing everything he’d learned. Dom’s eyes lit up. “I want to do that!” he said, bouncing on the couch. “I’ll call myself Curious Dom!”.
This isn’t just a kid with a whim. It’s decentralized education sparking right here in our living room. No one gave him a syllabus – he’s chasing this himself. He’s sorting through Lego bins, picking out sets he’s outgrown, and plotting how to list them online. Oana and I sit back, half-grinning, half-stunned. He’s not waiting for a teacher’s go-ahead – he’s diving into his own project, his own way.
“Learning is a byproduct of doing.”
Dan Koe
What Dom’s Learning with Curious Dom
Resourcefulness: Turning unused toys into cash by figuring out how to sell online.
Communication: Planning videos to teach other kids what he knows – Lego builds, math hacks, science fun.
Tech Skills: Asking us how to use a camera and upload clips – learning tools as he goes.
Persistence: Pushing past flops – like when his first video idea didn’t pan out – and trying again.
Last weekend, he hauled his Lego stash to the table. “These are going online!” he said, sorting bricks like a pro. I bought a beat-up robot for a buck just to test him. “Deal!” he chirped, pocketing the coin.
Mistakes pile up, sure. He priced a car set too low – 50 cents instead of a dollar – and winced. “I goofed”, he said, but he adjusted the next one. That’s the magic: no one’s feeding him lines. It’s not about grades – it’s about real skills stacking up.
Oana pitched in one day, showing him how to group sets. “Bundle the robot with the car – more bang for their buck”, she said. Dom’s eyes widened. His next pitch? “Get the bot and racer combo – only two bucks!”. He’s not just selling Legos or making videos – he’s learning to spot a chance and seize it.
This Lego hustle and “Curious Dom” gig isn’t just fun – it’s a proving ground. He’s picking up lessons no desk could drill in: how to pivot when tech fights back, how to shrug off a flop and reload, how to turn a pile of bricks into something kids want – or a video they’ll watch. He’s not chasing stickers. He’s chasing stakes – small now, but the kind that build a mind for bigger wins.
How We Nurture This at Home
Let Him Lead: We don’t hover – Dom picks his ideas and rolls with them.
Provide Tools: A camera, some Lego tips, a nudge when he asks. That’s it.
Celebrate Grit: We cheer the hustle – like when he kept filming after a blurry take – not just the hits.
Keep It Real: No fluff. If a price flops or a video’s off, we say it, and he tweaks.
Yesterday, he tallied his Lego sales: $8.25 in coins, jingling in a jar. “I’m loaded!” he shouted, then paused. “I need more Legos.” Already, he’s scheming – digging for sets to sell. That’s a creator’s spark – a kid who doesn’t sit still, waiting for someone else’s script.
This is decentralized education in our house. It’s loud, messy, and full of flops. But it’s alive – real and raw in a way no rigid system could touch. Dom’s not just growing, he’s becoming Curious Dom – someone who thinks, builds, and leads, one Lego sale and video clip at a time.
Why Creators Shape Tomorrow
The world’s a speeding train. It’s not waiting for anyone – not you, not me, not our kids. Old-school education? It’s a rusty caboose, dragging behind, built for a time when memorizing facts and following rules could carry you through life. That time’s gone. Today, kids need more than a playbook, they need the guts and grit to write their own.
Decentralized education isn’t some fluffy experiment. It’s the answer to a screaming question: how do we raise kids who don’t just survive a chaotic future, but shape it? Kids who can think on their feet, solve messy problems, and lead when the path’s unclear. This isn’t about tweaking the system, it’s about tearing up the script and handing them the pen.
Three Core Shifts
Creativity Trumps Compliance: The world doesn’t need more rule-followers – it craves inventors, dreamers, kids who see a blank wall and start sketching.
Problem-Solving Beats Rote Learning: Life’s challenges don’t come with a study guide. Kids need to wrestle with the unknown and come out swinging.
Leadership Outweighs Waiting: Tomorrow belongs to those who step up, not those who sit back and hope for instructions.
Picture a kid like Dom. He’s six and a half, hunched over his Lego pile, plotting to sell his old sets online and launch ‘Curious Dom’ on YouTube to teach other kids what he knows. Tech crashes, but he’s in – grinning, tweaking, pushing. He’s not just messing around, he’s learning. He’s sorting value, bouncing back, figuring out how to share his spark. That’s not play – it’s the root of a kid who’ll tackle life’s mess and make something from it.
This is the heart of it. Decentralized education gives kids room to chase what lights them up. It’s not about cramming for tests or coloring inside the lines – it’s about owning their learning, tackling real stakes, and growing through the mess. Dom’s not waiting for a teacher’s nod. He’s not chasing a sticker. He’s chasing a win he can feel, and every flop teaches him something a textbook never could.
Why This Is Non-Negotiable
Adaptability Is King: The future’s a moving target – kids need to dodge, weave, and strike back, not stand still.
Ownership Fuels Drive: When they pick their fight, they dig in deeper and learn harder.
Resilience Wins: Failure’s not a dead end, it’s a sharp turn. They learn to keep moving.
Think about it. A 12-year-old wires a solar panel for her treehouse because she’s tired of lugging batteries up the ladder. A 15-year-old rallies her neighborhood to fix potholes, turning gripes into action with a camera and some grit. Teens code an app to link volunteers with shelters, solving a problem they spotted on their own streets. That’s decentralized education – kids don’t wait for permission or a curriculum. They see a snag, grab it, and wrestle it down.
It’s purpose, not busywork. Dom’s Lego hustle isn’t a chore – it’s his mission. He’s not after a grade, he’s after pride. When a sale flops or a video tanks, he doesn’t quit – he tweaks. That’s the muscle we’re flexing here: they will to spot a challenge, claim it, and push it through. Multiply that by a million kids, and you’ve got a generation that doesn’t just inherit problems – they solve them.
The old way’s a trap. I’ve lived it – rows of desks, endless drills, a system that churns out workers for jobs that don’t exist anymore and soldiers. It’s a conveyor belt to nowhere. I’m not letting my kid ride that ride. This is about a future where kids don’t just scrape by – they steer the ship. A kid plotting Lego sales and YouTube clips today could crack tomorrow’s big puzzle. We’re not raising drones, we’re raising the builders, the fixers, the ones who’ll take the wheel when the world veers off track.
How Parents Can Jump In
“If you don’t create a product to sell, you will be forced to sell a product for someone else, or you will become the product.”
Dan Koe
Spark Curiosity: Ask, “What’s bugging you?” or “What do you want to figure out?” – then step back and let them chase it.
Embrace the Chaos: Celebrate the effort, not just the outcome – a busted prototype is a win if they learned from it.
Make It Real: Ditch the hypotheticals. Give them a leaky faucet to fix or a yard sale to run – real stakes, real lessons.
This isn’t theory. It’s a call. Build something with your kid this weekend – a shelf, a plan, a crazy idea. Let them lead it. Watch them stumble, then stand taller. That’s the point: they’re not just watching the future unfold – they’re making it.
Shaping Their Future
The education system as we know it is crumbling under its own weight. It’s a relic – built for a world of factories and assembly lines, not the unpredictable, vibrant future our kids will face. We’ve explored how decentralized education flips the script. It’s not about tearing down schools or chasing some grand global overhaul. It’s simpler than that. It’s about trusting kids to lead their own learning, sparking their curiosity, and letting them wrestle with real challenges. Because when they do, they don’t just grow – they thrive.
This isn’t theory. It’s happening in backyards and basements right now. Kids like Dom, plotting Lego sales and dreaming up ‘Curious Dom’ videos, aren’t just playing – they’re mastering skills no textbook can teach. He’s learning value, grit, and ingenuity, all before lunch. That’s the point: decentralized education hands them the wheel. It swaps rote memorization for real-world problem-solving. It trades compliance for creativity. And it builds resilience – because the world doesn’t need more followers; it needs builders.
Why This Shift Matters
Creativity Fuels Progress: Kids who create don’t wait for permission – they invent solutions.
Ownership Sparks Purpose: When they choose their path, busywork turns into breakthroughs.
Failure Builds Strength: Stumbles aren’t the end; they’re the start of something tougher, smarter, better.
Let’s be clear: this isn’t about some utopian dream or a top-down fix. It’s practical. It’s personal. It’s parents and kids saying, “We’ve got this”. You don’t need a committee or a conference to start. You just need to look at your child and ask, “What do you want to tackle?” Then step back. Let them pick the project, gather the tools, and dive in. Will it be messy? Sure. Will they figure it out? You bet they will.
Take a cue from real life. A kid who sets up a lemonade stand isn’t just selling juice – she’s learning supply, demand, and charm in one sweaty afternoon. Another, like Dom, grabs his Lego stash and a camera to sell online and teach kids worldwide – he’s not failing at perfection, he’s decoding hustle and sharing his spark. These aren’t cute side hustles. They’re proof that when kids chase what fires them up, they don’t just learn – they grow into people who can handle anything.
Steps to Ignite Their Spark
Launch a Mini-Venture: Crafts, snacks, whatever – let them sell it and own it. Real stakes, real skills.
Hack Something Together: A junk-drawer invention or a coding kit – trial, error, and triumph in one.
Fix What’s Close: A squeaky door, a cluttered garage – small wins breed big confidence.
Start small. One project can shift everything. It’s not about rewriting the world – it’s about rewriting how your kid sees it. Give them a challenge they can touch, a problem they can solve, and watch what happens. They’ll stumble, sure. But they’ll stand taller every time they get back up.
Here’s the takeaway: the future isn’t a gift we hand them. It’s a toolbox – one they’ll fill with every scraped knee, every wild idea, every hard-won win.
Our job isn’t to pave their road.
It’s to raise kids who can build their own.
So let’s step up, step aside, and let them start swinging the hammer.
Thank you for reading.
– Raz