Jon Nastor's Hack the Entrepreneur

LinkedIn is offering a free $100 LinkedIn ad credit to launch your first campaign. Simply visit https://LinkedIn.com/HACK

Get a free 30-day trial of FreshBooks right now, no credit card required. Go to Freshbooks.com/HACK and enter HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR in the how did you hear about us section.

Jeff Platt had just graduated from college when he found himself in an interesting position -- his dad had just opened two trampoline parks, but he also needed to step back from the business.

This was 2006, and Jeff decided at 21 years old to take the reigns and become the CEO of Sky Zone, a trampoline park company. He took charge, and without any real plan of action, he kept refining the parks and opening more and more locations.

Somewhere along the way he decided that the real path to growth was in franchising parks to people around the world -- and this is exactly what he did. From those first two locations, they grew to over 200 locations around the world.

25 million people will visit a Sky Zone park this year, generating more than $300 million in sales.

Now, let's hack...

Jeff Platt.

Join the 24 million people who've used FreshBooks. Try it free for 30 days - no catch and no credit card required.

Go to FreshBooks.com/HACK and enter HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR in the how did you hear about us section to get started.

Nick Ruffini of Drummer's Resource is a media producer, drummer, and entrepreneur.

He grew up in the family restaurant business but had the urge to set out on his own. Since he was 17 years old, my guest made his way as a professional musician recording and touring.

In 2011, Nick Ruffini went back into the restaurant business this time with his brother.

Then in 2013, he went back to music and started a podcast called Drummer's Resource. In the past three years my guest was transformed Drummer's Resource into a full-fledged media platform including a podcast, blog, and social with entertaining, inspiring and lifestyle-focused content for drummers.

Now, let's hack

Nick Ruffini.

Check out the complete show notes: http://hacktheentrepreneur.com/marc-merrill/

Get a free 30-day trial of FreshBooks right now, no credit card required. Go to Freshbooks.com/HACK and enter HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR in the how did you hear about us section.

Marc Merrill is the co-founder of Riot Games, the company behind the worldwide gaming sensation League of Legends. As of the beginning of 2020, League of Legends has over 100 million monthly players.

In 2005, Marc and his now co-founder Brandon Beck were typical college roommates -- going to class, playing video games, and dreaming up ways to transform the gamin industry. Their idea was to develop a game that would only make money selling virtual goods within the game itself.

Both Marc and Brandon are non-technical co-founders, so they needed to put together a team who could make their dream a reality. They spent the next 12 months mapping out a business plan, overcoming every obstacle they could find, and finding funding to start building a team.

They official launched in 2006, and the marathon of building a successful game and business began. After 4 years of pushing the project forward, they sold off 94% of the company for $400 million -- and they kept on working on Riot Games and League of Legends. Today, both founders are still working on Riot Games as co-chairmen of the company.

In this conversation we discuss:

• Why you need to put your players and customers first (and trust that the revenue will follow)
• The value finding solutions to every problem before it becomes a problem
• How Riot Games overcame the massive credibility issue they had when first entering the gaming market

Now, let's hack...

Marc Merrill.

Check out the complete show notes: http://hacktheentrepreneur.com/jim-decicco/

Get a free 30-day trial of FreshBooks right now, no credit card required. Go to Freshbooks.com/HACK and enter HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR in the how did you hear about us section.

Jim DeCicco, is an ambitious, intense, and determined entrepreneur. After college in 2015, he worked in finance for a few month before teaming up with his two brothers to create the world's first Super Coffee.

Today he is the CEO at Kitu Life Inc., makers of Super Coffee and Super Creamer.

Since 2015, Jim and his brothers have raised $18 million in venture capital. They've pitched on ABC's Shark Tank, and have been featured in the 2019 Class of Forbes' 30 Under 30.

This is a great conversation about the overlap between professional and personal life, why innovation needs to be complimentary to your offerings, and how Jim and his brothers got their start by being scrappy and making sales.

Now, let's hack...

Jim DeCicco.

Get $100 FREE advertising with LinkedIn Marketing. Go to https://linkedin.com/hack Start your free 7-day (no-risk) trial at https://AirCall.io/hack

Check out the complete show notes and transcript: https://hacktheentrepreneur.com/fanocracy/

My guest today is David Meerman Scott and he is one of the few repeat guests I've had on the show -- and I'm really excited to have him back on the show today. When he was on the show the first time, we discussed framing your work around what you love doing.

He is a digital marketing strategist and author of several books on marketing, most notably The New Rules of Marketing and PR with over 300,000 copies sold to date.

As of 2020, he has published a brand new book called Fanocracy. Here's the premise: The most powerful marketing force in the world isn't social media, email, or even those annoying commercials on stuck right in the middle of YouTube videos. It's fandom.

And the good news? Fandom isn't just for celebrities and influencers anymore! It can be the fuel for any business that chooses to focus on inspiring and nurturing true fans. Fanocracy means turning fans into customers and customers into fans. Fanocracy means an organization that puts the needs and wishes of fans first.

Now, let's hack...

David Meerman Scott and Fanocracy.

Buy one Annual MasterClass All-Access Pass for yourself, you'll get another one to gift, for FREE! Go to https://MASTERCLASS.com/HACK

Start your free 7-day (no-risk) trial at https://AirCall.io/hack

Caroline Carter today home transition expert and an entrepreneur.

She is the creator of the Perfect Listing, the Total Home Transition process and founder and CEO of Done In A Day.

Since 2005, she has partnered with over 2,000 homeowners and their agents with her unique approach of preparing the house to sell for top dollar.

Caroline's Total Home Transitionâ„ process has been featured in local and national media including The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Washingtonian, Washington Home & Garden, The Northwest Current, Home, Fox News, HGTV, and The Wall Street Journal.

Now, let's hack...

Caroline Carter.

Start your free 7-day (no-risk) trial at https://AirCall.io/hack

Learn how you can save time and money with Intuit Quickbooks. Go to Intuit.me/hack

Sharon Savariego is the former business development manager of uTest, community advocate, and serial social entrepreneur.

Back in 2014, Sharon Savariego 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

For a limited time, when you buy one Annual MasterClass All-Access Pass for yourself, you'll get another one to gift, for FREE! Go to https://MasterClass.com/hack to get started with this limited time offer.

Jill Van Gyn is a Canadian who had hit absolute rock bottom before crawling her way up to the top. It has not been easy but her hard work is definitely paying off.

She is the founder of Fatso Peanut Butter, an all-natural peanut butter company that began as a side hustle in the back kitchen of a local restaurant.

In October 2018, Jill appeared on Dragon's Den, Canada's version of Shark Tank. Her ask on the show was $200,000 for 15 percent of the company. Jill received four offers in the episode and she made a handshake deal for $200,000 for 30 percent of the company.

After the recording, Jill met the Dragons to formalize the deal with new numbers. FATSO peanut butter had been evaluated at twice its original amount and Jill Van Gyn wanted the deal to reflect that.

In the end, she walked away from the deal.

Now, let's hack...

Jill Van Gyn.

See the full show notes: Neil Patel

Get unlimited access to EVERY MasterClass, and as a HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR listener, you get 15% off the Annual All-Access Pass! Go to https://MasterClass.com/hack

Shipping is always FREE, you can try them out for 30 nights Risk-Free, and RIGHT NOW you get $50 OFF your first set of sheets. Go to https://BollandBranch.com -- Use promo promo code HACK.

Neil Patel is the co-founder of the analytics companies KISSmetrics, Crazy Egg, and Quick Sprout. He is a frequent contributor to publications, such as Inc. Magazine, Fast Company, Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine. He also helps companies such as Amazon and Viacom grow their revenue.

President Obama recognized my guest as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 30 and he has also been awarded Congressional Recognition from the United States House of Representatives.

Although he loves being an entrepreneur, he sees his future in the non-profit world helping to drive traffic to their websites and helping to change lives.

Now, let's hack...

Neil Patel.

In this episode Neil Patel and I discuss:

• Learning from previous mistakes (and not making them again)
• Planning and executing fast (the good and the bad)
• Partner with someone who compliments you

Check out the show notes: Alex Nerney Today's guest is a professional blogger, adventure junkie, and digital entrepreneur. He got started online in 2012, right after he graduated from college, by creating an ebook called "A College Guy's Guide to Getting Ripped" -- yes, really. He is a busy guy and somewhat of a content machine. As of today, he has four main projects that he's working on: Avocadu: Health and Wellness website reaching over 3 million people yearly. Create a Pro Website: YouTube channel teaching people how to start their own website from scratch! The Health Nerd: with 415,000 subscribers and still growing, the health nerd was a side project I started back in 2016. Plus, Create and Go, his main business. After making a bunch of money blogging and traveling the world, him and his business partner started Create and Go in early 2016. In the past few years, they've grown this business at an insane pace -- ending 2018 with over 1,000,000 website visitors and over $1,000,000 in revenue. If you've ever had an inkling to start a blog or you have a blog and have always wondered how to scale it to over $100,000 a month, then this conversation is for you. Now, let's hack... Alex Nerney.