Interview with Trent Hamm – Helping people fight debt and bad spending habits

By: Michael Dunlop     Topics: Entrepreneur Interviews

Interview with Trent Hamm of TheSimpleDollar.com. The Simple Dollar is for those of us who need both cents and sense: people fighting debt and bad spending habits while building a financially secure future and still affording a latte or two. Our busy lives are crazy enough without having to compare five hundred mutual funds – we just want simple ways to manage our finances and save a little money.

Hello Trent

Thank you for agreeing to this interview. As I mentioned, I have been very impressed with thesimpledollar.com

1) Tell us about TheSimpleDollar.com – how did it get started, what motivated you to blog about a very personal matter – i.e. your financial experiences?

It started as a channel for me to write about the things I was learning about personal finance.  I was never really intending it to be “big” – I was mostly just seeking a place to practice writing techniques and focus in on a topic that was a big part of my life.

2) Before TheSimpleDollar.com had you run any other websites? What is the “day job”?

I had a parenting blog around the time of my son’s birth, but it was long defunct even before The Simple Dollar started.  My day job involves research and I’m largely buried under agreements not to discuss it.

3) I love your description of the TheSimpleDollar.com –

The Simple Dollar is for those of us who need both cents and sense: people fighting debt and bad spending habits while building a financially secure future and still affording a latte or two.

Can you elaborate on that please
We’re not living in the 1600s here.  There are a lot of facets of modern life that we all enjoy and quite often people view frugality as some sort of return to the era of the washboard.  That’s not true.  I try to look at modern life with an eye towards building a financial future without giving up the trappings that we enjoy.

4) What in your opinion are the biggest financial mistakes that people make with regards to how they manage money?

Personal finance can be explained in five words: spend less than you earn. Do that always and you’ll be fine.  The mistakes people make today usually revolve around spending more than they earn (usually credit card debt) or spending exactly what they earn (living paycheck to paycheck). If you commit to spending less than you earn every single month – and then
put that extra away for the future – you’ll be just fine.  The trick is actually doing that!

5) TheSimpleDollar.com has become a very popular website in quite a short time – was there any particular turning points or things that you did which led to the site becoming so popular?

Not really.  I mostly just connected with other bloggers on my topic, commented on their blogs, and linked to them.  I tried submitting links to social bookmarking sites, but with little success.  My “big break” happened when others “discovered” The Simple Dollar.

Thus, my suggestion is to spend more time writing really good content and less time marketing it, especially at first.  If you’re marketing something that isn’t good, you’ll get nowhere.

6) Do you have and advice / suggestions for new bloggers on things to do and not to do when starting out blogging. For example is there anything that you would not do now, but which you did do when starting TheSimpleDollar.com?

Early on, I hadn’t really defined what my topic was and I wrote a lot about things that weren’t really related, such as blogging tips and such. Bad move.  Figure out your topic before you even start.

Of course, it’s a good idea to define your topic broadly, but you run into some danger when you go too far outside that topic.

7) Is there anyone that you look up to and model yourself on? (You can name more than one)

My favorite blogger is Seth Godin.  He’s succinct, to the point, and makes good comments.  I strive to write half that well.

8) Do you have any favourite business related, personal finance or personal development related books that you can recommend?

Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin changed my life.  It’s the first book I’d recommend to anyone.

9) What is the best advice you have ever been given?

Spend less than you earn.  Seriously.  If you actually take that to heart and do it, your whole world changes.

10) What advice would you give to a Young people starting out in life – with regards to managing their own financial affairs?

The first day you go into your first job after college, set things up so that 50% of your paycheck is deducted out right off the top and put into another savings account.  Do that and you’re done with work by the time you’re 40.

11) How much time do you put into TheSimpleDollar daily / weekly?
3-4 hours a day on an average day.

12) What have been the most popular posts at TheSimpleDollar, got the most views, comments etc? Why do you think those posts were most popular?

My most popular post of all time has been: http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/03/15/how-to-make-your-own-laundry-detergent-and-save-big-money How to Make Your Own Laundry Detergent

Why did it catch on?  A lot of science-oriented blogs picked it up, so it got exposure in an area of the blogosphere that I don’t normally get attention from.  Those folks blasted it into the stratosphere on social bookmarking sites.

I didn’t really think of it as a “big” post, even when it started taking off – it just sort of happened.

13) What do you like best about the Internet?

It’s a meritocracy.  If you’re not doing something compelling, people will leave.  If you do something compelling and keep it up, people will come.

14) What do you like least about the Internet?

People who insult others behind a shield of anonymity.  It’s cowardly and lends a very negative tone to the internet.

15) Have you any plans (personal or business) that you can share with us about your future plans / goals / lifetime goals? Where for example do you think TheSimpleDollar website will be in say 3 or 5 years?

It’ll still be around, I think, writing on similar topics.  I hope to use the success of The Simple Dollar to dabble in some other areas – I have a passion for food, for example, so I may start a cooking blog very soon.

Thanks again Trent – Great answers – we appreciate your time.

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