YouSaid · the spoken record

Brian Kelly

lines on the record: 126
first: 2020-01-02
most recent: 2020-01-02
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“And in scraping our knees a month after it ended, we were like, Oh my God, we had the worst month in like eight years. But it was a great wake-up call to, hey, wait a minute. You diversified. And then that's when we really retrenched with Amex and City and those partnerships. Worked out okay.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You know, we've worked really a lot with Capital One last year. They added all these transfer partners. And I think our credibility comes from the fact that, A, we never recommend products we don't like. Period, full stop. I turn down offers all the time. We're not doing crappy little partnerships with brands just trying to get a buck from our readers. And we're mathematical. We've got a team of really smart experts where people like you, you can read through the BS. We put it in terms of. So, yeah, so the Sapphire Reserve, it was very chase centric, but when that offer ended, it was actually one of our worst business months ever because we had focused so much on that offer. Nothing else was.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You know, my mom was so worried about that. She goes, You're going to be known as the Chase guy. Know for a split second, you think, okay, are we doing too much with one partner? But I think, you know, Chase came to us and said, we believe in you to do, we did a ton more than just blog posts. We did events. We did Facebook Live on the day of the launch with Pam Cot Espotty, who was their head of credit cards at the time. And we were answering reader questions live on social media, which credit card company had never done before. And I think that launch with them, well, I know because since then we've launched credit cards for city, their prestige card.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And they ran out of the metal used to make the card. So we were their launch partner, and word was getting out and leaking. We basically wanted to launch it right after Labor Day in 2016. The word started to get out because, you know, they've got all these bank branches. So because we were partners with them, they actually announced that the Sapphire Reserve is coming. I still remember where I was in Italy on summer vacation. And they actually said, it's coming and the points guy has all the information. And on a tweet, they announced the best credit card to ever hit the market in a tweet with a link to the PointsGuy.com and our inside scoop on. Which made all of our competitors had the link to us. I mean, traffic was needed.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They didn't even in the beginning, we didn't even know what it was. We had to come up, we had been working with Chase since the beginning. So they knew we were good partners. We had the ability to create content that resonated, especially with millennials. I mean, and to this day, we have a huge audience. We know we're in the UK. We service all types of readers. We've got a whole military section. We've got our family vertical. Today we're actually launching our TPG women vertical for women in travel, small business. But really, the point sky, we can speak to millennials. We put credit cards and financial products in a way that I think successful people in general, especially millennials, can understand. Like, I need to get this car because I will live a better life through travel and be able to get ahead. So yeah, they approached us in 2016. We were under strict NDA for months and months. So it was months until I even knew what the Sapphire Reserve was. And when I heard the product, I literally got like.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Exactly. And the platform kept growing year over year, but 2016 was the year we actually launched the Sapphire Reserve card with Chase.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I didn't realize it at the time. I mean, when they, because I only had like roughly 15 months of revenue, granted, it was all profit for the most part because I didn't really have that many expenses. But to me, it was astounding that creditcards.com, the behemoth site, would want this little niche travel premium, you know, credit card site.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I had that business and then I would blog. So my sister in law was my first part time employee. And then it was actually right after I sold the bank rate. Then I was like, I got to hire people. And now people would want to work for me because before people were like, I'm not going to work for some guy blogging out of his living room. So once I sold, you know, bank rate was a publicly traded company. Pretty, you know, they had bankrate.com was a huge site and they own credit cards.com. And that was great because I could just focus on the content and their HR and legal and all that stuff took away all that stuff that I really never enjoyed doing.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So my first employee was actually part time. It was my sister-in-law. She was a stay-at-home mom. She started doing email, got started because the emails were coming in. And I actually had a side business where I would charge people 50 bucks and I would book their award tickets for them. So you'd be able to email me and say, hey, I want to take my family to Italy. Four people in June. And I would say, pay me $200 and I'll tell you exactly how to do it.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Take the money and run, but I and I just sign on with Red Ventures. I'm going to be there for years to come. I mean, I passionately love doing what we do. Yeah, it's the coolest job in the world. Why would I give it up?”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I guess it helps. Even when Red Ventures bought Bank Great, people are like, you know, most founders, when you sell, you get, you know, but it's”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I mean, even after that three and a half years, I renegotiated my deal to get a, you know, I was a salaried employee. I don't own the point sky, but they saw how passionate I was about it.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's not a public figure. I don't think it was ever really disclosed, but it was a life-changing amount of money for me at the time. Of course, they gave me a three and a half year earnout because I was 28. They're like, we're not going to give you everything.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I borrowed 5,000 or 10,000 from my parents just to pay my rent, but it was already profitable up to that point. So, I mean, it was from getting affiliate links. It was six months. It was that August that I made my first million. It was crazy, it just kept growing and growing. And then I started hiring. So I never, I owned 100% of the company when I sold it. Bank rate in 2012”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Of course, of course. Now, you know, knowing what I know now, but being a blogger, a professional blogger just wasn't really a thing in 2011, but my parents actually loaned me money because even though in the affiliate portal it said I had all this money coming to me, but it was on like a net 90 pay. It was actually months before I saw any of that money.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I remember being in the shower just crunching the numbers as my posts were going viral across the internet about this chase deal, the clicks would update every hour and I just, on a normal day, I'd have like 20 clicks on a credit card link. But then all of a sudden it was like 2,000. I'm like, oh my God, if this is even the tiniest conversion rate. I'm doing well. And I remember just thinking on paper, I'm kind of rich. You know, like that was more than my annual salary at that point. And my parents were like, Brian, you know, I was 27. I was about to get VP and, you know, human resources at Morgan Stanley.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I mean, so that's why we getting sure, using press to help buoy the site. That's what there's been a lot of other bloggers in the space. None have really cracked it like I have. So it's.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Know, we really miss the boat on millennials and getting this new era of consumers. So they started raising the bonuses. And it benefited my site because I was just writing here's how you get the most out of British Airways miles. And the trick was not flying British Airways because they have crazy high fees on their ward tickets. So I was just writing these little posts about, you know, if you want to go to Machu Picchu or Easter Island, it was amazing deals using British Airways miles back then because they were a one world partner. So these things that I had known for years, you know, the average consumer didn't realize that, wait a minute, I've got a boatload of miles and this is how I can go to Hawaii or Miami. And then the New York Times article came out, which not just that day traffic, but I had no idea what SEO was. I knew Google liked me because my site was growing month over month, but that day that you get that New York Times link in 2011.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh, it was crazy. Yeah. Well, I mean, that so it was a perfect storm. That day, the New York Times came out, was actually the day that Chase had launched a British Airways 100,000 point offer. And I knew that was going to be really popular with my readers because most of the time, you know, back in the late 2000s, I mean, late, what do you call them? The OTS 2008. I don't call them anything. 2000s. You know, credit card bonuses were like 25,000 free flight. And then, you know, once the recession, out of the recession, I think a lot of the credit card companies were like.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I was joking about I was blogging on a gold mine. So I started putting those links in. And, you know, because these credit cards are the best way to get points. It was so organic. No one even said a word. I mean, I put my disclosures. Hey, guys, I fill it. And then the first, I got nervous at people would think I'm doing it just for money because that's never how it started out. But my readers who are smart people in business were like sending me high five emails, like, buddy, I sent your links to my whole family. Like, I want you to be successful. And that was a really cool moment when I was like, wait a minute, I can provide good content for free to my readers. They use my link.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Marketing, you send credit cards and unbeknownst to me, credit cards are like the ace in affiliate marketing because it was actually more than 200. Some cards were paying $500, but it wasn't per click like most. They had to open an account and be a readers. My readers were bankers, lawyers, and consultants who lived in New York, LA, and Chicago.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I remember at that time I had like 50,000 monthly readers, and I was like 200 bucks. I'm like, I only need like 1% of 1% to make this covers all the costs of the website. Exactly. So he got me in in February, and it was amazing. I was just writing the same exact content, but I was just using his links instead of directly to it. So there's like.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The Times article helped propel it. It was actually before. So I started the blog in June of 2010. It was February of 2011. A friend from college, he had kept emailing me saying, Brian, Brian, you're writing about credit cards all day. You're a moron because you're linking directly to AmericanExpress.com. And he had worked for a company called Linkshare, which is now Rackutan, and they're affiliate marketing. And he said, if you get into my program, I can get you in. You know, you can get paid $200 per credit card approval.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“My God, my life is going to change. You know, the New York, because my site crashed with traffic, emails were coming in. And I knew all along that, you know, everyone has points and no one knows how to use them. But that was when it really got put on the map.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Early on. So it was April of 2011 that Seth Kugel, the frugal traveler columnist of the New York Times, he's a very cynical person. He said, frequent flyer miles are pointless for budget travelers unless you can prove me otherwise. And it was actually sitting in my spam inbox for like two months, like clearing out one day and I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. New York. New York Times, this is crazy. I met up with them and I said, are you crazy? I'm like budget travelers are the number one people who should be maximizing points. I met up with them at a bar in New York for three hours. He booked a trip to Brazil that day and coach, but he saved a thousand bucks. He was blown away. Wow. And a couple weeks later, he wrote this crazy article that was like the number one travel site everyone needs to know. And I just remember sitting at my cubicle at Morgan Stanley being like,”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely. Yeah. So the point sky, I started this as a fun side thing in 2010. I used to work at Morgan Stanley. I was in HR, traveling a ton. And I've always been really, really good at points, like even going back to the 90s. But it started as just a hobby site where I would, you know, blog about one post a day on how to use Amex points or how to fly to Paris. And, you know, no one really read it for about six months. Six months is not a bad in the blogging work because then it just took off. Somehow, you know, it started to catch. And I wrote about one deal. And, you know, it really started off with consultants. I mean, the consultants who are on the road four days a week, they started reading my site and sharing it like crazy.”
2020-01-02 · Masters in Business · ‘The Points Guy’ Brian Kelly on Maximizing Travel Rewards · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source