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Cigars and Sea Stories

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American Grit: Grunt Style on Cigars & Sea Stories (2017)

On December 6 and 7, 2017, American Grit, the lifestyle publication tied to the Grunt Style apparel brand, ran two posts in its “Grunt Style Professional” series. Each one wrote up a Cigars and Sea Stories episode with a Grunt Style leader as the guest.

Dan Alarik: hustle

The first post covered Grunt Style founder Daniel Alarik. It describes Cigars and Sea Stories as “hosted by Marine veteran Michael Penney and Jeremy Paris,” and says Michael and Jeremy’s questions walked Dan through how “hustle” became a successful business, including the highs and lows of Grunt Style’s early years.

The write-up pulls out a few lessons from the interview:

  • Hustle means going out and getting it. Dan tested whether people would buy a product before spending money on anything fancy.
  • Sell. The post quotes the line that if you are not selling, you are not in business, you are just busy.
  • Stay humble. Before a Las Vegas trade show, Grunt Style was close to shutting its doors. The goal was $6,000 in sales. They came away with $6,200.

The post also mentions Alpha Outpost, Dan’s monthly gear-box company.

Tim Jensen: from carpenter to Grunt Style

The second post covered Tim Jensen, then Grunt Style’s chief operations officer. It opens:

Tim is joined by Bennett Tanton and Michael Penney both fellow infantry Marines and founders of the extremely successful Cigars and Sea Stories podcast.

Team AG, American Grit, December 2017

The post credits Bennett’s reconnaissance background as essential to the show’s growth. Then it tells Tim’s story: a union carpenter in Chicago who left at 31 to use his GI Bill, earned a degree in “creating video games,” and took a job folding shirts at Grunt Style. He rose through the ranks from there, and became known for his “Violent But True Bed Time Stories.”

Why it mattered then

Grunt Style was one of the biggest veteran brands of the time. Its own publication spending two posts on Cigars and Sea Stories episodes said a lot about where the show stood by the end of 2017.

The original audio players did not survive a later site migration, so the episodes cannot be played from these pages. The write-ups are still up.

Read the Dan Alarik write-up
Read the Tim Jensen write-up

This post is part of the From the Archive series, which collects Michael’s past media appearances in one place. See the full media archive.

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Change Your POV NIW009: Michael Penney on Whitetail Deer Hunting

On November 29, 2017, the Change Your POV podcast posted episode NIW009, “Michael J Penney of Cigars and Sea Stories Talks Whitetail Deer Hunting.” It was his second time on the show. The first, about a year earlier, was about his deployments and his drive to add value. This one was about deer. It runs just over an hour.

What the episode covered

The host introduces Michael with real warmth:

This week on the podcast we’re joined by my old and close friend Michael J. Penney.

Change Your POV NIW009 description

The description sums up who he was by late 2017:

  • A Marine combat veteran with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan
  • A foreign weapons instructor, a Police Advisor to the Afghan National Police, and a trained designated marksman
  • A serial entrepreneur, or “Vetrepreneur,” and the published author of the Five Paragraph Business Plan
  • A co-host of Cigars and Sea Stories, which the host calls one of his favorite podcasts

Then it gets to the point of the episode:

Penney is also an avid outdoorsman, hunter and lover of all things venison.

Change Your POV NIW009 description

The host credits Michael for getting him hooked. Michael shared the first deer he killed in North Carolina with him, and the host says Michael is in many ways “responsible for my obsession with deer and deer hunting.” On the show they talk about how Michael’s season was going, “extreme” tactics for calling in whitetail deer, and a range of other topics. The description admits that list runs all the way to how you handle nature’s call in the woods.

Why it mattered then

Most of Michael’s appearances in 2016 and 2017 were about service, transition and business. This one shows another side of him: the hunter and outdoorsman, swapping tactics with a friend. For listeners who knew him from Cigars and Sea Stories or the 5 Paragraph Business Plan, it was a looser, funnier hour.

It also shows the friendships behind the work. The host is not just booking a guest. He is talking with the man who got him into the woods.

Looking back

The same description that calls him a published author and podcast co-host also calls him an avid outdoorsman. This episode is the public record of that side of him.

Watch the episode on YouTube

This post is part of the From the Archive series, which collects Michael’s past media appearances in one place. See the full media archive.

Work with Michael

Marine veteran, TEDx speaker and author of the 5 Paragraph Business Plan. Bring him to your stage, wear the gear, or catch him live.

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CentSai: Jobs After the Military, a Marine Starts Podcasting

On November 10, 2017, the personal finance site CentSai published “Jobs After the Military: How One Former Marine Started Podcasting,” by Kara Perez. The profile followed Michael from the Marine Corps through a rough transition to the podcast he built with another veteran.

What the article covered

Perez starts with his service. Michael joined the Marine Corps in August 2004, served with a 7th Marines weapons company, and spent nearly eight years in uniform. She notes that he had lost fellow service members, been mortared, and missed a sniper’s shot by inches, and that he had a lot of adjusting to do.

The article traces the next few years:

  • Two years teaching combat marksmanship at Quantico
  • A move to Massachusetts and classes at UMass Boston, switching from engineering to business entrepreneurship
  • Feeling isolated in New England, and a first business with a fellow ex-Marine that failed
  • Leaving school in his junior year to start a business and move to North Carolina

The turn came at the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) at Syracuse University, which he described as “an entrepreneur boot camp for veterans.” After 45 days of correspondence work and nine days in person, he used his failed company as the base for a new plan. It won him the “Most Outstanding Venture” award.

I had the best business plan and the best presentation.

Michael Penney, CentSai, November 2017

Cigars and Sea Stories

Perez tells how the podcast started. Michael and Bennett Tanton, a former reconnaissance Marine and U.S. Army infantryman, were smoking cigars in Olympic Park one evening when they came up with a show about veterans “adding value to the world.”

Michael was open about the numbers: about $6,000 for the website, about $10,000 in start-up costs in all, and around $1,250 a month in overhead. He told Perez he wanted Marines to see the show as credible, so he did not want it lost in sponsored content. He was also building a section of the site for the 5-Paragraph Business Plan.

Why it mattered then

Most coverage of Cigars and Sea Stories was about the guests. This piece was about the founder, and it was honest about failure, money and isolation. That made it useful to any veteran weighing a business of their own.

The article ends by calling him a veteran for life, building a world for other veterans every day.

Read the article on CentSai (archived)

This post is part of the From the Archive series, which collects Michael’s past media appearances in one place. See the full media archive.

Work with Michael

Marine veteran, TEDx speaker and author of the 5 Paragraph Business Plan. Bring him to your stage, wear the gear, or catch him live.

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Dwayne Paro Podcast Episode 029: Michael Penney (2017)

On August 7, 2017, Dwayne Paro posted “Episode 029 Michael Penney” of his podcast. Paro is a veteran empowerment coach and writer. Earlier that year he had put Michael at #10 on his HuffPost list of veteran entrepreneurs to know in 2017. The interview runs about 35 minutes.

What the episode covered

The episode description gives one of the most complete versions of Michael’s service record from this period:

  • 3/7 Weapons Company: two deployments to Ramadi, Iraq, in 2005/2006 and 2007.
  • Quantico: he reenlisted during his second tour and transferred to Quantico as an instructor. He became a certified combat marksmanship coach, trainer and instructor trainer, a formal school instructor, a school-trained designated marksman and a foreign weapons instructor.
  • 1st Battalion, 5th Marines: a third combat tour, leading a section of advisors through Kajaki and Sangin, Afghanistan.

After two wars and eight years as an infantryman and weapons instructor, the notes say, “Michael left the Marine Corps as a Sergeant.” They describe him in 2017 as an entrepreneur and public speaker.

The rest of the notes cover what came next. He co-founded Cigars and Sea Stories in 2015, a podcast about veterans who are adding value to the world. In March 2016 he gave his TEDxRaleigh talk, “What’s Your IED.” And he was working as program director for Bunker Labs RDU:

Michael now supports fellow veterans seeking the entrepreneurial lifestyle.

Episode 029 description

Why it mattered then

Paro’s audience was veterans working on their own next chapter. Michael was a useful guest for them because his path showed up in the record step by step. Infantry, instructor duty, advisor work overseas, a hard transition, then helping other veterans build businesses at Bunker Labs.

The episode also closed a loop. Paro had written about Michael from the outside in February. In August he had him on to tell the story himself. The HuffPost list had introduced Michael as a podcaster and marksman. This conversation filled in the rest: the Marine who trained other Marines, then went home to help veterans build businesses.

Looking back

A month later Bunker Labs RDU held its second annual Muster conference in Cary, North Carolina, during Michael’s time as program director. The notes from this episode remain one of the clearest public summaries of his service record.

Watch the episode on YouTube

This post is part of the From the Archive series, which collects Michael’s past media appearances in one place. See the full media archive.

Work with Michael

Marine veteran, TEDx speaker and author of the 5 Paragraph Business Plan. Bring him to your stage, wear the gear, or catch him live.

Book Michael to Speak
Shop the MJP Store
Get the 5 Paragraph Business Plan
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HuffPost: Veteran Entrepreneurs You Should Know in 2017

On February 28, 2017, HuffPost published “Veteran Entrepreneurs you should know in 2017,” a contributor piece by Dwayne D. Paro, a veteran empowerment coach, author and podcaster. Michael J. Penney was #10 on the list, as founder of Cigars and Sea Stories.

What the article said

Paro opened by saying the previous four years had seen “the rise of the vetrepreneurs,” warriors turned business owners with a drive most civilian owners only wish they had. The list ran to “22.6” entries. The final “.6” spot went to American Dream U, an organization rather than a person.

Michael’s entry read:

Penney, a Marine veteran, and marksman, has turned his experiences and connections into the Cigars and Sea Stories Podcast.

Dwayne D. Paro, HuffPost, February 2017

Paro named some of the show’s guests: John Lee Dumas, Rudy Reyes, Tim Jensen, Evan McMullin and Sam Meek. He called the podcast a great place to hear their stories from the service, along with their transitions and new business ventures.

The rest of the top ten shows the company Michael was keeping:

  • Daniel Alarik, Grunt Style and Alpha Outpost
  • Travis McVey, Heroes Vodka
  • Jas Boothe, Discharged and Final Salute, Inc.
  • Jeremy Knauff, Spartan Media
  • Brandon Buttrey, Counterstrike Coffee
  • Donny O’Malley, Vet TV
  • Daniel Eric, Veteran Syndicate Radio
  • Greg Jumes, Victor App
  • Eric L. Mitchell, LifeFlip Media

Why it mattered then

By early 2017 the veteran business world had its own media scene of podcasts, apparel brands and online shows, and lists like this one helped people find it. Landing in the top ten next to Grunt Style and Vet TV put a two-year-old podcast alongside some of the best-known veteran brands of the time.

The entry also shows how people saw his role then. He was the connector. The show’s value was in the guests he could bring to the microphone.

Looking back

Several names on this list came back into Michael’s story. Later in 2017 Cigars and Sea Stories recorded with Daniel Alarik and Tim Jensen of Grunt Style. In 2018 Michael was cast as the voice of Axel in Jas Boothe’s animated comedy Discharged, and he was a guest on Jeremy Knauff’s Digital Marketers Podcast. Paro himself had Michael on his own podcast that August.

Read the list on HuffPost

This post is part of the From the Archive series, which collects Michael’s past media appearances in one place. See the full media archive.

Work with Michael

Marine veteran, TEDx speaker and author of the 5 Paragraph Business Plan. Bring him to your stage, wear the gear, or catch him live.

Book Michael to Speak
Shop the MJP Store
Get the 5 Paragraph Business Plan
Watch Live