Level up your copywriting w/ Sam Parr | E2226
This Week In Startups is made possible by:
Luma AI - https://lumalabs.ai/twist
Northwest Registered Agent - https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist
Lemon IO - https://lemon.io/twist
Today’s show:
DID YOU KNOW… most of the tried and true techniques devised by marketing gurus in the ‘40s and ‘50s still apply today?
On TWiST, we’re joined by online marketing expert Sam Parr, host of “My First Million” and founder of Hampton. He’s sharing all of his top tips and tricks for making your writing more compelling, and converting your readers into new customers.
In this essential pod for any and all founders, hear Jason and Sam run down their list of the best-ever marketing books, why there’s no such this as “too long” only “too uninteresting,” when to use AI and when to rely on your own brain, why you’re the average of your five best friends, and lots more deep insights.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Sam Parr of The Hustle, Hampton, and My First Million is here to teach us how to become better copywriters
(03:59) How Sam got interested in the (then-shady) world of internet marketing
(06:26) Why Sam recommended THESE advertising books to Jason
(08:15) All the principles that ad execs developed in the ‘50s still work!
(09:43) Glengarry had it right; the magic of A.I.D.A.
(11:19) Luma AI - Stop guessing and start directing with Ray3 Modify from Luma AI, the AI-powered post production tool. Explore it at: https://lumalabs.ai/twist
(14:30) There’s no such thing as “too long,” just “too uninteresting”
(16:15) The goal is to write at a 4th grade reading level
(18:12) Why Sam only uses AI for “The Big Idea,” not the actual writing
(19:37) Why you’re the average of your five best friends
(21:14) Northwest Registered Agent - Form your entire business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Get more privacy, more options, and more done—visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today!
(22:15) Using AI to dig in and research, to make your writing more interesting
(23:42) CopyWork: The technique that helped Sam fine tune his writing
(28:41) Avoiding “The Feature Death March”
(30:56) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://lemon.io/twist
(32:00) Words are better than images, but videos are better than anything
(34:43) Why stories make such a huge impact
(37:36) Sam and Jason are both obsessed with the book “How to Be Rich”
(43:02) First World Problems are still problems!!
(44:31) Why Sam launched Hampton and what it takes to get in
(47:10) Why scaling a community is so much harder than launching
(51:04) The lessons founders can take from Ted Turner
(58:36) What Jason likes best about My First Million
(1:00:28) It’s never too early to get your first $10 million
(1:04:07) How accurately did Producer Claude guess what Sam was going to teach us?
*
Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com/
Check out the TWIST500: https://twist500.com
Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp
*
Follow Lon:
X: https://x.com/lons
*
Follow Alex:
X: https://x.com/alex
LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm/
*
Follow Jason:
X: https://twitter.com/Jason
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis/
*
Thank you to our partners:
(11:19) Luma AI - Stop guessing and start directing with Ray3 Modify from Luma AI, the AI-powered post production tool. Explore it at: https://lumalabs.ai/twist
(21:14) Northwest Registered Agent - Form your entire business identity in just 10 clicks and 10 minutes. Get more privacy, more options, and more done—visit https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist today!
(30:56) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://lemon.io/twist
Episode 583 | Finding Startup Ideas with Sam Parr
In Episode 583, Rob Walling chats with Sam Parr about about building an email list, selling to Hubspot, podcast growth, and how to spot business opportunities.
The topics we cover
[3:53] Building Hustle to 8 figures in revenue
[5:52] Growing an email list
[11:01] Selling to a B2B SaaS
[19:00] My First Million and growing podcasts
[23:45] TikTok marketing
[27:30] Spotting interesting opportunities
[34:70] Manifest cowboy
Links from the show
Sam Parr (@theSamParr) | Twitter
If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you'd like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We'd love to hear from you!
Subscribe & Review: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher
Brains: Talking Money with Anthony Pompliano and Sam Parr
How do you make a ton of money on the internet, and how do you manage it once you've got it? In this crossover episode from the Brains podcast, we have a fun discussion about money with Anthony Pompliano (@APompliano) who's a Bitcoin 9-figure millionaire and Sam Parr (@theSamParr) who sold his startup The Hustle for a reported $27 million. Whether you enjoy this crossover episode or not, tweet me and let me know! I'm @csallen on Twitter.
You can subscribe to Brains in your favorite podcast player or via our website: https://www.brainspodcast.com
#218 – Making Money and Being Happy with Sam Parr and Shaan Puri of My First Million
Sam Parr (@theSamParr) and Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) have both sold their businesses and are currently hosting one of the best business podcasts out there. In this episode, we talk about what it's like to be in their position now and what kind of businesses they would start if they were doing it all over today.
Listen to My First Million: https://thehustle.co/my-first-million-podcast/
Follow Sam on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theSamParr
Follow Shaan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShaanVP
E1064: News Roundtable! Sam Parr & Zach Coelius on Barstool Sports vs. Call Her Daddy, SoftBank’s $17B loss, TikTok poaches former Disney exec as CEO, Facebook launches Shops & more!
0:51 Jason intros Zach Coelius & Sam Parr
2:28 Barstool Sports vs. Call Her Daddy
6:49 Penn National Gaming stock soaring, Dave Portnoy winning this controversy
13:17 SoftBank reports $17.7B annual loss, worst figures in 39-year history
17:19 Does SoftBank's involvement typically include a loss of focus for the founder?
21:43 TikTok’s parent co. Bytedance trades at a $140B valuation, poaches Disney’s former Head of Streaming as new CEO of TikTok
25:08 Was Kevin Mayer wrong to take this role? Are TikTok's recommendation algorithms the best in the world?
28:52 How do Chinese companies grow so rapidly?
32:06 Facebook launches Shops, is Zuck trying to kill e-commerce giants? Zach on his experience with Facebook slowly killing his business
40:06 How does Facebook's product organization work?
47:13 Jason on the future of social networks
49:56 Amazon potentially acquiring AMC Theatres, could this be an Amazon Prime upsell?
53:52 Everyone gives their best idea for Amazon's first move after buying AMC
59:59 Zach on his quarantine deal flow
#161 – How to Make Millions by Writing Online with Sam Parr of The Hustle
Sam Parr (@theSamParr) returns to the podcast for the second time. You may remember his journey as the midwesterner that went from running a hot dog stand to creating an 8-figure ad-supported newsletter. In this episode, Sam shares how he's now on track to build an 8-figure paid newsletter — Trends.co — and how other indie hackers can do the same. We talk growth strategies for media businesses, advertising vs subscription revenue, and why learning to write persuasively is the most important skill any founder can have.
Transcript, speaker information, and more: https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/161-sam-parr-of-the-hustle
#108 – Keeping It Simple to Build a Multimillion-Dollar Business with Sam Parr of The Hustle
Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) describes himself as a midwestern small business owner who discovered the Internet, and his journey from running a hot dog stand to building a media empire seems to prove that. His current business, The Hustle, generates 8 figures in annual revenue from newsletter advertising alone, a feat Sam attributes to great copywriting, relentless experimentation, and the massively underrated power of email. In this episode we talk about how founders can build profitable businesses by resisting the urge to make their tech businesses more complex than they need to be, why it's important to borrow lessons from businesses in other industries, and the art of getting help from others by swallowing your pride and making specific requests.
Transcript, speaker information, and more: https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/108-sam-parr-of-the-hustle
#3 - Making Millions off an Email Newsletter?! Sam Parr from The Hustle Tells All
Sam Parr (@theSamParr) is the founder of The Hustle - a simple email newsletter that has surpassed 1M daily subscribers and will be north of 8 figures this year. Sam walks us through how he built The Hustle from scratch as well as his adventures starting a hot dog stand (7min), selling booze on the internet (13min), meeting celebrities on the street and convincing them to hire him (11min) and how he would get rich if he was 21 again! (33min)
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.