Sam Parr | The CEO of HustleCon.com Shares How He Writes an Email That is Opened by 1,000,000 People Per Day

Show Notes

The CEO of HustleCon.com Sam Parr shares how he was able to build an email that actually gets opened by 1,000,0000 people per day as well as build HustleCon.com, a company backed by Tim Ferriss, Tim Chen, the founder and CEO of NerdWallet, and Scott Belskey the founder of Behance and the chief product officer at Adobe. 

On today’s show we interview Sam Par who is the founder of TheHustle.co which is a business backed by:

1. Scott Belsky, the CEO of Behance and Venture Partner at Benchmark
2. Tim Ferriss, the iconic author, blogger, podcaster, investor and entrepreneur
3. Ramit Sethi, the founder of I Will Teach You to Be Rich
4. David Hauser, the co-founder of Grasshopper and Chargify
5. Tim Chen, the founder and CEO of NerdWallet

Throughout Sam Parr’s career he has sold two hotdogs to TIm McGraw and Kenny Chesney each and he writes a daily email that is opened by 1,000,000 people per day.

On today’s show Sam Parr explains:

1. Why he only eats peanut butter for many days in a row
2. How he was able to create a daily email that is opened by 1,000,000 people per day
3. How he monetizes his platform
4. How he manages a team of 30 + people primarily based in Austin, Texas
5. Why the emotions of growing the business has been the hardest part
6. How he manages remote employees
7. Why he chooses to interact with electronics on Saturdays and Sundays
8. Why he passionately believes that you should not focus on step 8 and 9, when you should be focusing first on step 1 and step 2
9. Why he actually rewrites scripts in order to become a master of writing scripts
10. Why he writes down every single expense “Ledger A”
11. Why does he loves the biography of John D. Rockefeller “Titan” by Ron Chernow
12. Why John D. Rockefeller did not want his name on anything
13. Why he believes that meeting the people he once put on pedestals helped him to open his eyes to the possibilities for his own life

Website – https://thehustle.co/ 

1. 1. Yes, yes, yes and yes! Thrivetime Nation on today’s show we are interviewing Sam Parr who has founded a number of profitable companies and ventures: everything from a hot dog stand in Nashville, to the world’s first roommate-matching app, to HustleCon, an annual conference for founders and entrepreneurs to gather, network, and share their stories. Sam Parr, welcome onto the Thrivetime Show how are you!?
      1. Belmont University
   2. Sam Parr, I know that you’ve had a ton of success at this point in your career, but I would love to start off at the very beginning of your career. What was your life like growing up and where did you grow up?
   3. When did you first figure out what you wanted to do professionally?
   4. How did you start your first company? 
      1. I used to work for the main guy from American Pickers. I had a hotdog stand during the day infront of his shop, go to class at Belmont University, and then work the bars at night.
      2. Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney bought hotdogs from me.
      3. I decided to try to make something work on the internet.
      4. I started an app like tinder for roommates. The app was called RoomMates.
   5. Sam Parr When did you first feel like you were truly beginning to gain traction with your career?
   6. Now, Sam you are the CEO at The Hustle, a media company focused on authentic, irreverent tech and business news for anyone that wants to stay informed….What problems does The Hustle solve for your customers?
      1. I made a TED Talks for entrepreneurs. I was blogging and making articles. THis was just a project for fun. I make $80,000 in 6 or 7 weeks.
      2. I did it again and I made $250,000 in 80 days.
      3. I didn’t want to be a conference guy. Now over 1,000,000 people per day read it.
      4. It is kind of like the Wall Street Journal written for 28 year olds. It’s told in an interesting way.
   7. How do you make money?
      1. Conferences
      2. We built our own tech where we can show you specific ads on emails. This makes over $10,000,000
      3. We own “Trends”
   8. What is the vision for the company?
      1. I want to do $100,000,000 in revenue by 2025
      2. I want to use the profits to make new companies and use our email list to promote them. Then they grow.
      3. In the future, most people will be remote. 
         1. They hired people there remotely.

2. How many people are being managed?
   1. Over 30 employees.
   2. We have over 15 contractors.
   3. I manage my president. He Manages the people.
3. Sam Parr, I understand that you have a daily newsletter with over a million subscribers, that is actually opened by 600k people every day. How did you build such a loyal following?
4. As the CEO at The Hustle…what does your day typically consist of?
5. I know that you are a serial entrepreneur who has experienced massive success and super low points…walk us through the highest high and the lowest low of your career?
6. When you were at the bottom, what did you learn most from this experience?
7. Sam Parr I’d love for you to share with the listeners about the kinds of projects that you are up to?
8. You come across as a very proactive person…so how do you typically organize the first four hours of your and what time do you typically wake up?
   1. Get up
   2. Drink coffee
   3. Read news
   4. Take an Uber to work
   5. Get to the office at 9:00 AM
   6. I don’t do work until Noon
   7. I work away on my to-do list until 9:00 PM
9. What are a few of your daily habits that you believe have allowed you to achieve success?
   1. I’m always working. My life is organized around success. My friends are from work. 
   2. Saturday’s are more of my down days. It just may not look like that from people from the outside. I turn electronics off at night and on weekends.
10. What would you tell someone who is launching something?
    1. You can’t look at step 1 and step 10. You have to know step 1. Start it. Do it for a long time. You will get to the second step after you have been on step 1 for far too long.
11. Sam Parr What mentor has made the biggest impact on your career thus far?
12. What has been the biggest adversity that you’ve had to fight through during your career?
13. What advice would you give the younger version of yourself?
14. We find that most successful entrepreneurs tend to have idiosyncrasies that are actually their super powers…what idiosyncrasy do you have?
    1. I haven’t drunk alcohol for over 10 years.
    2. I’ll eat only peanut butter for days in a row.
    3. I’ll rewrite scripts and books by hand.
       1. When you are learning the guitar, you don’t start off by writing songs. You copy other’s songs. Then eventually you can create your own.
15. What message or principle that you wish you could teach everyone?
16. You are super successful, but what do you struggle with the most…what is your weakness…what is your kryptonite? 
17. Sam Parr What are a couple of books that you believe that all of our listeners should read?
    1. Titans – John D. Rockafeller
       1. I can be a ruthless business person but still be honest, be a good dad, and be a good husband.
       2. He created the national park system
       3. He created the University Hospital system
       4. They opened Spelman College
       5. He is so impactful on so many things but he didn’t want to put his name on anything.
    2. On Writing – Stephen King
18. Sam Parr You’ve got the mic, what is one thing that you want to share with the Thrive Nation before you drop the mic?
    1. I put people I looked up to on pedestals. Once I realised that the people I lifted up also have flaws. I realized I can do what they are doing and that I might even be able to do it better.