This interview aired on February 9, 2017 with Jason Grishkoff of SubmitHub. I listened to it in March of 2020. These are my notes and takeaways as they apply to my current place in the journey.
Interviewee backstory: grew up in South Africa. Moved to California in 1997 at age 12 (father is American). High school and then collage at UCSD - studied history and political science. Applied for jobs in strategy consulting. Got rejected 60 times. Ended up at a place in Washington D.C. doing employee compensation. Hated the job, no friends, hated life so started a blog.
Many people hate their first jobs and even start blogs. So how did this person come to start a successful blog and what was it about?
- He knew how to do a bit of programming from his high school days (geocity sites and such)
- He had an existing interest/passion, which was music (he was in a band in high school).
💎 Halo and Horns Effect - cognitive bias that lends to a tendency for a general positive (halo) or negative (horns) impression of someone based on one trait or one experience.
An aside about different ways to learn to code - learning just enough to get things done and make things work. I skimmed this at super fast speed.
✅ Secret to growth - persistence, consistently releasing content, improving website design over the years, good SEO.
✅ Starting a business is a series of experiments - you have to try things in order to find what works, no other secrets.
👀 When his IndieHacker interview was published someone messaged and asked why he did not give them credit. His response was that he forgot about them.
There were a couple questions not directly asked during the interview that I am curious to know. My observations from reading between the lines:
- He knew and understood the music industry already before starting IndieShuffle and SubmitHub. (Q: What is your relationship with music and how did you come to learn about the music industry?)
- Confidence in face of 60 job rejections out of college and being fired from his first job. This is unique. My hypothesis is that this comes from having other interests (i.e. music) and having accomplished things in music and gaming. As a parent this is good to note - having a peg to hang your hat on in the early years builds general confidence for later. (Q: What gave you confidence after 60 rejections and also after getting fired to keep pushing your business forward)
To hear the full story, listen to this episode on the IndieHackers Podcast.