What This Channel Is (And How to Use It)
By Caleb & Mary Beth Lutz · July 25, 2026 · pairs with Start Here: Episode 1 - 1) What This Channel Is (And How to Use It)
While you were in school, you probably learned the difference between verbs and adverbs. You may have learned to graph a parabola. You likely didn’t learn how to understand your paycheck deductions, how to earn a dollar that isn't tied to showing up somewhere for eight hours, or how to get to the point where a surprise bill doesn't ruin your week.
You also probably never learned the personal leadership and influence traits that actually move a life forward: how to hold a hard conversation, how to lead yourself before you lead anyone else, how to build trust with people who don't have to give it to you.
So if you've ever had the quiet feeling that everyone else got handed a manual you missed, you didn't miss it. It was never handed out.
That's the whole reason this What They Don’t Teach You project is being built out. We're Caleb and Mary Beth Lutz, and WTDTY is the money and freedom conversation we wish somebody had started with us years ago. This post is your start and a brief explanation of how we’re building out this channel. What we cover, why it got left out of your education, and exactly where you can start today.
Caleb and Mary Beth Lutz, Founders
Why nobody taught you this
Quick story, because it's the reason we care about this at all.
We were both teachers. I (Caleb) taught math to middle and high schoolers. I (Mary Beth) taught elementary. We both earned below the poverty line doing work we loved, which is a strange and specific kind of stuck. You're pouring yourself into something meaningful and still doing math in the parking lot about whether you can afford groceries.
I (Caleb) kept hitting the same wall in my classroom. Kids would ask why they had to learn algebra, and I had a decent answer about problem-solving. But privately the honest answer was sinking in that whatever these kids did with their lives, they were going to need two vital skills school curriculums never taught: how to make money and how to work with people. I was standing at the front of the room teaching neither, while my own bank account was a mess.
That gap doesn’t need to be a conspiracy to be painfully felt. Schools were designed to produce good employees: those highly attuned to correction, trained to work hard with minimal breaks, and required to repeat language and facts that they are told are important. The skills that can help you build your financial freedom and freedom of thought just aren't on the tests, so they never made the syllabus. You were taught to be hired, not to be a competent, free-thinking contributor and influencer in your community. Not to be free.
We are talking entirely different skill sets than what most have been taught.
We’ve been closing those gaps the slow, expensive way: by trial and error, hard-sought mentors willing to share some of their hindsight 1-1, and a lot of books we could've read a decade earlier. This channel is us handing you resources we never had and starting conversations we wish had been brought to us years ago.
We're not gurus, and that's the point
We're a couple of steps down the road from where you might be right now, turning around to point at the potholes we already hit.
Here's why that matters for you specifically. Think about who's actually helped you grow. It's usually the coworker one level up who told you the truth about your boss. The friend who'd already bought a house and walked you through it. The person close enough to your situation to be useful. That's the role we're willing to play for those who find this useful.
Everything here comes with the receipts of us having tried it, including the parts that didn't work. When we recommend a book, we've read and applied it. When we point you to one of our resources, it's one we've pressure tested with others. You'll either always hear the explanation of why we're telling you something, or are always welcome to send feedback where we can keep improving the usefulness.
The three things worth learning
Everything on this channel lives under three headings.
Income streams: earning beyond the paycheck
Most money advice is about saving. Clip coupons, skip the latte, put a little aside. It's all true and it's all not enough, because you cannot save your way past a ceiling your career options allow for without learning new skills and language.
At some point the move is to earn a dollar that doesn't depend on your one job. Not a frantic side hustle for the sake of being busy. A second stream, then maybe a third, so your entire life doesn't hang on one manager's decision in one bad quarter.
We’re building out conversations and materials to cover what those income streams can be, what they really cost to start, and what a realistic return looks like. Some may be a terrible fit for your life and what matters most to you. Others may click. Most will take significant and consistent effort to become a true revenue stream. With each income option, we do our best to cover the good, bad, and ugly, and point you to the facts and additional resources where you can think for yourself and choose where to start to create the options you know you want.
Personal influence: the skill hiding in plain sight
This is your ability to work with people and be trusted by them. And here's the part that catches people off guard: you're already doing it every day. Every conversation, every interview, every ask. The only question is whether you're doing it on purpose or by accident. Whether you’re listened to or brushed over. Whether you’re considered a bully or a dynamic leader.
I (Mary Beth) used to be confident with most group leadership and communication, but was uncomfortable at best when I needed to have the crucial conversations where others said what they thought of me. I (Caleb) was homeschooled, introverted, and dead certain that "sales" was just a nice word for manipulation. And while I didn't mind speaking my mind one-on-one, somehow my delivery came out sounding like accusation instead of an invitation to collaborate. Both of those communication patterns changed, because we, on purpose, started growing our self awareness and skills, and kept making the necessary skill upgrades. Truly, we changed because we realized that if we so highly desired to impact those around us for good, it was on us to learn the communication skills necessary to walk it out.
If you've ever frozen up in an interview or talked yourself out of asking for something, this pillar is for you.
The freedom game: owning your choices to own your time
Yes, this is wealth, ownership, and getting your time back. More importantly, this is owning all the areas of your life outside of your income itself, that are directly impacting your income, influence, and freedom of choice.
Some of it draws on a book that reframed how we think about the success journey, A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby Payne. Her big idea is one worth sitting with:
Poverty is a lack of resources, not just a lack of money.
Money is one resource among MANY. Other vital resources impacting your wellbeing and freedom of choice (among others) are Emotional, Mental, Spiritual, Physical Health, Support Systems, Role Models and Mentors, and Knowledge of Hidden Rules. You can grow up loaded in some areas and completely broke in others. Most people do. And each of these gaps quietly shapes how much freedom you actually experience.
A Framework for Understanding Poverty
Where to actually start
A pile of content is useless if you don't know the first move. Here's the path we'd point you down if you were sitting across from us.
Watch the Start Here playlist in order. Five short episodes that build on each other. This is episode one. Two is our full story, where "former teachers below the poverty line" stops being a phrase and gets real. Three is why freedom beats a raise. Four is the honest self-check you do before chasing any income (may be the MOST important of the Start Here episodes). Five is why avoiding isolation will take you so much further than the solopreneur-for-life route most wanna-be business owners fall into.
Then address the squeakiest wheel in your life. Drowning because of a role model and support system resources you've been lacking? Go straight to the freedom game material. Freeze up on camera or in interviews? Personal influence. Ready to earn outside your paycheck but no idea what fits? Income streams. You don't have to go in order forever. Just get the foundation first.
Show up weekly. New stuff goes up every week, and we expect this project to run for years, because there's genuinely that much they didn't teach you.
Two free tools to snag
The best first step here costs nothing but a little honesty with yourself. There are several free tools on the site. If you're not sure where to begin, start with these two.
The Freedom Budget Tracker. Start here, and don't overthink it. Most people don't avoid budgeting because it's hard. They avoid it because they're scared of what they'll find. This walks you through it gently and helps you land on your Escape Number, which is the amount of outside income that would actually give you options. It's the moment freedom stops being a vibe and becomes a number you can aim at.
The Income Streams Index. A plain-English rundown of the different ways to earn beyond your job, what each one really costs to start, and a realistic timeline to see a return. It's the fastest way to get your bearings before you commit to anything.
We've put real time into both of these, and we had other people vet them for the actual value they give someone who's just starting out. We think they'll help you too, and we genuinely want your feedback on them. You can find both at theydontteachyou.com/resources.
The Freedom Budget Tracker
Frequently asked questions
What is What They Don't Teach You about? It's a money and freedom education channel from two former teachers, Caleb and Mary Beth Lutz. It covers earning beyond your paycheck, building personal influence, and the freedom game: owning your choices and all the hidden resources that impact owning your time.
Do I need money to start? No. The first steps are all free and most resources shared here are either free or minimal cost and completely at your discretion. We'd again point you to the Freedom Budget Tracker to understand what you already have. You get clear on your numbers before you decide where you spend a dollar on anything.
Where should a total beginner start? The Start Here playlist in order, then the Freedom Budget Tracker. That's about an hour and it gives you the mindset plus your first tool.
What's an Escape Number? It's the amount of outside-your-job income that would give you real choices, like the freedom to leave a job, move, or take time off without a crisis. The Freedom Budget Tracker helps you find yours.
An Encouragement to our Friends: Start with ONE small thing
You don't need to overhaul your life this week. Money and freedom run on skills and habits, and those are learnable, by you, starting now.
So do one small thing. Open the Freedom Budget Tracker and find your Escape Number. Watch episode two and hear how two broke teachers dug out. Read through the resources and see which one speaks to whatever's keeping you up at night.
Everything on the resources page is something we built and had others vet before we put our name on it. We use these tools ourselves, and we made them for the exact moment you're in right now. Go take what's useful, and then tell us what worked and what didn't. We want the real talk, because your feedback is how these get better for the next person who shows up looking for a manual nobody handed them.
And we'll close this the way we close all of them, because we mean it: you always have a choice to change your life.
🎯 Start here: theydontteachyou.com/start-here
📩 Get the free Freedom Budget Tracker and browse every resource: theydontteachyou.com/resources
