Life & Business Advice For People In Their 20s - My First Million Q&A

Sam Parr 0:00 [upbeat music] I'm gonna paraphrase, but, but this was asked a ton of times, which is how would you start again from zero? I hate this question. I don't ever answer this question.

Shaan Puri 0:14 [laughs]

Sam Parr 0:14 I'm like, "That's an impossible thing to answer," because you're just looking for, like, a spoon-fed thing, um, and you're just not gonna do whatever we say. Does it... I mean, if you're asking that question, you're probably not gonna do it.

Shaan Puri 0:25 Okay, but still answer it. What, what... Uh, answer it the way you want, which is maybe you're not spoon-feeding a specific answer, but like-

Sam Parr 0:31 Dude, if people-

Shaan Puri 0:32 What does a guy like Sam do in a day and age like this? Is... Let's put it di- differently.

Sam Parr 0:36 Well, and I also don't like this question 'cause the answer is I would do exactly the same thing. Again, Shaan Puri is doing-

Shaan Puri 0:43 I'm doing it [laughs]

Sam Parr 0:43 ... what I did, and how's it going? Is it working wonderfully?

Shaan Puri 0:47 It's working amazing. It feels great to be Sam Parr at age 24 or however you old you were when you started this, when you started Hustle. [laughs]

Sam Parr 0:54 Yeah, I would do, I would do the exact same thing. It totally works-

Shaan Puri 0:56 [laughs]

Sam Parr 0:56 ... if you pick the right niche. You... But here's the thing is, like, you care about this topic. I cared about my topic, which they were related, but not the same. You don't mind writing every day. I didn't mind either.

Shaan Puri 1:08 Right.

Sam Parr 1:08 And so I would do the same thing. The only thing that you did differently was that you were already kinda famous and you had this huge Twitter following, which definitely helped. I had a 10,000-person email list from HustleCon, so I had a little bit of a base. And we're both doing the exact same thing. You get... Make sure you have content-market fit, and so, which means you see if you can, uh, uh, uh, create a newsletter every single day, which both of us have done. You cr- uh, find a way to get traffic. In my case, it was by blogging. In your case, it's Twitter. And then once you've realized that that works, so then you... I would buy ads, which you are now doing, I think, and I did do, and you scale. And you figure out what your LTV is, and then you just figure out how much you wanna spend, and then you go and get advertisers. You're already making, like, a lot of money every month doing this.

Shaan Puri 1:48 Yeah, it's great. [laughs]

Sam Parr 1:48 And you're, like, f- four months in. It took me two years to get to where you are.

Shaan Puri 1:53 Well, that's 'cause I saw the blueprint, right? Like, I wouldn't have even known this could even make... I didn't... Like, when you first told me, you're like, "Yeah, email newsletter. Um, I think you can make a bunch of money." And then I was like, "By doing what?" Like, email's free. What the fu... Like, what are you talking about? This was... There wasn't... Like, Substack didn't exist. There wasn't even... I didn't know of any paid newsletter, and I didn't even really real- I didn't even realize there's, like, a newsletter advertising industry. And if you had told me that, I would be like, "Oh, cool," like might as well have said you're gonna go sell buttons at a flea market. Like-

Sam Parr 2:21 Right

Shaan Puri 2:21 ... you know, do- doesn't seem like that big of an idea. And then you were like, "Yeah, you can make..." And I think you had told me at the time $100 CPM, which I don't think turned out to be true, but like-

Sam Parr 2:29 No, I, I think I said 50 maybe, but that is true.

Shaan Puri 2:32 Yeah.

Sam Parr 2:32 I don't remember what I said-

Shaan Puri 2:33 You, you did, you did mention $100

Sam Parr 2:33 ... but whatever I said, it was ridiculous.

Shaan Puri 2:35 Yeah, yeah.

Sam Parr 2:35 Oh.

Shaan Puri 2:35 You mentioned 100, and then I was like, "So wait a minute. So you're, like, a list of 10,000 people." And I like, "Wait, what's a CPM?" And I was like, "Oh, God, gotta do math." And then I like... But, like, it, it ended up being a number. I was like, "So wait, if you sent that every day, you would just make that much money every day?" And I remember just being like, "Well, okay, maybe this is actually an awesome idea instead of like, you know, a kind of shitty idea." Um-

Sam Parr 2:54 But that's only one of the ways that it can make money.

Shaan Puri 2:57 Right, correct.

Sam Parr 2:57 Which what you're, is what you're seeing. You're seeing that... That's just the tip of the iceberg, and you're only on the tip.

Shaan Puri 3:02 Yeah, yeah, just the tip, as we like to say-

Sam Parr 3:03 Just the tip

Shaan Puri 3:04 ... in the business. [laughs]

Sam Parr 3:05 Uh, and, and do you see how this could scale to 100 million in sales?

Shaan Puri 3:09 [laughs]

Sam Parr 3:09 Maybe, maybe not h-

Shaan Puri 3:10 That's what this is, by the way, not a Q&A. We're just giving tips, and this is just the tip.

Sam Parr 3:14 Yeah.

Shaan Puri 3:14 The Just the Tip episode. [laughs]

Sam Parr 3:15 Yeah, 'cause it's a short, it's a short podcast, so we can only do just the tip.

Shaan Puri 3:18 [laughs]

Sam Parr 3:19 Uh, do, do you see how this could scale to 100 million in sales?

Shaan Puri 3:23 Yeah, and I think, you know, probably m- for more than just ads, but yeah, for, for sure.

Sam Parr 3:27 Yeah.

Shaan Puri 3:27 And, and I think, so, okay, one general idea of what you're saying is basically if you are good at content, it is possible to build a large cont- content audience, and then you... That, that is the door that opens more doors. So either you use that to, like... You know, like what, what I did with my following at first was I launched a fund. I was like, "Great, investing is a cool way to make money." First built an audience and then launched a fund, and the audience became my investors. I took zero meetings. I did zero pitched calls or whatever and raised a multimillion-dollar fund from just the audience. So that's, like, the superpower of an audience. So I, I think that's one thing you could do.

Sam Parr 4:07 Which is already a m- uh, like, potentially an eight-figure thing for you.

Shaan Puri 4:11 Right.

Sam Parr 4:11 Uh, at worst, maybe seven figures, but, like, that's, like, already monetizing.

Shaan Puri 4:15 Yeah.

Sam Parr 4:15 You don't get that today, but in the future.

Shaan Puri 4:17 And the, the other thing, uh, by the way is that, uh... Then by, by the way, the next question is how... "Well, how, how would you build an audience if you're starting from scratch?" [laughs] Like, that's, uh, that's the next o- that's the next question, which you probably-

Sam Parr 4:26 Yeah

Shaan Puri 4:26 ... it's like your second most hated question. Um-

Sam Parr 4:28 Yeah, I hate that.

Shaan Puri 4:29 Okay, so that's like... It's like don't ask a girl her weight or don't ask Sa- Sam Parr what he would do [laughs] to build an audience from scratch if he started over.

Sam Parr 4:35 I just don't like it because it's like, dude, you're asking me on Twitter. You see what I do.

Shaan Puri 4:40 Yeah. That's, that's actually my meta lesson. Okay, so can I, can I go do my rant for a second here?

Sam Parr 4:44 Yeah.

Shaan Puri 4:45 Um, which is kind of a buzzkill for the Just the Tip episode, but let me, let me do it anyways. Most of the people who ask that question I don't wanna answer, not because it's not a good question, but because if you're asking that question, that basically means you're not gonna do it. You're not gonna do it because the answer is so obvious. It's already out there. Everybody who's building an audience is doing it super publicly. So all you have to go do is be like, "Oh, okay, so this guy does it this way, and this girl does it that way, and this guy does it this way," and like then you sorta just bucket it. You're like, "Okay, seems like you kinda need to just choose one medium," like maybe podcasting or Twitter or email. They all have different benefits. And then, like, on that medium, you need to, like, maybe pick a topic, and that's your theme, and you become the, the guy who always talks about frameworks, or the guy who always talks about crypto, or the guy who always talks about business ideas, or whatever it is.

Sam Parr 5:28 And then you can expand once you already have a base.

Shaan Puri 5:31 And then... Exactly. And then, like, you should try to get the... You should try to make viral content, 'cause it's gonna get shared a bunch. Then you can kinda, like, get sponsors, then turn that money into, like, buying ad. Like, it's so obvious what all of us are doing, that if you d- if you, if you don't know how to do it at this point, like, you failed the IQ test. And I don't mean that to be mean. I just mean it, like, to me, you're not serious about the question. Um-

Sam Parr 5:51 Yeah

Shaan Puri 5:51 ... because the answer is already, like, visible to you. And if... And I think there's some, like, more nuanced questions, like which platform would you pick today? Would you pick email or Twitter or whatever? Like, I think there's different questions that might be slightly better questions, um, but the generic one is pretty bad. And this, this is how I rant. So last night- I'm watching TikTok. I turn, open TikTok as I do for my... TikTok's basically like my bedtime story. And, um, and I see this guy on there, and he's like some, like, Sean Connery-looking guy, and he's like this, like, kinda like complete gray beard guy, and he's cooking an egg. So he's like, "The perfect s- Now here, the, cook the perfect egg. Let's do it." And he's like, you know, he's like, "We got eggs, we got black salt, we have this," like, you know, he, I don't know, he's got, like, what looks like just like a branch with leaves on it. I don't know. It's probably some, like, seasoning. He's like, "You know, we have these things." Okay, cool. "Turn the pan to high heat. Crack the eggs. Put the eggs in. Now we're gonna, like, keep it on high." You know, you have your oil, you have the h- you have it on high, and you're trying to get this crust. He's like, "How do you know when there's a crust? Watch this. Jiggle it." And like, so he's, he's like literally teaching you in, like, a 30-second format how to cook the perfect eggs. And by the end, he, like, takes that out of the pan. You're like, "Dude, I just wanna try that egg more than anything in my life right now."

Sam Parr 7:02 And it, and it, and it had 10 million views.

Shaan Puri 7:04 Had 10 million views, and, like, all the comments are like, you know, "Be my dad," and like, you know, "I'll marry you if you cook me these eggs every morning." And he, like, cuts into it. The egg yolk starts running, and it's cur- like, it's crispy on the bottom and soft on top. It's like, just looks amazing, right? And it got me thinking. I was like, "He made it look so simple." I saw the egg crack, right? So, um, you know, I, I saw what he did. It wasn't, like, that complicated. He explained every step of what he was doing, and there's like 10 million likes on this video, which means, like, a lot of people have seen this video. I thought, "How many people are gonna cook an egg like this?" So, so how many people are even gonna try to cook an egg like this? How many people could actually cook the egg like this after watching it? And it just got me thinking. I was like, you know, when I watch this video of this guy telling me how to do it, it seems all simple enough. But I know if I walk to my stove right now and I took the two eggs and the salt and the, the pan with the oil, my egg is not gonna turn out like that, right? Like, I would need a lot of reps to be able to ever cook an egg the way the guy did it, and he showed me the exact formula. He told me the formula. And it got me thinking about business advice. I go, this is the problem with Twitter and even podcasts like this, which is that imagine now that I've watched that video of that egg, and then tomorrow I come on and there's another video of, like, this guy cooking eggs. And then there's, like, the next day there's another one, and like maybe the next day the guy's into toast.

Sam Parr 8:26 Like, when are you gonna go make your own damn eggs?

Shaan Puri 8:28 Exactly. And, like, after six months, I would kinda, in my heart I would feel like, "Dude, I know how to cook eggs." But again, if I walk to a stove and I try to do it, I would make a runny mess and it would be horrible. And, like, the problem with Twitter and the way, the problem with the people w- the way that people use Twitter and use podcasts is they get on every day and they just watch other people cook eggs. They watch guys like you and me cook eggs. [laughs] Like, like we, we, we don't listen to that many podcasts, but we record our own, right? Like-

Sam Parr 8:55 Right

Shaan Puri 8:55 ... we are happy to take your attention and-

Sam Parr 8:57 Well, it's like they, uh, they, they're just masturbating instead of having sex.

Shaan Puri 9:00 [laughs] Exactly, exactly. And like, but you convince yourself. Like, I could just imagine if I had done this for six months, I'd be like, "Dude, I know everything there is to know about cooking eggs." And that's that same person who's on Twitter who reads advice from every investor and founder who's tweeting out their, you know, three ways to, you know, three of my, the biggest mistakes I made before 30, a thread. You know, my six hiring mistakes about managers, a thread. Um, you know, like all these things, right? Like, it's like when I ask my daughter when we would play this game, I say, "Who's, who's your best friend?" She goes, "The floor." That's how I feel about the thread. You know, like, basically it's like, here, just I'm gonna say this arbitrary shit. And, like, I can imagine that if you listen to that and read that every day, you would think you are learning how to cook eggs. But you have no idea how to cook eggs even after reading all of that. In fact, you almost-

Sam Parr 9:48 Right

Shaan Puri 9:48 ... are worse off than somebody who just tried to cook eggs for two weeks straight. And then maybe in, and on the, on the 14th day of cooking their eggs, they go on Twitter and they see something that's like, "Oh, that's how... I, I should change the way I'm cracking the egg," or like, you know, how the heat-

Sam Parr 10:04 Right

Shaan Puri 10:04 ... is too high. Oh, that's it. Okay, let me go back and quick make an adjustment. And so my rant is basically don't be the dude who just watches the video of cooking eggs. Like, go crack some eggs, make a bunch of mistakes, and then come back to Twitter and podcasts like this for your just in time learning to, like, just give you a tweak on the thing you're actually doing.

Sam Parr 10:23 Right.

Shaan Puri 10:23 So that's my rant.

Sam Parr 10:24 Right, right, right. I, I, I'm, I am on board. I completely agree with everything you said.

Shaan Puri 10:28 [laughs] Well then, uh-

Sam Parr 10:29 You wanna do, uh-

Shaan Puri 10:30 Let's go back to answering some questions- [laughs]

Sam Parr 10:31 Yeah. [laughs]

Shaan Puri 10:31 ... from people who wanna let us watch us crack some eggs. [laughs]

Sam Parr 10:35 All right, you pick one. You pick one, and then I'll pick one, and so forth.

Shaan Puri 10:37 [laughs] Okay, sounds good. Uh, let's do this first

Shaan Puri 10:40 one. So, uh, what are the key traits you look for in a co-founder and red flags so that your business is successful and you guys stay happy? And I think you've had, like-

Sam Parr 10:49 My-

Shaan Puri 10:49 ... multiple co-founders, I think, right?

Sam Parr 10:51 I- ish. I was always, like, the guy, and then, like, I had first people that were-

Shaan Puri 10:56 More Batman than Robin.

Sam Parr 10:58 Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, and but then with Joe Spizer for my fund, it's 50/50. Uh, the, and what I've learned, number one, uh, they have to be emotionally healthy and very emotionally stable. I would consider myself to be mostly stable on the big things, but my mood goes up and down. And for me to, to be a good partner with someone they need to be emotionally stable. And even if I was, like, really stable, it's really important because I've seen a lot of, like... It's just like the same way, you ever have, like, a, a friend that's got, like, a husband or a wife and they're just fucking crazy and it's like I don't know how to advise you here. Like, this person is acting irrational. Like, it's really challenging.

Shaan Puri 11:31 Right. It, it's like you wanna separate them and be like, "You stop acting crazy, and you stop acting crazy." [laughs] That's my only advice-

Sam Parr 11:35 Yeah

Shaan Puri 11:35 ... to both of you guys. [laughs]

Sam Parr 11:37 Yeah, it's like, dude, this is, this is just, it's not gonna work out. And so I married a woman that was, like, very stable and even keel.

Shaan Puri 11:43 Yeah.

Sam Parr 11:43 And I realized, oh, that's perfect. So what I look for in partners is people who are emotionally stable. Uh, and, and I also want a partner that's incredibly honest and undersells themselves. Um, I als- And if I find out that they lie at all, like even on small shit, it's game over for me.

Shaan Puri 12:00 Right.

Sam Parr 12:00 So really high integrity's important. Um, and then finally having really high energy, so, like, who can just, like, who wants to push the pace. And, uh, basically with my best partners, I feel intimidated and inspired by them.

Shaan Puri 12:15 That's a g- that's a great way of putting it. And I think it shows, like I'm pretty chill. Sarah's very chill. Uh, I don't know Joe that well, but he seems also very chill. Like-

Sam Parr 12:25 Very chill

Shaan Puri 12:25 ... you know-

Sam Parr 12:25 Very calm

Shaan Puri 12:26 ... your, your, your partner is basically, and your ventures are like, you know, resting heart rate under 40. [laughs] Like it's hard to get a heart rate up.

Sam Parr 12:32 Yeah.

Shaan Puri 12:32 And like I think that's good. That's a good pair for you.

Sam Parr 12:35 Yeah, because I don't mind being the high energy. Like, I'm typically the one that can be the catalyst and be the igniter.

Shaan Puri 12:42 Right.

Sam Parr 12:42 And then a person that, that wants to be the guider I enjoy.

Shaan Puri 12:45 Right. Yeah, that's a, that's a great one. There's this book that I read called Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person. Have you read this book?

Sam Parr 12:50 Yeah, it's by, uh, Tim Urban?

Shaan Puri 12:51 No, no.

Sam Parr 12:52 Or he has a p-

Shaan Puri 12:52 It's the School of Life

Sam Parr 12:53 ... he has a blog post called that.

Shaan Puri 12:54 Yeah, yeah.

Sam Parr 12:54 Oh, yeah, you're right, you're right. School of Life.

Shaan Puri 12:57 So the, in it, like the very first principle is like we marry the wrong person because, um, you know, o- one of the things it says is like we don't even know how we are crazy. Everybody's nuts. You just, if you, but if you don't recognize how you're nuts, um, you're not gonna know how to pick a partner who can deal with your level, your version of crazy, and then you're gonna have to deal with their version of crazy. And the idea that you're gonna change them to not be so crazy is like not a thing. Like everybody's weird or you just don't know them well enough. So like you gotta have your, you gotta know your weirdnesses and then be like, "Cool, is this person compatible, fundamentally compatible with my, my type of weird?" Uh, that's kind of a, a version of what you just said.

Sam Parr 13:32 So what, what, what are yours?

Shaan Puri 13:33 So I kinda steal from like, [laughs] you know, Warren Buffett said this thing, and then Naval I think paraphrased it as well, which is like two things you just said, energy, integrity, and intelligence. So those, those three. So break them down. Um, energy is the one I think most people overlook. I think everybody wants intelligence. They're like, "Oh, yeah, I want somebody who's like really s- smart or really good," right? And it's like, yeah, that's, that's true. You don't wanna, you don't want somebody who's incompetent. It'll drive you nuts in the long run. I've had that problem before. You don't want somebody who's low integrity, right? 'Cause a smart person who's low integrity is a crook. [laughs] It's just a matter of time-

Sam Parr 14:06 Yeah

Shaan Puri 14:06 ... until they screw you. And then the last one is, um, energy. And the energy thing I think is the one that everybody overlooks. I put it as my number one, which is like some people call it vibe, some people call it energy. So I call it mood, you know, whatever. It's basically does this person bring enthusiasm by default, or are they always looking for some ex- like, do they need an excuse to be high energy? Do they need an excuse to be motivated? Do they need an excuse to be optimistic and enthusiastic about what you're working on? 'Cause if they, if they do, you're gonna... I feel like I'm constantly like a doctor with the shock paddles. Like, all right, clear, give me, you know, give me [laughs] give me 20 amps or whatever. And like just trying to like get them to be like, "Yo, wake up." And I, I've had this with like business meetings because Ben, who's my business partner on all my different businesses, Ben's a very low-key guy. He's very low, lo- he comes acr- he's not actually low energy, but his speaking style is low energy. And so sometimes we'll be in meetings, and I'll just be like, "Guys, I just don't wanna ever be in a meeting that feels like this right now." Like nobody's fighting, but like also nobody's saying anything. Like, "Hello, wake up." Like, you know, do you care? Are you there? Do you have ideas, or are you just creatively bankrupt? And like I just don't wanna be in a room that's like low energy, so can we just shake that up right now? And they're like, "Oh, yeah, sorry. Um, let's fucking go." [laughs] Right? Like they give me some token thing, and I'm like-

Sam Parr 15:20 Well, I, I-

Shaan Puri 15:20 ... it's fine. Even a token thing is fine

Sam Parr 15:23 ... I would-

Shaan Puri 15:23 It shows that you, you understand what matters to me.

Sam Parr 15:25 I was gonna say the two people I think do actually have good, who show that is both of our Bens. So Ben, uh, our Ben here, Ben Wilson, he has good energy and vibe because whenever I'm around him I feel happier and I leave happier.

Shaan Puri 15:39 Right.

Sam Parr 15:39 Uh, and he does a good job of matching. And then Ben Levy is a- whenever, same thing. Whenever I'm around him I feel happier, and he also, uh, gets a lot of energy talking to people, which-

Shaan Puri 15:49 Exactly

Sam Parr 15:49 ... uh, is, uh, which I fucking hate doing.

Shaan Puri 15:52 [laughs]

Sam Parr 15:52 So I would... Ben, Ben Levy's a great partner.

Shaan Puri 15:55 Yeah, he's, he's amazing. Uh, he, he's really amazing. Um, okay, so that's kind of what... I guess that answers that question. Um, which one do you wanna do next?

Sam Parr 16:02 Okay, let's do this one.

Sam Parr 16:04 Um, what did you tell your friend on Twitter? So, okay.

Shaan Puri 16:06 This is for me.

Sam Parr 16:07 The question is what did, what did you tell your friend on Twitter that resulted in his audience growth to 100K in just a few hours? Um-

Shaan Puri 16:15 It's Chris Pronger-

Sam Parr 16:16 All right

Shaan Puri 16:16 ... the hockey player.

Sam Parr 16:17 So he tweeted, I helped him write another one today. Did you see it?

Shaan Puri 16:20 No, no. Is it g- popping off?

Sam Parr 16:22 Oh, yeah, right away it got like-

Shaan Puri 16:23 [laughs]

Sam Parr 16:24 ... five or 10 th- it got 5 or 10,000 likes in the first-

Shaan Puri 16:26 Wow

Sam Parr 16:27 ... 30 minutes, and it's already reached 5 million people he told me.

Shaan Puri 16:29 Okay, so explain the thought process. How did you-

Sam Parr 16:31 All right

Shaan Puri 16:31 ... what advice did you give him that would help him do that?

Sam Parr 16:34 People hate this advice, but look, here it is. The guy made $100 million in the NHL, and he spent 20 years being a hockey player, and I'm just helping him craft some of the stories that he's already lived. So step one is there's this massive unfair advantage, which is he's, uh, he's lived an, he's, he's lived an interesting life.

Shaan Puri 16:52 Lived an interesting life. Yeah.

Sam Parr 16:53 And I was talking to my friend Logan, who has this book called How to Not Die Alone, and she's like a dating coach and helps, uh, men and women find partners. And I was talking to her about how I think men should find dates, and I'm like, "You know, the, the best thing about being able to attract a woman is as long as you focus on yourself and live an interesting life and constantly improve yourself, that's what women really care about." And that's really, it's b- it goes beyond women. So with Chris, it was like, well, you just live an interesting life. Are you, are you looking at his tweet? How, what's it have?

Shaan Puri 17:21 I'm looking at it right now. So it says, first tweet is, "When you hear about X player making 30 million over five years, $6 million a year, you think, 'Wow, he made it.' However, that's not always the reality. In this thread I'm gonna break down how much they take home and where the rest of it goes." Ah, I'm curious.

Sam Parr 17:34 That's a good one.

Shaan Puri 17:35 Tell me more. Yeah. [laughs]

Sam Parr 17:36 What's the results so far?

Shaan Puri 17:38 Uh, so it has 10,000 likes, and it was posted five hours ago. [laughs]

Sam Parr 17:42 Wow. So, um, so with Chris, what I do is I basically, uh, talk to him on the phone, and he's like, "Hey, I've got this idea where I wanna talk about like finances." And he'll, we'll like, he'll have a conversation with me for 20 minutes, and I'll say, he'll say, "Yeah, you know, it's crazy about escrow." And I'm like, "Wait, hold on. What the hell is escrow?" He goes, "Yeah, so like basically when you get paid, 30% goes into escrow." And I was like, "Oh, so when you get that money back?" He goes, "You actually never get that money back. That money is used to afford the lead, the league." And I'm like, "Oh, that's interesting." He goes, "Yeah, it's no big deal. So anyway..." And then like he'll keep talking. I'm like, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's the thing. That's the thing." And so when, what you have to do is you have to find the big idea, and you have to do this thing called the, it's called, like, the knowledge complex. But ba- basically, if you wanted to get good at Twitter, you've gotta, A, live an interesting life, and B, understand that the interesting and unique experiences in your life, it's really not well known to a bunch of people. And you have to realize that, like, what seems boring to you isn't boring to most other people. And so you've gotta figure out how to tweet that. And if you don't live an interesting life, go and live an interesting one, or go and learn about a topic and just tweet everything you're learning.

Shaan Puri 18:49 Exactly. Exactly. I think you said it perfectly. I'll only add one part to that, which is, um, in, in my power writing course, I teach this, uh, exercise. And, um, basically I, I use this... I explain it the exact same way you said. I said, "You have two choices, uh, like, fundamentally. You can either be a generous expert, meaning you know something so well you can just be sharing it with an audience, or a curious novice, curious beginner." So it's like, you just say, "Yo, I don't know anything about this, but I'm curious. I'm gonna dig in and find out. If you wanna learn what I learned, uh, you know, going from zero to understanding, you know, DeFi, uh, just follow this thread." And a bunch of people are like, "Great."

Sam Parr 19:25 Yeah.

Shaan Puri 19:26 "I'm also a dummy. If you're gonna do a bunch of work for this, I would love to hear what your, what your takeaway is on it at the end." And so people vastly underestimate the curious beginner path, which almost is a better path, really, um-

Sam Parr 19:37 I agree

Shaan Puri 19:37 ... because they think you have to be a generous expert. You think, they think you have to have played in the NHL and made $100 million in order to share this type of info. Um, there's other formats like, you know, Meme King, um, you have Spicy Analyst. Like, I have all these, like, names for these, like, different f- different, like, lanes you can go down for content to win. But, like, those are, those are two of them, let's say. The other thing I say is there's exercise. Because most people are like, "Well, you know, I haven't made $100 million, so what do I talk about?" And so there's this exercise from the book Storyworthy that I stole called first, last, best, worst. Have you, have you ever done this?

Sam Parr 20:09 Yeah. You, well, and you did it with me. It was great.

Shaan Puri 20:11 Oh, okay. Cool. 'Cause we've done it before. But, like, basically, let- let's just play it again for people who don't, don't know it. Uh, but, like, and we can pick maybe even a different topic. So you take any category of your life, so it could be relationships, it could be cars you've owned-

Sam Parr 20:23 Let's say, like, um-

Shaan Puri 20:24 It could be side hustles

Sam Parr 20:25 ... first job.

Shaan Puri 20:25 Yeah, it could be jobs. So let's take jobs. So what would be Sam Parr's first job?

Sam Parr 20:31 Uh, janitor at-

Shaan Puri 20:31 First time you ever made a dime

Sam Parr 20:33 ... janitor at a bakery.

Shaan Puri 20:34 [laughs] Okay, great. Didn't know that. Um, what was your, uh, worst job?

Sam Parr 20:41 Um, I, uh, uh, st- staining decks in the summer in St. Louis.

Shaan Puri 20:47 To- totally miserable doing it. Okay, great. Then, uh, what was your, um, what was your best job?

Sam Parr 20:54 Being a podcast host.

Shaan Puri 20:55 Best job you ever had. And then what was your, um, like, what, like, say we, we usually say last job, but it means, like, most recent job. So, like, in that case it was maybe-

Sam Parr 21:02 I was CEO of a media company that was making tens of millions of dollars.

Shaan Puri 21:06 Great. And, and, oh, also weirdest. What's the weirdest job you've ever had? What's the weird... And it doesn't have to be a job. What's the weirdest way you've ever made money?

Sam Parr 21:13 I was a skateboard instructor at the YMCA.

Shaan Puri 21:16 [laughs] That's a good one. Or the hot dog stand, I think, is a great one also for that.

Sam Parr 21:20 Right. A hot dog stand, yeah.

Shaan Puri 21:21 Um, so, so you take that and you say, "All right." And everybody has some version of this. Everybody has an answer to these questions. Then, then you say, "All right, within that, what's the story people don't know about staining decks?" Or, "What's the thing people don't realize about s- about those hot dog stands you see?"

Sam Parr 21:36 Right.

Shaan Puri 21:36 And then they're like, "Well," you know, they don't... And you're so, it's kind of like you said, the knowledge complex or whatever. It's like you're so in the weeds that you don't remember what it's like to not know.

Sam Parr 21:45 Right.

Shaan Puri 21:45 So you kinda gotta talk to somebody about it and just say it out loud, and you see when they raise their eyebrows or when they get curious. It's like, that's your hook. You need to know, like, you know, how much do those hot dogs really cost? Or like, where the heck do they go when the game is over, right? Like, you know, okay, now I wanna know. Like, you know, uh, yeah, I have always wondered that. So, oh, wow, you put it in this area or whatever. Um, and so, so I think that's what you wanna do to come up with great content ideas. You don't have to be Chris Pronger, an NHL star who made $100 million. I bet you could have done maybe not as successful, maybe not, like, you know, 100,000 followers and, like, one tweet or whatever you did for that guy. But, like, I bet if you worked for three months with somebody who's a completely normal person, like, you know, project manager at Deloitte, I bet you could get them to 30,000 or 40,000 followers on Twitter within a month.

Sam Parr 22:34 And if you look at... Well, look at, so you didn't have a following on Twitter, uh, like, uh, three years ago you started, right?

Shaan Puri 22:41 T- two years ago, yeah.

Sam Parr 22:43 Two years ago. Now you've got t- over 200,000. TrunkFam, the guy who worked for me for a long time, when we, when he started working at my company, I think we helped, or he signed up for Twitter. Now he's got, what, 300,000 or 400,000?

Shaan Puri 22:56 5-, $500,000 or something, yeah.

Sam Parr 22:57 500,000.

Shaan Puri 22:57 Something like that.

Sam Parr 22:58 And then there's, like, loads of employees at my company that have done it. Like, it's very easy to do.

Shaan Puri 23:03 Yeah, exactly. All right. Let's do a different one. Um-

Sam Parr 23:06 You're up.

Shaan Puri 23:06 [laughs] What would you say to a lawyer with a very... I'm a lawyer with a very good salary. What would you say to motivate me-

Sam Parr 23:11 I've got a great answer

Shaan Puri 23:11 ... to motivate me to leave my cushy but soul-sucking job and jump into entrepreneurship? If my boss asks, I'm asking for a friend, dot, dot, dot.

Sam Parr 23:20 I would say don't jump into entrepreneurship, and get happy with your job. If you're someone that needs another person to give you motivation to bail, you're, you shouldn't bail.

Shaan Puri 23:29 [laughs]

Sam Parr 23:30 You're only doing it because you think that... Uh, uh, people think that it's cool because people they admire do it. I would say don't do it. I don't think-

Shaan Puri 23:38 And y-

Sam Parr 23:38 ... that you're the personality type that, this, that will be happy doing this, if you need someone to motivate you.

Shaan Puri 23:43 Yeah, exactly. Uh, and by the way, there's a trick there, which is if that pisses you off and it makes you wanna do it, cool. You are an entrepreneur. Go ahead. [laughs] You know, you may pass Go, you may collect your $200. If that, like, j- if that answer feels so wrong for you, it doesn't sit well with you, and it annoys you that Sam even said it, and you get this, like, random chip on your shoulder for no reason, like, eh, you kind of are... That's, that actually did get you on the, on the right path. [laughs]

Sam Parr 24:07 And also, if you're a l- if you're a lawyer, I do think that the hours lawyer works, lawyers work are ridiculous. But you could make a lot of money, and I bet there's a world where you could do, like, a 9:00 to 5:00 l- legal business or be a lawyer and have a really good life. So, like, why bail if you- If, if, if you're not compelled to do it enough that you're just gonna do it, maybe don't. Just don't bail, and be happy.

Shaan Puri 24:29 Yeah. For sure. Uh, all right, pick another one.

Sam Parr 24:34 Um, would you c-

Sam Parr 24:36 uh, would you consider buying an existing business and growing it, or would you only wanna start things from scratch?

Shaan Puri 24:44 Frankly, I don't know why I haven't done that. Like, it's pretty clear to me now that that is a better path for entrepreneurship. [laughs] Um, unless you really just have the killer idea. Um, but for some reason, I haven't done it yet. I just keep starting new things from scratch. I think there's some fun in that, and, uh, it's not really the logical decision, it's more of the emotional decision, but I for sure would, and in fact, think I should, um, be doing that because I know how to run a good business and I know how to grow businesses. And taking something that's already doing 5, 10, $15 million a year and getting it to 50 would be a lot easier for me than getting something from zero to 50. And, um, so why not? Yeah, it's makes, makes a lot of sense to me.

Sam Parr 25:30 I just don't get... I don't... Maybe I'll do it one day. I, I, I know people talk about this all the time. I agree that it is actually easier, and I agree that the likelihood is better, and your life would, in most cases, be better. I can't f- I just don't give a shit about something that someone else made. I, I j- I, I enjoy starting it. I, I think that, to me, building a business is, like, my art, and I, I like doing it from the ground level.

Shaan Puri 25:56 And what about... Okay, I got a question for you from, uh, from this Twitter here. So John Williams [laughs] asks, "How hard should I, should you be willing to work to create a successful business? Is it an 80-hour-a-week job? Is expecting to only work 40 hours a week unrealistic?" And by the way, his tagline is, John Williams, "Fuck work, let's play." Um, [laughs] and so I think he-

Sam Parr 26:16 [laughs]

Shaan Puri 26:17 ... I think we know what he, what he's trying to do here. Um, so-

Sam Parr 26:20 Well, let me just say this. When I started my company, the first two or three years, I was working constantly, all the time. And people would be like, "Well, why don't you-"

Shaan Puri 26:27 So what does that really mean? Like, you're in the office, you're thinking about it.

Sam Parr 26:30 I would-

Shaan Puri 26:31 What, what... Obviously you think about it all the time.

Sam Parr 26:31 Yeah, I would get to the o- I would get to the office at 8:00 or 9:00 AM, and I would go home at 7:00 or 8:00 PM. Um, and I, I would dick around at the office and hang out with my employees, but I, it was very important to me that I was the first to arrive and last to leave. And I didn't, I didn't expect-

Shaan Puri 26:48 And were you working on the weekends or no?

Sam Parr 26:50 Uh, I would work Sunday evening, but not Saturday.

Shaan Puri 26:54 So that's like, just, let's take that, uh, you know, as, as, uh, like literally what you said. So let's say 12 hours a day, five days a week, that's 60 hours a week, plus maybe a couple hours on the weekend. So maybe 64 hours or something like that in a week?

Sam Parr 27:10 Yeah, but I couldn't sustain that. So I only did that for, like, the first two years, and to get to, like, profitability and hiring people. And then I was able to, to where it was, like, some weeks it was 80, other weeks it was pretty chill, it was 40. Um, and uh, so I was able to relax a little bit more. Um, one time I took a month off. So I was able to, like... But that was, we were making, like, $8 million that year. So, um, I was able to chill a little bit. Um, if I had to start something again, I would expect that I would work 40 or 50 hours a week getting it going. But here's the thing, whenever, even now, even though I, I'm not, like, actively involved in building a business, I, I think about this type of stuff 24 hours a day. Uh, people ask us, Shaan, if we prepare all the time, and I'm like, "Yeah, kinda, but also not kinda." But like, we're, like, everything we read, it's like we're relating it back to this trade of, I don't know what you call this thing, improving ourselves and sometimes making money by doing it.

Shaan Puri 28:05 Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, it's like, what's that, um... I g- I wanna keep referencing this, like, douchey, uh, s- this story that makes me sound like a douche. It's like, Picasso's at a restaurant, and somebody comes up and they're like, "Uh, Picasso, w- will you make a piece of art for me?" And he grabs a napkin and he scribbles on it, and he's like, "Yeah, that'll be $30,000," or whatever. She's like, "But you just, you just made that in two seconds." And he's like, "No, this, this, ma'am, like, yeah, this took me 20 years," or whatever, to make this scribble. Um, and that's how I feel about the podcast. Like, there are days where I will show up and it's like, "Wait, are, you know, what are you guys talking about?" Like, bef- right before the pod, my w- I'll be like, "Hey, I'm gonna go record." And my wife will be like, "What are you guys gonna talk about today?" I was like, "I have no idea." And it's not that I have no idea, it's I have a l- long list of things that throughout the week I'm writing down here, because I'm doing calls with all these interesting people, that I'm researching this thing. And if I'm watching a documentary, I'm taking notes. It's like I'm doing things that the average person doesn't do in order to generate a bunch of ideas so that when I show up, it can just be natural. I can just speak naturally about interesting topics, because I've already put in the whole week of trying to learn interesting things and have interesting conversations and all that stuff. So, um, and I would say, like, if, if, you know, a lot of this, these questions are, like, career advice. As a... If you can find a way to do that in your career, you've won, which is basically y-

Sam Parr 29:24 There's no separation

Shaan Puri 29:25 ... there's, there's no separation between the things you're most interested in and liking to do and spending your nights kind of, like, learning about or, or experimenting with. Like, find a way for money to be the byproduct, like the exhaust coming out the chimney of that factory of interestingness. And like-

Sam Parr 29:41 That's a good... Have you heard that?

Shaan Puri 29:42 I, I'd heard that before. Yeah, it's pretty good, right? [laughs]

Sam Parr 29:45 That was, that was, that was, that was great. That's really good. Yeah.

Shaan Puri 29:49 [laughs] And so basically-

Sam Parr 29:50 I'm a little in awe of that. Good job.

Shaan Puri 29:52 Oh, hell yeah. All right, great. Put it on a T-shirt. Um, yeah, I had p- heard things like that before, but again, it was just crack an egg, uh, watching other people crack eggs advice. Finally, when I did it, it's like, this is the way. This is for sure the way, which is just go for the most interesting things and then learn core business skills so that you can turn you just doing what's most interesting to you on a daily basis into a profitable m- money-making even- uh, like, venture. And then you basically are funding yourself to live the exactly life you want.

Sam Parr 30:25 And how long were you working when you, uh, at Bebo?

Shaan Puri 30:28 Six, seven years, something like that.

Sam Parr 30:30 But, uh, sorry, I meant early on. How many hours?

Shaan Puri 30:33 Oh, I was, I would work a lot, but it was more like, I, I don't necessarily know if that was productive. Like, I was at the office every day from, let's ca- I would get there like 9:00, 9:30 usually, and then I would leave either, like, 8:00 PM or I would sleep there, 'cause there was, like, an apartment built into the office.

Sam Parr 30:53 Right.

Shaan Puri 30:53 And I was a single guy, it didn't mat- like, who cares if I go home to my apartment or I sleep in this apartment? Like, sleeping here saves me time and I could just keep, you know, working on stuff. And basically what I would do, the way I thought about my day was, like, I had decided when I took the job, I go, "I'm gonna work here. Instead of starting my own company, I'm gonna work here. I'm gonna pack, like, 20 years of experience into the next four years." That was my goal.

Sam Parr 31:15 Right.

Shaan Puri 31:15 Um, and then I said, "Okay, well, how am I gonna do that?" I said, "All right, well, my day job needs to get me reps working on startups and, like, trying to build them and grow them," 'cause that's the thing I like to do. And then basically, as soon as, like, everyone would leave the office around 5:00, I would walk out, I would go get, like, the, like, you know, Westfield Mall was, like, right there. I'd walk to Westfield Mall, I'd walk to the food court. This is when I gained a bunch of weight. I'd walk to the food court. I'd be, like, tired, super hungry. I'd go eat some shitty food in the food court. I'd come back to the office, and then I would, like, like, I'd have my night job. And my night job was basically, like, what are the most interesting companies and who are the most interesting people? How do I, like, learn about what they're doing? How do I meet them? How do I invite them over for a beer right now at the office or a dinner right now at my office, and, like, pick their brain on what they're doing? And basically, I would build my network and I'd build my knowledge at night, or I would, like, build my skills. So I'd, like, teach myself SQL overnight. I'd be like, "Okay, I'm tired of asking the developers to run queries for me. I'm gonna learn h- how to write my own queries." And like, you know, so I would, like, spend two weeks just trying to learn SQL.

Sam Parr 32:16 Right.

Shaan Puri 32:16 And then I would spend two weeks really s- like, studying up on, like, you know, how MLMs grow. And like, just, like, I just picked these, like, intensives and I would just go down them. So now I kinda have a whole bunch of obscure knowledge, but because I, like, dedicated a period of my life to really only learning about those things. I didn't, didn't do other stuff, but I, it's okay. I was, like, you know, happy as a clam just to do those things.

Sam Parr 32:37 That's badass. I think that's a really good answer. Um, all right, let me pick one.

Shaan Puri 32:42 Sorry about that.

Sam Parr 32:42 What are your biggest regrets and what pastime do you... Sorry.

Sam Parr 32:48 All right. What are your biggest regrets in business and life? What pastime in your life do you miss most? What future time do you most look forward to? S- so I'll, I'll answer really quick. My biggest regret, I wish I would've taken my work, my school, my sports more seriously as a young person. So, like, in grade school, high school, and college, I kinda dismissed it. I wish I would've, like, taken it-

Shaan Puri 33:11 What? Why?

Sam Parr 33:11 Yeah. Because I think that, like, I... Well, when you're in high school and college, like, there's a time where all you have to do is acquire skills and, like, get good at stuff. And I, like, would just, I didn't, like, eat well, uh, I didn't, like, sleep as much as I should have for when it res- as relates to sports. I didn't train as hard as I could've trained. And that's just, like, a period of time when you're young, from, like, the ages of 12 to, like, 20, or 22 if you're a college athlete, which I was for a little while, where it's like, you can just get good at a sport. Also, with school, I kinda dicked off in high school, and I actually regret that. I wish I would've, like, took the time to learn. You know, I'm s- I'm getting paid to read books now. Or, or I'm, I'm... Sorry, I have all my free time to read books. Now I read in my free time. So I wish I would've taken my, my schooling and my, um, athletics a lot more seriously, 'cause that's, like, the only time you have to do that. And, uh, I, uh, w- I'm most looking forward to having children.

Shaan Puri 34:08 Nice. All right. [laughs] Uh, that's great. That's a great answer.

Sam Parr 34:13 What's your regret?

Shaan Puri 34:13 I find this q- isn't this question really hard to answer, like, the regret question? Like, I feel stuck when I try to answer this question.

Sam Parr 34:20 Well, well, well, what do you think about all the time and you're like, "Man, I wish I would've ha- I wish I would've behaved differently during that period of my life"?

Shaan Puri 34:28 So I kinda, let me break it up into two different groups. There's, like, knowing what I know now, oh, wow, like, I could've done so much better, maybe m- made more of the opportunity. Whether that's, like, you know, paid, my parents basically paid a bunch of money for me to go to Duke. It's, like, an expensive-ass school, and it's got, like, tons of, like, you know, opportunity. I think there was, like, this thing that came out which was, like, in the, in w- in, like, 2007 on C- on Duke's campus, there was founders of, like, I think seven or eight, like, billion dollar companies. Um, so, like, I, I was there. Um, I didn't know any of these people. I didn't even think about entrepreneurship. I didn't think about, like, meeting c- I didn't even think about, like, "Wow, I'm on this campus with a bunch of really awesome people." Like, I should go, not just try to make friends and party, but, like, who are the people who are actually working, like, trying to do something interesting? You know, who are those people? Who... Okay, I'm just, like, focused on my classes and passing them, but, like, why don't I actually focus on figuring out what classes are interesting to me, right? Like, there's a whole bunch of ways I would do college differently if I, like, had the wisdom I have today. It's not really, like, a regret, though. Like, when I hear the word regret, I think about, like, that word you said, behavior. Where did I f- where do I feel like I kinda let myself down in my behavior? And the only things that come to mind are, like, any time that I've been, like, lower integrity. So, like, either lying to somebody, exaggerating to somebody, um, kinda making a selfish move where, like, I got some benefit and other people didn't really get a benefit. There's not, like, a big one that comes to mind, but there's, like, really small ones that come to mind, and I think those are my only regrets. Like, uh, the, the ones that you don't sleep well and you're not proud of. Like, a te- a simple test I do is, like, if everybody knew about this move I was making, would I, would that be a thing I'm excited about? Like, if I could magically get distribution and everybody knew this about me, would this be something I'd be proud of or embarrassed of, um, or neutral? And it's, like, basically anything that's a neutral, I'm like, "Well, why don't I just do it more interestingly?" You know? Like, let me just take the common and make it more uncommon. Like, that would be, all that, and so that's helped me a lot. And the things that I'm embarrassed of, it's like- That's just a sign I shouldn't be doing this, and I need to, like, bite the bullet and, like, reverse course on this. And, like, I think before, I used to definitely be, like, an exaggerator, white liar, like, kind of, like, not like nothing that harmed people, but, like, definitely things that, like, benefited me. [laughs] And, like, over time, I've, like, tried to stamp those out. Um, so I would say, like, just little stupid things like that would be the only things that I actually regret. Whereas everything else, it's like, I don't know. Like, yeah, I was dumb. I, I didn't know those things at that time, and whatever, you know, who cares? I learned them by doing the, the thing the wrong way. I learned the right way.

Sam Parr 37:03 There was one time when I was 18 and, like, uh, a limo... Or I was, like, in a shuttle from the hotel to, like, on a college visit or something like that, and the man driving the bus was r- or the little... You know, it's like a van when you're at the Marriott, and they take you around. And he was like, "All right, you're at your stop." And I... Y- you're supposed to tip them sometimes, and I tipped him $5. He goes, "Oh, no. It's okay." And I said, "Oh, no. You need this."

Shaan Puri 37:26 [laughs] Oh, my God.

Sam Parr 37:27 And I meant to say, like, "You earned it," or something, and I said, "You need this." And that's one of those things that I look back and I'm like, "I cannot believe that was so condescending of me. I cannot believe it." That's something I think about all the time, and I'm like, "I can't believe I said that. I cannot believe." That's, that's one of my big regrets. [laughs]

Shaan Puri 37:46 Dude, I have a ton of those. That... Ha- have I told the Orlando Bloom story on here?

Sam Parr 37:51 No.

Shaan Puri 37:51 Pe- people make fun of me 'cause I, I tell this story so often. [laughs] If I haven't told it, I'm gonna tell you now. [laughs] Okay, here's one of my biggest regrets. [laughs] So, uh, I'm in London. I'm 21 years old maybe, and my buddy comes to visit, uh, for college. And so I, I was living in London at the time. My p- my parents lived there. And, like, so I'm like, "Okay, let's go out." Now, I hadn't really gone out in London, so I didn't kinda know where to go. I didn't know the protocols, the etiquettes. I'd just been kinda hanging out with my parents at their house. I wasn't drinking. I didn't have a big tolerance at this time. Uh, you know, like, I basically hadn't drunk-

Sam Parr 38:24 Still don't.

Shaan Puri 38:25 Yeah. [laughs] Still don't. But-

Sam Parr 38:27 Didn't, didn't have big tolerance back then. Still don't have it.

Shaan Puri 38:29 [laughs] My buddy comes to visit, and I'm like, "All right, I wanna be cool with m- with this buddy." Uh, shout out to my buddy Goops. If he's listening, he, he, he'll know this is him. So we go out in London, and I'm trying to act cool because I'm like, "He thinks I live in the center of London. He thinks I still kinda, like, go out like I did in college." He doesn't know I've just been in my mom's apartment, you know, like, doing nothing for, like, three months, you know, just, like, I don't know, watching reruns of Lost. And so, uh, so I'm like, "Oh, let's go over here. Let's go over here." And I'm like, "Oh, this place is popping," 'cause I see a place just with a line outside. I'm like, "This is the place. We're going here." He's like, "You sure? We could just go to this bar." I'm like, "No, no, no. We're going over here." So we go to this place, line outside, and he's like, "I don't think this is, like, a bar or club." And it, it turns out it's a theater. [laughs] And I'm like, "Oh, shit." [laughs] But I'm like kinda pi- committed to my, like, plan of like, "No, no, no. This place is the, the, the best." [laughs] I've now picked a theater, like, a pl- where it does plays, but the play had just ended, and people were waiting outside. I'm like... And there's this group of girls, they were all visiting for the University of Georgia, and, uh, Duke University has, like, uh, kinda notoriously, like, um, not the hottest college girls. And so these girls to me were, like, a 14 out of 10. And so, um, and so I'm like-

Sam Parr 39:37 A- a- if... A- and they probably didn't have the hottest guys either.

Shaan Puri 39:40 [laughs] Yeah.

Sam Parr 39:41 Right? Like, it-

Shaan Puri 39:43 I, I was a strong seven at Duke. [laughs]

Sam Parr 39:45 [laughs]

Shaan Puri 39:46 I'm a, I'm a three at private school, so-

Sam Parr 39:47 Yeah, you're a Duke seven. [laughs]

Shaan Puri 39:48 I'm a private school seven, public school three. [laughs]

Sam Parr 39:51 Yeah. [laughs]

Shaan Puri 39:52 And so I, you know, I'm a state school three. So, so basically, um, I'm like, okay, I'm trying to, still trying to recover from Goops being like, "Why are you telling me to go to this theater?" And I'm like, "'Cause I wanna talk to these girls." And so now I'm, like, trying to act cool in front of these girls, which was... I was already failing at acting cool in front of my dude brown friend. Now I'm trying to act c- cool in front of these girls, so they're... I'm like, "I'm like-"

Sam Parr 40:10 Dude, you're like the Tinder swindler man of your friend group. You're... [laughs]

Shaan Puri 40:13 [laughs] So, so I'm like, "What are, what are we doing here? What are we waiting for?" And they're like, "Oh, the other... You know, the play just ended and Orlando Bloom did a drop-in at the show. And so he's coming out, and, like, we're all just waiting for his autograph, basically take a picture of him." And I'm like... In my head, I'm like, like, "You... Okay, do you know who Orlando Bloom is if I say that? Do you know the, who, who that is? Like, do you have a picture in your head?"

Sam Parr 40:34 I know exactly who he is.

Shaan Puri 40:35 Okay. I didn't. So I'm like, I've heard the name, but I'm like, "I have no idea who this guy [laughs] is or why he's famous," but, like, clearly he's famous. There's a crowd here waiting for him. And so we're waiting 20 minutes, and I'm just chopping it up with these girls. And so-

Sam Parr 40:48 What, what year was this?

Shaan Puri 40:50 This would've been, uh, I don't know, 13, 14 years ago. So, like-

Sam Parr 40:53 Dude, then, so Orlando was, like, peak Orlando Bloom.

Shaan Puri 40:56 Exactly.

Sam Parr 40:56 Like, he had just been in-

Shaan Puri 40:57 He'd just done Pirates of the Caribbean. I didn't, I didn't know-

Sam Parr 40:59 Yeah

Shaan Puri 40:59 ... how to connect it, and I couldn't ask 'cause I had already, again, told Goops we gotta go here, told these girls I'm waiting for Orlando Bloom. They don't know that I don't know who he is. But anyways, we're just kinda shooting the shit 'cause I have this captive audience. These girls can't leave. They're waiting for Orlando Bloom, so they gotta talk to me basically at this point. So we're, we're having fun. We're flirting with these girls. Things are going well now. So my night has turned around, but problem is people are coming out from the play, and I don't know who Orlando Bloom is, so I'm just sort of waiting to see where the reaction comes from. I'm expecting, like, I don't know, Brad Pitt in his prime. I'm expecting, like, you know, Bruce Willis. I'm expecting just, like, some, like, just some hunk to come out 'cause, like, clearly-

Sam Parr 41:35 Dude

Shaan Puri 41:35 ... all these women are waiting for him.

Sam Parr 41:37 Orlando's pretty, pretty hunky, man. You, you... He's pretty good looking.

Shaan Puri 41:40 In person, he's a lot more, like, um-

Sam Parr 41:43 Petite?

Shaan Puri 41:44 Petite, exactly the word I'm looking for. So this guy walks out, and he's just this kinda small guy, and he's got this w- wispy body and this wispy mustache.

Sam Parr 41:54 [laughs]

Shaan Puri 41:54 And I'm like, "This is the fucking guy?" And so, like, I, I'm just sort of like... And I'm a little bit drunk. I'm pretty drunk at this point, and I'm just like, "Oh, my God." So he's facing the... He's, like, signing autographs for the other people. He's, like, about to get into this car, this limo, and, like, there w- wasn't a lot of space. You know, like, the distance between me and my, kinda, like, [laughs] like, you know, this window in front of me is two feet away. That's how far he was away, and he's just not turning around to, like, f- sign our autographs or whatever. I don't want his autograph, but he, he doesn't acknowledge us.

Sam Parr 42:20 So what do you just tap him on the shoulder?

Shaan Puri 42:22 So I just go, "Orlando. Orlando," and, like, I'm screaming his name. [laughs] Like, and so I said it, like, kind of, like, medium, and then he doesn't turn. And so then I'm just drunk, so I'm like- I'm just gonna say it as loud as I can. So I'm yelling, and Americans are already, like, 40% louder than Europeans, and now I'm trying to be loud.

Sam Parr 42:39 He-

Shaan Puri 42:39 And so I'm like-

Sam Parr 42:40 And he's, he's, he's not American, right?

Shaan Puri 42:42 I know, but I'm in London-

Sam Parr 42:43 So he-

Shaan Puri 42:43 ... and so most people are being very civilized

Sam Parr 42:45 ... oh, I, I know, but so he probably doesn't like that either.

Shaan Puri 42:47 Nobody liked it. Nobody liked it. Trust me, like, these girls who I was talking to, they were like, "Oh my God, this is so off-putting. Why is this man so loud right now?" And so, um, it sounds like I'm just screaming, and I am screaming. He turns around, and I just go, "Orlando," and he turns. I go... And I see his face for the first time.

Sam Parr 43:01 [laughs]

Shaan Puri 43:02 I'd only seen this petite body from behind, which was just basically a woman's body.

Sam Parr 43:05 [laughs]

Shaan Puri 43:05 So he turns around, and I see his, his mustache. I go, "What's with the 'stache?"

Sam Parr 43:10 [laughs]

Shaan Puri 43:11 And then he's like... [laughs] And he doesn't know what to make of it. Like, what do you mean? What, what, how do you answer that, "What's with the 'stache?" He's like... And I'm thinking-

Sam Parr 43:18 He probably laughed

Shaan Puri 43:19 ... I thought it was from the play. I thought he had left it on-

Sam Parr 43:21 [laughs]

Shaan Puri 43:21 ... 'cause it looked so ridiculous to me. And so he's like, and he just sort of rolls his eyes, and the girls are like, "You're the most uncool dude on the planet now."

Sam Parr 43:29 [laughs]

Shaan Puri 43:30 "You've annoyed Orlando Bloom." And he just, like, w- he starts walking into, he just, he, he just sort of aborts. And the girls are pissed 'cause he didn't, like, acknowledge them now either.

Sam Parr 43:39 [laughs]

Shaan Puri 43:39 The whole section got blacklisted. So he gets in the car. So th- trust me, that's not the worst of it. He gets in the car. This is where the story ends in the, in the, the final crescendo. And I'm like, and something comes over me. I'm like, you know, I'm like a entrepreneur, I'm, I'm action-oriented, I'm a go-getter. So I decided to be a go-getter with Orlando Bloom, and I go to the car. [laughs] And there's no security 'cause again, nobody expects a buffoon to just, like, open up the car door.

Sam Parr 44:05 [laughs]

Shaan Puri 44:05 So I, I reach through the window. He's waving bye to the fans through the, through the backseat. I reach through the passenger front seat into the backseat while he's waving, and my hand just wraps around his thumb.

Sam Parr 44:18 Oh. [laughs]

Shaan Puri 44:19 Like, I was going for, like, a high five, but I'm, he's waving, so it's a moving target. I only catch his thumb.

Sam Parr 44:24 [laughs]

Shaan Puri 44:25 And if you've ever had another man's thumb inside your full hand-

Sam Parr 44:28 Yes, it's... Yes

Shaan Puri 44:29 ... one of the most uncomfortable feelings in the world.

Sam Parr 44:31 No. Yeah.

Shaan Puri 44:31 I immediately sober up. He looks at me like, "Yo, bro, like, dude, [laughs] why are you, like, gr- why are you grabbing my thumb?"

Sam Parr 44:38 [laughs]

Shaan Puri 44:38 And I'm just like, I sober up. I'm just like, I was like, "Dude, I'm so sorry."

Sam Parr 44:42 [laughs]

Shaan Puri 44:42 And I just, I let it go, and I let go of the whole night. And I basically, it's the most embarrassing thing that I've done, um, you know, since then. It never done my, never topped that moment. So that's my biggest regret. [laughs]

Sam Parr 44:55 Oh my God, that's awesome, grabbing Orlando Bloom's thumb as he drove away after making fun of his mustache.

Shaan Puri 45:02 If, Orlando, if you, if you're listening to this, if, if your cousin is listening to this, send this to Orlando. Let him know, that guy, you know, he, he was just, he was just trying to impress his friend. You know, he was just trying to be... I don't know what he was trying to do, but it was an accident. I didn't mean to do that.

Sam Parr 45:15 No, we know what you were trying to do. You were doing it for the tale. Whatever.

Shaan Puri 45:17 [laughs]

Sam Parr 45:17 Everyone's been there. He would, he would empth- empathize with that. Um, dude, I don't think we should do any more. I think we have to end on that.

Shaan Puri 45:24 [laughs]

Sam Parr 45:24 That was awesome. That was the best story I've heard in a long time.

Shaan Puri 45:26 [laughs] All right. Fantastic. Good, uh, good Q&A, Just The Tips, uh, from, from your boy-

Sam Parr 45:32 That was Just The Tip. That's what we're gonna call it

Shaan Puri 45:34 ... Shaan Puri. [laughs]

Sam Parr 45:36 Just The Tips.

Shaan Puri 45:37 All right, we're outta here. [upbeat music]