Ep 157 - Hustle Before You're Ready with Haley Thams

In this episode of Keep Hustling, host Aaron Gordon welcomes the first second-generation guest in the show's history. Haley Thams is the owner and CEO of Plimsoll Media, the agency behind the video and social content for this podcast, and she is the daughter of Todd Thams from episode 65. She bought the agency from Bradley Flowers at twenty one, fresh out of college, having never worked a corporate job in her life. Her reasoning was that if she took a nine to five first she would never find her way back to entrepreneurship, so she chose the scarier option while she was young enough to recover from it. Aaron pushes on why someone already running a company would add teaching early morning cycle classes, and the answer turns out to be about isolation rather than ambition. The conversation then gets unusually honest. Aaron gives her live on-air criticism about undercharging for work she keeps absorbing, she defends why she does it, and neither of them backs down. She closes with the line she lives by: show up before you're ready. Get To Know Haley Thams Haley Thams is a Midwesterner with a passion for content, and the owner and CEO of Plimsoll Media. Whether a brand is starting from scratch or already has a built following, she makes the work personal. She grew up in Iowa and is a graduate of Iowa State University's Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, with a degree in Public Relations and Business Marketing. Some of her proudest work at Iowa State was writing for the Iowa State Daily, building her own online portfolio, and working as an intern. She finished her degree a semester early in December 2022, and the next month, at twenty one, she bought Plimsoll Media from Bradley Flowers, before she had ever worked a corporate job. Nearly four years later she runs the agency from Chicago. Plimsoll handles strategy-led media days, short-form and long-form capture, content systems and distribution, workflow automation, and ongoing advisory built on real performance data. Among its clients, Plimsoll produces the video and social content for this podcast and for Aaron's NY Risk Advisor channels. Since May 2025 she has also taught cycle classes at SALT Fitness Chicago,. Haley is the first second-generation guest in Keep Hustling history. Her father, Todd Thams, is episode 65, Maintaining The Hustle. Bradley Flowers, who founded her company and later sold it to her, is episode 4, Finding Freedom Through The Hustle. Website - https://plimsollmedia.com/ LinkedIn -   / haley-thams   Instagram -   / plimsollmedia   Tik Tok (Plimsoll Media) -   / plimsollmedia   Tik Tok (Haley) -   / haley_thams   Show Overview 00:00 The first multi-generational guest in show history 01:26 Who Haley is and what Plimsoll Media does 02:10 The isolation nobody warns you about with remote work 04:22 Not joining the class, leading it 07:07 Buying a business at twenty one 08:42 If I take the nine to five, I never come back 09:24 Should more young people take the swing 10:11 No systems, no processes, no idea how the money worked 11:00 The people who quit just short of the goal 12:28 Most people will give you a chance, do not blow it 15:46 Saying no versus saying I will figure it out 19:13 Why she bought a business instead of starting one 23:41 Show up before you're ready