Then, as was suggested, I opened the throttle all the way and closed the choke. I flipped it until I heard it pop. (Took about 25-30 flips)
If you want to save your arm, turn the ignition off, and grab the bottom of the prop at the bottom of the stroke and just pull it around till your about half way through the compression or wherever the momentum takes you. Then return it back the other way and do it again...kind of like a pump. Watch the fuel till it gets to the carb. 25 flips is excessive but doing it your way I think its possible to have to do 12-15 flips for the first run of the day just to get the fuel pumped all the way to the carb. If you hand pump the fuel up to about an inch before the carb, you will only have to do 2-3 real flips usually.