Ali Abdaal Went From $2.72 To $4.6M+ From YouTube… Here’s How artwork

Ali Abdaal Went From $2.72 To $4.6M+ From YouTube… Here’s How

My First Million

December 13, 2023

Episode 530: Shaan Puri (https://twitter.com/ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (https://twitter.com/theSamParr) talk to Ali Abdaal about his most most-effective productivity tactics, how creators should run their channels like CEOs, and how he made $2M in one week.
Speakers: Shaan Puri, Ali Abdaal, Sam Parr
**Shaan Puri** (0:14)
We have here today the, I would say, you did both.
You did both.
You fulfilled the brown man's obligation. You became a doctor, but then you fulfilled the dream in your heart, and you became a content creator, and you are now one of the most popular YouTubers productivity guys that people know on YouTube. This is Ali Abdaal. Welcome to the pod, man. I've been watching you for a while. It's fun to have you here.

**Ali Abdaal** (0:39)
Thanks so much. I've been a fan of the pod for years now. It's hard to believe it's been years because I remember when you guys first started out and it was actually, how did you make your first million? I was like, what a great concept for a podcast.
I was starting a podcast and everyone needed an angle, and my first million angle was just so good. I've been keeping up with you guys on Twitter and stuff for ages as well, so it's super nice to be here.

**Sam Parr** (0:58)
You gave us a big shout out early on in our podcast. I think you did a video where it was like 10 podcasts that I like right now or something like that.
And that was a big deal for us.

**Ali Abdaal** (1:06)
So that was when my first million was still a small podcast. And I was like, I've discovered something. There's these two guys who like ask people how they made their first million. This is incredible stuff.

**Shaan Puri** (1:14)
I remember when I DM Sam the name of the podcast, I was like, I think about calling it this. And he was just like, it's so bad. And I was like, I'm like coming up with my response. He goes, that it's perfect.
Sam, why did you think it was so bad? What is that so bad that it's perfect?

**Sam Parr** (1:31)
Well, I'm not particularly good at naming things. My company was called The Hustle, so I'm not good at naming things. Shaan, you're actually quite good at naming things. But it was for some reason, it just, I think that we've done a good job of appearing to be like internet market-y, shady, almost like on the surface. Like when I go to the barber and they say, what do I do for a living? And I want to cringe when I say the name of the pod.
But then I'm like, but it's not what it sounds like. And so I think it's a good name because it grabs your attention. But we've done a good job of staying on the right side of, I think, like doing the right stuff and having good taste.

**Ali Abdaal** (2:04)
That's why it's a good name. I think it's a fantastic name. I came across some occasionally people on Twitter like to hate on clips in the podcast. I think because you guys are so open about talking about money. And there was a quote tweet that I saw being like, lol, what would you expect from a podcast called My First Million? And I was like, it's perfect. That's exactly what you'd expect from a podcast called My First Million. I think the name is amazing. And yeah, I just love how brazen you guys are about talking about money.
Loved the Neil Patel episode in particular. You were just like asking him so specific questions.
He's a huge fan of the show.

**Shaan Puri** (2:38)
To this day, I give him credit. He's the only guy that has an absurdly high life burn rate. His burn rate for a month was, I think, 180,000.
He just said it matter of factly. He's like, that's what I spend for a month.
Me and Sam fell out of our chair and we're like, what are you spending 180,000 on? And then he's like, what do you mean? Of course I need that. I need that. And he's like, explained it.

**Ali Abdaal** (3:00)
My 390s, my two housekeepers, all of that stuff.

**Shaan Puri** (3:03)
That TikTok clip has like 10 million views because it's... The whole comments section just hates him for saying that. But I respect him for coming on here and standing.
He told his truth. What do the kids say? That's your truth, man. You stood by your truth.

**Sam Parr** (3:17)
All right, everyone, a quick break. If you're hustling in the trenches to build a business or bootstrapping your own, I want to talk to you about an AI power tool that can lighten up your workload.
It's called HubSpot's Campaign Assistant, and it's a game changer for creating marketing campaigns at scale. It quickly turns your key selling points into a cohesive pitch, which helps you deliver knockout emails, ads, and landing pages in just a few minutes. Just choose your content type, enter a few key points, and pick a tone like friendly or witty and let the AI robots handle the rest. You can copy and paste the content to whatever channel you want, or you can even convert it directly into publishable campaigns without leaving your HubSpot interface. So let Campaign Assistant take care of the campaign so you can get back to growing your business. Work smarter, not harder at hubspot.com/campaign-assistant.

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