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#818November 17, 202540:50

Every Business I Tried Before Making My First Million

About This Episode

Sam Parr details the diverse range of failed and mediocre ventures he launched before reaching his first million, including a hot dog stand, an online moonshine business, and a roommate-matching app. The discussion centers on how these early struggles provided essential training in tenacity, risk reduction, and the development of core money-making skills like copywriting.

Episode Description

Want the Side Hustle Ideas Database? Get it here: https://clickhubspot.com/jnd Episode 765: Sam Parr ( ⁠https://x.com/theSamParr⁠ ) and Shaan Puri ( ⁠https://x.com/ShaanVP⁠ ) talk about every business Sam tried before he made his first million.

Show Notes

  • 0:00#1 - Flipping Sports Equipment
  • 2:05#2 - Hot Dog Stand
  • 5:42#3 - Online Liquor Store
  • 8:33#4 - Anti-MBA Book Club
  • 10:40#5 - Roommate Matching
  • 12:11What to start now
  • 19:48Risk vs uncertainty
  • 24:57#? - Itch Juice
  • 29:04A bunch of failures
  • 34:17Lessons from starting 17 businesses

Check Out Shaan's Stuff

  • Shaan's weekly email
  • Visit
  • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies!
  • Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC

Key Takeaways

1

Practice being 'chalant' by using non-sexual charm and playful social interaction with everyone to reduce friction in business transactions and secure favorable terms.

2

Apply a risk-minimization framework to project selection by choosing proven business models in markets with weak competition and pre-selling services to validate demand before investing capital.

3

Focus on increasing your 'rate of learning' through rapid experimentation, treating each project as a way to acquire high-value, transferable skills like sales and marketing that eventually make success inevitable.

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Quick Stats

Duration40:50
Guests0
Ideas Discussed0
Topics0