Today we’d like to introduce you to David Kirkpatrick.
Hi David, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
At one point I gave up on pursuing my dream job. I gave up on myself.
I saw all my friends get dream jobs with the same degree I had,
forcing me to accept I had no else to blame but myself for my situation.
I moved back in with my parents with shame, anger, and a chip on my shoulder. I felt like I was spinning my wheels trying to get a job. I felt useless. As the oldest child of 5, I wanted to be an example. Even living out of my car showed me that I cannot do it alone.
A friend gave me two books that changed my life.
This gave me the courage to finally ask for help.
I made a promise to myself
“I will read as much as successful people read.”
And they read a lot.
Yet I had a big problem. I would read a book and forget everything.
I was also a very slow reader.
Luckily I wondered.. “why do some people seem to read so fast and still be able to retain it?”
Turns out there is an entire science to how the brain can read faster with better comprehension and memory, something that has been studied since the early 1900’s.
After read 10+ speed reading books, and a lot of research reading, and testing on myself..
I was able to read in one hour what used to take me 5 hours.
Ended up reading in one year more than I have read in my entire life.
With a full time job. No excuses. Many sacrifices.
Then, work laid me off. By then I had already read 70+ books on business, sales, marketing, confidence and had already starting helping people.
I am happy to say I have coached all kinds of people! From kids, executives, to CEOs scaling their business past $50 million dollars in revenue.
Now, I primarly focus on working with leaders, their ambitious, competitive nature are the people I have the most fun with!
My extremely large mission is to impact the US literacy rate. The more literate we are, the more GDP we produce.
The more literate we are, quality of life improves. I truly believe absence of information and ignorance keeps people experiencing unnecessary suffering.
Some more personal things about me:
I have hosted a house party in Austin 22 months in a row called…
“Wholesome House Party with No Seed Oils”
I love playing pick up basketball
Barton Springs is my favorite downtime location.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Here are struggles in a chronological order for ya!
From childhood, I was that kid that flunked 5th grade.
For community college, I had to have an entire extra year of classes because I bombed the placement tests so bad.
Things started to get better with my learning skills, and I became one of the top tutors at De Anza.
For adult life after college, it took me a whole year and a half to get my dream job my degree was supposed to get me.
Lived out of my tiny car at one point because of a fight with my parents.
When I read 70 books in one year was a difficult challenge.
Teaching myself sales and marketing from books as a software engineer was difficult!
Moving to a new city with a new business was difficult as well.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My work specializes in helping business owners and executives maximize their learning efficiency.
I specialize specifically in speed reading and memory training.
I am known for a more hands on group and 1on1 approach versus the typical video course offer that is out on the market for my same services.
I prefer the more hands on approach because that is the product I wish existed when I started out on improving within my own reading journey.
I am most proud of my clients. I am happy to say that some of my closest friends are my clients. Chet Holmes in the book “The Ultimate Sales Machine” said that all of his clients he would also call his friends. Reading that made me realize I want to make sure my product and delivery is so good, that friendship is inevitable.
What else sets me apart from others is that I have read almost every speed reading book out there, and every research paper relevant to the science of reading, which I use to to enhance my client’s results and training.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
What has worked well for me is understanding the benefits a mentor receives from having a mentee. Most assume it is a one way street, that only the student receives a benefit. A mentor can receive so much value from a good mentee. To clarify my own experience, I’ve had mentors I’ve paid for, and not paid for, both valuable!
A good mentee, listens, researches on their own, innovates, and shows the mentor progress.
A bad mentee listens partially, but continues with their own way. A bad mentee does not share their progress and hides from the mentor when things get hard.
Many of the people I look up to, had no money and no network to even consider a mentor. So their books were their mentors.
Start with books to mold yourself into the perfect mentee.
Pricing:
- Free speed reading course (on website)
- Free speed reading test (on website)
- $10 a month community & course
- $100 a month online entrepreneur book club
- $5,000 6 Books in 6 Weeks Group Reading Accelerator
Contact Info:
- Website: https://reading4results.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidreadsfast/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidkirk95/
- X: https://x.com/davidreadsfast
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@davidreadsfast
Image Credits
Photo taken with my cell phone.
