Knucklehead Podcast

With the extensive use and significant improvement in connectivity, the internet has introduced a huge wave of transformation on how the world does business. Most business owners believe that websites and social media have propelled their business to the next level. They have taken the opportunity to build followers and well-defined target audiences to promote their brand, products and services in social media platforms.   Today’s guest of the Knucklehead Podcast is an esteemed digital media professional, Jeremy Knauff. He will share with you how he helps save companies from losing their business. He will also speak his perspective about screw ups and how he grew from his own share of failures.   Jeremy Knauff is the Founder and CEO of Spartan Media, a digital marketing agency which provides web design, SEO, social media, and PPC marketing services to businesses that understand the value of a strategic, long-term approach. With nearly two decades of online marketing experience, they have a solid track record

Escaping the trap of being in the cycle of redundancy and duplication in the way most nonprofit veteran organizations work, John has figured out a unique process to break the traditional landscape of delivering services to transitioning service members and veterans. In today’s edition of the Knucklehead Podcast, our guest, John Boerstler will define the gap between transitioning militaries and the exact resources they need in the shifting process. He will also highlight the current situation of existing veteran service organizations and will present how the service model at Combined Arms closes the gap for veterans returning to civilian life in an easy to understand language. John Boerstler is the CEO at Combined Arms, a dynamic collaborative impact organization that simplifies and accelerates the connection point between veterans and resources in order to deliver maximum impact on the communities they return to. Combined Arms is combating the fragmented and highly populated VSO landscape to overcome the chal

Protecting your intellectual work, your artistic creation, and your organization demands great effort and legal expertise. Though these sound overwhelming, the awareness of these rights and the assistance from a legal counsel will save you from the slippery slope of complex intellectual property issues.   In today’s edition of the Knucklehead Podcast, our guest, Andy Nelson will talk about intellectual property rights, how to avoid copyright and trademark infringement, and the right time to seek professional advice.   Andy Nelson is an Intellectual Property Lawyer at Fortis LLP. He loves helping veteran-owned and military spouse-owned businesses start, grow, and succeed with the critical legal counseling they need. Andy represents clients in complex business, commercial, intellectual property matters. His practice emphasizes the development of effective strategies for trademark and copyright protection, enforcement, licensing, and dispute resolution. Areas of focus also include complex contractual and commerc

From its humble beginnings, podcasts have become a commonplace for business and content marketers. The exponential growth and popularity not only serve as a medium for creating and distributing valuable content but also create an avenue for multi-dollar revenue.   Today’s episode of the Knucklehead Podcast is a short but meaningful interview from one the top names and pillars in the podcasting industry, John Lee Dumas. He will talk about the key factor that made his way to the top of the podcasting space, his best advice on how to succeed in this arena, and what to keep in mind when dealing with sponsorships.   John Lee Dumas is the founder and host of Entrepreneurs on Fire, an award-winning podcast that hosts an interview with inspiring entrepreneurs. He is widely regarded as one of the best viral entrepreneur podcasters in the United States who started his entrepreneurial career in 2012 and up to date, has generated over $18 million in revenue through his podcasts.   Entrepreneurs On Fire started out as a d

Keeping the tradition of supporting local businesses, today’s episode of the Knucklehead Podcast is about highlighting the craftsmanship of a knife maker from Texas, Matthew Gaskill. His inclination to build things from his own workbench has brought him into a lot of hobbies. But his affinity to steel and blades run from his blood of gunsmith and knife maker.   Matt is the craftsman of Gaskill Knives. He will share with you how he started his knife business, what caused him to stay committed in developing his skill, and the challenges and opportunities he must address in promoting his product in social media.   Gaskill Knives was established in 2015. From the inherited old Bader bench and a couple of drill presses, Matt has now a handful of knives under his belt and definitely got the itch to do more.     Enjoy!   Favorite Quote   “Being that I make knives, I'm kind of constrained in many ways with social media. When I couldn't promote a page, they sent me emails all the time. Hey, promote this post. But if y

Today’s edition of the Knucklehead Podcast is a conversation about resiliency with our guest, Lex Brown. Having a history in boxing, Lex's experience of being hit with punches and groomed to fight for a title is parallel to taking failure and frustration in the entrepreneurial world. The lessons he learned in the fighting arena and his less than a decade in military service helped him succeed in the business he has today.   Lex will speak about the struggles associated with not just transition but with his life growing without a father figure as well. He will also talk about his inspiration in taking the entrepreneurial path, how he helps and creates opportunity to veterans, and how he bounces back from failures brought about by hurt reputation and disappointments.   Lex is a US Air Force and Operation Iraqi Freedom Veteran with 9 years of honorable service (7 years on active duty). He brings proven leadership and success in telecommunications and information technology, primarily in operational leadership, p

In today’s episode of the Knucklehead Podcast, our guest, Richard Harris will share his wisdom about the distinction of sales processes between different business models, why companies need to review their strategies frequently, and what’s his definition of product/market fit and culture fit in business.   Getting rid of distractions and clutter from promotion and advertising will help in developing a powerful marketing strategy in a fairly flooded marketplace. Cutting through the noise can make your message stand out and will drive potential clients to remember your message.   Richard Harris is the Founder of The Harris Consulting Group. They provide real world examples to help you build a sales training and infrastructure that is based on your business goals, values, products, and ideas. Bringing over 20 years of technology and SaaS experience in sales training, operations and sales leadership into his role as a Sales Consultant, Richard has built, led and consulted with a wide range of organizations includ

Ep 128   Losing a father, a husband, a wife, or brothers and sisters in combat is devastating. While the family is dealing with the pain of losing a loved one, what’s more difficult is to figure out, “what comes next”!   In today’s episode of the Knucklehead Podcast, Stephen will have a conversation with Rob on how he sets himself and his services apart from the norm and status quo, his knucklehead stories that impart tremendous lessons in his life, and how he helps military families prepare for the unexpected.   Rob Rens is the Owner and Agent at State Farm Insurance Agency. From his experience in Iraq with Personnel Retrieval & Processing Detachment, he realized that it’s impossible to completely eliminate risk from our lives. His new mission is to protect as many people in the community from going through what they did which is to be completely unprepared for what to do next when “it'll never happen” happens.   Enjoy!   Favorite Quote   "My first week in the company, I basically just came in and said

Since the outbreak of COVID 19, travel restrictions and stay-at-home measures of the government immobilized people’s activities, shutdown bricks and mortar businesses, and disrupted the events industry. While the majority of other sectors declined significantly or even collapsed, eCommerce skyrocketed its sales within the first weeks.   In this episode of the Knucklehead Podcast, Chris will talk about his entrepreneurial journey, the statistics behind his growth, and the impact of COVID 19 on his business.   From trying to meet ends doing his photography and videography in his little production company, Chris is now growing their business from 2.5 million in revenue in 2019 and projected revenue of $10+million in 2020.   Chris Meade is the co-Founder of the Chief Marketing Officer at CROSSNET. He assisted and helped design the patented CROSSNET game, creates and manages wholesale relationships with retail and e-commerce vendors, and establishes relationships with over one thousand schools throughout the US &

Going through a painful experience from bad hiring decisions, Nathan came up with creating a proven system and process that help businesses scale by hiring virtual assistants.   In this episode of the Knucklehead Podcast, Stephen and Nathan dig into the details of how Nathan progress from being an Amazon seller to a Co-Founder at Outsource School. They will also talk about the struggles and mistakes he committed during the early years of his business and what fueled his entrepreneurial fire.   Nathan Hirsch is a serial entrepreneur and expert in remote hiring and eCommerce. He has been selling online for over 7 years and has sold well over $20 million worth of product through his eCommerce business. He is the former founder and CEO at  FreeUp Marketplace and now the CO-Founder at Outsource School. They are determined to be the top destination for business owners to learn how to scale their marketing and operations with the help of virtual talent.     Enjoy!   Favorite Quote   “I've made every bad hiring decis

Strongly confident that he has what it takes to be a topflight sales leader, Scott spent most of his early career finding the right people and the right position for the job. His bold mindset on how he views failure and how he bounces back from his mistakes makes him a 3x American Association of Inside Sales Professionals Top 25 Award Winner and one of the top startup sales leaders in the country.   Knucklehead Podcast guest for today, Scott Leese, will share with you his journey on how he gets into the sales arena, his ability to respond and handle multiple missteps and his willingness to fail in order to learn and be the best version of himself.   Scott Leese is the Founder and CEO of both Scott Leese Consulting, LLC and Surf & Sales. A highly sought-after consultant, advisor, leader, and sales trainer, Leese has a proven record of success building and scaling businesses from the ground up. He is also the author of Amazon’s #1 best-selling book on sales called Addicted to the Process that was released i

If you’re in a situation where darkness complicates your struggle, being able to see the danger gives you the advantage to overcome limitations, enables you to carry out operations that would not in other ways possible, and above all save lives.   Today’s guest of the Knucklehead Podcast, Nick Ripplinger, speaks about providing warfighter, frontline men and women, and emergency management professionals extra tools that make them safer and more lethal. He will also point out the obstacles that emerge in their line of business as COVID hits and how he qualifies people to work in partnership with his business.   Nicholas Ripplinger is the President at Battle Sight Technologies. He’s a former US Army soldier and Operations NCOIC. He is also the best-selling author of Front Line Leadership. Nick has dedicated a percentage of his time and resources to assist veterans in transition by leveraging their military skills in the business world.   Battle Sight Technologies is a leading rapid commercialization firm focused

From a lone wolf to a 7-figure business strategist, Dr. Robert Garcia shares with you his tactics in building a successful business.   Over the past 18 months he last guested in the show, Dr. Rob has upgraded his business severely. In his second time to speak here at Knucklehead Podcast, he will talk about his thought process in achieving success, the strategy he is using to build an audience organically, and how he qualifies influencers and business owners he works with.   Dr. Robert Garcia is San Diego’s Award-Winning Business Strategist. He is an 8-time Author and also the  Owner of the SHIFT Advanced Life Design Magazine. He helps experts become highly credible industry leaders through media interviews, strategic social media, and celebrity partnerships.   Enjoy!   Favorite Quote:   “I was a lone wolf in it. I was trying to do everything on my own. That's the biggest thing I have to tell veterans, especially is don't be a lone wolf. Fix your business now. Don't be unprofitable for five years because you'r

Military life is tough, difficult, and dangerous. But the transition from active duty to civilian life also brings forth challenges on the majority of veterans in dealing with benefits, retirement path, and setting up a new career.   In today’s episode of the Knucklehead Podcast, Stephen shares another inspiring conversation with our guest, Adrianne Phillips. They talk about how Adrienne came up with the creation of a nonprofit organization, how it works, and eventually into the foundation of SAVI.   Adrianne Phillips is a service-disabled veteran, who founded Strategic Alliance for Veteran Integration (SAVI) as a reaction to the immense need for support of veterans transitioning to civilian life. After serving in the U.S. Air Force as a combat service-member and Security Forces, Adrianne transitioned out of the military and into civilian life. In 2017, she harnessed her experience as a veteran, benefits manager, and entrepreneur to found the Strategic Alliance for Veteran Integration with the goal of support

Looking back at the thought process, best practice, and episodes of the Knucklehead Podcast that resulted in developing it into a business organically, Stephen is now going to have a quick review of what the foundation of Knucklehead is.   In today’s solo episode, he will talk about some of the remarkable episodes they’ve been up to that you can go back and listen to, certain trends that have been going out, a little bit about leveraging social media, and how to get involved in Knucklehead 90 challenge.   Stephen Colon is the Founder and Chief Knucklehead of Knucklehead Media Group. He is committed to helping businesses leverage the power of their voice to bring dead leads to life.   Knucklehead Media Group is the home to some of the top podcasts across multiple categories, captivating coursework on gaining traction with your show, and consulting to those companies BOLD enough to #getsomewins. They believe your mistakes set the foundation for your success, those stories help customers beat a pathway to your d

As one of the core principles of effective leadership, owning your mistakes and embedding your failures prove to be one of the most important parts of success.   In today’s episode of the Knucklehead Podcast, our guest Adam Mendler talks about his mindset in dealing with mistakes, how culture defines the character and personality of an organization, and the key factor that brought about the biggest change in the way they’ve grown as an organization.   Adam Mendler is a serial entrepreneur, a motivational and leadership keynote speaker. He utilizes his professional, entrepreneurial, and managerial background in creating both the Lessons in Leadership series in Thrive Global and the Thirty Minute Mentors podcast. He conducted over 300 one on one interviews with America’s most accomplished and insightful people and authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and The Huffington Post. Favorite Quote:    “Only a mediocre person never makes a mistake. That means that if you're

Denied from an institution he seriously wanted to get into, Andy’s creative and innovative mind directs him into the creation of CRYPTO CARTEL, a perfect tabletop game that practices strategy.   Today’s episode of the Knucklehead Podcast is a comeback interview with Andy Mazeika. From a budding entrepreneur, his product is now labeled as Amazon’s Choice and setting up a great avenue for family entertainment. His entrepreneurial spirit leads him not only in the genesis of the Crypto Cartel Card Game but also looking to get Crypto Cartel Comic Series with comic book artist Manuel Martinez.    ANDY MAZEIKA is the designer of Crypto Cartel. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and an Iraq War Combat Veteran.    CRYPTO CARTEL is a Card Game where players must establish resources in order to exchange them for Cryptocurrency -- or Crypto. During exchanges, players may also earn Silk Road Cards, which can give you the opportunity to descend upon your opponents and their resources or to

In pursuit of finding what his father would have wanted him to be, Clint left the NFL to become a Navy Seal. But his passion for building companies and organizations deeply impacted him. He then leaves the Navy and achieves a deeper purpose.   Today’s episode of the Knucklehead Podcast shares the story of Clint Bruce, the mistake he had realized when his father passed away, how he redeemed himself, and how he transitioned into becoming the master of the map he is now sailing on.   Clint Bruce is the CEO and Co-Founder of the Trident Response Group. He is dedicated to working with the best leaders in America who are ready to protect, endure, compete, and recover as they lead their families, businesses, and themselves.   Trident Response Group (TRG) is an Intelligence-based consulting firm that specializes in risk mitigation, threat solutions, and readiness training. TRG’s services cover corporate and individual needs with the ability to provide Risk and Readiness services including Disaster Planning, Risk Asse

Ep 117 - When you stop and the team starts, Operations X CEO Preston Weekes This episode of the Knucklehead podcast talks about how delegating your work and outsourcing tasks can help you multiply your operations, enhance and speed up your processes while lowering your operational cost, but most importantly, improve your quality of life. Being a control freak, Preston finds himself burnt out from running his business in different locations and multiple employees. This knucklehead moment of his life brings about the genesis of Operations X. Today’s guest, Preston Weekes, is the Chief Strategy Officer and co-Founder of the Operations X. His mission is to help the success of a hundred percent of humanity by providing opportunities and helping people to make their dreams and their hard work a reality. Operations X is a business solutions company mainly focused on remote staffing. It provides actionable solutions to help the success rate of businesses and simplifies the outsourcing process by hiring and managing r

Ep  116 When it comes to true service, how much are you willing to give in order to serve? What are the reasons behind taking these actions and what thought process you need to develop in achieving your purpose? Our guest in today’s episode of the Knucklehead Podcast shares it all. Trace Johannesen is a US Marine Veteran. His life has been about leading others to work together to accomplish goals, relationship-building, and creative problem-solving. Serving for City Council, Trace decided to take another step in his life to continue his service. This time, service and represent the Texas Congressional District 4. Enjoy! Favorite Quote: “I know that our district deserves this kind of leadership. If no one's leading, there's a firefight, I'm going to step up and run to the fire. Like my duty demands it. And my training as a Marine commands that I go towards the fight.”  -Trace Johannesen In this episode: 2: 11 - His thoughts about military leadership 5:14 - The mistakes he committed during the sophomore years 7