First Class Founders: Creators | Solopreneurs | Personal HoldCo

E50: Let's be honest, change can be a real challenge for us entrepreneurs. It's like trying to catch a fast-moving aircraft without a ticket - it's confusing and can make you feel like you're just reacting, not steering your ship. This can lead to burnout, frustration, and missed opportunities. On today's episode, host Yong-Soo ( @YongSooChung ) chats with none other than...

E49: Have you ever wondered why your content isn't hitting the mark? You're putting in all the hard work, creating content day in and day out, yet it feels like you're just shouting into the wind. Frustrating, right? I get it. Because I've been there. I thought that just putting out great content would be enough to make me a success. But boy, was I wrong! I soon found myself po...

E48: Ever wonder how an "unsexy" business could lead to mind-blowing success? What if I told you someone turned a student self-storage idea into a multi-million dollar empire? Today, Yong-Soo Chung ( @YongSooChung ) chats with Nick Huber ( @sweatystartup ), the mastermind behind the Sweaty Startup brand, the brilliant mind behind Bolt Storage, and a holding company operator. This isn&apo...

E47: Have you ever wondered how some creators and entrepreneurs seem to achieve incredible results effortlessly while others struggle to gain traction? The answer lies in a concept that has revolutionized my approach to business – the Flywheel Effect. Today, host Yong-Soo Chung ( @YongSooChung ) dives deep into the concept of a flywheel and why every creator needs 3 types of flywheels in their bus...

E46: Ever find yourself stuck in the hamster wheel of creativity, pouring your heart into your craft, but struggling to turn a profit? It's a challenge many of us face – the journey from creator to successful entrepreneur can feel like an uphill battle. Get ready as Yong-Soo Chung ( @YongSooChung ) chats with Daren Smith ( @DarenTSmith ), the founder of Craftsman Creative, a film producer and...

E45: Have you ever wondered what sets successful founders and creators apart from the rest? The reality is, many budding entrepreneurs grapple with uncertainty, indecision, and the fear of failure. It's like navigating a maze blindfolded. Entrepreneurship isn't a walk in the park. It's a rollercoaster ride filled with challenges, doubts, and uncertainties. Today, host Yong-Soo Chung...

E44: Ever wonder what it takes to skyrocket your newsletter from ground zero to an audience that hangs onto your every word? Many creators struggle with picking the perfect niche, nailing the right frequency, and snagging those elusive subscribers. But don't worry. Yong-Soo Chung ( @YongSooChung ) spoke to Matt McGarry ( @JMatthewMcgarry ), a newsletter expert and the mastermind behind the gr...

E43: 'X' formerly known as Twitter, has a new rival in town. Led by Mark Zuckerberg, Threads has taken the world by storm, and while the initial rush has died down a bit, its impressive launch is worth a deeper dive. A platform where conversations feel more personal, intimate, and casual, like catching up with an old friend over coffee. That's exactly what Threads brings to the tabl...

E42: Tyler Denk is the Founder & CEO of Beehiiv, an email service provider that's taking the newsletter industry by storm. If you are a regular listener, you already know that I use Beehiiv for the First Class Founders newsletter and I am incredibly happy with it. Tyler and I spoke about: His thoughts on the future of newsletters His role as the Growth Engineer at Morning Brew His first v...

E41: Today, I reveal how I built my business, which generated $20 million in sales with my proprietary MAPS Framework – Mindset, Audience, Product, and Scaling. It's everything I know about entrepreneurship distilled down to one simple framework which you can use to build your own business. Today, I'll cover: My MAPS Framework and its Components Why Developing a Winning Mindset is Import...

E40: What would you learn if you had the chance to speak to over 2,000 startup entrepreneurs including the founders of Airbnb, Reddit, and Zapier? We are talking to Andrew Warner, the serial entrepreneur, storyteller, podcast host, and author extraordinaire. After conducting over 2,000 interviews from startup founders, Andrew recently published a book called "Stop Asking Questions!" whic...

E39: Imagine your work has contributed to a quarter billion dollars in sales. You read that right. Quarter of a billion dollars. That’s $250 million. Today, we’re joined by Colin Chung, a copywriter who not only knows how to write amazing direct response copy, but he knows how to get the largest clients in the business. Over the last 15 years, Colin’s clients include: Agora, Jim Kwik, John Carlton...

E38: Want to know how the top 0.1% of creators grow their newsletter? Today, we’re joined by Chenell Basilio, the creator behind Growth in Reverse. Growth in Reverse is a newsletter that deep dives into newsletter creators with over 50,000 subscribers. Chenell spends over 40 hours per week researching one creator each week. During my conversation with Chenell, she didn’t hold anything back. On tod...

E37: Khe Hy and I have A LOT in common. Khe is also the son of immigrant parents.  And like me, Khe also decided to quit his Wall Street finance job to venture off into entrepreneurship. My conversation with Khe proved to be incredibly illuminating and I found his life to be a rich treasure trove of stories and life-lessons. I spoke to Khe about his journey of becoming an entrepreneur: from being...

E36: What's it like to go from 0 to 300k+ followers in 2 years? Clint Murphy, the host and creator of The Growth Guide podcast and newsletter, did exactly that. Clint is the Chief Financial Officer at Mosaic Homes, a Real Estate Development company. But, what I’m most impressed by is Clint’s audience growth, which has skyrocketed over the past 2-3 years. Clint is a master at audience growth a...

E35: Today, I am sharing my learnings growing my newsletter. I'll tell you five key lessons from my journey to getting 3,000 subscribers in just 5 months for the First Class Founders newsletter so that you don't have make costly mistakes. I'll lay out specific and actionable tips about what to look for while promoting your newsletter, how to spend your money wisely, where to spend y...

E34: Today's episode is a masterclass in audience building by none other than podcast legend David Hooper. He's worked with big clients including AT&T, RunDMC, Victoria's Secret, and Fedex. David and I spoke at length about how his career shaped up over the years and discussed several things, such as how living and growing up in the Music City influenced his career, the long jou...

E33: Today's guest is Jennifer Phan, Founder & CEO of Passionfroot, a platform which is aiming to become the operating system for creators. Jennifer has worked with some of the biggest creators including Arvid Kahl, Michael Houck, and Ali Abdaal. Being at the epicenter of the creator economy, she knows a thing or two about becoming a successful creator. So, what are the secrets to becomin...

E32: Sam Browne is a musician at heart and an entrepreneur by trade. Sam is also the founder of Haro SEO, which is a search engine optimization firm that involves getting backlinks from high quality domains by helping a reporter out. Sam is also a well known LinkedIn creator who grew from 500 to 50,000 followers in just one year. He's now planning a course for entrepreneurs on LinkedIn. So ho...

E31: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work FOREVER in the same industry where you got your first-ever job? Well, Matt Giovanisci doesn't need to imagine it. Because that is exactly what he has been doing since he was 13 years old. Over the years, Matt grew steadily within this industry and eventually ended up launching Swim University in 2006. Swim University caters to a very s...

E30: Ever since ChatGPT was released to the public, people have used it for a wide variety of interesting experiments. Today, I'm speaking to Jackson Fall, the man behind the recent success of HustleGPT. At the time of recording, Jackson's Twitter thread about HustleGPT, his unique entrepreneurial experiment with ChatGPT had nearly 16,000 retweets, 103,000 likes, and well over 22.5 milli...

E29: Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon, is worth $125 Billion. And, the one thing he is famously known for is his "customer obsession." In fact, Amazon strives to be 'Earth's most customer-centric company.' And yet, my own experience revealed a different side of Amazon. Today, I want to take a slight detour and talk about an incident that happened to me, which had me re-evalua...

E28: Jeremy is the Founder of Podcast Marketing Academy, which is a podcast growth and marketing company helping scrappy podcast centric brands, networks and creators punch above their weight. Today, I speak to him about the four key aspects of his excellent EAR$ framework: Exposure, Attraction, Retention, and Monetization. We also dig into how Jeremy implements them for his own content, and how y...

E27: Three months ago, I decided to launch the First Class Founders newsletter. Problem is, I had no subscribers, no list, and, essentially, no idea what to do or, even, where to begin! Today, my newsletter has over two thousand subscribers. It has an open rate of 40% and a 10% click-through rate. In case you are wondering, yes, that IS indeed a high number. How did I achieve this? What did I do t...

E26: Justin Gordon went from training alongside elite athletes such as LaDainian Tomlinson and Drew Brees to working with an amazing community of entrepreneurs and founders as the Director of Marketing and Communication at a VC firm called Vitalize VC. He's also the creator of a popular podcast and newsletter called Just Go Grind. I spoke to Justin about his journey from the world of personal...