Meet the man on a mission to make 10,000 new friends

For many people, mingling with strangers is an unnerving prospect. For Rob Lawless, however, it’s a dream — and a full-time job. Lawless is the man behind Robs10kFriends. Every day, he sits down with about four strangers for one hour each. His goal is to eventually spend 10,000 hours with 10,000 different people. “I set a goal of meeting 10,000 strangers because I saw it as an opportunity to tap into my passion for meeting people while doing something entrepreneurial”. Lawless started Robs10kFriends back in November 2015 when he was still working full-time as a sales rep at data analytics startup RJMetrics. Back then, he said that he would email and DM random people and just hoped that they would respond. Today, nearly 4,000 strangers later, Lawless connects with people who reach out to him either via email or on social media. So what has Lawless learned in the five years since he started Robs10kFriends. “I have learned that treating human connection as an experience rather than a transaction is an incredible way to go through life”