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Tag: podcasts

  • Creating the Multi-Million Dollar Skinny Confidential Empire | Entrepreneur

    Creating the Multi-Million Dollar Skinny Confidential Empire | Entrepreneur

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    Lauryn and Michael Bosstick, the wife and husband co-founders of The Skinny Confidential beauty, media and lifestyle brand, recently joined Entrepreneur+ members for an intimate Subscribers-Only Call. You can join in future live Q&As with some of the biggest names in business by signing up here.

    Following their amazing talk. Lauryn and Michael shared the following insights into how they grew their side hustle into a media and commerce empire, and offer their advice for anyone looking to launch and grow a passion project. (Answers have been edited for length and clarity.)

    Tell us about your roles.

    Michael Bosstick: I am the founder and CEO of Dear Media. We not only produce podcasts in audio and video format but also invest directly into creator-led commerce brands, live events, and merchandise. My side hustle is being the co-host with my wife Lauryn of a popular show called The Skinny Confidential Him & Her. We recently surpassed 200 million downloads.

    Lauryn Bosstick: The Skinny Confidential started as a blog 12 years ago and has evolved into a resource that’s focused on wellness and beauty. We speak to all kinds of high performers who share their stories and tips when it comes to life, business, relationships, sex, supplements — nothing is off limits. I’ve also authored two books and I am a mom to two kids.

    What inspired you to create this business?

    LB: The Skinny Confidential community was 100% the reason behind the product line. Through the blog and social media, reading DM’s and comments, I knew that a line of preventative beauty tools specializing in high quality, aesthetically pleasing (we’re so sick of sterile, white eyesores), efficient and classic but innovative would be welcomed. There was never an “aha” moment. Everything with The Skinny Confidential was steady-paced and strategic. We made sure we were thoughtful about every single product we launched, which is why it took four years to launch the HOT MESS Ice Roller. Saying that, whenever I get comments or emails about how much The Skinny Confidential product line has helped our community, it gives me a little aha feeling, because we’re just so proud of what we’ve created with the help of our readership.

    Related: What I Wish I Knew Before Starting My E-Commerce Business

    MB: When Lauryn started creating content online in 2010, the term influencer didn’t even exist. She was primarily creating content on her blog at the time. As the brand evolved and social channels started to emerge, we decided to work on something together. That resulted in the podcast. After self-producing for about a year we joined a prominent podcast network thinking they would take care of the major pain points. We quickly realized that they had very little understanding of how to marry an audio platform to other digital platforms, so we went back to self-producing. That experience led me to the realization that there was a more effective and more lucrative way to produce audio content. After analyzing the market and seeing that there was very little female representation, we decided to create Dear Media which now hosts over 80 shows and growing.

    How did you know it was time to turn your side hustle into your main hustle?

    LB: I was a bartender while building the brand and there was this moment when I realized to scale the business, I needed to focus on it full-time. So I quit. I never looked back. Looking back wasn’t an option. The only option was The Skinny Confidential, full speed ahead. I had big plans for the brand.

    MB: After about two years of producing our podcast, we started to see a ton of traction. The audience on that platform was growing faster than any other platform and the revenue started to become meaningful. I had a feeling that we would also be able to bring that kind of success to other creators in our space and felt the moment to go all in on audio was there.

    What has been your biggest challenge and how did you pivot to overcome it?

    MB: The hardest part for me personally running a company like Dear Media was learning how to deal with talent, talent agencies, managers, and lawyers who come from the media/talent world. As a former commerce executive, this was all foreign to me. I had to learn about a whole new world that I wasn’t familiar with. I think this ended up becoming a superpower in the end because I was able to put my own spin on things. I also think it enabled Dear Media to operate the way it needs to operate without having to worry about “how things have been done traditionally.”

    Related: Turn ‘Likes’ into Easy Sales — Why Social Commerce is Crucial for Growth

    LB: The biggest challenge has been delegating and having a team. It’s a work in progress, but the team is so incredible, it’s getting easier to let go of things. When you’re a solo entrepreneur, you’re used to doing everything yourself. It’s one thing to ask for help when you realize you need it, but to actually give it up and not have your hand in every cookie jar is a real challenge. But like I said, everyone on the team is so damn effective at what they do, it’s just getting easier and easier to let them take over certain things. That being said, I still have my finger on the pulse. I am a detailed person by nature and I am always listening to the audience. They’re the hero.

    What advice would you give entrepreneurs looking for funding?

    LB: Know your investor demographic. Check out their social media, look at what other brands they invested in, see if your product is one they would actually use & love, or at least find a way to make your product/brand a part of their lives. Knowing your ‘audience’ will give you a better shot. Also, be bold. Desperate or nervous energy turns people off.

    MB: Investors are very savvy, and their entire job depends on finding great companies. Get loud with what you are doing and create enough noise that it grabs the attention of the right investors. It’s also easier to close a deal when the fund or venture has pursued you. This doesn’t mean you won’t have to pitch them like hell after, it just creates a different dynamic where you have more leverage than if you were the one pursuing from the start.

    What does the word “entrepreneur” mean to you?

    MB: Someone without a safety net or backup plan. Their only plan is to go all in on their idea and there is nothing stopping them from executing on their vision. They are also probably a little crazy.

    LB: Working on your business, not in your business. A true entrepreneur is always evolving and creating and moving the needle of the business.

    What is something many aspiring business owners think they need that they really don’t?

    MB: A lot of capital. We started our podcast with 100 dollars in equipment and no funding. We then started Dear Media ourselves without any outside capital. We slowly bootstrapped the business and optimized our model all the way to series A. I think glorifying capital raises for the sake of raising has been a big mistake that we are all seeing now. Bring capital on when you need it. It will also be cheaper capital once you’ve executed well without it.

    LB: Besides thinking they need lots of money, they’re what I call a “forever student.” They’re putting off launching because they feel they need to read or go to school or have a mentor. They don’t. They need to execute and learn as they go.

    Related: 21-Day Plan to Grow Your Instagram Following

    What is a book you always recommend?

    MB: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. It has nothing to do with business and everything to do with the fragility and simplicity of life. It’s a good reminder to live life to the fullest and enjoy the time you have here.

    LB: The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. Essentially it’s about always coming back to what made you popular in the first place. For me, that’s the blog — it’s the mothership. Another one I like is The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday Stephen Hanselman. It is especially a good one for women in business. It really strengthens your emotional intelligence and helps you move on from what you cannot control.

    Is there a particular quote or saying that you use as personal motivation?

    LB: “Protect your peace.” Say no, carve out time for what makes you happy and what’s important to you, recharge, read, read more, meditate. Thinking time is essential to building a massive business.

    MB: “The coyotes howl, and the caravan keeps moving” I can’t remember who said it but I’ve always loved it. I think as entrepreneurs and content creators we will always be met with moments of self-doubt. There will always be people who say things we don’t like, who doubt us or dislike us. It’s critical to find a way to keep pushing forward while blocking out the noise. If you start reading your own press clippings or reviews, it can really slow you down and make you doubt yourself. So onward! And with no regard for what the coyotes are howling about.

    Entrepreneur+ is the only news subscription focused on curating the best industry news and success stories to make them work for you. We pluck the best business lessons from our network of CEOs, founders, and other successful entrepreneurs. Join today and start seeing a difference in how you make decisions in your home and work life.

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    Dan Bova

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  • Are These 10 TikTok Side Hustles Right For You? | Entrepreneur

    Are These 10 TikTok Side Hustles Right For You? | Entrepreneur

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    Many TikTok side hustles promise big money for little effort, but do they work?

    To find out, I spoke with Daniella Flores, founder of ILikeToDabble.com. Daniella is a self-proclaimed side hustle queen who went from 0 to 12 income streams in 4 years, paying off over $40,000 of debt in the process.

    Daniella broke down a bunch of trending TikTok side hustles on my podcast, The Side Hustle Show. You can hear our full interview below.

    Here’s a summary of our conversation.

    1. Drop-shipping

    In drop-shipping, suppliers ship products directly to customers on your behalf.

    Daniella dabbled in drop shipping, running a print-on-demand store on Etsy. Print-on-demand is a fulfillment process that drop-ships products to customers only after a sale goes through.

    Using tools like Canva, Printify, and Printful, Daniella designed and sold custom products online for bachelorette parties, such as T-shirts, hoodies, and wine coolers.

    Daniella preferred Etsy over other e-commerce sites because of its large user base. Users on Etsy also tend to search for niche products, so as long as you target the right keywords for your niche, you should be able to drive traffic to your store easily.

    Etsy also charges as low as $0.20 for each item you list, and you won’t need to do as much marketing there as you would on Shopify and other online marketplaces.

    But drop shipping is labor intensive. Daniella shut down their store after a few months, realizing how much customer service went into it.

    Daniella’s advice on drop-shipping as a side hustle? Do SEO and talk to manufacturers first before launching in.

    Related: 15 Easy Side Hustles From Home to Make Extra Money

    2. Transcription

    TikTok users have suggested transcribing as a side hustle by signing up for Rev — a speech-to-text service — then running the audio through a free speech recognition software like Dictation.io.

    You’ll still have to double-check the quality of the transcriptions, but you can make $1 per finished-audio minute doing this side hustle. One TikTok user claims you can easily make $500 daily on Rev if you work eight hours daily.

    But Daniella did some digging and found that some freelancers made as little as $100 a month on Rev. Many also worked eight hours a day — not exactly a side hustle.

    Ultimately, Daniella thinks transcribing on platforms like Rev is a great side hustle for beginners but not for those who want to make real money on the side.

    3. Low-content publishing

    This involves uploading an almost blank book to Amazon and having the company print and ship it on your behalf.

    Think journals, diaries, planners, sketchbooks, and notebooks. With these types of books, the value comes from how you’ve structured the mostly-blank pages and prompts and who you’re targeting as your customer.

    For the most part, low-content publishing is marketed on TikTok as a shortcut for those who don’t have the expertise or the time to write and self-publish a 25,000-word book.

    But as Daniella observed that most TikTok users who do low-content publishing never give distinct numbers or show anything on the back end. They often focus on the creation part, which seems easy enough until you have to sell the book on Amazon.

    Low-content publishing on Amazon is a highly competitive space where people pretty much throw their products at the wall and see what sticks.

    That’s why Tammie Chrin, a long-time Side Hustle Show listener, developed her method for creating branded books for businesses featuring their content. She calls it KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) 4 B2B.

    With this method, rather than rely solely on Amazon for sales, you go to existing businesses and create custom books for them that they can buy or gift to their customers.

    4. Selling printables

    You create the products on programs like Canva or Adobe Photoshop and market them to your target audience.

    The best part? You don’t need to ship anything or meet anybody in person. As soon as someone buys your printable, all they need to do is download it.

    TikTok users say this is a great source of passive income, but Daniella says that’s not entirely true. “You’re still a business. You have to provide customer service — all that fun stuff.”

    And as with any online business, you probably won’t make much money doing this for the first few years.

    Nonetheless, this side hustle can scale once you get the hang of it and don’t give up.

    5. Naming companies

    Do you have a knack for names?

    Squadhelp is an innovative crowdsourcing platform for business names, tag lines, logos, and other similar marketing projects.

    For just a few hundred bucks, a startup can submit a proposal to Squadhelp containing the details of their business plan and a request for crowdsourced naming ideas.

    Once the proposal is processed, the startup can hold a naming contest on Squadhelp. Contests typically run for about a week and usually attract tons of user entries.

    At the end of the contest, the startup chooses one name from the pool of entries, and the winner receives a minimum $100 prize. Some contests pay as high as $500.

    The downside? Contests on Squadhelp typically attract hundreds of submissions, so your odds of winning are generally low.

    6. Affiliate marketing

    With affiliate marketing, you earn a commission on sales referred through your blog or website.

    On TikTok, creators say they make as much as $2,000 daily in affiliate sales, even though the platform doesn’t allow users to add affiliate links to their videos.

    Some of the ways users get around that are:

    • upgrading to a business account
    • putting affiliate links in their profile bio
    • redirecting traffic to their other social media profiles
    • using third-party tools like Linktree
    • promoting discount codes in their videos

    While affiliate marketing is a legit passive income generation strategy, Daniella says it only works for TikTok users with thousands of followers.

    Also, affiliate marketing is a partnership between businesses, not a partnership between a business and any old TikTok user whose profile can disappear any day, Daniella explains,

    Affiliate marketing can be a great side hustle, just not by itself.

    7. Dumpster diving

    Dumpster diving involves diving through dumpsters, usually at night, to discover what got thrown out. You might have better odds of scoring a good haul if you do this in an affluent part of town or check out dumpsters behind a strip mall near you.

    You could even cut out the middleman completely and talk to your local stores to see if they’d be willing to give their trash to you directly.

    Some TikTok users who dumpster-dive on the side report flipping their finds and selling them for a profit on eBay or Facebook marketplace. Meanwhile, those who are not so lucky share videos detailing their gross or unfruitful experience.

    For those grossed out by dumpster diving, Daniella offers an alternative. Help people unpack after moving into a new home and offer to take things they don’t need.

    Related: This Dumpster Diver Makes $5,000 a Month Salvaging Designer Items

    8. Painting house numbers on the curb

    This side hustle is arguably better suited for teenagers looking to earn cash over the summer. It requires no more than $50 to $100 worth of materials from Home Depot, some door-knocking, and half an hour of painting.

    The only challenge with this is you can pretty quickly saturate your local market.

    9. Niche cleaning businesses

    Niche cleaning services are another side hustle especially popular among TikTok users.

    Daniella shared how they watched a TikTok of kids washing people’s trash cans. The kids would power-wash up to 20 trash cans a day, earning around $2,000 weekly.

    Aside from washing people’s trash cans, you could offer to clean yards, headlights, or gutters. Whatever it is, there’s probably someone out there who’d pay to have it cleaned.

    Low-tech services like these also have little to no competition online, so you could easily create a brochure-style website or a Google Business Profile to find prospective customers.

    10. Freelance content creation

    In this side hustle, TikTok creators make videos for brands. First, they promote the company they eventually want to work with on their page for free. Once they build up an organic following around those brands, they’ll shoot the brands a message and ask if they’re interested in working together.

    Rates vary per creator due to the contract negotiation involved, but creators are paid anywhere from $250-2000 per TikTok video, depending on the brand they’re working with.

    But be warned: This side hustle requires lots of video know-how. “You have to learn about video marketing and short-form content marketing,” Daniella said.

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    Nick Loper

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  • SiriusXM is shutting down its Stitcher podcast app to emphasize its flagship app

    SiriusXM is shutting down its Stitcher podcast app to emphasize its flagship app

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    Satellite-radio provider SiriusXM said it will shut down its Stitcher podcast app at the end of August in favor of its own branded SiriusXM app

    SAN FRANCISCO — Satellite-radio provider SiriusXM said it will shut down its Stitcher podcast app at the end of August in favor of its own SiriusXM app, part of a larger effort to emphasize its own brand.

    Many of the podcasts featured on Stitcher are already available on the SiriusXM app, and all podcasts on Stitcher “can also be found anywhere else podcasts are distributed,” the company said. SiriusXM Holdings Ltd. does not have exclusive podcasts.

    The company is sending existing Stitcher users an offer for a free six-month trial of its platinum SiriusXM service, which includes the company’s streaming services for music, sports and sports talk, other talk shows and news.

    No layoffs are planned as part of the change. Stitcher, which SiriusXM acquired in 2020 for $325 million, has emphasized the simplicity of its app, noting on its website that it was “designed for podcasts and nothing else.” Its app and website had a combined 900,000 unique visitors as of March, according to Comscore.

    SiriusXM plans a revamp of its own app later this year that will also emphasize ease of use and price flexibility.

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  • SiriusXM is shutting down its Stitcher podcast app to emphasize its flagship app

    SiriusXM is shutting down its Stitcher podcast app to emphasize its flagship app

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    Satellite-radio provider SiriusXM said it will shut down its Stitcher podcast app at the end of August in favor of its own branded SiriusXM app

    SAN FRANCISCO — Satellite-radio provider SiriusXM said it will shut down its Stitcher podcast app at the end of August in favor of its own SiriusXM app, part of a larger effort to emphasize its own brand.

    Many of the podcasts featured on Stitcher are already available on the SiriusXM app, and all podcasts on Stitcher “can also be found anywhere else podcasts are distributed,” the company said. SiriusXM Holdings Ltd. does not have exclusive podcasts.

    The company is sending existing Stitcher users an offer for a free six-month trial of its platinum SiriusXM service, which includes the company’s streaming services for music, sports and sports talk, other talk shows and news.

    No layoffs are planned as part of the change. Stitcher, which SiriusXM acquired in 2020 for $325 million, has emphasized the simplicity of its app, noting on its website that it was “designed for podcasts and nothing else.” Its app and website had a combined 900,000 unique visitors as of March, according to Comscore.

    SiriusXM plans a revamp of its own app later this year that will also emphasize ease of use and price flexibility.

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  • Meghan and Harry Have Ended Their Partnership With Spotify After Archetypes Was Canceled

    Meghan and Harry Have Ended Their Partnership With Spotify After Archetypes Was Canceled

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    Two and a half years after Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced an exclusive podcast deal with Spotify, the couple’s team at Archewell Audio has announced that the partnership has come to an end. The news comes after The Wall Street Journal reported that Spotify would not renew Meghan’s interview series, Archetypes, which aired its first season from August to November 2022, for a second season.

    “Spotify and Archewell Audio have mutually agreed to part ways and are proud of the series we made together,” read a joint statement from Archewell and Spotify. The series premiered at number one on the platform and ultimately went on to win a People’s Choice Award for pop podcast of 2022. Markle also won a Gracie Award for top entertainment podcast host. The news comes as layoffs have impacted Gimlet, the Spotify studio that had partnered with Archewell to produce the program. Spotify announced about 200 layoffs earlier this month as part of its plan to shift its podcast strategy. Sources told Variety that the end of the partnership was not related to Spotify’s restructuring.

    In December 2020, Meghan and Harry announced that they had inked a deal with Spotify, and later that month they released a holiday-themed episode, which included cameos from famous names Naomi Osaka, Sir Elton John, Tyler Perry, and James Corden. Further content didn’t come for a year and a half, and ultimately the partnership led to 13 podcast episodes. The deal is said to have been worth roughly $20 million, but people familiar with the matter told the Journal that the couple did not reach the productivity benchmarks that would lead to the full payout.

    In a statement to the newspaper, a representative for Markle said that the duchess is still planning to develop more audio content. “The team behind Archetypes remain proud of the podcast they created at Spotify,” it read. “Meghan is continuing to develop more content for the Archetypes audience on another platform.” The Archewell head of audio, Rebecca Sananès, moved on from the organization last December, and she was replaced by Sarina Regan, an alum of Cadence13 and SiriusXM.

    The end of the Spotify partnership winds down one of the couple’s earliest post-royal businesses, a portfolio that has seen them partner with large media companies eager to work with the (relatively) forthcoming prince and his Hollywood-veteran wife. Earlier this year, Harry’s memoir, Spare, broke records when it went on sale, moving upwards of 1.43 million copies on its first day. The couple reportedly signed a four-book deal with Penguin Random House in 2021, which has led to speculation that they might be planning a leadership book or another memoir.

    Since announcing the formation of Archewell Productions and a deal with Netflix in September 2020, Meghan and Harry have coproduced two documentary series. After the premiere of Harry & Meghan in December 2022, the streamer announced that it broke documentary viewership records with 81.55 million hours viewed, and their second series, Live to Lead, aired later that month. An animated series coproduced by Markle and David Furnish was canceled last spring, before it went to air. 

    Archewell currently has one more show in the pipeline with Netflix. Heart of Invictus, a docuseries about the athletic event for wounded veterans that Harry founded in 2014, is reportedly set to premiere this summer, but a date has not been announced. 

    Listen to Vanity Fair’s DYNASTY podcast now.

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    Erin Vanderhoof

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  • Three arrests over ‘extremely violent’ crimes in Auckland CBD – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    Three arrests over ‘extremely violent’ crimes in Auckland CBD – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

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    Photo: 123rf

    Three men, including a member of the Headhunters gang, are facing kidnapping charges, after an incident that seriously injured a victim last weekend.

    Search warrants were executed at several Auckland properties today, including an address linked to the Headhunters motorcycle gang in Helensville.

    Officers working on Operation Cobalt as well as precision targeting teams from Auckland City and Waitematā districts have been investigating the incident that began in Kitchener Street in the Auckland CBD early last Sunday morning.

    Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin said: “The victim in this matter suffered serious injuries. As a result of his ordeal, he is facing a long road to recovery ahead of him.”

    A 21-year-old patched member of the Headhunters motorcycle gang has been charged, along with two other men, aged 17 and 20.

    The trio have been all jointly charged with kidnapping and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm offences. They were expected to appear in the Auckland District and Youth Courts this afternoon.

    “Our investigation teams have worked hard to bring about today’s result, utilising a range of police resources to safely resolve this extremely violent criminal behaviour,” Detective Inspector Baldwin said.

    “The investigation is still ongoing, and we cannot rule out further arrests or charges as a result.”

    Original Author Link click here to read complete story..

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    MMP News Author

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  • Where Is Anna Delvey Now? She’s Launching Her Own Podcast | Entrepreneur

    Where Is Anna Delvey Now? She’s Launching Her Own Podcast | Entrepreneur

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    Convicted fraudster and faux-heiress Anna “Delvey” Sorokin is launching a podcast called “The Anna Delvey Show.”

    Known for posing as a German heiress to deceive New York’s elite out of money (and self-respect), Delvey was also portrayed in Netflix‘s 2022 series “Inventing Anna” by Emmy Award-winning actor Julia Garner.

    After being convicted of grand larceny and theft of services in 2019, Delvey served time and was released from prison in 2021. However, she was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement shortly after for overstaying her visa. She spent time in an ICE detention center before being released on bond. Delvey is currently living in an apartment in Manhattan’s East Village with an ankle monitor as she awaits a decision from the immigration court on whether she can stay in the country.

    RELATED: Listen: ‘Dirty Money’ Podcast on Scam Artist Anna ‘Delvey’ Sorokin

    Since her release from prison, Delvey has been featured in several magazine interviews and made podcast appearances, but now she is hosting her own show produced by Audio Up and Reunion Audio.

    “On this show, I will dive into the concept of rules and talk with the people who create or break them, from art, politics, fashion, tech, finance, law and more,” Delvey said in the trailer, released on YouTube on Wednesday. “‘The Anna Delvey Show’ will share honest, unfiltered conversations that will question traditional notions of what’s right and wrong.”

    The podcast will be distributed through global podcast publisher Audio Boom, making it available on all major podcast listening platforms.

    “The Anna Delvey Show,” which has yet to drop a release date, will be recorded from her apartment and will be released weekly with guest appearances from Whitney Cummings, Julia Fox, Emily Ratajkowski, and more celebrities.

    In the trailer, Delvey notes: “I’m interested in examining how rule breaking can build you up as well as tear you down while also creating a polarizing reaction from the public.”

    Delvey is also moving into music, apparently. Per the trailer, Delvey wrote a song that will be produced by Audio Up CEO Jared Gutstadt and Reunion Audio founder Sean Glass.

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    Sam Silverman

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  • ‘SmartLess’ podcast goes on tour with Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes, ends up on TV

    ‘SmartLess’ podcast goes on tour with Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes, ends up on TV

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    NEW YORK (AP) — When Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes get together, they can instantly tell if something’s wrong: If insults don’t immediately fly, there’s a problem.

    “I think it is our love language,” says Arnett, the “Arrested Development star and voice of Batman in the “Lego Movie” franchise. “I’m kind of joking, but there’s a little truth to that. If we’re not making fun of you, we don’t love you.”

    Fans of the trio’s banter will get much more this week after a documentary film team captured them on tour taking their popular podcast “SmartLess” to stages in Boston, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and more.

    The six-part docuseries “SmartLess: On the Road” offers a very intimate look at the three friends as they travel, hang out and prepare for the live shows. It premieres Tuesday on Max.

    “It was really just about living with one another,” says Bateman, star of “Arrested Development” and “Ozark.” “And it’s a fairly cringey assumption for us to make that it would make for entertainment.”

    While their guests include Conan O’Brien, Will Ferrell, Matt Damon, Jimmy Kimmel, Kevin Hart, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and David Letterman, the bulk of the series is a look at how Arnett, Bateman and Hayes manage to dunk on each other and yet maintain a sibling love.

    “The three of us are incredibly close. I would dare say we are best friends. And with that comes a deep knowledge of where the rails are. I think we all know if we ever really wanted to hurt each other, we know where to go. But that’s not really in our makeup,” says Bateman.

    Cameras capture the trio exercising together, visiting the Lincoln Memorial, exploring the connection between pooping and showering, whipping apple cores at each other and talking with their guests. Before they go onstage, they pop Tylenol, Gas-X and candy.

    Directed by Sam Jones, the series is presented in black and white, with a upbeat piano soundtrack. The original idea was to have the live shows in color and the behind-the-scenes footage in black and white, but that was too jarring. The final result is, as Hayes puts it: “Classy for the classless clowns in it.”

    In the hotel gym in Boston, as Bateman steadily runs on a treadmill, Arnett uses his husky voice to offer narration: “No one knows his secret, that underneath the artificial flesh and bone, he is machine. Nothing but machine.” Later, Bateman jokes on Arnett’s use of the sauna: “I’d like to sweat, but I don’t want to exert to cause it. Let me just sit in a hot room.”

    On the podcast “SmartLess,” which premiered in July 2020, one of the hosts reveals the mystery guest to the other two and the guys kept that same format on tour. The podcast consistently ranks in the Top 5 Comedy Shows and Top 10 on overall shows on iTunes.

    The episodes show the trio wondering how much they should acknowledge the audience or what they need to do to make it visually exciting. A rocky second show in Boston with a physicist as the guest teaches them that fans really want A-list celebs.

    “I love the figuring it out in real time. I love the thrill of that, the fear of that,” says Hayes, the “Will & Grace” star who just earned his second Tony Award nomination. “Each one of us all had a strong opinion at some point, and we’re all adult enough to listen to that. That was fun for me.”

    Final approval on their podcast goes to the special guest, but with the documentary, they reserved the right for final cut. They said that made it more liberating since they didn’t have to pre-censor anything they did.

    “We knew that everything was safe to say because ultimately we’d be able to see it assembled,” says Bateman. “So we were able to just be really free and see what would float to the top.”

    Getting used to the cameras — even though they’re all showbusiness veterans — took some time. “I didn’t think I’d ever be able to accept them in the room, and I did. They kind of just went away,” says Hayes.

    Fans will get very intimate with the men, including learning that Bateman wears a size 12 shoe and that they have a habit of making reservations under the false name, Mr. D Umguy. But a conversation on the way to Chicago is quite revealing as they explore the roots of their insecurities and upbringings.

    Frequently, the friends spend time on food — ordering room service, talking about meals, worried about bloating and ripping on each others’ orders. After making one extensive room service order, Bateman asks the kitchen: “You don’t have any chest paddles down there, do you?”

    “The jabbing is the love,” says Hayes. ”’Till the day I die, I’ll consider Jason and Will my brothers. And if there’s even a word that means closer than that, that’s what I feel they are.”

    ___

    Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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  • Meet the team behind Houston’s budding CBD cafe, coffee shop, and dispensary, plus hottest food news – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

    Meet the team behind Houston’s budding CBD cafe, coffee shop, and dispensary, plus hottest food news – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

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    Believe it or not, we are now over 20 years into the existence of the Fast & the Furious franchise, … Read More

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    MMP News Author

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  • “How Do We Get Every Second of Your Day?”: The New York Times Goes All In on a New Podcast App

    “How Do We Get Every Second of Your Day?”: The New York Times Goes All In on a New Podcast App

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    The average New York Times reader, as the Times sees it, checks their push notifications first thing in the morning, scrolls through the internet while making coffee, then puts in their headphones to listen to something as they cook, clean, commute, or walk the dog. Stephanie Preiss, a Times executive in charge of the paper’s audio business, has thought about this routine a lot. She keeps a chart of it—the day in the life of a “smart, curious person”—above her desk at home. The paper has long had the news alerts covered, and it’s all over social media and news aggregators, but “what does it look like for the Times to have embedded itself deeply into every single moment?” asked Preiss. “How do we get every second of your day?” The Times is betting on a new app, New York Times Audio, launching Wednesday, after nearly a year and a half in a private beta. 

    The app is a home for the Times’ growing audio empire, from new shows across the news and opinion sections, to Serial, which the company acquired in 2020, to its purchase of Audm, the service that turns news articles into audio, to establishing a strategic partnership with This American Life. The Times intends to maintain its audience at the top of the podcast publisher charts as well as its wide distribution and the advertising business that it runs on the backs of all of that. “But we believe that—kind of similar to what we’ve done in text journalism, if you will—we can start to move our most engaged users into our own apps and platforms,” Preiss said.  

    Courtesy of The New York Times.

    Still, it’s a weird time to get into a podcast app business. The age of “There’s an App for That” feels squarely a bygone of the aughts. And this one has debuted to the public at a precarious time for the audio industry. “Podcast Companies, Once Walking on Air, Feel the Strain of Gravity,” read a recent headline in the Times. “The dumb money is gone, the easy money has slowed down, and the smart money has seen some pullback,” podcast guru Eric Nuzum told Vanity Fair. NPR and Spotify both laid off staff and canceled shows. 

    “Obviously we’re not immune to macroeconomic trends and headwinds affecting the digital media landscape broadly,” said Preiss, “but we do experience that differently.” She cites the Times’ success at the top of the charts with “a fraction of the number of shows” of competitors, and its dual advertising and subscription business. Even now, the Times is seeing “increased demand for new ad products,” Preiss said, and “historic new audience heights,” with many Times shows, including The Daily, seeing “their highest audience ever, including during the insane peaks of early COVID,” in Q1. The only way to access the app is if you subscribe to the Times in some way (either for news or in a bundle with its other features). For now, the Times is not selling the New York Times Audio app as a standalone subscription, though it is sunsetting the Audm app and folding it into the new program.

    Though not everyone is buying into this rosy picture. “I am very suspicious of the claim that the Times is seeing increased demand for new ad products on the audio side, when the evidence is clear that’s not the case,” one veteran podcast producer told me, noting that “many of their ad spots are empty, or only filled with New York Times ads.” Advertising for podcasts is dropping across the industry significantly, they said. Semafor recently pointed out that The Daily has been running without a full slate of paid ads in recent months. Preiss rejected the notion, noting that for years it has been running “consumer messaging” related to the Times’ other offerings.

    The NYT Audio app will have exclusives, including a new daily news show called The Headlines, hosted by veteran journalist Annie Correal; it’s a roughly eight-minute sister program to The Daily—though with less “handholding,” as Correal put it—spotlighting about three items, and the reporters behind them, per episode. Unsurprisingly, research has shown that shorts are consistently among the most popular content, pushing the Times to go even smaller than its breakout 20- to 25-minute morning show, which inspired copycats at outlets like Vox and The Washington Post—and which the paper has been interested in building off of for years, kicking around ideas like an afternoon show that hasn’t come to fruition. Headlines, says director of audio Paula Szuchman, “is really the first, I would say, expansion of the Daily universe.” The app will also be home to sub-10-minute stories about what to cook, read, watch, and more; a recent one featured Times Food reporter Priya Krishna sharing her secret to making perfectly cooked rice in the microwave. 

    I’ve been playing around on the app the past few days, and it does, at risk of sounding too woo-woo, feel like diving into the Times universe. On Tuesday, I hit play on the playlist curated each weekday morning and was taken from the day’s Headlines, on bank collapses and the war in Ukraine, to The Daily, where Mexico bureau chief Natalie Kitroeff was reporting from the southern border on the day Title 42 ended, to a “reporter reads,” in which publishing reporter Alexandra Alter read a piece she cowrote with Elizabeth Harris about an author who was asked by Scholastic to delete references to racism from her book, to a short by This American Life. “We hope that this will expand the universe of subscribers, but I think that we are very interested in making sure that Times subscribers have a better experience of audio, and one that is an introduction to Times journalism, than they would if they were just to start searching online for news podcasts or culture podcasts,” said Preiss. 

    At the very least, the NYT Audio app felt like a smoother experience than Apple’s much-derided podcast app. It felt, too, like a huge investment incongruous with the state of the audio industry—one perhaps only the Times is in the position to make right now. 

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    Charlotte Klein

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  • Dan Bongino, ‘Unfiltered’ Fox News host, leaving network

    Dan Bongino, ‘Unfiltered’ Fox News host, leaving network

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    Weekend host and frequent Fox News Channel commentator Dan Bongino is leaving the network

    NEW YORK — Fox News is parting ways with weekend host Dan Bongino, after the former Secret Service agent turned conservative pundit said Thursday they couldn’t agree on a new contract.

    “It’s not some big conspiracy,” Bongino said on his podcast. “There’s no acrimony. This wasn’t like some WWE brawl that happened. We just couldn’t come to terms on an extension.”

    Bongino hosted the Saturday night show “Unfiltered” and said that while he was given the chance to do a last show this weekend, he decided against it.

    The blunt-talking former New York police officer began doing commentary on Fox a decade ago, joining as a contributor in 2019 and beginning his Saturday night show in 2021.

    His “Canceled in the USA” program on Fox Nation will also end, and the streaming service will no longer air his daily radio show. Bongino may still appear as a guest on Fox shows, the network said.

    “We thank Dan for his contributions and wish him success in his future endeavors,” Fox said in a statement Thursday.

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  • Why You Must Master the Power of Podcasts | Entrepreneur

    Why You Must Master the Power of Podcasts | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Podcasts have exploded in popularity in recent years, and for good reason. They offer a unique way to engage with audiences and can be a powerful tool in every stage of the marketing funnel. In this article, we’ll discuss how to leverage podcasts across different stages of the marketing funnel and achieve maximum impact.

    Related: 5 Reasons Why Brands Should Think About Creating a Podcast

    Top of Funnel (TOF): Attracting potential customers

    The top of the marketing funnel is all about attracting as many potential customers as possible. Podcasts can be an excellent tool for this stage as they offer a unique way to engage with a broad range of potential customers and showcase your brand’s thought leadership. By providing valuable content in the form of informative and entertaining podcast episodes, you can capture the attention of potential customers and start building a relationship with them.

    To leverage podcasts in the TOF stage, you’ll want to focus on creating content that’s informative, educational, and entertaining. Consider interviewing industry experts, providing behind-the-scenes looks at your business, or offering tips and tricks related to your niche. By providing value to your listeners, you’ll establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry and create a positive association with your business.

    Additionally, it’s essential to promote your podcast effectively to attract new listeners. Consider leveraging social media, email marketing, and paid advertising to reach new audiences and drive traffic to your podcast.

    Related: Podcast As Marketing Tool: It Creates Value For Listeners

    Middle of Funnel (MOF): Nurturing potential customers

    The middle of the marketing funnel is all about nurturing potential customers and building their trust. Podcasts are an excellent tool for this stage as they offer a more intimate and personal way to connect with your audience. By sharing your brand’s values, mission, and culture through podcasts, you can build a deeper relationship with your audience and create a sense of community around your brand.

    To leverage podcasts in the MOF stage, you’ll want to focus on creating personal and engaging content. Consider showcasing customer success stories, hosting Q&A sessions with your audience, or providing in-depth product demos. Doing so will build trust and credibility with your audience and create a sense of connection with your brand.

    Additionally, it’s essential to create a consistent podcast schedule to keep your listeners engaged and build a loyal audience. Consider releasing new episodes regularly, such as weekly or bi-weekly, to keep your listeners coming back for more.

    Related: 4 Reasons to Start Your Own Podcast

    Bottom of Funnel (BOF): Converting potential customers

    The bottom of the marketing funnel is all about converting potential customers into paying customers. Podcasts can play a critical role in this stage by providing an engaging and entertaining way to directly promote your products or services.

    By creating podcast episodes that focus on specific products or services, highlighting their features and benefits and offering exclusive discounts or promotions to your podcast listeners, you can convert leads into paying customers more effectively.

    To leverage podcasts in the BOF stage, you’ll want to focus on creating direct and actionable content. Consider featuring customer testimonials or case studies that showcase the benefits of your products or services, hosting live Q&A sessions to address any lingering questions or concerns, or offering exclusive discounts or promotions to your podcast listeners.

    Additionally, it’s essential to include a clear call-to-action in your podcast episodes to drive conversions. Consider directing listeners to a landing page, product page, or contact form to make it easy for them to take the next step and become paying customers.

    Related: The Basics of Podcasting and How It Can Grow Your Business

    Conclusion

    Podcasts offer a unique way to engage with audiences and can be a powerful tool in every stage of the marketing funnel. To leverage podcasts effectively, you’ll want to create valuable and engaging content that speaks to your audience’s needs and interests, promote your podcast effectively to attract new listeners, and include clear calls-to-action to drive conversions. By doing so, you can differentiate your brand from the competition, build trust and credibility, and reach new levels of growth. .

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    Lewis Schenk

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  • ‘Succession’ Episode 3: Logan Roy Has Left the Building

    ‘Succession’ Episode 3: Logan Roy Has Left the Building

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    The unimaginable has finally occurred. Logan Roy, the unblinking, ferocious patriarch of the Roy family masterfully played by Brian Cox, drops dead at the beginning of the third episode of the final season of Succession.  

    On this week’s episode of Vanity Fair’s television-analysis podcast, Still Watching, hosts Richard Lawson and Chris Murphy process what Logan’s death means for the Roy family, Waystar RoyCo, and the series as a whole. “It’s HBO’s playbook. We’ve seen the Red Wedding. We know that they like to sort of pull the rug out from under us when we least expect it with major character deaths,” Murphy notes. “But for Logan to die [during] episode three of a 10-episode final season? I was not emotionally prepared for it to happen.” 

    Logan’s death was both rather quick and undignified, with his heart stopping on the toilet of his private jet. “What I love about this episode artistically is the choice that Jesse Armstrong, who wrote the episode, made to have this death so unceremonial, so off-camera,” says Lawson. “That’s how it is for a lot of people in life. You get a phone call while you’re distracted by something else.”

    That something else happened to be Connor’s yacht wedding to Willa, played by Justine Lupe. Lupe dropped by Still Watching to chat with Vanity Fair Hollywood correspondent Julie Miller about Willa’s big day, her cold feet, and shooting the final season of Succession. “I just thought that it was incredibly sweet, and loved that they were kind of alone [for the actual wedding],” Lupe said. “It felt intimate. I root for them.”

    While Connor experienced some modicum of joy on that fateful boat ride, his siblings were reeling processing the death of their father, each in their own way. “For each of the siblings, the biggest person in their lives is Logan, right? The towering monster-daddy figure,” says Murphy. “To burst that bubble with [Logan’s] death…they all sort of didn’t think that was ever gonna happen, even though it was always going to happen. That’s the thing about our human emotions and our brains—we can hold these two things to be true that are contrasting and conflicting. Of course he was gonna die, but he was also never going to die.”

    In any case, it’s clear that the Roy family will never be the same after the events that transpired around “Connor’s Wedding.” Listen to Still Watching to hear Lawson and Murphy discuss the third episode of Succession season four and what’s to become of the Roy family. For your own questions, comments, and final-season theories, please email stillwatchingpod@gmail.com.

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    Chris Murphy

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  • Want Your Podcast to Make It Past Episode 12? Here’s Some Advice. | Entrepreneur

    Want Your Podcast to Make It Past Episode 12? Here’s Some Advice. | Entrepreneur

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    Michelle Abraham has launched more than 200 podcasts. She sat down with Jessica Abo to share her advice for hosts and producers.

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    Jessica Abo

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  • Psychic Suckered $17 Million Out of Heartbroken Clients | Entrepreneur

    Psychic Suckered $17 Million Out of Heartbroken Clients | Entrepreneur

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    Here’s something Florida-based psychic Rose Marks perhaps didn’t see in her future: a ten-year prison sentence.

    But maybe she should have. She was, after all, stealing a lot of money from unsuspecting clients. Rose Marks and eight members of her family were accused and convicted of bilking approximately $25 million out of her customers over the course of several years. The scam was as simple as it was wicked. Mentally manipulate vulnerable people, and convince them that the “temporary” surrender of large amounts of cash and jewels would serve as a sacrifice that would appease evil spirits and make them go away. Once the bad luck vanished, the cash and jewels would be returned.

    That is, of course, unless you happen to “misplace” the sacrifices and never give anything back.

    On this episode of Dirty Money, co-hosts Jon Small and Dan Bova speak with author Tori Tefler, who chronicled Marks’ crimes and the dastardly deeds of other female criminals in her book Confident Women. Tefler breaks down Marks’ scheme, explaining how and why she was able to convince so many people that she was the answer to their prayers rather than the beginning of their worst nightmares.

    We just looked into our crystal ball…and see you really loving this episode. Thanks for listening!

    Related: The Very Crazy Story of Crazy Eddie, the Electronics and Scamming Giant

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    Dan Bova

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  • Michelle Obama opens up about her ‘uncontrollable sobbing’ on day of Trump’s inauguration | CNN Politics

    Michelle Obama opens up about her ‘uncontrollable sobbing’ on day of Trump’s inauguration | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    Michelle Obama broke down shortly after leaving then-President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the former first lady candidly shared in a new podcast, as the emotions of leaving their family’s home after eight years and resentment over Trump taking office overwhelmed her.

    “When those doors shut, I cried for 30 minutes straight, uncontrollable sobbing, because that’s how much we were holding it together for eight years,” Obama said, referring to her final trip aboard the presidential airplane.

    The fresh revelation of Obama’s experience came in a clip of her “The Light Podcast,” which launched on Audible Tuesday. The podcast audio comes from the former first lady’s recent book tour for her third book, “The Light We Carry,” which reflects on how she’s dealt with relationships, self-doubt and anxiety during uncertain times. It captures conversations from her visits to six cities with all-star moderators, like Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, David Letterman and Conan O’Brien to promote and discuss her best-selling book.

    “After the inauguration – and we know whose inauguration we were at – that day was so emotional on so many different reasons. We were leaving the home we had been in for eight years, the only home our kids really knew,” Obama shared. “They remembered Chicago but they had spent more time in the White House than anywhere. So we were saying goodbye to the staff and all the people who helped to raise them.”

    Obama confirmed she wasn’t in a “good mood” but she “had to hold it together.”

    “There were tears, there was that emotion. But then to sit on that stage and watch the opposite of what we represented on display – there was no diversity, there was no color on that stage, there was no reflection of the broader sense of America,” Obama said.

    She also took a jab at her husband’s successor over his inauguration crowd size, a long-running point of contention for the Trump White House which has falsely claimed the turnout was the largest ever.

    “You take your last flight off, flying over the Capitol, where there weren’t that many people there. We saw it,” she said, which gained laughs from the audience.

    Promoting the podcast on Twitter Monday, Obama said that she hopes it inspires others to “share your own light.”

    In the years since leaving the White House, the former first lady has revealed other tidbits about her mood that day in January 2017, including that she “stopped even trying to smile” during Trump’s inauguration. Speaking to Jimmy Fallon in 2018, she said, “A lot was going on that day,” but as she bid farewell to the White House one thought was clear: “Bye, Felicia!”

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  • SUV Crashes into a Cafe While Podcasters Record a Show | Entrepreneur

    SUV Crashes into a Cafe While Podcasters Record a Show | Entrepreneur

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    A podcaster dreamed his new show might become a smash hit — but not this way.

    Nathan Reeves was wrapping up his interview with friend Alexsey Reyes for his new podcast when near disaster struck. As the two recorded in a local cafe, a speeding SUV swerved off the road and into a glass window right behind them.

    The two were filming the series for Reeves’s YouTube channel, so all the action was captured on video.

    Miraculously, no one was hurt in the dramatic incident.

    “It was complete shock at first,” Reeves told the website Jalopnick. “After making sure everyone was okay, and no one was died, we were like, ‘Oh my God. I can’t believe we have this on film.”

    Related: The Twisted Scam that Bilked Movie Crews Out of Millions

    Lucky to be alive

    Reeves is still piecing together the events of that day. The two had positioned themselves by a window at Houston café Tout Suite overlooking the street. “It got so quiet in here,” Reeves said to Reyes in what can ominously be described as the calm before the storm.

    Seconds later, a black Chevy Tahoe appears in the frame careening straight toward them, shattering the glass — and their nerves.

    What caused the accident?

    Houston police have yet to say, but Reeves offered his perspective.

    “I’m pretty sure the black SUV ran a red light and was sideswiped and then went straight into us,” he said.

    Immediately after the crash, Reyes and Roy can be seen gathering themselves. The two seem more concerned initially with the podcast than their own lives. “I think we’re fine. I think we got all the audio on there,” Reyes says.

    The two told Jalopnik that, at first, they didn’t feel anything except the adrenaline coursing through their bodies. But a few days later, they both had stiffness in their backs and were going to see a doctor. “We’re just glad no one actually died,” Reyes said.

    Asked about making the video public, the two conceded they couldn’t pass up an excellent opportunity for publicity. The video was posted on YouTube and has gone viral.

    “We decided we would just make the best out of a really bad situation,” Reyes said.

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    Jonathan Small

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  • Rapid demise of ‘Dilbert’ is no surprise to those watching

    Rapid demise of ‘Dilbert’ is no surprise to those watching

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    The comic strip “Dilbert” disappeared with lightning speed following racist remarks by creator Scott Adams, but it shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone who has followed them both

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  • How Richard Rushfield’s The Ankler Took on Hollywood

    How Richard Rushfield’s The Ankler Took on Hollywood

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    Netflix is far from a death spiral, but one of the biggest media stories of 2022 turned out to be the company’s stunning subscriber stumble. The streamer lost almost half its stock value and came to be seen as a potential acquisition target. I asked Rushfield if he felt vindicated. “I wanna jump up and down,” he said, “and yell ‘I told you so’ every day.”

    Rushfield, 54, grew up in Pacific Palisades and attended Santa Monica’s prestigious Crossroads School, where he overlapped with future hotshots like Matthew Greenfield, Jay Sures, Brett Morgen, Jason Blumenthal, Maya Rudolph, and Jack Black. Rushfield’s younger sister, the TV writer Alexandra Rushfield, was friends at Crossroads with Jenni Konner, who went on to showrun HBO’s Girls with Lena Dunham. At Hampshire College in Western Massachusetts, Rushfield frequented punk shows—X, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Henry Rollins (he saw Black Flag in high school)—and wrote a decidedly gothy senior thesis about Jacques-Louis David’s paintings from the French Revolution (Marat bleeding to death in a bathtub, etc.). After graduating, he followed the grunge-era playbook of loafing around without a plan. Then he landed an entry-level gig with the ’92 Clinton campaign, sharing a small cigarette-smoke-filled office with Noah Shachtman, now editor in chief of Rolling Stone. “Even when we were kids, he was a figure from a different era,” Shachtman recalls. “I felt like he had stepped out of a Raymond Chandler novel.”

    After working as a field organizer for several other Democratic campaigns, Rushfield pursued a writing career. His first byline, a front-of-book item for Los Angeles magazine, highlighted a stand-up comedy show featuring rising stars like David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, Patton Oswalt, Margaret Cho, and Janeane Garofalo. (He became friends with a lot of these folks.) “I think it ran two sentences and I got $25,” Rushfield recalls. In 1998, he and his friend Adam Leff conceived a Spy-inspired trend-forecasting charticle, “The Intelligence Report,” which caught the eye of Graydon Carter. He gave them a contract with this magazine, where the column appeared several times a year until 2010. (Rushfield has also written a few features for Vanity Fair.) By the mid-2000s, Rushfield was working as a web editor at the Los Angeles Times, where a print higher-up once told him the only reason people wanted the online versions of articles was so they could print them out to read in the bathtub. He embraced the web, where he ended up spending the majority of his professional life. In 2009, Rushfield left the Times to become West Coast editor of Gawker. He then wrote a book about American Idol and did tours of BuzzFeed, Yahoo, and, finally, HitFix, where he was editor in chief before the site was acquired in 2016. “The second half of my career was working on every website, essentially,” he told me.

    The Ankler almost didn’t happen. After HitFix, Rushfield was accepted to the USC Rossier School of Education to pursue a graduate degree in teaching. Around the same time, inspired by the success of The Information, Jessica Lessin’s subscription-powered tech-news publication, he started sending an email digest to a small group of friends, who started showing it to their friends, who then forwarded it to their friends. Before he knew it, he had an impressive distribution list. “It started getting passed around very quickly to the executive class,” Rushfield told me. He decided against USC Rossier and put his eggs in The Ankler instead. “It took me time to get up the guts to put down a paywall, but I made that leap.”

    Rushfield first met Min at the Golden Globes about a decade ago, “stuck at the kids’ table in the back,” Min joked. A former People and InStyle reporter and editor who became a mid-aughts media star as the editor in chief of Us Weekly, Min was in the midst of her celebrated reinvention of The Hollywood Reporter, which she ran until 2017. In 2021, as Min recovered from a brief stint at the train wreck that was Quibi, she and Rushfield started talking. “The Ankler had come to my attention because people were forwarding it to me, pretty senior people in the industry,” she recalls. “My thoughts were that entertainment was undergoing these crazy upheavals, both culturally and in the business model, and nobody was really owning that conversation.” They made it official with a New York Times piece shortly before Christmas and entered the Y Combinator program several months later. “In Silicon Valley terms,” Min said, “Richard would be ‘the product.’ ”

    The Ankler is no stranger to courtship. Penske Media, whose near-monopoly on major entertainment titles includes THR, Variety, Deadline, Billboard, and Rolling Stone, made a number of overtures up until several weeks before Rushfield and Min announced their business relationship. (Variety put an offer on the table in 2019 to add The Ankler to its newsletter lineup; later, Penske Media boss Jay Penske pursued an acquisition.) Additionally, Puck had conversations with Rushfield prior to its own launch. Min and Rushfield later explored partnerships with Axios and Lessin, an early Ankler booster who’d welcomed Rushfield into The Information’s inaugural accelerator program. Ankler Media’s decision to remain independent—albeit with investors—and to continue publishing on Substack, where they’re part of a growing crop of full-fledged publications, reflected a desire to “control our own destiny,” as Min put it.

    What does The Ankler’s destiny look like? Min envisions “a universe of bundled subscriptions” and a push into international markets. “The story of streaming is that it hit the ceiling in the United States before it was supposed to,” she said. “So everyone’s saying, ‘Let’s try to make money somewhere else,’ aggressively looking toward markets like Japan, India, Latin America, and that’s a great story.” When I asked for a pie-in-the-sky target of paid subscribers, she didn’t flinch: “a hundred thousand.” If they manage to get there—that’s a lot of paying subscribers!—it won’t have been easy. “I think they’re off to a tremendous start, but the road ahead is hard,” said Lessin, one of Ankler Media’s investors. “It’s a really difficult, long path.”

    In early 2018, Lessin hosted Rushfield and the other members of The Information’s first accelerator class at her home in San Francisco. Over dinner, she asked her guests to describe their five-year aspirations. When it was Rushfield’s turn, he said, “What drew me to newsletters was the chance to really write something meaningful and to be able to do your best work. If, five years from now, I could be doing that on a stable basis, I’ll be thrilled.”

    Here we are, five years later. I called Rushfield late one night while wrapping up this piece and read back his quote from Lessin’s soiree. “I couldn’t believe I was getting away with speaking so honestly and freely about this industry back then,” he said. “I still can’t believe I’m getting away with it.”

    HAIR, CHECHEL JOSON (MIN); MAKEUP, TAYLOR BABAIAN; GROOMING, STACY SKINNER; TAILOR, HASMIK KOURINIAN. SET DESIGN, BETTE ADAMS. PRODUCED ON LOCATION BY PRODUCTION SQUAD. FOR DETAILS, GO TO VF.COM/CREDITS.

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    Joe Pompeo

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  • Entrepreneur | The Bizarre True Story of the Hollywood Con Queen

    Entrepreneur | The Bizarre True Story of the Hollywood Con Queen

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    The phone rings and you answer. On the other end of the call is a woman who says they’ve heard all about the great work you do and want to hire you for an incredible project in Indonesia that is happening right now. They tell you to get to the airport ASAP and get yourself on the next plane. Keep all of your receipts — you’ll be reimbursed as soon as you land, you’re told. This job not only pays well, but it will also surely elevate your profile and lead to bigger and better projects.

    So what do you do?

    If you are one of the hundreds of people who got this call, you get on that plane. And after weeks — sometimes months — of getting the runaround once you’re situated in Indonesia, you learn that you’ve been scammed.

    Related: The Scam Artist Who Robbed Backstreet Boys and NSYNC Blind

    On this week’s episode of Dirty Money, Entrepreneur Media’s new podcast dedicated to telling the behind-the-schemes stories of legendary scammers, con artists, and barely-legal lowlifes, hosts Jon Small and Dan Bova speak with journalist and co-founder of Campside Media Josh Dean about the strange twist and turns of the Hollywood Con Queen. We won’t give away too much, but this Queen posed as various higher-ups at companies like Lucasfilm and Sony, and preyed on worker-bee types in the film industry (make-up artists, stunt man, and the like) who were duped into spending money out of their own pockets that they never got back.

    The more details, the sleazier and weirder this story gets. Listen to the podcast here or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

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    Dan Bova

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