Advertise on podcast: School of Hard Knocks Podcast

Get the all-in-one business tool millionaires use to run and grow their companies. Start your free 30-day trial 👉: https://www.gohighlevel.com/schoolofhardknocks/?fp_ref=the-school-of-hard-knocks-llc20 Learn from the millionaires and billionaires we interview on calls every week. Sign up for our community here: https://www.skool.com/schoolofmentors/about Jason Mickool is the Founder and CEO of Florida Financial Advisors, a financial services business he started from his kitchen table after years in corporate leadership and repeated firings. In this episode, Jason shares his philosophy on ownership, uncapped income, recruiting, real estate, entrepreneurship, building scalable businesses, and creating generational wealth. He also explains why his wife pushed him to bet on himself, how he thinks about risk and cash flow, and why he believes the people you surround yourself with can determine the trajectory of your life. Follow Jason:Website: JasonMickool.comInstagram: @jmickoolLinkedIn: Jason Mickool Florida Financial Advisors: Florida Financial AdvisorsTake The Power Back: Take The Power BackGreatness Lab: Greatness Lab Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Bob Duggan is a billionaire entrepreneur and investor best known for helping transform Pharmacyclics from a struggling biotech company into a cancer-treatment powerhouse that sold for $21 billion. In this episode, Bob shares his journey from a modest childhood and early investing career to building businesses across food, robotics, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals. He opens up about losing his son to glioblastoma, how that experience shaped his commitment to medicine, and the principles behind his approach to risk, leadership, investing, responsibility, and wealth creation. Find Bob Duggan here: Website: https://robertduggan.com/ Genius Inc.: https://www.geniusinc.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertwduggan Pulse Biosciences: https://www.pulsebiosciences.com/ Summit Therapeutics: https://www.smmttx.com/overview/ Duggan Investments: https://www.dugganinvestmentsresearch.com/ Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Kim Perell is a nine-time entrepreneur, angel investor in more than 100 companies, and the founder behind a business that grew from a $10,000 loan from her grandmother to a $235 million exit. In this episode, Kim shares how she built through uncertainty, what she looks for when investing in early-stage founders, and the lessons she learned scaling companies from their first million toward nine-figure and billion-dollar outcomes. She also breaks down mentorship, founder resilience, building valuable relationships, increasing a company’s attractiveness to buyers, and why focus matters more than diversification in the early years. Kim closes with her philosophy on family, money, creativity, long-term thinking, and why no one becomes successful alone. Find Kim Perell here: Website: https://kimperell.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimperell/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimperell/ Check out Kim’s books: https://kimperell.com/books/ Learn more about Juni: https://drinkjuni.com/ Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Eddie Maalouf is the founder and CEO of BAD Marketing, an agency generating roughly $18 million annually, and an entrepreneur behind multiple businesses including Scoville Hot Chicken. Before building his agency, Eddie became the top sales rep by volume at Lifetime Fitness and later helped generate an additional $1 million in profit for his family’s businesses. In this episode, Eddie explains the sales systems, marketing strategies, hiring decisions, and organic content playbook that helped him scale from struggling to acquire clients to working with major brands including Yeezy. He also breaks down how he negotiated a restaurant business from a $1 million asking price to a $130,000 deal. Follow Eddie Maalouf:Instagram: instagram.com/eddiemaalouf BAD Marketing: badmarketing.com Scoville Hot Chicken: scovillechicken.com Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Get the all-in-one business tool millionaires use to run and grow their companies. Start your free 30-day trial 👉: https://www.gohighlevel.com/schoolofhardknocks/?fp_ref=the-school-of-hard-knocks-llc20Jhalesa Seymour is the founder of Salt.XO, an eight-figure feminine hygiene brand generating more than $20 million annually, with one launch producing $1 million in just 30 minutes. She started the company in college with only $67 and became the first millionaire in her family by age 25. In this episode, Jhalesa shares how she created demand, built trust through organic marketing, survived a devastating 20,000-order fulfillment crisis, scaled with paid advertising, and learned to manage people and money through explosive growth. She also discusses faith, motherhood, competition, building the right circle, and her ambition to turn Salt.XO into a global billion-dollar company.Find Jhalesa Seymour here:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jhalesa.xo/Salt.XO: https://www.instagram.com/salt.xo/Website: https://www.saltxo.com/ Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Mike Wystrach is the founder of Freshly, the prepared-meal company acquired by Nestlé in 2020 in a deal valued at $1.5 billion. Before Freshly, Mike experienced business failure, lost his home, faced a $1 million judgment, and at 35 had just $15 in his bank account. In this episode, he explains how he rebuilt his mindset, scaled Freshly to more than 1 million meals per week, navigated fundraising and hypergrowth, and ultimately decided to sell the business. Mike also shares lessons on entrepreneurship, customer obsession, building great teams, wealth, failure, and what he is building today through Petfolk and Cutting Horse. Find Mike Wystrach here:Website: https://mikewystrach.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikewystrach/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelwystrach/ Check out Mike’s businesses: Petfolk: https://petfolk.com/ Cutting Horse: https://www.cuttinghorse.com/ Listen to The Advantage: https://mikewystrach.com/podcast/ https://mikewystrach.com/newsletter/ Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Try Emergent for free: https://app.emergent.sh/?utm_shift=redirect&via=theschoolofhardknockspodcastJamie Salter is the founder and chairman of Authentic Brands Group, the global brand platform behind Reebok, Champion, Forever 21, Quiksilver and partnerships with names like Shaquille O’Neal, David Beckham and Kevin Hart. In this episode, Jamie breaks down how he went from a childhood paper route and the snowboard business to building one of the largest brand licensing companies in the world. He shares how Authentic evaluates acquisitions, what gives a struggling brand a “heartbeat,” why global expansion matters, and how licensing can unlock growth without owning every part of the supply chain. Jamie also talks about working alongside his four sons, partnering with major personal brands, the rise of creator-driven commerce, financial discipline, and why organization has been one of the biggest advantages of his career. Follow Jamie Salter:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamiejsalter/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-salter-04a08933/ Learn more about Authentic Brands Group:Website: https://corporate.authentic.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authentic/ Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

George Heaton is the co-founder of Represent, the British fashion brand that has grown from a bedroom operation into a global business generating roughly $140 million in annual revenue. In this episode, George shares how he and his brother built the company from the ground up, navigated a multimillion-dollar trademark dispute, and scaled from approximately $8M to more than $100M in revenue. He also breaks down product strategy, international expansion, hiring, retail, pricing discipline and the importance of delayed gratification. A practical conversation about building a brand designed to outlive its founders. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

David Royce is an entrepreneur and sales leader who built and sold five pest control companies for more than $1 billion in combined value. Starting as a broke college student in door-to-door sales, he went on to create high-performance sales organizations, scalable operating systems, and recurring-revenue businesses across multiple markets. In this episode, David explains his RACK sales system, how he survived early cash-flow crises, why training and culture became his competitive advantage, and why “boring” businesses continue to create extraordinary wealth. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Blake Johnson is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and sold five companies, including a $97 million exit and the sale of Byte for more than $1 billion. After nearly losing his first business during the 2008 financial crisis, he developed a disciplined framework for bootstrapping, scaling and positioning companies for acquisition. In this episode, Blake explains how he evaluates markets, controls customer acquisition costs, builds high-performing teams and creates businesses that strategic buyers and private equity firms want to acquire. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Dr. Jason Wersland is the inventor of the Theragun and the founder of Therabody, the global wellness company that transformed percussive therapy and recovery. After a serious motorcycle accident left him in extreme pain, Jason created the first Theragun prototype from a modified power tool and spent years developing the product while facing financial pressure, family doubt and failed business partnerships. In this episode, he explains how he found the right investor, protected the invention, built an entirely new product category and earned adoption from world-class athletes including Cristiano Ronaldo and Aaron Rodgers. The conversation explores invention, resilience, brand building, strategic partnerships and why consistency, persistence and delusion are often required to build something revolutionary. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

David Stout is the founder of WebAI, an artificial intelligence company publicly valued at $2.5 billion. After growing up on a Michigan ranch, he launched a web services company in college that generated more than $750,000 annually before leaving school to pursue AI. In this episode, David explains how a $400 loan, repeated investor rejection, and a relentless focus on on-device intelligence shaped WebAI’s rise. He also discusses AI ownership, data centers, leadership, faith, recruiting elite talent, and the future of specialized artificial intelligence. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Mike Sherbakov is a Russian-born immigrant, Marine Corps veteran, entrepreneur, angel investor, and co-founder of The Veteran Fund. After building and selling companies, Mike moved into venture capital and now helps back veteran-led startups across defense, AI, space, energy, robotics, and critical technology. In this episode, Mike breaks down his journey from poverty and military service to entrepreneurship, early-stage investing, 100X returns, and building a 130-company portfolio. He also shares what he looks for in founders, why resilience matters, and how veteran leadership is shaping the future of American innovation. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

John Imah is the founder of SpreeAI, a fashion technology company valued at $1.5 billion, and the youngest millionaire in School of Hard Knocks history after selling two tech companies before age 16. In this episode, John shares his journey from growing up poor in an immigrant family to working at Samsung, Twitch, Meta, and Snapchat before returning to entrepreneurship. He breaks down building AI for fashion, attracting elite talent, selling into major brands, overcoming bullying, losing his mother, and using faith, discipline, and execution to build a lasting company. Do you want more options, shorter, more intense, or more viral versions? Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Ronnen Harary is the co-founder of Spin Master, the global toy and entertainment company behind Paw Patrol, Bakugan, Air Hogs, Rubik’s Cube, and more. Starting with a handmade product called Earth Buddies, he helped build the company into a multi-billion-dollar business across toys, entertainment, and digital games. In this episode, Ronnen breaks down the early Kmart deal, passing on Beyblade, building Bakugan, creating Paw Patrol, scaling globally, learning from failure, and why your 20s are the best decade to bet on yourself. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.