AI-powered
podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Nathan Hirsch shares his journey from growing up in Longman, Massachusetts to becoming a successful entrepreneur. He describes how his upbringing instilled in him a drive for more and a dislike for traditional employment. Hirsch's early work experiences shaped his skills in sales, customer service, and business management. By starting businesses while in college, like selling textbooks on Amazon, he gained valuable entrepreneurial insights.
Hirsch details his Amazon business journey, starting with selling textbooks and expanding into dropshipping various products during Amazon's growth phase. Meeting his business partner in college, they scaled the Amazon business to $25 million in sales and faced challenges with finding reliable college employees. This led to venturing into the VA and freelancer space, providing services to other Amazon sellers and eventually launching FreeUp, a successful B2B business generating $12 million in yearly revenue.
Following the sale of FreeUp, Hirsch discusses the factors that led to the decision to sell the business. Strategic considerations included avoiding potential market changes, maintaining profitability, and ensuring a successful exit. Hirsch emphasizes the importance of building and empowering a strong team, reinvesting in the business, and preparing for acquisition. He also highlights the critical role of honesty, integrity, and effective hiring processes in business success and growth strategies.
One of the strategies discussed involves running contests to identify and hire talented individuals. The speaker mentions a contest for a growth manager position, where multiple participants are brought in, provided with clear goals and guidelines, and the top performers secure full-time roles. Although the speaker expresses confidence in their standard hiring process, they acknowledge the effectiveness of such contests used by fellow entrepreneurs. The importance of finding individuals passionate about areas like social media, who are adaptable to its constant changes, is highlighted. This approach aims to attract skilled labor who thrive on evolving challenges.
The podcast delves into the speaker's approach to managing multiple businesses efficiently while ensuring a work-life balance. Emphasizing the need for competent operators in each venture from the outset, the speaker focuses on their strengths in sales and marketing, maintaining a streamlined process with minimal add-on services to simplify operations. By structuring the day around essential tasks, such as social media optimization and regular workouts, the speaker describes a typical day, culminating in a deliberate work schedule that allows for a focused, productive workflow. Additionally, the discussion extends to adapting to changing work demands, leveraging AI tools to augment employees, and the speaker's cautious, yet open approach to the evolving role of AI in business operations.
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode
Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways
Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode