In The Trenches with Tom Morkes provides behind-the-scenes look into the life and work of entrepreneurs, writers, artists, warriors, and leaders.
Episodes
Saturday Dec 06, 2014
Saturday Dec 06, 2014
How to Start a Major Festival from SCRATCH
Have you ever wanted to start your own conference, festival, or event? You know, like TomCon, or the Morkes Festival? Me too. That's why I brought Stephen Ananicz onto In The Trenches today. Stephen is the cofounder of the The Key West Film Festival, and has a background in acting and film production (if you check out his name on IMDB you’ll see him credited in movies like Pirates of the Caribean and Salt, among other blockbusters). And while his background in film is interesting in and of itself, I really wanted Stephen on In The Trenches today to talk about how he created the Key West Film Festival from scratch. Creating any sort of festival or conference is a massive undertaking and I really wanted to dig into the details on how exactly Stephen went from idea to finished product on a project with such scale. As a quick background on the festival: The Key West Film Festival was founded in 2012 as a nonprofit independent film festival supporting the South Florida art and film community. It’s now going into it’s 3rd year come this November and is continuing to grow in size and popularity. So seriously, if you've ever been interested in creating your own major headline event, this is the interview for you.
What Stephen Ananicz and I talk about:
- How Stephen’s background in film allowed him an inside look at the film industry and gave him a ton of experience with film festivals
- How he first created the idea for a film festival in Key West, Florida in 2010
- How Stephen conducted his initial market research (and why this was paramount to making the event work...pun intended?)
- What it was like to see the idea snowball to the point of no return (launch or fail)
- The precise steps for creating a successful festival from scratch (yes, I had Stephen number and organize them for me)
- How to build the right team for whatever your project is (and why it was essential Stephen got the local community on board)
- How Stephen tweaked and pivoted the event so it become more productive and successful
- And much much more
Stephen Ananicz on how to start, finish, and ship a massive project:
Stay focused on one thing. [click to tweet]
Connect with Stephen and the Key West Film Festival:
kwfilmfest.com Key West Film Festival's Facebook Key West Film Festival's Twitter
Saturday Dec 06, 2014
Saturday Dec 06, 2014
Building a Tech Startup from the Ground Up.
We all hear variations of the following phrases - ‘you need to work like a madman to be successful’ OR ‘you need to work hard…and then work harder to get what you want’ but what does that really mean? It’s easy to say you should ‘hustle’ but it’s a lot harder to ACTUALLY put in the time and effort to make things happen. Enter John Genovese – a guy who truly exemplifies the word hustle. John is the co-founder of Polite Persistence LLC. a business consulting and growth strategy optimization firm specializing in helping entrepreneurs and business owners find success faster. Their flagship product: the Polite Persistence App, is an email application that is, according to John, “The Fastest and Easiest Way to Send Follow Up Emails, Guaranteed.” In today’s broadcast, we go in depth on why this claim isn’t an exaggeration by showing you how the Polite Persistence App works, how John has bootstrapped his startup from nothing yet has managed to get the attention of hundreds of entrepreneurs and business owners even though they have yet to launch the final product, and the step by step process he’s using to do it. Entrepreneurs, business owners and creative looking to sell your work – listen up. The lessons and strategies we talk about apply beyond the scope of Software as a Service businesses to anything you want to sell or promote (from art, to writing, to your own business to a movement of any kind). So take out your pen and paper and get ready to take some notes.
What John Genovese and I talk about:
- How John came up with the idea for his tech startup (and why this validated the business model almost instantly)
- Why following up with people the RIGHT way is so important for entrepreneurs
- How to connect with people you admire (by giving them an offer they can't refuse)
- How John bootstrapped this tech startup with NO coding experience and NO background in UI, design, or engineering
- Why John gives away free beta licenses to prospective customers to get them on board (and how this builds his sales funnel)
- How John prices his products - and WHY he chose those price points
- Everything and anything Lean Startup - this is a big broadcast and we talk through the ENTIRE process, from start, to finish, to ship, of John's software business
Seriously, we probably cover a hundred topics on building a startup from scratch, so check out the episode and learn a little something. 
Awesome Quote from John Genovese:
Anything is possible with persistence and passion. [click to tweet]
Where You can Find John Genovese Online:
PolitePersistence.com Polite Persistence Facebook @PolitePersist
Additional Resources and Links
Saturday Dec 06, 2014
Saturday Dec 06, 2014
The Podcast Answer Man: Cliff Ravenscraft
Have you ever been passionate about a pastime, but didn't think it could ever develop into anything more (like a business)? Maybe it's time to reevaluate your thinking. In today's broadcast of In The Trenches, I sit down with Cliff Ravenscraft, a man who turned a passionate side project into a 6 figure business in a few short years. Cliff started podcasting as a hobby in 2005… In a couple short years, his podcasts had garnered enough attention for him to quit his day job and pursue podcasting full time. Now, Cliff not only produces multiple podcasts (and personally recorded over 3,000 episodes), but he is also a podcasting consultant and coach. I had the honor of meeting Cliff in person when he and Pat Flynn hosted a meetup in Nashville. Not only does Cliff know his stuff when it comes to entrepreneurship, specifically in regards to building your audience through podcasting, but he’s a super down to earth person. If you’re at all interested in podcasting, marketing, or simply turning a passion into a business, definitely check out today’s broadcast.
What Cliff Ravenscraft and I talk about:
- How cliff started in Christian ministry, and how that has profoundly affected his entrepreneurial journey to this day
- Why Cliff gave up a 6 figure salary to pursue podcasting full time - something that was barely making him enough money to survive, at the time
- Cliff's hobby of podcasting and how it all started in 2005 with a podcast about the TV show Lost
- How Cliff 'lean started' his podcasting career with a $35 headset and had his first show up (called Generally Speaking) and running within 15 hours
- How he got to 17,000 subscribers by the third episode of his Lost podcast and pivoted to capitalize on his success
- Why Cliff gave himself plenty of time to 'side hustle' podcasting before going at it full time
- How his first year of podcasting only brought in $11,000 in profit for him and his whole family - but he kept hustling to make his dream come true
- The reality of being an entrepreneur and how Cliff worked 14-18 hours a day for the first 9 months of becoming a full-time entrepreneur
- Why entrepreneurs need to pace themselves (and Cliff's intense story of how he overworked himself to the point of being hospitalized and almost dying)
- What it's like to produce 30 different shows and more than 3,000 podcast episodes (hint: it's a lot of work)
Timeless Quotes from Cliff Ravenscraft:
“You can best achieve success by helping other people achieve success.” [click to tweet]
“If you give enough away for free people will beg you for ways to give you money in return.” [tweet]
Where You can Find Cliff:
Additional Resources and Links
Saturday Dec 06, 2014
Saturday Dec 06, 2014
Jason Andrew Bond: Bestselling Author
In today’s broadcast, I sit down with bestselling author, Jason Andrew Bond. Jason is a full time fiction writer who has written several novels and short stories. His first novel, Hammerhead, has over 100 5-star reviews on Amazon (as of this writing), and hit best seller status shortly after its release. While that's remarkable in its own right - it's rare for any author to hit bestseller status, let alone on their first novel - the most remarkable part is this: Jason self-published and had no massive marketing push for his book. Everything he did, he did it himself. Hammerhead made it to bestseller status through word of mouth alone. THAT is impressive. You might think this success, so early and so quickly, has allowed Jason to sit back and relax a little, but nothing could be further from the truth. As you’ll hear in today’s interview, success isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. So if you’re a writer, blogger, author or just curious about the creative process, take out a pen and paper and download today’s interview. There is a ton of great stuff to learn from here, including…
What Jason Andrew Bond and I talk about:
- How Jason started writing early in life and the impact it has had on his writing today
- What it’s like to have incredible success with a first book, and how to deal with it
- The single most important factor in finishing and shipping a novel (hint: it’s got nothing to do with luck or circumstance)
- Why Jason’s bestseller Hammerhead resonates with Veterans – and why he donates 25% of all profit to help and support disabled veterans
- How to develop a creative routine (writers, bloggers, authors, entrepreneurs: listen up!)
- How to find inspiration to write consistently every day
- What Jason did to hit Amazon’s best seller list on his first try…without connections or a huge marketing budget
- The first thing you need to do after you publish a book (this is the difference between professionals and hobbyists)
- The most important element of writing books that sell
- Why marketing doesn’t matter – but relationships do
- The power of a small, passionate list and why it’s even more powerful than a traditional publishing contract
- Which types of books you should read, and which you should avoid like the plague, if you want to succeed as a writer (I love this recommendation!)
Great Quotes from Jason Bond:
How to be a great writer: “Go home tonight and write for 5 minutes…do that as long as your heart is beating. [click to tweet]
The key to success in life: “5 minutes a day of writing, 5 minutes a day of reading and you just can’t go wrong. [click to tweet]
Where You can Find Jason:
JasonAndrewBond.com @JasonAndrewBond
More Resources
Nathan Lowell Zen and the Art of Writing The War of Art Robert Dugoni Hammerhead
Tuesday Dec 02, 2014
Tuesday Dec 02, 2014
Change is Good
In today’s broadcast, I sit down with Ryan Delk – creative entrepreneur, networker extraordinaire and Lead Growth at Gumroad. If you’re not familiar with Gumroad, it’s the platform I use for all my products and allows me to make my products Pay What You Want (believe it or not, almost no other platform out there has this same feature). Take a test drive by checking out my book 2 Days With Seth Godin below (as you can see, it seamlessly integrates with my website – and all that took was a few lines of code that I copy and pasted into this page). 2 Days With Seth Godin In today’s broadcast of In The Trenches, Ryan and I talk about the power of a platform like Gumroad, why something like this was the natural evolution of online commerce, and how it’s changing the digital commerce landscape as we know it. If you enjoy today’s broadcast, please leave an honest review on iTunes. The more ratings and reviews I get for the podcast, the more reach and impact it will have. So if you enjoy it, spread the word by leaving a review!
What we talk about
- How Ryan Delk got started as an entrepreneur by building a startup in Africa
- Why Ryan always adds value before he asks for value (and why that's helped him establish powerful relationships around the world)
- Why Ryan decided to join Gumroad as opposed to other startup opportunities that were presented to him
- How Ryan has helped Gumroad develop into a digital commerce-disrupting platform
- Why Gumroad chose to be a conduit between artists and consumers – and why that makes them better for artists and consumers than marketplaces like Amazon or iTunes
- Why 25% in profit is a game-changing figure for artists trying to sell their work – and how Gumroad is leveraging this number to convert artists to their platform
- How Gumroad was built for the independent creator but rapidly scaled to accommodate big name artists
- Why Gumroad gives all the data to the creator – and why this is disrupting non-transparent companies like Amazon and iTunes
- How Gumroad puts the power in the hands of the creator to connect directly with and engage with their audience (unlike Amazon or iTunes) – and how this could lead to thousands more in sales
- How creators can leverage Gumroad to create upsells and sell more to their audiences
- The power of Pay What You Want – and why it’s changing the digital marketplace for the better
- How Pay What You Want can increase revenue by 60%
- Why creators should be very excited about what’s on the horizon for Gumroad (think better analytics and more developer flexibility)
Awesome Quotes from Ryan Delk:
“People fundamentally underestimate how engaged and excited the top 1-3% of their audience is.” [click to tweet] “Always add value before you ask for value.” [tweeeet]
Where You Can Find Ryan Delk Online:
Email: R (at) Gumroad.com Twitter: @delk LinkedIn
Additional Show Notes:
Tuesday Dec 02, 2014
Tuesday Dec 02, 2014
Change Your Diet - Change Your Life
Today’s guest is Jennifer Blanchard – a writer, creative wellness and writing coach, and all around creative entrepreneur. Jennifer helps entrepreneurs take their books from idea to draft, so they can grow their audience and propel their business to the next level, without fear, distractions or disorganization. She does this through a focus on creative wellness (how food, fitness and health affects our creativity). Currently, Jennifer is in the process of consolidating her many websites online into one resource, which you can find at jenniferblanchard.net. She has an eBook coming out at the end of September called Creative On Command: Instant Inspiration Exactly When You Need it, which is all about how health affects creativity. If you’ve ever suffered from lack of motivation or creativity, definitely check out Jennifer’s website and pick up her new book when it's released.
What We Talk About
- How Jennifer found her way as a writer, entrepreneur and coach
- Why she decided to combine health and creativity into her coaching business
- How health and fitness affects your creativity (and steps you can take today to start living a healthier, more creative life)
- Why everyone is creative - they just need to nourish it
- How to become a successful writer
- The power of sitting down to write every day
- How to become more creative through a practice and healthy living
Cool Quotes from the Interview:
"Everybody has innate creativity - we were born with it." "Anything you can do that is creative - just do it because that is going to help you get better."
Where You Can Find Jennifer Blanchard Online:
Additional Show Notes:
Tuesday Dec 02, 2014
Tuesday Dec 02, 2014
Are You Ready to Ignite?
Today’s guest is a massively successful podcaster, a U.S. Army veteran, and one of my major inspirations for creating my OWN podcast – John Lee Dumas. John is the Founder and Host of Entrepreneur On Fire, a daily podcast that interviews todays most inspiring and successful Entrepreneurs. He’s also the author of the hugely successful ebook: Podcast Launch: A Step by Step Podcasting Guide. John is an ex Army Officer who served 8 years in the Army including a tour in Iraq. When John transitioned out of the military, he worked at some great jobs, but, as he put it, he wasn’t able to find his passion. And that’s when Entrepreneur On Fire was born. In the past year, John has grown his podcast from 0 to 175,000 unique downloads every month. For those unfamiliar with podcast metrics, this is an extremely impressive figure, and is a testament to John’s work ethic and creative ingenuity. In today's broadcast, John walks us through the precise steps he took to create a 6-figure business from scratch in a matter of 6 months. For those interested in entrepreneurship, John's lessons here extend beyond podcasting to the greater world of business (i.e. how to identify a niche, how to effectively target and sell to that market, etc). You can learn a lot from John, so I highly encourage you to check out his podcast and subscribe!
What We Talk About
- How John went from no network, no connections and no prior experience in podcasting to one of the most powerful and well known entrepreneurs’ podcast on the planet
- How John went from $0.00 to $13,000 a month in 6 months from a simple podcast
- How John decides what projects to pursue and which to ignore
- How John uses laser focus to create a 6 figure business – but how he’s also subscribes to Pat Flynn’s “Be Everywhere” mantra
- Why you need to outsource parts of your business as soon as possible
- How John uses YouTube to increase his podcast exposure
- How John repurposed his own material to create a massively successful Amazon book
- Why you should use the lean startup method for your online business
- How to use virtual assistance to leverage time and increase reach and exposure for your brand
- How John prioritizes his time to create the biggest impact
- Why you need to stop wondering if you can do it and just start
Awesome Quotes from John Lee Dumas:
“Find your focus. Find your niche. Really niche down to something you want to be known for – that you want to be great at.” “My priority was always to inspire millions and to provide value first and I knew things would follow.”
Where You Can Find John Online:
Entrepreneur On Fire Twitter Facebook
Additional Show Notes:
Tuesday Dec 02, 2014
Tuesday Dec 02, 2014
Your Higher Purpose
In today's interview, I talk with Dan about The Higher Purpose Project. It's an intensive training course designed to help you live a life of courage aligned with your highest values. It pretty much goes without saying that I support the project and encourage anyone interested to reach out to Dan and apply to be a part of it.
Starting From Scratch
In 2012, Dan Adams did something impossible. With no experience, no resources and no connections, Dan created an award winning (2012 ESPY Award winning, actually) social project called Mission Kilimanjaro where he and a small team of veterans and civilians summited Kilimanjaro. Of course, summiting Kilimanjaro, while impressive, isn’t the remarkable part...climbing it alongside a quadruple amputee while raising awareness for disabled kids and veterans (and donating $25,000 to the Mwereni Integrated School for the Blind) certainly is.
The Call to Adventure
Dan’s story, though, like so many others, didn’t start at this culminating point – it started years before with many trials and tribulations. Back in high school, Dan knew he wanted to play college football. While a talented and disciplined player, he was considered undersized for his position as a middle linebacker (at 5’9” 190lbs give or take) and nobody expected him to play college football. Not only did Dan make the team of a Division I school, he set a record for most unassisted tackles his junior year. Possibly even more impressive: he still owns the record for most unassisted tackles in one game many years later (he set the mark pretty high). After college, Dan entered corporate America. While he was doing okay for himself financially, he found himself emotionally drained from the unfulfilling work. At one point in his career, Dan even brought in $34,000 in a single day. A great day by anyone's standards, to be sure. For Dan, it was the worst day of his life. Dan realized he wasn’t living the life he was advising others to live and this self-reflection led to an epiphany: you can’t change others by telling them what to do, you can only change others by setting the example and living the part. So Dan set a date to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with Kyle Maynard to show veterans and kids with disabilities around the world that regardless of the challenges they face, no obstacle is too great to conquer. In 2012, Dan and his team conquered Mount Kilimanjaro. And now he's off conquering new and greater obstacles.
Dan's Hero's Journey
This is just a short intro to Dan Adams – an incredibly intelligent, compassionate and driven person. In today’s broadcast, I sit down with Dan to dig into his story and find out how he did what he did (and what he's planning for the future). Just one of the remarkable things we talk about: how Dan uses disciplined visualization to achieve success (from visualizing the plays and tackles he’s going to make the night before a game, to the visualization process for creating an award winning initiative from scratch). Simply put – if you’re interested in improving yourself or your performance in any aspect of your life, you HAVE to listen to this interview. Dan’s the real deal and we dig into exactly what he did to create success in so many aspects of his life. I know I personally took a ton of notes and plan on listening to this podcast more than once as I develop the projects I'm working on. So enjoy today's broadcast and please leave a review on iTunes! when you finish.
What Dan Adams and I talk about:
- How Dan transitioned from corporate America to founding an award winning movement in less than two years
- How Dan took the leap into doing work he's passionate about
- Why the first step is the hardest (but also the most important)
- The importance of adversity and taking big leaps
- Dan’s 2 painful and personal experiences that changed his life
- The importance of embodying the virtues we want to see in others (and living the life we want to see others live)
- How Dan uses visualization to manifest his life on a daily basis (seriously, he's set national records and won massive awards using this technique)
- What it’s like to start with no experience, no resources, and no connections, yet still craft and bring into reality an award winning project
- The power of focusing on one thing at a time
- How Dan creates success in his life through persistent focus and discipline
- How Joseph Campbell’s “Hero's Journey” influenced Dan’s personal creative journey
- How Dan built an award winning mission by learning from others and connecting the dots
- How fear is an indicator to take the first step and a guidepost that you’re headed in the right direction
- The power of expressing authentic gratitude for another persons work as a way to start a powerful relationship
- Why having the mindset of creating value for others will always lead you to success
- How Dan bootstrapped a massively successful personal change initiative (and how next year will be even better)
- Why you need to embrace Neverland (the Peter Pan story Neverland, not Michael Jackson’s ranch)
Awesome Quotes:
On the need for adversity:
When everything is comfortable we don’t take the steps we need to evolve. [tweet]
On fear (and courage):
Whenever I fear something I go right at it. I see fear as the accelerator. [tweet]
On starting your hero's journey:
The people that succeed are the people that take the first step. [tweet]
A Short Clip from Dan's Project: Mission Kilimanjaro:
Where You Can Find Dan:
www.thehigherpurposeproject.com www.athleticcapital.com/ missionkilimanjaro.com @AthleticCapital Facebook
Additional Show Notes
Joseph Campbell (Hero’s Journey) Collected Works http://kyle-maynard.com/
p.s. if you enjoy the show, please leave a review on iTunes and help spread the word.
Tuesday Dec 02, 2014
Tuesday Dec 02, 2014
Prepare for the (smart business) Revolution...
The White House, the California Governor’s Office, Hollywood, and Silicon Valley – these are some of the most well-known and most powerful places in the world – and John Corcoran’s worked in all of them. John is an attorney and small business advisor with the Corcoran Law Firm outside of San Francisco, where he helps entrepreneurs, business owners and real estate investors. He’s also the founder of SmartBusinessRevolution.com where he helps entrepreneurs succeed, online and off. Earlier in his career, John served in the White House, as a Speechwriter and Press Aide in for the governor of California, for a law firm in heart of Silicon Valley, and, at one point, John even worked in Hollywood. One thing I know about John – he is a networking master and a genuinely selfless person. He’s personally helped me connect with some really big players in the business world, so I know firsthand his abilities. I highly encourage subscribing to his newsletter and checking out his excellent podcast. 
That’s just a brief overview of Johns working background. As you’ll find out once you listen to the interview, John’s done an incredible amount of interesting work. Bottom line, John is a wealth of knowledge and experience in writing, entrepreneurship, and building relationships, and he really is an instigator if I’ve ever met one – someone who starts, finishes, and ships projects all the time. A great listen for entrepreneurs and writers (we dig into his upcoming book and actually expose some really cool details about successful self-publishing with numbers and stats to back them up!). Definitely check it out, and leave a comment (and review on iTunes!) when you finish.
What we talk about
- How John Corcoran networked his way into the White House, Hollywood, and Silicon Valley
- Why John switched from speechwriting to law to online entrepreneurship
- How John’s business experience helps pull in the right customers
- How John uses major news outlets and social media to get leads for his legal, coaching and consultation services
- How John uses content marketing to target specific audiences for his desired end-state (i.e. how he gets small business entrepreneurs to come to him for help)
- The slog of doing creative work (and how to succeed at it)
- The price of success (it doesn’t get easier as you get bigger)
- The power of adrenaline and how to harness it to take your work to the next level
- How to harness your dissatisfaction to create brilliance
- How to abandon your writing to make it better
- All about John’s upcoming book – and we dig deep into self-publishing, benefits of traditional versus self-publishing, and the power of going your own route
- Why the blank canvas is a terrible place to start – start with a plan!
Awesome Quotes:
On business:
Who are you serving and how can you provide value and assistance to them? [tweet]
On Life:
If you’re unhappy with your lot in life, harness that to mobilize yourself to write that book, or to start that blog, or to start that podcast …or whatever it is that you need to do that’s going to make you a happier person in life.”
Where You Can Find John:
SmartBusinessRevolution.com The Smart Business Revolution Podcast Facebook Twitter YouTube
Additional Show Notes
The Tipping Point **p.s. if you enjoy the show, leave a review on iTunes and help spread the word.
Tuesday Dec 02, 2014
Tuesday Dec 02, 2014
Today’s broadcast is part 2 in a 2 part series. Part 1 can be found by clicking here. In part 1 (broadcast 9), Tommy and I talk about crowd funding. What it is, how it works, and how to successfully create a crowd funding campaign for your product.
Content Marketing 101
In today's broadcast, Tommy Walker explains everything there is to know about content marketing. What is content marketing? Simply put: it's content with a purpose (and that purpose is to elicit one of 4 responses - see below). As Tommy explains, every time you interact with a piece of content, it’s a transaction. If you're reading this blog post right now, you're exchanging your time and attention for information from me. All content works this way (from youtube to books to live music), but unless it has a purpose, it's not content marketing.
The 4 types (and purposes) for content:
- Viral Content: To be shared
- Discussion Content: To be commented on / discussed
- Lead Content: To get a lead (filling out a form, email address, etc.)
- Sales Content: To close a sale (actually sell your product or service)
Each of these types of content has a purpose - to get a reader to take action. If you're interested in finding out how to use each of these types of content, or why they work, listen to the podcast (it's definitely worth your time).
About Tommy Walker
Tommy Walker is an online marketing strategist, creator of the marketing video series “Inside The Mind” and the producer of the online video roundtable interview series “The Mindfire Chats.” Tommy started his journey in the online marketing world in 2005. Since 2009, Tommy’s been consulting full time for small businesses. Tommy has done a number of remarkable things in the online world, from reinventing the way people learn about marketing (via his “Inside The Mind” educational video series), to producing the free, popular and fast growing “The Mindfire Chats” where experts and industry professionals come together to discuss everything and anything marketing related. For more information about Tommy Walker, check out his website: http://tommy.ismy.name/
What we Talk About in Broadcast 10:
- Why your network is an investment (and you need to treat it as such)
- How to measure the return on investment of your content
- How the 4 types of content work (and how to create and use each to get the response you want from your audience)
- Why you should know who your audience is BEFORE you start writing (creating/designing/inventing)
- The power of content marketing and how it will help you increase sales and authority
- Why you need bigger ears (and how to develop them)