This is Mike.
An independent rapper making $100k a month from his online community alone.
He doesn't even have a manager.
Yet @justmike just dropped a top 3 album in the country and makes $1M+ ARR (annual recurring rev).
Here's how he's changing the business of music. ๐ฅ
Can you build a seven-figure business through podcast interviews alone?
Thatโs exactly what Dustin Riechmann did.
In this episode, we unpack his full blueprint, including:
- The five-step system that powers his business
- How he built a 69% margin coaching business
- Why heโs betting on relationships, not reach, to hit $3M
Looking for venue in Austin to host small event with ~40 SaaS founders ($10M+ ARR) in February.
Any suggestions on great spots here in town? My dms are open!
Maybe everyone is doing this already,
But I just reviewed my credit card and wow, these small saas / ai subscriptions ADD up.
I literally just canceled $350 in monthly subscription costs.
Worth the 10 minutes to:
1๏ธโฃ Review last 30 days credit card charges (monarch money is also helpful for this)
2๏ธโฃ Search gmail to figure out what some of these are (or just search the exact dollar amount)
3๏ธโฃ When in doubt just cancel everything (can also add back later)
That's the best BF/CM bargain you'll find. ๐ธ
Just found THE LinkedIn playbook ๐
You can literally just copy and paste:
----
โThe new [AI model] just killed [traditional thing that's still alive].
This update replaces a $5,000/mo [role] in 6 minutes.
It's INSANE.
Most [ICP] struggle with [pain]โฆ but I built a Mega-Agentic-Superhuman-CEO-AI that automatically:
- writes 20 posts
- sends 100 DMs
- builds a landing page
- scrapes all of linkedin
- starts a whole new business
- heals your childhood wounds
- optimizes your circadian rhythm
All on AUTOPILOT.
Comment โslopโ and Iโll send you the thing that took me 4000 hours and is worth $19,997 even though it's just a google doc.
P.S. Once you comment, I'll grab your email via DM and will send you offers to buy my courses forever, even if you unsubscribe."
Wild that โI Wishโ came out 30 years agoโฆ
and Skee-Lo never wanted to be a rapper.
He wanted to be a comedian.
So while every โ90s rapper was flexing cars, money, and statusโฆ he did the OPPOSITE:
- He joked about being short
- He joked about not fitting in
- He joked about not having a car
Which turned "I Wish" into a global hit. Viral before "viral" existed.
Crazy part is that he also recorded it in a cheap LA studio and laid the whole song in a ONE session.
Short list of things you don't need:
The perfect plan
To pretend you're something you're not
To play the same game as everyone else
Sometimes the biggest breakthroughs come from the idea you almost donโt take seriously.
Ship the thing only you can make.
Even if (*especially* if) it's the opposite of what everyone else is doing.
You never know which experiment will pop.
(And shout out to Leoshi.)
This tiny habit creates more "luck" than any skill I've learned.
โMost people donโt get experiences like that because they never ask.โ
Steve Jobs said that after reflecting on his life.
When he was 12, he cold-called Bill Hewlett (the "H" in HP) asking for spare parts to build a frequency counter.
Hewlett laughed, gave him the parts, AND offered him summer job.
Wild.
But still ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐๐ธ.
And they underestimate how often it works.
It's like fishing. The more lines you cast, the more bites you get.*
So what's this look like in real life?
It's not pitching investors or trying to "network harder."
Often the highest-roi ask is way smaller:
๐๐๐ธ ๐ฎ ๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ.
That's it.
Some of my BIGGEST insights came from ๐๐๐: Feedback from Friends.
Here are 2 texts I literally sent last week (screenshot).
Both took ~20 seconds.
Both turned into energizing conversations and new ideas I wouldnโt have had otherwise.
PLUS we got to connect and catch up.
Hereโs what I wish I understood sooner:
Your friends WANT to help, you just have to invite them in.
Just ask.
*๐๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ: ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ง๐ช๐ด๐ฉ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ฆ.
Five years ago, my stepdad was diagnosed with kidney cancer.
Last month, everything changed.
We went from planning a final family trip in the mountainsโฆto planning end-of-life care at home.
In hospice terms, we shifted from cure to comfort.
So I hopped on a flight back to Indiana to help. From organizing a Notion doc of to-dos, to resetting passwords, to just sitting with family.
Iโll be real with you, I want to put some insightful take away here, but I also feel like we're still in the middle of it.
Grief doesnโt fit neatly into bullet points.
When I first heard the update, I felt emotions rising.
My therapist once asked how I was feeling about Danโs cancer.
I said: โMaybe some future grief.โ
He raised an eyebrow. โFuture?โ
Ha, heโs good. Turns out, grief isnโt something you can schedule.
One day last week I grabbed my shades, put on a sad song, and let some out on a walk. A good old walk nโ cry! It felt like a nice release I didnโt know I needed.
You canโt think your way into grief. You can only feel your way through it.
Danโs on 15+ prescriptions right now (not including the $100k worth of chemo meds we had to dispose of).
But his strongest medicine hasnโt come from a pharmacy. Itโs been the love from people showing up.
One friend fixed the garbage disposal. Another brought a backup generator for Dan's oxygen.
Countless showed up with food.
Reminded me of one of my favorite lines from Jalen Rose:
โPeople will bring flowers to your funeral but wonโt bring you soup when youโre sick.โ
If you have someone you love whoโs struggling, donโt wait.
Donโt say, โLet me know if you need anything.โ Just show up.
Send your love. Drop off soup.
In the end, love is the most powerful drug of all.
Notice all the new AI acronyms lately?
Hereโs your cheat sheet ๐
SEO: Search Engine Optimization
GEO: Generative Engine Optimization
AEO: Answer Engine Optimization
LLMO: Large Language Model Optimization
LMFAO: Laughing My F*ing A Off
AIO: Artificial Intelligence Optimization
Despite all the new labels, theyโre all optimizing for the SAME thing...
high-quality content that genuinely helps people.
Well, except for the extra one I added. (The most important one).
Donโt forget to laugh and have fun along the way. :)
PS. Fun fact: 700K sessions at AppSumo the last 3 months came from organic + ai sources (including chatgpt referrals). Most of that from google, YT, & bingโฆ but AI referrals are growing w/ 12k sessions from chatgpt alone.
@david_perell@wwwsublimeapp@sariazout Using a new note-taking tool like this has a high switching costโฆ but this endorsement from David (someone whose opinion i value & trust highly) makes me excited to check it out. What an excellent ad/brand sponsorship!
This changed how I think about hiring:
โDonโt hire to add capacity. Hire to free up your calendar.โ - @danmartell
Then Dan told me something that hit even harder:
โ๐๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ท๐ช๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ*๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆโฆ D๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ, ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต.โ
(I jotted down that line immediately after the interview)
In other words: free up your time + work with dope people.
This literally saves me HOURS a week.
And helped us get 3 million+ views from one YT playlist.
Here's the content breakdown (to copy):
- Feed in your ICP info (more on this in future video)
- Feed in your best content (youtube video, etc)
- Feed in best practices (copywriting, hooks, etc)
- Specify formats/structure preferences
This setup is using poppy ai , but the same principles apply any ai prompting.
The key to effective "prompt engineering" is really just "context engineering."
Ps. I breakdown more frameworks, ai flows, and real world examples in my weekly newsletter.