In The Trenches

By Tom Morkes | business, marketing, writing, and publishing

In The Trenches with Tom Morkes provides behind-the-scenes look into the life and work of entrepreneurs, writers, artists, warriors, and leaders.... more

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FAQs about In The Trenches:

How many episodes does In The Trenches have?

The podcast currently has 243 episodes available.

In The Trenches episodes:

September 21, 2015ITT 062: Finding the Perfect Mentors with Geoff Woods
Geoff Woods is the founder and host of The Mentee Podcast. His weekly podcast provides a platform to deliver valuable information and profound wisdom for those looking to make the transition from employee to entrepreneur. On his podcast, Geoff shares what he has learned from his mentors and uses it to help others who are looking to do the same. In today’s broadcast, Geoff delves into the way you can quickly find high level mentors for yourself, as well as how he personally has connected with dozens of business leaders in a very short period of time.
What Geoff Woods and I talk about in this broadcast:
Why he decided to launch his podcast
The road that led him to where he is now and where he hopes to do in the future
Hear him tell us about the event in 2013 the changed his way of thinking
His reaction to his income being immediately cut by 40%
Why amazing friends only are not enough
How to build an army of mentors for yourself to help you get where you want to go
The importance in having conversations with those smarter than yourself
What you need to do in order to begin to meet great people
Why you first must get clarity on the one thing you need the most help with (in 2 sentences or less)
How to envision the ideal mentor for yourself
Why you must leverage your relationships correctly in order to find mentors
The method to practice in order to subconsciously meet and introduce yourself to future mentors
What he did to be in the same room with big name mentors and how he introduced himself to them.
Why you have to be genuine when introducing yourself to others
The importance of being vulnerable and honest
How to make an impact on someone in 15 seconds when meeting them to garner their help
The way to get over approach anxiety when meeting people by showing up to add value to them
How you should execute follow up steps and foster a great relationship with a possible mentor after meeting them.
Geoff on meeting big name mentors for the first time:
You have to be more interested than interesting
Geoff how to think when you are meeting people:
Change the way you look at things so the things you look at will change
Geoff on why you can add value to anyone immediately:
You have a skill set that is someone else s weakness
Find Geoff Woods online:
geoffwoods.com/blog/
Geoff Woods on Entrepreneur
Twitter: @geoffwoods
Other resources mentioned:
Jim Rohn
Find The Best Mentor s
Podcaster s Paradise
John Lee Dumas
Fizzle
Barefoot Wine
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 062: Finding the Perfect Mentors with Geoff Woods appeared first on Tom Morkes.
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36min
September 14, 2015ITT 061: How to Build a 6-Figure Membership Site with Bjork Ostrom
Bjork Ostrom, together with his wife Lindsay, are the founders of both foodbloggerpro.com and pinchofyum.com. In less than 5 years, he and his wife built a side hobby - food blogging - into a $300,000+ per year (and growing) online membership site. As a non-profit employee and 4th grade teacher by day, Bjork and his wife navigated the early challenges of developing their passions into both a successful business and something they would enjoy doing on a daily basis. Based out of St. Paul, Minnesota, Bjork and his wife are now working together to take the business to the next level (and to see if they can't crack the 7-figure revenue mark). Bjork's wife, Lindsay, started Pinch of Yum in 2010, making their first dollar through an ad network. They started doing income reports in 2013. This instigated a lot of questions, which led to the development of Foodbloggerpro, which they rolled out over the course of 3 months from November 2012 to January 2013, raising over $10,000 in pre-sales. Foodbloggerpro now makes $300,000 a year and they're working on ways to grow the platform to 1 million / year. What Bjork Ostrom and I talk about in this broadcast:
How a teacher and a non profit employee turned his skills into building a 6-figure membership site
How he and his wife worked together to combine their passions for food and software
Why reinvesting your initial revenue is so important when you're just starting out
How to determine what to pay yourself vs. reinvest in your growing business
How Bjork turned 500 page views a day into a $300,000 in annual revenue
How monthly income reports attracted attention and led to the creation of FoodBloggerPro
How Bjork is able to maintain the massive website only investing 20 hours per month
Why you should look for ways to sharpen your skills in your current job to compliment your side hustle
How to double the benefits of your current job by honing your skills for entrepreneurial ventures
What Bjork did to prepare to build his very first membership site
How he self raised $10,000 to begin the membership site (without using a crowdfunding site)
The difference of viewing something as a business vs. an income stream
The 3 part filter he uses to collaborate with his wife on what the next steps should be
“1% infinity” (a philosophy that Bjork lives by)
Why long term vision trumps short term vision for building a successful business
Bjork Ostrom on building your skill set and maximizing your time: “Any time that people are doing anything, there is always the potential to double whatever it is” Bjork Ostrom on what the big idea is: “What has gotten us here won’t get us to the next level.” Bjork Ostrom's biggest piece of advice: “Feel the burden of doing a little bit each day to make it a little bit better and to make yourself a little bit better.” Find Bjork Ostrom online:
pinchofyum.com
foodbloggerpro.com
Twitter: @bjorkostrom
Other resources mentioned:
Expression Engine
Kicktastic
Screenflow
Wishlist
Austin Kleon "life of a project"
If you enjoyed today's podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
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31min
August 17, 2015ITT 060: How to Launch a Six-Figure Course with Sean McCabe
Sean McCabe a Hand Lettering Artist & Type Designer based in San Antonio, TX, the founder of seanwes.com and the creator of Learn Lettering 2.0. Sean also hosts a podcast for creative entrepreneurs at https://seanwes.com/podcast/. In the past the past 10 years, Sean has used his business experience to grow and sell a computer repair business, run a profitable web design firm, and build and launch a phenomenally successful series of courses on hand lettering that have grossed six figures within 3 days of launching. What Sean McCabe and I talk about in this broadcast:
How Sean moved from playing in a band to start his first company
How Sean pivoted his company from computer repair to web design to hand lettering
How Sean learned to strategically approach the growth and expansion of his business
How Sean leveraged both physical and digital products, including creating a successful course
Why Sean waited 2 years to build his first product
The pros and cons of physical products
The 80/20 approach to balance marketing and creation with Sean's 6-figure course launch
How Sean used the advice to create a tiered packaging system
The strategy Sean used to create the second version of his course (learnlettering.com)
How Sean learned to hire employee
How to know what only you can do
Sean McCabe on how to create a loyal fan-base: "Create an experience more than sell a product" Sean McCabe on why less is sometimes more: "To get from 90 to 100% in quality takes 10x the time...and only 1% of people will notice" Find Sean McCabe online:
Course: learnlettering.com
Podcast: https://seanwes.com/podcast/
Other resources mentioned in the broadcast:
Nathan Barry
If you enjoyed today's podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
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39min
August 09, 2015ITT 059: How to Develop the Entrepreneur's Heart with Dane Maxwell
Dane Maxwell started his entrepreneurial journey about ten years ago at twenty-one after reading "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." After getting scammed buying and selling websites, Dane decided to start building his own business instead. Over the course of several years, Dane built multiple 6-figure software companies, and people began asking Dane to help teach them how to do it as well. This led to the start of The Foundation, a training program and community that teaches entrepreneurs how to build software as a service (SaaS) businesses quickly and profitably. Through The Foundation, Dane takes entrepreneurs through the six phases of building a software business: Phase 1: Acquire the mindset of an entrepreneur Phase 2: Idea extraction Phase 3: Sketching a solution Phase 4: Pre-selling Phase 5: Build the product Phase 6: Grow The Foundation has become one of the leading training programs for entrepreneurs starting software businesses. In fact, Dane has already generated over $5,000,000 in sales of The Foundation over the past three years, and the trend looks to continue as a new class just opened up for enrollment. Dane Maxwell on building a successful company:
"The greater you niche down, the easier it is to sell stuff." [click to share]
Dane Maxwell on choosing your path in life:
"Wake up, take control of your life...and say I'm not going to let any external circumstance stop me." [click to share]
Dane Maxwell on business and life:
"Caring is very profitable." [click to share]
What Dane Maxwell and I talk about in this broadcast:
How Dane approaches his students and how that impacts his business
How critical it is to become an entrepreneur (now more than ever)
The importance of service and creating value
The importance of outsourcing to focus on your highest value activities (the stuff that actually moves the needle for your business and the stuff ONLY YOU can do)
How Dane plans to build a business that will address a greater pain point than the Foundation addresses
Where you can find Dane Maxwell:
https://thefoundation.com/
@danemaxwell
If you enjoyed today's podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
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42min
August 09, 2015ITT 059: How to Develop the Entrepreneur’s Heart with Dane Maxwell
Dane Maxwell started his entrepreneurial journey about ten years ago at twenty-one after reading "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." After getting scammed buying and selling websites, Dane decided to start building his own business instead. Over the course of several years, Dane built multiple 6-figure software companies, and people began asking Dane to help teach them how to do it as well. This led to the start of The Foundation, a training program and community that teaches entrepreneurs how to build software as a service (SaaS) businesses quickly and profitably. Through The Foundation, Dane takes entrepreneurs through the six phases of building a software business: Phase 1: Acquire the mindset of an entrepreneur Phase 2: Idea extraction Phase 3: Sketching a solution Phase 4: Pre-selling Phase 5: Build the product Phase 6: Grow The Foundation has become one of the leading training programs for entrepreneurs starting software businesses. In fact, Dane has already generated over $5,000,000 in sales of The Foundation over the past three years, and the trend looks to continue as a new class just opened up for enrollment. Dane Maxwell on building a successful company:

"The greater you niche down, the easier it is to sell stuff." [click to share]
Dane Maxwell on choosing your path in life:

"Wake up, take control of your life...and say I'm not going to let any external circumstance stop me." [click to share]
Dane Maxwell on business and life:

"Caring is very profitable." [click to share]
What Dane Maxwell and I talk about in this broadcast:
How Dane approaches his students and how that impacts his business
How critical it is to become an entrepreneur (now more than ever)

The importance of service and creating value

The importance of outsourcing to focus on your highest value activities (the stuff that actually moves the needle for your business and the stuff ONLY YOU can do)

How Dane plans to build a business that will address a greater pain point than the Foundation addresses

Where you can find Dane Maxwell:
https://thefoundation.com/
@danemaxwell

If you enjoyed today's podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
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42min
July 03, 2015ITT 058: How to Dominate Digital Marketing with Bryan Harris
Bryan Harris is the founder of Video Fruit, a marketing website he built from 0 to over 10,000 subscribers and over $200,000 in revenue during the first year. What Bryan Harris and I talk about in today's broadcast:
How Bryan started Video Fruit as a blog, modeling high-level bloggers
Behind-the-scenes of digital marketing
How Bryan started as an entrepreneurial child and built an eBay business
Why Bryan built his own platform instead of borrowing from someone else
Bryan's definition of success in business and life
You can find Bryan Harris online:
videofruit.com/bootstrapped
If you enjoyed today's podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
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30min
June 29, 2015ITT 057: How to Growth Hack Your Business with Bronson Taylor
Bronson Taylor is the co-founder of Growth Hacker TV, a leader in growth hacking education, and the co-author of The Definitive Guide to Growth Hacking (alongside Neil Patel of Quicksprout). Bronson got his start online by working with his brother as web developers. However, it didn't take long for them both to discover that they didn't actually like client work, so they shifted focus to developing products and, most recently, membership sites. What Bronson Taylor and I talk about in today's broadcast:
The trials Bronson and his brother went through to scale their business
How Bronson entered the growth hacking space (and how he teamed up with Neil Patel to write "The Definitive Guide to Growth Hacking")
How Bronson met his co-founder and how they started Growth Hacker TV
The purpose behind building a video based platform verses a podcast
How Bronson has grown Growth Hacker TV using the techniques and strategies he teaches inside the platform (this stuff is really great)
Why execution is better than idea creation (and other musings on business, entrepreneurship, marketing, and growth hacking)
You can find Bronson Taylor online:
Growthhacker.tv/
@growthhackertv
The Definitive Guide to Growth Hacking (I highly recommend this free resource)
If you enjoyed today's podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
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30min
June 26, 2015ITT 056: How to Create within Constraint with Katrina Tan
Katrina Tan is a freelance filmmaker and designer at ZeroTheOne.com. In today's interview, Katrina shares her views on art and creation, and specifically how we can leverage constraint to do our best work. What Katrina Tan and I talk about in today's broadcast:
How Katrina overcame the lack of opportunities in the Philippines to create a thriving business
How to create constraint in your own creative process to improve your results
How to test the impact of your art based on user response
And much more...
You can find Katrina Tan online:
zerotheone.com/
If you enjoyed today's podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
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27min
June 22, 2015ITT 055: How to Grow a Business in a Competitive Niche with Denny Krahe
Denny Krahe is the founder of Dizruns.com. He is also the founder of dkfitsolutions.com, a personal training business where he goes to his clients instead of them coming to him at the gym. Denny has a background in sports medicine and degree in athletic training. His career started with sports medicine, but changed to one-on-one training after evaluating his personal and family balance. What Denny Krahe and I talk about in today's broadcast:
Some of the challenges of starting a personal training business and how Denny is overcoming them
How Denny is doing passion projects
How Denny is dealing with building a business in a competitive niche
What works and doesn’t work for getting new clients
What goals Denny has for the next year
You can find Denny Krahe online:
http://twitter.com/dizruns
http://dizruns.com/
If you enjoyed today's podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
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24min
June 19, 2015ITT 054: How to Develop a Writing Career with MP MacDougall
MP MacDougall is a writer and published author, as well as a veteran. After his service in the military, he used his G.I. Bill to go to school even though he didn't want to leave the job he enjoyed. Graduating with a military history degree, he started a blog to share some history with the world, which has since turned into a platform from which he can launch new books. What MP MacDougall and I talk about in today's broadcast:
How MP started his first boo
How MP used a monthly challenge to improve as a writer
How MP is structuring his day to accomplish his writing goals, day after day
The balance between quality publishing and quantity publishing (it's harder than it seems)
You can find MP MacDougall online:
MPMacDougall.com
If you enjoyed today's podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
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26min

FAQs about In The Trenches:

How many episodes does In The Trenches have?

The podcast currently has 243 episodes available.