Afford Anything

Category: Entrepreneurship

By Paula Pant

#180: The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business – with Elaine Pofeldt

Elaine Pofeldt, a writer for CNBC, Forbes, Fortune, Money Magazine and other business publications, decided to deep-dive into the world of solopreneur million-dollar companies.

What are the stories of entrepreneurs who gross $1 million or more in their businesses, despite having no employees? How did they begin? What do they do differently?

She interviewed hundreds of founders of non-employer seven-figure companies and wrote a book about her findings called The Million-Dollar, One-Person Business. Today, she joins us on the podcast to talk about what we can learn from this special class of entrepreneurs.

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Written By Paula Pant

“What I’ve Learned from Building an Eight-Figure Business” — an interview with Rand Fishkin

I’ve been following Rand Fishkin’s career for years. He has one of the best rags-to-not-quite-riches-yet stories I’ve heard.

Rand is a college dropout who spent his early 20s spiraling into a deep debt hole. His problems began when he tried to grow a marketing company but funded it in the worst way possible. He leased office space, rented booths at conferences, hired expensive contractors — and paid for everything with a personal credit card. Yikes.

His credit card debt ballooned to $150,000. He couldn’t make the minimum payments, so he defaulted. The late fees and penalty interest rates caused his debt to swell to more than $500,000.

Anyone else might have declared bankruptcy, but Rand stayed the course. He doubled down at work. He decided to specialize in a marketing niche, search engine optimization, which set him apart from the pack.

He brought new clients into his business. He developed internal tools to use for his clients, then started selling subscription-based access to this software.

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Written By Paula Pant

How to Live Louder than the Sound of ‘Should’

One month ago, I made a speech at the World Domination Summit in Portland about the importance of being yourself, even if this requires setting difficult boundaries or relinquishing your people-pleasing tendencies.

If you’re a creative entrepreneur, such as an artist, writer, musician, designer, craftsman, entrepreneur, or any other type of creator … this is advice you might not have heard before.

I argue that your best business move is to stop giving a sh*t about what other people think. Even your customers.

It’s a counterintuitive philosophy, one that runs contrary to the seemingly-benign “I want to help others” mindset that’s preached in the world of online entrepreneurship. I argue that your effect on others is outside of your control, so the best thing you can do is be yourself and let the chips fall where they may.

Bending over backwards to please others is inauthentic and, ultimately, ineffective. People will be served the most when they see a confident, strong person who is true to themself.

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By Paula Pant

#145: How I Paid Off $500,000 in Credit Card Debt, then Launched a Company with $35 Million in Annual Revenue — with Rand Fishkin, Founder of Moz

When Rand Fishkin was 25 years old, he carried $500,000 in credit card debt.

Less than a decade later, Rand was the Founder and CEO of a company that grossed $35 million in annual revenue.

In this podcast episode, Rand shares the story of hitting his financial rock-bottom and making the ultimate comeback.

The saga […]

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By Paula Pant

#138: How to Create an Authentic Life

There’s a famous quote that’s attributed to Henry Ford. The quote says, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

There’s no proof that Henry Ford actually said this. But whether or not that quote is historically accurate, the point remains. If Elon Musk had asked people what they […]

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By Paula Pant

#107: How Scott Harrison Brought Clean Water to 7.3 Million People

Scott Harrison spent 10 years as a New York City nightclub promoter, partying until sunrise every morning and ingesting almost every substance imaginable.

But when he was 28, he realized his life lacked meaning.

“My tombstone might say, ‘here’s the guy who got thousands of people drunk,’” Harrison said.

Feeling lost, he decided to volunteer […]

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By Paula Pant

#85: How to Side Hustle Your Way to Success, with Nick Loper

Like many people, Nick Loper used to work a full-time job that didn’t excite him.

Unlike most people, Loper decided to escape his uninspiring work life.

First, he launched a shoe-comparison website that began collecting side income. Over time, this side project grew increasingly profitable, until — finally — he thought he could run […]

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By Paula Pant

#83: The Toughest Episode I’ve Recorded So Far

Hey. It’s time we talked.

I’ve made many tough decisions in my business.

I’ve said “no” to thousands of pitches, turned away countless advertising requests, and made difficult choices about content and tone.

And sometimes I don’t know whether or not I’ve made the right choice.

 […]

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Afford Anything