Leap Academy with Ilana Golan
Too Broke for Bankruptcy: How Michael Hyatt Rebuilt Success Without Sacrificing His Life
Tue, 18 Feb 2025
After the crash of his company, Michael Hyatt was determined to rise again. Returning to his old publishing firm, he took on a failing division and turned it into the most profitable. His hard work paid off with a massive bonus check. But when he rushed home to celebrate, his wife was in tears. He had put his all in at work, at the cost of his family. That moment changed everything. Instead of choosing between work and life, he found a way to win at both. Now, through Full Focus, he helps others do the same. In this episode, Michael joins Ilana to share how he rebuilt after failure, set healthy work boundaries, and redefined success to thrive in work and life. Michael Hyatt is a bestselling author, leadership expert, and founder of Full Focus, helping leaders succeed without sacrificing their personal lives. Through his books and coaching, he helps high achievers lead with vision, set boundaries, and create lasting impact. In this episode, Ilana and Michael will discuss: (00:00) Introduction (01:49) How Philosophy Shaped His Business Mindset (03:21) Why His Fast-Growing Company Crashed (06:40) The Key to Overcoming Business Failure (11:44) Succeeding at Work, Losing at Home (14:49) Balancing Family, Work, and Life’s Demands (23:36) Rest as the Key to Peak Performance (28:24) The Power of Peer Support in Leadership (31:07) Becoming CEO and Navigating Crisis (36:43) From CEO to Building a Personal Brand (42:39) Why Retirement Was Never an Option (43:58) Building a Personal Brand That Lasts (46:42) Finding Purpose Beyond Work (49:46) Creating a Legacy That Matters (52:07) Overcoming Personal Challenges and Trauma (54:27) The Importance of Therapy and Seeking Help Michael Hyatt is a bestselling author, leadership expert, and founder of Full Focus, helping leaders succeed without sacrificing their personal lives. As former CEO of Thomas Nelson, he led its turnaround and acquisition by HarperCollins. Realizing success shouldn’t come at the cost of family, he developed the Double Win philosophy, proving you don’t have to choose between work and life. Through his books and coaching, he helps high achievers lead with vision, set boundaries, and create lasting impact. Connect with Michael: Michael’s Website: https://fullfocus.co Michael’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/michaelhyatt Resources Mentioned: Michael’s Book, Free to Focus: A Total Productivity System to Achieve More by Doing Less: https://www.amazon.com/Free-Focus-Productivity-System-Achieve-ebook/dp/B07F3DM7C1 Michael’s Book, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World: https://www.amazon.com/Platform-Get-Noticed-Noisy-World/dp/140023803X The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal by Jim Loehr: https://www.amazon.com/Power-Full-Engagement-Managing-Performance/dp/0743226755 Leap Academy: Ready to make the LEAP in your career? There is a NEW way for professionals to Advance Their Careers & Make 5-6 figures of EXTRA INCOME in Record Time. Check out our free training today at leapacademy.com/training
Chapter 1: Who is Michael Hyatt and what is his story?
Michael Hyatt, from the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publisher, now he's the founder of Full Focus, author of several bestselling books. You're a podcaster, you're a speaker, and you're all about showing leaders that they can win at work and succeed in life.
If you're less stressed, if you're more healthy, you make better decisions. I do private coaching too, and a lot of my clients, I'll say, what are your hobbies? And the most common answer I get is, well, my work's my hobby. Sorry, that doesn't count. In July of 2000, my boss quit, and the CEO came to me and asked me if I would be the new publisher for that division.
It took us about 18 months, but we went from number 14 in revenue growth to number one. All of this came at some expense to me because I was working nights and weekends. My wife said, you're never home. I feel like a single mom. That was like a gut kick.
How do you recover from that? And how do you find balance?
First of all...
Michael Hyatt, from the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publisher, all the way to the acquisition of HarperCollins, which I think we all heard of. Now he's the founder of Full Focus, author of several New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, bestselling books. I don't know how you do it all. You're a podcaster. You're a speaker. Michael, it's incredible.
And you're all about showing leaders that they can win at work. and succeed in life. So first of all, it's so great to have you on the show with us, Michael.
Thank you so much for having me, Ilana. It's a privilege.
I think you studied philosophy, religion. Take us back in time. How did that shape your career path?
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Chapter 2: Why did Michael Hyatt's company crash and how did he recover?
And we just got to the place where we had so much money tied up in inventory and accounts receivable and author advances that we couldn't keep the lights on. And all of our assets were pledged. So we didn't even have enough money or enough assets to go bankrupt. So we just basically folded up the tent, and we were done. And it was an incredibly devastating experience.
I had people from my church bringing us food, and we were in dire straits. But my business partner and I, which, by the way, is still one of my best friends to this day, we decided that we would divide up everything, and he would stay in the old business so that when vendors called, he could talk to them. We just didn't want to like disappear.
You know, our reputation was important and we felt like we had a responsibility to tell them what happened. I, on the other hand, launched a literary agency with many of the authors that we had been the publishers for, and that began to take off. And once the old business was wound down, then he joined me and we stayed in that literary agency for about six years.
And I really felt like I wanted a team to play on. So I went back to Thomas Nelson.
Wow. Oh my God. So first of all, I want to take you there and I appreciate the real truth here because I think there's some myth about, and we see it in our business, right? I mean, we're on one hand, one of the fastest growing companies in America. On the other hand, you're like a little duck, you know, trying to like stay above water, right?
And people are like, yeah, but you guys make multi-million dollars. Yeah, that doesn't quite get to the bank. So walk us through a little bit just before we move on. What made you continue, Michael? Because that can get really, really hard and scary. What kept you going in those really, really hard moments?
Well, first of all, I think it's pretty normal for businesses to fail. I hate to say that, but according to the Small Business Association, 80% of all new businesses fail in the first five years. And of the 20% that survive, 80% of those will fail in the next five years. So if you do the math on that, you've only got a 4% chance of existing 10 years from now if you start a business.
And I think the key is resilience. And resilience for me was not a choice. It was a necessity because I had to feed my family. I have now five grown daughters, but at the time, I don't remember how many times I'd have to do the math on this. I think we had all five of them when the business went under. And so I just had to scramble. I mean, I was scared.
I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but I knew that I had to do something to put meals on the table and a roof over our head. And so that really drove it. But yeah, that was kind of where we were back in the early 90s.
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