Jon Nastor's Hack the Entrepreneur

Before today’s guest built a successful company in China, he was just a wandering 20-year-old backpacker, only looking for an adventure.

He planned on making a brief stop in the city of Beijing to earn some funds, see the Great Wall and move onto his next adventure.

Turns out it would do more than just earn him enough funds to travel, it would lead him to become a pillar of Beijing’s pop culture. He is the founder and Creative Dictator of China’s first streetwear clothing brand, Plastered T-Shirts.

He has also been awarded the British Chamber of Commerce in China’s Entrepreneur Award in his home country of England.

He lives near his flagship store in Beijing with his wife and four children, and is far happier now than when he first arrived in the city.

Let’s hack…

Dominic Johnson-Hill
In this 33-minute episode Dominic Johnson-Hill and Jon discuss:

• How immaturity helped him better his business
• Why the things that got him into trouble in school are now his super powers
• Being wrong is normal, as long as you accept it
• How knowing the worst case scenario helps to overcome fears
• Focusing on and appreciating where you are right now

My guest today is a copywriter, funnel maker, and an entrepreneur.

Back in 2014, my guest ran marketing and sales for a $10M consulting firm. While there, one of his focuses was digital marketing. After studying it relentlessly, he found out how much he enjoyed helping businesses grow.

He is now the founder of GoodFunnel, where he and his team help small businesses grow their online sales channels with better messaging, copy, and email marketing.

Now, let’s hack…

Liston Witherall.

As entrepreneurs, we tend to focus on building products and providing services. We have a tendency to think that if we create something valuable enough, customers will flood in the door. Yet, we hear crickets.

SEO — or search engine optimization — is not only about getting visitors to your website, it’s about getting people who are buyers to your site.

Our customers go to Google when they want to solve a problem. It’s our job to make sure we can be found.

In today’s episode, we are going deep into SEO to uncover what entrepreneurs need to know about SEO in 2017.

From getting ranked quickly, to what and how to create content. My guest even lays out the four steps to getting search engine traffic to an eCommerce website.

My guest is the chief of marketing at AHREFs, an SEO software company, and data-driven marketing toolset.

Now, let’s go deep with Tim Soulo.

Today’s guest is an entrepreneur that is doing some awesome things, has a great business and I feel that he is going to do some seriously big things in the coming years.

He co-founded FE International in 2010, growing the business with zero start-up funds from scratch to the 7-figure business it is today.

He specializes in brokering the sale of established websites.

His company also actively invests, owning and managing a portfolio of websites which generate over 100 million page views a year; an iOS app with over 2 million downloads and a best-selling book on Amazon.

Now’s let’s hack…

Thomas Smale.

• Why hiring smart people is key to building a great business
• Give the best advice to everyone (including people that aren’t clients)
• Finding the drive and commitment to succeed in business
• The need to be constantly reading and learning about your industry
• Implementing systems and processes into your business

My guest today is a former designer, collector of advisors, and Canadian entrepreneur.

In January 2003, he was running a four person design agency. He was using Microsoft Word to create his firm’s invoices.

One day, he accidentally saved over an old invoice, and something in him snapped – he knew there had to be a better way. Over the next two weeks, he coded up a solution for his clients and eventually turned that side-project into what is now FreshBooks.

My guest and his team spent the next three and a half years building FreshBooks out of his parent's basement. 14 years, he has built a team of 250+ people and FreshBooks is used by over 10 million people.

Now, let’s hack…

Mike McDerment.

Today’s guest is a social entrepreneur. About 10 years ago, she took some off-the-cuff advice that said, you should build your career around three things you are passionate about. For my guest, these three things are music, charity, and the environment.

She is presently the founder of LSTN Headphones, a headphone company with a goal of giving the gift hearing to those without.

Perhaps you are one of the millions of people to see the commercial on YouTube: where they put headphones into a young girls ears as she can hear for the first time ever -- that's LSTN Headphones.

Every pair of headphones LSTN sells gives the gift of hearing to someone — they have been able to give the gift of sound to over 15,000 in the U.S., Kenya, Peru, and Uganda.

Prior to founding her own company, my guest worked her way up from working at a record store, promoting concerts and eventually landed at Universal Music Group at just 19.

Now, let’s hack… Bridget Hilton.

In this 32-minute episode Bridget Hilton and I discuss:

• The importance of keeping yourself informed and reading voraciously
• How traveling can help grow and build your business
• Bridget discusses the value of self-education
• Admitting that you are wrong and taking the blame
• How music changed her life and what she wants to do with it

My guest today is a software developer, team builder, and an entrepreneur.

He has been building for the web since 1996 and has not looked back.

He started his career at Complinet, where he helped build a division for delivering software to clients like GE and Lehman Brothers, he started working in startups.

For a short time, he was the CTO of Jobs Go Public, before stepping out on his own as the Founder of HopHive.

He is now the founder of Goodbits.io, where they build solutions for marketers to collect and curate for email newsletters.

Now, let’s hack…

Kalvir Sandhu.

My guest today is a former pet insurance salesman turned entrepreneur.

In 2013, he started a company called BasedIn, an aggregator of small business local reviews. Almost a year and a half later, he and his team made the decision to end BasedIn, and evolve it into something better.

He is now the founder of Reply Pro, software that enables companies to respond to reviews faster and easier — all from a single platform.

Now, let’s hack…

Ryan Vasso.

My guest today is a doctor of physical therapy, confident optimist, and an entrepreneur.

My guest spot the first seven years of her career working within the hospital system in New York before deciding to start a side hustle.

She began taking physical therapy clients on the side and before she knew it, she had realized she wanted to start her own practice.

She is now the founder of a concierge physical therapy practice in New York City.

In her spare time, she hosts a podcast for professional in the physical therapy space called Healthy, Wealthy, and Smart.

Now, let’s hack…

Karen Litzy.

My guest today is writer, traveler, and entrepreneur.

His first real business was Yes Man Watches, a watch company he started while in college.

Having brought dozens of products to market, and gaining years of experience in product sourcing, and eCommerce. He decided to combine his expertise into a business.

My guest is now the founder of Sourcify, where he connects product creators with the world’s top manufacturers from their vetted sourcing pool.

Now, let’s hack…

Nathan Resnick.