How'd it Happen?

What exactly does it mean to live an “agile life?” Let’s start with the definition of “agile” which means “marked by ready ability to move with quick easy grace.” That sounds like something that all entrepreneurs strive to be. We want to be agile in the way that we can move quickly to meet our customers' demands and recognize when it’s time to shift directions or processes. Simon Severino is...

We all have cool things about ourselves, but how often do you take the time to list out the cool things about yourself? Chances are, it’s probably not very often, but after listening to a podcast with Dean Graziosi, Mike felt inspired to reflect on the cool things about himself. In Dean’s podcast episode, he talked about an exercise he called “10 Cool Things About Me” and listed them. It is easy t...

In the entrepreneur and personal development space, we often hear people talk about the importance of finding your true purpose and making sure your life is aligned with that. This has become such an important topic because for most of us, this is not something we learned about in school. Now that we have social media and people idolizing and wanting to model their life after an illusion of someon...

Today’s solo episode of the How’d It Happen podcast was inspired by Jordan Peterson and his book, titled “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos." After reading this book, Mike felt drawn to create his own rules of life, and in this episode, he breaks down his 12.5 rules of life. Those rules are:  Hold doors open, look people in the eye, say hello, and smile.  Words matter. Surround yourself...

Brett Johnson is a former US most wanted cyber criminal turned good guy. The United States Secret Service called Brett “The Original Internet Godfather.” Brett’s fascinating story is one you don’t want to miss as you’ll hear about his role in refining modern financial cybercrime, being convicted of 39 felonies, escaping prison, and how he built the first organized cybercrime community. This commun...

What were the top breakthroughs of 2022, and how do they compare to the top breakthroughs of 1922, 100 years ago? Let’s rewind 100 years and look at the pace of innovation a century ago. In 1922, the world was just emerging from the aftermath of the Spanish flu, and this year ushered in a new era of progress and rebirth.  In 1922, in the United States: There were ~12 million cars on the road The p...

Brett Johnson is a former US most wanted cyber criminal turned good guy. The United States Secret Service called Brett “The Original Internet Godfather.” Brett’s rollercoaster of a story is one you don’t want to miss as you’ll hear about his role in refining modern financial cybercrime, being convicted of 39 felonies, escaping prison, and how he built the first organized cyber crime community. Thi...

In this solo episode, Mike channels Celeste Headlee’s TED talk called “10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation.” Mike puts his own spin on them by using his experience of releasing over 300 podcast episodes and interviewing many amazing people along the way. There are certain habits and questions that take a conversation to the next level by eliciting interesting topics and showing others that you a...

In the modern age of social media, advanced technology, and Artificial Intelligence, people are becoming less comfortable with dealing with conflict. Technology continues to make it easier to become distracted by other people’s stories, and allow machines to do the work and thinking for us. While it may seem very convenient, it may not be the best thing for fostering a resilient and creative socie...

In this solo episode, Mike channels Celeste Headlee’s TED talk called “10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation.” Mike puts his own spin on them by using his experience of releasing over 300 podcast episodes and interviewing many amazing people along the way. There are certain habits and questions that take a conversation to the next level by eliciting interesting topics and showing others that you a...

All of us have been through challenges that no one else has been through, and those circumstances give you a license to speak to people that have been through challenges as well. It gives you an opportunity to help people while already having the credibility and experience to do so. Pain can be a gift if we allow it to, so today’s guest encourages us to turn our pain into purpose and use it to hel...

In this solo episode, Mike explores a fun little word called “jabroni” and explains what it means, where it came from, and why it's so interesting. The inspiration for this episode came from an article by Ben Zimmer for the Wall Street Journal. Each week, Ben has a column called “Word on the Street,” and recently, he dove into the meaning and origin of “jabroni.”  When the Kansas City Chiefs...

In the world of modern marketing, there are many things that can be analyzed and optimized for your business goals. Just following what you see someone else doing online might not work for you, so take it from a marketing expert and pay attention to your data and dive into what is working and what isn’t. Dennis Yu is committed to bringing marketing strategies to everyday businesses, especially the...

In this solo episode, Mike dives into a topic that is near and dear to his heart, and that is when people call their business “small.” Businesses come in all sizes, but none of them are small.  Politicians like to refer to small businesses, and how they are the backbone of our economy, and they can talk about business as they wish, but the problem comes in when business owners talk about their own...

As an entrepreneur, chances are you have gone on a personal development journey and aim to be the best version of yourself that you can be. In life, we strive to have harmony in the various aspects of our life such as personal relationships, business, fitness, and nutrition. A lot of people find themselves struggling in the fitness and nutrition realm because we have been taught to go about it in...

Have you ever tried to learn from the future? Probably not, because it is hard to learn from something that has yet to happen. We can imagine the future and create it, but we can’t use it as a lesson. What about the present? The present is fleeting and happening right now at this moment, so it’s not something we can really learn from either. What we can definitely learn from is the past. The past...

Dave Fulk is a seasoned executive with decades of experience leading successful teams across a wide array of industries. While Dave is many things, at his core, he is an operator that knows how to get shit done! It doesn’t matter what the job is; Dave will be there to get it done and get it done right. When a problem arises, he carefully examines different pathways for his team to reach their goal...

Have you ever felt inspired to randomly do something you have never done before, just to see how it goes? That is what happened for Mike when he heard about the idea of a 12-hour walk in a webinar by Colin O’ Brady. Colin is the author of the book Impossible First , and he completed the amazing feat of trekking across Antarctica alone, pulling a 375-pound sled for 51 days in -40 degree weather. Co...

As the podcast world grows, more and more people realize the power of podcast guesting. While getting on other podcasts as a guest can be an incredibly valuable tool to grow your impact, you want to be podcast guesting and not just podcast guessing. This should be a strategic process in which you first evaluate your goals, and come up with a plan that makes the most sense for you. Some people star...

Are you someone that stays charged, or someone that needs charging? That is the question of today’s solo episode. As humans, we don’t have actual batteries that need charging, but we know there are certain things that recharge us, such as rest and restorative practices. We have some sort of energy source within us, but for some people, it doesn’t seem that way. The way Mike sees it is that there a...

As entrepreneurs, we tend to think that the world is full of competition and that certain markets are too saturated for us to stand out, but the truth is that although the world is full of people, that doesn’t mean it’s full of competition. Chances are, what you need to do to stand out from the crowd isn’t as challenging as you think it is. It just means you need to serve people’s needs and do it...

We have been taught to trade our time for money, but there comes the point where we are allowing a disservice to ourselves by operating this way. The more of an expert we become in our field, the less time it takes us to reach a result, and that result is usually of higher quality than what others with less experience can provide. By continuing to trade our time for money, we will need to put in m...

Dr. Timothy Nelson is the founder of HeartWorks, an organization that developed from the Todd & Karen Wanek Family Program for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome founded at the Mayo Clinic in 2010. Tim’s work specializes in the creation of stem cells to create heart muscle and hopefully cure pediatric congenital heart defects in the near future. The HeartWorks team has developed a platform that e...

In this episode, I talk about the walls we build around us that not only prevent you from leading the life you are capable of living, but they also obstruct your view of what's on the other side -- where your future is.  I talk about how you can identify those walls so you can start chipping away at them and start to see what's out there -- behind the walls -- and become exactly what you...

Sam Schmidt is the Co-Owner of Arrow McLaren SP, an Indycar racing team comprised of two determined racing entities, McLaren Racing and Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. That ambition is shared and supported by title partner Arrow Electronics.  Sam grew up working on race cars and in 1997 embarked on his racing career as an Indycar driver. Two years later he took his first win in Las Vegas and f...