The Original "PDF Hustler"

Benjamin Franklin was the original American "PDF Hustler."

Of course, they didn't have PDFs back in Franklin's time, but they did have Almanacs. The first Almanac in North America was published in 1639. And Almanacs are a sort of compilation book published annually with a calendar and all sorts of wisdom. Almanacs were common when Franklin published "Poor Richard's Almanac" on December 19, 1732. Even Franklin's brother, James Franklin, had published an Almanac.

But Benjamin Franklin's Almanac was a smashing commercial success in the American Colonies.

10,000 copies of Franklin's Almanac were printed each year. The book had editions published for 25 years. The book was advice from Franklin, who wrote it initially under the pseudonym of Richard Saunders. It had jokes, hoaxes, and what we would call today Memes. It had poems, proverbs, and aphorisms. The book included industry and lifestyle advice, among many other things.

This book was so successful that Napoleon even ordered it translated into Italian and French.

According to the Library of Congress, Benjamin Franklin would go on to be known for many things: "a printer, writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, civic leader, and diplomat." He charted and named the gulf stream current; as a scientist, he was among the first to dabble in electricity. His achievements were known far and wide.

But what is not widely known is that his PDF or Newsletter Hustle financed all of that, err, I mean his almanac.

A snippet of the type of content in Poor Richards Almanac

Poor Richards Almanack was Franklin's biggest commercial success. It made him wealthy. And it allowed him to dabble in all sorts of other things he is known for today, including becoming the first Postmaster General.

“Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it.”

― Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack

Today, they call people like Franklin a Polymath.

I struggle to describe what I am doing these days, but I am making money. I run courses and have written a book. I also build a lot of software. And I am part of this Small Bets community. I invest and manage some real estate. I write a newsletter and tweet. 

It's honestly hard to tell you exactly what I do.

Some people prefer to call me by the derogatory term "PDF Hustler." Now I can handle it.

But some people fear this term so much they don’t even try. They don't even try to create things that could add value to other people and the world.

I talk regularly with people who struggle to put a product out of fear that they'll be judged harshly. In fact, a few months ago, I had several phone calls with my friend Dagobert Renouf before he finally launched his smashingly successful Twitter course. He was going through the same doubts I had months before; what would people think if I put out a course?

But Dago had a unique approach to doing Twitter; he was replying to over 100 people a day. And he was posting a regular tweet and a meme every day. And it was working; he grew from a few thousand followers when I met him to nearly 50,000 in a few months. So I encouraged him to share that hard-earned knowledge. Heck, I wanted to learn from him myself. 

To convince him, I told him the same thing I realized.

If I stand by what I've written, recorded, invested in, or built, then there is nothing wrong with it.

“Nothing was useful which was not honest.” – Benjamin Franklin

And if what you are doing is moral, ethical, and legal, and you stand by it, then there is nothing wrong with you trying. 

You might never try if you listen to the haters and the people that sling this word around. And a lot of times, the haters are projecting their own fears and insecurities onto you. 

What if that silly course or PDF that you sell, with your hard-earned knowledge in it, becomes a stepping stone and enables you to do other things? It did for Franklin, Dagobert, myself, and many others.

“There’s many witty men whose brains can’t fill their bellies.”

― Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack

And if the term they use for people like you and me is "PDF Hustler," then at least we are in good company with people like Benjamin Franklin paving the way for us.

“Keep Conscience clear, then never fear.”
― Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack

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Thanks to Chris Wong and Daniel Vassallo for helping edit this piece.

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Small Bets in the Wild:

🔸 Imposter syndrome causes us to fear sharing our knowledge. We fear that experts will call us out. But “expertise is great, but it has a bad side effect. It tends to create an inability to accept new ideas.” - Dean Williams

🔗: Trying Too Hard

🔸 Nick Maggiulli writes how pushing past the cringe lets you avoid “letting others shape your life instead of building your own.” But the crucial point is that you still need to focus on quality.

What’s their secret? They focus relentlessly on the quality of their writing and ideas. Because quality never goes out of style. And when you focus on quality, you don’t have to play by the rules of the algorithm at all. You can reject the algorithm altogether and create success in your own way.

🔗: Reject the Algorithm

🔸 MrBeast is one of the most popular YouTubers in the world, but he didn’t start off that way. He improved his craft for years, constantly testing his assumptions. He actually deleted his first video because his classmates made fun of him. Now each of his videos has millions of views.

🔗: MrBeast on My First Million

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Highlights from the Small Bets Community:

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