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 Apr 13, 2020
Monday Apr 13, 2020
Edward Kay works with associations who are frustrated by the inability to get digital and web technology working for them. Clients come to him who are struggling with terrible website-to-membership-database integration, lack of member self-service and important data isolated in unconnected systems. Edward is passionate about making tech deliver for membership organisations and associations.
On this week’s episode, I sit down with Edward Kay, a membership technology specialist and the founder of Tall Projects, which provides digital services for membership organizations and associations. I brought Edward on the call to talk about his journey into freelancing; specifically how he keeps his operation lean, how he moved away from trading time for money to a recurring revenue subscription model, and why it’s so important to niche down and then maybe niche down some more.
My big takeaway from this episode is that the crux of success is discipline work. And that it’s completely possible to land great clients and organize your business and lifestyle so that it serves you and not the other way around.
In this broadcast, Edward and I talk about:
- What is Edward’s business journey
- How did Edward find his niche
- Why you need to keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities
- How did Edward move to a recurring revenue model
- Why you need to experiment with your pricing on different clients
- How can you ensure a project isn’t taking more time than you first quoted
- Why is it important to niche down
- The importance of expectations around retainers
- Is a retainer based system the best option for freelancers
- How can you be more disciplined in your business to make the most of your time
- What are Edward’s best practices to keep clients for the long haul
- Why you need to invest in a team for the long-term
How to Connect with Edward:
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Did you enjoy today's broadcast of In The Trenches? Please click here to leave an honest rating and review on iTunes. Your review helps me spread the word of this podcast, which allows me to line up amazing guests and continue to produce this podcast ad-free. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
Podcast and show note production by Nives Kurjak. Click here to get 10% off your podcast production for life.
Monday Mar 23, 2020
Monday Mar 23, 2020
Samir Patel is the founder and managing partner of Trophy Point Investment Group. He bought his first hotel when he was a junior in college. Samir has successfully served as an officer in the US Army serving as the chief operations officer of a 1,000 person organization. He has engaged in real estate transactions/investments, acquisition of businesses and creating businesses for 10 years.
In today’s episode, Samir and I discuss how to mitigate downside risk by spotting financial liabilities and closing them up and more broadly, handling the chaos.
In this broadcast, Samir and I talk about:
- How does Samir turn companies around
- Where did Samir’s entrepreneurship journey begin
- How did Westpoint shape Samir’s business mindset
- How was Samir able to handle his side hustles while on active duty
- What caused Samir to pursue business ventures full-time
- What it’s like to turn around after bankruptcy
- The importance of honesty and knowing when to let people go
- The importance of communication and asking questions regarding loans
- What does Samir look for in terms of chaos and uncertainty
- What should brick and mortar stores prioritize
- How the complexities of loans can be managed effectively
How to Connect with Samir:
- Email - samir@trophypointinvestment.com
- Call - (470) 236-2489
Get the Latest Broadcasts of In The Trenches on Your Favorite Podcast Platform:
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How You Can Support In The Trenches
Did you enjoy today's broadcast of In The Trenches? Please click here to leave an honest rating and review on iTunes. Your review helps me spread the word of this podcast, which allows me to line up amazing guests and continue to produce this podcast ad-free. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
Podcast and show note production by Nives Kurjak. Click here to get 10% off your podcast production for life.
Monday Feb 03, 2020
Monday Feb 03, 2020
Gaetano Caruana is the founder of EarlyParrot, which is a referral marketing software that has helped hundreds of businesses generate high-quality leads through referrals. EarlyParrot was built out of a need and soon evolved into a flexible platform that can be plugged into any sales firm.
Today, I sit down with Gaetano Caruana to discuss how to grow your email list and scale your revenue with an automated referral marketing system. I know that sounds like a lot, but it’s truly not that complex. We’ll also dive into how easy it is, how profitable it can be, how a referral program can increase your brand awareness and customer loyalty, why referrals are typically higher quality leads and why that matters to you and your business. Gaetano will also share how referral programs lower the cost of acquisition and so much more.
My big takeaway for this episode is for you to listen to the part where we talk about exclusivity. Now, I’m just going to leave it at that. You’ll have to listen to the rest of the episode to know what I’m talking about!
In this broadcast, Gaetano and I talk about:
- What led Gaetano to founding EarlyParrot
- What are the steps it takes to incentivize word of mouth marketing
- Which incentives should you use when it comes to list building v.s. e-commerce
- Why you need to be smart and clear with the rewards you’re giving away
- What is a double-sided campaign and is it hard to implement
- How much does EarlyParrot usually charge to ensure everything is integrated properly
- Why you don’t have to give something expensive to get someone engaged
- Is there anything someone should be cognizant of when choosing your incentives
- How to promote your referral program for the best results
- What are some ways to lower the cost of acquisition
- In what ways is affiliate marketing different than referral marketing
- How difficult is it to integrate a referral marketing campaign into specific software
- How does having a referral program in place allow you to keep growing bigger and bigger
- What content can you use to promote your referral program
- How to plan for negativity or backlash
- What ways can you market your referral program without being spammy
How to Connect with Gaetano:
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Did you enjoy today's broadcast of In The Trenches? Please click here to leave an honest rating and review on iTunes. Your review helps me spread the word of this podcast, which allows me to line up amazing guests and continue to produce this podcast ad-free. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
Podcast and show note production by Nives Kurjak. Click here to get 10% off your podcast production for life.
Monday Jan 27, 2020
Monday Jan 27, 2020
Jennifer Lehner is a Digital Marketing Strategist and Adjunct Professor of Digital Marketing at Cleveland State University. She shows entrepreneurs how to build an audience and monetize their expertise online using social media and digital tools. She creates online courses and trainings, while also speaking at businesses and universities about the fast-changing world of digital media and how important it is to know exactly how to use these new tools to differentiate yourself, to tell your story and take control of your future.
On this week’s episode, I’m sitting down with Jennifer Lerner to discuss how to start and grow a profitable recurring revenue membership site. But that’s not all we discuss! We also dive deep into membership sites, including why membership sites are all about the experience, how to grow a membership site that requires minimal content creation, what content to restrict and what to share, how to use events to reward existing members while generating new paid membership signups and so much more.
Typically I would highlight one of my biggest takeaways for the episode, but it’s kind of hard to do today because the whole episode is very solid! So if you want to launch, grow or run a recurring revenue membership site, then I think all the different components of what you’ll hear today will be worthwhile to you.
In this broadcast, Jen and I talk about:
- What led Jen to creating her first membership site
- What was Jen’s original strategy when deciding what content to put together for her membership
- When did Jen start blogging and creating content
- How did Jen spin her lack of content into a positive
- How to know if you should have a monthly or yearly membership
- Should entrepreneurs gravitate towards creating experience and if so, how can they do this
- How can you generate new leads for your membership
- Why does Jen never do free trials
- Could someone run a membership site as a side hustle
- How can you ensure your other products aren’t being cannibalized by your membership
- Why you need to make sure your membership is promoted everywhere
How to Connect with Jen:
Get the Latest Broadcasts of In The Trenches on Your Favorite Podcast Platform:
Subscribe to In The Trenches on iTunes
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How You Can Support In The Trenches
Did you enjoy today's broadcast of In The Trenches? Please click here to leave an honest rating and review on iTunes. Your review helps me spread the word of this podcast, which allows me to line up amazing guests and continue to produce this podcast ad-free. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
Podcast and show note production by Nives Kurjak. Click here to get 10% off your podcast production for life.
Monday Jan 20, 2020
Monday Jan 20, 2020
Jonathan Keyser is the founder and CEO of Keyser. By using his own selfless service model, Jonathan was able to turn Keyser into the largest tenant rep commercial real estate firm in Arizona in just six years.
The rapid growth and continued success of Keyser inspired Jonathan to share, teach and train the next generation of selfless leaders using his model, hence the Keyser Institute was born. To top it all off, Jonathan is also a Wall Street Journal Best-Selling Author of You Don’t Have to Be Ruthless to Win, a book that chronicles Jonathan’s journey from self-described ruthlessness to selfless service, including why and how he did it and how you can do the same.
In today’s conversation, we talk about why you don’t have to be ruthless to win a business, or life, and that there’s another way to do things. We also talk about why you must align your business model with your values and how to inculcate this in your team.
In this broadcast, Jonathan and I talk about:
- How did Jonathan’s journey begin
- What does the term “ruthlessness” mean to Jonathan
- How did Jonathan transform himself from being ruthless to more selfless
- In what way does Jonathan approach selfless service
- How to implement selfless service into your business
- The importance of self-reinvention to grow your business
- What are the three levels of self-reinvention
- How to structure a culture of selfless service around reinvention
- How to incorporate Jonathan’s culture of service model in a team setting
- In what ways does Jonathan’s service model require a business model shift
How to Connect with Jonathan:
Get the Latest Broadcasts of In The Trenches on Your Favorite Podcast Platform:
Subscribe to In The Trenches on iTunes
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How You Can Support In The Trenches
Did you enjoy today's broadcast of In The Trenches? Please click here to leave an honest rating and review on iTunes. Your review helps me spread the word of this podcast, which allows me to line up amazing guests and continue to produce this podcast ad-free. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
Podcast and show note production by Nives Kurjak. Click here to get 10% off your podcast production for life.
Monday Dec 23, 2019
Monday Dec 23, 2019
John Jantsch is a marketing consultant, speaker, and author of Duct Tape Marketing, The Referral Engine, Duct Tape Selling, The Commitment Engine, and SEO for Growth. His newest work, The Self-reliant Entrepreneur 366 Daily Meditations to Feed Your Soul and Grow Your Business, taps into the wisdom of 19th-century transcendentalist literature and the author’s own 30 year entrepreneurial journey to challenge today’s entrepreneurs to remain fiercely self-reliant while chasing their own version of success.
My big takeaway from today’s conversation is that there are two major challenges that every entrepreneur will run into - two major roadblocks. The first challenge is distraction, losing time, not making useful gains because you’re getting sidetracked. It’s the result of a lack of focus, but ultimately, distraction is really crippling because there’s only so many days in a row that you can not make progress before you have to throw in the towel for anything you’re doing. So remember, that distraction will keep you from making those daily gains. The second thing that John shares is one of the biggest challenges or failure points for entrepreneurs and creatives is comparison, and that’s getting caught up in what other people are doing. So the reason comparison is so deadly is because at best, it’s a distraction.
In this broadcast, John and I talk about:
- How did John enter the marketing space
- What are the greatest frustrations in marketing
- Why did John decide to write his first book
- What caused John to shift to self-reliant entrepreneurship marketing
- Why did John choose a workbook style format for his book
- How-to books and the lack of “why”
- How did mid-19th century writings influence John’s book
- In what ways did John approach his book in a “morning routine” fashion
- What is the most appropriate level of entrepreneurship is John’s book most helpful
- What are the common challenges that entrepreneurs face
- How can you use mindfulness to increase productivity
- What are John’s thoughts on goals and setting your aim as an entrepreneur
- What are some examples of hacks or tricks to stay focused
- What are John’s closing thoughts for 2020
How to Connect with John:
- Check out John’s book at selfreliantentrepreneur.com
- ducttapemarketing.com
Get the Latest Broadcasts of In The Trenches on Your Favorite Podcast Platform:
Subscribe to In The Trenches on iTunes
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How You Can Support In The Trenches
Did you enjoy today's broadcast of In The Trenches? Please click here to leave an honest rating and review on iTunes. Your review helps me spread the word of this podcast, which allows me to line up amazing guests and continue to produce this podcast ad-free. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
This podcast and show note production by Nives Kurjak. Click here to get 10% off (for life)
Monday Nov 11, 2019
Monday Nov 11, 2019
Jonathan Stark is a former software developer who is on a mission to rid the world of hourly billing. He is the author of Hourly Billing is Nuts, the host of Ditching Hourly and writes a daily newsletter on pricing for independent professionals.
During today’s conversation, Jonathan breaks down the idea of ditching hourly rates and why you should think about shifting more towards the less limiting avenue of value pricing. My big takeaway from today’s conversation was that if you are selling services professionally, hourly billing is probably not the way to go. It limits your upside profit potential and it can also harm relationships with longer term clients.
In this broadcast, Jonathan and I talk about:
- How did Jonathan venture into this space
- What are the issues with hourly billing
- In what ways could hourly billing seem like a trap
- How does switching from hourly billing increase efficiency
- What are the benefits of selling outcomes vs selling time/hours
- What are the issues of trust with buyer and seller in relation to time and cost
- What is the importance of discussing desired outcomes with buyer to minimize wasted time
- What are the negatives of a buyer hiring someone on a project basis
- The benefits of offering a guarantee
- How does value pricing work
- What is the difference between value pricing and tiered pricing
- How to create incremental options
- What is the process when booking a client
- Why does Jonathan call the meetings an “interview”
How to Connect with Jonathan:
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How You Can Support In The Trenches
Did you enjoy today's broadcast of In The Trenches? Please click here to leave an honest rating and review on iTunes. Your review helps me spread the word of this podcast, which allows me to line up amazing guests and continue to produce this podcast ad-free. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
Monday Oct 28, 2019
Monday Oct 28, 2019
Nir Eyal is the bestselling author of "Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products" and "Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life." He has taught at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. His writing on technology, psychology, and business, appears in the Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic, TechCrunch, and Psychology Today.
During this conversation, we talk about Nir’s most recent book Indistractable. We also focus on a few of the major areas of the book, like internal and external triggers that cause distractions. My big takeaway from this conversation is that there will always be distractions. The only thing we can do is be aware of our distractions because they will happen. They will occur. You can never rid yourself entirely of distractions, but there are ways that you can organize your environment so that you can be more effective in life.
In this broadcast, Nir and I talk about:
- Why did Nir write Indistractable
- How did Nir research his book and the techniques he mention
- Why is tech not the problem
- What are the fundamental principles of distraction
- What is the opposite of distraction
- How is time management also pain management
- Why do we get distracted by something
- What can you do to master your internal triggers
- What is the difference between “blamers” and “shamers”
- How can you get curious about your distractions and discomfort
- Why does Nir give himself the time to satisfy his distractions
- How is flow not the answer to everything
- What technique should you use for the tasks you don’t want to do
- What are the four big strategies to becoming indistractable
- What is the antidote to impulsiveness
- Why you need to plan your time using time boxing
How to Connect with Nir:
Get the Latest Broadcasts of In The Trenches on Your Favorite Podcast Platform:
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How You Can Support In The Trenches
Did you enjoy today's broadcast of In The Trenches? Please click here to leave an honest rating and review on iTunes. Your review helps me spread the word of this podcast, which allows me to line up amazing guests and continue to produce this podcast ad-free. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
Monday Oct 21, 2019
Monday Oct 21, 2019
Jake Jorgovan is the founder of Lead Cookie, Outbound Creative, and Content Allies. Prior to starting Outbound Creative, Jake ran business development for a video production agency and won the business of multiple Fortune 500 clients and A-List touring artists. Since leaving that agency, he has been working with other companies to help them win their dream clients. Jake doesn’t have an office and he doesn’t meet his clients in person. Instead, he works remotely and travels all over the world.
Today I sit down with Jake to talk about his 4-hour workweek. We took this angle because of how interesting it is to be able to organize your business and your work into your life in only four hours. My big takeaway from this chat is that no matter where you’re at, no matter how tough it's been, no matter how many hits you've taken, no matter if you're in the trenches and you're still slogging it out, or if you're trying to hustle through it - whatever your goal is, you can definitely achieve it.
In this broadcast, Jake and I talk about:
- What is Lead Cookie, how does it work and what is it’s genesis
- What were the critical things Jake did when getting his business started
- How did Jake try and fail for thirteen years before achieving success
- Why is it helpful to have someone level you up and steer you in the right direction
- When and who did Jake first hire to help within his business
- What did Jake pull the trigger on too soon when starting his business
- What was the before and after process of handing off his sales department
- Why you need to prepare for mistakes along the entrepreneurial journey
- How did Jake know it was okay to step away from his business to only work 4 hours a week
- What are some of the other avenues of growth he can see with his business
- Why does Jake want to diversify his risk
- Where is Jake at with his newest venture Content Allies
- Is there someone that runs everything in Jake’s business where he only works 4 hours per week
- Who manages Jake’s sales process and where is their time and energy focused
How to Connect with Jake:
Get the Latest Broadcasts of In The Trenches on Your Favorite Podcast Platform:
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How You Can Support In The Trenches
Did you enjoy today's broadcast of In The Trenches? Please click here to leave an honest rating and review on iTunes. Your review helps me spread the word of this podcast, which allows me to line up amazing guests and continue to produce this podcast ad-free. Thanks so much in advance for your support.
Monday Oct 14, 2019
Monday Oct 14, 2019
Rick Cesari has been a pioneer in the Direct Response advertising industry since the early 90s, and his Brand Response strategies have helped build many iconic brands that you have probably heard of (like Sonicare, The George Foreman Grill, and OxiClean). He is the author of "Buy Now, Creative Marketing that gets Customers to Respond to You”, "Your Marketing and Building Billion Dollar Brands”, and “Video Persuasion”.
Rick continues to be on the cutting edge of new Brand Response advertising campaigns, creating and implementing innovative cross-platform strategies with digital and mobile ventures for his clients and is currently focusing on video marketing as a leading media direct response platform for increasing product sales.
During today’s episode Rick and I talk about video marketing infomercials and video persuasion. More specifically, we dive into how you can use video persuasion among your social media channels in order to boost your marketing.
My big takeaway from this episode is that you need to start getting more video testimonials from your customers and clients.
In this broadcast, Rick and I talk about:
- How did Rick get into the career that he’s doing today
- Why did Rick write his book “Video Persuasion”
- What was Rick’s process when he did his first infomercial
- Where did Rick’s inspiration come from when he started these videos
- What is the secret formula Rick uses in videos to make them more compelling
- What are “factoids” and how do they create interest
- What is “social proof” and why is it important
- Do videos translate into other marketing channels
- Is storytelling a big part of video persuasion
- What can you look forward to in Rick’s latest book “Video Persuasion”
- What information does Rick need to know before he writes an infomercial
- Why your customers are the best source of information you can have
- How to get a great testimonial from your customers
- The importance of an origin story for your business
- Why you need a call to action in every video
- How to create good video from a technical standpoint
- Why you should use video in your email marketing
How to Connect with Rick:
Get the Latest Broadcasts of In The Trenches on Your Favorite Podcast Platform:
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How You Can Support In The Trenches
Did you enjoy today's broadcast of In The Trenches? Please click here to leave an honest rating and review on iTunes. Your review helps me spread the word of this podcast, which allows me to line up amazing guests and continue to produce this podcast ad-free. Thanks so much in advance for your support.