The Essentials
Sol Orwell is the founder of Examine.com, a website focused on nutrition and supplements. He is a skilled entrepreneur and super-connector.
- Runs Examine.com
- Blogs at SJO.Com
- Tweets at @sol_orwell
Projects
Examine.com
Examine.com, was recognized by Fast Company as a Top 10 innovative company in health and fitness in 2015. Men’s Fitness called me a Game Changer in 2014 (along with names like Stephen Colbert and Pharrell). Examine.com also got me on the advisory board of a certain Arnold Schwarzenegger, and also got me interviewed on Forbes. Examine.com itself garners around 70,000 visitors a day, and is a seven-figure business itself.
Where did the idea for Examine.com come from?
I originally started to write out notes — my blog became overrun with my notes on hormones, interactions, how your body converts macronutrients, etc. At the same time, I was bouncing my questions and ideas off quite a few smart people. One of them was finishing up dietetics school, and I suggested we team up to make sense of all the information out there.
via IdeaMensch
Related Interviews:
- How Examine.com Founder Sol Orwell Built A 7-Figure Business Off Of Reddit
- SPI 245: How Sol Orwell Builds Successful Businesses by Solving His Own Problems
- How a Canadian transplant built and self-funded Examine.com in less than two years
- 124: What it Takes to Grow a 7-Figure Online Business with Sol Orwell
- Sol @ Indiehackers
Product Sales:
SJO.com
SJO.com came about because I was just absolutely tired of the bullshit artists out there (the blind leading the blind). Having a one-time launch of $50,000 does not make you a guru, nor does making $2k/mo from your websites make you a passive income genius, nor does getting 2000 visitors a day to your site make you some kind of traffic genius.
In February, 2020, he announced that SJO was on hiatus. This was so he could focus all his efforts on Examine.com
Annual Letters
#cookielife
The quick version is some trash talking between friends over what was the best chocolate chip cookie in Toronto resulted in the original Chocolate Chip Cookie Off. When people told me they could make better cookies, I responded with a “prove it.” As they proved it (by sending me cookies in the mail), this spawned the #cookielife.
The #cookielife is so bananas now that people tag me when their friends make cookies and go “you should send Sol cookies.” And they do!
Via How I got 27 professional chefs & bakers to make cookies
He has shared how the Cookie Off evolved at SJO.Com
- A night of 30+ cookies, networking, and $30000+
- How I got 27 professional chefs & bakers to make cookies
- How our charity food offs evolved from raising $950 to over $100,000
- How we leveled up the Cookie Off and ended up raising over $200,000…
What started as a joke has also earned him a lot of press coverage.
- What This Founder’s Quest to Find the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Can Teach You About Personal Branding
- 4 Ways Chocolate-Chip Cookies Helped an Entrepreneur Become a Better Leader
- Creative Ways For Micro Businesses To Give Back
- How to build a cult following on social media without selling your soul
- The Perfect Recipe for Networking
- Is This The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie In North America?
- Event Spotlight: NYC Charity Chocolate Chip Cookie Off
This evolved into other food networking events.
Press
Articles
- Why I don’t want funding for my company
- A Young Entrepreneur’s Passion For Hacking His Diet Sparks A Seven-Figure Business
- How to Build a Million-Dollar, One-Person Business – Case Studies from The 4-Hour Workweek
Other Interviews
- 870: How Picasso can help you IGNITE with Sol Orwell
- How to take Fridays “off” (and still be insanely productive)
- Sol Orwell – Co-founder of Examine.com
- He retired right after college, wants entrepreneurs to have a cookie
- Inbox Exposed: Sol Orwell, Entrepreneur and Blogger
- Podcast Episode #12: Sol Orwell
- Sol Orwell On Building & Stepping Away From 7 Figure Businesses And Failing Nonchalantly
- Mastering Entrepreneurship With Sol Orwell
Advice
Reputation Management
Sol started paying attention to what Google was autosuggesting when people searched for his name, and created targeted content. He wrote about it in Use reputation management to say hello to your stalkers.
Also read If you aren’t Googling yourself, you’re being an idiot for other tips.
Networking Tips
- How Examine Built an Influencer Army Through Media Monitoring
- A case study on leveraging your assets to get shit done
- How to stay in touch with your LinkedIn contacts
- Learning from terrible networking
- How to build a network, one friend at a time
- Networking 101: The most important person in the world
- CFU 110 Developing Creative Networking, Being a Unique Entrepreneur, and Making Impactful Friends Feat. Sol Orwell
Content Marketing
Guest posting
- How Sol Orwell Used Cold Outreach to Connect with People & Secure Guest Posts
- How I made my guest post a massive success