Hustle Con: 56K Revenue, 400 Tickets in 7 Weeks
The Story
Hustle Con #1 (2014) was Sam’s first real business success. He invested 56,844 in revenue, and netted $40,212 in profit. More importantly, he built an email list of 2,500 subscribers with a 50% open rate.
By the second year, Hustle Con generated $250,000 in profit. By the final edition (2019), 2,500+ attendees filled the room.
But it was Hustle Con that taught Sam the real lesson: the email list promoting the conference was more valuable than the conference itself. Newsletters could promote anything. So he quit conferences and launched The Hustle newsletter.
Sam paid himself under $30K/year during the early years.
Lesson for Creators
The business you build might not be the business you keep. Hustle Con was profitable, but the byproduct (an email list) turned out to be worth more than the main product. Pay attention to what you’re building on the side of your main project. The “secondary” asset (your email list, your community, your network) might be the real business.
Related
- Early Hustles - Moonshine, Fake YouTube, and a $50 PDF — Each of Sam’s projects built skills and assets that fed into the next, larger venture
- Latent Demand - How Facebook Marketplace Was Born — Boris recognized that the byproduct of one project became the foundation for the next business
- The Indie Hackers Post - I’ll Work for Free for 2 Months — Yannick put skin in the game with a bold bet on himself, similar to Sam’s $6K investment in Hustle Con