Olney's lectures began as a result of his son's average to mediocre academic record. Olney did a significant amount of research and found that not all methods worked for every student. Eventually he utilized a number of methods, and started to market it. Olney believed that "Getting good grades is a matter of using the right skills and techniques, not merely a matter of IQ." Eventually he got to the point of selling almost 8,000 copies of his lectures per week. He would eventually enlistthe help of celebrities like John Ritter to help push the tapes.