When Paul Howey’s ecommerce startup started to pick up steam to the point of where he needed to start handling phone orders and service issues, Paul had very little options to choose aside from Google Voice which lacked in features. Luckily his brother was involved in telephony and had the technical knowledge to offset Paul’s entrepreneurship background. Together they spent 6 months building Talkroute while they bootstrapped the business and survived on client consulting. Much of what Paul has done today to achieve 50,000 users is by simply listening and testing. When Talk Route first started, the only initial service it offered was VOIP so Paul took notes on what customers wanted and evolved Talkroute into what it is today, which is an affordable phone system for startups and entrepreneurs. Although in his mid 20s with over 50,000 customers that bring in $75,000 per month, Paul isn’t satisfied and has created a goal of 150,000 customers.
Secret Entourage Academy
Secret Academy Episode – Juan Jimenez
As a child living in Columbia South America, Juan Jimenez witnessed perhaps some of the most gruesome events he would ever have to endure in his lifetime. Columbia was in a state of turmoil that spread to the civilians resulting in mass killings through kidnappings, bombings, and other warfare-like catastrophes. The worst was yet to come and Juan lost contact with his parents one day when a massive explosion rocked a church they were at while Juan was across the city at a friends house. Fearing that his parents were dead, Juan immediately rushed to the church only to find land mines filled the pathway inside. For over 6 months Juan’s parents were missing but found alive in captivity in the outskirts of the city. Miraculously, Juan was able to get in contact with his father and together they paid a ransom to free his mother. They immediately sought refuge in Canada where they have made it their home for over a decade. With nothing more than $60 in his pocket, Juan worked as many as 4 jobs a day to put himself through college to studio human kinetics where he ultimately found his passion with helping others through personal training and nutrition assistance. Clients lead to competitions and competitions lead to business opportunities. Today, Juan is the founder of Active Body Nutrition, Canada’s leading vitamin and supplement store, with 8 locations in Canada and another 10 franchises in the works.
Secret Academy Episode – John Berardi
It is often not until we are older that we realize that our health becomes a top priority. For others like John Berardi, this was a means for him to stay in shape, play sports during high school, and lastly to help him pick up girls. Learning about fitness and nutrition can become a very mundane task since there is almost too much information out there. Instead, John found himself a few mentors to learn the fundamentals about health, fitness, and nutrition. While pursuing his masters and PHD, John linked up with a more technical savvy friend and launched Science Link, the predecessor to Precision Nutrition, in early 2000. This website became the only authority in nutrition and landed John numerous guest opportunities on major publications. When John released a nutritional course and made over $150,000 in two days, he knew he had a business in his hands. Over the last decade, Precision Nutrition has shifted focus to provide nutrition, health, and fitness tips to millions online while at the same time providing an extensive certification program for nutritional specialists to enable them to train clients offline. Today, John can be found traveling the world, authoring books, training world championship teams/athletes, or spending time with his family.
Secret Academy Episode – Michael Michalowicz
After the sale of his second 7 figure business, Michael Michalowicz thought he had cracked the blueprint to success. In reality, his arrogance was his demise and quickly lead Michael towards losing it all after he made some poor business investments. Michael was able to rebuild through his third multi-million dollar business but also realized a lot of misconceptions when it came to start and grow a business. Using his own experience, Michael broke down the fundamentals in starting a business while being extremely resourceful and specialized in his best selling book “The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur”. He then followed up with a recent book titled “The Profit” where he teaches business owners an alternative way to look at your business financially to ensure you get rewarded earlier while still growing at a rapid pace. Today Michael is a best selling author, serial entrepreneur, and television correspondent that teaches entrepreneurs how to grow their business by spending less but still increase profit.
Secret Academy Episode – Jordan Harbinger
Have you ever been out and noticed certain individuals get VIP treatment wherever they go? Sometimes they cut the lines, or even get free drinks or meals. For Jordan Harbinger, this was the life he lived during his stint as an attorney in law school. However, this way of life wasn’t just granted, it was earned through the constant pursuit of relationship building and bringing value to others around him. As others started to notice Jordan’s lifestyle, including his suave behavior with women, they began to question how he did it. With more and more requests to learn, Jordan became a coach where regular guys would throw thousands of dollars at him to transform them from ordinary guys to extraordinary men. With such a demand, Jordan founded The Art of Charm podcast, a podcast that has reached as high as Top 39 overall and gets 1 million downloads a month. Jordan has since turned the podcast into a full blown business with an academy online where he teaches thousands of guys confidence boosting, relationship building, dating and more.
Secret Academy Episode – Michael Morgan
Growing up, Michael Morgan’s father told him to never ever work at a car dealership. Little did Michael know that he would end up working in car sales after his automotive transport business closed down. While not glamorous and often times cut throat, Michael quickly worked his way from car sales to general manager of a Ford dealership. By truly understanding the logistics of car sales from dealer to consumer, Michael was able to learn how the dealership business model operates, as well as the core revenue channels. When the 2007 credit bubble collapsed, a new consumer was created, one that was uneducated about their credit score and how it was derived. Michael figured that his understanding of credit could help consumers obtain the vehicle of their choice by simply correcting credit blemishes on their history. This gave birth to Credit Forget It, an 7 figure a year credit optimization company that specializes in credit repair and identity theft. By leveraging the automotive dealer network, Michael has helped over 100,000 consumers in improving their credit score, while helping them purchase the car of their dreams.
Secret Academy Episode – Alex Taub
With roots deep in Manhattan, anytime you mention start-ups and New York, Alex Taub’s name might end up in the discussion. Although the tech scene is still emerging in New York, Alex has helped expand several start-ups in the area with his last two being the well known companies Aviary and Dwolla. His stint with each company was short lived and just 3 days after he left Dwolla, Alex co founded Social Rank with another former Dwolla colleague. Today, Social Rank has become a leading Twitter competition analytics tool, serving over 5,000 brands like GoPro and Spotify and recently received $1 million in funding. Alex blogs his journey on his website and with over 700 posts and counting, Alex has caught the attention of a publisher and compiled his best work in a book called Pitching & Closing, a comprehensive book on how to develop businesses through partnerships.