Meet Nick Smith

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nick Smith. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nick below.

Hi Nick, so happy to have you on the platform with us today and excited to chat about your lessons and insights. Our ability to make good decisions can massively impact our lives, careers and relationships and so it would be very helpful to hear about how you built your decision-making skills.

My decision-making skills have been shaped by years of experience in two fields that demand both precision and accountability, engineering and aviation. With a background in aerospace engineering, including both bachelor’s and master’s degrees, I learned to approach problems from a first-principles perspective: break them down to their most fundamental components, strip away assumptions, and build back up from what is definitively true. That mindset has stayed with me through every stage of my career.

Working for a decade as a propulsion and flight test engineer taught me the value of detailed planning, rigorous testing, and understanding how even the smallest variable can influence a critical outcome. Then, becoming a pilot further reinforced the importance of thinking logically under pressure. In aviation, decision-making isn’t optional, it’s essential. You’re trained to anticipate, assess risk, and execute with clarity, all while managing multiple variables in real time.

That blend of engineering logic and aviation discipline has carried into my online pilot training business. Whether I’m designing course material or advising a student, I rely on structured thinking and scenario-based planning to help others make confident, informed decisions, just like I was trained to do.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Hi there! My name is Nick Smith and I am the founder and creator of parttimepilot.com, which is an Online Ground School for Private Pilot, Sport Pilot, Instrument and more certificates and ratings.

One of the things I am so proud and excited about with Part Time Pilot is being at the cutting edge of new education technology that can help make studying for efficient and more effective. Some of the ways we have already incorporated technologies in to our trainings is by providing all our lessons in the form of a podcast as well as in written and video form. The podcast, allows students to download lessons straight to their devices and even listen and learn when offline where ever they go. The other technology we are implementing is AI. We have already implemented trained flight instructor chats inside our course lessons so students can get their questions answered at all time. We have also implemented live voice-to-voice simulators that students can talk to like they are practicing with Air Traffic Control or getting an Oral exam for their certificate checkride from an FAA examiner.

All of these features are included inside our Online Ground School courses at parttimepilot.com to help make becoming a pilot easier and more affordable for all!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The first and probably most important quality that had the most impact on my journey was the willingness to just get started. You can plan endlessly, but at some point, you have to take the leap, even if it’s messy, imperfect, or uncertain. Starting my online business wasn’t about having everything figured out from day one; it was about moving forward, learning as I went, and improving with each iteration.

The second was discipline and in particular the kind that keeps you going when motivation fades. Building something meaningful takes time. I learned to chip away at it every single day, even if progress felt small. That consistency adds up. It’s easy to underestimate the power of showing up daily, but that’s what creates momentum.

Lastly, attention to detail has been a huge differentiator. Whether it was as an engineer running flight tests or as an instructor designing training material, I found that excellence lives in the little things. Most people overlook the fine points, but being someone who doesn’t can really set you apart.

For anyone starting out: don’t wait for perfection, build a habit of daily effort, and care about the details more than most. That combination will take you far.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?

One book that had a major impact on me was 10x Is Easier Than 2x by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy. It completely reframed how I think about growth and not just in business, but in how I manage time, energy, and vision. The core idea is that going for 10x growth actually requires less complexity than going for incremental 2x growth, because it forces you to let go of what no longer serves you and focus only on what creates massive impact.

One of the most valuable takeaways for me was the concept of elimination over addition. To go 10x, you don’t do more, you do less, but better. That challenged me to simplify my offers, refine my teaching approach, and spend my time only where it truly matters.

Another powerful lesson was about identity and how you have to become someone new to reach that next level, not just work harder as your current self. That resonated deeply as someone who left behind a traditional engineering career to build something unique in aviation education. The book gave me permission to aim bigger, but more importantly, it showed me how to do it with clarity and purpose.

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