In the Trenches with Michael King
30 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 30 ratingsWe 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!
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Episodes
Andrea Sager - 3 Legal Protections EVERY Business Owner Needs NOW
June 24, 2020 11:00 - 40 minutes - 36.9 MBThis 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 ...
Kris Jones - The Often Overlooked Key to Great Customer Experience
June 17, 2020 11:00 - 51 minutes - 59.3 MBAs 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 ...
Scott Aaron - Two Lessons You MUST Learn in Business to be Successful
June 10, 2020 11:00 - 41 minutes - 47.2 MBIn 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.
Michael King - 3 Boundaries for a Healthier Work Life Balance
June 03, 2020 20:30 - 22 minutes - 42.6 MBA 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.
Michael King - How to Earn Commitment From Your Team
May 27, 2020 11:00 - 21 minutes - 40.5 MBIn 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.
Michael King - 3 Commitments You Have to Make if You Want Commitment
May 27, 2020 11:00 - 21 minutes - 40.5 MBIn 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.
Mike Ayala - When The Wrong Growth Results in Laying Off 40 People
May 20, 2020 11:00 - 51 minutes - 95.4 MBIn this episode I talk with Mike Ayala about organizational financial health and how mismanagement of growth can have catastrophic consequences for employees.
Jillian Ryan - When Revenue Success Does NOT Equate to Profit Success
May 13, 2020 11:00 - 37 minutes - 42.5 MBIn 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 importanc...
Skot Waldron - When You Realize You're Not the Leader You Thought You Were
May 06, 2020 11:00 - 35 minutes - 40.4 MBSkot 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 organi...
Gaurav Valani - 77 Emails to a Deal with Elon Musk
April 29, 2020 11:00 - 46 minutes - 53.6 MBAfter 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 ...
Samantha Kozuch - From Startup to Out of Business in 36 Hours
April 22, 2020 11:00 - 39 minutes - 45.8 MBImagine: 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...
James Patrick - Adapting Your Business to the Corona Economy
April 15, 2020 11:00 - 44 minutes - 50.8 MBAs 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.
Ajit George - Massive Pivot Amid Corona Quarantine
April 08, 2020 11:00 - 35 minutes - 41.2 MBAll 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 qua...
Kim Guedry - Imposter Syndrome during the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
April 01, 2020 11:00 - 39 minutes - 45 MBOn 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 ho...
Rocky Romanella - Avoiding a Culture of Lies and Hidden Truths
March 25, 2020 11:00 - 47 minutes - 43.5 MBToday 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 Everett - From Friend to $120k Con Artist
March 18, 2020 11:00 - 42 minutes - 48.7 MBMegan 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!
Rob Lininger - From Traditional Medicine to Biohacker
March 11, 2020 13:00 - 51 minutes - 58.4 MBThe 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!
Erik Olson - Transparency, Honesty, and Recurring Revenue
March 04, 2020 12:00 - 46 minutes - 53.5 MBThere'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!
Lauren Schwab - Losing $500,000, checking your ego, and dating Travis Kelce.
February 26, 2020 13:00 - 46 minutes - 53.4 MBOne 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 late...
Jason Van Camp - Pitfalls of Working with Friends, Pitching to the New York Jets, Military Officer to Entrepreneur
February 19, 2020 12:00 - 41 minutes - 47.8 MBHaving 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 N...
Dai Manuel - The Cost of Addiction in Family & Business
February 12, 2020 14:00 - 50 minutes - 57.8 MBEveryone 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!
The Budget Mom - From a Hobby to a Business
February 05, 2020 14:00 - 33 minutes - 38.1 MBThere are two early defining moments that really shape the future of the business. One of those early moments is when you decide that you're going to go all in and make something actually into a business. Miko was a divorced, single mom, working full time, and found herself under a mountain of debt; she started going through the journey of getting out of that debt, and decided to share that journey on Instagram as 'The Budget Mom.' Over the years, she built a huge following and gave a lot of ...
Roger Proctor - An Inquisitive Approach
January 29, 2020 14:00 - 32 minutes - 37.5 MBTrust is everything with sales. That trust was especially critical for this episodes guest: Roger Proctor. Roger had a meeting through an interesting set of events with a Sheikh who just happened to be the president of the largest bank in Saudi Arabia. Roger's an expert in marketing and branding, and when he got in front of the Sheikh, he started out kind of like I had done for so many years, assuming that the client had a particular level of knowledge and a particular set of problems and ne...
Doreen Korba - Maternity Leave, Fear, Unhealthy Work Hours
January 22, 2020 14:00 - 37 minutes - 43.1 MBWhy do we brag about working these 60, 80, 100 hour work weeks? I can't seem to remember when this became some kind of badge of honor... Doreen Korba was terrified to leave the safety of the marketing world and make the leap into doing the work she knew she was passionate about. So today she's going to tell us that story. We're also going to talk about a bit of a of a hot button topic: Is it okay to ask somebody about their plans to have children in the future, and why is it that it seems l...
Joe Sova - Business Before Family, Delegation, and Trust
January 15, 2020 13:00 - 29 minutes - 34.1 MBJoe Sova, CEO of Ideal Payroll Services, shares his story about how he found himself prioritizing work over family. It all came to a head one day when he and his wife were visiting the OBGYN to get a sonogram. Joe's work phone kept ringing and he took the call - in the middle of the sonogram. Something had to change. We also discuss the importance of delegation plus how to let go so your team can execute.
Cliff Skelliter - CEO & Creative Director of Launchpad Creative
January 08, 2020 14:00 - 42 minutes - 48.4 MBCliff Skelliter, CEO of LaunchPad Creative, talks about his experience trying to land his first huge client despite the fact that he didn't have a solid portfolio to point to and how he leveraged a *very* botched paint job launched his career in marketing. He and Mike also discuss Cliff's early days cultivating his persona as a "partying" entrepreneur and how it nearly destroyed his young company.
Ashley Altum - Profit Matters Bookkeeping
January 08, 2020 14:00 - 34 minutes - 40 MBAshley Altum, CEO of ProfitMatters, talks about going from a successful, multi-million dollar exit - to the brink of bankruptcy in only 18 months. She shares lessons about cash flows and leadership that you need to hear.
Gabrielle Mills - Founder & CEO of Sourced
January 08, 2020 14:00 - 1 hour - 69.4 MBGabrielle Mills, CEO of Sourced, talks about the importance of creating systems and processes in business and how finding your "why" is so essential.
Ryan Narus - Co-Founder of Archimedes Group
January 08, 2020 14:00 - 45 minutes - 52.2 MBRyan Narus, co-founder of Archimedes Group, talks about some of the things he went through while building his business from scratch. Ryan tells about the catastrophe he had to deal with after he decided to go with "The Craigslist Guy" for a major renovation instead of the trusted name brand. The misstep ended up costing him upward of $60,000 at a time when $600 was hard to come by.
Meet Michael King
November 01, 2019 16:00 - 6 minutes - 6.94 MBWelcome to In the Trenches! In this episode we introduce you to our amazing host: Michael King. Don't forget to subscribe so you get new episodes right when they drop! We're amped to bring you our first full episodes on January 8th, 2020 if you'd like to appear on the show as a guest, please go over to www.inthetrenches.show and shoot us a note.