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My First Million4 Profitable Business Ideas That Men Are Sleeping On | ft. Codie Sanchez (#512)
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CHAPTERS
- 0:01 – 5:27
Guest Host Setup and Codie's Background
Shaan previews the episode and explains that Codie Sanchez is guest hosting while Sam is out on paternity leave. Codie introduces herself as the founder of Contrarian Thinking, which has a newsletter and a media company, and as someone who buys small boring businesses.
- •Shaan previews ideas for the women's market, laundromats and content strategy
- •Guest hosts must be friends who know the show's vibe
- •Codie runs the Contrarian Thinking newsletter and media company
- •She spent years in investment banking and private equity before building a holding company
- 5:27 – 13:31
The Trad Wife Movement and the Pendulum Swing
Codie explains how an Instagram video led her to the trad wife trend, which she sees as a counterculture to Call Her Daddy. Shaan argues that unspoken beliefs and the craving for the opposite of any dominant trend create business opportunities, citing Grindr and Snapchat.
- •Codie ended up gluing pansies on pumpkins after watching one video
- •The trad wife search term had 187 million TikTok views
- •Shaan describes three camps: sex-positive, career-focused and traditional
- •Behaviors people can't say out loud signal opportunity
- •Trends reverse, as with Snapchat after Instagram and the Kardashians' body changes
- 13:31 – 21:17
Hobby Lobby 2.0 and the HomeGoods Treasure Hunt
Codie pitches a nicer version of Hobby Lobby or HomeGoods, noting how dingy and cramped the current stores are. Shaan shares a real estate friend's view that these tenants are resilient, and they discuss Magnolia, local pop-ups and the appeal of leaving a store with the item.
- •Hobby Lobby does about $7 billion a year, and TJ Maxx/HomeGoods's parent about $51 billion
- •Retail is cheap right now, and Codie's strip mall was hard to fill
- •Shaan's friend says Hobby Lobby and HomeGoods are expanding while other retail struggles
- •Joanna Gaines's Magnolia is a model, and West Elm Local used rotating local pop-ups
- •Shoppers want to leave with the candle, so delivery wouldn't suit them
- 21:17 – 26:38
Pop-Up Seasonal Retail: Buying a Halloween Express
Codie describes trying to buy a Halloween Express franchise for about $600K, which covered three locations plus inventory. She explains the standardized pop-up model, and she and Shaan work through revenue, margin and payback estimates.
- •The standardized 10,000 sq ft build-out goes up in days to two weeks and costs roughly $10K–$50K
- •The business made about $950K in revenue across three locations in two months
- •The seller claimed 30–45% margins, but Codie guesses 10–20%
- •Payback might take two to three years, with $50–100K of new inventory each year
- •Someone else bought it before Codie could do due diligence
- 26:38 – 34:06
Fantasy Werewolf Romance Novels
Codie describes a member of her buyers' group who bought a romance novel company where fantasy werewolf titles outsold everything else. Shaan shares Sam's story of ghostwriting a romance novel to game Amazon's Best Seller list and the Wattpad origin of Fifty Shades.
- •Fantasy romance was the 80/20 driver for the 25–30 title company
- •About $1.3B of romance books are sold a year, with growth among readers aged roughly 18–45
- •Authors price one book at 99 cents or free to hit top lists, then publish many in a series
- •Sam commissioned a romance novel titled Captivating Claire to reach Amazon Best Seller
- •Fifty Shades began as Twilight fan fiction on Wattpad
- 34:06 – 38:27
Fertility Tracking Apps and Gamifying a Painful Process
Codie says getting pregnant is hard and expensive, and that fertility products like Mira feel clinical and unpolished. She and Shaan brainstorm gamified or romantic devices and look at Flo, a period tracking app that grew into a very large business.
- •Codie finds the Mira app unclear, with no notifications or gamification
- •Shaan jokes about a bedside egg that glows to replace the alarm clock
- •Flo has over 300 million downloads and over $100M in revenue, according to Shaan
- •Pregnancy is a time-bound stage when buyers become price insensitive
- •Data and affiliate deals around pregnancy could be very valuable
- 38:27 – 43:34
Helping Gay Male Couples Adopt and Life-Process Concierge Services
Shaan shares a partial idea about the difficulty of adoption for gay male couples and suggests interviewing 100 couples to find a business. Codie adds that a friend paid $25,000 for adoption help in Texas, and they discuss concierge services for complex processes like H-1B visas.
- •Shaan was told adoption is nearly impossible for gay couples, who often have high incomes and low price sensitivity
- •He suggests interviewing 100 couples to find the business
- •Codie proposes consulting as an easy, profitable first level
- •H-1B concierge services could earn $20K per customer from leads costing about $2K
- •Codie says men's health companies like Hone Health could launch something for women
- 43:34 – 46:29
Flowers Subscription and Wrapping Up the Women's Market Ideas
Codie shares her husband's hack that a monthly flower subscription is the best money he's spent in marriage. She and Shaan discuss why women like flowers, including love, the plants themselves and a sense of having made it.
- •Her husband calls a monthly flower subscription his best marital spend
- •The gift is cheap and automatic, so husbands don't have to remember
- •Codie says it's more about the flowers than the love
- •Fresh flowers represented being rich to her when she was young
- •Shaan plans to try it and report back
- 46:29 – 50:51
Codie's Three Businesses and Her First Million
Shaan asks Codie to explain her business model, and she describes three businesses: content, the Main Street Holding Company and a venture fund with angel investments. She says she made her first million while working for others and bought boring businesses on the side to escape corporate life.
- •The content business includes newsletters, a community, a course and some sponsorships
- •Main Street Holding Company owns small businesses with her own money
- •The venture fund and angel investments include Hone Health
- •She made her first million in corporate finance and is risk-averse
- •She bought businesses while employed and left corporate after replacing her income
- 50:51 – 1:00:07
Laundromats as a Gateway Drug Business
Responding to a skeptical CEO's question, Codie explains that laundromats are gateway businesses for people to get some ownership. She gives economics, such as typical revenue and owner income, compares them with short-term rentals, and says the best sector is the one that fits you.
- •She wants more people to have some skin in the game
- •A typical laundromat makes $100K–$500K in revenue and the owner earns about $20–50K
- •The $3M laundromat she saw earned its money from wash and fold
- •A $100K laundromat can beat a $250K short-term rental on risk and reward
- •Starting simple and local lets people learn before moving to bigger businesses
- 1:00:07 – 1:08:28
Best and Worst Deals and Exit Goals
Codie describes her worst deal, a bookkeeping business that lied to and stole from her, and her best deal, a land and RV park acquisition. Shaan and Codie then discuss north-star goals, with Codie preferring to own businesses where she lives and to make one large single bet.
- •She lost a couple hundred thousand dollars on a bookkeeping business
- •Land appreciation on an RV park made a few million dollars
- •Car washes may become her best deal after Mr. Car Wash went public
- •Her portfolio is worth roughly $75–100M, and she's focused on cash flow
- •She wants to own local businesses in San Diego, Austin and Phoenix, and to raise money for one big bet
- 1:08:28 – 1:13:21
Hobbies and Getting More Interesting
Codie says painting pumpkins brought her no joy and that she mostly has work for a hobby. Shaan says he turns basic hobbies like basketball into uncommon experiences, and suggests spending time with post-economic wealthy people or artists to prompt non-work hobbies.
- •Codie says she has no real hobbies and likes working
- •Shaan does common hobbies in uncommon ways, such as Camp MFM
- •Spending time with very wealthy people shifts the status game away from business
- •Artists value work for its own sake, not its outcomes
- •Codie says she doesn't care much what people think and that political movements are her closest hobby
- 1:13:21 – 1:20:29
AEI, Arthur Brooks and Governing Yourself
Codie explains the American Enterprise Institute and her admiration for Arthur Brooks. Shaan then explains why he doesn't follow politics or the news, saying the idea of governing yourself resonated with him, and they connect it to Jordan Peterson's advice and to relationships.
- •AEI holds that ideas should compete, with bipartisan closed-door events
- •Arthur Brooks spoke about love to major conservative donors
- •Shaan doesn't vote or watch the news, and a friend's idea of governing yourself gave him words for it
- •Codie cites Jordan Peterson's "clean up your room"
- •Shaan frames relationships as taking care of yourself for the other person
- 1:20:29 – 1:27:25
Building the Codie Sanchez Brand and Content Flywheel
Shaan asks how Codie deliberately built her brand. She describes leaving fund-raising for teaching, hiring a team from the top down and using content to source deals, build trust and find buyers.
- •She dislikes the claim that success just happened organically
- •A former CEO told her they got rich quietly, but she wanted to teach
- •She hired heads of ops, content and finance first, then platform specialists
- •Audience is a permissionless form of leverage, and a YouTube lead magnet brought 2,500 signups
- •Content builds trust with sellers, funnels audience to her businesses and creates buyers at exit
- 1:27:25 – 1:44:02
Addressing Critics and Niche Content Opportunities
Shaan asks Codie to respond to criticism that her real business is selling education, and she says the businesses she owns earn more than her community. They discuss the business guru label, and the conversation ends with niche industry content such as the auto repair creator and conference ideas.
- •Codie says the businesses she owns earn more than the community does
- •She is talking with universities about a program, and a typo about her Goldman tenure bothered her
- •Shaan says podcasts draw less criticism than direct-to-camera social video
- •Codie says she never raised money from her audience and contrasts her message with Tai Lopez's
- •Niche content, like the auto repair creator and a cringe-conference idea, could be lucrative
