This as-told-to story is predicated on a dialog with GumGum Promoting CEO Phil Schraeder, who’s had a profitable facet hustle showing as a contestant on sport reveals. The piece has been edited for size and readability.
I am initially from a small city outdoors of Chicago. My brother, sister and I had been on the swim workforce within the summers, which meant early 6 a.m. mornings. This was again within the ’80s, the place after swim observe, you’d go outdoors and play with your pals till darkish, however within the mornings, nobody else was awake. So, after we bought dwelling from swim observe round 7:30 a.m., my mother would make us breakfast and placed on the TV — and my siblings and I’d watch sport reveals.
I grew to become fixated on these sport reveals, ones like The Value Is Proper and Sale of the Century, and I would play them with my siblings. I am tremendous aggressive. I like trivia and successful prizes.
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Quick ahead to after I graduated from school: I labored in Chicago for a short while earlier than deciding that I wanted to seek out myself. I needed to return out of the closet. I felt very held again from my genuine self. I needed a change, so I moved with a good friend to Los Angeles.
Once I arrived, all I had was my automobile and what I might match within it. I had no job, and I used to be in bank card debt. I wanted to determine a method to earn cash. Fortunately, I’ve all the time been targeted on accounting and finance. My background is in enterprise. So, I wasn’t nervous about having the ability to discover a job, however I nonetheless wanted a method to make ends meet within the brief time period.
That is after I began a enjoyable and distinctive facet hustle: competing on sport reveals. I ended up happening The Value Is Proper with Bob Barker — and gained. I walked away with $900 in money, an amusement park popcorn cart and a grandfather clock. I used to be like, Wow, that is unbelievable. Not solely did I like the expertise, however I used to be additionally dwelling out my childhood dream. I additionally liked figuring out that my household was capable of take pleasure in watching me do it.
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At the same time as I progressed in my finance profession, in the end turning into a VP, I continued with the facet hustle and saved a pulse on sport present alternatives. As a result of Los Angeles is the leisure capital of the world, a whole lot of first-time sport reveals have their begin there, they usually search for contestants regionally. So, it is not that aggressive to use; it is not a nationwide search.
Once I heard concerning the new present Are You Smarter Than a fifth Grader?, I knew I needed to use. And, being a 29-year-old finance and enterprise accounting skilled from Chicago, I supplied a chance for them to check out a contestant who wasn’t within the leisure trade. Nonetheless, it was an extended audition course of. However I used to be invited on the present and given about 10 days to arrange.
I wasn’t going to squander the prospect. I went to the youngsters’ homeschool retailer, and I purchased all of the third, fourth and fifth-grade books. I purchased world geography. I purchased measurements. I purchased flashcards of the presidents. Each day after my life companion Wes and I awakened, I’d research, then go to work. On my lunch break, I’d research extra. Later within the evenings at dwelling, I would research till I used to be falling asleep on the sofa.
I ended up successful $175,000 on the present. It gave me a whole lot of monetary freedom.
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This facet hustle supplied different thrilling probabilities to earn money over time. I additionally appeared on the Dick Clark Pyramid Present, the place I gained $22,500. I actually took the time without work work, known as my brother after I gained and mentioned, “Oh, that was a superb day of labor.”
However this type of facet hustle comes with some limitations, too. You possibly can solely go on so many sport reveals over the course of 10 years. Now, if the precise alternative introduced itself, I would think about taking it. I nonetheless love sport reveals and admire that they helped set me up financially, however at this level in my life, I am in a unique scenario, so if I had been to seem on one and win, I would seemingly donate the cash.
My sport present facet hustle undoubtedly helped form me as a enterprise chief.
To start with, I used to be afraid that I won’t be taken significantly as a seasoned govt enterprise skilled in finance as a result of I loved competing on sport reveals. However these had been my very own concepts about societal expectations and being boxed in, and it really helped me notice that as a CEO and chief myself, I do not need anybody to really feel that their pursuits or facet hustles negatively affect how they’re perceived professionally. We wish to have a good time these pursuits and facet hustles; we wish to encourage them.
At GumGum, we’re in 20 nations and have over 500 folks, so I’ve applied what I name “beginning courses”: whoever began in Q1 of this 12 months could be within the Q1 2025 beginning class. And I ask them a whole lot of questions. What are some folks’s facet hustles? What are they excited by? It is wonderful to look at everybody gentle up. There are DJs, macrame crafters, influencers and opera singers. Then, I take into consideration how we will translate these passions into our tradition and encourage and help one another locally.
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From my expertise on Are You Smarter Than a fifth Grader? particularly, I realized the worth of listening to your self and following that intuition. I used to be in a scenario the place I used to be uncertain of the reply and needed to resolve if I needed to threat all of it and go together with the child’s reply. If the child’s reply was right, I might have gained $300,000, but when it had been incorrect, I’d have dropped right down to $25,000. Because the child wasn’t sure concerning the reply, I caught with my very own and saved the $175,000.
Because it turned out, the child’s reply was proper, so I’d have gained $300,000. However it was nonetheless an necessary lesson in listening to myself — as a result of though it will have felt nice to win $300,000, it will have felt far worse to lose $150,000. In the long run, I used to be utterly positive with not successful extra to be able to shield what I already had. You’ll want to keep true to what works for you and what you might be snug with. Do not take into consideration what others might need or do, after which evaluate your self.
My sport present facet hustle additionally taught me so much about my private motivations — and the way these values can translate to management.
On Are You Smarter Than fifth Grader?, I acquired a shock video message from my mother, who’s an educator and my fifth-grade instructor. I get emotional on the present as a result of my mother’s wishing me good luck. That second made me notice that, sure, that is tremendous enjoyable, however no matter that is, it is nothing in comparison with how fortunate I’m with the opposite facets of my life. It reaffirmed what actually issues.
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With regards to enterprise, probably the most profitable leaders are going to be those who can go very deep in humanizing us and themselves. I attempt to steer clear of encouraging leaders to be “genuine” as a result of the alternative of that’s “inauthentic,” and I do not suppose folks attempt to present up inauthentically. They’re simply attempting to be extra clear.
In order that’s my one huge push, particularly because it pertains to the promoting trade: In the event you’re a frontrunner on this discipline, the final word aim is connecting with somebody deeply on an emotional stage or a wants stage. The most effective leaders want to point out up ready to do this day-after-day.
