Blog | Michael Knouse

Do Less, Better

Entrepreneurs and business builders face an enormous challenge. Aside from needing to learn new skills rapidly, we have more tasks to complete every day than we have time for. This ongoing challenge has driven me to experiment, practice and implement using proven methods for executing at a high level. Over the years I’ve adopted many principles that have worked well for …

Accepting Life’s Challenges

Hey there! I’ve been pretty silent the past few months. The last time you heard from me was in early February when I reminisced about my days as a wildland firefighter. Since then, my beautiful and brave wife, Jill, was diagnosed with breast cancer, and there was a flurry of uncertainty, fear, resolve and then important decisions to be made. Just […]

The Biggest Secret I Learned As a Wildland Firefighter

A true story about me. During my summers in college I was a firefighter for the La Grande Hotshots. A Hotshot fire crew is an elite team of 20 wildland firefighters, the most highly trained in the country, which are prepared to battle the most serious fires nationwide. This was one of the most physically demanding things I’ve ever done. Imagine […]

Is Your Niche Too Big?

There’s a great quote from a mediocre movie (Man of Steel, 2013). In the movie, a young Clark Kent has a bit of a freakout about his power. His mom, Martha Kent, comes to help get him out of the janitor’s closet where he’s locked himself in. “The world’s too big, Mom.” “Then make it smaller.” For the last five […]

Why I Said “No” To a 5-Figure Coaching Client

Earlier this month an entrepreneur was referred to me and we had an amazing conversation where she asked me to coach her. Awww so flattering (seriously it was flattering) because I love serving entrepreneurs and I LOVED her business. But here was the thing… errr …things…. #1: She wasn’t my perfect client. Since I’ve made the commitment to work within […]

Reflections on a Challenging Year and Trusting the Entrepreneur Within

As 2018 comes to a close, I’m reflecting on what’s gone well and not so well. One of the things that feels like a win, but also feels a little flat, is crossing the five year mark as an independent business owner. Is it really a win if my 5th year in biz felt a little out of sorts? And by “a little […]

4 Things That Will Keep You Broke, Stuck, and Frustrated

Freedom, impact, creativity, and lifestyle… these are the main reasons that many business builders launch into working for themselves. But even with these great motivations, many will never get past survival mode. Sometimes, the work that got an entrepreneur to survival-mode (where you’re paying the bills but not much else), or even a little beyond, is more about hustling and […]

5 Signs You’re Confusing Your Customers, And How To Fix It

Is your business confusing to people? This might seem like a silly question, but a lot of small business owners go about fixing the symptoms of a business problem without considering how confusing their message or positioning is. And honestly, most entrepreneurs are so deep in the weeds of their business that it’s nearly impossible to know if their business is […]