From Homeschooling to $100 Million: How Nathan Barry Built a Business Empire

athan Barry has a diverse background as a creator, author, speaker, and designer.

He is also the founder of ConvertKit, an email marketing platform designed specifically for creators. With 3 books, 2 courses, and an email list of 37,000 subscribers, Nathan's innovative approach has helped him gain a following of over 30,000 creators.

According to Nathan Barry, the founder of ConvertKit, homeschooling was not popular when he was growing up. Some states, such as California, even passed laws to discourage it.

As a result, many families left California and moved to Idaho due to increasing anti-homeschooling legislation.

According to Nathan, homeschooling has become increasingly popular in recent decades. He notes that almost every one of the 74 million kids in the United States has been homeschooled at some point.

Nathan himself was homeschooled with his siblings from grades K-12.

Early Learning Years 

Nathan graduated high school at 15; he went to college first for graphic design, then switched to marketing. He did freelance web design on the side and dropped out of college at 17 when he got his first $10,000 web project. 

Early Achievements

Before turning 23, he self-published three successful books and founded ConvertKit, an email marketing software company. ConvertKit generates $22 million in revenue annually and has a team of 58 people.

INC Magazine named Convertkit the fastest-growing company in Idaho 2 years in a row and this year the fastest-growing software company in the United States.

I am a firm believer in homeschooling.- Nathan. 

How Homeschooling Worked for him

Nathan shares why homeschooling worked for him - In homeschooling, he mentions how classes always moved at his pace. Sometimes, that was quick as he would breeze through subjects; other times, the pace was languid when he wasn't getting it.

In homeschooling class always moved at my pace. Sometimes that was really quickly as I would breeze through subjects, other times the pace was really slow when I just wasn’t getting it - Nathan Barry

He shares how he is always responsible for getting my school done. 

His mom was there to help and tutor him, but as he got older, she clarified that he set the pace and was in charge of my learning. He mentions how his parents made him responsible.

He could pick subjects he was interested in, design some of his assignments, choose books he was interested in, and go at his own pace.

If I wanted to get all my school done early in the week and have a long weekend, that was fine. Or work harder and graduate a few years early, that was fine as well. They made me fully responsible, which meant I had the downside and the upside.

Freedom in Homeschooling

In Nathan's homeschooling experience, he had the freedom to work independently. He could complete all his schoolwork early in the week, have a more extended weekend, or work harder and graduate earlier. 

In fact, I was always responsible for getting my school done. My mom was there to help and tutor, but as I got older she made it clear that I set the pace and was in charge of my learning. - Nathan Barry

Love for Learning

He credits homeschooling for nurturing his love for learning. For instance, he began selling woodworking projects to neighbours at art fairs, built and launched model rockets to learn basic trigonometry and read extensively.

His parents, who were avid readers themselves, modelled the importance of reading and encouraged him to write despite his initial reluctance.

While I certainly still complained about school, I realize now that my upbringing developed a love for learning—not school—learning. - Nathan Barry

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