Meet the Coaches Behind High Rise Academy

Grant Haugen Grant Haugen on October 31, 2025

Meet the Coaches

High Rise Academy is led by three practitioners who train students on real business projects using documented processes and live feedback.

Jack Wendt — Founder & CEO, High Rise Influence

Jack started young — at 12–13 he was buying and reselling watches, learning how to negotiate, reinvest profits, and build relationships. That early hustle turned into a passion for entrepreneurship and mentorship. He built High Rise Academy so motivated teens don’t have to guess their way forward or build businesses alone.

“When I was 13, I had to figure it out myself. Now we can give young people a system — and help real businesses along the way.” —Jack Wendt

How Jack mentors

  • Assigns live business tasks: editing vertical videos, writing platform-native captions, basic ad setups.
  • Shows students how to publish once, then distribute across channels without duplicating work, following our cross-posting guide.
  • Models client communication and simple reporting (before/after assets, notes, and next actions).
  • Helps students channel their entrepreneurial energy into real businesses — generating calls, creating content, and directly contributing to client revenue.

Dennis Yu — Former Search Engine Engineer & Co-Creator of the Content Factory

Dennis designs the systems our teams use to execute reliably at scale — checklists, SOPs, and feedback loops rooted in the Content Factory framework. Students don’t watch theory; they ship assets and get reviewed. He also emphasizes E-E-A-T — real people, real places, real work — to make content credible and reusable.

“There’s no age too early to start building a brand or learning how to learn.” —Dennis Yu

How Dennis coaches

  • Weekly reviews with concrete acceptance criteria (naming, thumbnails, captions, repost rules).
  • Layering proof — names, locations, client artifacts — to establish trust via E-E-A-T.
  • Avoiding common VA pitfalls by tying every task to a clear goal, content asset, and target.
  • Works with students from age 17 to 60, proving that the Academy’s structure supports all levels of experience — from teenagers just starting out to adults seeking to sharpen their skills.

Dylan Haugen — Professional Dunker & Creator

Dylan is a professional dunker who performs in contests and live shows while documenting his journey online. His creative background gives him a unique perspective on content and storytelling. After connecting with Dennis and Jack in late December, he discovered how to use the Academy’s structure to transform his passion into professional growth.

“After joining the program, I learned more in a few weeks than I had in years on my own.” —Dylan Haugen

How Dylan teaches

  • Short-form storytelling on real client pages (clear hook, proof, next step).
  • Batch capture and workflow hygiene (shot lists, b-roll banks, caption templates).
  • Practical feedback on pacing, framing, and retention.
  • Works with business owners — from local gyms to personal brands — showing them how consistent storytelling drives measurable results online.

What You’ll See in Practice

  • Live weekly coaching with screen-share reviews and action items.
  • Documented SOPs with examples for each step.
  • Real distribution on business accounts, followed by sensible republishing.
  • Proof built in — faces, places, and outcomes attached to the work.
  • Range of participants from teens to age 60; quality is driven by checklists, not age.
  • Students are paid as they demonstrate competency on production tasks.

Why High Rise Academy Matters

Students learn marketing by doing: edit videos, post on business accounts, and follow checklists until their work meets spec. Parents see consistent habits and professional communication develop over time. Business owners get useful assets instead of vague ideas.

For parents who want to see their teens develop real-world skills, build meaningful relationships, and gain confidence through hands-on experience, High Rise Academy provides a clear path — while also contributing real work for the businesses they support.

If you’d like to learn from mentors like Dennis, Jack, and Dylan, or know a young adult who would thrive in this environment, explore how to get involved with High Rise Academy. It’s a place where curiosity turns into capability, and learning turns into real results.

Welcome to the AI Apprentice Program

Dennis Yu on October 28, 2025

Congrats, you’ve joined the program.

Now that you’re officially inside, here’s the exact roadmap so you don’t feel lost staring at 140+ courses, 27 tools, and a pile of skills you think you “don’t have yet.” Let’s cut through the noise.

Join the Office Hours Facebook group

By now, you should have an email inviting you to our Office Hours Facebook Group.
If it didn’t arrive, give it a few minutes; it’s on the way.

This group is where everything happens:

  • Weekly Office Hours: Thursdays at 2 PM PST / 5 PM EST.
    We record all sessions, so if you miss one, no meltdown necessary.
  • Ask your questions here (not in the big public group).

We use Facebook because local service business owners live on Facebook.
If you want clients, you should too.

Join all required platforms

To get fully connected, knock these out immediately:

— Accept your Basecamp invite. Projects, training, assignments, and your Weekly MAA reports live here.

— Join the ChatGPT business account. Full access to our shared tools and workspace.

— Join the private Office Hours Facebook group. This is your real support channel.

— Subscribe to the Dennis Yu YouTube channel.
Every Thursday at 11 AM EST, I drop the Marketing Mechanic episode.

Welcome to the AI Apprentice Program

Submit your weekly MAA report

Every Friday, by 5 PM Eastern, you’ll submit your MAA report in Basecamp.

It takes 5 minutes.
And here’s the raw truth:

People who submit consistently in the first 3–4 weeks succeed.
People who don’t, never do.

Even if you were sick, traveling, busy, or didn’t get access to a client account, you can always report something:

  • Ran a Local Falcon scan.
  • Watched a training.
  • Improved your LinkedIn.
  • Posted a video.
  • Learned one new skill.
  • Implemented a tool.

Two minutes of effort is enough.
It’s about building the habit.

Connect with other apprentices

This isn’t a solo sport.

Inside the Office Hours group, you’ll find people:

  • In your same city.
  • Working in the same niche (roofing, HVAC, dental, etc.).
  • Developing the same skills you want.
  • At the same stage of learning.

Reach out. Build relationships.
Many of our best agencies started from connections made here.

Use the tools & training we give you

You get access to tools that the public doesn’t:

  • Link Whisper (premium).
  • RankMath Pro.
  • WordPress resources.
  • Internal SOPs.
  • Meeting templates.
  • Project management training.
  • Agency operations training.

When we teach something publicly, you get the implementation version.
That’s a massive advantage; use it.

Manage email like a professional

If you’re a young adult, you probably live on your phone.
Nothing wrong with that, but handle client email on a laptop, not your thumbs.

Install Boomerang for Gmail (free is fine).
It helps you:

  • Track follow-ups.
  • Handle scheduling.
  • Keep your inbox from becoming a crime scene.

Email is where real business happens.
You need to treat it seriously.

Master meeting basics

We have training on:

  • What to do before a meeting.
  • What to do during a meeting.
  • What to do after a meeting.

Including:

  • Always send an agenda upstream.
  • Always record Zoom meetings.
  • Always share action items after.
  • Always update Basecamp with who’s doing what.

If you do this well for your parents’ business or first client, you will get more.
And when you’re reliably executing, we’ll promote you and send an opportunity your way.
(Not because you bought the program, but because you earned it.)

Where not to ask for help

There’s a giant free Facebook group called Digital Marketing with Dennis Yu (44k+ members).

That’s not your support channel.

Your help and team support are inside Office Hours, the private group.

Stay there.

If you’re ever truly stuck

  1. Message Stephanie (stephanie@blitzmetrics.com).
  2. If it’s something only I can solve (rare), you can email me.
  3. You can text me too. Just make sure it’s worth waking me up over.

Your first real assignment: Make a 1-minute video

Record a simple cell-phone introduction and post it in the Office Hours group.

No scripts.
No fancy camera.
No “I need to get ready first.”

Just you, talking for 60 seconds:

  • Who you are.
  • Where you’re from.
  • What you’re working on.
  • What you want to learn.

If we were sitting around a dinner table at a mastermind, you’d introduce yourself.
This is the same thing.

Do it now. Don’t overthink it.

What It’s Like to Be in High Rise Academy: Henry’s Story

Jack Wendt Jack Wendt on October 6, 2025

Featured Image: Henry on a video call sharing his first week in High Rise Academy (placeholder)

When Dylan and I started High Rise Academy, our goal was simple: give young adults the tools, mentorship, and confidence to do real work for real businesses. Henry is one of the first apprentices to join, and his journey shows exactly how this program works in practice.

This story comes from a Youtube interview we did with Henry, reflecting on his early months in the program. What he shared provides a clear picture of what new apprentices can expect.

Flexibility From Day One

When we asked Henry what he loved most about the program, his answer was immediate: freedom and versatility.

He explained: “I can basically work from wherever I want as long as I have internet access and Wi-Fi.”

That flexibility meant Henry could work from his family’s cabin or his home without missing deadlines. For him, work-life balance wasn’t theory — it was lived experience.

This is the same principle Dennis Yu, Dylan, and I experienced when we spent a month traveling to eight countries and five U.S. states while speaking at conferences. Our output didn’t dip, because we follow documented processes like the Content Factory model.

Starting With No Experience

Henry admitted he had “little to no experience” before joining. His only teamwork experience came from school projects.

Within weeks, he built professional habits:

  • Communicating directly with clients.
  • Finishing projects on time.
  • Following through on commitments.

As Henry put it: “It’s greatly helped me to communicate with others, get work done on time, and finish what you said you would finish.”

Henry proves that even with no experience, the system works.

Building Transferable Skills

Henry quickly realized that the methods we used for a dentist could apply to almost any local service business — landscapers, plumbers, roofers, and more.

He learned to:

  • Build repeatable workflows for repurposing.
  • Adapt formats to each platform’s audience.
  • Use tools like Descript and Underlord to speed up editing.

Henry discovered that while tools help, real skill lies in understanding client goals and target audiences. That’s why we built documented processes like the Content Factory model: they create scalable systems anyone can learn and apply.

Weekly Reports and SEO Growth

Every Friday, Henry contributed to our MAA End-of-Week Reports. In week one, the reports simply listed content produced.

As weeks progressed, Henry learned how to:

  • Add SEO tracking.
  • Summarize keyword performance.
  • Include engagement numbers from social posts.

These reports became the backbone of client communication. Henry moved from never having written a report to producing one that guided business decisions. To see exactly how to structure these reports, check out our full guide on how to write Weekly MAA reports for local service businesses.

Support From the Team

Henry didn’t navigate this alone. He had access to mentors like Dennis Yu, Dylan, and myself, along with a full library of playbooks and processes.

As he explained: “Everything is documented. Everything that Dennis and BlitzMetrics has done is out there. You can literally just search whatever you’re saying.”

When apprentices run into obstacles, they’re never stuck. They can:

  • Reference documented checklists.
  • Ask team members who’ve executed these tasks thousands of times.
  • Follow guides to avoid the #1 VA mistake.

Time Commitment and Balance

Henry is clear about the time investment. He doesn’t log hours for the sake of it. He focuses on getting projects done.

For apprentices managing one client, Henry estimated “probably no more than an hour a day” is sufficient. That makes High Rise Academy accessible for students, part-time workers, and young adults balancing other commitments.

Advice to Future Apprentices

When we asked Henry what advice he’d give someone just starting, he said: “At the beginning, I didn’t really know much. But there are so many resources. And even if you end up getting stuck, there are team members who’ve done this thousands of times you can fall back on.”

That mindset is exactly what makes High Rise Academy work: you don’t need to start as an expert. You need to start willing to learn.

Closing Thoughts

Henry’s journey represents what High Rise Academy is about: taking motivated young adults, giving them real-world work with real clients, and surrounding them with mentorship and repeatable processes that lead to success.

Key takeaways from Henry’s story:

  • Flexibility to work from anywhere.
  • Transferable skills that apply to any local business.
  • Step-by-step guidance through reporting, SEO, and content creation.
  • Supportive mentors and documented playbooks.
  • Realistic time commitment that fits into everyday life.

Want to build these skills while helping real businesses? Start by applying what Henry did — commit to doing the work, ask questions, and follow the process.

Learn more about High Rise Academy and apply today.

High Rise Influence University Program: Detailed Guide

Dennis Yu on October 5, 2025

This expanded guide builds on our overview of the High Rise Influences AI Apprenticeship Program, or High Rise Academy, giving you deeper insight into how we help apprentices turn passion into a professional career. From paid client work to mentorship and advanced certifications, here’s what sets our program apart.

Hands-On Paid Work & Real Client Experience

Our apprentices don’t just study theory – they learn by doing. After completing the foundational courses, apprentices can qualify to become part of the Digital Marketing Training System. Entry-level specialists start at $10 per hour, with tiered raises of $5 per hour as they earn certifications. This paid work isn’t busywork; apprentices produce deliverables for real clients, gaining the experience and case studies needed to build personal brands and portfolios.

Mentorship & Career Guidance

Mentorship is at the core of our program. Dennis Yu credits his own success to mentors and encourages apprentices to follow the same path. We teach a simple four-step approach: follow the mentor’s content, show you’ve done your homework, demonstrate gratitude, and offer small favors in return. Our faculty members and industry professionals guide apprentices through project reviews and career planning, helping them make the leap from apprentice to marketing professional.

Entrepreneurial Skills & Building Agencies

Many of our apprentices aim to start their own agencies. That’s why our curriculum covers practical advice on scaling, managing freelancers, and working with big clients. We emphasize balancing learning with networking and execution to avoid common startup pitfalls. Whether you want to launch your own agency or become a high-impact marketer in a larger organization, this program equips you with entrepreneurial skills.

Faculty & Administrator Options

We offer a range of options for universities and organizations interested in collaborating. These include one-hour live webinars on topics like Facebook Ads for $1 a day, project management, personal branding, content marketing, and measuring social media ROI. Qualifying apprentices can join the specialist program to earn while they learn, advancing based on performance. For colleges and student groups, Dennis Yu waives his standard speaking fee for on-campus workshops and keynotes, sharing his experiences from Yahoo! and his predictions for the future of digital marketing.

Partnerships & Schools

The High-Rise Influence University Program collaborates with a growing list of educational institutions. Partners have included the University of Louisville, UC San Diego, BYU, Hofstra University, Ridgewater College, Syracuse University, the University of Connecticut, the University of San Diego, LDS Business College, and Baruch College. These partnerships help integrate our curriculum into degree programs and create employment pipelines for apprentices.

Real-World Systems & Processes

We use checklists and processes similar to those found in aviation and surgery to ensure repeatable excellence. Frameworks like the Topic Wheel and 3×3 Goals help apprentices structure their personal brands and content strategies. Our specialist and virtual assistant collaboration model ensures that tasks such as video editing, ad management, and micro-targeting are handled efficiently.

Scale & Ongoing Growth

The program offers access to over 44 professional courses, with more added every month. This ensures apprentices can continue advancing their skills long after they complete the core curriculum. As the program grows, we measure social media ROI and define the impact of likes, comments, shares, and reviews to set the standard for social measurement.

Conclusion & Next Steps

The High-Rise Influence University Program doesn’t just teach marketing; it creates employable, experienced marketers with personal brands and real client results. Whether you’re an aspiring marketer, a university partner, or a business seeking certified talent, we invite you to explore the program and discover how it can accelerate your goals.

Interested in joining? Read our main overview of the High-Rise Influence University Program here: https://highriseinfluence.net/high-rise-influence-university-program/. Or contact us to learn more about partner packages and opportunities.

How High Rise Academy Trains Young Adults to Deliver for Local Businesses

Jack Wendt Jack Wendt on October 3, 2025

In this video, Dennis Yu, Dylan Haugen, and I, Jack Wendt, explain how High Rise Academy equips young adults to deliver results local businesses can measure—leads, calls, and customers.

Goals: Creating Jobs Through Mentorship

High Rise Academy is built on Dennis Yu’s mission to create one million jobs for young adults. That idea comes from mentorship Dennis received 30 years ago from the CEO of American Airlines, who helped him see opportunities as a young professional.

That mentorship model defines the Academy. Students learn by doing and then teaching others. Dylan Haugen explained: “Since starting this, all my friends have been implementing this into their personal branding. I’ve helped them get Knowledge Panels just by sharing what I learned.”

Dylan and I documented the steps to trigger a Google Knowledge Panel so peers could follow the same process. Each student builds a public portfolio of campaigns, dashboards, and videos that employers or clients can verify.

Content: Documented Systems That Deliver

The Content Factory

Apprentices follow BlitzMetrics’ Content Factory framework, the same workflow applied with Nike and the Golden State Warriors. It turns one video into many outputs across TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Tools like Descript and CapCut simplify editing, so even first-time students can caption and repurpose clips.

The 3×3 Video Grid

Students start with a 3×3 video grid: nine short clips—three “Why,” three “How,” and three “What.” For example, a dentist might record why they entered the field, how they calm nervous patients, and what treatments they offer. These build authenticity and become ads or blog content.

This method reflects BlitzMetrics’ personal branding guide: authentic storytelling is the backbone of effective marketing.

Dollar-a-Day Strategy

Campaigns are promoted using the Dollar-a-Day strategy. By spending $1 daily, students test what works before scaling.

Dennis commented: “Most local businesses say they’ve been burned by three agencies before us.” Documented dashboards help rebuild that trust.

Targeting: Parents and Local Businesses

Parents and Students

Parents want skills that translate into work. At High Rise Academy, apprentices launch campaigns in their first month.

Instead of theory, each student documents campaigns that prove competence.

Local Service Providers

For dentists, roofers, and lawyers, marketing is often a struggle. The Academy prepares someone they trust—a son, daughter, or local student—to manage it.

These steps follow Dennis Yu’s local marketing strategy for service providers, applied in real campaigns.

Why Real Client Work Produces Better Marketers Than Classroom Theory

The Academy succeeds because apprentices run live campaigns, not simulations. Every assignment delivers measurable results—calls, leads, or video views.

Dennis explained: “This isn’t about tuition or replacing college. These are individual lives. When these young adults succeed, I feel pride.”

By documenting their work publicly—through checklists, YouTube videos, and blogs—students create repeatable paths for others to follow. That cycle scales the mission from dozens of jobs to thousands.

High Rise Academy Training Is Built on Documented Proof

High Rise Academy is grounded in execution. Apprentices create content, run ads, and manage analytics that businesses can measure. Parents see confidence grow. Business owners get work tied to visible data.

The systems behind it—the Content Factory framework, the Dollar-a-Day method, and steps to trigger a Google Knowledge Panel—have been tested with global brands and adapted for local providers.

Want to equip your young adult with these skills? Enroll in High Rise Academy and give them hands-on experience running real campaigns.

Free AI Marketing Training

Dennis Yu on January 8, 2025

This page is free training for local service business owners who want to understand how marketing actually works before delegating it to an agency or investing further.

Most businesses don’t struggle because they aren’t trying hard enough. They struggle because the systems behind search, social, ads, and content aren’t explained in a way that connects actions to real business outcomes.

Each resource below focuses on a specific area where confusion is common—how platforms interpret your business, why content often fails to perform, and how to evaluate what is (and isn’t) producing revenue.

You don’t need to watch everything. Start with the section that best matches where you feel uncertain, and use the rest as reference as questions come up.

Below is a curated collection of videos selected because they address the most common points of confusion and failure.

How SEO actually works

Start here. This video explains the underlying framework the rest of these trainings build on.

This is the first episode in my Marketing Mechanic series, which focuses on identifying the underlying mechanism that actually drives performance in a marketing channel.

SEO continues to be a frustrating mystery for home service businesses.

Much of that confusion comes from focusing on tactics instead of understanding how search engines interpret businesses at a structural level.

As a search engineer who helped build Yahoo! over 25 years ago, I explain how search engines, social platforms, and tools like ChatGPT interpret entities, and why this matters far more than traditional SEO checklists.

This episode establishes a foundation you’ll see repeated throughout the rest of the trainings: once you understand the mechanic, decisions become simpler and more controllable.

The first seven Marketing Mechanic episodes are designed to build on each other, moving from foundation to execution.

Content strategy that drives sales

Most home service businesses fail spectacularly at content marketing because they pursue a content calendar approach instead of the evergreen Topic Wheel.

In this video, we cover how to go from random posts that get no engagement and die out to revenue-producing assets that continue to live forever.

We’ll discover the 90/90 rule, 3×3 grid, and Greatest Hits, which you can implement immediately.

Own your name on Google

If you don’t own your name on Google, you don’t own your business.

Type your name into search right now. Do you see you… or do you see LinkedIn’s rented billboard?

That’s like running a million-dollar company but letting someone else hold the keys to your front door.

In this video, I break down exactly how to take back your name, structure your personal brand site, and trigger Google’s Knowledge Panel so you become the undisputed authority on you.

If Google can’t tell who you are, neither can AI. And that means customers can’t either.

5 steps to own your own marketing

Whether you use an agency or do it in-house, you should always OWN your own marketing.

Not just to verify you have ownership across all your assets, but to also understand what’s actually driving revenue and where calls are coming from.

Even if you’re not “technical”, you as the business owner deserve to know from your service providers how much money is incrementally being generated by each tactic, without having to ask.

And you should be able to see the actual numbers in your own systems, not a 3rd party interface dressed up to make them look good.

Here are 5 steps to take back control.

There are thousands of legitimate marketers out there who aren’t afraid of letting the client own their own systems and to show them the data.

+ Get access to all your assets (web, social, email).

+ Look at the spend and change history in ad accounts.

+ Establish MAA performance reporting.

+ Ensure clear functional SOPs (Content Factory).

+ Staff up functions with VAs and/or agencies.

How to do MAA like a pro

Clients can be unhappy with our results, even though we’re working hard.

Each of us is doing what appears to be good work, but must understand MAA (business impact) to truly deliver.

Content creation and website tweaking is only half of the equation (conversion), while the other half is traffic (getting people to these pages).

The combination of traffic x conversion = qualified customers.

And that’s what we should all be looking at, no matter what part of the puzzle we’re working on– Google ads, tweaking the new veneer landing page, building links, editing videos, posting on YouTube, answering the phone, etc…

The Social Amplification Engine

Most people post randomly and hope something works. The Social Amplification Engine turns that chaos into a precise, repeatable system.

This guide walks you through the full stack of digital marketing (plumbing, goals, content, targeting, amplification, and optimization) and shows how each layer works together to generate consistent leads.

You’ll see how to build the infrastructure, set measurable objectives, create content that actually performs, target the right audiences, and measure what’s driving real revenue instead of chasing vanity metrics.

Download Social Amplification Engine Guide

This is the original framework we’ve used for years with seven- and eight-figure local service companies.

How to build a Content Library

The articles I’ve written, social posts I’ve made, speaking, marketing materials have been scattered all over the place.

I’ve figured out an effective process to centralize it– which has helped me trigger a Google knowledge panel and help my companies grow.

Give this training to your marketing person to build and organize your Content Library.

For your company and your personal brand– to drive your content strategy, advertising, podcast, and other content efforts.

Want to accelerate? Join the AI Apprentice program

The free trainings above are designed to help you understand how modern marketing systems work and how to evaluate what’s driving real business outcomes.

Some business owners, however, want to apply these ideas inside their own businesses by developing a capable young adult who can execute, learn quickly, and grow with the company.

That’s why the AI Apprentice Program exists—a structured, year-long group coaching program led by me and a hand-picked expert team, focused on implementation, skill-building, and accountability.

What you get:

  • Hands-on work applied directly inside your business
  • Weekly live coaching every Thursday at 2pm PST.
  • Private Facebook group for daily support.
  • Full OpenAI Teams access (we pay for it).
  • API credits + tools we’ve built and licensed.
  • A structured path to mastery.
  • Accountability to ensure you execute.

This allows your marketing to be handled internally, rather than outsourced to an agency you can’t see into, and instead carried out by a trusted young adult inside your business. You know what’s being done, why it’s being done, and how it connects to real business results.

Investment:

$7,500 for a full year
(Yes, people charge more for a weekend workshop.)

This is the same system that helps young adults do in 3 months what normally takes 3 years trying to learn alone.

Apply to the AI Apprentice Program