Sofa Surfer to Millionaire
I don't know about you, but I love a good rags to riches or comeback story and my friend, Harlan Landes, is certainly one of those. If you don't know Harlan (aka Luke), he is literally one of the grandfathers of personal finance blogging. He started his blog, Consumerism Commentary, in 2003 before personal finance blogs were even cool; and the main reason why he started the blog was a series of unfortunate events that led him to living on his divorced dad's new girlfriend's sofa.I find Harlan's story fascinating and inspiring and I hope you will as well.
What are we drinking?
Harlan - Strawberry Martini (from The Melting Pot aka "The Love Martini")
Shannon – Pomegranate Martini
Podcast Notes
Harlan studied music education in college and planned to be a music teacher
He worked in a non-profit after college
In a short period of time, he lost his job, his girlfriend, his car and had to move into his dad’s girlfriend's basement
The internet came out while Harlan was in college and he decided he needed to have a website
Harlan talks about some of the earlier blogs he started like “Jog Blog”
During four months of living in the basement, Harlan started researching smarter money choices
Because of his financial mess, Harlan decided to start a blog about his journey
July 2003, Harlan started Consumerism Commentary
The recession in 2008 started driving more traffic to personal finance blogs
Harlan discusses what made him decide to sell the site. His decision to sell came much earlier than the actual sale.
The final offer was more than 10 times the initial offer from the same company
Harlan saw risks of diversification to his site which was why he wanted to sell sooner than later
Harlan discusses what he thinks about the future of other bloggers replicating his trajectory and success
Harlan talks about what made him decide to start a foundation
Harlan talks about being a band geek and his latest musical adventure
Random 3 Questions Harlan Answered
If you were to write another type of blog, what would it be and why?
If you were stuck on a deserted island and could only bring one book, what would it be and why?
Describe and ideal or perfect date for you?
Gif Source: Giphy