Enter your email address to receive exclusive content from CVV!
Life Hacks To Optimize Every Aspect Of Your Life with Chris Hutchins - All The Hacks
Today's guest is Chris Hutchins. Chris is an entrepreneur and the host of the popular podcast "All The Hacks" which you can listen to wherever you're listening to this podcast right now. Chris shares with us some innovative ways to get cheap flights, free hotel stays, advice on how to land your dream job, how to start a successful podcast, clever investing hacks, and much more!
For more information on Chris Hutchins and "All The Hacks" visit: https://allthehacks.com
“I feel like I wish I had a good answer for this. I blame my parent’s memory, they don’t remember many entrepreneurial stories about me as a kid. But I think the optimization game started in college. I realized I could take a bunch of people to Mexico for free because I had loads of frequent flyer miles. My parents had enrolled me into the United Airlines frequent flyer program as a kid. When I got to college, I had these miles on my account and I went to Cabo. I was pretty broke but I didn’t have to pay for it. That opened my eyes to everything, I then got a credit card to earn points and it just spiralled into optimization into everything.”
“I’m not sure if I have a favourite. One interesting one, which is really easy, and I’ve got loads of positive feedback about it. So when you book a hotel, book it with the hotel. Don’t book it with TripAdvisor, book it through the website. Then email the hotel, tell them you are excited to come and let them know who you are. Also mention any special occasions. I’ve had 20-30 people in the last month come back and say that they got some upgrade or free gift. Every message was so magical, it’s not a lot of effort and it works. It doesn’t always work, but it’s an easy one.”
“Definitely don’t wait until you are within 14 days. At that point, the price doesn’t seem to come down. Somewhere in between a month to 2 months out is the optimum. All the ‘Buy it on a Tuesday at 4am…’ myths are just myths. Also use your miles if you can. You could book a ticket and the day before, a business class ticket might come up for $250 in miles. If it does, cancel your ticket and get a great deal last minute. Miles are good far out and last minute, cash is good anywhere in between.”
“People often think that things are not possible. I started my podcast 5 years after I thought about it. I kept telling myself, does anyone really want to listen to this? Is it going to be worth my time? Finally, someone interviewed me on their podcast and said ‘So, tell me about this podcast.’ I respond ‘I haven’t started a podcast.’ He said ‘I know, because you’ve been saying it for 5 years, it’s about time you did it.’ Now I can’t believe I didn’t do it sooner. It’s great to say yes and just see what comes your way.”
“I started realizing the concept of distraction. Before I was like, ok, stay focused, don’t get distracted. Now I realize that the opposite of distraction is traction. If you are distracted, you are not making traction to what you are caring about. I was challenged to start time boxing my day. So instead of having an endless to-do list, make time for it. You can make time for playing games on your phone too, just make sure you are being intentional. It’s about priority, I broke my foot recently, and I didn’t have time to go to the emergency room, but I did make time.”
“My brother in law used to be a professional golfer. He did it and he hated it. He now works in sales and is an amateur golfer, but he loves golf. One common misconception is that your passion has to be your day job. A lot of people play musical instruments, I’m not going to quit my job to play the piano to be a pianist though. A lot of people think their passion has to be work related, and it doesn’t. But if you want to, you should jump in and see how you can make that happen. There is an abundance of side hustle opportunities out there.If I want a job, I will find the company I am most excited about, and then I am going to go all in on it. It doesn’t always work, especially if you don’t have the right skillset, but there is nothing better than an employee that is so passionate about your business. I’m not going to overlook skills, but if there are 2 people and one is so passionate, I’m taking them.”
“My daughter, I found a company that can let me explore my passion and I can now walk without an air boot on.”
The All The Hacks Podcast can be found here.
Images obtained from Chris Hutchins' Instagram.
