The Escapist

For those of you interested in online entrepreneurship and bootstrapping this interview will rock your socks. First off Adii is quite open about where his company Woothemes has done well and where they’ve needed to pivot – like focusing on only one theme platform (WordPress). Second Adii and his partners built his company from scratch – working virtually – with partners all over the world – into a million + dollar a year business (I love when Andrew Warner has interviewed people in the past because he always gets down to the brass tax and saves me researching how much they earn – thanks Andrew!). So sit down, shut up (I tease, I tease) and sip some yummy tea as you let your entrepreneurial spirit soar with me and Adii for the next half hour. http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/Adii-Pienaar Download This Interview (“Right click then Save As”) Check out Woothemes amazing themes for your business, brand or blog here & support scrappy entrepreneurship. Also I’d love to hear your comments and questions and I’m sure I could get Adii to answer a few himself if you add pretty please or something in the comment area

The podcast is back! The podcast is back! I’m so happy that after going through the rigors of an incubator program and traveling for the entire month of March the Escaping the 9 to 5 podcast is back and better than ever. This is an interview I’m extremely excited to bring to you since this is one of the rare examples I’ve seen of someone who is making $80,000 a month (noted in his interview on Mixergy) in true “Four Hour Work Week” style.Two warnings before you press play, the first is that because this was recorded while I was traveling the sound quality isn’t the best (but totally worth it), the second is that once you hear this story you may be uncontrollably compelled to start an iPhone App business and if you are you can check out the Free the Apps’ guy’s ebook here. http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/Mike-C-Moon Download This Interview (Right click then Save As”) Find out more about Free the Apps on their website and check out the extended interview they did on Mixergy. *Update, check out this great post the guys at Free the Apps recently wrote about the passive income life.

Want to get insanely pumped up to start your own business or turn your current start up into a profitable, job quitting project? Then listen to this interview with Scott Gerber, a young serial entrepreneur and author of the new book Never Get a Real Job – if this doesn’t get your blood boiling and your butt moving to go start a business that’ll change your life I don’t know what will! Scott has a talent when it comes to invigorating people towards entrepreneurship, but he mixes that with a harsh reality that you may not always be able to ‘follow your passion’ when it comes to starting a profitable business. His advice goes counter to the “fluffy” make money easy crap you’ll hear online and you gotta love him for it. Check out Scott’s interview and come away with the cold hard facts on how to start a real business so you never have a real job again. http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/scott-gerber Download This Interview (“Right click then Save As”) Want more? Check out Scott’s book Never Get a Real Job – something I read, loved and recommend to others!

This is my last podcast *gasp* (for a while at least) as I work hard on Virtual Zeta and make the move to SF. So to cap off the podcast properly I brought on friend and outsourcing expert Chris Ducker who has built a major outsourcing business from scratch and who acts as a “virtual CEO” which I think is brilliant. Listen to this podcast and learn how to delegate tasks, focus on what’s important and go virtual in your own life… even if you aren’t a CEO, yet. http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/chris-ducker-2 Download This Interview (“Right click then Save As”)Want to learn more about Chris check out his amazing blog Virtual Business Lifestyle here or follow him on Twitter.

Me in my Spirithood! Ever wanted to start a company based on a passion and had people tell you that you’re crazy? If so… you’ll LOVE this interview. The product is called Spirit Hoods and the man behind the brand is Alexander Mendeluk. This interview is inspiring since he took such a simple idea and built it into a phenomenon that is sweeping the fashion industry. http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/alexanderm Download This Interview (“Right click then Save As”)

I met MJ in Las Vegas with a few other entrepreneurial folks and was instantly amazed by his story. MJ went from literally nothing, less than nothing really and built a business around limo booking online that he later sold for millions and retired because of. This interview talks about MJ’s methodology and his new book The Millionaire Fastlane which I strongly suggest you read! http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/mjdemarcointerview Download This Interview (“Right click then Save As”)

This is the story of someone who bootstrapped her way up from nothing and grew her business into a Inc. 500, $15 million dollar + a year, 200 employee having (lol) empire. Susan Gregg Koger & her husband started Mod Cloth while attending college in 2002, they have grown it through creative thinking, simple good sense & a lot of passion. I was incredibly impressed & motivated by Susan’s awesome personality & unique viewpoint of fun, simple entrepreneurship. http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/susankoger Download This Interview (“Right click then Save As”) Also… on this podcast I used no script & just kind of winged it, do you think this more ‘conversational’ form is better or should I be writing out my questions beforehand? Find Susan at www.twitter.com/modcloth and check out ModCloth.com!

Jonathan Fields has an impressive “un-resume” resume, he’s been everything from a securities lawyer to a yoga instructor and he’s built several successful businesses along the way. Oh yeah and he wrote a best selling book called Career Renegade, so more or less the guy is an entrepreneurial legend and I was very excited to interview him. But what really blew me away was his practical advice and positive outlook on life, doing what you love & entrepreneurship. This interview is incredibly inspiring and informative, you’ll learn a lot about how to go from scrappy start up to serious business and how to sell it and start again from scratch.http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/wp-content/uploads/interviews/Jonathan-Fields-interview.mp3 Download this Podcast (“Right-click then “Save As”) Love Jonathan’s outlooks? Check out his blog here or follow him on Twitter! Also be sure to check out Career Renegade Jonthan’s best selling book here.

This is the type of interview that every entrepreneur, whether new to the game or an old hand, should pay attention to. Ryan Allis has built a business that went from zero to 3.3 million a month and he’s learned a lot along the way. Ryan at 16 years of age decided he was going to reach the goal of making $1 million by the time he was 21, he met that goal and now his incredible focus has grown his start up into an internet email giant. Ryan talks about whether or not it’s wise to take on debt or venture capital when you’re starting up, how people can start a successful business at any age and the secrets behind growing a company from nothing to a multi million dollar success. http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/ryanallis Download This Interview (“Right click then Save As”) Check out Ryan’s blog here and his book here.

Is spending 12 hours a day building an empire not your thing? Maybe you want to make enough to replace your income and be able to live the life you want. If so this interview is right up your alley, today I got to interview Jonathan Mead of illuminatedmind.net. Jonathan is an inspiration for those who want to make a good living, doing what they love. He has built a successful blog business out of sharing his passion with others and in this interview we find out his secrets & success tips that will allow you to follow in his foot steps. http://escapingthe9to5.com/wp-content/uploads/interviews/Jonathan-Mead-interview.mp3 Download Jonathan-Mead-interview.mp3Didn’t this get you pumped up to quit your job and make a full time living, working part time, doing what you love?! If so I highly recommend you enroll in his course Paid to Exist. A course than can truly help change your life & help you escape the 9 to 5 for good. Check out what’s included in Paid to Exist here. It’s an awesome value that I wouldn’t be suggesting if I didn’t truly love what Jonathan is doing & know how valuable his teaching is. **P.S. I LOVE podcasting but I am not the best when it comes to getting quality sound for my interviews, if any of you in the audience have suggestions or want to give me some pointers PLEASE feel free to email me here & clue me in!

Derek Johnson, founder of Tatango, dropped out of the University of Houston’s entrepreneurial program so he could start a business that has grown to over 50 million SMS messages sent and counting. Derek’s insights on entrepreneurship, good debt vs. bad debt when starting up and his theories on running a simple business make this podcast a must listen for budding entrepreneurs and old pros alike. You’ll learn a lot and get inspired to slim down (business wise) and get going with your start up!http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/wp-content/uploads/interviews/derek-johnson-interview.mp3 Download Derek-Johnson-Interview.mp3 Check out Derek’s blog at thederekjohnson.com or follow him on twitter here. If you have questions, commentary or just having a bad day and want me to give you a virtual hug reach out below!

An interview on Blogging & Blog Monetization w/ Rob Rammuny http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/Rob-Rammuny Download This Interview (“Right click then Save As”) An interview on Brand Building with Mark Cenicola http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/Mark-Cenicola Download This Interview (“Right click then Save As”)

If you haven’t already heard of Leo Babauta, the well spoken & written blogger behind one of the largest blogs on the web ZenHabits.net then you really must check out what he’s up to. Leo has gone from zero to every entrepreneurs dream in a short amount of time, mostly due to his amazing attitude and the passion he puts into his blog business. Leo said in this interview he thinks, at this point, he has over 200,000 subscribers and his site has blossomed into a blogging empire. The insights and ideas that Leo imparts on this interview will refresh and inspire you to be an even better entrepreneur and a truly passionate blogger.http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/wp-content/uploads/interviews/Leo-Babauta-interview.mp3 Download Leo-Babauta-interview.mp3 Please leave any questions or comments below, I love to hear from you, especially your thoughts on the interviews

I got the idea of interviewing Micha Kaufman, the co-founder of Fiverr.com shortly after using the site several times in one day. I was hooked, for five bucks I got someone to record a very professional voice over for my grasshopper.com telephone number. I also got someone to create an eBook cover and toyed with the idea of taking the girl up on her offer to wear my company’s name on her forehead to high school for a day – but then thought naah, that’s not my target demographic. This interview is chock full of amazing advice from a man who in six months has grown Fiverr.com to epic proportions, they have over 75,000 active listings on the site and have been featured on news outlets everywhere. Micha gives great perspective for those thinking about starting an internet business and his ideas on making everything simpler is truly ingenious. If you get half as much out of this interview as I did it’ll be well worth the 30 minutes spent – so turn of your rerun of True Blood & listen to some entrepreneurial goodness!http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/wp-content/uploads/interviews/Micha-Kaufman-interview.mp3 Download Micha-Kaufman-interview.mp3 Check out Micha’s start up at www.Fiverr.com and be prepared, you’ll probably be there for hours!

I developed a serious entrepreneurial crush* on Brian Sher, while reading his book What Rich People Know & Desperately Want to Keep Secret. When I was first given this book I kind of blew it off because the title to me seemed over the top, then I did a little bit of research on Brain and realized he was the real deal. Brian got out of college & started consulting for thousands of bucks a pop  because he was confident enough to put an ad in the paper, even with no experience. He turned an upstart business into a multimillion dollar enterprise, he has written several books and has been involved with a bevvy of successful business ventures. When I started reading his book, I could put it down – in a 6 hour period I had finished the whole thing and was eager for more. This interview is a true jewel, Brian opens up and talks about strategies and steps to take you from zero to 60. His style and wit is entertaining and his business savvy is unrivaled. If you take one step towards building the business of your dreams this week, make it listening to this interview – it will rock your world.http://www.escapingthe9to5.com/wp-content/uploads/interviews/brian-sher-interview.mp3 Download Brian-Sher-Interview.mp3 If you want to learn more about Brian check out his website here or pick up one of his amazing books on Amazon.Brian also included a link to get one of his book The 60 Minute Millionaire for free here! *Entrepreneurial crush: when an up and coming E falls head over heels in love with the way a Super E runs their business **E: Entrepreneur…. I am hoping none of you needed that explained