The Entrepreneur Start-Up Series Week 10 -

“Sometimes God will put a Goliath in your life, for you to find the David within you.

Ep #46: Music by Marcus, With Marcus Schwan

Ep #47: Create a Secondary Income Stream with Matt Miller

Ep #48: Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, The Million Dollar Blog

Ep #49: Surviving Tragedy with Marie White

Ep #50: MentorBox Founder and CEO, Dr. Alex Mehr

The Daily Grind Business Podcast interviews successful business owners and people in hopes to inspire the next great entrepreneur.

Welcome to Week 10 of The Daily Grind Business Podcast Weekly Summaries. Each week the interviewees impart their wisdom by sharing their experiences. Learn from them. To connect with them and to receive some free information please click on the links below.

There is a common thread with all successful entrepreneurs and that is the importance of investing in both your business and personal growth. So each week we also share with you titles of books that either these entrepreneurs have written or suggested that you read.

Week 10

1. Marcus Schwan is a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist and the founder of Retirement & Long-Term Care Entertainment. Aiming to redefine Retirement Entertainment, Marcus provides top quality musical entertainment through interactive, engaging and uplifting songs. Gone are the days of just listening, with music by Marcus, you become part of the performance.

2. Matt Miller teaches professionals how to build secondary income streams with vending. He spent the first 9 years of his career as an Air Force pilot, before entering in the private sector to work in both the medical device and advertising industries. While a top performer in the corporate world, his long-term desire was to be his own boss. A good friend one day mentioned the gumball machines he and his young daughters owned, and that conversation began a 10-year business quest that has brought Matt’s company, School Spirit Vending, to the cutting edge of both the vending and school fundraising industries. Today, School Spirit Vending’s franchising program provides a proven and profitable business system for busy professionals and their families looking to develop secondary income streams with a limited time commitment.

3. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner is a full-time blogger and financial expert at Makingsenseofcents.com. She currently earns over $100,000 a month from her blog, and it all started as a side hustle. She sold her house in 2015 and has been traveling full-time since.

4. Marie White was born to write, but it would take one horrific event to send her into full-time writing. When her youngest child was abducted, the world felt upside down. Grieving with her husband and older children, she wondered how God could allow this to happen. Yet in the sea of pain, her family witnessed God’s unending love and purpose. She began praying for God to show her what to do with her life. His answer to her prayer was a podcast announcement that missionaries were needed. Marie trained and became a missionary with Global Media Outreach. Within the first few months, she had spoken with over 300 converts to Christianity in countries all over the world. She is the author of Changing Your Life in Just Ten Days, Ten Day Bible Study and Strength for Parents of Missing Children.

5. Alex Mehr is the founder and CEO of MentorBox.com. He is the founder of Zoosk and prior to that he was an aerospace scientist at NASA.

These entrepreneurs shared the same advice when asked – If you could ask your “younger self” one piece of advice what would that be?

ANSWER: Start a business earlier. If you are not in the marketplace then you are not closer to the success where you want to be.

“I found out that this was my niche. I wrote a Business Plan and then I just got started.” by Marcus Schwan

“For the past year I learned about being an entrepreneur. I always considered myself as an artist so the melding of these two disciplines took some time for me.” by Marcus Schwan

“This experience forced me to learn. I learned about what a marketing strategy does and that cold emails are a thing of the past. I learned that I needed to meet people face to face. I printed flyers and business cards and linked all information back to my Website. I spent 2 months travelling to 25 retirement homes each day to get me started.” by Marcus Schwan

“I started 13 years ago with a simple gum ball machine that cost $100. Today, there is more opportunity to capitalize what is going on in the business world. We are doing more things online. I was looking for a secondary income at the time when I was working as an advertising executive.” by Matt Miller

“Money adds up. We raised 5 million dollars for education over the past 10 years 50 cents at a time.” by Matt Miller

“You have to start with the long game in mind. Running a business is not a sprint. It is a marathon and you just have to do something every day -the daily grind.” by Matt Miller

“Stop being normal. Thinking this way holds you back. It leads you to being lazy.” by Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

“I started putting affiliate links on my blog to see if I could improve my income. I started making $100 per month. Now I make $50,000 per month in affiliate marketing alone.” by Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

“I started blogging as a side hustle. I was living pay cheque to pay cheque, spending too my money and I owed $40,000 in student loans.” by Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

“You have to love the business you start, just give it time. If you build it they will come.” by Marie White

“I am currently very excited about podcasting. It is a very special space for entrepreneurs and authors.” by Marie White

“Have some people around you who are not afraid to give you the truth when you are starting out.” by Marie White

“MentorBox is an online education platform and a physical book subscription company. You click on the book and you watch the author teach you the book.” by Dr. Alex Mehr

“The biggest obstacle you will have is inside your head. ” by Dr. Alex Mehr

“I know people who started a business who got angry and frustrated when the market did not want their product. They just got stuck on this idea that they thought would work. Many successful companies started as different companies. For example, Zoosk did not start as a dating app.” by Dr. Alex Mehr