I was buying hundreds of thousands of dollars of dollar coins from the US Mint on my credit card

Dan Eleff & JJ Eleff (DansDeals)

Ep 47Mar 29, 2023

The Genius Behind DansDeals: How it Helps People Save and Earn Big

Credit cards have to be treated as cash in your bank. And the second you open it, you have to set it to auto pay at the end of the month.
Dan or JJ Eleff

More moments · 6

I spent a million points to throw the first pitch at Game 7 of the World Series

I have eight figures of Chase points, and here's why I never cash them out

He booked his whole family to Israel for $1,000 while his coworkers were still checking dates

My car got hit in Israel, and my credit card covered thousands in damage

I turned stacks of Wendy's cups into $10,000 of airline credit

Why the biggest building in every city is a bank

Try this · top 3

Quotes

“If you're just looking just to make a quick buck, it's not going to it's not going to work. People will see through it.”

Dan or JJ Eleff

“If you're not going to be organized and if you're not going to stay on top of your spending, then don't start with it.”

Dan or JJ Eleff (the warning that opens their beginner guides)

“If you go into any city in America, the biggest building is going to be the bank building because they're making a lot of money from people overspending on credit cards.”

Dan or JJ Eleff

“Book now and ask questions later.”

Dan or JJ Eleff (on flight deals, using the free 24-hour cancellation window)

“If the litmus test for what you do in life is if it's going to make you a millionaire, you're going to be living a very sad life.”

Dan or JJ Eleff

“My mom always says it's not a deal if you don't need it.”

Eli Langer (host)

“Wherever you find yourself, it's because Hashem put you there.”

Dan or JJ Eleff (citing the Baal Shem Tov, on printing a Tanya in the Falkland Islands)

Takeaways

1 Dan started the blog on Black Friday 2004, his 20th birthday, while teaching in a yeshiva in Brazil. He had flipped Beanie Babies at 12 and bought the DansDeals.com name for $8.95 when it expired.
2 He didn't try to make money from it for years. He says starting from passion, not profit, is why it worked.
3 Money comes from sponsored posts, affiliate and credit card referral commissions, and a few banner ads. There's no paid membership, and they've turned down buyout interest.
4 About 4 million monthly readers, with no SEO spending: they grow by word of mouth. JJ is building on Instagram and TikTok for younger readers.
5 Famous deals include U.S. Mint dollar coins bought on credit cards for miles (ended by a Wall Street Journal story), Wendy's cups turned into airline credit, and a lifetime hotel status deal.
6 Dan spent about a million Starwood points (roughly $17,000) to throw the first pitch at Game 7 of the 2016 World Series. MLB later sold that chance for around $500,000.
7 Airlines and hotels allow these deals because unsold seats and rooms go to waste, and 'mistakes' can be marketing.
8 Banks can give big bonuses on free cards because many people overspend. DansDeals warns beginners and campaigned against ads offering cash for your Social Security number.
9 They say they've received over a thousand emails from readers helped out of debt or able to visit family, and none saying the site ruined them.
10 They push back on 'never use credit' advice: in Judaism lending is a great kindness, and the verse 'the borrower is a slave to the lender' is read as a message to lenders to be kind.
11 Cleveland pitch: warm community, lower cost of living and Ohio tuition vouchers.

Full episode

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