Episode 68: Discovering Your Client’s Needs, with Mike O’Krent

Mike O'Krent, founder of LifeStories Alive, LLC, specializes in making personal history videos for families that value their heritage. They create family heirlooms in video – digitally mastered records of life stories with personal accounts, photos, and mementos of family history.

Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas and graduating from Southern Methodist University with a BBA in Marketing and Management, he entered his family’s retail floor covering business as the 4th generation in that business.

Between 1996 and 2000 Mike interviewed Holocaust survivors for Steven Spielberg's Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. During that incredible experience, he discovered the process and the importance of recording the life stories of our loved ones.

Mike moved to Austin in 1998 when he bought and managed a local floor covering business; then sold it in 2004. He finally found his passion in business when he started LifeStories Alive at the end of 2005.

Since the beginnings of LifeStories Alive, the business has expanded its expertise beyond capturing personal histories for families to now include recording the histories of businesses and non-profit organizations. The professionally produced videos can be used externally to promote the organization or internally as a training tool for new employees/volunteers.

Mike's unique interviewing skills bring out the heart and essence of the interviewee, thus making powerfully valuable connections to the intended audience.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

• The time Mike met Steven Spielberg and how this event influenced his business today
• The exercise of finding your passion and creating your path in life by doing more of what you already love
• Proven ways to get business with your product and using marketing to take the next step
• Insights into marketing and how the lean startup movement is essential to the process
• Steps to take before launching a product
• Discovering what your client needs by listening to their “story”
• The template and research behind Mike’s interview process
• The concept of really good business owners asking really good questions
• Habits of success for middle-stage entrepreneurs to continue moving forward
• Asking questions and listening to the team that surrounds you
• Opening your mind to the opinions and good counsel of others using a mastermind group

Ways to contact Mike:

• Website: lifestoriesalive.com
• Email: [e-mail]
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/LifeStories-Alive-LLC-112767072137025/
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/life-stories-alive
• Cell Phone: [phone]