How I Bought a Private Jet by Selling $10 Subscriptions to 404 Media

“You want to get rich? Publish journalism on the internet.” No—sadly, that isn’t true. But it’s the pitch Jason Koebler adopts as he immerses himself in hustle culture. In this entertaining piece, he spends a wonderfully absurd day “LARPing” as a rich entrepreneur: staging luxury shots and deploying bogus dashboards to mimic the tactics of “hustlebros” who deceive their followers. No one ends up with a private jet, but in a surprising turn, Koebler winds up with something else instead: a renewed appreciation for the real, rewarding life his blogging career has given him.

I walked back to my car, sat in traffic for 1.5 hours, and got back to my apartment. I live close to Marina del Ray, a huge marina where celebrities and billionaires keep their megayachts. I decided to bike over there and film some content outside of a yacht club: “Gonna go take the yacht out for a spin, head over to the yacht club for some food and drink. If you want a yacht, publish blogs on the internet. The key to getting rich, you can learn in my online course, is to write factual and good journalistic articles that have high impact. You can make millions of dollars a year doing this,” I said. Then I went to Hi-Ho Cheeseburger, bought a burger, and filmed myself (and my laptop) overlooking the yachts.