On August 11, 2020, To the Point with Eric Mitchell published an episode titled “The Military-Tested Planning Tool All Businesses Need To Try.” The planning tool was 5P, the 5 Paragraph method, and the episode runs about 55 minutes.
What the episode covered
The episode description is about one subject. It sums up what 5P offered business owners at the time:
5P Provides planning & management training, a network to mastermind, and long-term advisor support to business leaders in order to enable businesses to secure capital & establish processes for long-term sustainable growth-expansion by using 5P The Military Management Method For The Modern Workforce.
To the Point episode description
The description points viewers to 5paragraph.com to learn more. In plain terms, it lists three things:
- Training in planning and management
- A network where business leaders could mastermind together
- Long-term advisor support, aimed at helping businesses raise capital and set up processes for steady growth
About the show
Eric L. Mitchell’s show describes itself as “a refreshingly different view of the world, with guests getting granular through the lens of entrepreneurs, society, entertainment and culture.” In the summer of 2020 it ran as a weekday YouTube show, and veterans in business were a regular subject. One week after this episode, the show published another hour on why veterans make great entrepreneurs.
Why it mattered then
August 2020 was one of the busiest stretches of Michael’s guest calendar. Between August 6 and August 13 he also appeared on Veteran Nation, Rage of the Age and The Ambitious VET Podcast. The message was the same everywhere. The five paragraphs Marines use to plan a mission (situation, mission, execution, administration and logistics, and command and signal) work for planning a business too.
A show that looked at the world “through the lens of entrepreneurs” was a natural fit for that message, and the episode title says it directly: this was a tool that every business should try.
Where to find it
The full episode is still on the To the Point YouTube channel. Its description does not include a guest bio, so this page sticks to the 5P material the description gives and links. For Michael’s own account of the 5P method from the same week, see his Rage of the Age and Ambitious VET interviews in this archive.
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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Marine veteran, TEDx speaker and author of the 5 Paragraph Business Plan. Bring him to your stage, wear the gear, or catch him live.