In The Trenches with Tom Morkes provides behind-the-scenes look into the life and work of entrepreneurs, writers, artists, warriors, and leaders.
Episodes
Monday Feb 08, 2016
Monday Feb 08, 2016
Brian Cristiano is the founder of BOLD Worldwide . His love of video and production helped moved him into advertising. Through BOLD, he has been able to help brands or teams connect with fitness, sports, and outdoor consumers.
In this broadcast, Brian Cristiano and I talk about:
- How he has been able to leverage content to create engagement.
- How he has been able to pitch to big name companies using old school business development techniques.
- Growing a team, using freelancers to remain flexible, how to know when to transition work from contractors to full time staff members, as well as how to determine who your early key hires should be.
- The benefits of moving away from a project based revenue model toward a consistently repeating revenue model.
- The importance of asking potential clients pre-qualifying questions about budgets and expectations.
- Brian s weekly podcast called Out of Scope where he talks about sports, business, and marketing.
How to find Brian Cristiano online:
- Website: Boldworldwide.com, BrianCristiano.com
- Twitter: @brian_cristiano
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 079: How to Scale Your Agency with Brian Cristiano appeared first on Tom Morkes.
Monday Feb 01, 2016
Monday Feb 01, 2016
Rob Wormley is a content marketer and author. Over the past seven years, he has developed digital marketing strategies and content for best-selling authors, Hall of Fame speakers, and businesses all across the country. He currently works as the Head of Content Marketing for When I Work.
In this broadcast, Rob Wormley and I talk about:
- How Rob s background in journalism has helped him become a successful content marketer.
- What WhenIWork.com is and how Rob creates content for small businesses.
- Why Rob only develops online content strategies quarterly.
- How Rob uses content creation as a tool to test strategies in real time.
- How Rob measures the success of the content that is created.
- How to develop high quality, actionable content and why it is the most effective marketing strategy.
- Why he does not create content that he can not promote.
- Why he thinks email out-reach is still effective.
- Rob s advice for being authentic, generating leads, and scaling over time.
How to find Rob Wormley online:
- Website: http://robwormley.com/
- Twitter: @RobWormley
Resources:
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 078: How to Create Your Content Strategy with Rob Wormley appeared first on Tom Morkes.
Monday Jan 25, 2016
Monday Jan 25, 2016
Grant Baldwin is a professional speaker, the founder of The Speaker Lab, and creator of Booked and Paid to Speak. Grant started his speaking career as a youth pastor, but eventually moved on because he felt compelled to try something else. After several months trying to figure out his next steps, Grant decided to try his hand as a professional speaker. He’s since spoken at hundreds of events and to tens of thousands of attendees. He now also helps others with their speaking careers through The Speaker Lab.
In this broadcast, Grant Baldwin and I talk about:
- Grant’s background in youth ministry and his love of speaking.
- The differences between talking in front of large audiences vs. small audiences.
- How to find the balance between what you want to speak about and what people will pay you to speak about.
- Multiple ways to earn an income from speaking.
- Several ways to find speaking engagements even if you’re just starting out.
- How speaking can lead to more book sales (for the authors in the audience).
- Grant s advice to potential speakers help become an excellent speaker.
How to find Grant Baldwin online:
- Website: www.thespeakerlab.com
- Twitter: @grantbaldwin
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 077: How to Get Paid to Speak with Grant Baldwin appeared first on Tom Morkes.
Monday Jan 18, 2016
Monday Jan 18, 2016
Nathan Chan is the founder and CEO of Foundr digital magazine. Wanting to personally discover the answers to all his questions about the daily struggles of starting a successful business, Nathan began to interview world-changing entrepreneurs in the hope that he could learn from them. He started Foundr while working a full time job, but the rapid success of the digital magazine led Nathan to quit his day job and double down on Foundr.
In this broadcast, Nathan Chan and I talk about:
- His background before beginning the magazine.
- Why he choose to create a digital magazine.
- The 3 ways he knew it was time to give up his day joy to work on the magazine full time.
- How he was able to find his feet after transitioning from part time to full time in the magazine.
- How he realized the importance of building the Foundr brand.
- The Goal Pyramid process to decide what to focus on at any given time.
- How Nathan built the Foundr team and his insight in hiring people that are a good fit.
- His advice for those who want to be successful in publishing.
- How Foundr has been able to secure so many top name interviews.
How to find Nathan Chan online:
- Website: http://foundrmag.com
- Twitter: @NathanHChan
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 076: How to Build a 6-Figure Magazine with Nathan Chan appeared first on Tom Morkes.
Monday Dec 21, 2015
Monday Dec 21, 2015
Cloris Kylie is a performance coach and branding expert. She always had the heart of an entrepreneur, but didn t always follow that. With a background in engineering, marketing and management, Cloris has developed coaching and training programs in lead generation, personal branding, communications, public speaking, social media platforms, digital marketing, and career development.
In this broadcast, Cloris and I talk about:
- How she began a business helping students with preparing for the ACT and SAT
- How she began expanding her business to include helping those in graduate school; then to help people in a job search; and then to help authors, coaches, and entrepreneurs
- How she finds fulfillment by helping people one-on-one
- How she persevered to line up opportunities to be on various TV and radio shows
- How to leverage another person s platform to grow your list
- Major takeaways from pitching to TV and radio shows:
- Don t just approach as pitching your book/product
- Connect your message with current events
- Match your findings to the shows and their audiences
- Provide talking points for show producers
- How to use your exposure on TV to build your list
- How to utilize a free-mium offer to build your list
- How to use an “indoctrination series” and “engagement series”
- How to use the right questions to figure out what to create and sell
- How to avoid spending time and energy on things that people don’t want
- The “3 Ps” (plus a bonus “p”)
- Partners
- Produce
- Promote
- Patience
Cloris Kylie on the best way to differentiate yourself:
“Just by being you, you’re being different…I’m doing with my own story and experience.”
How to find Cloris Kylie online:
- Website: http://www.cloriskylie.com/
- Twitter: @cloriskylie
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 075: How to Use Exposure to Build Your E-mail List with Cloris Kylie appeared first on Tom Morkes.
Monday Dec 14, 2015
Monday Dec 14, 2015
Sangeet Paul Choudary is the Founder and CEO of Platform Thinking Labs, and the author the the number 1 bestseller “Platform Scale.” Sangeet is also the co-chair of the MIT Platform Strategy Group at MIT Media Labs, Boston, a Global Fellow at the Centre for Global Enterprisein New York, a speaker at the G20 Summit 2014 in Brisbane and an advisor at 500Startups in Silicon Valley. At the G20 World Summit 2014, Sangeet was hailed as a forefront researcher into how businesses can better use metadata and current technology. He has advised C-level executives globally on platform and network strategies, has been featured on leading media globally and has lectured at the world s leading universities.
In this broadcast, Sangeet and I talk about:
- Traditional business models vs. supply based business models vs. the modern business model
- Which part of a new business should work traditionally and which part should work like a platform?
- Two ways to think about about platform building, whether you’re starting from scratch or already have a customer base]
- Why platforms are important and how to approach creating them
- How to build it
- by yourself
- leverage another platform (the downside: the core value of a platform is data, and if you leverage another platform, you don’t get the core value)
Sangeet on building a portfolio business:
“Moonshots always work in a portfolio business model – try 10 things and 1 will work out.”
How to find Sangeet Paul Choudary online:
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 074: How to Build a Platform-based Business with Sangeet Paul Chaudary appeared first on Tom Morkes.
Monday Dec 07, 2015
Monday Dec 07, 2015
Brennan Dunn is the author of “Double Your Freelancing Rate.” He’s a freelancer, author, blogger, podcaster and software developer. He’s been in and around the world of freelancing for around 7 years, starting with a side business and growing it into a successful agency.
In this broadcast, Brennan Dunn and I talk about:
- How he was able to build a successful high-revenue agency
- How he would do things differently now if he were to build an agency including:
- Moving away from a one-and-out project model toward a recurring projectized model
- Streamlining products and projects
- Not trying to build a brick and mortar company
- Brennan explains how high end freelance work can be projectized when you have multiple clients who need the same service (revenues can be gained through licensing and offering clients on-going value)
- We discuss some of Brennan s tips for pricing and contract creation, such as:
- Remembering that clients spend money on solutions not your technical functions
- They are not paying you for what you do, rather they are paying you for what you do for them
- Helping clients find solutions to their actual problems helps you become a partner with them (and allows you to build a platform to sell high-end solutions)
- Brennan gives us his insights on how and why we should work on generating leads with people who may not actually be our clients by:
- Increasing the number of people who receive value from us
- Keeping those people close
- Asking for introductions and consistently following-up
- Continuing to add value to those people who are likely to give a referral
- We hear Brennan s tips for growing an agency team including:
- Don t hire around big projects, rather hire based on the companies profitability
- Start by working with subcontractors
- Hiring should always be strategic
How to find Brennan online:
- Websites: doubleyourfreelancing.com and freepricingcourse.com
- brennandunn
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 073: How to Raise Your Freelancing Rates with Brennan Dunn appeared first on Tom Morkes.
Monday Nov 30, 2015
Monday Nov 30, 2015
Mark Hayes is the founder of Rocketshp, a digital marketing agency in Auckland, New Zealand, and co-author of The Growth Hackers Guide to the Galaxy (Insurgent Publishing). Mark began his career as a successful business development manager at a large corporation in New Zealand, a more traditional suit job at which he was good but wasn’t passionate. Because of this, Mark shifted his focus, deciding instead to pursue a career in the marketing industry, working as a brand manager and content strategist for digital marketing companies. After gaining knowledge and experience in the digital marketing industry, Mark discovered the concept of growth hacking and decided to move in that direction.
Mark developed a web presence and began blogging to build an audience, and eventually started his own agency. Not long after its successful launch, the agency was acquired by another digital marking agency, providing Mark with another opportunity to build a new business Tiger, Tiger which was later rebranded as Rocketshp. Mark has been mentioned in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Wired UK, among many other outlets.
In this broadcast, Mark Hayes and I talk about:
- His early career and what motivated him to change career paths
- How he transitioned into digital marketing and growth hacking
- How Mark created his first successful growth hacking agency
- The acquisition of his first agency
- Strategies, principals, and considerations for creating and growing a new business,
- How Mark developed the mission statement for his agency
- How he selected the name (and why he rebranded to Rocketshp)
- How Mark goes about pricing his agencies services: cost-based vs. value-based
- How he built his client base from scratch
- How Mark built his agency, including adding new staff and how that affects his overall business
- Balancing between work and private life
- How he uses Trello to organize, delegate, and monitor work for internal and external projects
- The Ultimate Growth Hacking Sourcebook – the book that inspired “The Growth Hacker’s Guide to the Galaxy”
How to find Mark online:
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 072: How to Scale an Agency with Mark Hayes appeared first on Tom Morkes.
Monday Nov 23, 2015
Monday Nov 23, 2015
Breanne Dyck is an author, learning strategist, and operations consultant. She helps microbusinesses (and their owners) make more money and have a bigger impact by applying the principles of adult learning in their digital course design.
In this broadcast, Breanne Dyck and I talk about:
- How her experience taking courses as an entrepreneur led her to help other small business create amazing courses
- Breanne explains how your core promise to customers is at the intersection of what they think they want and what you, as the expert, know they need
- Why she recommends changing your perspective away from What do I want to teach? toward What do they want to do?
- Why Breanne thinks it is so important to listen and understand what your client thinks they want, even when we know better, and how to use that same language to talk to your client about what they need
- Two of the difficulties that content creators have that hold them back from being successful, including:
- Trying to create courses too early in their careers. Why people who skip the step of working with people one-on-one or in small groups miss out on the learning opportunities that come with that…
- People who assume the next step in their business is course creation because they are now busy. Neglecting the important step of reflecting on the question of Is creating this course a good fit for me and my business model?
- Breanne talks to us about transition points or benchmarks in business. Recommended reading:
- How Breanne came to a point where she knew she was most fulfilled by working one-on-one or in small groups rather that in large groups, and how she was been successful at doing that
- We hear about Breanne s hard analysis of her marketing strategies and why she now prefers introductions over referrals
- Breanne recommends two article for those who are beginning their content creation journey and for those who are trying to improve their content
How to find Breanne online:
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 071: How to Create 6-Figure Courses with Breanne Dyck appeared first on Tom Morkes.
Monday Nov 16, 2015
Monday Nov 16, 2015
Honoree Corder is the author of “Prosperity for Writers.” She has been a successful entrepreneur for almost twenty years, earning her first fortune and developing a lot of her skills with Shaklee Corporation, then as a business coach, and now as a successful author, executive coach, keynote speaker and corporate trainer.
In this broadcast, Honoree and I talk about:
- Why Honoree wrote her first book
- How Honoree received a traditional publishing deal for her first book but turned the deal down
- Her process to become a successful self-published author, including hiring a professional editor and graphic designer
- How her first book gained traction slowly
- How she has successfully used white labeling to sell books in bulk
- Honoree’s favorite marketing strategies including:
- Thinking of a book as ever-green marketing
- Asking the important question: “Who would benefit by sharing the content that I have created?”
- Strategies and techniques that she has used to sell books
- Why developing strategic partnerships with other professionals who can refer clients to you is so important
- The process she went through to write her latest book, what the reception to that book has been, and how she determined how to price that book
Honoree Corder’s advice to people who want to succeed as a self-publisher:
“Be in it for the long game, there are no overnight successes.”
“Keep writing every day.”
“Be willing to put in the time it takes to be successful.”
How to find Honoree online:
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 070: How to Prosper as a Writer with Honoree Corder appeared first on Tom Morkes.