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In The Trenches
In The Trenches episodes
- ITT 072: How to Scale an Agency with Mark Hayes
Mark Hayes is the founder of Rocketshp, a digital marketing agency in Auckland, New Zealand, and co-author of The Growth Hackers Guide to the Galaxy (Insurgent Publishing). Mark began his career as a successful business development manager at a large corporation in New Zealand, a more traditional suit job at which he was good but wasn’t passionate. Because of this, Mark shifted his focus, deciding instead to pursue a career in the marketing industry, working as a brand manager and content strategist for digital marketing companies. After gaining knowledge and experience in the digital marketing industry, Mark discovered the concept of growth hacking and decided to move in that direction.
Mark developed a web presence and began blogging to build an audience, and eventually started his own agency. Not long after its successful launch, the agency was acquired by another digital marking agency, providing Mark with another opportunity to build a new business Tiger, Tiger which was later rebranded as Rocketshp. Mark has been mentioned in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Wired UK, among many other outlets.
In this broadcast, Mark Hayes and I talk about:
- His early career and what motivated him to change career paths
- How he transitioned into digital marketing and growth hacking
- How Mark created his first successful growth hacking agency
- The acquisition of his first agency
- Strategies, principals, and considerations for creating and growing a new business,
- How Mark developed the mission statement for his agency
- How he selected the name (and why he rebranded to Rocketshp)
- How Mark goes about pricing his agencies services: cost-based vs. value-based
- How he built his client base from scratch
- How Mark built his agency, including adding new staff and how that affects his overall business
- Balancing between work and private life
- How he uses Trello to organize, delegate, and monitor work for internal and external projects
- The Ultimate Growth Hacking Sourcebook – the book that inspired “The Growth Hacker’s Guide to the Galaxy”
How to find Mark online:
- http://rocketshp.com
- @rocketshp
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 072: How to Scale an Agency with Mark Hayes appeared first on Tom Morkes.
47 min - ITT 071: How to Create 6-Figure Courses with Breanne Dyck
Breanne Dyck is an author, learning strategist, and operations consultant. She helps microbusinesses (and their owners) make more money and have a bigger impact by applying the principles of adult learning in their digital course design.
In this broadcast, Breanne Dyck and I talk about:
- How her experience taking courses as an entrepreneur led her to help other small business create amazing courses
- Breanne explains how your core promise to customers is at the intersection of what they think they want and what you, as the expert, know they need
- Why she recommends changing your perspective away from What do I want to teach? toward What do they want to do?
- Why Breanne thinks it is so important to listen and understand what your client thinks they want, even when we know better, and how to use that same language to talk to your client about what they need
- Two of the difficulties that content creators have that hold them back from being successful, including:
- Trying to create courses too early in their careers. Why people who skip the step of working with people one-on-one or in small groups miss out on the learning opportunities that come with that…
- People who assume the next step in their business is course creation because they are now busy. Neglecting the important step of reflecting on the question of Is creating this course a good fit for me and my business model?
- Breanne talks to us about transition points or benchmarks in business. Recommended reading:
- mynameisbreanne.com/evolution
- mynameisbreanne.com/growth
- How Breanne came to a point where she knew she was most fulfilled by working one-on-one or in small groups rather that in large groups, and how she was been successful at doing that
- We hear about Breanne s hard analysis of her marketing strategies and why she now prefers introductions over referrals
- Breanne recommends two article for those who are beginning their content creation journey and for those who are trying to improve their content
- mynameisbreanne.com/ppg
- mynameisbreanne.com/utag
How to find Breanne online:
- website
- @mnibreanne
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 071: How to Create 6-Figure Courses with Breanne Dyck appeared first on Tom Morkes.
48 min - ITT 070: How to Prosper as a Writer with Honoree Corder
Honoree Corder is the author of “Prosperity for Writers.” She has been a successful entrepreneur for almost twenty years, earning her first fortune and developing a lot of her skills with Shaklee Corporation, then as a business coach, and now as a successful author, executive coach, keynote speaker and corporate trainer.
In this broadcast, Honoree and I talk about:
- Why Honoree wrote her first book
- How Honoree received a traditional publishing deal for her first book but turned the deal down
- Her process to become a successful self-published author, including hiring a professional editor and graphic designer
- How her first book gained traction slowly
- How she has successfully used white labeling to sell books in bulk
- Honoree’s favorite marketing strategies including:
- Thinking of a book as ever-green marketing
- Asking the important question: “Who would benefit by sharing the content that I have created?”
- Strategies and techniques that she has used to sell books
- Why developing strategic partnerships with other professionals who can refer clients to you is so important
- The process she went through to write her latest book, what the reception to that book has been, and how she determined how to price that book
Honoree Corder’s advice to people who want to succeed as a self-publisher:
“Be in it for the long game, there are no overnight successes.”
“Keep writing every day.”
“Be willing to put in the time it takes to be successful.”
How to find Honoree online:
- honoreecorder.com
- @Honoree
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 070: How to Prosper as a Writer with Honoree Corder appeared first on Tom Morkes.
43 min - ITT 069: How to Self-Publish with Matt Gartland
Matt Gartland is the founder of WinningEdits.com, a creative agency that helps authors with the development of their books, podcast and other products. Matt specializes in digital content development at the nexus of web technologies, business thinking, editorial strategy, storytelling, and modern publishing.
What Matt Gartland and I talk about in this broadcast:
- How he created Winning Edits to be an intersection of good story telling and the digital experience
- How one of his biggest challenges has been clearly communicating the value of professional editing
- Matt talks about how the limits of his own time and the great demand for the work he was providing drove him to partner with other editors, who share his work ethic, to create Winning Edits
- He gives us a helpful explanation of the three editing phases
- Developmental Editing
- Line Editing
- Copy Editing
- Matt discusses how referrals are the primary way in which he brings in new business
- We talk about the hybrid nature of the publishing business, with the different aspects of self publishing and traditional publishing
- Lastly, Matt gives some advice to self-publishers to think about
- What will the structure of your book be?
- How will your book flow?
- Why are you writing this book?
Contact Matt Gartland online:
- WinningEdits.com
- @mattgartland
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 069: How to Self-Publish with Matt Gartland appeared first on Tom Morkes.
26 min - ITT 068: How to Build a Media Platform with Greg Rollett
Greg Rollett is the founder of Ambitious.com. Greg started Ambitious.com to inspire millennials to do great things.
What Greg Rollett and I talk about in this broadcast:
- How he used his experience in the music industry, especially being an opening act to help him with his writing career with Mashable.com
- How people often fail because they do not aim high and they do not share their best work when writing for others
- Greg gives us his advice for people who want to build their own media platforms
- Define who you want your audience to be
- Collect data about that audience
- Define what your goal for the consumer is after they get your product
- Create content to match the goals you have set
- Greg reminds us that media is consumed for two reasons: to be entertained or to solve a problem; the best media combines the two.
- Greg explains why the fastest way for people to make money is to niche down to solve a particular problem for a particular group of people
- What the strategies Greg used to create Ambitious.com where and how other people could apply those same strategies
- Greg tells us how his best leverage activity has been involving more people in his projects
- Greg leaves us his best piece of advice: Start! And gives us his insights on where to begin
Greg Rollett on how to avoid distraction and nay-sayers:
I only want to be known by the people who are cutting my check
Contact Greg Rollett online:
- ambitious.com/
- @gregrollett
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 068: How to Build a Media Platform with Greg Rollett appeared first on Tom Morkes.
42 min - ITT 067: How to Automate E-mails to Grow Your Business with Paul Minors
Paul Minors is a productivity writer. Paul started his platform by creating book summaries of popular non-fiction books. This helped him build a small, passionate audience organically through Google SEO. He has since turned his platform into a productivity resource – helping people do, be, and have more. According to Paul, productivity is the best way to get the best out of life.
What Paul Minors and I talk about in this broadcast:
- How Paul s book summaries came about
- Why Paul built PaulMinors.com and his strategy behind what he s doing
- Paul s idea of getting more out of life through productivity
- How Paul used Google Analytics to grow his business
- Paul s automation workflow for emails and the pros and cons of automation
- Personal engagement how Paul develops relationships with his list
- How to add credibility to your message
- Challenges of converting email list to paying customers
- How to get Paul s products, including the Personal Productivity Toolkit
- Paul s advice for beginners
Contact Paul Minors online:
- PaulMinors.com
- @paulminors
Paul Minors on choosing your path:
Follow your passion. Find your own style and use that to kind of differentiate yourself.
Paul Minors on persistence:
Work really hard. It is a lot of work.
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 067: How to Automate E-mails to Grow Your Business with Paul Minors appeared first on Tom Morkes.
42 min - ITT 066: How to Write for Movies and Video Games with Justin Sloan
Justin Sloan is a professional video game writer, with credits including Game of Thrones and the Walking Dead. Justin is also a novelist and screenwriter, with dozens of books to his name, including “Falls of Redemption” and “Military Veterans in Creative Careers” among many others. Justin studied writing at the John Hopkins University and at the UCLA School of Theatre. Justin is also the co-host of the Self-Publishing Answers Podcast.
Justin was also in the Marines for five years, living in Japan, Korea, and Italy. He currently lives in the Bay area with his wife and kids.
What Justin Sloan and I talk about in this broadcast:
- How Justin began his writing career
- How Justin met Ashley Miller and got inspired to pursue his passion
- The techniques Justin used to connect with people in his industry to accelerate his career
- How Justin learned to connect with the right people
- The importance managers and agents in these creative careers
- The advantages of self-publishing
- How Justin learned to outline his work before sitting down to write, accelerating his turn around
- The strategy behind Justin starting his podcast, Self-Publishing Answers Podcast
- The goals Justin has set for the next several years and how he is positioning himself to make those happen
- The difference between writing for video games, screenplays, and books
Contact Justin Sloan online:
- JustinMSloan.com
- Podcast: Self-Publishing Answers Podcast
- IMDb page: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1733364/
- @justinmsloan
Other Resources mentioned in this broadcast:
- Smashwords
- Draft2Digital
- NookPress
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 066: How to Write for Movies and Video Games with Justin Sloan appeared first on Tom Morkes.
48 min - ITT 065: How to Hack Sales with Max Altschuler
Max Altschuler is the founder of Sales Hacker Inc. and the author of Hacking Sales one of my personal favorite books on selling. He was the second business hire at Udemy.com, setting up their customer onboarding process. He pioneered some advanced growth hacks including technical web-scraping and figuring out how to access data to build massive lists of leads (which we talk about in today’s interview).
What Max Altschuler and I talk about in this broadcast:
- How to define your ideal customer
- How to gather relevant information about your ideal customer
- How to find your ideal customer
- Why it s important to discover (or create) hacks to help grow your business
- How business development can work alongside sales hacking
- How to develop the right mindset for sales
- Following up and marketing to your ideal customer
Core message from Max s book:
Build, test, measure, and optimize the more you can do that in your sales process, the better you ll be. – Max Altschuler
Contact Max online:
- Hacking Sales on Amazon
- SalesHacker.com
- @MaxAlts
- Linkedin Group: The Sales Hacker Community
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 065: How to Hack Sales with Max Altschuler appeared first on Tom Morkes.
30 min - ITT 064: How to Break into Hollywood with Scott Levy
Scott Levy, is a retired US Marine, who transitioned into the creative field of film, acting in both videos and movies (full length motion pictures). Over his 18 year acting career he has also performed in a plethora of TV and video games. In one of his favorite roles to look back on, he co-starred next to Vanilla Ice in The Helix: Reloaded.
What Scott Levy and I talk about in this broadcast:
- What is was like to work with Vanilla Ice on the set of The Helix (and what it was like to hang out with Vanilla Ice in Las Vegas at the daytime Emmy s)
- Why his time with the Marines unknowingly prepared him for a career in the film industry
- Why it s important to recognize defining points in your life and in your generation
- How he broke into the film industry after his military career (with no prior connections)
- The road he traveled down to land an interview with George Lucas and Skywalker Sound
- How socializing with other actors on The Lost World set gave him the confidence to move forward in his acting career
- The inside scoop on his interactions with James Cameron and George Lucas
- The story of how his career finally took off
- Why you always hear the overnight success before you realize the years of hard work that paved the way
- How his status as a military veteran gave him a competitive advantage to work for Electronic Arts
- Why he is so passionate about his work with Operation Supply Drop
- Scott’s personal recommendations on how to break into the film industry
- Why everyone should read Military Veterans in Creative Careers: Interviews with Our Nations Heroes by Justin Sloan
Find Scott Levy online:
@realscottlevy
On IMDB
Other Resources:
- IMDB
- Full Sail University
- Medal of Honor- War Fighter
- Army of Two
- Battlefield 4
- Operation Supply Drop
- Young Marines
- The Submarine Kid
- Devil s Third
On breaking into the industry you want:
You have to immerse yourself in that world
Just do it. Get in there and meet as many people as you can find
If you enjoyed today s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 064: How to Break into Hollywood with Scott Levy appeared first on Tom Morkes.
32 min - ITT 063: Philanthropic Entrepreneurship with Tyson Adams
Tyson Adams is the co-founder of Zuddha Organic and the founder of Jhai Coffeehouse. In his businesses, he is combining his passions for philanthropy and entrepreneurship. As a result, he has started several clean water projects in Laos, where Jhai Coffeehouse is located.
Tyson went to the University of Washington and left on a one-way ticket to South East Asia. He stayed for four months and came back with the idea to start these coffee shops.
What Tyson Adams and I talk about in this broadcast:
- Why Tyson started the business of importing coffee to the US from Laos
- How Tyson organized and promoted coffee fundraisers through US high schools to raise money for philanthropic initiatives in Laos
- Why Tyson decided to transition from providing books for the communities to clean water projects
- How Tyson was able to position his non-profit to provide clean water in the local community
- How Tyson started Jhai Coffeehouse and how it helps to give back to the community
- How Tyson used crowdfunding to start a non-profit overseas
- How Tyson learned to overcome the change in culture from starting two international businesses based in foreign countries
- The importance of vulnerability
- How Tyson leaned how to create passive income to support his philantrhopic work
- The steps Tyson is taking to launch an Amazon fulfillment business
- How Tyson s Amazon business fits together with Jhai Coffeehouse and Zhudda Organic
Find Tyson Adams online:
- www.zuddha.organic (external link)
- jhaicoffeehouse.com (external link)
Other Resources:
- AJ Leon and Misfit Inc
- Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income (external link)
A quote that Tyson lives by:
One is not afraid of the unknown; one is afraid of the known coming to an end.
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 063: Philanthropic Entrepreneurship with Tyson Adams appeared first on Tom Morkes.
26 min
About In The Trenches
From the publisher's feed
In The Trenches with Tom Morkes provides behind-the-scenes look into the life and work of entrepreneurs, writers, artists, warriors, and leaders.