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Oct 9, 2016 · 20m · top-founders

EP 442: $803k In 2015 Revenue from The Hardcore Closer, Ryan Stewman

Ryan Stewman · 9m spoken Nathan Latka · 8m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

Host Nathan Latka interviews Ryan Stewman, founder of Hardcore Closer, to uncover how he scaled his sales training business from early financial losses to over $3 million in revenue using paid advertising, automated funnels, and affiliate software partnerships.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 46.8% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 3.4 Guest teaching 2.6 Guest disagreement 0.8 Nathan pushing back 1.4
05100:0010:0020:001:41–7:17 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Introducing Ryan Stewman and the Hardcore Closer Approach Nathan inspects Ryan's site metrics, Alexa rankings, and social posting schedules live during the interview. Ryan clarifies his strategy, explaining that his high-profile guest articles are intended to showcase clients rather than purely generate backlink SEO.7:19–11:28 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Financial Growth, Profit Margins, Expenses, and Scaling to Millions Nathan drills deep into Ryan's profit and loss statement, distinguishing between gross sales, net margins, and executive salary. Ryan willingly details his tax reporting, contractor overhead, and reasons for leasing luxury vehicles.11:31–15:36 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Affiliate Revenue Streams, Mobile CRM Strategy, and Content Channels Nathan questions why Ryan aggressively pushes SMS opt-ins and probes his podcast metrics. Ryan educates Nathan on Card Tap's built-in mobile CRM and tracking capabilities.15:37–17:39 · Nathan as informed peer 0/10 Sponsor Break: Software Development with Toptal and Hosting with HostGator Solo promotional segment where Nathan reads sponsor messages for Toptal and HostGator.17:39–19:02 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions with Ryan Stewman Nathan guides Ryan through the standard rapid-fire Famous Five format with concise, collaborative answers.1:41–7:17 · Guest teaching 4/10 Introducing Ryan Stewman and the Hardcore Closer Approach Nathan inspects Ryan's site metrics, Alexa rankings, and social posting schedules live during the interview. Ryan clarifies his strategy, explaining that his high-profile guest articles are intended to showcase clients rather than purely generate backlink SEO.7:19–11:28 · Guest teaching 4/10 Financial Growth, Profit Margins, Expenses, and Scaling to Millions Nathan drills deep into Ryan's profit and loss statement, distinguishing between gross sales, net margins, and executive salary. Ryan willingly details his tax reporting, contractor overhead, and reasons for leasing luxury vehicles.11:31–15:36 · Guest teaching 4/10 Affiliate Revenue Streams, Mobile CRM Strategy, and Content Channels Nathan questions why Ryan aggressively pushes SMS opt-ins and probes his podcast metrics. Ryan educates Nathan on Card Tap's built-in mobile CRM and tracking capabilities.15:37–17:39 · Guest teaching 0/10 Sponsor Break: Software Development with Toptal and Hosting with HostGator Solo promotional segment where Nathan reads sponsor messages for Toptal and HostGator.17:39–19:02 · Guest teaching 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions with Ryan Stewman Nathan guides Ryan through the standard rapid-fire Famous Five format with concise, collaborative answers.1:41–7:17 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Ryan Stewman and the Hardcore Closer Approach Nathan inspects Ryan's site metrics, Alexa rankings, and social posting schedules live during the interview. Ryan clarifies his strategy, explaining that his high-profile guest articles are intended to showcase clients rather than purely generate backlink SEO.7:19–11:28 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Financial Growth, Profit Margins, Expenses, and Scaling to Millions Nathan drills deep into Ryan's profit and loss statement, distinguishing between gross sales, net margins, and executive salary. Ryan willingly details his tax reporting, contractor overhead, and reasons for leasing luxury vehicles.11:31–15:36 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Affiliate Revenue Streams, Mobile CRM Strategy, and Content Channels Nathan questions why Ryan aggressively pushes SMS opt-ins and probes his podcast metrics. Ryan educates Nathan on Card Tap's built-in mobile CRM and tracking capabilities.15:37–17:39 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Sponsor Break: Software Development with Toptal and Hosting with HostGator Solo promotional segment where Nathan reads sponsor messages for Toptal and HostGator.17:39–19:02 · Guest disagreement 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions with Ryan Stewman Nathan guides Ryan through the standard rapid-fire Famous Five format with concise, collaborative answers.1:41–7:17 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Introducing Ryan Stewman and the Hardcore Closer Approach Nathan inspects Ryan's site metrics, Alexa rankings, and social posting schedules live during the interview. Ryan clarifies his strategy, explaining that his high-profile guest articles are intended to showcase clients rather than purely generate backlink SEO.7:19–11:28 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Financial Growth, Profit Margins, Expenses, and Scaling to Millions Nathan drills deep into Ryan's profit and loss statement, distinguishing between gross sales, net margins, and executive salary. Ryan willingly details his tax reporting, contractor overhead, and reasons for leasing luxury vehicles.11:31–15:36 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Affiliate Revenue Streams, Mobile CRM Strategy, and Content Channels Nathan questions why Ryan aggressively pushes SMS opt-ins and probes his podcast metrics. Ryan educates Nathan on Card Tap's built-in mobile CRM and tracking capabilities.15:37–17:39 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Sponsor Break: Software Development with Toptal and Hosting with HostGator Solo promotional segment where Nathan reads sponsor messages for Toptal and HostGator.17:39–19:02 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions with Ryan Stewman Nathan guides Ryan through the standard rapid-fire Famous Five format with concise, collaborative answers.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 85.6% · guest 14.4%0:00 · Nathan 85.6% · guest 14.4%3:00 · Nathan 32.7% · guest 67.3%3:00 · Nathan 32.7% · guest 67.3%6:00 · Nathan 21.5% · guest 78.5%6:00 · Nathan 21.5% · guest 78.5%9:00 · Nathan 20.7% · guest 79.3%9:00 · Nathan 20.7% · guest 79.3%12:00 · Nathan 12.2% · guest 87.8%12:00 · Nathan 12.2% · guest 87.8%15:00 · Nathan 82.2% · guest 17.8%15:00 · Nathan 82.2% · guest 17.8%18:00 · Nathan 82.8% · guest 17.2%18:00 · Nathan 82.8% · guest 17.2%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 4:26 Reframing guest publication strategy

Ryan gently corrects Nathan's assumption that guest posts in Forbes and Entrepreneur are just backlink farming tools, explaining they are used to highlight his clients.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 8:16 Pressing on IRS gross qualification

Nathan specifically calls out Ryan's phrasing regarding IRS figures to ensure accurate revenue accounting without fluff.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 12:32 Card Tap CRM functionality walkthrough

Ryan explains how his mobile app operates as a disguised web-based CRM with SMS outreach and engagement trigger automations.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 8:43 Nathan reconstructs Ryan's balance sheet

Nathan rapidly calculates Ryan's actual take-home compensation and net operating profit from top-line revenue figures.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Ryan Stewman and the Hardcore Closer Approach 5412 Nathan inspects Ryan's site metrics, Alexa rankings, and social posting schedules live during the interview. Ryan clarifies his strategy, explaining that his high-profile guest articles are intended to showcase clients rather than purely generate backlink SEO.
Financial Growth, Profit Margins, Expenses, and Scaling to Millions 6412 Nathan drills deep into Ryan's profit and loss statement, distinguishing between gross sales, net margins, and executive salary. Ryan willingly details his tax reporting, contractor overhead, and reasons for leasing luxury vehicles.
Affiliate Revenue Streams, Mobile CRM Strategy, and Content Channels 4412 Nathan questions why Ryan aggressively pushes SMS opt-ins and probes his podcast metrics. Ryan educates Nathan on Card Tap's built-in mobile CRM and tracking capabilities.
Sponsor Break: Software Development with Toptal and Hosting with HostGator 0000 Solo promotional segment where Nathan reads sponsor messages for Toptal and HostGator.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions with Ryan Stewman 2111 Nathan guides Ryan through the standard rapid-fire Famous Five format with concise, collaborative answers.

Statements from this episode (13)

Disclosure
Stewman: Hardcore Closer email list reaches 35,000 subscribers
“My list is right at 35,000 people right now on that blog.”
Ryan Stewman Oct 9, 2016 ▶ 3:46
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stewman: 93% of Hardcore Closer traffic originates from social media
“93% of my traffic according to Google Analytics comes from social media.”
Ryan Stewman Oct 9, 2016 ▶ 3:56
Disclosure
Stewman: Spent over $250,000 personal capital growing Facebook page
“I've spent over 250,000 dollars of my personal money to grow that page.”
Ryan Stewman Oct 9, 2016 ▶ 5:24
Disclosure
Stewman: Hardcore Closer surpassed 4,000 total unique buyers
“A little over 4000.”
Ryan Stewman Oct 9, 2016 ▶ 6:08
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stewman: Hardcore Closer generated $96k gross and a $30k loss in 2012
“The gross sales was like 96,000 dollars, but you know, you, I took a loss of like 30 grand with the IRS or whatever”
Ryan Stewman Oct 9, 2016 ▶ 7:19
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stewman: Hardcore Closer reported $803k in gross sales for 2015
“Total gross sales in 2015 to the IRS was like 803,000 dollars.”
Ryan Stewman Oct 9, 2016 ▶ 8:11
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stewman: Hardcore Closer achieved positive free cash flow and $280k net in 2015
“In 2015, I definitely had free cash flow. I paid I think my net sales were somewhere around 280 grand.”
Ryan Stewman Oct 9, 2016 ▶ 8:54
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stewman: Hardcore Closer spent up to $50k/mo on Facebook ads reaching 5M weekly
“We were paying 20 grand a month for Facebook ads. I've toned that down significantly now to about 10, and at some point, we were paying 50, and when we were really ramping up, we were reaching, like, five million people a week.”
Ryan Stewman Oct 9, 2016 ▶ 9:28
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stewman: 57 clients are enrolled in Hardcore Closer's $30k/yr program
“Right now I have 57 people in my 30,000 dollar per year program. And most of them started out with a program that costs less than a hundred bucks.”
Ryan Stewman Oct 9, 2016 ▶ 10:22
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Stewman: Hardcore Closer reached $2.3M in 2016, targeting $5M for 2017
“So far this year, we are at gross sales. This is nuts compared to last year, right? But we are at 2.3 million for the year this year. And I hope to finish at a little over three million and then next year be able to hit five to six.”
Ryan Stewman Oct 9, 2016 ▶ 10:37
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stewman: Hardcore Closer Direct Sales Are 99.9% One-Time Purchases
“It's 99.9% one-time stuff. Now, on the flip side, that's just sales from Hardcore Closer.”
Ryan Stewman Oct 9, 2016 ▶ 11:41
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stewman: Generating $20k Monthly in Software Affiliate Commissions
“And I've built up about 20,000 dollars a month in residual affiliate commissions that come into between lead pages and a Weber and click funnels and lead pops and card tap and all the people that I work with.”
Ryan Stewman Oct 9, 2016 ▶ 12:07
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stewman: The Hardcore Closer podcast averages 25,000 monthly downloads
“I believe we're getting right at about 25,000 downloads per month across all of our channels.”
Ryan Stewman Oct 9, 2016 ▶ 13:45
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