Claim OwnershipIn the Trenches with Michael King
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We talk with business owners and entrepreneurs about the lessons they’ve learned while fighting in the trenches of the business battlefield.
We believe the best way to learn is from mistakes - but those mistakes don't have to be yours!
We believe the best way to learn is from mistakes - but those mistakes don't have to be yours!
29 Episodes
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This is a CRITICAL episode that every business owner should listen to. I talk with Andrea Sager about the three types of legal protection every business owner needs.
We break it all down for you so you can understand exactly what you need and why.
We talk about business entities, intellectual property, and contracts.... and I realized that I have a huge liability in one of my contracts that I've got to tighten up IMMEDIATELY.
We've also got a GREAT giveaway at the end of the episode so make sure you check that out as well!!!
As entrepreneurs, we all want to serve our clients well and create raving fans that feed us referrals.
We also want to love the work we do so we can come to work energized every day.
The top reason I've seen those two goals get missed is a poor scope of work.
The scope of work lays out the entire relationship: who does what, when they'll do it, how much people get paid.
It sounds simple enough, but if the scope of work is neglected and mismanaged it can result in chaos for you and your client.
In this episode, I talk with Kris Jones of Red Door Designs. Kris is going to give us three amazing tips to really level up your scope of work and create an amazing experience for you AND your client.
In this episode I talk with Scott Aaron. Scott and I talk about some of the tremendous lessons he's learned in business over the past 20 years including:
1. Two lessons you must learn in business if you want to be successful.
2. The power of getting organized in business.
3. The cure all for life and business? Taking action.
A little over a year ago, I was burnt out and debating if I should close down my company or not.
I realized that I needed to get some boundaries in place ASAP if I was going to make it.
In this episode, I talk about three distinct boundaries you can put in place to help you avoid burning out and how establish and maintain healthy relationships with your clients.
In this episode, Michael talks about how to get maximum commitment from your people. If you're not committing to your team, don't expect them to commit to you.
The leaders that do it right make these 3 commitments (and actually follow through with them!):
1. They commit to financial responsibility both BEFORE you hire someone and AFTER you hire them.
2. They commit to regular performance feedback.
3. They commit to honest and transparent communication.
In this episode I talk with Mike Ayala about organizational financial health and how mismanagement of growth can have catastrophic consequences for employees.
In this episode I talk with my friend Jillian Ryan. Jillian is the CEO and founder of Marie Mae.
Jillian shares the story of how her pricing strategy - which was leading to amazing revenues - was absolutely crushing her profitability - which was leading to cash bleeding dry.
Scared and frustrated, Jillian knew she had to make a change if Marie Mae was going to survive another 60 days.
In this episode we talk about:
1. Understanding your financial model and profitability
2. The importance of understanding your customers and what they're willing to pay for
3. The importance of business coaches
4. How people that take the Enneagram make me laugh sometimes
Skot Waldron comes from a family of entrepreneurs.
Over the course of four years, Skot started a built a branding agency in Atlanta and took it to high-six figures in revenue.
Things were going well until he found himself frustrated, unfulfilled, and hitting a financial ceiling.
He realized that his leadership style and communication style needed an overhaul before his business could reach its full potential.
Skot shares key lessons about how our internal health, as people and as organizations, impacts our external health and how well we serve our employees and our clients.
After blowing through nearly $1MM of investor capital, Gaurav found his new company on the verge of bankruptcy. He realized he'd have to dig in and actually sell something if his company would survive the next few months.
In this week's episode, we'll hear the story of how Gaurav turned around his failing startup and eventually sold it for multiple 8 figures.
We discuss:
The pitfalls of taking startup capital from friends and family
How Gaurav stole Elon Musk's email address and used it to get a contract from SpaceX
How to increase your confidence as an entrepreneur
Imagine: You've spent years curating an audience of highly dedicated followers. You spend tens of thousands of dollars creating an app so you can monetize your audience. 36 hours after launch, you receive a cease and desist letter from a competitor that you didn't even know existed. You're done. It's over. All of it.
Today I'm talking with Samantha Kozuch about how her dream became a nightmare when she was notified that her brand new app was infringing on a trademark.
This episode is a must-listen for any entrepreneur.
As small business owners, we recognize that, at least in the short term, we're going to have to adapt our businesses to the corona economy.
But how the heck do we even do that!?!?
In today's episode, James Patrick and I discuss the process that you should be thinking through to adapt your business to the economic conditions we're facing today.
All businesses are in the trenches right now. COVID-19 has thrown us a curve ball and we're all trying to figure out how to respond.
Today's guest, Ajit George, had spent the past 2 years preparing for the launch of his new business - a wholesale vertical organic farming concept serving local restaurants. He hired 10 people. He had 40,000 square feet of commercial space built out for the farm. He had a full book of business. 8 hours after his first harvest, the governor issued a full quarantine - essentially drying up his entire client base.
Within 48 hours, Ajit designed and implemented a massive pivot and he's now winning in ways he never imagined.
Details inside.
On April 20th, 2010 there was an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. 11 people were killed in the explosion and an estimated 210 million barrels of oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico over the following weeks and months. President Obama went so far as to call the event the worst environmental disaster the US has ever faced.
Our guest on this Pod, Kim Guedry, was responsible for providing daily updates to the state governors and even president Barack Obama as to how things were going.
A pretty cool assignment right? But there was only one problem. Kim had never done anything even remotely close to this before. When Kim reported to the scene, she was overwhelmed with imposter syndrome. Why should she be here? Why should she be in charge? How is she going to manage this chaos and not only put out the fires immediately in front of her team, but also piece together the larger, longer term strategy that would be vital to their success. Enjoy!
Today I'm talking with my friend Rocky Romanella.
We discuss:
Asking the right questions
The RIGHT way to handle bad news
How your vulnerability and transparency sets the tone for your team's culture
Megan joins us to share her story of how she and her startup were conned out of $120k in a year-long ruse. She talks about her subsequent battle with shame and embarrassment and how she not only climbed out of it but turned things around into a $25MM+ SaaS company. Enjoy!
The road through medical school is grueling. Imagine you had gone through all the steps, the clinicals, the coursework, the exams, taken your boards, and now you're practicing medicine as a physician's assistant. Now, you get out into the workplace, and realize that the system is garbage. Would you be bold enough to take drastic action and create change? Our guest Rob Lininger did, and boy did it pay off. Enjoy!
There's a point in the journey of business, where being able to project your next month's earnings becomes critical. You can't be in the position where you could either make $10,000 or $0 - at least not forever. This episode features Erik Olson of Array Digital, and we discuss the journey to achieving recurring revenue, the fear of hiring your first employee, and transparency in business. Enjoy!
One of my favorite Dave Ramsey quotes is "The only type of ship that won't sail is a partnership."
Partnerships introduce a whole new level of complexity and risk in business. Even healthy partnerships are tricky for a host of reasons. When partnerships aren't healthy they can be absolutely dangerous.
Today we're talking with Lauren Schwab. Lauren tells us the story about how she started a partnership with a handful of people that she didn't know that well. Two years and $500,000 later, Lauren walked away empty handed and had to look for a job to make ends meet.
Laurens shares some great tips on how to start a business that works, how to overcome crazy adversity in business, and some amazing lessons learned from being on dating shows.
Having difficult conversations is... difficult. I don't know of anyone that actually likes to have them.
Well, Karen likes having them - but no one else.
Difficult conversations get even tougher as a leader when you hire your close friends to work with you.
Former Green Beret Jason Van Camp joins us on this episode to discuss talk about how he made some mistakes in early days by hiring some close friends. We also talk about vision alignment and the time he pitched his services to the New York Jets while soaking wet.
Enjoy!
Everyone deals with some kind of addiction in their life. It affects some more than others, to the point where it can destroy lives and the lives of family members. Dai Manuel joins us on this episode to discuss the destructive nature of addiction, overcoming it, and turning it into lessons that will be relevant to every listener. Enjoy!
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