How I Became a $100 Million CEO After Dropping Out of High School

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” Discovering something new can be easily done, however, truly learning and applying it to real life is another challenge.

People look at me today as the founder and CEO of a $100 million business and think I’ve always had everything figured out.

The truth is, I was not the best student in my early years, traditionally speaking. My idea of learning didn’t line up with the state’s curriculum. I cut school so often that my parents finally agreed it wasn’t the right environment for me. So, at 16, I officially — and with my parents’ legal blessing — became a high school dropout.

Of course, a formal education is hardly the only way to learn. Life is the best teacher.

I didn’t learn business from books; I learned from experience.

But whenever I did run into something I couldn’t solve on my own, I would research the subject. I still have many books on management and business on the shelves in my office that are full of highlights, scribbles and marked pages for reference.

As it turns out, scientific studies prove that writing on paper and interacting with print materials helps us learn better. These days, I do listen to podcasts and books while I ride my bike, and watching YouTubers and reading blog posts is helpful. However, I still make it a point to incorporate notebooks and books in my business, both for my employees and clients.

Why? Because the power of print still stands strong today in a sea of digital noise. Here’s how to make the most of it:

1. Incorporate notebooks and other print materials into your business operations so both employees and customers can learn more

According to neuroscientists at the University of Tokyo, writing on physical paper can lead to more brain activity when remembering the information an hour later. After a number of studies, researchers concluded that unique, complex, spatial and tactile information associated with writing by hand on physical paper is likely what leads to improved memory.

Contrary to the popular belief that digital tools increase efficiency, people who used paper completed the note-taking task about 25% faster than those who used digital tablets or smartphones.

The research concluded: “Our take-home message is to use paper notebooks for information we need to learn or memorize.”

Another perk of print: People are more likely to revisit printed copy as opposed to digital documents. Marketing research has shown that nearly a third of all direct mail remains in the home more than a month later, making this a valuable tool for your business.

I can confidently say I’ve experienced the power of print firsthand. I built my own business, PostcardMania, from nothing to over $100 million in annual revenue by spearheading our own marketing with direct mail. It’s always been the cornerstone of our promotion, and today we mail over 230,000 postcards every week to promote ourselves.

We’ve also helped 121,976 businesses nationwide with direct mail-led campaigns. Along the way, we’ve racked up over a thousand direct mail case studies across hundreds of industries — and those are just the campaigns I’ve gotten permission to share far and wide. Speaking of which…

2. Launch a direct mail marketing campaign to increase your new leads

Which advertisement does the average person respond to more? A digital ad on Facebook, Instagram, Google or a postcard? One study revealed that participants’ recall was 70% higher if they were exposed to a direct mail piece (75%), rather than a digital ad (44%).

This gives you a major advantage over competitors if you incorporate direct mail into your integrated marketing strategy. This doesn’t mean you ditch social media or digital ads altogether, but adding direct mail as a physical touchpoint bolsters your digital strategies. It all works together.

A new law is also going into effect this year that will limit lead-buying and lead-sharing. This means generating new, organic leads will be far more important. The industries of real estate, mortgage and insurance will be heavily impacted.

One of my clients, Klooster Family Dental, tripled their monthly customers — from 15 new patients a month to 56 — after mailing postcards consistently. By adding postcards to their marketing mix, they were also able to open another office location!

With more regular new business coming in, and the potential for repeat purchases, your revenue can skyrocket.

3. Implement direct mail automation into sales funnels to boost sales

Direct mail marketing will affect your new lead numbers, but it also has the potential to close more leads as well. By automating your mailers and placing them inside your sales funnel, you’ll be able to reliably close more leads.

About 85% of marketers agree direct mail delivers the best conversion rate of all channels they use, up from 74% in 2023.

The main reason for this is because of the tangible — and more memorable — impact of mail. And with today’s technology, automation helps take the work out of mailing postcards or letters every month, too, so you can save time as well.

I suggest you connect your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system to a direct mail automation platform. That way, postcards can be triggered in your CRM. Someone becomes a new lead? They receive a postcard in the mail. Someone receives a new quote? They get a postcard as well. A lead goes cold? Postcard.

Automated direct mail is growing fast. This is the fastest-growing part of my business currently, and we expect to grow even faster in 2025.

If you still doubt the power of paper, I challenge you to at least try out one of these initiatives. You’ll likely be happily surprised by the outcome!