Young adults freeze on their parents’ companies. The parent has thirty years in the trade. The kid is 18. I hear it every week. The belief is the blocker, not the software.
Dennis asked me to unpack how I coach those kids. This is that conversation — energy, self-limiting beliefs, and why “I never went to college” is a feature in this work, not a confession.
What does a young adult actually do for a surgeon couple?
My best friend’s parents are surgeons — orthopedic and ophthalmology. He is building their digital presence so they can do more of the surgeries they already do well: knees, hips, cataracts. He drove results in a short window. That is the job. Not “be as good as dad at the operating table.” Be good at the Google and the content dad will never make time for.
The self-talk is always the same: I am just the son. He taught me everything. How could I add value? You add value in the channel he does not run. We teach that channel through High Rise Influence. It is Google’s playbook with our checklists on top. It is not a secret sauce we invented in a garage.
Do you need a degree?
I never went to college. I never took a standardized test. The ranking systems schools use have no place here. Dennis and I have taught applied digital marketing in a Johns Hopkins classroom. I would not have been admitted there as a senior in high school. That is the joke, and it is also the proof: this work is demonstrated, not credentialed.
Young adults already know the apps. Parents know the trade. Put them on the same weekly report and the business gets a marketer who lives in the house.
What about the couple with the appliance-repair company?
Dennis told the story in this video: older couple, about $10 million a year in appliance repair, live audit in class, they called it the best ROI they had seen in the business. Other owners brought a son or daughter into the same room. That is the model. We do not need you to be the smartest kid. We need you to follow the steps and send the report.
How is this different from the apprentice syllabus?
The program overview is the operating manual — Thursdays, SOPs, graduation by proof. Watch that here: AI Apprentice Program with Dennis Yu. This article is the belief problem. Dennis Yu keeps asking the same question: who are you to do this with no experience? The answer is: you are the person who will actually post the job video. The agencies already had their turn.
Dennis also taught this in a Mumbai classroom with Dan Ulin and Dr. Samir Karkhanis — We taught digital marketing in Mumbai.
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