So, there’s this American millionaire called Alex Hormozi. He’s a sort of hairy version of Arnold Schwarzenegger, when the Terminator steals the biker’s clothes. He looks like a meat head, but he graduated from Harvard, (which is ranked the number 1 university in the world).
(Yes, this is the picture he has put on his LinkedIn profile! I’m working on it.)
He has decided to make YouTube videos and write books. To make even more money.
But, and this is the interesting part for me, he argues that the best way to make money is to give stuff away for free.
Not just any stuff. Make your free stuff better than the paid for content people are willing to pay money for.
And that’s where Kindle Unlimited comes in. I believe my guides are the very best on the market for students who want top grades. What if I gave them away for free?
56% of my viewers got a grade 8 or 9 this year. Grammar schools, which only let the top 20% of students in, could only manage 59% of their students getting a grade 7 or above.
Nearly 80% of my viewers did that.
My guides are even more informative than my videos. So, some students will want to check them out and buy them. Being able to read a paper version, and write all over it, is a great way to use a guide.
But will they really suit your learning style? What if you ‘only’ want a grade 6 or 7?
Well, check them out, entirely for free for 30 days, or get them for 60 days at £0.99.
Obviously, I think this is a great idea. But will it actually help you? How would I know?
This is an email I got yesterday which helps me answer those questions. Kavinaya is happy for me to share it:
Hello Mr. Salles,
This is a massive thank you, for the effort and time you take in creating Gcse English Content.
Well, I am a year 11 student (Going into), and I have been recently watching your videos. English is one of my favorite subjects. (Just English literature ). But English Language was my weakest subject.
I have always struggled with the English language. Watching your videos helped me a lot. I had my Year 10 mock results come out and I achieved a grade 8 in both literature and language. But an 8 in English Language was shocking, as English Language was my weakest.
I wouldn't have done so well without your videos and tips.
Borrowing your guides from Kindle Unlimited was the best thing I did. It helped me understand the mark scheme .
In my mocks I found my timings mismatched, I did the paper in chronological order and ended spending less time on Q5).*
Although it was a moderate experience, I am glad that one of your essays from persuasive writing guide did come up, but the sad part was that if only had I discovered that book early, I would have had a grade 9 answer.
Just over the course of a few days, you have helped me understand a lot and I have now developed an ambition to get the top grades in English.
Thank you Mr Salles.
Keep going.
We need amazing teachers like you .
Kind Regards
Kavinaya
*Kavinya knows I recommend doing question 5 first, to avoid this. So many students run out of time on question 5, or are just too tired.
I Want Top Grades But I Just Want to Watch Videos!
I’ve got you covered!
Here is some advice from a student who worked hard for a grade 8. This will give you some clues as to how to get top grades if you revise early, but don’t want to read and write.
@Jay-ll8qf
Thank you sm!! I got an 8 in my mocks in literature and 6 in language . Then in the real thing I got an 8 in literature and 7 in language! I used to get 5’s straight until I started watching your videos which also brought up a passion for plays! thank you so much.
1. watch and rewatch your grade 9 videos.
2. memorise the key and main ideas / topics. ( class, gender, socialism)
3. never note taking
· I consistently watched your videos , without note taking or memorising quotes as they came to me naturally with understanding the play.
· The main thing I did was understand what you were saying and the play itself rather than to memorise the play.
· Writing about the purpose of the authors helped massively with both language and literature, and truly there was no 3 things I did.
· I found your videos to be extremely engaging and I can see that you truly enjoy your subject which helped a lot: with other online youtubers or even my own teachers I found to be boring (and fall asleep) .
· Watching your grade 9 videos were amazing. With your videos I also began to create my different ideas such as the idea that the only thing that distinguishes Mrs Birling and a lower class woman is her title, and I believed her to be even more ambitious than Mr birling but unable to attain power without her husband.
· Sheila 'borrowing' her name was a reminder that she is bound to this male dominated society and lead to her hostility etc.
· Overall, thank you so much and watching your amazing videos with no notes was the only thing I did. They were super fun.
· I recommended you to all my friends who got 9's and 8's! Well done, I couldn’t of gotten these grades without you!!!
@tacendamori • 8 days ago
Went from a U to an 8 in language and a 2 to a 7 (few marks of an 8) in literature. For the English language I got a few marks of a 9 too.
When I was getting U's it was simply because I didn't understand the wording of the questions so I would only do question 1.
Language
· I used your book to understand what the question was asking me and memorised the steps.
· I also memorised a story about a pigeon that ended up fitting the prompt perfectly.
English literature
· I memorised 11 essays for poetry and some other essays/paragraphs for the other topics.
· I think the reason I ended up doing so well was because I have a pretty good memory and I enjoyed English a lot.
Revision
· I revised hours a day for literature, not so much English language though.
· One of the three tactics that helped me were reading and listening to the way you speak.
· Through this I was able to mimic your choice of words and the way you explain things in my work.
· Secondly, memorising quotes and exemplars.
Effort
· And lastly never giving up.
· It took me months to improve so much but I revised and never stopped working hard to improve myself.
· Looking back I only really started trying for English language in 2023 and English literature the start of year 11, but it still payed off.
· I had no class work for English paper 1 in Year 11 and none that I understood in year 10. I also had never sat the exam for English language paper 1 before the GCSEs so your videos 10000% saved me from failing English language. Thank you so much! <3
Sounds much harder than Kindle Unlimited though!
Sadly no-one who knows me would use the word modest! Though I do try to be humble. Thanks for all your support Becky.
That’s very kind Becky. They still have to put in the work. I do feel that English has lost its way a little bit in schools, and the joy of the subject is compromised by the domination of exam techniques.
Yes, Amazon only pay me once, which is why they are so keen to have me!
However, I do get paid per page that people read, which I think is very fair.