Tom Morkes Interview: Warrior Mind Podcast #282
Over four years and going strong! With over 300,000 downloads from over 9 countries and 5 continents’…. this is
the Warrior Mind Podcast.
In this episode of the Warrior Mind Podcast I interview an amazing entrepreneur, Tom Morkes. We talk about his transition from the military to business owner. We’ll discuss how he manages to run several very successful business and still has time for himself and family.
History + Longer Bio of Tom Morkes
In 2012, I authored the book The Art of Instigating, which I subsequently gave away for free to all of my readers (all 10 of them).
Notes From Seth Godin’s Revolution Conference by Tom MorkesIn early 2013, I decided I wanted to validate myself as a writer by seeing if people would pay for my work, but I also didn’t want to charge. So I released Notes From Seth Godin’s Revolution Conference as “Pay What You Want.” I thought people would laugh at me. Instead, I made close to $500 in the first month.
This surprised me for two reasons.
First, it taught me that maybe people would pay for my writing (maybe I was good enough, contrary to what the Enemy would have me believe).
Second, it taught me that people would pay even if they didn’t have to.
This experience inspired me so much that I decided to share my story in a Fizzle.co article (external link).
Once again, the response was overwhelming. This article instigated so much feedback, both positive and negative, that I decided to dive head first into Pay What You Want pricing, testing out the pricing technique with products (digital and physical), and services (which, turns out, allowed me to make more money per hour than most doctors and lawyers in the US).
The Complete Guide to Pay What You Want Pricing by Tom Morkes
After about 10 months of testing, I compiled my experiments and research into a new book: The Complete Guide to Pay What You Want Pricing. While I sell this book using Pay What You Want pricing (clever, right?), I’ve been able to make over $7,000 from people’s generous contributions, which I believe gives testament to the power of generosity (and that authors can make a living from their writing, as this is just one of many books I’ve written and published).
This book also went semi-viral, landing me interviews and appearances on podcasts, blogs, and radio shows around the world, including Growthhacker.tv, Problogger.net, Gumroad.com, and Mirasee (former FirepoleMarketing), among dozens of others.
In the Spring of 2014, I co-founded and launched a “Pay What You Want” business incubator, which I believe was the first of its kind. We did $41,000 for the launch of the in-person event, then followed up with the digital launch several weeks later. You can read about it here.
In the Fall of 2014, I co-founded HighSpeedLowDrag.org alongside John Lee Dumas of EntrepreneurOnFire.com and Antonio Centeno of RealMenRealStyle.com. HighSpeedLowDrag.org is a platform to help veterans transition into the civilian world as entrepreneurs, business owners, and leaders. I wrote about our experience here, here, and here.
Enjoy this podcast interview with Tom Morkes
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In the Winter of 2014, I crowdfunded my most recent book, Collaborate: The Modern Playbook for Leading a Small Team to Create, Market, and Sell Digital Products Online, which raised over $12,000 in 30 days.
Before Tom Morkes Was a Publisher / Entrepreneur / Male Model
Before life as an entrepreneur and publisher, I graduated from The United States Military Academy at West Point, NY.
At West Point, I majored in Russian and Human Geography with a track in Environmental Engineering. I also fought on the boxing team.
After graduating, I spent five years active duty as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army, deployed to Iraq as a Guntruck Security Platoon Leader, and eventually commanded a Company in an airborne unit where I got paid to jump out of helicopters – true story.
His blog is my way of applying what I’ve learned leading troops in combat to the world of entrepreneurship, writing and art.
You can find more about Tom at his site:
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