by Sharelle B. McNair
May 20, 2025
Samuel says while people are trying to figure out how to make a quick buck, he says it’s all about taking advantage of what’s around you.
Waiting in line for things or opportunities can be time-consuming and annoying; however, if you have at least $40, you can call one of Robert Samuel’s Same Ole Line Dudes, and they will do it for you.
Owned by the New York City native, Same Ole Line Dudes have been seen holding spaces for people for luxury sample sales, restaurant openings, and lately, the Sean “Diddy” Combs case. With a number of brilliant hustles seen on the internet, Samuel started his gig in 2013 during the croissant-donut “cronut” craze and now has 45 employees on his roster and charges between $25 and $37.50 per hour.
While people are trying to figure out how to make a quick buckSamuel says it’s all about taking advantage of what’s around you. “Always be observant around everything around you. When people complain, just put your thinking cap on and see if you have a solution to what they’re complaining about,” the business owner told Fortune.
“You would probably shock yourself and be on the verge of the next steps.”
His journey started while working as a sales representative at AT&T. After being upset that he was going to miss out on a commission check with the timing of the new iPhone 5 release, he decided to cheer himself up by posting an ad on Craigslist offering his services to wait in line to get his hands on one. Three hours later, Samuel was hired, only for the client to inform him that he had placed an online order when he got to the front of the line.
He then sold his spot in line for $100, giving power to the lightbulb in his head — and walking away with $300 in his pocket. “I said, ‘Well, what can I do? Wait a minute. I made hundreds just sitting on the sidewalk,’” Samuel recalled. “So I made social media accounts, and gradually it took off from there.”
His journey has even taken him outside of NYC limits. Samuel found himself on a plane to stand in line for a client at Warren Buffett’s most recent Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, in early May 2025. However, the courtroom scene has grown lucrative for his business, covering the trials of Sam Bankman-Fried, Ghislaine Maxwell, and even President Donald Trump’s arraignment in 2024.
According to the New York Post, members of Samuel’s team had to fight off women trying to cut the line to get a glimpse of Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. “It was freezing cold, women were trying to cut in line,” employee Brandon Sutton said.
Sutton and two colleagues, Tim and Brian, weathered the frigid New York February temperatures as their anonymous client paid them $25 an hour. Regardless of what his clients hire his team for, Samuel says he wouldn’t want to be doing anything else since he gets to “make people’s dreams a reality.” “It’s the beauty of bringing joy to people just by doing something as simple as waiting in line,” Samuel said.
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