Life & Work with Nathan Hirsch

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nathan Hirsch.

Hi Nathan, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I wasn’t born into a wealthy family If I wanted something I had to pay for it
—
4 years ago I exited a business I bootstrapped
Today, I own several businesses
Growing up my parents were both teachers
My dad was a teacher at a high school a town over
And I got to go to a better high school because of it
At this school, it seemed like every kid had a wealthy family
The newest toys, clothes, games, etc
I wanted what they had
…. My parents made me pay for everything
Even when I was too young to get a real job
I got my first job at 13 slowly learning skills
Sales, Customer Service, Managing People
—
I also realized I hated working for other people
By the age of 18 I had been:
– A Head Umpire For My Town
– Intern At Aaron’s
– Intern At Firestone
– Endless Summer Lawncare Jobs/ Projects
I never got a job after that
I got to college and started hustling
Started selling textbooks online
Discovered Amazon
Hired my first employee before I could drink
Built a remote team to run the business
—
By 25 I had
📌 Sold $25 million on Amazon
📌 Built a team of 30 (With A Great Hiring Process)
📌 Opened Up An Office
📌 Hired My First Virtual Assistant
I had no idea what was next…
But I knew how to hire A players
Someone asked me to find them a great VA
I became obsessed…
I started a freelance marketplace
Called it FreeeUp
What else could I have a virtual assistant do?
I tried to push the limit
FreeeUp grew fast
There was no where else like it to get the best VAs/ Freelancers
1 Million in Year One
5m In Year Two
9m in Year Three
12m in Year Four
Then we got an offer we couldn’t turn down
From the Hoth
6 months of stress and the deal was done
This changed our lives
—
Fast Forward…
A few accomplishments:
Over 900+ podcasts
🚀 Built 4 New Businesses (ecombalance.com, accountsbalance.com, trioseo.com,
💪 Each One Has an Operator
🔥 30k + Followers
I feel like I am just getting started
I am on a mission to make entrepreneurship simpler for millions
I believe in working out dailty and eating healthy
I love my sports teams (To A Fault)
I have wife, and a beautiful boy.
I appreciate what I have everyday
I want to help others

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It is never a smooth ride lol. We got suspended by Amazon multiple times, had a hacker create a FreeeUp new client sign up that made a fake sign up every ten seconds, The first year of running a bookkeeping business without being a bookkeeper was a struggle because there was so much to learn. To me its a game and I try not to get too stressed especially post exit.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
You sold FreeeUp in 2019 what have you been up to? What has changed?

For 4 years I worked my butt off. We started FreeeUp with 5k and grew it to 12m in 4 years. Whatever it took to grow FreeeUp we/ I did. Working nights, weekends, 4 podcasts a day, constant travel….but it was worth it when we exited.

The original plan was to take a few years off after the sale but covid took away Connor and my travel. So stuck at home with nothing to do we decided to start building businesses but with a different approach. No more hustle, no more doing things we don’t want to do. I eliminated all work travel (Sorry people who invite me to conferences), reduced podcasts and most importantly hired operators to start any new business. To us it’s a game and a lot of fun to see what pieces we can put in place to build 5-star companies.
Personally, I moved from Florida to Colorado after the sale. Got my entire family to move out here too and had a son last year. Connor really sold the Denver life to me lol. Life couldn’t be better. I always dreamed of pure freedom and that’s where I find myself every day. I only do things I want to do. I am very fortunate. Thats not to say I don’t care or work hard, I do but it is way different then the FreeeUp years.
Connor and my goal now is to grow a portfolio of businesses that don’t require us to hustle. We love building, brainstorming, problem-solving etc. We have a good starting point with Outsource School, Ecombalance, AccountsBalance and TrioSEO but there is much more we want to do. Our non-compete with FreeeUp is up soon so maybe we get back into that space. We are always coming up with ideas and searching for great operators to run them

Why not just buy businesses instead of starting them?

Maybe we should and maybe we will. Every time I start a new company I say it’s my last one starting from scratch lol. We explored this after the FreeeUp sale and even had a few offers but nothing came through. I am a pretty low-risk person. I don’t want investors or to risk other people’s money. I like to sleep at night with no debt. Maybe I am more of a 0-1 guy. It’s not off the table but we keep having ideas and finding good operators getting businesses up and profitable pretty quickly. It’s not off the table and we have a few things cooking behind the scenes that may or may not come to fruition. It is always in the back of my mind.

What is your focus right now?

Right now we are in a fun spot. Our businesses system-wise are built out and customers that use my bookkeeping services, SEO etc have a great experience. Our operators do a phenomenal job. We just hired a team to run Connor and my personal brand so it is great to get a lot of time back there. Connor and I have always been good at organic marketing/ SEO. The last piece of the puzzle is paid ads/ cold outreach. It is something that has maybe held us back to some extent. Our focus right now is testing/ finding some great marketing people to add to our companies. Increase lead flow and get more clients into our system. So if you know any great paid ads/ cold email people send them my way lol. It will be a process to test a lot of them and see what works but it is a fun new adventure we never really spent time on before. There is no rush but when we figure it out it will be a game changer. From there we also have some new businesses we plan on getting into when we find the right operators. We are always networking and looking. Just keep growing the portfolio and removing us from tasks (Where other people can do better than us!)

What advice would you give new entrepreneurs?

Entrepreneurship is fun but hard. Assume failure and be ok with it. I got really lucky that my first two businesses did really well but that’s not the norm. When you understand failure is the most likely option it really makes you prove concepts. Hustle when you are young and have no rresponsibilities lol. Go out and sell a product/ service early even give it away to prove people want it. With FreeeUp we gave away free VA hours in exchange for feedback, with Ecombalance two free months of bookkeeping to see if people would stay with us past that. If you can sell something you can figure everything out later. Lastly, just focus on the client experience. I only want to run a business where customers are happy. I want to build relationships and keep my reputation intact. Earn trust and do everything you can to keep it. If I don’t think customers are having a good experience (even if I am making money) I will just shut the business down. Get feedback and always improving.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I try to network with 5 new people every month. No sales calls just learn about them and see if I can help them. Do this for a year and see how many awesome people you meet. I have never had a mentor.

Pricing:

• Ecombalance.com monthly bookkeeping for ecommerce sellers starting at $499 a month
• Accountsbalance.com monthly bookkeeping for B2b companies starting at $399 a month
• TrioSEO – Content writing that gets you leads and customers starting at $1,500 a month
• Connor’s seo course connorgillivan.com/seo $150

Contact Info:

• Website: Nathanhirsch.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanhirsch99/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nathan.hirsch/ 
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhirsch/ 
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/NathanHirsch99
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSFkqsHfbq-y1Y56NP50XgA
• Other: ecombalance.com, accountsbalance.com, trioseo.com, connorgillivan.com, outsourceschool.com