We recently connected with Nas Anderson and have shared our conversation below.
Nas, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I found my purpose by paying attention to the problems that kept showing up around me — not just once, but repeatedly. Every school I worked with struggled with the same things: disorganization, overwhelm, and a lack of systems to support their students. And instead of ignoring it, I started leaning into it.
I realized that my purpose wasn’t just to build software — it was to bring order where there was chaos and to empower people who are doing meaningful work. Trade schools change lives. They create career paths, they lift families, they strengthen communities. But they’re often operating with limited resources.
My purpose became clear when I understood that I could make their work easier and their impact bigger. Helping these schools run smoother, enroll students faster, and give people a real shot at a better life — that’s when everything clicked for me.
And honestly, it’s also spiritual for me. I believe purpose is discovered at the intersection of what God puts in your heart and the problems He allows you to see. Once I connected my skills, my experiences, and my faith — SchoolPro wasn’t just a business idea anymore. It was an assignment.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’m the Founder & CEO of SchoolPro.io, an automation platform built specifically for vocational, trade, and career schools. We help programs like cosmetology schools, nurse aide programs, HVAC training centers, NCLEX remediation and other career-focused institutions streamline their entire student journey.
SchoolPro.io replaces manual enrollment, lost paperwork, inconsistent communication, and outdated spreadsheets with a modern system that automates onboarding, document verification, reminders, payments, attendance, and graduation workflows. For many schools, this means higher enrollment, fewer no-shows, better retention, and clean compliance-ready student records.
What excites me most is watching small schools operate like large, well-resourced institutions simply because they finally have the right tools. When owners tell me they saved 10–20 hours a week or doubled their completed applications because our automation took over the administrative burden, that’s when I know we’re doing something meaningful.
We’re also expanding our platform with new predefined student stages, smarter communication tools, automated review collection, and deeper backend integrations to help schools stay organized from first contact to graduation. My mission is simple: give trade and career schools the modern systems they need to grow, scale, and transform more students’ lives.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Looking back, three qualities really shaped my journey and allowed me to build SchoolPro.io into what it is today: problem-solving, empathy, and discipline. I’ve always been someone who can look at chaos and immediately see patterns. In the vocational school world, I kept seeing the same problems: slow enrollment, missing documents, students falling through the cracks, inconsistent communication. Instead of accepting those issues as ‘normal,’ I started asking why they existed and how they could be automated.
Train yourself to see problems as invitations. The world rewards people who solve real issues, not just people with ideas.
Ask:
“What keeps happening around me?”
“What do people constantly complain about?”
“How could this be easier, faster, or automated?”
That mindset will take you far.
Empathy
I learned early that you can’t build a solution if you don’t understand the people you’re serving. I sat with school owners, administrators, and instructors. I listened to their frustrations — staying late at night, losing students because of missing paperwork, being overwhelmed because they’re doing the job of five people. That empathy shaped SchoolPro into a platform that truly solves their struggles, not just looks good on a screen.
Advice:
Get close to the people you want to serve.
Listen more than you talk.
You’ll build better, stronger, and more relevant solutions.
There’s a huge difference between having a calling and carrying it out. Discipline is what took SchoolPro from an idea to a functioning platform helping schools streamline enrollment, organize student records, and increase retention. Consistency — even on the days when progress felt slow — is what kept the vision alive.
Advice:
Don’t chase motivation; build discipline.
Create routines, set deadlines, and make small progress every day.
Consistency compounds — and eventually turns into momentum.
My advice for anyone early in their journey is simple: stay curious, stay compassionate, and stay consistent. If you develop those three qualities, you’ll not only find your purpose — you’ll create impact.
Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
I believe it’s better to go all-in on your strengths and build a team or systems around the areas you’re not strong in. The reason is simple: your strengths are where your impact, your momentum, and your purpose live. When you try to be well-rounded in everything, you end up average in a lot of areas and excellent in none.
For me, everything changed once I stopped trying to be ‘good at everything’ and focused on what I naturally do well — solving problems, building systems, and understanding people’s pain points. Those are the things that gave birth to SchoolPro.
A great example is when I first started working with vocational schools. I wasn’t the strongest designer, I wasn’t a developer, and I definitely wasn’t the best at administrative tasks. But I was extremely good at recognizing patterns in messy processes and seeing the structure underneath chaos. That’s a strength — and it’s the core of why SchoolPro exists today.
Where I wasn’t strong, I didn’t force myself to become a master.
I built automations.
I built templates.
I hired or partnered with people who were gifted in those areas.
And because of that, my strengths were allowed to shine instead of being buried under tasks I wasn’t built for.
Your strengths create energy, passion, clarity, and confidence.
Your weaknesses drain energy and slow momentum.
You can improve weaknesses enough to function, but you shouldn’t build your life or business around them. The goal isn’t to be well-rounded — it’s to be well-supported.
There was a moment early on when I tried to do everything myself — designing, coding, admin, marketing, all of it. And all it did was slow me down and frustrate me. The turning point came when I leaned fully into what I do best: mapping out student journeys, building automations, and creating the actual operational strategy schools needed.
Once I did that, everything sped up. The product improved. Schools got better results. And the business started growing because I was operating in my gift — not fighting against it.
So yes, improve your weaknesses enough not to sink. But put your real energy into your strengths. They’re the clues to your assignment. They’re the things God wired you to do without struggle. And when you go all-in on those, everything else begins to align.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://schoolpro.io/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/backendbestie/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/change4all/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nas-anderson-ma-lssgb-31a19b39/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@backendbestie
Image Credits
@peymacmedia
