Bootstrapping a $9 Million Business from Scratch in 3 Years and Disrupting the Freelancer Marketplace with Nathan Hirsch (Ep 37)

Learn how differentiation, hiring, and remote culture helped him enter a crowded market and scale with remarkable speed. ============================ Get the Monday Minute my weekly email with 3 personal recs for travel, culture, and living beyond borders you can read in 60 seconds. ============================ ON THIS EPISODE Nathan Hirsch shares his entrepreneurial journey of founding his first business in his college dorm room buying and selling text books, and explains how he scaled that to sell $25 million on Amazon in the next 6 years. He then explains how, at age 27, he founded FreeUp to help businesses hire pre-vetted virtual assistants and freelancers. He started the business with $5,000 and was able to scale it to $9 million in gross annual revenue in just 3 years. He explains how he was able to enter a crowded marketplace of freelancer platforms and disrupt it by substantially differentiating his value proposition and marketing it in a way that enabled him to scale very quickly. Nathan then goes on to talk about his biggest setbacks, how he overcame them, and what he learned. He gives his top tips for effective hiring and management of large distributed teams, and how to create a peak performance company culture in a remote company. He also talks about how, as an introvert, he taught himself to network and to be the face of the company in podcast interviews and on public speaking stages. He shares his morning routine, his day structure, and his productivity tips, as well as his stress management techniques. He also shares his most influential book, app, and the person he would most like to have dinner with. Nathan concludes with the most important piece of advice (also his biggest business lesson) that he would give to his 18-year-old self if he could go back in time. → Full show notes with direct links to everything discussed are available here. ============================ FIND YOUR NEXT EPISODE Explore The Maverick Show Starter Packs — some of my favorite conversations curated by theme so you can easily find the episodes that match your interests. ============================ FREE RESOURCES FOR YOU See my Top 10 Travel Apps See my Top 10 Books that Shaped the Way I Travel See my 7 Keys For Building A Remote Business (Even in a space that’s not traditionally virtual) Watch my Video Training on Stylish Minimalist Packing so you can join #TeamCarryOn See the Travel Gear I Use and Recommend See How I Produce The Maverick Show Podcast (The equipment, services & vendors I use) ============================ ENJOYING THE SHOW? Follow The Maverick Show on Instagram and DM Matt to continue the conversation Please leave a rating and review — it really helps the show and I read each one personally Support the show by buying me a coffee — espressos help me produce significantly better podcast episodes!