Hack the Entrepreneur with Jon Nastor

I don't just recommend Nexcess, I trust them with my website. My entire business depends on fast, secure hosting. Use Offer Code HACK60 to Get 60% Off For Your First 2 Months Visit: https://hacktheentrepreneur.com/go/hack60 My guest today is an impulsive writer, family man, and founder of three companies with two successful exits under his belt. Back in 2007, and while still in college, he founded what would become Woocommerce. After six years growing the company, we exited to start something new and exciting. The following year, he started Conversio. He grew this company and team until August 2019 when the company was acquired by Campaign Monitor. It was through his experience in building Conversio that he stumbled onto this idea of creating a business that could be life - and family - first. This idea become the foundation for his brand new book called Life Profitability: The New Measure of Entrepreneurial Success. Now, let's hack... Adii Pienaar.

To help you get started, as a special offer for our HTE listeners, visit https://Teachable.com/hack and enter your email for a free 7 step guide, walking you through the exact steps you can take to create your own online school and start making money   My guest today is a master of low-risk cash flow investing, structuring deals, and disciplined investment systems to consistently produce profitable results. His ethos is to create wealth without creating a job.   In the span of 21 months, and before his 40th birthday, Justin's investments created enough passive income for both he and his wife to leave their jobs. Following his simple investment system and 10 Commandments of Lifestyle Investing, Justin negotiated deals with over 100 companies, multiplied his net worth to over eight figures, and maintained a family-centric lifestyle in less than 2 years.   Justin is also the author of The Lifestyle Investor: The 10 Commandments of Cashflow Investing for Passive Income and Financial Freedom.   Now, let's hack...   Justin Donald.

To help you get started, as a special offer for our listeners, visit Teachable.com/hack and enter code HACK for 50% off your first 3 months on Teachable today! My guest today has been an entrepreneur for 25 years and has no plans to stop anytime soon. During his career, he has built multiple businesses in the UK, Germany, Poland, and the United States, and currently sits on the board as a director of three companies. His most successful venture has been Escape Fitness, which he cofounded in 1998. Since then he has grown the company from a small start-up idea into a world-renowned fitness equipment brand. Now, let's hack... Matthew Januszek.

To help you get started, as a special offer for our listeners, visit Teachable.com/hack and enter code HACK for 50% off your first 3 months on Teachable today! Learn more at Checkout.com/hack. You can download their free White Paper Report and learn how you can generate more growth through their payment platform. Back in the late 90s, my guest left his home in Australia to pursue his dream of working in Hollywood. He had no real plan, and up until that point, he had never left the country. But he took the leap and went after it. Today he works mainly as a VFX Supervisor and FX Technical Director in Hollywood. Some of the more recent projects I’ve worked on include Transformers 3, The Equalizer, Star Trek Into Darkness, and The Last Airbender. But he's also an entrepreneur who has sold hundreds of thousands of dollars in products and trainings. Early on in his career he began creating video tutorial to help other people learn visual effects, and eventually began selling products and services. Now, let's hack... Allan McKay.

To help you get started, as a special offer for our listeners, visit Teachable.com/hack and enter code HACK for 50% off your first 3 months on Teachable today! Learn more at Checkout.com/hack. You can download their free White Paper Report and learn how you can generate more growth through their payment platform. Bryan Clayton is a former lawn mower turned landscaping entrepreneur. Back in 1998, when Bryan was still in v college, he started mowing lawns on the side to make a little money. Not one to settle for a little success, he decided to turn his lawn mowing into Peach Tree Landscaping and he spent the next 14 years scaling it to a team of 150 and $10 million in revenue, until he sold and exited the company in 2014. Today Bryan is the CEO and Co-Founder of GreenPal, the Uber for lawn care, which he founded in 2014 and has grown to almost 200,000 active users and over $20 million in annual revenue. GreenPal is nationwide in the US and will soon be expanding into Canada. In this conversation, we discuss: Why you need to be willing to do things that don't scale Marketplace disintermediation (and what it means to Bryan as the CEO of GreenPal) How business is simply an extension of your day to day life Now, let's hack... Bryan Clayton.

Start building your better portfolio today!  Get started at Fundrise.com/hack to have your first 90 days of advisory fees waived. My guest today is blogger, food enthusiast, and entrepreneur. Along with her husband and business partner, they have created the Pinch of Yum and Food Blogger Pro. My guest spent the last five years teaching elementary school by day and blogging about food by night. She always went back and forth about becoming a full-time blogger, but in June 2014, she officially made the jump to living this crazy full-time-food-blogging dream. Now, let's hack… Lindsay Ostrom. In this episod,e Lindsay Ostrom and Jon Nastor discuss: Letting go of the scarcity mentality Accepting the tension of being an online entrepreneur The importance of setting timelines and goals in your business Taking actions on your ideas

Get 3 months of payroll, benefits admin, and more totally free at gusto.com/hack Start building your better portfolio today!  Get started at Fundrise.com/hack to have your first 90 days of advisory fees waived. One of the most popular pathways to entrepreneurship is taking a skill you possess and selling your services as a freelancer. Then if you do it right, you can sell enough work to hire other people to help you now you've got an agency! My guest today has successfully started, scaled, and sold several businesses. But for the past five years, he's been working on WIT Digital, a digital marketing agency that works exclusively with home services companies plumbers, electricians, and HVAC. The really interesting thing about Stephen's journey is that he has completely removed himself from the day-to-day operations of the agency. In fact, as you will hear, he only has one meeting per week with his management team. Now, let's hack... Stephen Christopher.

Start building your better portfolio today! Get started at Fundrise.com/hack to have your first 90 days of advisory fees waived. Get 3 months of payroll, benefits admin, and more totally free at gusto.com/hack My guest today is a Serial Entrepreneur, Angel Investor, and 13x Bestselling Author. He's spent the past 30 years building businesses and has had four business exits, two to publicly-traded companies. His first company, Digital Cafe, he started in 1990, was one of the first digital marketing agencies in the world. Today, Mike Koenigs is the founder of The Superpower Accelerator, where he is known for being a media master who knows how to help his international clients get attention, create premium brands, and elevated status in days. In the words of Tony Robbins: Mike is an extraordinary man. He's brought me insights on how to reach people on the Internet that are so valuable. This is a man you should deal with. Take advantage of what he has to offer. Now, let's hack... Mike Koenigs.

Get 3 months of payroll, benefits admin, and more totally free at gusto.com/hack Grant Cordone is a New York Times bestselling author, international speaker, and obsessive entrepreneur. He's also one of my more confrontational guests it seems people either love him or they hate him. It also seems that he's completely fine with this. He currently owns five hugely successful companies, including a real estate company with over $400 million in property. He is also the founder of Cardone Acquisitions and Cardone Enterprises. Grant Cardone is the author of seven books. His book, Be Obsessed or Be Average, is a call to action for you to become obsessed with your life and business, or simply live an average life. It also made it onto our list of the best business books ever written Now, let's hack Grant Cardone.

Get 3 months of payroll, benefits admin, and more totally free at gusto.com/hack LinkedIn: Try it for yourself. LinkedIn is offering a free $100 LinkedIn ad credit to launch your first campaign. Simply visit LinkedIn.com/HACK. Tibor Laczay of Zenni Optical, is truly disrupting and transforming an industry fighting to retain its hold on the market -- and losing the battle. In 2013 with his wife and co-founder, they started in their garage with no outside funding of any sort and created what is now Zenni optical. If you are a glasses wearing individual like myself, then you've heard of and possibly purchased a pair of glasses or two from Zenni. Their growth has been staggering. As they celebrate 15 years in business, they are also celebrating selling 24 million pairs of glasses worldwide -- at a rate of 15,000 per day. What started in their garage, now has its headquarters in Novato, Calfornia, with nearly 1,000 employees worldwide -- including one of the largest end-to-end manufacturing facilities in the world. In this conversation we discuss: Why disruption is inevitable and you can't stop innovation How to ignore your competition (and leave them trailing behind) Why you should forget the money and follow an extreme passion Now, let's hack... Tibor Laczay.

Get 3 months of payroll, benefits admin, and more totally free at gusto.com/hack Try it for yourself. LinkedIn is offering a free $100 LinkedIn ad credit to launch your first campaign. Simply visit LinkedIn.com/HACK. Victoria Montgomery-Brown is the author of a brand new book called Digital Goddess, and CEO, and an entrepreneur who uses her anxiety to her advantage. Since 2007, Victoria has been the cofounder and CEO of Big Think, a media and education company focused on short-form, digital, and immediately actionable content. Most recently, she has written her first book called Digital Goddess: Unfiltered Lessons of a Female Entrepreneur. Now, let's hack... Victoria Montgomery-Brown.

Try it for yourself. LinkedIn is offering a free $100 LinkedIn ad credit to launch your first campaign. Simply visit LinkedIn.com/HACK. My guest today is a driven and strategic leader, creator, and mentor. Ross Kimbarovsky immigrated to the United States from the Ukraine in 1979. Following a 13 year career as a successful trial attorney, and then about 14 years ago Ross founded Crowdspring. He began his career as a trial attorney, where he successfully spent 13 years representing clients in intellectual property disputes. But back in 2006, he stumbled across an opportunity and turned his idea into a reality. For the past 14 years, he's been the founder and CEO of Crowdspring. Crowdspring has helped to democratize design around the world. Over 220,000 creatives from 195 countries have helped more than 60,000 of the world's best entrepreneurs, small businesses, startups, agencies, with logo, web, and graphic design. What began as an idea to scratch his own itch has turned into a pioneer and forerunner in the world of online design. Now, let's hack... Ross Kimbarovsky.

Try it for yourself. LinkedIn is offering a free $100 LinkedIn ad credit to launch your first campaign. Simply visit LinkedIn.com/HACK. Want to learn more about competitive analysis? Check out the Ahrefs blog or YouTube channel for step-by-step SEO tutorials. Plus, they have a 7-day trial for only $7. Head over to https://ahrefs.com to sign up now. Michael Lennox is the Founder and CEO of Electric Hospitality and ATLFAMILYMEAL. Electric Hospitality consists of three successful restaurant brands in Atlanta, Georgia. With a staff of 125, and two new restaurants ready to launch in two new and exciting markets, Covid and March 16, 2020 -- or what the restaurant industry in Atlanta calls black Monday -- hit. And everything changed. With the temporary closure of his restaurants, he took action the very next day, and founded ATLFAMILYMEAL with the mission to feed, nourish, and support hospitality workers experiencing food insecurity and joblessness. The initiative brings together a community of local chefs, restaurant owners, hospitality workers, and business/non-profit leaders to purchase, prepare, and deliver free meals to hospitality workers in need across the metro Atlanta area. Since launching, the organization has delivered nearly 100,000 meals to unemployed hospitality workers. With no one being paid and money running out, in August ATLFAMILYMEAL received a donation of $2 million from a local donor in honor of two Atlanta restaurant servers. This generous donation will enable them to continue supporting hospitality workers in Atlanta, grow its team, and adding new initiatives in the months and years ahead. Now, let's hack... Michael Lennox.

Get 3 months of payroll, benefits admin, and more totally free at gusto.com/hack You can either download the blueprint for free or sign up for the mass traffic blueprint course which at the moment is a huge 94% off! Go to masstrafficsecrets.com/specialoffer Tim Chatfield is an advocate for the sharing economy, savvy executive, and an entrepreneur. He was born in Australia, spent several years starting his career, before spending almost five years in Singapore as CEO of Viocorp. In mid-2016, with his 3-year-old daughter and wife – who was seven months pregnant at the time – moved to New York City to launch his company Jitjatjo. Now four years later, JitJatJo is a marketplace and platform leveraging artificial intelligence to instantly and accurately match hospitality businesses with vetted industry workers on demand. 2020 and all that has thrown at us has caused all businesses to adapt and change to the new normals as they come, and JitJatJo's place within the hospitality industry exacerbated their need to adapt and change quickly. Now, let's hack... Tim Chatfield.

Want to learn more about competitive analysis? Check out the Ahrefs blog or YouTube channel for step-by-step SEO tutorials. Plus, they have a 7-day trial for only $7. Head over to https://ahrefs.com to sign up now. A couple of years ago, my guest decided that she was through with working for digital agencies that didn't have their clients best interests in mind. But she had developed some serious marketing skills and loved helping clients succeed, so she decided to go out on her own. For the past two years, she has been working as an independent consultant and social media educator. She has done all of this while also taking care of her children -- which gives her only three to four hours a day to work on the business. In this episode, we discuss: How to prioritize your time to maximize your results Why marketing yourself can be the hardest marketing to do well Why social media is not about ROI   Now, let's hack... Danielle Welch.

Try it for yourself. LinkedIn is offering a free $100 LinkedIn ad credit to launch your first campaign. Simply visit LinkedIn.com/HACK. About three years ago, my guest was working in his family-run ecommerce business, when a thought struck him, why isn't there a simple service to hire writers to write articles? Using what he likes to call "decision velocity", he jumped on the idea and took action. Today he is a co-founder and head of marketing at Content Cucumber, where they simplify content creation and enable companies to get content on demand. In this interview, we discuss: The true value of having cofounders in business Covid: And sudden shift from in-person event marketing to driving leads with paid ads How to use shiny object syndrome to your advantage Now, let's hack... Chris Chasteen.

Want to learn more about competitive analysis? Check out the Ahrefs blog or YouTube channel for step-by-step SEO tutorials. Plus, they have a 7-day trial for only $7. Head over to https://ahrefs.com to sign up now. My guest today is an advisor, board member to nonprofits, and a purpose-driven entrepreneur. Grant is CEO and Founder of OnlineDegree.com. He founded the company in 2016 with a purpose-driven mission to make higher education more accessible and affordable for everyone, and six years later they are well on their way. Grant has spent his entire career working in startups with nearly 15 years of experience. Now, let's hack... Grant Aldrich.

Try it for yourself. LinkedIn is offering a free $100 LinkedIn ad credit to launch your first campaign. Simply visit LinkedIn.com/HACK. My guest today is a serial entrepreneur and innovator, who has followed her passion and her heart while building several successful businesses. She began her journey in the herbs and herbal tea industry in the early 1970s and has designed award-winning herbal beverages for top tea companies including The Republic of Tea, Yogi Tea Company, Uncle Lee’s Tea, and Organic India. 25 years ago, she started a company and set out to create a caffeine-free herbal cappuccino, and in this she created Teeccino, now America’s top selling coffee alternative. Now, let's hack... Caroline MacDougall. Teecino.com

Want to learn more about competitive analysis? Check out the Ahrefs blog or YouTube channel for step-by-step SEO tutorials. Plus, they have a 7-day trial for only $7. Head over to https://ahrefs.com to sign up now. My guest today is a growth engineer, investor, advisor, author, and serial entrepreneur who has had seven successful exits. Travis currently serves as the CEO of GrowFlow – an industry-leading, venture-backed suite of software products for companies in the cannabis industry. As CEO, he leads the vision and strategy of this fast-growing team of 60. Although he's been building, scaling, and successfully exiting businesses for the past 12 years, he started his career in 2008 as a professional online poker in 2008. Using some of the same skills that made him successful at the poker table have translated well for him in his entrepreneurial journey. He is also the author of Viral Hero, where he not only dispels the myths of viral marketing but also provides you with a proven playbook for creating explosive growth through marketing. Now, let's hack... Travis Steffen.

To start your 14-day Trends trial for just $1, go to Trends.co/hack My guest today had a dream to change the way consumers shop. A dream to build a brand that would help people make buying decisions based on peer endorsements, not just advertising. In 2007, that dream became Parent Tested Parent Approved, a seal of approval used by thousands of brands across North America and one of the most respected in the industry. Sharon has used the power of network television to grow her business, and has been featured on more than 200 shows. Now, let's hack... Sharon Vinderine.  

Try it for yourself. LinkedIn is offering a free $100 LinkedIn ad credit to launch your first campaign. Simply visit LinkedIn.com/HACK. My guest today is an investor, triathlete, lover of handstands and and an entrepreneur who truly believes you can get paid to be yourself – and she's living proof that this is true. In 2009, she left her corporate job and started a blog called The Suitcase Entrepreneur, that became a full-time business and enabled her to travel the world for 7 years. She was a digital nomad before being a digital nomad was a thing. Today, she has settled down on a homestead in New Zealand and has refocused her attention on showing others how to build businesses around their unique skillsets. Now, let's hack... Natalie Sisson.

Try it for yourself. LinkedIn is offering a free $100 FREE ad credit to launch your first campaign. Simply visit https://linkedin.com/hack Get your free shipping consultation and Shippo Pro Plan free for 6 months! Go to https://GoShippo.com/hack My guest today is product creator, affiliate marketer, and an entrepreneur. Back in 2014, him and his business partner were running a digital marketing agency when they realized something -- they didn't like working with clients. So taking what they'd learned on their own projects and seeing what worked for clients, they began a two year process of building niche sites to replace their client income. Their goal was to build a portfolio company that owned upwards of 100 niche website -- which you'll learn how this turned out in this episode. During this time they also decided to begin documenting what they were learning, so they started Authority Hacker, a website (and now podcast), showing others how to build profitable websites. Most recently, the Authority Hacker team spent 18 months building a site in the software review space, and after scaling the site to $15,000 a month in affiliate revenue, they sold the website for mid six figures. Now, let's hack... Mark Webster.

Get $100 FREE advertising with LinkedIn Marketing. Go to https://linkedin.com/hack Get a free 30-day trial of FreshBooks right now, no credit card required. Go to Freshbooks.com/HACK and enter HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR in the how did you hear about us section. David Ciccarelli is a Canadian entrepreneur who began his career an audio engineer running his own small recording studio. In 2005, he decided to help local businesses connect with local voice actors and actresses. What started as a small humble idea, has transformed into Voices.com, the world's #1 marketplace for voice overs. As founder and CEO, David is responsible for determining the companies vision, executing its growth strategy, and managing the company day-to-day. He often writes about these experiences in the Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Forbes. Voices.com has successfully raised $2M in funding from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), followed by a $18M Series A funding from Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital located in San Francisco. Now, let's hack... David Ciccarelli.

Get your free shipping consultation and Shippo Pro Plan free for 6 months! Go to https://GoShippo.com/hack Get a free 30-day trial of FreshBooks right now, no credit card required. Go to Freshbooks.com/HACK and enter HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR in the how did you hear about us section. Matt Hunckler is an international speaker, relationship builder, entrepreneur, and firm believer that you do not need to live in silicon valley to work and succeed in tech. He was raised in a family of entrepreneurs, and he started his first business when he was still in high school – much to his mother's dismay. After a brief stint trying to follow a more traditional employment path, he inevitably ended up back on the path of entrepreneurship. Today, he is the founder and CEO of Powderkeg, a digital community for tech entrepreneurs and professionals building innovative companies in tech hubs between the coasts. He is also the host of award-winning podcast Powderkeg: Igniting Startups, a show that shares the most fascinating stories of professional growth and innovation coming out of communities across America. Now, let's hack... Matt Hunckler.

Get a free 30-day trial of FreshBooks right now, no credit card required. Go to Freshbooks.com/HACK and enter HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR in the how did you hear about us section. My guest today has been practicing, learning, and teaching the art and process of increasing sales and improving customer experience with simple, personal videos for more than a decade. He has personally sent more than 10,000 videos himself. After a career in local television marketing, he joined the BombBomb, a software company that helps professionals get face to face through video for clearer communication, human connection, and higher conversion. During the past nine years, he grew into the VP of Marketing before moving to his new role as Chief Evangelist. In 2019, he co-wrote a book called Rehumanize Your Business, the definitive guide to using simple, personal videos in emails, text messages, and social messaging for clearer communication, human connection, and higher conversion. Now, let's hack... Ethan Beute.

Get a free 30-day trial of FreshBooks right now, no credit card required. Go to Freshbooks.com/HACK and enter HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR in the how did you hear about us section. Over the years, I've had the pleasure of interviewing people growing businesses in almost every market imaginable from trampoline parks to peanut butter. And from the farthest reaches of the world from Ukraine to South Africa. Despite all of those differences, they've all shared a commonality that today's guest does not share they could move. My guest today is a brilliant writer and entrepreneur who can't move anything but his face. It's not a joke. The only parts of his body he can move are his eyes and lips. His hands, feet, arms, and legs, are almost totally paralyzed, managing the occasional twitch and nothing more. And yet he has created an amazing life for himself. Using speech recognition technology, he's written articles read by more than 5 million people. He's also built several blogs that have made him millions of dollars. Now, let's hack... Jon Morrow.

Get $100 FREE advertising with LinkedIn Marketing. Go to https://linkedin.com/hack Get a free 30-day trial of FreshBooks right now, no credit card required. Go to Freshbooks.com/HACK and enter HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR in the how did you hear about us section. After nearly two decades in the corporate world of strategic branding and marketing, Kirsty found herself without a job and one year's salary to keep her afloat. So like any burgeoning entrepreneur would do, she set out on a path to figuring out how to start a business -- a business that would enable her to travel, work from anywhere, and become location independent. After several failed ideas, she discovered Amazon's fulfillment program -- FBA. As soon as she found this, she instantly knew it was the opportunity she had been looking for. Seven years, and over $16M in Physical Product sales on Amazon, Kirsty is also the co-founder of Real Coaching, where she has coached over 1,000 Amazon business owners. Now, let's hack... Kirsty Verity.

Get a free 30-day trial of FreshBooks right now, no credit card required. Go to Freshbooks.com/HACK and enter HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR in the how did you hear about us section. My guest today is Jim McKelvey, a business person turned glassblower turned entrepreneur turned billionaire -- who has become a philanthropist, investor, and now an author. He's started a handful of companies, many that are still in business decades later. As he will tell you, every company he has started has also removed him from his leadership role. Although this doesn't sound like something to be proud of, Jim will tell you that this is one of the reasons for his success. After spending the better part of three decades innovating and building businesses, we mostly know him as the co-founder and designer of Square -- those little white squares we see plugged into phones and used to take credit card payments. Back in 2008, Jim, along with his soon-to-be Square co-founder Jack Dorsey, having just been removed as the CEO of Twitter decided to spend ten days coming up with a new business to start, when the idea for Square appeared. After an intense and tumultuous few years, with Jim once again being removed from leadership, Square had succeeded in innovating in an archaic industry. And in the meantime, Jim had become a billionaire entrepreneur. Jim spent the next ten years working to understand what it was that made Square, along with other uber-successful companies, a success. During his analysis, he discovered what he now calls the Innovation Stack, which is also the title of his brand new book. Now, let's hack... Jim McKelvey.

Get a free 30-day trial of FreshBooks right now, no credit card required. Go to Freshbooks.com/HACK and enter HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR in the how did you hear about us section. My guest today is grateful, blessed, and excited about her business and life. She is one of three co-founders of Beautiful Disaster, a clothing company with a mission to empower the beautifully broken and the perfectly imperfect with the clothing that we wear. Today in 2020, Beautiful Disaster is selling over $400k a month in clothing, but it is far from an overnight success. Christina and her partners started in 2008 -- 12 years ago -- and they spent the first 9 years working on the business part-time. Yes, every weekend, evening, and spare moment was spent on the business while also working at other jobs to pay the bills. The story of Beautiful Disaster is one of perseverance and determination, mixed with an insatiable desire to make their customers lives better with their clothing. Now, let's hack... Christina DuVarney

Get a free 30-day trial of FreshBooks right now, no credit card required. Go to Freshbooks.com/HACK and enter HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR in the how did you hear about us section. Should You Niche Down? Yes, then down and down again. At least that's what today's guest did back in 2016 when he created BarBend, a website dedicated to strength training sports. David is a veteran of the health & fitness industry, with nearly a decade of experience building and running editorial teams in the space. This intersection of commerce and editorial experience lead David and his team to transform BarBend into a market-leading website and impressive business. David is also a partner in Jakk Media, which owns and operates some of the internet's favorite brands across a range of interests: fitness and health, sleep, home security, and more. They run each site with a team of writers, editors, videographers, and designers who love producing content that's as accurate as it is engaging. Now, let's hack... David Tao.

LinkedIn is offering a free $100 LinkedIn ad credit to launch your first campaign. Simply visit https://LinkedIn.com/HACK Get a free 30-day trial of FreshBooks right now, no credit card required. Go to Freshbooks.com/HACK and enter HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR in the how did you hear about us section. Jeff Platt had just graduated from college when he found himself in an interesting position -- his dad had just opened two trampoline parks, but he also needed to step back from the business. This was 2006, and Jeff decided at 21 years old to take the reigns and become the CEO of Sky Zone, a trampoline park company. He took charge, and without any real plan of action, he kept refining the parks and opening more and more locations. Somewhere along the way he decided that the real path to growth was in franchising parks to people around the world -- and this is exactly what he did. From those first two locations, they grew to over 200 locations around the world. 25 million people will visit a Sky Zone park this year, generating more than $300 million in sales. Now, let's hack... Jeff Platt.

Join the 24 million people who've used FreshBooks. Try it free for 30 days - no catch and no credit card required. Go to FreshBooks.com/HACK and enter HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR in the how did you hear about us section to get started. Nick Ruffini of Drummer's Resource is a media producer, drummer, and entrepreneur. He grew up in the family restaurant business but had the urge to set out on his own. Since he was 17 years old, my guest made his way as a professional musician recording and touring. In 2011, Nick Ruffini went back into the restaurant business this time with his brother. Then in 2013, he went back to music and started a podcast called Drummer's Resource. In the past three years my guest was transformed Drummer's Resource into a full-fledged media platform including a podcast, blog, and social with entertaining, inspiring and lifestyle-focused content for drummers. Now, let's hack Nick Ruffini.

Check out the complete show notes: http://hacktheentrepreneur.com/marc-merrill/ Get a free 30-day trial of FreshBooks right now, no credit card required. Go to Freshbooks.com/HACK and enter HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR in the how did you hear about us section. Marc Merrill is the co-founder of Riot Games, the company behind the worldwide gaming sensation League of Legends. As of the beginning of 2020, League of Legends has over 100 million monthly players. In 2005, Marc and his now co-founder Brandon Beck were typical college roommates -- going to class, playing video games, and dreaming up ways to transform the gamin industry. Their idea was to develop a game that would only make money selling virtual goods within the game itself. Both Marc and Brandon are non-technical co-founders, so they needed to put together a team who could make their dream a reality. They spent the next 12 months mapping out a business plan, overcoming every obstacle they could find, and finding funding to start building a team. They official launched in 2006, and the marathon of building a successful game and business began. After 4 years of pushing the project forward, they sold off 94% of the company for $400 million -- and they kept on working on Riot Games and League of Legends. Today, both founders are still working on Riot Games as co-chairmen of the company. In this conversation we discuss: Why you need to put your players and customers first (and trust that the revenue will follow) The value finding solutions to every problem before it becomes a problem How Riot Games overcame the massive credibility issue they had when first entering the gaming market Now, let's hack... Marc Merrill.

Check out the complete show notes: http://hacktheentrepreneur.com/jim-decicco/ Get a free 30-day trial of FreshBooks right now, no credit card required. Go to Freshbooks.com/HACK and enter HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR in the how did you hear about us section. Jim DeCicco, is an ambitious, intense, and determined entrepreneur. After college in 2015, he worked in finance for a few month before teaming up with his two brothers to create the world's first Super Coffee. Today he is the CEO at Kitu Life Inc., makers of Super Coffee and Super Creamer. Since 2015, Jim and his brothers have raised $18 million in venture capital. They've pitched on ABC's Shark Tank, and have been featured in the 2019 Class of Forbes' 30 Under 30. This is a great conversation about the overlap between professional and personal life, why innovation needs to be complimentary to your offerings, and how Jim and his brothers got their start by being scrappy and making sales. Now, let's hack... Jim DeCicco.

Get $100 FREE advertising with LinkedIn Marketing. Go to https://linkedin.com/hack Start your free 7-day (no-risk) trial at https://AirCall.io/hack Check out the complete show notes and transcript: https://hacktheentrepreneur.com/fanocracy/ My guest today is David Meerman Scott and he is one of the few repeat guests I've had on the show -- and I'm really excited to have him back on the show today. When he was on the show the first time, we discussed framing your work around what you love doing. He is a digital marketing strategist and author of several books on marketing, most notably The New Rules of Marketing and PR with over 300,000 copies sold to date. As of 2020, he has published a brand new book called Fanocracy. Here's the premise: The most powerful marketing force in the world isn't social media, email, or even those annoying commercials on stuck right in the middle of YouTube videos. It's fandom. And the good news? Fandom isn't just for celebrities and influencers anymore! It can be the fuel for any business that chooses to focus on inspiring and nurturing true fans. Fanocracy means turning fans into customers and customers into fans. Fanocracy means an organization that puts the needs and wishes of fans first. Now, let's hack... David Meerman Scott and Fanocracy.

Buy one Annual MasterClass All-Access Pass for yourself, you'll get another one to gift, for FREE! Go to https://MASTERCLASS.com/HACK Start your free 7-day (no-risk) trial at https://AirCall.io/hack Caroline Carter today home transition expert and an entrepreneur. She is the creator of the Perfect Listing, the Total Home Transition process and founder and CEO of Done In A Day. Since 2005, she has partnered with over 2,000 homeowners and their agents with her unique approach of preparing the house to sell for top dollar. Caroline's Total Home Transitionâ„  process has been featured in local and national media including The Washington Post, The Washington Times, Washingtonian, Washington Home & Garden, The Northwest Current, Home, Fox News, HGTV, and The Wall Street Journal. Now, let's hack... Caroline Carter.

Start your free 7-day (no-risk) trial at https://AirCall.io/hack Learn how you can save time and money with Intuit Quickbooks. Go to Intuit.me/hack Sharon Savariego is the former business development manager of uTest, community advocate, and serial social entrepreneur. Back in 2014, Sharon Savariego came up with the idea to build a platform to empower Community Managers around the world. Needing help with the tech side of things, she began the quest for a tech co-founder, which she found and they began planning, raising money, and building. Today, Mobilize serves as an online hub for over 1,000 communities and 1,000,000 members. This is a fascinating conversation where we discuss creating compelling reasons to buy, why everything has an element of community, and honing a vision. Now, let's hack! Sharon Savariego

For a limited time, when you buy one Annual MasterClass All-Access Pass for yourself, you'll get another one to gift, for FREE! Go to https://MasterClass.com/hack to get started with this limited time offer. Jill Van Gyn is a Canadian who had hit absolute rock bottom before crawling her way up to the top. It has not been easy but her hard work is definitely paying off. She is the founder of Fatso Peanut Butter, an all-natural peanut butter company that began as a side hustle in the back kitchen of a local restaurant. In October 2018, Jill appeared on Dragon's Den, Canada's version of Shark Tank. Her ask on the show was $200,000 for 15 percent of the company. Jill received four offers in the episode and she made a handshake deal for $200,000 for 30 percent of the company. After the recording, Jill met the Dragons to formalize the deal with new numbers. FATSO peanut butter had been evaluated at twice its original amount and Jill Van Gyn wanted the deal to reflect that. In the end, she walked away from the deal. Now, let's hack... Jill Van Gyn.

See the full show notes: Neil Patel Get unlimited access to EVERY MasterClass, and as a HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR listener, you get 15% off the Annual All-Access Pass! Go to https://MasterClass.com/hack Shipping is always FREE, you can try them out for 30 nights Risk-Free, and RIGHT NOW you get $50 OFF your first set of sheets. Go to https://BollandBranch.com -- Use promo promo code HACK. Neil Patel is the co-founder of the analytics companies KISSmetrics, Crazy Egg, and Quick Sprout. He is a frequent contributor to publications, such as Inc. Magazine, Fast Company, Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine. He also helps companies such as Amazon and Viacom grow their revenue. President Obama recognized my guest as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 30 and he has also been awarded Congressional Recognition from the United States House of Representatives. Although he loves being an entrepreneur, he sees his future in the non-profit world helping to drive traffic to their websites and helping to change lives. Now, let's hack... Neil Patel. In this episode Neil Patel and I discuss: Learning from previous mistakes (and not making them again) Planning and executing fast (the good and the bad) Partner with someone who compliments you

Check out the show notes: Alex Nerney Today's guest is a professional blogger, adventure junkie, and digital entrepreneur. He got started online in 2012, right after he graduated from college, by creating an ebook called "A College Guy's Guide to Getting Ripped" -- yes, really. He is a busy guy and somewhat of a content machine. As of today, he has four main projects that he's working on: Avocadu: Health and Wellness website reaching over 3 million people yearly. Create a Pro Website: YouTube channel teaching people how to start their own website from scratch! The Health Nerd: with 415,000 subscribers and still growing, the health nerd was a side project I started back in 2016. Plus, Create and Go, his main business. After making a bunch of money blogging and traveling the world, him and his business partner started Create and Go in early 2016. In the past few years, they've grown this business at an insane pace -- ending 2018 with over 1,000,000 website visitors and over $1,000,000 in revenue. If you've ever had an inkling to start a blog or you have a blog and have always wondered how to scale it to over $100,000 a month, then this conversation is for you. Now, let's hack... Alex Nerney.

Get unlimited access to EVERY MasterClass, and as a HACK THE ENTREPRENEUR listener, you get 15% off the Annual All-Access Pass! Go to https://MasterClass.com/hack My guest on the show today started his career as a lawyer, where he spent 4 years before becoming an entrepreneur – this transition happened over 40 years ago. He's what I would call a serial entrepreneur, having started 11 companies of varying degrees success. This conversation takes a couple fascinating turns as Ken discusses $100+ million dollar exits and business ideas that have continued to pay him every year for 10+ years. In addition to his own ventures, he's been investing in companies for the past 18 years. Through all of this, he began to notice a thread that ran through successful entrepreneurs -- an entrepreneurial mindset -- so he put pen to paper and wrote a new book called The Dream Toolbox: Building an Entrepreneurial Mind and Financial Abundance. In this conversation, Ken Aldrich and Jonny discuss: Friction points: why you must find them if you are going to succeed in business Business partners: good ones are worth seeking out, but they must complement your strengths and weaknesses There is a solution to every problem you will encounter in your life and business Now let's hack... Kenneth Aldrich.

Shipping is always FREE, you can try them out for 30 nights Risk-Free, and RIGHT NOW you get $50 OFF your first set of sheets. Go to BollandBranch -- Use promo promo code HACK. My guest today is one of the most influential photographers of the past decade, is a diehard creative, and an entrepreneur. Chase has spent over two decades mastering the craft of photography. In 2009, this led him to creating the world's first photo app called Best Camera, and it went onto becoming Apple's 2009 App of the Year. Then in 2010, Chase founded CreativeLive -- now the world's leading platform for creators and entrepreneurs. In the past 9 years, a staggering 10 million students have consumed more than 3 billion minutes of video via CreativeLive's online platform. After spending tens of thousands of hours honing his photography skills and years working with 1,000s of creatives via CreativeLive, Chase decided it was time to share his understanding and insights into creativity. This led to him publishing his latest book, Creative Calling now a bestseller and highly recommended for anyone looking step-up their ability to consistently create and build on their ideas. In this conversation, Chase and Jonny discuss: Trusting yourself: As we get older, we tend to give up this natural ability that we all once had. Our goal as creative entrepreneurs, is rediscovering this ability and running with it. Start anywhere: The only lasting mistake that you can make is to not start. Creativity: Everything you see around you has been created from an idea and lots of hard work. Your creativity is a muscle that you need to exercise every day. Now, let's hack... Chase Jarvis.

Learn how you can save time and money with Intuit Quickbooks. Go to Intuit.me/hack My guest today is a bestselling author, award-winning advertiser, and entrepreneur. Jason Harris is the CEO of the creative agency Mekanism and the cofounder of the Creative Alliance. At Mekanism, Jason has helped the agency produce campaigns for such companies as HBO, Muscle Milk, The North Face, PepsiCo, MillerCoors and Ben and Jerry's. In 2014, Mekanism led the White House's "It's on Us" campaign to raise awareness of campus sexual assault. The campaign is currently in its third year. This past summer Jason published his first book The Soulful Art of Persuasion, already a Wallstreet Journal Bestseller. Now, let's hack... Jason Harris.

Dave Munson of Saddleback Leather Co. spent several years journeying across North America with his dog to create bags and other products made to outlast their owners. Their slogan is: They'll fight over it when you're dead. His founding story is one of legend. He spent three years living in a $100 a month apartment in Mexico with his dog Blue, and dodged a crooked Mexican federale who was sent to kill him, all while trying to start his business. Saddleback Leather Co. currently has over 250 employees in the US and Mexico, where they have built their own leather factories. In this conversation we discuss the importance of being principled in life and business, hiring business coaches, and sticking with it long enough to succeed. Now, let's hack! Dave Munson.

Get a free 14-day, no risk trial. No credit card required. Visit Volusion and as a special for Hack the Entrepreneur listeners, get 50% off your first month's plan with promo code HACK. My guest today is a triple Pisces, marketing and growth coach, and a smart entrepreneur. She is the founder of IttyBiz, where her and her team turn smart, quirky people into smart, quirky entrepreneurs. She has been coaching and teaching online marketing since 2006 and has been featured in major outlets such as Forbes, Cosmopolitan and USA Today. Plus, her newsletter has attracted over 50,000 subscribers from across the globe. Now, let's hack! Naomi Dunford.

Get a free 14-day, no risk trial. No credit card required. Visit Volusion and as a special for Hack the Entrepreneur listeners, get 50% off your first month's plan with promo code HACK. If you are anything like me and have too many tasks, ideas, and to-do lists in too many places then Monday will enable you to get control. Start your 14-day free trial by going to Monday. Then use the promo code HACK to get 10% off a paid account. -- At the age of 39, my guest, Weldon Long, found himself walking out of prison after seven years and living in a homeless shelter -- this was 15 years ago. He spent the next six months knocking on door after door trying to land a job, with zero experience. Finally, a small HVAC company in Colorado gave him a shot and it changed the course of his life -- he stayed with this company for 18 months learning the art of sales and running a small business. Then he made his move and started his own HVAC company. Over the next five years, he grew this business to $20 million in sales before selling the business. He is now a NY Times bestselling author, speaker, and sales trainer. During this fast-moving conversation, we discuss: How to determine what you really want out of life and business Why the biggest mistake you can make is not focussing on the right things Why all businesses are sales companies Now, let's hack... Weldon Long.

Start your 14-day free trial by going to Monday. Then use the promo code HACK to get 10% off a paid account. The bestselling author of Pitch Anything is back to flip your entire approach or persuasion and selling. In his decades of pitching, presenting, and closing high-stakes deals, Oren Klaff has learned that people are sick of being sold to. What people love is coming up with their own great idea, even if it's the same idea you were guiding them towards. That's why Oren is throwing out the old antiquated playbook on selling and bringing you a new approach with his brilliant new book Flip the Script He'll show you a new approach that works on this simple insight: everyone trusts their own ideas. That might sound easier said than done, but Oren has taught thousands of people how to do just that with a series of simple steps that makes it simple for anyone to follow. Now, let's talk to Oren Klaff and learn how to flip the script.

Get a free 14-day, no risk trial. No credit card required. Visit Volusion and as a special for Hack the Entrepreneur listeners, get 50% off your first month's plan with code HACK. Today's guest is all about passion, people, and perseverance. Eight years ago he began building businesses in the video space. Today, after a self-proclaimed spectacular failure and two other products that didn't work out, he is the proud founder of Bonjoro. Founded in 2017, Bonjoro enables business owners and customer success teams convert and retain more customers through personal video. Through a lot of hard work, process creation, and personal growth, Bonjoro has grown to now have locations across three countries -- England, the U.S., and Australia. Now, let's hack... Matthew Barnett.

If you are anything like me and have too many tasks, ideas, and to-do lists in too many places then Monday.com will enable you to get control. Start your 14-day free trial by going to monday.com/hack. Then use the promo code HACK to get 10% off a paid account. My guest on the show today is a speaker, coach, and facilitator of career reinvention. She has the unique ability to guide others through the difficult transition of changing careers or moving from employee to entrepreneur. This ability is why she is here today. In this conversation, we work through the mindset struggles so many of us have had to deal with while making leaps of faith and jumping into new careers – whether those are into new industries or into entrepreneurship. She has coached stay-at-home moms to become successful entrepreneurs, and to keep their home life thriving and energized. As well as guiding countless others with the science behind changing our mindset and learning new skills. Over the years, she has been invited across the globe to coach team leaders seeking better solutions to their unique challenges, and teams to maximize their personal and professional potential. Now, let's hack... Lyn Christian.

Get a free 14-day, no risk trial. No credit card required. Visit Volusion and as a special for Hack the Entrepreneur listeners, get 50% off your first month's plan with promo code HACK. My guest today is a WordPress Developer, podcaster, and a business coach. He started like a lot of us do, with lots of dreaming, thinking, and talking about working for himself and running his own online business. But also like many of us, it wasn't an easy transition. In fact, he made the first leap into freelancing and a couple years later he had to go back to working for someone else. But he thought about what had gone wrong the first time, created a plan, and headed out on his own once again. He's now been in business since 2010, and even though it hasn't always been unicorns and rainbows, he's persevered through the hard times and come out on the better end of business success. In this episode, we discuss: Always keeping your 'why' front and center when making decisions Why and how to create micro-experiments for your freelancing clients How to keep a steady flow of clients rolling through your business Now, let's hack... Jason Resnick

Start your 14-day free trial by going to Monday. Then use the promo code HACK to get 10% off a paid account. After spending the first 15 years as a graphic designer and growing her own agency, today's guest decided it was time for a challenge and a change. Twenty years after falling in love with rum during a trip to India, her and her husband decided to see if they could turn that love of rum into a business. At this moment, Montanya Distillers was born. Flash forward eight years and Montanya produces three rums, is distributed in forty-four states and seven countries and has won countless international awards. In this conversation, we discuss being a female distiller in a male-dominated industry, building your wings on the way down, and not being constrained by what other people think. Now, let's hack¦ Karen Hoskin.