Jon Nastor's Hack the Entrepreneur

Kyle Gray is a writer and entrepreneur who helps businesses create a powerful storyline that drives sales, growth, and engagement.

He has helped hundreds of startups and small businesses create scalable content marketing strategies. His book The Story Engine outlines his process for creating content that drives sales.

He is currently the founder of The Story Engine, a productized business based on his methods and strategies.

Now, let's hack…

Kyle Gray.

Syed Balkhi is one of the hardest working, smartest, and most successful entrepreneurs I have had the pleasure of speaking to.

He was born in Pakistan and immigrated to the United States at the age of 12. Without a social life due to his lack of English skills, he turned to the Internet and entrepreneurship. Today, at 25 years old, Syed Balkhi is an award-winning entrepreneur and has been recognized as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 30. He is the owner of several 7-figure online businesses, and over 400 million people visit his websites annually. Syed Balkhi is the founder of WPBeginner, the world's largest free WordPress resource site, and the co-founder of List25, OptinMonster, SoliloquyWP, ThemeLab, Envira Gallery, and WPForms. Now, let's hack…

In this 36-minute episode Syed Balkhi and I discuss:

• Creating written checklists and processes in order to be a better delegator
• How Syed recognized the need for a beginner-friendly WordPress resource site and transitioned from service-based to product-based business
• Finding the right partner, setting up equity, and not being greedy in the process
• Using customer feedback to help guide important changes in your business

• AwesomeMotive.com
• SyedBalkhi.com
• WPbeginner.com
• OptinMonster.com
• Syed on Twitter
• Jon on Twitter
• Show Sponsor:Fiverr: Join the already millions of entrepreneurs who have built their business using Fiverr. Visit Fiverr.com/HTE and use the promo code HTE20 for 20% off your Fiverr purchase. Squarespace: Ready to start your new business? Make it stand it out. Get started with Squarespace. Head to Squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to launch, use the offer code HACK to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

• Making a Positive Dent in the World | Jeremy Choi | WPUP
• Becoming a Software Entrepreneur | Hani Mourra | Simple Press Plugins
• Building Something Out of Nothing | Carrie Dils

Visit HacktheEntrepreneur.com for full show notes, links, and special offers.

My guest today is a professional experimenter, speaker, and entrepreneur.

After a couple years working at Zappos and some major life circumstances, my guest suffered a nasty spell of life burnout back in 2012 and decided to redesign her life from the ground up. She spent the next year speaking around the world, podcasting, and writing.

Then in August of 2016, she co-founded a business called Picture This Clothing — and it took off as a viral hit from the very first Tweet.

Now let's hack…

Jaimee Newberry.

My guest today is a CEO, world traveler, and social entrepreneur. He is the founder of CloudFactory.

Back in 2008 he and his wife went to Nepal for a two-week vacation — they ended up staying for six years. From training three young Nepali developers around one iMac, he has started and grown CloudFactory into 175 full-time staff and 2500+ part-time cloud workers on three continents.

In this conversation, we discuss the 'land and expand' strategy, scaling tech and people, and building a managed marketplace from scratch.

Now, let's hack…

Mark Sears.

Emma Johnson is a former journalist, digital entrepreneur, and author of her brand new book — The Kick-Ass Single Mom. After 16 years of freelance writing, my she decided it was time to start blogging and voicing her thoughts and opinions.

After three years of doing this on the side, she became the full-time blogger and entrepreneur behind WealthySingleMom.com.

This is a great conversation about why women should be proud to like making money, learning to listen, and the entrepreneurial mindset.

Now, let's hack…

Emma Johnson.

My guest today is Bobby Klinck, a Harvard educated lawyer turned online entrepreneur.

After spending more than eight years working in large law firms and nearly three years as a criminal prosecutor for the United States Attorney's Office, he decided that he could no longer work for someone else.

This led to the formation of his own law firm Klinck LLC and begin self-identifying as an online entrepreneur whose area of expertise is law.

In this conversation, we discuss morning routines, the three agreements every business needs, and becoming an online entrepreneur.

Now, let's hack…

Bobby Klinck.

My guest today is the former business development manager of uTest, community advocate, and serial social entrepreneur.

Back in 2014, she came up with the idea to build a platform to empower Community Managers around the world. Needing help with the tech side of things, she began the quest for a tech co-founder, which she found and they began planning, raising money, and building.

Today, Mobilize serves as an online hub for over 1,000 communities and 1,000,000 members.

This is a fascinating conversation where we discuss creating compelling reasons to buy, why everything has an element of community, and honing a vision.

Now, let's hack…

Sharon Savariego.

Mike Trotzke is tech investor, advisor, and entrepreneur.

He is co-founder and CEO of Cheddar, a billing platform built for developers. Since founding Cheddar in 2009, they have grown organically, and as of the summer of 2017, they've received their first funding round of $1.2 million.

In this conversation, we discuss the power of partnerships, problem-solving as a skill set, and using persistence to deal with the ups and downs of running a business.

Now, let's hack…

Mike Trotzke.

My guest today has jumped out of hundreds of planes, is an Ironman triathlete, and an entrepreneur.

He started his career at America Online as a Senior News Editor. He helped to found the AOL Newsroom and spearheaded coverage of the Democratic and Republican 1996 conventions. He then started a PR firm called The Geek Factory.

He then became the creator of Help a Reporter Out ("HARO"), a service for journalists which was acquired in 2010.

He is now an international speaker and the creator of Faster Than Normal, a podcast and book to help people turbocharge their focus, productivity, and success.

Now, let' hack…

Peter Shankman.

My guest today is a CEO, he's insanely focused, and is a brilliant entrepreneur.

He started his career working for some fast-growing startups — in a few years he went from BrickHouse Security, BabyAge, and onto Bonobos.

Almost five years ago, he co-founded BounceX and has scaled at an incredible pace to now running a team of 270 people.

This is a fascinating conversation about how to hustle and acquire your first customers, drunk tests for employees, and understanding frustration zero.

Now, let's hack…

Ryan Urban.