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 Nov 09, 2015
Monday Nov 09, 2015
Matt Gartland is the founder of WinningEdits.com, a creative agency that helps authors with the development of their books, podcast and other products. Matt specializes in digital content development at the nexus of web technologies, business thinking, editorial strategy, storytelling, and modern publishing.
What Matt Gartland and I talk about in this broadcast:
- How he created Winning Edits to be an intersection of good story telling and the digital experience
- How one of his biggest challenges has been clearly communicating the value of professional editing
- Matt talks about how the limits of his own time and the great demand for the work he was providing drove him to partner with other editors, who share his work ethic, to create Winning Edits
- He gives us a helpful explanation of the three editing phases
- Developmental Editing
- Line Editing
- Copy Editing
- Matt discusses how referrals are the primary way in which he brings in new business
- We talk about the hybrid nature of the publishing business, with the different aspects of self publishing and traditional publishing
- Lastly, Matt gives some advice to self-publishers to think about
- What will the structure of your book be?
- How will your book flow?
- Why are you writing this book?
Contact Matt Gartland 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 069: How to Self-Publish with Matt Gartland appeared first on Tom Morkes.
Wednesday Nov 04, 2015
Wednesday Nov 04, 2015
Greg Rollett is the founder of Ambitious.com. Greg started Ambitious.com to inspire millennials to do great things.
What Greg Rollett and I talk about in this broadcast:
- How he used his experience in the music industry, especially being an opening act to help him with his writing career with Mashable.com
- How people often fail because they do not aim high and they do not share their best work when writing for others
- Greg gives us his advice for people who want to build their own media platforms
- Define who you want your audience to be
- Collect data about that audience
- Define what your goal for the consumer is after they get your product
- Create content to match the goals you have set
- Greg reminds us that media is consumed for two reasons: to be entertained or to solve a problem; the best media combines the two.
- Greg explains why the fastest way for people to make money is to niche down to solve a particular problem for a particular group of people
- What the strategies Greg used to create Ambitious.com where and how other people could apply those same strategies
- Greg tells us how his best leverage activity has been involving more people in his projects
- Greg leaves us his best piece of advice: Start! And gives us his insights on where to begin
Greg Rollett on how to avoid distraction and nay-sayers:
I only want to be known by the people who are cutting my check
Contact Greg Rollett 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 068: How to Build a Media Platform with Greg Rollett appeared first on Tom Morkes.
Monday Oct 26, 2015
Monday Oct 26, 2015
Paul Minors is a productivity writer. Paul started his platform by creating book summaries of popular non-fiction books. This helped him build a small, passionate audience organically through Google SEO. He has since turned his platform into a productivity resource – helping people do, be, and have more. According to Paul, productivity is the best way to get the best out of life.
What Paul Minors and I talk about in this broadcast:
- How Paul s book summaries came about
- Why Paul built PaulMinors.com and his strategy behind what he s doing
- Paul s idea of getting more out of life through productivity
- How Paul used Google Analytics to grow his business
- Paul s automation workflow for emails and the pros and cons of automation
- Personal engagement how Paul develops relationships with his list
- How to add credibility to your message
- Challenges of converting email list to paying customers
- How to get Paul s products, including the Personal Productivity Toolkit
- Paul s advice for beginners
Contact Paul Minors online:
Paul Minors on choosing your path:
Follow your passion. Find your own style and use that to kind of differentiate yourself.
Paul Minors on persistence:
Work really hard. It is a lot of work.
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 067: How to Automate E-mails to Grow Your Business with Paul Minors appeared first on Tom Morkes.
Monday Oct 19, 2015
Monday Oct 19, 2015
Justin Sloan is a professional video game writer, with credits including Game of Thrones and the Walking Dead. Justin is also a novelist and screenwriter, with dozens of books to his name, including “Falls of Redemption” and “Military Veterans in Creative Careers” among many others. Justin studied writing at the John Hopkins University and at the UCLA School of Theatre. Justin is also the co-host of the Self-Publishing Answers Podcast.
Justin was also in the Marines for five years, living in Japan, Korea, and Italy. He currently lives in the Bay area with his wife and kids.
What Justin Sloan and I talk about in this broadcast:
- How Justin began his writing career
- How Justin met Ashley Miller and got inspired to pursue his passion
- The techniques Justin used to connect with people in his industry to accelerate his career
- How Justin learned to connect with the right people
- The importance managers and agents in these creative careers
- The advantages of self-publishing
- How Justin learned to outline his work before sitting down to write, accelerating his turn around
- The strategy behind Justin starting his podcast, Self-Publishing Answers Podcast
- The goals Justin has set for the next several years and how he is positioning himself to make those happen
- The difference between writing for video games, screenplays, and books
Contact Justin Sloan online:
- JustinMSloan.com
- Podcast: Self-Publishing Answers Podcast
- IMDb page: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1733364/
- @justinmsloan
Other Resources mentioned in this broadcast:
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 066: How to Write for Movies and Video Games with Justin Sloan appeared first on Tom Morkes.
Monday Oct 12, 2015
Monday Oct 12, 2015
Max Altschuler is the founder of Sales Hacker Inc. and the author of Hacking Sales one of my personal favorite books on selling. He was the second business hire at Udemy.com, setting up their customer onboarding process. He pioneered some advanced growth hacks including technical web-scraping and figuring out how to access data to build massive lists of leads (which we talk about in today’s interview).
What Max Altschuler and I talk about in this broadcast:
- How to define your ideal customer
- How to gather relevant information about your ideal customer
- How to find your ideal customer
- Why it s important to discover (or create) hacks to help grow your business
- How business development can work alongside sales hacking
- How to develop the right mindset for sales
- Following up and marketing to your ideal customer
Core message from Max s book:
Build, test, measure, and optimize the more you can do that in your sales process, the better you ll be. – Max Altschuler
Contact Max online:
- Hacking Sales on Amazon
- SalesHacker.com
- @MaxAlts
- Linkedin Group: The Sales Hacker Community
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 065: How to Hack Sales with Max Altschuler appeared first on Tom Morkes.
Monday Oct 05, 2015
Monday Oct 05, 2015
Scott Levy, is a retired US Marine, who transitioned into the creative field of film, acting in both videos and movies (full length motion pictures). Over his 18 year acting career he has also performed in a plethora of TV and video games. In one of his favorite roles to look back on, he co-starred next to Vanilla Ice in The Helix: Reloaded.
What Scott Levy and I talk about in this broadcast:
- What is was like to work with Vanilla Ice on the set of The Helix (and what it was like to hang out with Vanilla Ice in Las Vegas at the daytime Emmy s)
- Why his time with the Marines unknowingly prepared him for a career in the film industry
- Why it s important to recognize defining points in your life and in your generation
- How he broke into the film industry after his military career (with no prior connections)
- The road he traveled down to land an interview with George Lucas and Skywalker Sound
- How socializing with other actors on The Lost World set gave him the confidence to move forward in his acting career
- The inside scoop on his interactions with James Cameron and George Lucas
- The story of how his career finally took off
- Why you always hear the overnight success before you realize the years of hard work that paved the way
- How his status as a military veteran gave him a competitive advantage to work for Electronic Arts
- Why he is so passionate about his work with Operation Supply Drop
- Scott’s personal recommendations on how to break into the film industry
- Why everyone should read Military Veterans in Creative Careers: Interviews with Our Nations Heroes by Justin Sloan
Find Scott Levy online:
Other Resources:
- IMDB
- Full Sail University
- Medal of Honor- War Fighter
- Army of Two
- Battlefield 4
- Operation Supply Drop
- Young Marines
- The Submarine Kid
- Devil s Third
On breaking into the industry you want:
You have to immerse yourself in that world
Just do it. Get in there and meet as many people as you can find
If you enjoyed today s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 064: How to Break into Hollywood with Scott Levy appeared first on Tom Morkes.
Thursday Oct 01, 2015
Thursday Oct 01, 2015
Tyson Adams is the co-founder of Zuddha Organic and the founder of Jhai Coffeehouse. In his businesses, he is combining his passions for philanthropy and entrepreneurship. As a result, he has started several clean water projects in Laos, where Jhai Coffeehouse is located.
Tyson went to the University of Washington and left on a one-way ticket to South East Asia. He stayed for four months and came back with the idea to start these coffee shops.
What Tyson Adams and I talk about in this broadcast:
- Why Tyson started the business of importing coffee to the US from Laos
- How Tyson organized and promoted coffee fundraisers through US high schools to raise money for philanthropic initiatives in Laos
- Why Tyson decided to transition from providing books for the communities to clean water projects
- How Tyson was able to position his non-profit to provide clean water in the local community
- How Tyson started Jhai Coffeehouse and how it helps to give back to the community
- How Tyson used crowdfunding to start a non-profit overseas
- How Tyson learned to overcome the change in culture from starting two international businesses based in foreign countries
- The importance of vulnerability
- How Tyson leaned how to create passive income to support his philantrhopic work
- The steps Tyson is taking to launch an Amazon fulfillment business
- How Tyson s Amazon business fits together with Jhai Coffeehouse and Zhudda Organic
Find Tyson Adams online:
- www.zuddha.organic (external link)
- jhaicoffeehouse.com (external link)
Other Resources:
- AJ Leon and Misfit Inc
- Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income (external link)
A quote that Tyson lives by:
One is not afraid of the unknown; one is afraid of the known coming to an end.
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 063: Philanthropic Entrepreneurship with Tyson Adams appeared first on Tom Morkes.
Monday Sep 21, 2015
Monday Sep 21, 2015
Geoff Woods is the founder and host of The Mentee Podcast. His weekly podcast provides a platform to deliver valuable information and profound wisdom for those looking to make the transition from employee to entrepreneur. On his podcast, Geoff shares what he has learned from his mentors and uses it to help others who are looking to do the same. In today’s broadcast, Geoff delves into the way you can quickly find high level mentors for yourself, as well as how he personally has connected with dozens of business leaders in a very short period of time.
What Geoff Woods and I talk about in this broadcast:
- Why he decided to launch his podcast
- The road that led him to where he is now and where he hopes to do in the future
- Hear him tell us about the event in 2013 the changed his way of thinking
- His reaction to his income being immediately cut by 40%
- Why amazing friends only are not enough
- How to build an army of mentors for yourself to help you get where you want to go
- The importance in having conversations with those smarter than yourself
- What you need to do in order to begin to meet great people
- Why you first must get clarity on the one thing you need the most help with (in 2 sentences or less)
- How to envision the ideal mentor for yourself
- Why you must leverage your relationships correctly in order to find mentors
- The method to practice in order to subconsciously meet and introduce yourself to future mentors
- What he did to be in the same room with big name mentors and how he introduced himself to them.
- Why you have to be genuine when introducing yourself to others
- The importance of being vulnerable and honest
- How to make an impact on someone in 15 seconds when meeting them to garner their help
- The way to get over approach anxiety when meeting people by showing up to add value to them
- How you should execute follow up steps and foster a great relationship with a possible mentor after meeting them.
Geoff on meeting big name mentors for the first time:
You have to be more interested than interesting
Geoff how to think when you are meeting people:
Change the way you look at things so the things you look at will change
Geoff on why you can add value to anyone immediately:
You have a skill set that is someone else s weakness
Find Geoff Woods online:
Other resources mentioned:
If you enjoyed today’s podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
The post ITT 062: Finding the Perfect Mentors with Geoff Woods appeared first on Tom Morkes.
Monday Sep 14, 2015
Monday Sep 14, 2015
Bjork Ostrom, together with his wife Lindsay, are the founders of both foodbloggerpro.com and pinchofyum.com. In less than 5 years, he and his wife built a side hobby - food blogging - into a $300,000+ per year (and growing) online membership site. As a non-profit employee and 4th grade teacher by day, Bjork and his wife navigated the early challenges of developing their passions into both a successful business and something they would enjoy doing on a daily basis. Based out of St. Paul, Minnesota, Bjork and his wife are now working together to take the business to the next level (and to see if they can't crack the 7-figure revenue mark). Bjork's wife, Lindsay, started Pinch of Yum in 2010, making their first dollar through an ad network. They started doing income reports in 2013. This instigated a lot of questions, which led to the development of Foodbloggerpro, which they rolled out over the course of 3 months from November 2012 to January 2013, raising over $10,000 in pre-sales. Foodbloggerpro now makes $300,000 a year and they're working on ways to grow the platform to 1 million / year. What Bjork Ostrom and I talk about in this broadcast:
- How a teacher and a non profit employee turned his skills into building a 6-figure membership site
- How he and his wife worked together to combine their passions for food and software
- Why reinvesting your initial revenue is so important when you're just starting out
- How to determine what to pay yourself vs. reinvest in your growing business
- How Bjork turned 500 page views a day into a $300,000 in annual revenue
- How monthly income reports attracted attention and led to the creation of FoodBloggerPro
- How Bjork is able to maintain the massive website only investing 20 hours per month
- Why you should look for ways to sharpen your skills in your current job to compliment your side hustle
- How to double the benefits of your current job by honing your skills for entrepreneurial ventures
- What Bjork did to prepare to build his very first membership site
- How he self raised $10,000 to begin the membership site (without using a crowdfunding site)
- The difference of viewing something as a business vs. an income stream
- The 3 part filter he uses to collaborate with his wife on what the next steps should be
- “1% infinity” (a philosophy that Bjork lives by)
- Why long term vision trumps short term vision for building a successful business
Bjork Ostrom on building your skill set and maximizing your time: “Any time that people are doing anything, there is always the potential to double whatever it is” Bjork Ostrom on what the big idea is: “What has gotten us here won’t get us to the next level.” Bjork Ostrom's biggest piece of advice: “Feel the burden of doing a little bit each day to make it a little bit better and to make yourself a little bit better.” Find Bjork Ostrom online:
- pinchofyum.com
- foodbloggerpro.com
- Twitter: @bjorkostrom
Other resources mentioned:
If you enjoyed today's podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
Monday Aug 17, 2015
Monday Aug 17, 2015
Sean McCabe a Hand Lettering Artist & Type Designer based in San Antonio, TX, the founder of seanwes.com and the creator of Learn Lettering 2.0. Sean also hosts a podcast for creative entrepreneurs at https://seanwes.com/podcast/. In the past the past 10 years, Sean has used his business experience to grow and sell a computer repair business, run a profitable web design firm, and build and launch a phenomenally successful series of courses on hand lettering that have grossed six figures within 3 days of launching. What Sean McCabe and I talk about in this broadcast:
- How Sean moved from playing in a band to start his first company
- How Sean pivoted his company from computer repair to web design to hand lettering
- How Sean learned to strategically approach the growth and expansion of his business
- How Sean leveraged both physical and digital products, including creating a successful course
- Why Sean waited 2 years to build his first product
- The pros and cons of physical products
- The 80/20 approach to balance marketing and creation with Sean's 6-figure course launch
- How Sean used the advice to create a tiered packaging system
- The strategy Sean used to create the second version of his course (learnlettering.com)
- How Sean learned to hire employee
- How to know what only you can do
Sean McCabe on how to create a loyal fan-base: "Create an experience more than sell a product" Sean McCabe on why less is sometimes more: "To get from 90 to 100% in quality takes 10x the time...and only 1% of people will notice" Find Sean McCabe online:
- Course: learnlettering.com
- Podcast: https://seanwes.com/podcast/
Other resources mentioned in the broadcast:
If you enjoyed today's podcast, please leave a review on iTunes here. Thanks so much in advance for your support.