In the Trenches with Michael King

As small business owners, we recognize that, at least in the short term, we're going to have to adapt our businesses to the corona economy.

But how the heck do we even do that!?!?

In today's episode, James Patrick and I discuss the process that you should be thinking through to adapt your business to the economic conditions we're facing today.

All businesses are in the trenches right now. COVID-19 has thrown us a curve ball and we're all trying to figure out how to respond.

Today's guest, Ajit George, had spent the past 2 years preparing for the launch of his new business - a wholesale vertical organic farming concept serving local restaurants. He hired 10 people. He had 40,000 square feet of commercial space built out for the farm. He had a full book of business. 8 hours after his first harvest, the governor issued a full quarantine - essentially drying up his entire client base.

Within 48 hours, Ajit designed and implemented a massive pivot and he's now winning in ways he never imagined.

Details inside.

On April 20th, 2010 there was an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. 11 people were killed in the explosion and an estimated 210 million barrels of oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico over the following weeks and months. President Obama went so far as to call the event the worst environmental disaster the US has ever faced.

Our guest on this Pod, Kim Guedry, was responsible for providing daily updates to the state governors and even president Barack Obama as to how things were going.

A pretty cool assignment right? But there was only one problem. Kim had never done anything even remotely close to this before. When Kim reported to the scene, she was overwhelmed with imposter syndrome. Why should she be here? Why should she be in charge? How is she going to manage this chaos and not only put out the fires immediately in front of her team, but also piece together the larger, longer term strategy that would be vital to their success. Enjoy!

Today I'm talking with my friend Rocky Romanella.

We discuss:

Asking the right questions

The RIGHT way to handle bad news

How your vulnerability and transparency sets the tone for your team's culture

Megan joins us to share her story of how she and her startup were conned out of $120k in a year-long ruse. She talks about her subsequent battle with shame and embarrassment and how she not only climbed out of it but turned things around into a $25MM+ SaaS company. Enjoy!

The road through medical school is grueling. Imagine you had gone through all the steps, the clinicals, the coursework, the exams, taken your boards, and now you're practicing medicine as a physician's assistant. Now, you get out into the workplace, and realize that the system is garbage. Would you be bold enough to take drastic action and create change? Our guest Rob Lininger did, and boy did it pay off. Enjoy!

There's a point in the journey of business, where being able to project your next month's earnings becomes critical. You can't be in the position where you could either make $10,000 or $0 - at least not forever. This episode features Erik Olson of Array Digital, and we discuss the journey to achieving recurring revenue, the fear of hiring your first employee, and transparency in business. Enjoy!

One of my favorite Dave Ramsey quotes is "The only type of ship that won't sail is a partnership."

Partnerships introduce a whole new level of complexity and risk in business. Even healthy partnerships are tricky for a host of reasons. When partnerships aren't healthy they can be absolutely dangerous.

Today we're talking with Lauren Schwab. Lauren tells us the story about how she started a partnership with a handful of people that she didn't know that well. Two years and $500,000 later, Lauren walked away empty handed and had to look for a job to make ends meet.

Laurens shares some great tips on how to start a business that works, how to overcome crazy adversity in business, and some amazing lessons learned from being on dating shows.

Having difficult conversations is... difficult. I don't know of anyone that actually likes to have them.

Well, Karen likes having them - but no one else.

Difficult conversations get even tougher as a leader when you hire your close friends to work with you.

Former Green Beret Jason Van Camp joins us on this episode to discuss talk about how he made some mistakes in early days by hiring some close friends. We also talk about vision alignment and the time he pitched his services to the New York Jets while soaking wet.

Enjoy!

Everyone deals with some kind of addiction in their life. It affects some more than others, to the point where it can destroy lives and the lives of family members. Dai Manuel joins us on this episode to discuss the destructive nature of addiction, overcoming it, and turning it into lessons that will be relevant to every listener. Enjoy!