Lessons from The Great Takeru Kobayashi
The 130-pound hot-dog-eating champion showed the world that feats many thought were impossible … weren’t hard to achieve at all.
As I try to quarterback an effort to “shock the world” by proving what’s possible with Substack newsletters, it occurs to me that I’ve already written an article that makes the point I hope my subscribers can illustrate.
A couple of years ago, I wrote an article for The American Conservative on “Jeopardy!” Sensation James Holzhauer. (Holzhauer obliterated all “Jeopardy!” prize money records by utilizing strategies starkly different than every contestant who’d come before him).
In an interview with Vulture magazine, Holzhauer provided an an anecdote that’s always stayed with me.
According to James, of all the people in the world, it was hot-dog-eating champion Takeru Kobayashi who inspired him to break the mold in “Jeopardy!” This excerpt gives the details.
The great hot-dog-eating breakthrough …
“Do you follow hot-dog eating?” Holzhauer asked a reporter with Vulture who questioned whether he had “broken” Jeopardy!
“No. Can’t say I do,” the interviewer responded.
Holzhauer: “About a decade ago, nobody ever thought someone could eat more than, like, 25 hot dogs in ten minutes. But this guy named Takeru Kobayashi came along and he shattered the record by so much that people realized there was a new blueprint to do this.”
… The story of a 130-pound Japanese man with the goal of eating a mind-boggling number of hot dogs is what cracked the code.
Through intense study and trial-and-error experimentation, Kobayashi discovered two techniques no previous hot dog-eating champion had ever used. He quickly concluded that not only could he beat their records, he could blow them away.
He found that if he ripped the hot dog in two, squeezed each piece into a ball, dipped the balls in water (thereby breaking down the starch), squeezed out the excess water, and tossed each ball into his mouth, his stomach could tolerate many more dogs. The game-changing innovation helped Kobayashi double the existing record his first time out.
But here’s the kicker, one that offers hope for the world. Once Kobayashi smashed the record, his fellow competitors didn’t quit. They didn’t demand that the rules be changed. They simply adapted their techniques and raised the level of their game. Today, an American once again holds the hot dog-eating record—72 wieners in 10 minutes!
The lesson is as obvious as Kobayashi’s bulging abdomen. When someone does think outside the box, when someone proves that performances once thought impossible are in fact obtainable, new levels of excellence become reachable.”
End excerpt.
***
One rejoinder to my audacious subscription goal might be, “Rice, you’re just trying to make money or get me to give you some of my money.”
I can’t say this is false. Like James, I am trying to make more money for myself and my family … but my ultimate goal is to show more Substack authors that they too might be able to dramatically increase their income.
How the Substack ‘game’ is currently being played …
In the Substack world, most newsletter authors probably feel good about their efforts if they grow their total subscribers to a couple thousand readers and only 3 or 4 percent are “paid.”
For four years of “Substack,” this is the way the “game” has been played.
In “Jeopardy!” tens of thousands of previous contestants were just happy to win one or more games. If they won $15,000 or $20,000, that was great and fine with them.
Then this contrarian James Holzhaeur arrives and says, “Yes, the purpose of any game is to win, but another goal should be to make as much money as possible.” (The same goal applies to many Substack authors, who one hopes would not apologize for trying to sell their skills and increase their income).
James knew he had one shot to monetize his remarkable quiz-answering skills and, boy, he took it!
In researching this article, I also noted that many media personalities detested James for “breaking the rules” of Jeopardy! and doing it his own way.
Closet communists or socialists, these media voices were probably perturbed this contrarian’s strategy made him a millionaire in a couple of days.
Similar thinking probably applies to Substack.
“Yes, I guess it’s okay if these science deniers hang out with their fellow wacko friends in their little “free speech zone” … but we all know this platform can’t take on our real trusted media.”
The Powers that Be (Status Quo-Protectors) don’t like mavericks
James and Mr. Kobayashi both proved what was thought to be impossible … was and is possible. By simply illustrating this point, they generated interest that extended beyond the cohort of gameshow fans or hot-dog eating enthusiasts.
Doing something that generates extra attention is one of my main motivations with this one-week “demonstration project.”
More contrarian examples …
In my article, I also identified other mavericks who transformed what was once thought impossible in other sports.
For example high jumper Dick Fosbury discovered he could clear a bar at higher heights if he soared over it backwards.
A year or so after he perfected his novel technique, Fosbury won the gold medal at the Olympics. At the next Olympics, every high jumper in the world was using the “Fosbury Flop.”
Fosbury didn’t just win a gold medal, he changed an entire sport. He also became one of history’s great examples who demonstrated the benefits of trying something different.
An NFL kicker named Pete Gogolak was the first person to kick field goals “soccer style.”
It took a few years, but today football fans are stunned when they see someone kick an extra point straight-on. For today’s soccer-style NFL kickers, a 50-yard field goal is almost a chip shot.
My effort to make history is a little different …
Of course, any comparison between my effort to “make history” and these examples is not “apples to apples.”
For example, I haven’t changed the way journalists write stories on Substack. (Although, taken as a whole, Substack might be changing the way real journalism is done. Simply “searching for the truth” has, sadly, become that radical).
But if my audacious demonstration project works, my contribution to future journalism could, in fact, be significant.
What I’m trying to do that’s different is to take the focus off the writers and put it on the readers. It’s Substack’s readers who have the potential to change the world … because it’s the readers who make it possible for important independent writers to have a market for their work.
I know what ‘now’ looks like, but what about the future?
Today, it’s common for Substack writers to receive the financial support of 3 or 4 percent of their readers. If, in the future, the standard figure becomes, say, 10 percent … watch out.
Substack already has 35 million readers, a figure that will grow as more and more global citizens continue to flee the mainstream media.
If some of the best and most important Substack writers start getting financial support from just 10 percent of their readers, these truth-seeking journalistic anomalies are going to triple their annual income.
If this becomes the norm (or is perceived as being much more possible), more talented writers will start their own Substack newsletters. The next wave of citizen-journalist reinforcements will chip away at even more dubious narratives.
An insignificant “limited hangout” will no longer be quite as insignificant.
Substack might become the beachhead that turns the whole direction of what’s become an existential battle. (As I see it, this battle is actually a battle between good and important journalism and bad and captured journalism.)
The message I hope we can send …
In my recent Open Letter to Substack readers, I noted that I was going to highlight the fact it was Substack readers who allowed my newsletter to make an eye-opening statement. It’s the readers who would be demonstrating that they have more power than our captured leaders think they do.
If and when we reach my “impossible” goal of reaching 1,000 paid subscribers in one week, I’m going to probably end up doing many interviews talking about how I/we achieved this.
In those interviews, I’m going to give all credit to my readers, but I’m also going to ask the person who’s interviewing me:
“Do you follow hot-dog eating? Well, several years ago, this guy named Takeru Kobayashi came along …”
To come in Reader Comments: Another Subscription Drive update and an outline of my coming strategies to convert 10 to 18 percent of my free readers to paid readers. Advice, feedback and suggestions are welcome and appreciated. Thank you to my many new paid subscribers. Thank you also to those who are sharing these articles.
Project ‘Shock the World” Update:
I started off with a bang - 13 new paid subscribers in about 90 minutes. I thought, “gulp!” … At this pace we WILL shock the world. Alas, it’s hard to sustain such record-threatening clip.
Two days into this project, I’ve now tallied 31 new paid subscribers - which leaves us “only” about 800 subscribers short of achieving our audacious goal. But not to worry, I haven’t even implemented key parts of my marketing plan yet.
We’ve already made quite a statement. For example, my “gross annualized” revenue figure has exploded by $2,450 (if I include four ko-fi “tips.”). If one figures an average annual subscription is $50/year, that’s the equivalent of 49 new paid subscribers.
By that metric (the equivalent of 49 annual subscriptions), I have increased my percentage of paid subscibers by 30.4 percent in about 48 hours. I imagine very few of the 17,000 Substack authors who accept paid donations have seen a spike that high in such a short period of time.
I should note that three of my previous Subscribers upgraded to the Founding Level (which is $250/year). I wasn’t expecting this level of generosity and if more people who are able continue to do the same thing, my newsletter very possibly could make an eye-opening statement just with the increased revenue figures.
On-deck:
It occurred to me that I have the email addresses of 4,600 subscribers on a spread sheet. Today and this evening, as a marketing experiment, I’m going to send a personal email to 100 of my free subscribers and ask them if they will support this project with at least a $6 donation.
One reason I’m doing this is my previous stories were NOT opened by about 60 percent of my subscribers. So maybe a personal email will reach people who know a little about my Substack newsletter, but don’t know about this subscription drive.
If, say, just 5 percent of these subscribers upgrade from free to paid, I’m going to send a personal email to all 4,400 subscribers who are unpaid. If I can keep the 5 percent “close rate,” that would produce 220 paid subscribers by itself. That would allow me to more than double my starting number (which was actually 161 paid subscribers).
Who knows? Maybe my “close rate” from personal emails will be higher than 5 percent. (I guess I’ll find out).
Being able to show the world I increased my paid subscribers from 161 to approximately 400 in a matter of a few days … would qualify as Substack “news” IMO.
I am also going to email my 192 paid subscribers and ask them if they would consider sending an email to one to five of their family members or closest friends and ask them if they would support my site and this demonstration project.
My assumption is the people who have already become paid subscribers might be my most loyal readers. If each of these subscribers can net us one more paid subscriber, that would boost the total another 192.
Thirdly, I’m going to reach out to all my favorite Substackers and ask them if they would consider plugging this campaign or even cross-posting one of my “appeal” articles. The though here is that if one Substacker blows away what was previously thought possible, this should/might produce more paid subscribers in the future for their sites.
To have any chance to shock the world, I’m going to have to reach a lot more than 3,300 readers (which is the number of readers my first appeal reached). If I could reach 50,000 or 100,000 people and 2 to 3 percent supported this effort, I could add a couple hundred more paid subscribers.
It’s possible none of these efforts will work, but when I hit the “send” button on my first Subscription article, I committed to doing everything I could for seven days to make this happen … so I’m going to try to “finish” (as Coach Saban always preaches.)
One of my favorite sayings is “You’ve got ‘No’ in your pocket.” That is, it doesn’t hurt to ask. Another one of my favorite expressions is “never stomp on enthusiasm.” So far nobody has stomped on my enthusiasm … I appreciate that too!
Onward!
I loved this story the first time around, and nothing changed the second time! :)