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Amazon is a cash machine, and there are ways to sell products that don’t require a significant time or financial investment to get started.

In 2021, 50% of Amazon’s $469.8 billion in net sales came from third-party merchants, according to the company’s recent press release. Between Fulfilment By Amazon (FBA), book publishing, private labelling products, and the Amazon associates program, there are many different ways to tap into Amazon’s loyal customer base and create a new stream of income.

Here’s what you need to know about how to make money on Amazon – along with advice from experts who are doing it. 

4 Ways to Make Money on Amazon

2.45 billion people access Amazon each month, according to research published by Statista, a data analytics company. In addition to the methods listed below, you could use Amazon as a marketing platform to sell low-cost products, introduce customers to your company, and later sell professional services or other larger offers. 

Here are four viable ways to make money with your own Amazon page if you’re getting started today.

No. 1: Publish Physical or Digital Books

50% of research participants believed they have a good idea for a book, according to a poll of 2,000 people led by OnePoll in partnership with ThriftBooks, a book reseller. If you want to write and publish a book quickly, Amazon is a great place to self-publish and start selling your masterpiece. 

“Anytime I’m looking for a book, I go to Amazon first,” says Tae Lee, an Amazon-published author and founder of The Money Maximizer, a company that helps consumers build generational wealth. “We sell books that you read and books that you work through (workbooks), and we spend two hours a week marketing the books on social media and to our email list.” 

Lee notes that sales of her books lead to sales of her consulting services, and that a book on Amazon can be a marketing channel to sell other products and services. Other entrepreneurs agree that this strategy is viable.

“I make money by selling my books on Amazon,” says Sha’ Cannon, an Amazon published author and founder of The Fractional C.O.O., a company that helps business owners with financial growth strategy. “I have a course, fractional chief operating services, and use my book [as a promotional tool] to help with selling products and services.”

Cannon says she mainly uses books as a credibility play to later promote and sell consulting services or digital products. Her Amazon book sales lead to an average of $7,900 per month in consulting clients and $500 per month in digital product sales on the backend.

Millions of authors use Amazon as a marketplace to sell their books, but the way customers like to consume books varies. Consider listing your book in paperback, Kindle, and Audible formats to reach different types of consumers on the platform with the same information. 

No. 2: Use Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA)

Fulfillment By Amazon is a fulfillment network that leverages advanced technology and warehouses of various shapes and sizes to support the processing of orders. One way to make money on Amazon is to sell a product on the site, then have an Amazon fulfillment center handle the delivery of the product via its FBA services.

The way the process works is:

• Sign up for a Fulfillment By Amazon account.
• Create a listing for the product you will sell. 
• Ship your inventory to an Amazon fulfillment center near you. 
• Promote your products, then watch Amazon fulfill them to your customers whenever you make sales. 

You can sell products and know that Amazon is taking care of what could be the most time-consuming part of the process.

FBA is not the same as dropshipping, a form of ecommerce in which you never actually hold your own inventory. You will have to supply the product in order for Amazon to fulfill it; you can source these products either by shopping locally and then selling on Amazon, or finding a supplier like Alibaba that can send your inventory to an Amazon warehouse on your behalf. 

Retail Arbitrage

The end goal of any Amazon ecommerce strategy is to buy or develop a product at one price, then sell it at a higher price on Amazon. When you purchase an already-existing product, then mark it up to turn a profit, this is known as retail arbitrage.

In times of duress, retail arbitrage can be controversial, such as when hand sanitizer resale prices spiked dramatically at the start of the pandemic. However, retail arbitrage is fairly common, as some entrepreneurs make time and effort to locate sources willing to sell wholesale goods, then mark up prices later.

Amazon Handmade

Want to only sell the items that you yourself have made? Amazon Handmade is a platform specifically for artisans who want to spend their time creating goods and let Amazon handle the rest. Amazon Handmade was founded in 2015 and has handmade sellers in over 80 countries.

Remember that Amazon’s area of expertise is shipping. If you have a great product, and just need to dial in the fulfillment piece, using Amazon might be a great fit for you.

No. 3: Private Label Products  

Another way to make money on Amazon is through selling private label products and services. There are a few ways to use private labeling on Amazon. 

1. Find a product with good sales but low reviews. There are some great products that can’t get enough reviews, so their sales are affected. You see what the sales of those products are and either negotiate a deal with the manufacturer or source a similar product, then label the product as your own. 
2. Offer a product or service to another established brand to sell for you as if it’s their own. Since they have an established audience, they do the selling for a percentage. 
3. Offer a product or service to sell under your brand. You may be the seller with the audience–you can sell other products and services under your brand as if they’re your own. 
4. Sell different versions of a product or service. You may have higher and lower- priced versions of your product or service. You can sell one under your brand name and private label the other to differentiate what you offer. This allows you to appeal to different customer bases. Walmart’s Great Value brand and Costco’s Kirkland Signature brand are two examples of this.

Many companies and brands private label offers because it makes more sense financially. There might be a product or service you can private label and sell on Amazon.

No. 4: Sell a Subscription Box

Subscription boxes like Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh, and Birchbox have taken their industries by storm in recent years. If you have a great idea for a product that people want monthly, Amazon has an invite-only program that lets sellers list, sell, and manage subscription box products directly from the platform without having to figure out their own delivery service. 

To receive an invitation from Amazon, you must be able to offer a fully-assembled curated subscription box with the ability to support free shipping directly to customers nationwide, Guam and Puerto Rico. Amazon says that sellers must also have an active Professional seller account to start selling, although it is not required to apply for the program. Applicants get notified via email of their application status in seven to ten business days.

Callwood says a subscription box is an untapped way to make money on Amazon and can lead to other opportunities.

“Before putting it on Amazon, my box had been featured in media publications, the Oscars Gala, gift guides, and many other places,” says Callwood. “I used the media attention to negotiate a good deal with Amazon to list my tea subscription box. Because of Amazon, I’ve also been able to get my tea box on DoorDash, UberEats, Postmates, and GrubHub.” 

Subscribers to a subscription box make regular payments to get a box filled with items of a particular category. The seller packages up the month’s selections and sends them to customers at set intervals. 

Do I Need to Sell Something to Make Money on Amazon?

Not necessarily! There are ways to make money on Amazon that don’t require you to supply your own product at all.

One way to make money without selling a product or service is by joining Amazon’s associate program. This affiliate program lets you create affiliate links for your favorite products and earn an affiliate commission whenever someone purchases from your link. 

Here’s how the Amazon affiliate program works: 

1. Sign up as an Amazon associate. 
2. Get your affiliate link center set up.
3. Find the products on Amazon you want to promote, then generate affiliate links for those specific products. 
4. Promote your affiliate links wherever you like, but make sure you disclose that they are indeed affiliate links, per FTC guidelines. 
5. Whenever people purchase items through your affiliate link, you’ll earn a small commission for every sale. 

Being an Amazon associate is a way to earn passive income without having to set up your own Amazon business. You can have hundreds of affiliate links for products you like. You can share those links in various places online and make as much money as you want without having to manage any one physical product on Amazon.

Is Selling on Amazon Worth It?

With billions of dollars being spent by consumers, selling on Amazon is worth it for those looking for a way to make money without taking up too much time. You can add some extra dollars to your bank account or even build a business.

“I think that having anything on Amazon automatically puts you in front of more people you may not have access to,” says Maleeka Hollaway, an entrepreneur and speaker who has three books published on Amazon.

“My website is down as I redo how it looks, so I send people to Amazon. If they Google my name, three of my books come up and they can see I’m a legitimate person.” Maleeka says that being on Amazon adds credibility to herself and her business. 

The great part of selling on Amazon is an established customer base. One of the more challenging parts of selling anything is creating trust with customers who may not know you. Amazon customers trust the brand, which is good news for you.

“Last month, we did $71,160 in sales on Amazon with a medical device company we work with,” says Jayden Scott, an ecommerce entrepreneur who helps Amazon sellers build businesses that could eventually be acquired someday. “Amazon is an important platform on the internet, and anyone can make money with it.” 

Does It Cost Money to Sell on Amazon?

Choosing the right way (for you) to make money on Amazon is essential. Certain forms of making money may cost you money to start. If you were to choose private labeling products or FBA, there is an initial investment to buy inventory.

If you want to write and publish books, you may incur the cost of an editor and formatter, but you could publish and sell books on Amazon with no initial costs if you choose to do all the work yourself.

The potential costs will be dependent on the model you choose. Get clarity on which model makes sense for your goals, research possible initial costs, and plan accordingly. 

Start Making Money on Amazon Today

Amazon is worth it because you’re selling to a customer base that already trusts the marketplace. You have various ways to earn passive income, and you can make money in your spare time. Selling on Amazon can be a side hustle that grows into something more – and you might be able to start making money on the platform sooner than you think.

Do your research, focus on action, and eventually you’ll have a new income source that can become significant as time goes on.

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Mentorship and learning from those who’ve walked the path before and achieved their goals are some of the key components to achieving success. Finding a mentor is not always easy and knowing which information to trust on the internet can be even more challenging. There are 100’s of do’s and don’ts when considering going into business or solopreneurship – here are just 5 of my go 2 tips for young or aspiring entrepreneurs to help you get started.

DO WHAT YOU LOVE

There’s a saying that says “Choose a job you love and never work a day in you life.” – Loosely translated that if you pursue what you love and are passionate, it’ll never feel like work.

Research and experience shows that the most successful start-ups are founded by people passionate about what they do. Do you know what you’re passionate about?

Whether you love biking, music or coding, the things you enjoy doing the most can serve as a great inspiration for business ideas. You’ll be more motivated and focused when you base your ideas on something you are passionate about. Even better, you’ll add your own knowledge and life experiences, which are essential components that can help you find a special perspective to support your success.

According to FreshBooks, in America over 15 million people work for themselves full-time, and according to QuickBooks, 28.2% of workers have some level or form self-employment, including through freelance businesses. 

PUT IN EFFORT AND MANAGE YOUR TIME

We never know the outcome of our efforts unless we actually make one. We need not regret failure, but rathe regret not trying. One of the biggest challenge when you’re still starting out is consistency, putting in a consistent effort and always pushing yourself to go to the extra mile. Sometimes we ought to view life as an ongoing university course in which we are always learning new things. And you can! 

MANAGE YOUR TIME

It goes without saying that managing a business takes a lot of time and time management is crucial to running an effective, successful and productive business. Time setting gives a list of tasks that must be completed along with an estimated processing time based on the importance of the jobs. Well-timed actions can boost productivity in an activity or work. Before the age of technology organisations made us of physical time sheets to track task and time spent on each one. Today there are numerous online platforms that perform the same function while keeping you in touch with the rest of your organisation, whether it be to track tasks or collaborate on creative ideas. These platforms in Microsoft Teams, Trello, Slack, Monday.com, Microsoft Planner and Jira

FOCUS ON YOUR GOALS

As an entrepreneur, you are the vision carrier and you must have the desire to create it, develop it and make it into a reality. In order to keep your team motivated and focused on helping achieve your vision, you have to constantly communicate it and keep your vision clear at all times.

Goal-oriented thinking keeps us inspired to persist, never give up, and make an effort to achieve our objectives. Encourage yourself and your team to have a positive attitude whenever taking action because that gives you confident that you are moving in the right direction.

Self-assured As is well known, having self-assuredness can help people feel less inferior and afraid of trying new things or engaging with others.

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF Working hard is important, and you might not have the chance to rest every day when you first start out, but it is important to know when you are overworked. Many people who buy from youth businesses do so because of the youthful component of what they do, a component built on energy and a fascination with everything they are learning. That energy and fascination can burn out very quickly if you are not well rested and ready to go. This is not to say that you should slack off, but that you should know when you are at a limit and celebrate progress when it occurs.

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What exactly is the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is a phenomenon where new, innovative and disruptive technologies are combining to completely and irrevocably change the way we live and work. 

Although the 4IR is being driven by a number of technologies, the three main technologies are Artificial Intelligence, Networks and Cyber-physical Systems.

Thanks to these three technologies, the 4IR is giving rise to so many new breakthroughs, and with such rapidity and at such a scale, that it is disrupting nearly every industry and affecting every person on the planet. 

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is the branch of computer science interested in giving computers human-like qualities, such as the ability to learn new things, to speak fluently, understand human speech, to see and recognise people and objects, and to make complex decisions.

These new-found abilities are enabling computers to do things that were only possible for human to do previously, like driving cars, flying drones and planes, operating machinery, translating speech between languages, diagnosing illnesses and dispensing medicines.

Although AI has been around since the 1950s, it could not reach its full potential due to the lack of computing power.

Computer networks refers to the vast and complex system of satellites, fibre optic cables and cellular towers that transmit data at lightening speeds across the globe, transferring unimaginable volumes of data from place to place.

These networks are what make the World Wide Web possible, enabling us to surf the web, stream videos, post to social media, communicate with one another through chat and voice and video calls, purchase items, order food, call an Uber – basically everything that we know and take for granted today.

Finally, cyber-physical systems are traditionally non-computer devices that are now being given computer power and are being connected to the internet. 

For example, until recently, no one would have associated a farm animal with computing power. Yet, today cows are being fitted with tiny computers connected to sensors embedded in their bodies. These sensors constantly measure the cow’s heart rate, body temperature and other vital statistics, and transmit this data to the farm’s central server, enabling the farmer to monitor his stock and use AI to predict any outbreaks of illness before they happen.

Although these three technologies, AI, networks and cyber-physical systems have been around for a while – AI was around since the mid 1950s – they did not spark a revolution because they never combined in any meaningful way, until now.

As with so many other technologies, each of these technologies was insufficient in itself to spark a revolution, but together they are changing our world, causing a major global revolution: the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

I think a more appropriate title for the age we are living in, considering the fact that machines are now becoming ever-more capable and are beginning to be more like their human creators, is “Rise of the Machines.”

But the 4IR is not just about technology and machines. More than anything, it is about people. As with its predecessors, 4IR has the potential to increase incomes and improve standards of living; but unlike its predecessors, 4IR will not be limited to specific countries and regions. 

In contrast, the 4IR is the first of the industrial revolutions that is truly global in in nature and truly democratic, providing opportunities to people who never had them. It is not a privilege reserved for a segment of the population, such as the rich, or people in developed countries; it is truly for everyone.

This is thanks to the pervasive nature of technologies such as mobile devices and the internet. Today, all a person needs is a mobile device and internet access to seize the opportunities presented by the 4IR. 

The 4IR is about solving some of the most pressing problems we face, such as wealth inequality, access to healthcare, access to education, disease control, environmental degradation and global warming.

Today, people in some of the remotest parts of the world have access to the internet, enabling them to educate themselves, learn a new skill and gain access to vital services.

With nothing more than a mobile phone, few dollars and a drive to succeed, one is able start a business, sell their products or offer their services. The barriers to entry into a new business have never been lower.

There is no limit to what is possible.

The First Industrial Revolution, which took place in the 1700s and 1800s, changed our world by introducing steam power. The main driver of this revolution was the invention of the steam engine.

The steam engine provided human beings with a completely new form of power. Prior to steam, all we had was muscle power, and all modes of manufacturing and transport relied on either human or animal strength.

The invention of the steam engine led to the invention of steam-powered factories, which were much grander in scale than any factories prior to them, giving people the ability to manufacture more goods more rapidly than ever before.

Steam-powered farming implements made large-scale farming a reality, allowing them to produce more food than ever before.

Steam trains brought far away towns and cities closer, allowing factories and farms to distribute their products much further than before, and much more quickly.

With steam ships, sailors were no longer reliant on the ever-changing winds to drive their ships forward, making sea travel more predictable and reliable than ever before.

For the first time in history, we saw mass production and mass distribution of commodities. Food, clothing, tools, weapons, household appliances were all mass produced for the first time. And thanks to the ever-growing rail networks and shipping routes, distribution networks extended far beyond country borders and across oceans.

Wider distribution meant more customers, which meant more demand for goods, which meant more production, bigger factories and even wider distribution. It was an unstoppable cycle of growth and prosperity which radically transformed industry and society.

The rich landowners provided the capital to finance the new factories, becoming fabulously wealthy in the process, and giving rise to the age of capitalism.

Cities swelled in size as more and more people left the farms where their forefathers lived for hundreds of years, for better pay in the new factories. Stadards of living went up considerably.

The countries affected by the 1IR, like Britain, France and Germany, thrived and became world trade, commerce and military leaders.

The phrase “Fourth Industrial Revolution” has become a buzzword since it was mentioned by Professor Klaus Schwab in his book of the same name in 2016.

At the time. Professor Schwab believed that we were at the threshold of a revolution, one driven by massive advancements in technology. 

This, he believed was the fourth in a series of revolutions that took place over that past 300 or so years that completely transformed the way we lived and worked.

The previous revolutions catapulted us from muscle power to steam power, then to electric power and finally to digital power. 

Prior to the first industrial revolution, everything was driven by muscle power. Some work we did manually, while others were done by animals such as horses, mules and cattle. Then cam steam-powered machinery, which replaced muscle power and triggered an industrial revolution.

The second industrial revolution saw us graduate from steam to electricity, further accelerating our progress as a species.

The third revolution was very different from the first two, in the sense that it saw the introduction of completely new types of machines: machines that replaced brain power, instead of muscle power.

Just as the machinery in factories began to do most of the heavy physical work that was once done by humans and animals, computers began to do much of the heavy mental work, thereby freeing our brains to focus on more complex activities like creativity, problem-solving and innovation.

The 3IR was an exciting time that saw the introduction of computers, the internet, cellular phones, mobile devices, social media, e-commerce, e-learning and a whole host of new technologies never before imagined.

The 3IR continues to this day, but is now overlapped by the fourth in this series of major revolutions: the 4IR. In many ways, the 4IR is a product of the 3IR, in that it is built on technologies developed during the 3IR, but it is also radically different in many ways.

What differentiates the 4IR most from its predecessor, is artificial intelligence, or AI. AI has completely blurred the line between the human mind and computers by giving computers the power to do things that were only possible for humans to do previously.

Thanks to AI, computers can speak like we do, understand human language, recognise people, animals and other objects, teach themselves new skills they were not programmed to do and solve complex problems.

These new abilities are making computers into an indispensable ally in the innovation space. More and more, scientists, engineers and innovators are relying on AI to assist them in research and development, which means the rate of innovation will speed up considerably since computers are much faster than humans.

We will see new and revolutionary innovations in pretty much every current industry, as well as the birth of completely new industries. 

We will see major strides in computing, such as a new generation of mobile supercomputers, intelligent robots and quantum computers. There will be major strides in the fields of 3D printing, biotechnology, agricultural technology, financial technology and others.

Technologies such as neural implants, 3D printed limbs, lab-grown meat and cryptocurrency will be commonplace by 2030.

We know that innovation has been a constant force for change since the last century, but it seems we have crossed an invisible point in history where, instead of the rate of change slowing down, as many people expected it to, it is accelerating. 

It is like we were travelling in a really fast car at an incredible speed, and just when we thought we were travelling at full speed, the car suddenly began to accelerate and go even faster.

The question is, why now? What is causing the pace of innovation to increase?

The best way to answer this question is by an example. 

Benjamin Franklin, the famous inventor and scientist did his famous kite experiment in the year 1752. His aim was to prove that lightning was electricity, and that he could channel that electricity through a metal cable.

The experiment was a success, and miraculously Franklin survived it without being electrocuted.

Franklin’s experiment kicked off an era of serious scientific studies and discoveries on electricity, and by the early 1800’s scientists had mastered the use of electricity.

However, electricity never went mainstream until over 150 years after Franklin’s kite experiment. Why?

The answer is that no one saw the mainstream value of electricity. It was a great phenomenon to work with in a lab and to do experiments on, but that was the limit to its use.

All that was about to change in 1879, when another great American inventor, Thomas Edison, invented the first incandescent light bulb, a type of light bulb that produced light by passing electricity through an extremely thin metal filament.

The light bulb was no short of a miraculous invention in itself, but it also set off a series of events that went on to change our world. 

People immediately saw the advantages of the electric light over traditional lamps. They were cleaner, produced no smoke and unpleasant smells, were much brighter, and didn’t need to be constantly refuelled. Soon there was a demand for electric lighting. 

Naturally, with the demand for lights came the need for electricity supply.

In 1882 Edison set up the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York, which began to roll out light bulbs to streets and homes close by. Within a short space of just of 30 years, the whole of the United States was electrified, and the rest of the world was soon to follow.

What we learn from this example, is that many great innovations are insufficient in themselves to drive any major change. They just sit on a shelf, waiting.

Eventually, a new innovation comes along, and a combination of the two innovations is what changes everything. Like electricity and the light bulb, each innovation was in itself insufficient to drive any real change. But combined, they worked together to spark a revolution that transformed our world.

This has been a recurring pattern throughout history, and the current wave of innovation we are experiencing, is no different. It is a time of convergence of a series of innovations which had been around for some time, but have never combined in any significant way, until now.

What are those innovations? They are artificial intelligence, computer networks and cyber-physical systems, and they are changing our world in previously unimaginable ways and have sparked a revolution: the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

When Deputy Education Minister, Angie Motshekga, recently announced that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) is planning to “formalize” grade 9 as one of the exit points for school, social media were ablaze with criticisms, with people saying that it is likely going to worsen a situation that is already critically bad.

No doubt, the youth unemployment problem has reached crisis proportions.

Youth unemployment in this country is among the highest in the world. According to StatsSA, as of the first quarter of 2019 the unemployment rate among the 15 to 25 age group stood at a shocking 55,2%. This is an unsustainable situation, and it is just a matter of time before the entire economy of the country starts to feel the pinch, if it hasn’t already. 

As if that is not alarming enough, the school dropout rate has now reached crisis proportions. Nearly half of the kids entering grade 10 do not make it through matric. These kids usually end up as unemployment statistics. Year after year, this pattern repeats itself, adding more young people into the unemployed masses, further aggravating the crippling poverty in this country.

South Africa desperately needs change.

We have not been given enough details about Minister Motshekga’s plans to say whether it is going to be the change that the country needs, but one thing is very clear: we need to be careful to not place the cart before the horse on this one, or else it will fail.

I do not believe the idea of formalising grade 9 as an exit point is a bad one; in fact, it is a great idea, and one that is not only needed in South Africa, but is being considered in even some developed countries like the United States.

Not all learners are academic, and the current system of channelling everyone through a purely academic system is actually one of the primary reasons for kids dropping out of school. Learners who are not academic, but might possess other inherent talents, such as creativity, artistic abilities, business acumen, or technical prowess, are made to feel inferior because they are unable compete with their academically inclined counterparts.

This is perfectly summed up in a quote often attributed to Albert Einstein: “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

It seems that the entire schooling system has been designed with university entrance in mind. In fact, Sir Ken Robinson, the world-renowned author, speaker and education advisor, says that “If you think of it, the whole system of public education around the world is a protracted process of university entrance.”

This system is not only demoralizing and demotivating, but also highly counter-productive. Non-academic skills are in high demand in the economy, but young people are dissuaded from entering such careers because the academic path is highly, and unduly, glorified. 

Let’s face it: we consider it bragworthy to say that a child is studying medicine or law, but not so much that she is studying carpentry, plumbing or motor mechanics. Yet, the latter are potentially lucrative career paths. 

It is for this reason that I believe Minister Angie’s vision to allow learners to choose a learning path from as young as grade 9 is a great idea, and could help solve a number of problems.

Firstly, it could tackle the country’s youth unemployment problem. If this is implemented correctly and according to a long-term strategic plan, we could soon be churning out matriculants who are skilled enough to get into employment or start a business of their own, thereby boosting the overall economy.

Secondly, the school dropout rate could drop because learners will be able to pursue a path that they are passionate about. Further, it will be a huge relief for poorer parents, knowing they will not have to send their kids to university for four years before they are employable.

Conceptually, the grade 9 exit plan is a great one, but it should actually be among the last steps in a long-term strategic plan. The plan should start with taking a good close look at the current alternatives to university: the vocational and technical schools. 

Are these institutes providing the levels of education that will facilitate the vision? Will learners come out of these schools equipped with the requisite skills for employment? Are they mainstream enough that they provide a viable alternative for youth throughout the country?

A cursory study of the current status quo shows that we are far from ready. What we need is a considerable investment in time and money to bring the current institutes to the levels where they become centres of excellence, and to establish many more such institutes around the country, where they will become accessible to all learners.

Only then will the grade 9 exit point have a chance to become the solution we need. Trying to “jump the queue” will lead to a total disaster.

My boys started out their schooling careers like all kids, by going to pre-school, primary school and high school. We were fortunate to have them attend some really good schools, both state and Islamic.

My two elder boys were high-flyers, always competing for the top spot in their grades, while my youngest preferred the creative side of things. He began writing and illustrating his own stories from around 6 years old. 

The trouble is, my youngest was always compared to his elder brothers because he was not as good as them in maths, science and the mainstream subjects. This began to affect his self-esteem. 

Fortunately, is mother and I caught this fairly quickly, and worked hard to counter the negativity coming from school. We constantly re-enforced him, and supported his creative side. We managed to avert a disaster, but I knew that this was a major crack in the system.

Continue reading “Why I bypassed the Education System”

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