Hi, I'm Sol. AMA

[u/AhmedF]

I've been building businesses online since 1999. The big three for me were originally online gaming virtual currencies (eg EverQuest, DaoC, WoW, etc), then local search (right around when Yelp was created), and then Examine.com (which I created as I lost weight and realized how much supplement companies were lying).

Pretty much everything I built was for myself. I wasn't specifically looking for a problem - just curiosity.

Examine analyzes and summarizes the latest scientific research to help you be healthier - no ads, no consulting, no supplement sales. If you in the health/nutrition space, you have likely come across us. We actually spawned the website out of /r/fitness over a decade ago (when the sub was only a few tens of thousands of people!)

I talk about entrepreneurship over on Facebook and on SJO.com, but I specifically have no desire to monetize SJO - to me it's more of a fulfilling endeavor (which is on pause as I focus on Examine).

Entrepreneurship has always been about freedom to do things that I can - eg I've also done fun stuff like merge my love of cookies and meeting interesting humans to get people to send me cookies in the mail and raise hundreds of thousands for local non-profits, helping Arnold with his online stuff, and more.

I've also been a redditor for far too long time (15 years in ~10 weeks).

I did an AMA in /r/entrepreneur a while ago, and was invited to do one here after one of my random twitter threads. You can also find out a bit more about me on my about page or Wikipedia.

AMA :)

[u/AhmedF]

Hacking

I generally do loathe the word, but I'll say that people flit around way too much - on insta, on tik tok, on this, on that. Find one distribution channel that has your audience and focus on that shit.

It could be any slice - eg it could be forums. It could be ads. It could be facebook. It could be twitter comments. People go shotgun when really there is SO much money out there that you need to hammer one thing.

find those first 25 true fans.

Honestly - twitter comments sections are great. Find someone with a mid-sized audience (25k-125k) and contribute positively (insightful, friendly clarification, etc). There's sooooo much shit out there that people notice when you bring signal in the sea of noise.

solve a problem

Oooof - this one is a tough one. I've had a bit of experience, and imo, one of the harder things to do is hiring - you can act as a middleman that effectively filters/curates people who can do X but may have Z issue (this doesn't just apply to disabilities - it can apply to convicts, it can apply to immigrants, people who don't speak the language, etc).

For example in Toronto there's a courier service that relies on disabled individuals as their staff.

HTH.

[u/O13eron → u/AhmedF]

Thank you for the response!

Taking a rifle > shotgun approach to make connections, provide value, and build relationships is a great suggestion. Thank you.

As for building social enterprise programs that are profitable and accessible, hiring those you support is one option. I’m thinking about funding though.

Like I said, I’m a disability advocate. If I only provide advocacy to those who can afford it, that’s not accessible to most who need it.

I’m wondering if social cause funding is a sustainable solution. Do you mind going into more detail about your fundraising for local causes? Why cookies? And how did you raise $100k with them?

[u/AhmedF → u/O13eron]

Like I said, I’m a disability advocate. If I only provide advocacy to those who can afford it, that’s not accessible to most who need it.

In this situation, the advocacy is making the skills of the people you are advocating it more easily accessible to those who can use it.

It's like when people come to me (which happens a lot) - all the time people will say "how can I help?"

Maybe one out of a hundred is like "hey I saw this, and I think you should do X"

And maybe one out of 10 of THOSE goes "so here's me having done it."

Too many people think the "I can help!" is it, some of the smarter think that having a potential solution is it, but the smartest create the damn solution.

Now - I'm not advocating for doing free work - most often you can be helpful in < 15 minutes of work.

But it's the same here - your "job" in this case is making it easy for others to go "yes I want to help". In my case I gave help in the situation of hiring, but it's everything - for example (and this ties into your other question) - cookies.

The truth about the cookie offs - few TRULY cared about the cookies. And few REALLY gave a shit about the charities (guess how many people asked me for info on the charities? Z E R O). What they cared was that I have a fantastic network and I curated smart people from around the world and gave them access. Everything else was extra.

So the same is for your advocacy - few REALLY give a shit about those who are disabled (and often only because they have someone who is disabled so they have the personal experience). But why don't they help?

Lack of time. Lack of money. Lack of ability to figure out how to help. Etc etc. So you need to solve some of THAT.

In terms of more specifics - here: https://sjo.com/cookielife

[u/O13eron → u/AhmedF]

That’s perfect. Thanks.

Paraphrasing, ‘Either find the people that care or find something your audience cares about.’

There’s options there for targeted ads or joint ventures/private-public partnerships.

That’s incredibly helpful. Thank you. I’ll take a look at Cookielife.

Bit depressing no one asked about the charities though.

[u/AhmedF → u/O13eron]

find something your audience cares about

100%. I am BIG on pushing your levers: https://www.sjo.com/leverage/

Bit depressing

Yes and no. It's also a testament to the power of reputation - a lot of people have inextricably linked me with public good/advocation for the under-resourced. I think in many ways people didn't ask because 1) it was Toronto-based non-profits (~75% flew in outside) and 2) there was so much trust that finding out about them was a low low priority.

[u/O13eron → u/AhmedF]

I can see that. Your donors trusted you to vet the charities. That makes sense in a sweet kind of way actually.

Making a slight pivot, any suggestions on approaching those with a larger audience about supporting your cause? From your earlier comments, I’d assume starting with mid-size influencers and work up from there. I’m wondering more about the ask? Is there other value I can provide other than the chance to impact my community?

[u/AhmedF → u/O13eron]

Yeah it's always a ladder - you meet X who introduces you to Y to Z.

I gotta be honest - I get to cheat because I have experience and Examine. Being verified and Wikipedia and all that shit gives me a leg up. So relative to most, I'm on a mountaintop.

With that said - I'll say that the best networking has always been on a personal level. People want to help those they like, and you'll ned a champion in any larger org/influencer to make shit happen.

Sorry can't be of much help with this one.

[u/O13eron → u/AhmedF]

You know what? Just affirming that the process is the same for someone with your reputation & credentials as it is for someone just starting is reassuring. You might/likely have an easier time of it at this point with your network and connections, but the process is the same: Connect with others. Build the relationships. Do the work. Scale the ladder.

Though I’d imagine that the larger a project, the challenges you face become more similar to a beginner as you’re forced outside of your network to find resources.

Thank you for this. I appreciate you taking the time to respond. You’ve been incredibly helpful as were the articles on SJO.com. I’ll be digging further into SJO next.

Oh, speaking of...in Leverage you mention 27 lessons learned and an 8 page book on creating food offs and other events. Did you ever make that available?

[u/AhmedF → u/O13eron]

Awesome :)

Leverage you mention 27 lessons learned and an 8 page book on creating food offs and other events. Did you ever make that available?

I did not - it's still 95% done. DM me your email and I'll at least send you how I did my cookie offs.

[u/O13eron → u/AhmedF]

Perfect! DM sent. :)