Thanks to all those I encountered on my journey creating Learn Earn Own and the Assets Ladder
With sincere thanks to you all
During the lockdowns of 2020-21, I used the time to interview some of Ireland’s most interesting business people I could track down. I also chatted to others from around the world, and I saw some patterns emerging. Get a job, do a side-hustle and do your own thing was common.
I quickly saw that the 100-year-old Career Ladder was no longer relevant to most people and that most career plans were mostly text. I saw a gap for a new career tool with more visualisation, collaboration, and maybe even some gamification.
While new to ‘careers’, I was very experienced in education, design thinking, product development etc. I started running events in Dublin called Career Lab to meet people and sense-check my ideas. I was on track. I dipped in and out of this project while working on other things, getting married and starting a family etc.
Thanks to my interviewees:
Adrian Avendano, Amanda Scott (Personal Boardroom), Anthony Quigley (Code Institute / Corporate Governance Institute), Ariana Dunne, Conor Cogan (Beardedman Ireland), Daniel Kramer (The Control Room), Danielle Curtis (Legal Diaries), Dr. Domingo Sanchez (ISAAAC), Dr. John Teeling (Great Northern Distillery / Cooley Distillery), Dylan Bradshaw (Dylan Bradshaw Salon), Ekaterina Solomeina (Future London Academy), James Burke (James Burke Consulting), Jass Foley, Jennifer Oppermann & Jette Virdi, John McGowan (Unicorn Magic Apps), Johnny Beirne (johnnybeirne.com), Kingsley Aikins (The Networking Institute), Maria Betts (Maria Lucia Bakes), Mark Duffy (Mark Duffy Photography), Michael Kelly (GIY), Norah Casey, and Tori McCann (Torre Barre).
This book draws inspiration from a variety of entrepreneurs, thinkers, writers, and creators. Below is a list of works and authors cited directly or quoted in the text.
Thanks to those quoted in the book:
Alex Hormozi 2022 - x.com/AlexHormozi
Ali Abdaal, Facebook April 9, 2025 - aliabdaal.com
Arie de Geus, “Planning as Learning”. hbr.org - March 1988
Bill Burnett & Dave Evans, Designing Your Life - 2016
Codie Sanchez - tiktok.com/@realcodiesanchez
Cal Newport - CalNewport.com
Dan Koe’s newsletter, October 2024 - thedankoe.com
Daniel Priestley. 24 Assets. Rethink Press, 2017
David Autor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - 2025
Derval O’Rourke - Interview with Conor Lynch in 2020 - derval.ie
Ed Giansante 2024 - www.linkedin.com/in/edugiansante
Greg Isenberg 2025 - x.com/gregisenberg
Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis, Squiggly Careers, amazingif.com
Joshua Cohen, Apple University, University of California, Berkeley
Justin Welsh 2024 - x.com/thejustinwelsh
Mark Tilbury 2024 - MarkTilbury.com
Naval Ravikant - various content - nav.al
Nicolas Cole, various content - nicolascole.com
Richard P. Rumelt, “Good Strategy, Bad Strategy”, 2011
Reid Hoffman, Forbes, August 26, 2024 - reidhoffman.org
Russell Brunson, various content - russellbrunson.com
Sam Altman, Fortune, February 4, 2024 - samaltman.com
Sarah Chrisp, Entrepreneur.com, February 19, 2020 - wholesaleted.com
Shaan Puri 2022 - x.com/ShaanVP
Simon Sinek - simonsinek.com
Simon Squibb - Instagram, July 28, 2025 - simonsquibb.com
Stephen Bartlett - stephenbartlett.com
Terence McKenna - terencemckenna.com
The Guardian 2025, Adzuna data, June 2025
Tim Carden, various quotes - x.com/timbuilds21
Warren Buffett - various interviews
Thanks to those whose journey I mentioned as examples:
Kate Horton (Miss Excel); Ben Francis (Gymshark); Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones (The Black Farmer); Marie Poulin (Notion Mastery); Greg Orlowski + Will Shu (Deliveroo); Niall McGrath (Slicey); Amanda Hocking (Hocking Books); Sarah Chrisp (Wholesale Ted); Eoghan McCabe, Des Traynor, Ciaran Lee, David Barrett (Intercom); Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo); Rachel Carrell (Koru Kids); Daniel Lubetzky (Kind Snacks); Nick Jenkins (Moonpig); Derval O’Rourke (Derval.ie); Diarmuid McSweeney, Niall Horgan, Karl Swaine (Gym + Coffee); Hamdi Ulukaya (Chobani); John Teeling (Great Northern Distillery); David + Stephen Flynn (The Happy Pear).
Articles / Reports
Eurofound / Adapt Report 2022, via EU-LFS (Labour Force Survey).
Gallup. State of the Global Workplace Report. Gallup, 2023
Goldman Sachs Creator Market Research 2023
IDEO. “Design Thinking Defined.” IDEO.org, 2020
MBO Partners / Emergent Research “State of Independence in America 2023” (published in early 2024).
The Guardian 2025, Adzuna data, June 2025
Deloitte GenZ Millennial Survey 2025
Inspiration (Not quoted)
Business Model Canvas - Alex Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur
My First Million - Sam Parr & Shaan Puri
Seth Godin - various books and content