Business Podcasts | Meet the Four Foot Eleven Gift from Heaven GREEK FREAK & The Modern Marketing Honey Badger & God’s Gift to Dream 100 Marketing

Audio Transcription

Hi there, my name is Margaret Michaelopoulos and I work for the Pediatric Dental Office of Drs. Morrow, Lye and Kitterman. Get ready to enter the Thrive Time Show. Started from the bottom, now we’re here. Started from the bottom and we’ll show you how to get here. Started from the bottom, now we’re here. Started from the bottom, now we’re here. Started from the bottom, now we’re on the top. Teaching you the systems to get what we got. Cousin Dixon’s on the hooks, hovering down the books. He’s bringing some wisdom and the good looks. As the father of five, that’s what I’mma dive. So if you see my wife and kids, please tell them hi. It’s C and Z up on your radio. And now three, two, one, here we go. We started from the bottom, now we’re here. We started from the bottom, and that’s what we gotta do. All right, ladies and gentlemen, I am so excited to interview the Greek freak. She is the best thing that I’ve ever seen as it relates to marketing in medicine. I’m not kidding. I have worked with, at this point, hundreds of doctors. I’ve worked with dozens of dentists. I’ve worked with lots of lawyers. I’ve worked with many mechanics. And I’ve worked with all these different industries and there’s just nobody who’s ever brought their Dream 100 game to the next level. Now if you don’t know what Dream 100 is, there’s a book written by Chet Holmes. He was a former top advisor to Charlie Munger, who used to work for Warren Buffett. The book’s called Ultimate Sales Machine. Anyway, Ultimate Sales Machine. There’s a whole chapter devoted to the Dream 100. And what the Dream 100 is, is you make a list of the ideal and likely buyers. Like let’s make a list of the shows you want to get interviewed on. You want to make a list of the doctors you want to refer you, you want to make a list of the businesses you want to refer you. So if you’re a personal trainer and you want local businesses to refer you business, if you want the local chiropractor to refer you or the local family medicine place or the local cosmetic surgeon to refer you to your personal training business, you would make a list of all the top 100 businesses where your ideal and likely buyers congregate and you would reach out to them until your head explodes to get them to refer you personal training deals. Another example, Dr. Zellner, my longtime friend and client, if you go to z66aa.com, z66aa.com, his entire business is based upon the Dream 100. He sells used cars. They sell a thousand cars every Friday. And you know how they do it? They make a list of all the used car dealers in Oklahoma and they call them all until they cry, buy, or die. And the level of rejection that they receive is too much for the average person, because the average person is a weak, wet noodle who can’t handle any rejection. But today’s guest somehow takes the rejection and loves it. She’s like a honey badger. She is like the Greek freak of marketing in America, is just the premier honey badger. Now, if you don’t know what a honey badger is, folks, you’ve got to get educated. A honey badger is an animal that survives eating snakes and eating bee honey. That’s what it does. And it survives by eating the food. It eats bee honey and eats snakes. So it gets bit by snakes and stung by bees, but it continues because it’s a relentless machine. It’s my mascot. I love honey badgers, and the only thing I love more than honey badgers is the Greek freak of marketing. Margaret, welcome on to the Thrived Time Show. How are you? Thank you so much. I’m doing great. First of all, Clay, you’re better than baklava. You are too kind. You made baklava one time, and you brought it, and my wife and I brought it home, and my wife was like, oh my gosh, this is the best. You made it yourself, right? I did not. Oh, you don’t! Oh, that’s good. So busted. But you got it from the Greek festival, right? I did, I did. Thank you. Miriam, I want to get your thoughts before we begin interviewing our friend here, Margaret. Why do you think that with 160 clients I have, that Margaret is one of the only two people that is willing to relentlessly Market in this case the pediatric dentistry to pediatricians despite how many rejections she gets why is that? Because she is not weak. You know when you think about the kids today and people today I don’t know what your parents did to you, but you know there’s something about discipline There’s something about a strong work ethic and and like you said just earlier before the show she tell him what you said about what she said to you. So when I was a little girl, there were things that I wanted from other people, and I was always hesitant to ask. And I have a dynamic mother. And she said, Margaret, all you have to do is ask, and all they can do is tell you no. But you won’t know unless you ask for what you want. What was your mom’s name? Her name is Mary Verges. Mary Verges? And is Mary Verges still with us? She is. And is she still a fireball? She is. She’s 88 years old. Oh! She’s president of two HUD buildings. She worked for Texaco for 50 years. Wow! Retired. Then she built two HUD apartment complexes for elderly people. And her name again? Mary Verges. Mary Verges. So God bless Mary Verges. Wow. So I’m going to continue. And Margaret, what’s your last name so people can prove you’re not a hologram? It’s Michaelopolis. And I’m going to get a headshot from you that you like here in a minute. So I’ll put it on the thumbnail so you can get your flattering headshot. So let’s talk about this. So you work with the pediatric dentistry. It’s a real business. It’s called MLK dentistry.com. Correct. MLK dentistry.com. I’ve had an opportunity to work with Dr. Joe Lai for over 10 years. And Dr. Joe Lai is married to April Lai and April Lai is one of the partners at MLK Dentistry. So I’ve got a rich history working with the Lai family and then Dr. Morrow. So how do you decide which pediatricians that you’re going to go to? So what I do is I do a couple things. I do a Google search a Google search, pardon me, of all pediatricians in the Tulsa area. All of them? And then I look in the surrounding areas. Oh. Like Bigsby, Owosso, Broken Arrow. Another thing that’s really important whenever we have a new patient come in, yeah, it’s so important that we find out who referred them to us. So yeah, okay, so you step one if you’re out there I’m gonna take notes because again you are the Greek freak and the God’s gift to marketing. What you do, I’m not exaggerating, this is not me messing around here folks, I’m telling you, I can’t tell you how many wonder… I have a young girl this week who, God bless her, I had to fire her on Monday. I’ll speak in general. People don’t know when this show came up. I had to fire her. She’s a former star athlete and her job is to go to the mall and we sell log cabins. I have a kiosk right now at the mall where I sell log cabins and they’re like bolt-on bedrooms. I’ll pull it up Margaret so you can see it. It’s called BunkyLife.com and I’m just selling these in the mall. Okay, this is what it’s like a bolt-on bedroom. Okay, and so her job is to pass out a brochure and say, hey if you would like a brochure here you go and if you’d like a chance to win one all I need you to do is leave a review. That’s her job. So I send out Lily, who’s great, she’s out here. Lily gets 47 leads, 47 people in a day, left a review, gave her the contact information, and I pay $5 per lead that our team generates. So Lily made like $200 in one day. $250, okay? I send out this former top athlete to the mall, and she gets seven. Seven! And I said, you got seven? She goes, well, I just, people were saying no. Your entire job is to say, hey, would you like to win this cabin? Would you like to win a flat screen TV? All you have to do is take it to her, leave a review. We sent another guy named Greg. Greg got 137 leads in a day. In half a day. Greg made $500 in a half a day. Lily was there all day, got 47. This former pro athlete, former top athlete, former top college athlete gets 7. And so I’m going, hey, you know, I’m paying you $5 per review or $12 an hour. I mean, you’re not even paying for yourself. And she’s like, I just, I don’t do well with rejections. I want to get your thoughts. So step one, create the list of your ideal and likely referral sources. Okay, we got that. Right, so you have to have like a master list. Master list. So then the second question is how do you come up with this master list? And there’s a couple of different ways. You can, you know, research on the internet. Yep. And but the most important thing is to get it from word-of-mouth from your customers. Right. So when you have a new customer walk in the door, that should be one of… after you thank them for coming, the second thing should be, how did you hear about our office? Oh, just I… That seems logical. It seems like you would just naturally do that. What you’re doing right now, it’s like a… it’s somewhere between spiritual and metaphysical. Let me tell you what I’m hearing in my mind right now. Let me cue it up here. Oh, it’s amazing what you’re doing. It’s amazing. It’s amazing. Okay, so then you go out every week. Correct. And how many hours do you have to devote per week to go to these? How many doctors are you going to first off? How long does it take you? I try to go to seven to ten doctors. What I do is I take a little something with me. So I’m not walking in empty handed and just passing out cards. I try to take… Baklava? Yes, I do sometimes. Brownies, cookies, candy, little lotions. I try to have something in hand that I can drop off where I pitch the sales pitch about the office. Now, real quick, Miriam, I won’t mention the name of the person, but you saw me just do this. Just 40 minutes ago. You have to bring value. Yes, you have to you can’t just show up and go. Hey Give me do you want to refer me? You know So if you were down let’s pretend I hired you and we’re going back 10 years 15 years in the past and I had my photography company. There’s a big company called epic photos I don’t own it anymore, but let’s pretend I hired you. Okay, okay, and you were going to wedding venues And you were trying to get the wedding venues to refer us Brides and grooms. Let’s just say I hired you to do that. Okay. The way I did it is I told our Dream 100 person, I said, I’ll pay you $300 for every wedding that you generate and there’s a target list of about a hundred venues in Tulsa and you’re allowed to provide the venue coordinator free family photos, free wedding photos, a free flat-screen TV. You can give them a flat-screen TV to display images of their venue. You can do photos of their venue you can give free photos for their family family photos And free wedding photos for that family those are all the things that you can give out And you can pay the person that refers you a hundred hour every time they refer you You can you can pay the front desk lady at the hotel a hundred hours every time they refer us a deal That’s amazing and wouldn’t that be amazing. Yeah, that’d be a good job There’s a guy who worked for me, we’ll call him Joel, okay, because it’s kind of his name. But Joel would make like $3,000 a week doing this because it’s so easy. But yet I had to go through like dozens of people to find Joel. Why? So you have to have the personality. So sometimes when you walk in the door and you don’t get the response that you probably hope for, you just can’t give up. So you have something in hand, you’re dropping it off. The second time you walk in that same place, they’re gonna start remembering you. The third time they’re gonna look forward to seeing you. So my… Say that again, because what you’re saying, it’s, again, it’s not quite spiritual or metaphysical. It might be better than that. I mean, I feel like I went to some sort of psychological retreat. I mean, this is like what heaven is going to be like. I’m going to get to heaven and I’m going to have you teaching me the Dream 100. Can you explain it again? This is powerful because somebody said, what did you just say? There’s multiple steps here. Okay, so when you walk through a door the first time, you don’t know what kind of response you’re going to get. Oh yeah. I mean, you could get a positive response, you could get a negative response. You have to value their time because that’s important. They could be in the middle of something. So you do your sales pitch, you leave a little something off, and then you go back again. Regardless of what happened the first time. You go back again. By this time, they’re starting to remember you. Because you’re walking in with something again. By the third time, they’re looking forward to seeing you. Now, let me tell you a story. And you tell me what you would do. Have you ever been to Five Oaks Lodge? I have. I know Randy, the guy who owns it, is going to listen to this. So Randy, you know this is true. You know this is true. This isn’t slander. By the way, it’s been 10 years, so you can… If someone wants to sue me for something, I have 10 years to deal with it. But Randy wouldn’t sue me. But other people, if you want to sue… I went to Five Oaks, and I go there, and Miriam, I go there, and I’m 20-something years old, and I’m a DJ, and I really would love it. I’m working at Applebee’s, Target, and DirecTV. At one time? Yeah, I had three jobs. And so I’m working, you know, and I go there and I said, hey, I have a DJ company. I’d love it if you’d refer me, Randy. And Randy goes, okay. You can talk to my wife because it’s her venue. And it’s five oaks, a beautiful place, by the way, beautiful place. And Randy and I became very good friends, but I’m just telling you this is how the story went. And she says, I don’t like you. Rejection. I’m like, so you’re saying there’s a chance. That’s kind of how I think. So I said, can I ask you why? And she said, every other DJ brings a professional linen to cover their table when they DJ. They provide entertainment. And you don’t. And I go, well, I mean, I’m 20 years old. I was born yesterday, you know. I go, well, I DJed for Adam Spuler’s graduation party. I think it was the first event you ever did at your place. And he was very happy. She goes, he was happy. They danced all night, but it looked terrible. Like why don’t you get a professional linen? Now, I grew up poor, so I’m going, what’s a linen? True story. She said, what? And I said, what is it? And she said, you got to get a black linen. I said, where do you get these? I didn’t know. I was just starting out as a DJ. That’d be the first question I would tell her. What color linen do you want me to get? And she said, get a black. And I go, where should I buy them from? She tells me. And then I came back and I’m like, Claudia. And I came back with the linen. She goes, you got the linen. And I said, yeah. And I said, I know there’s a party that wants to refer me and a party that wants to kick me out of your venue right now. But the part that wants to keep me in the venue wants to just, she goes, you’re ridiculous. And I ended up getting the referrals. I ended up getting like three weddings every week from that place. That’s awesome. But why would most people stop? Is it because they have a soul? Is it because they’re aware of patterns? What makes people quit? Most people are hesitant to ask for anything. Back to what your mom said. Right. And I’m not. See, that’s… I’m four feet eleven. I always have people standing in front of me. I’ve got to push my way to the front of the line. There you go. There you go. You’ve had these thoughts. Yes. See, this is powerful. And I think what happens is I talk to these guys here today, and I’m not going to mention their name. I feel bad because they’re somebody’s kids, but they’re former athletes. They’re big guys, big athletic guys. And they were wanting me to help them with their podcast. And they would, I’m not kidding, these two men, they would literally cry when people would reject them. Wow. I’m going, I don’t know what happened to you guys. I mean, you’re good at sports. Why do you think that? They’re like breaking down. It could not be you personally. There could be something else going on. There it is. They could have a bad morning. Short staff. You just keep going back. There’s a lot of things. So you can’t give up. Don’t give up. But you just keep going. Keep going. You keep flowing. I do. And you don’t stop. And then when I don’t go for a while, if I’ve gone a few times and they’re still not overly receptive, then I’ll wait a while and then I’ll go back in. Nine times out of ten they go, we haven’t seen you in a while. Now let’s talk about this for a second. You know, I think this is, do you remember when video killed the radio star? Yes. Maryam, do you remember this? There’s a song called Video Killed the Radio Star, but it actually happened. Because it used to be, you could be like kind of a frumpy, ugly individual and you could be a rock star in like the 60s. Because no one saw you. Serious. But then like now you have to be able to dance. Now you don’t even have to sing. Now they use like auto tunes. Now they have a bunch of models that perform, but they’re not even good at singing. It’s the craziest thing. But video killed the radio star. Remember this? Yes. And text message killed voicemail. Yes. I believe that podcast testimonials will kill resumes. How about that? Because you are so good at what you do. We have to document this right now. This is like your audio. No, seriously, this is like an audio… Now listen, this podcast, we have about a million listeners a week, and I want everyone to know that the Greek freak is the best. I’m going to keep your phone number in my phone because you’re going to be… Everyone wants to hire you, but there’s only one employer lucky enough to have you. I mean this. I’m going to read the stats because now I’m going to get past the whole that I like you thing. I’m moving past that. I’m blinded by the fact that I like you, but I’m just going to get into facts. In a typical week for this particular business, MLK Dentistry, in a typical week, we’re going to have about, and tell me if I’m wrong, we’re going to have about 35 new patients, typical week. Some weeks lower, some more. Correct. Approximately 35. And on an average week, I’m looking, I’m reading off the numbers, you have 16 referrals. You got one week. 15. We had one week where it was like a vacation week and some weird stuff, so that’s a one, but that was a week where we were kind of shut down. But we only had for the week like six leads in total and you got one of them. Then we had, the next week you got nine of the 29 leads. Then you got 11, sorry, 13 of the 35 leads you generated. And I’m doing the internet marketing, I’m helping with the branding and all that, and I’m, you know, we’re generating about, I’d say, 20% of the leads, and you’re generating about 30% of the leads. That’s just how I look at it objectively. You got, one week we have 49 new patients, and you generated 21 of them. Right, so I had a personal goal. Ha! I had a personal goal, I did not tell the doctors. I always wanted to get over 20 referrals in a week. This is a record week here. That was my, and I did it a few times. That was my personal. It’s the best. I mean, I. For me. Folks, if you had any idea how sincerely excited I am you have no idea This is this is I haven’t been this excited since I bought myself a wood Engraved eagle. Have you seen my wood eagle out there? I have not We were in South Dakota even to South Dakota. Yes, we’re in South Dakota and I walked by this store This guy named is doll da HL. I’ll show you real quick here. And he makes carved stuff out of wood. And I lost, I went to my flow state, I lost track of space and time. And my wife’s like, honey, are you with us? chainsaw and I’m looking here and this guy he’s going around and I’m watching I’m going this guy he’s he’s doing it like what we are seeing he’s doing he’s doing it like what he he’s making he’s carving a piece of wood next thing you know I have to have to watch this. And they’re like, honey, you’ve been here for an hour. You’ve got to move on. I go, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I will watch. I’m with the guy for hours. Family’s like, dad, can we eat? I’m like, did George Washington take time to eat? No, he saved the country. They’re like, dad, what does this have to do? I’m like, shh, we will watch the wood. Like, we’re moving on. I stayed there all afternoon. Just, no, no, no, no, no, no. And he’s just cutting dirt. And anyway, the eagle emerges. And I’m like, I must buy this eagle from you. And the guy’s like, you want to buy the eagle? Where do you live? I go, Tulsa. He’s like, ooh, how are you going to get it here? I called JT. I said, JT, you know what you’re doing tomorrow? He said, what am I doing? I said, you’re driving to South Dakota. So he drove from Tulsa to South Dakota to buy this thing. I think the total distance is 10 hours and 46 minutes each way. Stayed in a hotel that night, came back with the Eagle. It’s incredible. I haven’t been as excited about anything since the Eagle in business. I mean, just in my life. I mean, this is like, I love saving America, but this is incredible. Meeting Eric Trump was exciting, but meeting the Greek market. You are a two out of a thousand. Now what would you say to somebody whose job, they own a business, and these two guys, God bless them, they were going, every time we ask for money they reject us. So first of all you have to have someone that truly believes in your product. So in all fairness, I was, we were patients of Dr. Mara Leinketterman before I got this job. And I’d always loved the office. Oh, I’d love the staff. Dr. Morrow gave my children, just helped them have beautiful teeth, beautiful smile that they, of course, last a lifetime. And I got lucky and got, approached them about if they ever did marketing, I would like to be in charge of that. And they gave me the opportunity and let me be creative and the rest is history. What I’m trying to do right now is, Dr. Morrow, your boss, is a great guy. And so I’m trying to like convince him that, I’m trying to start using like a reality jujitsu on him where I’m starting to convince him it’s 2015 so he’ll work five more years or seven more years. I’m trying to, because he’s so great and you know eventually he might retire, but I’m just saying he is, he is great. But you are God’s gift to marketing and I’m going to put a link here Um, my good friend, uh, michael levine. I put a link here to you on today’s show I’m gonna put a link folks so you can watch this but michael levine Is a friend of mine who uh can’t read This is him. He can’t read he’s dyslexic and yet he became the pr consultant for charlton heston for michael jackson for prince for bill clinton for george bush Michael Jackson for Prince, for Bill Clinton, for George Bush, for Pizza Hut, for Nike. I’m going to pull it up here. Let me pull this up real quick here. So we type in Michael Levine, Michael Levine, PR, and he couldn’t read. And I asked him, bro, how did you become the PR guy? He says, well, I can’t read and apparently I’m not that smart, but I just didn’t stop. And so that’s what I did. I just cold called people. And so I, I, and so on part two of today’s show, we’re going to hear from Michael Levine and he’s going to break down how we did it. And he, he, he, we had a conference we did Margaret a few years ago and I don’t know if I’ll bring him back because it was, it was, I loved it, but it was, it was pretty rough. A person’s like, how do I get over my anxiety when people reject me.” And he’s like, you will be a pathetic loser if you don’t get over it. So get over it or be a pathetic loser, but quit asking me dumb questions. And I’m like, oh snap, she paid for a ticket. Because that’s how he thinks. So what would you say, maybe a nicer way, to somebody who’s watching this though, who And they, but they just, every time they get rejected, inner dialogue, they begin to talk negative to themselves, they quit, other people talk negative to them, people, you, I was with you kind of at the very beginning of the Dream 100. Correct, correct. And there was no fruit, for how long was there no fruit? What do you mean by that? How long was it until you got referrals? Like was it a week, two weeks, 10 weeks, a year? Probably a couple of weeks. Okay, I hit I hit my first group every week hard. Yeah, that’s what you suggested Yeah, I go every week four weeks in a row. Yep The heck I mean, so it’s awesome But with this job, you know, you can’t look at what you don’t get you have to look at what you do get That’s right. That’s so good. I mean you are a wordsmith You have to you have to go into this knowing, hey, not everybody’s going to refer to you. Not everybody’s going to be open. But hey, there may be a time when they are going to be open. Because you’re just walking in cold on them. You’ve got to give them a little bit of benefit there. My client that I’m going to interview, I’m going to meet him in about 19 minutes. This guy, he actually, he just sold his business for $3.2 million dollars. Last Friday, got the check, 3.2 million. And when I first met him, he was doing like zero dollars. I’m serious. And he had been in the business for a long time. And the only thing that changed at all, you know, he built the website and helped him, but he had a mindset shift and he did the Dream 100. And I won’t mention what industry he’s in because he wants to keep it private, but basically he took the money up front and now he’s going to run it. No one knows he sold it. He’ll stay in it for about a year and he’s moving on. But this guy, he had a great product, but it wasn’t going to sell itself. And he had to have that mindset shift. And he said to me, I’m paraphrasing, but he was like, I had to get to where I was having like a breakdown at your conference before I was ready for a breakthrough. You know, it had to be really bad, you know, and Miriam, I mean, I think there’s somebody out there right now that’s like, oh man, I want to be the Greek freak of marketing. I just don’t know if I can do what Margaret does. You can. You can. You just have to have the determination, the will, don’t give up, don’t get rejected, keep the smile on your face, and just keep going. Now, if people want to hire you, should they text me and then I text you? Is that the flow? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, you’ll get, what, how much of a 10%? I don’t need any commission. I’m on a mission. You’re just dealing and dealing. No, I’m just doing it. I don’t need a commission at all. I’m just saying, I mean, if people are out there and they’re like, I need a job with a hundred percent. I mean, if someone wants to hire you, they text me? They can. Okay, so if you’re listening right now and you want to hire Margaret, you text me, 918-851-0102. 918-851-0102. I’m just throwing it out here. I suggest that the compensation structure that you have out there would be very similar to how I did it with my photography company. I had a guy named Joel, well that’s his nickname because that was his actual name, and this guy had no experience doing anything at all ever. I found this guy and he was the only guy out of like dozens of candidates that was willing to go to the actual venues every week. And I said, Joel, every time that a venue refers us, I will pay you a $300 commission. We’re charged like $2,500 for a wedding, you know. I’ll pay you $300 every time and I’m going to give you the tools that you can provide free photos for the venue, you can even pay a $100 commission if they refer you, those are the tools you have, and Joel ended up making $3,000 every single week, $150,000 a year. I would suggest that someone needs to be able to compensate you at least at that level before they even text me. Correct. I’m serious. Absolutely. You’re a big deal. People, I mean, you’re the Greek freak. Any final thoughts, Ms. Greek Freak, that you’d like to share? Because it’s incredible what you do. I mean, I mean it sincerely. This is, this is a highlight of probably at least two and a half years. I got the eagle two and a half years ago. You know, I’ve met so many nice people in this job that it’s, it’s almost like whenever I go see them, I look forward to seeing them. There it is. But, you know, like going back to, I believe in the product, I believe in the doctors, we’ve got the best doctors in Tulsa, Oklahoma for pediatric dentistry. And when you believe in something and you enjoy what you’re doing, it shows. Well, I think too, it’s like, this is really funny, but you know, as I put out podcasts, I’m just gonna, maybe I’ll impress or depress a listener out there, but you know, I did a show yesterday, this morning at 7,914 views. Wow. But that’s also kind of depressing because like I did an incredible show. I was pretty proud of my work. I was like, man, I killed the game. And I only have 4000 views on my favorite show this week. I’m an idiot. Oh, man. Inner dialogue. I must. I should probably quit. But then I do another show. So if you go to Rumble right here, I’m going to show you and you do some just searching around on Rumble, you’ll find some of my shows and some of them like are, you know, let me see here. Some of them now have 50,000, 126,000, 100,000 views. You know, so some are great, some are not, but you said something that was key, and I’ll let you go. You said you want to focus on what you do get. Correct. And not what you don’t get. Right. Okay. Count your blessings. That’s powerful. Miriam, any final thoughts you have? Because you’ve observed that which is awesome. You’re here in the studio. Any other final question you have for Margaret, or any just observations yet? Well, I’ve just noticed, I think she genuinely likes people too. I think she genuinely goes in there and she’s genuinely having a good time and is enjoying them. And I think people know that if you’re there just to check a box, like I have 10 offices I need to go to, or I get to see 10 offices and I get to see these people. And I bet they immediately feel that. I’m gonna put on the notes here, if you wanna learn more about the Dream 100 and you want to actually see more of Margaret breaking down, you can do that. I’m also going to put a link here to Bunky Life so you can know I really do have a cabin in the mall right now. I’m also going to put a link to the MomsOnAmission.net podcast because Miriam has a great podcast and if you’re out there and you’re a mom and you’re on a mission, if you’re a mom and you’re not on a mission, if you’re a mom and you’re working on a mission… You don’t want your kid to be a Marxist. There you go. Then you need to subscribe. Mom’s on a mission. That’s a great place to go. Thank you, too, for your time, your energy. I appreciate you. Thank you. You’re amazing. You are amazing. No, seriously. This is a highlight of two and a half years. It’s incredible. I mean, I’m not… This is no artificial funk. This is serious. I do not lather and keep this kind of praise on anybody ever. I don’t. I’m a very low praise person. I’m kind of like, hey, it was your job. Good job. But this was like the Super Bowl of marketing interviews. You know what you make me want to be better. You’re awesome. We’re getting in with the boom here we go. Three, two, one, boom. I’m Mike Levine and I thought I’d tell you this story maybe it’ll be of some value to you. You know about 25 years ago our PR firm was running hot as hell and we had six of the top 20 musical artists in America on the Billboard charts. No company even had two, and here we are with six. So we had the most number of successful artists in the country by far. But I still wanted to sign another musical artist who wasn’t been on the charts for a while, but I loved and respected greatly. I wanted to sign the great Ray Charles. Ray Charles. I decided that even though I had all these big stars, I was going to go after Ray Charles. And I called him. And I ultimately did sign him. I did sign him. But I’d like to ask you, listening to this right now, to try to guess. Just close your eyes and try to guess how many times I called Ray Charles before I signed. Are you gonna? All right, let’s try to close our eyes. Close our eyes. Here we go. Now we’ll do it B, 20 times. C, 30 times. D, 40 times. Or E, more than 40 times. Close your eyes. Now write down your answer. Write it down. Don’t you cheat now. Write down your answer. I’m going to give you the correct answer in three seconds. One, two, three. All right, here we go. Correct answer is… 46 times. I called Ray Charles’ office 46 times. You want to hear something crazy? I didn’t even need Ray Charles. Here I had all the other big music stars but I think the story for some of you may may may may have impact when you think about all the tenacity required to go after your big dreams I’m talking about little dreams talking about big dreams anyway I’m Michael Levine we’ve all been through something that would give us adequate justification for being a lifetime victim or we could say we now have adequate motivation to become a victor. I used to stutter as a kid. I grew up poor. I was sexually abused as a kid. My best friend was killed when I was in college. My wife had a late-term miscarriage. My son was born blind. My dad died from Lou Gehrig’s disease. And those are not my justifications or my excuses. We can all check the victim box. Or we can check the box that says, Victor. Today’s guest grew up in a home where he was raised by an alcoholic father. And yet, he became the number one public relations consultant of all time. Today’s guest grew up severely dyslexic and was called dumb. Yet, he became a multiple time New York Times best-selling author. Today’s guest grew up in New York, yet he moved to California, where he knew no one. And he went on to become the public relations consultant of choice for Nike, for Prince, for President Bush, for Michael Jackson, for Nancy Kerrigan, for Barbara Streisand, for 58 Academy Award winners, 38 Grammy Award winners, and 43 New York Times bestselling authors. And so we had the honor of having Michael Levine attend our last in-person Thrive Time Show workshop. And when he spoke about why you need to decide whether you want to become a victim or a victor, I was taking notes. I was wowed by his intensity. And I was making sure that our editors were editing a few of the colorful metaphors and descriptive four-letter words that he was saying during his presentation. And so we edited the show up so that it is now family-friendly. And now, ladies and gentlemen, without any further ado, it is my pleasure to introduce to you my epic friend and my PR consultant of choice, Mr. Michael Levine. Michael Levine, folks. Let’s hear it for him. Hello. Now, I want to make sure I can move around a little bit. Can you hear me okay? How are you? It’s good to see you. I really do want to move around a little bit and visit with you. I’ve already met some of you. I have never seen a place like this in my life. It’s really fun. And I have never been to Tulsa before. It’s cold here. Wow. I’m from California. This is cold. Anyway, I am really thrilled to be here. Thank you, Clay. I am excited to have Michael here. One, because we brought him to Tulsa. He’s like, Tulsa? Is that a place? Is this guy an original or what? Will you applaud an original? I mean, is this guy an original? Now, before I begin, I want to ask you a question. Now, are you going to be straight with me or not? Are you going to tell me the truth? Because, no, I want to know you. I want you to know me. Is there anyone, I’ve never been to Tulsa before, and I have certain images in my mind and all that from California, I was born in New York. Is there anyone here, and feel free to say if you are, is there anyone here that’s off-put, offended, off-put by what might be referred to as rough language. Now come on, tell me. Colorful language. Hush up. I’m sorry everybody in advance. No? Okay, you’re alright? Alright! That’s cool. Because if you were, that’s alright too. I used to get a bell sometimes. Instead of cursing, I hit the bell, but that’s alright. Anyway, listen, let me start with a confession. I’m going to offer you a confession. I fell into it by accident. I had no training. And so if I had gone to some kind of Dale Carnegie course, I guess I would have been told to begin today with a story. And so I will. And I figured, what kind of story can I tell my friends? Does this move out more? Is there any way? I think you might have hit the max capacity. I hit the max? I think you hit the maximum capacity. You, if somebody. We have a crack squad of mic extension team members, we can make it happen for you. Marshall’s on it. The tallest man in the world’s gonna help you. All right, so I’m gonna begin with a story, and I figure, what story can I tell my friends in Tulsa? What story, what story, and I’m gonna tell you a story because I’m from Hollywood I’m gonna tell you a story about Hollywood okay now it’s a story about old Hollywood old Hollywood you’re too young to remember this all right there does anybody here old enough to know or remember the name of the literary agent Swifty Lazar. Anybody here know who Swifty Lazar? Swifty Lazar. You do? All right! Son, who’s Swifty Lazar? The biggest literary agent of all time. Now he passed away years ago and he was real small and he had big glasses, but he was the biggest literary agent in the history of Hollywood. Six years to sign his biggest client. Cary Grant. Now you don’t even know who Cary Grant is. Who knows who Cary Grant is? Let me tell you who Cary Grant is, darling. Cary Grant would be George Clooney times a thousand. Yes? Yes, say yes. Don’t make me raise my voice. Now, Cary Grant, he signs his biggest client of all time. There’s no email then. So he comes into the office. Cary Grant in his office, signing his client six years, signing his contract. He signs his contract. Now, Cary Grant is getting ready to leave the office. Leave the office. And he puts his hand on the door, right? To leave. Facing that way. And he says, Mr. Lazar, before I leave, I have one final question. Are you Jewish? And Swifty Lazar was reported to have said, not necessarily. Not necessarily. I guess he wanted that contract. Anyway, as I told you, I had an odd journey to get here today. I was born and raised two and a half miles north of Ground Zero. Okay? I was born and raised two and a half miles north of Ground Zero. I am one of the few living Americans that watched the World Trade Center be built twice. And I came from a bad home. I had an alcoholic parent. How many of you have ever either known someone or struggled with that kind of family situation. Raise your hand. It’s not an easy deal. It’s not an easy deal. You know that. Now, I had another problem. I had a disability that is better known today than it was 40 years ago. I had the disability called dyslexia. Anybody here know what that is? You know what it is? Raise your hand if you know what it is. A lot of you do. But you see, 40 years ago it was a different deal. We had a different word for dyslexia then. 40 years ago, son, can I tell you what it was called? Dumb. Did you hear me? Okay. See, 40 years ago, we had a different word for it. It was called dumb. So with an alcoholic parent and dyslexia, I was a lousy student. I barely graduated high school. Barely graduated high school. Now I’m 17, I’m out of the house. I got no parenting. I’m scared and I’m skinny and I got dyslexia. See, that’s what’s called, darling, bad cards. See? And isn’t that something, friends? Is in large part how you play your cards? Isn’t that? Something see some people get bad cards and play them well Some people get good cards and play them bad and a lot of people get medium cards and play a medium See if you’re born on third base, you didn’t hit a triple, son. See? You hear me? Don’t make me raise my voice. So now, I’m 17, I’m scared and I’m skinny. And I got no money, no job, no education, no parenting. And I got dyslexia. So I had two passions all my life. I just talked to a 17 year old kid here. I said, do you know what you like? He says, no I don’t know yet. That’s okay. But I knew I was interested in two things. As a young person I was interested in two things all my life. Why? I don’t know. I just was. And I’ll tell you how to figure out what you’re interested in if you care. But I was interested in the entertainment industry politics and the entertainment industry now I’m scared and skinny and I’m 17 and I’m thinking what do I do what do I do I’m interested in politics I’m interested in entertainment and I said you know what you know what I think Washington is just Hollywood for ugly folks. I’m going to LA where the pretty people are. How’s that? Darlene, I just look stupid. I just look stupid. See, I’m going out where the pretty people are. So I went out there and I, I met through a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend and so much a life is proximity. You did a big thing today. So you don’t even realize you did a big thing. It’s called showing up. Showing up. So through a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend, I meet a woman who was working a paramount pictures now at that time in the early 70s middle 70s there were women working a paramount pictures other than secretaries that’s interesting change so I meet a woman I say what do you do and she says well I’m a publicist. I said, that sounds cool. What’s that? She says, well, I work at Paramount Pictures. I’m a publicist. I said, so what do you do all day? She said, what do I do all day? I said, yes, what do you do all day? I don’t know what a publicist is or does. And she says, well, what I do all day oh I basically bull on the phone I said I can do that I can do that and I decided I wanted to be a publicist because I could do that. See, I can’t do much else. So off I go. Now I start a PR firm. Here’s the problem. I don’t know what PR is. See, that’s a problem. Isn’t that something? But if you’re motivated, you figure it out. See, if you’re motivated, now Clay tells you you gotta have a break down before you have a breakthrough. Now why is that? And I’m gonna tell you and if you got half a brain you write it down. Here’s why Clay’s right. Write it down. Because in the end, in the end, in the end, in the end. Human beings respect wisdom, but obey pain. They respect wisdom, but obey pain. Okay, isn’t that something? Why did God design the world that way? I don’t know, I’m gonna ask him Right along with why did you bake? celery cheesecake fattening and Celery not see I’m asking that too. All right so off I go and you know the whole deal is I Told My friend Jonathan at dinner last night, it’s a four step ladder, isn’t it? Four steps. The first step, this is how I did it. How’d you do it? So he said, how’d you get your first client? Come on. How’d you? Just look at it. Tell me how you did it. I’m buying you dinner. How’d you do it? I said, I’m gonna tell you how, but you’re not gonna like the answer. He said, well, no, you tell me, come on, tell me. I said, I’m gonna tell you, but you’re not gonna like the answer. He said, all right, tell me. I said, all right, here’s how I did it. You want me to tell you how? We’ve all been through something that would give us adequate justification for being a lifetime victim. Or we could say we now have adequate motivation to become a victor. I used to stutter as a kid. I grew up poor. I was sexually abused as a kid. My best friend was killed when I was in college. My wife had a late-term miscarriage. My son was born blind. My dad died from Lou Gehrig’s disease. And those are not my justifications or my excuses. We can all check the victim box, or we can check the box that says, Victor. Today’s guest grew up in a home where he was raised by an alcoholic father, and yet, he became the number one public relations consultant of all time. Today’s guest grew up severely dyslexic and was called dumb, yet he moved to California where he knew no one and he went on to become the public relations consultant of choice for Nike, for Prince, for President Bush, for Michael Jackson, for Nancy Kerrigan, for Barbara Streisand, for 58 Academy Award winners, 38 Grammy Award winners, and 43 New York Times best-selling authors. And so we had the honor of having Michael Levine attend our last in-person Thrive Times show workshop. And when he spoke about why you need to decide whether you want to become a victim or a victor, I was taking notes, I was wowed by his intensity, and I was making sure that our editors were editing a few of the colorful metaphors and descriptive four-letter words that he was saying during his presentation and so we edited the show up so that it is now family-friendly. And now, ladies and gentlemen, without any further ado, it is my pleasure to introduce to you my epic friend and my PR consultant of choice, Mr. Michael Levine. Michael Levine, folks, let’s hear it for him. Hello. Now, I want to make sure I can move around a little bit. Can you hear me okay? How are you? It’s good to see you. I really want to move around a little bit and visit with you. I’ve already met some of you. I have never seen a place like this in my life. It’s really fun and I have never been to Tulsa before. It’s cold here. Wow. I’m from California. This is cold. Anyway, I am really thrilled to be here. Thank you, Clay. I am excited to have Michael here. One, because we brought him to Tulsa. He’s like, Tulsa, is that a place? Is this guy an original? Now, before I begin, I want to ask you a question. Now, are you going to be straight with me or not? Are you going to tell me the truth? Because, no, I want to know you. I want you to know me. Is there anyone? I’ve never been to Tulsa before and I have certain images in my mind and all that from California. I was born in New York. Is there anyone here, and feel free to say if you are, is there anyone here that’s off-put, offended off-put by what might be referred to as rough language. Now come on, tell me. Colorful language. Hush up. I’m sorry everybody in advance. No? Okay, you’re alright? Alright! That’s cool. Because if you weren’t, that’s alright too. I used to get a bell sometimes. Instead of cursing, I hit the bell, but that’s alright. Anyway, listen, let me start with a confession. I’m going to offer you a confession. I fell into this public speaking business by accident. all the other things I’ve done in my life. I fell into it by accident. I had no training. So if I had gone to some kind of Dale Carnegie course, I guess I would have been told to begin today with a story. And so I will. I figured what kind of story can I tell my friends? Does this move out more? I think you might have hit the max capacity Now they hit the maximum capacity We have a crack squad of Mike extension team members we can make it happen for you Marshall’s on it the tallest down the world’s gonna help you All right So I’m gonna begin with a story and I figure what story can I tell my friends in Tulsa? What story what story and I’m gonna tell you a story because I’m from Hollywood. I’m gonna tell you a story about Hollywood Okay. Now it’s a story about old Hollywood old Hollywood you’re too young to remember this. All right There does anybody here old enough to know or remember? The name of the literary agent Swifty Lazar. Anybody here know who Swifty Lazar? You do? All right! Son, who’s Swifty Lazar? The biggest literary agent of all time. Now he passed away years ago and he was real small, and he had big glasses, but he was the biggest literary agent in the history of Hollywood. And son of a bitch spent six years of his life signing his biggest client. Six fucking years to sign his biggest client. Cary Grant. Now, you don’t even know who Cary Grant is. Who knows who Cary Grant is? Let me tell you who Cary Grant is, darling. Cary Grant would be George Clooney times a thousand. Yes. Yes. Say yes. Don’t make me raise my voice now. Cary Grant, he signs his biggest client of all time. There’s no email then. So he comes into the office, Cary Grant, in his office, signing his client, six years, signing his contract. He signs his contract. Now, Cary Grant is getting ready to leave the office, leave the office. And he puts his hand on the door, right? To leave. Facing that way. And he says, Mr. Lazar, before I leave, One final question. Are you Jewish? And Swifty Lazar was reported to have said, not necessarily. Not necessarily. I guess he wanted that contract. Anyway, as I told you, I had an odd journey to get here today. I was born and raised two and a half miles north of Ground Zero. Okay? I was born and raised two and a half miles north of Ground Zero. I am one of the few living Americans that watched the World Trade Center be built twice. And I came from a bad home. I had an alcoholic parent. How many of you have ever either known someone or struggled with that kind of family situation? Raise your hand. It’s not an easy deal. You know that. Now, I had another problem. I had a disability that is better known today than it was 40 years ago. I had the disability called dyslexia. Anybody here know what that is? You know what it is? Raise your hand if you know what it is. A lot of you do. But you see, 40 years ago it was a different deal. We had a different word for dyslexia then, 40 years ago, son. Can I tell you what it was called? Dumb. Did you hear me? Okay. See, 40 years ago we had a different word for it. It’s called dumb. So with an alcoholic parent and dyslexia I was a lousy student. I barely graduated high school. Barely graduated high school. Now I’m 17 I’m out of the house. I got no money. I got no job. I got no education. I got no parenting. I’m scared and I’m skinny and I got dyslexia. See, that’s what’s called, darling, bad cards. See? And isn’t that something? See some people get bad cards and play them well. Some people get good cards and play them bad. And a lot of people get medium cards and play a medium. See? You hear me? Don’t make me raise my voice. So now I’m 17, I’m scared and I’m skinny. And I got no money, no job, no education, no parenting. And I got dyslexia. So I had two passions all my life. I just talked to a 17-year-old kid here. I said, do you know what you like? He says, no, I don’t know yet. That’s OK. But I knew I was interested in two things. As a young person, I was interested in two things all my life. Why? I don’t know. I just was. And I’ll tell you how to figure out what you’re interested in if you care. But I was interested in two things. I was interested in politics, and I was interested in the entertainment industry politics and the entertainment industry now I’m scared skinny and I’m 17 I’m thinking what do I do what do I do I’m interested in politics and it’s just an entertainment and I said you know what you know what I think Washington is just Hollywood for ugly folks. I’m going to L.A. where the pretty people are. How’s that? Darling, I just look stupid. I just look stupid. See, I’m going out where the pretty people are. So I went out there and I. I met through a friend of a friend of a And so much of life is proximity. You did a big thing today. Say, you don’t even realize you did a big thing. It’s called showing up. Showing up. So through a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend, I meet a woman who was working at Paramount Pictures. Now at that time in the early 70s, middle 70s, there weren’t a lot of women working at Paramount Pictures other than secretaries. That’s interesting. Change. So I meet a woman I say, what do you do? And she says, well I’m a publicist. I said, that sounds cool what’s that she says well I work at paramount pictures on the publicist so what do you do all day so what do I do all day I said yes what do you do all day I don’t know what a publicist. I can’t do much else. So, off I go. Now I start a PR firm. Here’s the problem. I don’t know what PR is. See, that’s a problem. Isn’t that something? But if you’re motivated, you figure it out. See? If you’re motivated. Now Clay tells you, you gotta have a breakdown before you have a breakthrough. Now why is that? And I’m gonna tell you and if you got a half a brain you write it down. Here’s why Clay’s right. Write it down. Human beings respect wisdom but obey pain. They respect wisdom but obey pain. Okay? Isn’t that something? Why did God design the world that way? I’m gonna ask him right along with why did you make celery cheesecake fattening and celery not see I’m asking that too all right so off I go and you know the whole deal is I told my friend Jonathan at dinner last night. It’s a four step ladder, isn’t it? Four steps. The first step, this is how I did it. How did you do it? So he said, how did you get your first client? Come on, just look at it. Tell me how you did it. I’m buying you dinner. How did you do it? I said, I’m going to tell you but you’re not going to like the answer. He said, alright tell me. I said alright here’s how I did it. You want me to tell you how I did it? Okay I’m going to tell you how I did it. Now you’re not going to like the answer. Alright here’s how I did it. Listen carefully, please. Somehow. See, if you want something bad enough, you’ll do it. Okay. Now listen to the four step. See it’s four steps. And this is how I did it. So step one is called work for free. See very few people will turn you down if you offer to work for free. See work for free. Now in that first step, remember you lose and all your Jack friends of Burger King for 10 an hour are winning. So in step 1, you lose. They win. See how it is. But if you hang in there, you go up to step 2. Now, let me tell you about step 2. Step 2 is you work below market, 5 an hour, they work 10. See in step 2, you lose, they win. See the Burger King gang still got you beat on step 2. See? Hang in. It’s going to get better. On step three, on step three, you work for market, they work for market. It’s 10-10. That’s called a tie. See, you finally caught the ass of the Burger King gang. See? Now it’s a tie. And what happens on step 4? They work for 10 and what happens to you? You work for a thousand see Takes 40 hours to make a living 40 hours to make a fortune now. What’s 40 plus 40? Nah, see you didn’t like that There’s got to be a shortcut No, what’s wrong with you? By the way, who taught you to look for one? Who sold you on that plan? The same jackass that told you not to carry a business card? Come on. You’re too smart for that stuff. I’m working 90 hours a week and all the rest. Because I’m not very talented, but I work hard. See? And I say yes a lot in the beginning. And so this PR firm grows to one of the three largest entertainment PR firms in the country. And I start representing a lot of very, very, very famous people. And I’ve represented Michael Jackson and Charlton Heston and Barbara Streisand and David Bowie and Prince and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Fox and Demi Moore and Sandra Bullock and Cameron Diaz and George Carlin and Joan Rivers and Suzanne Somers and Bill hundreds and hundreds of other big celebrities. I’ve given advice to three US presidents including one who just passed away. I’ve given advice to three So that means I’m a hooker. See, I’m a hooker. You got it? Both parties. How’s that? You didn’t know I was a hooker, did you? Makes you like me better. I know. Easy. Alright, so now I start to get obsessed with a question as I’m representing these big, big stars, huge stars. I start getting obsessed with a question. And this question that obsessed me has obsessed me for 35 years. And it is really why I came today, to share the question and my answer. It obsessed me. I cannot tell you why it obsessed me, but it obsessed me. And the question was, was there success merely luck right place right time with the Beatles just in the right place at the right time or was there mortals like myself did not know and if there was something was the something transferable was the something transferable if there was something now remember I didn’t get good cards. So I was real invested in this question, because if it wasn’t something and it wasn’t transferable, the number say uh… that and get good cards but if you want if there was something and it was transferable and maybe i could borrowing which is a polite word for steve So off I go and I start asking the question is there something that Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton have in common except a lot of dough. Is this something that Michael Jordan has in common with Bill Gates except they got a lot of dough. Is there something. And at first it didn’t seem that there was. So it seems like I’m fucked! But I stuck with the question because I was obsessed by it. And I asked the question again and again and again for a long period of time. Not a week, not a month, not a year, not a few years, over and over again for years. And you know the funniest thing happened. After a few years, I thought I saw in the distance, in the desert of my mind, a little green, a little patch of green. Now maybe it’s a mirage. Maybe I’m crazy. She thinks I’m crazy. But I stuck with it. And I came to conclude that over time there were three qualities present in all super successful people. A hundred times out of a hundred. Now listen to me carefully please. I said super successful. Friends, if you’re sitting here today all polite, looking good, smelling good, and you’re just interested in success, not super success, just success, you don’t need to write down That you can go to sleep for the rest of the whole deal You need to write down anything because you’re gonna be successful without a Word I’m telling you you are I give you my guarantee Why Why do you say thank you? Thank you. I’m gonna be successful yes you’re going to be successful without a word you don’t need to write down a thing well how can you tell me that Michael that’s such good news how could you tell me that well in large part because what’s your name darling Gina because Gina you were enough to be born into a civilization at exactly the moment in human history in which your competition is overwhelmingly stupid and lazy. Overwhelmingly, I’m just saying. That’s good news for you. But if you say, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold it, hold it. I didn’t come here to come for the. I didn’t want to fly in coach. I want to go to the first class deal. I don’t want to know about the success plan. I want to know about the super success plan. Well, if that’s your interest, my best counsel to you over the next few minutes is start writing. Start writing. All super successful people had three qualities present a hundred times out of a hundred. Maybe you didn’t hear me. All super successful people. Anyone that you venerate, alive or dead, had three qualities present a hundred times out of a hundred. Natural law. Number one, and I’m going to try to do it for you in a memorable way so you can remember it. We’ll call them three magic O’s. What do you say? Three O’s? Okay, three O’s. Here we go. One, obsession. An obsession. They had something that I refer to as an obsession, which is analogous to a burning, maniacal rage, as if your life depended on it. Did you hear me, or do you need me to raise my voice, darling? I said an obsession, a burning, maniacal rage, as if your life depended on it. Yes? Now listen to me. How are you in the back? Listen to me! It wasn’t ambition. Guys, think about this. Close your eyes if you choose. You all know a bunch of ambitious folks, friends of yours, that can’t find their way out of a burning building. but they’re ambitious. It’s not ambition. It’s something deeper, more primal, more intense. It’s obsession. A burning, maniacal rage as if your life depended on it. It was the most unusual version of optimism. It was not naive. You know, like you watch this great documentary about Mr. Rogers. Comes around, goes around, all that stuff. It wasn’t that kind of optimism, friends? It was a different one. And it was an optimism. Well, first of all, how many of you understand the concept or feel you have a modest understanding of the concept of paradox? Paradox. Raise your hand if you feel like you’re modest. OK, son, what’s paradox? Contradictory statement. Okay. Love is beautiful. But love is painful. Love is joyful. Love is painful. So, this optimism that our super successful friends had was paradoxical. It was an optimism. Now, write this down. I can’t. I’ll come back there if I have to. optimism born, born, created, born after a militant need. It was an optimism born after a militant need to face the brutal facts and here my dear friends were the two brutal facts that are super successful friends discovered when they peered into the face of destiny. One, the game is not easy. The game is not fair. The game is not easy. And the game is not fair. So do me a favor. Don’t waste any of your precious time on this earth complaining about that a lot. That’s a bad plan. See, don’t sign up for that class. Hey, you know what Mary? I don’t think the game is fair. I know you’re right, but I’m not signing up for that class. Don’t. That’s a bad class. You don’t have time for that class. That’s for the other folks. But our super successful friends came to conclude, though the game is not easy and though the game is not fair. Optimism, greatest thing ever said to, I try real hard, I’ve known a lot of famous people, I don’t know how the that happened to me, but I did and I try real hard, and I’m not perfect at it, but I try hard not to name drop too much in my talks. But the smartest thing ever said to me on the topic of optimism was said to me by General Colin Powell in only six words. Now pretty good, profundity in six words, that’s not bad. So he said, and I don’t count my name as one of the words. I took that out. He said, Michael, he’s a big general, he says, Michael, by the way, try to be profound in six words. Try it sometime. He said, Michael, perpetual optimism is a force multiplier. So he was a military general and what that means in English is this. If you take 10 men put or women and you put them in a military environment and you saturate them with optimism. Those 10 Those ten men can fight with the force of fifty. Those ten can fight with the force of fifty. If you take those same ten men, or women, and you put them in the same environment and saturate them with negativity. Those 10 men can’t fight with the force of two. This is what’s got me so concerned about our friends in the minority community. From the moment they take their first breath of air, they’re told, you can’t, you’re a victim, you’re a victim, you’re a victim. Now, son, if you want to be broke in America, or darling, if you want to be broke in America, I can tell you how to do it. It’s real easy. All you got to do is think like a victim. And I promise you, your ass will be broke in America. Son, if you want to be broke in America, all you got to do is go home and think like a victim. You’ll be broke, I promise you, don’t worry about it. I promise you, 100%. If you said to me, Michael, which would you prefer, a young African-American kid or or inhale daily belief of victimhood. I say, can I think about it? Can I think about it for a while? I don’t know. I’m not sure. Let me think about it. Okay, now the last is the last O. So the first O is obsession the second oh is Optimism, but it’s an unusual paradoxical version of optimism. Now. The third is called Obligation all super successful people had An Unnatural commitment to their word particularly to themselves impeccable with their word particularly to themselves let me tell you something I noticed and maybe you have too if you think about it here’s what super well here’s what super most folks say you know next year I’m gonna lose some weight next year I’m gonna lose some weight that’s what most folks say super successful people say April 17th. 12 pounds. And you know what they do? They tell folks and they almost always write them. You see all these… That stuff is powerful, see? Because that’s a pledge now. See? Everybody can see it. Isn’t that something? 12 pounds, April 17th, son. See? Written. They don’t say I’m going to lose some weight. Because if you say I’m going to lose some weight next year, how does that work out? Generally not as good, right? All people were impeccable with their They had a plan almost always written. See what kind of jack goes on a car trip without a map. Tell me about that. They have. And by the way, if I say to you, hey, kid, what’s your name? Brother Justin, you got a plan. Oh, yeah, I got a plan. I said, great, Justin. That’s great. How old are you, son? Thirty seven. I got ties older than you, son. OK, now I say, Justin, you got a plan. Yeah, I got one. Great. Show it to me, son. Well, I got it in my head. Does Justin have a plan? Or does Justin have a bunch of pretty ideas floating around his adorable head? He doesn’t have a plan. Now, he’s so dumb he doesn’t know it. He thinks he’s got a plan. See, you know I have a plan. You’ve got a plan that’s written, almost always shared shared with folks, particularly folks who are tough on you, who will be willing, not delighted, but willing to stick their foot in your rectum if necessary. And you know, it was said to me by a black preacher once, and it was so interesting and so true. I used to host a TV show and he said something, he said, you know Michael, very few people in the world, very few people in the world wouldn’t be better off without a good cussing out about once a month. Isn’t that something? So I called him up ten years later, I said, Pastor, you know you said the most interesting thing to me ten years ago, you said, very few people in the world wouldn’t be better off without a good cussing out once a month. I said, do you still believe that? He paused for a long time on the phone. He said, maybe twice. Isn’t that something? Do you have friends in your life who love you enough to cuss you out once in a while? Do you? Do you? So, obligation. Obligation. Commitment to their Word, particularly to themselves. On the rare occasion, Wednesday at 7 o’clock in the morning didn’t mean Thursday at 10-15. And listen, when people who were super successful missed their goal, their commitment, who do you think the super successful folks blamed? Who? Themselves. How’s that for saying, no, no, no, no. They didn’t come into a room 15 minutes and say, oh, yeah, you know, there’s a lot of traffic. There’s always a lot of traffic, son. What’s wrong with you? Come on. You didn’t leave early enough. Now, they said, no, I’m late. It’s my fault. Oh, come on. Don’t worry about it. There’s traffic. No, no, no, no. You didn’t hear me. I don’t think you heard me real well. It’s my fault. It won’t happen again. See, I had a teaching moment. It’s not going to happen again. It’s my fault. Now how many people do you know like that? So our super successful friends had these three qualities. And with the third O, which is the obligation, only voluntary homework assignment. So you’re gonna get the best kind of homework assignment right now. It’s voluntary. You don’t have to do it. And I’m going to give you some more good news. You ready? You ready for the voluntary homework assignment. It’s voluntary. You don’t have to do it. And more good news. If you decide to do it, if you decide to do it, you can do it in 10 minutes or less. You can do it in the next 24 hours and 10 minutes news. Listen to this. If you do it, if you do it, I will give you a 100% money back guarantee that this one homework assignment, just this one homework assignment, will change your Change your life instantly, instantly, radically, and permanently. Just this one thing. Listen to me. What’s your name? Are you listening? Good. If you do this one homework assignment, change your life. I’m going to give you a guarantee. 100%. You cannot lose instantly, radically, and permanently. You ready? Okay. Here’s what you got to do. You’ve got to make a commitment in the next 24 hours to go home and fire your flaky Why is that? Why? Because nothing, nothing, nothing will interfere with your capacity to reach your fullest and highest potential, like the secondhand fumes of flakiness. Did you hear me? Do you need me to say it again? Are you sure? Nothing will interfere with your capacity potential like the secondhand fumes of flakiness that’s it guys three O’s three I believe that later today, I’m not sure how Clay has set this up exactly, but I believe that later today I will be gifted with the opportunity of hearing and discussing some of your questions, comments, suggestions, and alternative speeches. Particularly interested in hearing from people who have some kind of silent urge inside them to come up to me and punch me in the nose. But we have, I believe, about 10 minutes left. And in that time, I’d love to just see if we could do a couple of questions, comments, suggestions, and alternative speeches. Now, I do want to tell you one last thing. You know, writing a book, very few people in the world, many people want to write a book, very few do. It’s the most unusual experience in so many ways, but here’s one way. Writing a book is like putting a message in a bottle and throwing it out to sea. And you’re never quite sure who’s going to see it, if it’s going to be seen. It’s an odd thing. It’s a very unusual thing. And so I come to Tulsa and I meet you. Some of you I meet personally. Some I just meet in a group. But you know, and I leave tomorrow, right? And it’s an interesting thing. In a strange kind of way, I take you with me, don’t I? Isn’t that something? I take you with me in a strange kind of way. I guess you, in a strange kind of way, particularly maybe if you took some notes, you take me with you. Isn’t that interesting? Last night, you didn’t even know who I was, and I didn’t know who you were, and there was nothing on the book, and all the rest. Isn’t that wacky? Kind of a wacky thing, isn’t it? We meet again. Well, maybe we won’t. Maybe we will. We certainly in today’s world can stay in touch via email or phone call or any, you understand how that can be today, but I take you with me and you take me with you. That’s interesting, kind of wacky thing, never expected it. So, let’s do this. We’re going to do men versus women. Hold on, darling. Men versus women. So, the women get to ask the first question or comment. Now, you don’t have to do a question. It can be a comment. You can either choose a question or a comment. We’re going to go with women first, and then we’re going to go to the guys, if they’ve got the guts, which I doubt they do, but they might. So, you see how it is? So, women first. Who has got a question or a comment? Question or comment? Young lady, would you please stand up and tell me your first name? Angela? Sister Angela, go. I can’t come, you know, I want to, but I can’t reach you. But what’s your question? First, is a question or comment? A question from Sister Angela. Go. Can I give you an example, by the way? Yes, I can. But hold on. Yet, will I? Yes, I will. But. yet will I? Yes I will. But just raise your hand if any of you can think of how flakiness has cut off your potential in your life. Raise your hand. We can all give examples of some kind or another. Look, Angela, you’ve got to make a decision on how you’re going to live your life. You only get 168 hours a week, darling, and you get the same 168 hours. Now, one of the problems of flakiness is, it’s really fucking expensive from a time point of view, isn’t it? Chasing people around, trying to keep people… You like herding cats, darling? You got better things to do than herd cats. Get ready to enter the Thrive Time Show. Three, two, one, boom. All right, Thrive Nation, this episode, this segment of today’s broadcast is going to be a good one. Now, we have the rest of the interview that you can find exclusively at Thrive Time Show on the podcasts section, but this interview is incredible. I had an opportunity to interview a friend and a mentor on the Thrive Time Show videos and a consultant. The guy’s been the PR consultant for Michael Jackson, for Nike, for Prince, for Pizza Hut, for just the top brands. I mean, Charlton Heston, Nancy Kerrigan. I’m not just listing celebrities. Cameron Diaz, look him up. His name is Michael Levine, L-E-V-I-N-E. I asked him, what does it take to be successful? The core concept is what kind of distractions do you need to say no to to become a successful entrepreneur? What distractions do you have to say no to if you are going to achieve massive success. If you want to achieve mediocre success, then you definitely don’t want to hear this segment. But if you want to achieve massive success, if you want to achieve time freedom and financial freedom to do whatever the heck you want to do, then you really want to grab a pen, grab a pen, grab a paper, grab a helmet, probably. Maybe grab some kind of protective device because he’s so intense in a positive way. And this question fired him up. I mean, this question here, the question being, what do you need to do? What do you need to do in terms of saying no to distractions to become successful? What distractions do you and I need to say no to if we’re going to become successful. In your book, you talked about this obstetrician in Dallas. It was Walter Evans. Basically what they did was, I guess they gave the mothers a special ride home from the hospital. Can you explain a little bit about that? I can’t explain it with any more clarity than to say if you had two obstetricians and one said why don’t you hitchhike home and the other one said we’ll drive you home, which one do you think would create a relationship with you that’s more caring and more… This person did limo service I believe. That’s amazing. If you’re watching this I encourage you to think of how can you exceed the customer’s expectation? Clay, I agree with you and that’s cool. We both agree. How do you exceed the customer’s expectations? Think about how you, that’s what you said, think about it. And I say, yes, yes, yes, but brother Clay and people watching, thinking takes time thinking takes time your face book all put your cell phone down put your candy crush down think work you know percentage clay do you know percentage of americans currently have a library card? I would say it had to be less than 2%. Okay, the correct answer is 3. 3%. 97% of Americans think it would be a really cool good idea not to have a library card. Now by the way, you know the cost of a library card, Clyde? I think it’s free, actually. Free! Best-selling author Clifton Talbert, who’s my mentor, he told me that rich people have big libraries, poor people have big TVs. Yes! And so he was telling me, he says, you’ve got to get up. I said, well, I’m not an early morning guy. He said, well, here’s the deal. Are you ambitious? And I said, yeah. He said, well, you know, if you’re ambitious, you’re either going to be a divorced guy or you’re going to be a guy who’s getting up early. So you need to figure out a way because you can’t do both simultaneously. You’ve got to get up early. When you go into college, any young college kid will tell you a good professor welcomes you and says you can have good grades, good friends, or good sleep. You can only have two. Pick them. You know, but think about this. Let’s just take this, let’s just pause for a minute. Let’s think about this. A hundred Americans. We go to an airport, we pick a hundred Americans, we put them in a circle. We say, hello, hello. How are you my good and valuable friends? How many of you have library cards? Three raise their hand. Ninety-seven say no we don’t. Now, that’s ninety-seven people out of a hundred walking around America thinking this is a cool good idea. Okay? It’s free! Now, we go to the ninety-seven and we look at their lives. We go on Facebook, right? See what they’re up to. What’s going on? In the soulful words of Marvin Gaye, what’s going on? What’s going on? And we look at it and we say, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, you didn’t have time for library, but I see, I see, I see. I got confused. I thought you were trying to get ahead. Wow. Knowledge bombs everywhere. So this just in, the message is just just in from the Michael Levine PR offices. You got to say no to distractions. We talk about it all the time on the Thrive Time Show. I would just tell you this as a ratio. If you will turn your phone off, your smartphone, 80% of your day, almost for almost every person listening, if you just turn your smartphone off for 80% of your day and spend your time focusing on fixing your workflow, fixing your website. I mean just earlier today I was proofing some website updates that we’re doing to eitrlounge.com. So you know how long it takes to proof a website and to make the changes on a website where I hit print and then I look at it. Do you know how long I take on that usually for myself? Just for a page. I mean do you want to speculate? Like an hour. Like an hour for one page of my website. And why do I take an hour? Because when you go to EITRLounge.com we’re a men’s grooming business and it shouldn’t be super confusing as to what to do. But by default I typically do a bad job. Because I don’t know. You have to think about it. You can’t write a good book quickly. You can’t come up with a best-selling book quickly. You can’t build a successful business quickly. So it occurred to me that after talking to thousands of customers that we marketed intensely to get at Elephant in the Room, when I say interviewed, I mean our team has literally asked thousands of men, what did you like most about your experience? How could we improve? What did you like most about your experience? How could we improve? We determined that the men who have been to Elephant in the Room to get their hair cut, they said, you know, if I can get a beverage with my haircut, that’s a win. If I can get a consultation, that’s a win. If I can get an award-winning tailored haircut, that’s a win. If I can get a shampoo and a massage, that is a win. If I could get a condition and massage, that’s a win. If I could get a hot towel treatment, that is a win. If I can get a face moisturizer, that is a win. If you guys can make sure that I don’t get out of here looking like a Yeti, if you can help me have some sort of style. I don’t know if I can have Tom Brady hair, but if I can get out of here looking good, having some good hair, having some good lettuce, having some good… If my mop looks like it’s properly chopped, then I win. Once we nailed the experience, we realized, okay, we need to probably make this haircut an absolute no-brainer because it is. The service is so good that we have to bet on our business, bet on our model, bet on our plan. And so your first haircut elephant in the room is just a dollar. And why is your first month, your first haircut a dollar? Because we built an experience that’s that good now. So now I’m willing to pay our team, in between marketing the hard costs of paying someone to actually cut your hair and the team of people up there to help you. Your $1 haircut costs me $23. That’s what the average haircut costs me to do the first time. You know what I mean? I don’t make any money. The stylists aren’t getting rich off that. Usually the people tip well if they do the dollar haircut, but it’s a dollar. And how did we come up with all the text on our website and the experience and the overall thing and the overall atmosphere we’ve built? It’s by deeply studying something. And so if you want to become successful, like Michael Levine says, you’ve got to put down the candy crush. You’ve got to quit taking photos of your food. You’ve got to get off of Facebook. You’ve got to quit talking to everybody all the time about how they feel about how you feel. You don’t need to join another peer group at church. You just need to commit to the few things you’re into. And so if you want to meet a group of peers that are just like you, that are saying no to distractions, and are building a successful company, I would highly recommend that you go to Thrivetimeshow.com and you would book your tickets for our February 16th and 17th workshop. February 16th and 17th of 2018. It’ll be held at our Jinx Riverwalk location in beautiful Jinx, America at the Riverwalk on the left coast of the Arkansas River. And some of you might be saying, listen, buddy, I’ve got a lot of stuff going on. So you’re going to have to explain to me what you’re going to teach if you want me to be there. Okay, well, we’re going to teach you at the workshop. So specifically time management, how to generate leads, marketing strategy, branding, can help you with your accounting, your financial planning, how to create a linear workflow, how to hire and fire people the right way, how to have the millionaire mindset, how to balance faith, family, finance, fitness, friendship and fun. It’s all going to be taught there at the Thrive Time Show workshop. You can get your tickets today by going to Thrive Time Show and clicking on the conferences button or if you want to get a free ticket, just write us an objective review on iTunes and send us proof that you did it by emailing us to info at ThriveTimeShow.com. That’s info at ThriveTimeShow.com. Stay tuned. Get ready to enter the Thrive Time Show. Three, two, one, boom. All right, Thrive Nation, welcome back to the Thrive Time Show on your radio. Today we have the pleasure of playing a few exclusive excerpts from an interview that I did with Michael Levine, perhaps the world’s number one public relations consultant of all time. He was the PR… Bit of a guru, right? A bit of a guru. He’s a consultant of choice for Prince, for Michael Jackson, never heard of him. Nike. Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut. These are all vague brands I’ve never heard of. Nancy Kerrigan. I don’t know if you know who she Clinton’s the Clintons the bushes Cameron Diaz sort of a big deal now We’re gonna have the rest of this interview available for you on the podcast version But on today’s radio show both this segment and the next two we’re gonna be playing excerpts from the Michael Levine interviews and so we’re gonna be dropping into a conversation that he and I had about the habits of super successful people, the characteristics of super successful people. I think what is interesting about what you’re doing, at least I believe so, is that what I’m hearing you say or what I’m hearing you do is framing it in super success. You are not engaging in a conversation about what successful people do. You are engaging in a conversation about what super successful people do. And so, if somebody’s watching this right now and they want to be a regional manager of the Starbucks in their local city. In their local… in their city. They don’t need to watch this. But if they want to own Starbucks, I’d take notes. This is the super successful… Super successful. Only one president in the U.S. at a time. That’s right. This is not the one in a thousand. One in ten thousand, one in a hundred thousand, one in a million. See, this is the deal on the one in a billion. Well here we go. We’re going to talk about this first success characteristic or this first success principle. Yes, sir. Definiteness of purpose. Now Napoleon Hill wrote, Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement. Without a purpose and a plan, people drift aimlessly through life. Michael, have you witnessed this trait of super successful people? Do they all know where they’re going or at least seem to have a purpose? Clay, the quality… First of all, when we’re autopsying or discussing the qualities of super success, now I’ve had a very, very unique vantage point. When you’re talking about these qualities, what is it that Michael Jordan and Bill Clinton have in common other than they got a lot of money? What is it that Oprah and Julia Roberts have in common other than they got a lot of money? So you try to ask this definiteness of purpose. And the quality that I’ve observed, the way I would word it and frame it as a medical doctor, is a quality that I would refer to as obsession. Obsession. Obsession. Now, I think I’ve confessed to you, Clike, I’m terrible. For some weird, wacky reason, I am terrible at dictionary definitions. But, what I’d like to do in discussing obsession for a moment is talk about first what it isn’t. Obsession is not ambition. See, all of us know people who are ambitious but couldn’t find their way out of a burning building. This quality that I’m referring to in super success, this obsession, is something deeper, more primal, more intense than ambition. So then we say, okay, what is it then, mister? Maniacal rage, as if your life depended on it. A burning, maniacal rage, as if your life depended on it that my dear valued friend is What is at the core the DNA of the super successful people? You know as we as we wrap up that that Michael Levine excerpt about super successful people. He kept saying that at the very core of ultra successful people as a is a burning maniacal rage to be successful. I like how he puts that. So I mean, you’ve been around me, and a lot of people who listen to the show say, well, off air, how am I different than on air? I think that question is asked a lot. My take is that on the show, I do have to play a little nicer than I would. I’m not, I don’t say I’m mean at the office, but it’s more like if there’s a deadline. The difference is you’re not holding the listeners accountable. We’re not paying them. It’s not a thing. So I would say that rage term, that actually kind of goes good. You’re kind of like a raging bull, but that rage is more like a focus on your to-do list. The number of new customers that we’ve had is up 411% over last year. We are Jared and Jennifer Johnson We own platinum pest and lawn and are located in a Wausau, Oklahoma And we have been working with thrive for business coaching for almost a year now Yeah, so so what we want to do is we want to share some wins with you guys that we’ve had by working with thrive First of all we’re on the top page of Google now, okay I just want to let you know what type of accomplishment this is our competition or can terminates competition, Orkin, Terminex, they’re both $1.3 billion companies. They both have 2,000 to 3,000 pages of content attached to their website. So to basically go from virtually nonexistent on Google to up on the top page is really saying something. But it’s come by being diligent to the systems that Thrive has, by being consistent and diligent on doing podcasts, and staying on top of those podcasts to really help with getting up on what they’re listing and ranking there with Google. And also we’ve been trying to get Google reviews, asking our customers for reviews, and now we’re the highest rated and most reviewed Pessimon company in the Tulsa area. And that’s really helped with our conversion rate. And the number of new customers that we’ve had is up 411% over last year. Wait, say that again. How much are we up? 411%. Okay, so 411% we’re up with our new customers. Amazing. Right. So not only do we have more customers calling in, we’re able to close those deals at a much higher rate than we were before. Right now our closing rate is about 85% and that’s largely due to, first of all, our Google reviews that we’ve gotten people really see that our customers are happy, but also we have a script that we follow. And so when customers call in, they get all the information that they need. That script has been refined time and time again. It wasn’t a one and done deal. It was a system that we followed with Thrive in the refining process, and that has obviously, the 411% shows that that system works. Yeah, so here’s a big one for you. So last week alone, our booking percentage was 91%. We actually booked more deals and more new customers last year than we did the first five months, or I’m sorry, we booked more deals last week than we did the first five months of last year from before we worked with Thrive. So again, we booked more deals last week than the first five months of last year. And it’s incredible. But the reason why we have that success is by implementing the systems that Thrive has taught us and helped us out with. Some of those systems that we’ve implemented are group interviews. That way we’ve really been able to come up with a really great team. We’ve created and implemented checklists. Everything gets done and it gets done right. It creates accountability. We’re able to make sure that everything gets done properly, both out in the field and also in our office. And also doing the podcast like Jared had mentioned, that has really, really contributed to our success. But that, like I said, the diligence and consistency in doing those in that system has really, really been a big blessing in our lives. And also, you know, it’s really shown that we’ve gotten the success from following those systems. So before working with Thrive, we were basically stuck. Really no new growth with our business. And we were in a rut, and we didn’t know. The last three years, our customer base had pretty much stayed the same. We weren’t shrinking, but we weren’t really growing either. Yeah, and so we didn’t really know where to go, what to do, how to get out of this rut that we’re in. But Thrive helped us with that. You know, they implemented those systems, and they taught us those systems, they taught us the knowledge that we needed in order to succeed. Now it’s been a grind, absolutely it’s been a grind this last year, but we’re getting those fruits from that hard work and the diligent effort that we’re able to put into it. So again, we were in a rut, Thrive helped us get out of that rut, and if you’re thinking about working with Thrive, quit thinking about it and just do it. Do the action, and you’ll get the results. It will take hard work and discipline, but that’s what it’s gonna take in order to really succeed. So, we just wanna give a big shout out to Thrive, a big thank you out there to Thrive. We wouldn’t be where we’re at now without their help. Hi, I’m Dr. Mark Moore, I’m a pediatric dentist. Through our new digital marketing plan, we have seen a marked increase in the number of new patients that we’re seeing every month, year over year. One month, for example, we went from 110 new patients the previous year to over 180 new patients in the same month. And overall, our average is running about 40 to 42 percent increase month over month, year over year. The group of people required to implement our new digital marketing plan is immense, starting with a business coach, videographers, photographers, web designers. Back when I graduated dental school in 1985, nobody advertised. The only marketing that was ethically allowed in everybody’s eyes was mouth-to-mouth marketing. By choosing to use the services, you’re choosing to use a proof-and-turn-key marketing and coaching system that will grow your practice and get you the results that you are looking for. I went to the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry, graduated in 1983, and then I did my pediatric dental residency at Baylor College of Dentistry from 1983 to 1985. Hello, my name is Charles Colaw with Colaw Fitness. Today I want to tell you a little bit about Clay Clark and how I know Clay Clark. Clay Clark has been my business coach since 2017. He’s helped us grow from two locations to now six locations. We’re planning to do seven locations in seven years and then franchise. Clay has done a great job of helping us navigate anything that has to do with running the business, building the systems, the checklists, the workflows, the audits, how to navigate lease agreements, how to buy property, how to work with brokers and builders. This guy is just amazing. This kind of guy has worked in every single industry. He’s written books with like Lee Crocker, the head of Disney with the 40,000 cast members. He’s friends with like Mike Lindell. He does Reawaken America tours where he does these tours all across the country where 10,000 or more people show up to some of these tours. On the day-to-day, he does anywhere from about 160 companies. He’s at the top. He has a team of business coaches, videographers, graphic designers, and web developers. They run 160 companies every single week. So think of this guy with a team of business coaches running 160 companies. In the weekly, he’s running 160 companies. Every 6-8 weeks, he’s doing Reawaken America tours. Every 6-8 weeks, he’s also doing business conferences where 200 people show up. He teaches people a 13-step proven system that he’s done and worked with billionaires helping them grow their companies. So I’ve seen guys from startups go from startup to being multi-millionaires, teaching people how to get time freedom and financial freedom through the system. Critical thinking, document creation, making it, putting it into, organizing everything in their head to building it into a franchisable, scalable business. Like one of his businesses has like 500 franchises. That’s just one of the companies or brands that he works with. Amazing guy. Elon Musk, kind of like smart guy. He kind of comes off sometimes as socially awkward, but he’s so brilliant and he’s taught me so much. When I say that, Clay is like, he doesn’t care what people think when you’re talking to him. He cares about where you’re going in your life and where he can get you to go. That’s what I like him most about him. He’s like a good coach. A coach isn’t just making you feel good all the time. A coach is actually helping you get to the best you. Clay has been an amazing business coach. Through the course of that we became friends. My most impressive thing was when I was shadowing him one time. We went into a business deal and listened to it. I got to shadow and listen to it. When we walked out I knew that he could make millions on the deal. They were super excited about working with him. He told me, he’s like, I’m not going to touch it. I’m going to turn it down. Because he knew it was going to harm the common good of people in the long run. The guy’s integrity just really wowed me. It brought tears to my eyes to see that this guy, his highest desire was to do what’s right. And anyways, just an amazing man. So anyways, impacted me a lot. He’s helped navigate any time I’ve gotten nervous or worried about how to run the company or navigating competition and an economy that’s like, I remember we got closed down for three months. He helped us navigate on how to stay open, how to get back open, how to just survive through all the COVID shutdowns, lockdowns. I’m Rachel with Tip Top K9. Just want to say a big thank you to Thrive 15. Thank you to Make Your Life Epic. We love you guys. We appreciate you and really just appreciate how far you’ve taken us. This is our old house. Right? This is where we used to live a few years ago. This is our old team and by team I mean it’s me and another guy. This is our new house with our new neighborhood. This is our new van with our new marketing and this is our new team. We went from four to fourteen and I took this beautiful photo. We worked with several different business coaches in the past, and they were all about helping Ryan sell better and just teaching sales, which is awesome, but Ryan is a really great salesman. So we didn’t need that. We needed somebody to help us get everything that was in his head out into systems, into manuals, and scripts, and actually build a team. So now that we have systems in place, we’ve gone from one to 10 locations in only a year. In October 2016, we grossed 13 grand for the whole month. Right now it’s 2018, the month of October, it’s only the 22nd. We’ve already grossed a little over 50 grand for the whole month. And we still have time to go. We’re just thankful for you. Thankful for Thrive and your mentorship. And we’re really thankful that you guys have helped us to grow a business that we run now instead of the business running us. Just thank you, thank you, thank you, times a thousand. The Thrive Time Show two-day interactive business workshops are the world’s highest rated and most reviewed business workshops because we teach you what you need to know to grow. You can learn the proven 13 point business systems that Dr. Zellner and I have used over and over to start and grow successful companies. When we get into the specifics, the specific steps on what you need to do to optimize your website. We’re going to teach you how to fix your conversion rate. We’re going to teach you how to do a social media marketing campaign that works. How do you raise capital? How do you get a small business loan? We teach you everything you need to know here during a two-day, 15-hour workshop. It’s all here for you. You work every day in your business, but for two days you can scape and work on your business and build these proven systems so now you can have a successful company that will produce both the time freedom and the financial freedom that you deserve. You’re going to leave energized, motivated, but you’re also going to leave empowered. The reason why I built these workshops is because as an entrepreneur, I always wish that I had this. And because there wasn’t anything like this, I would go to these motivational seminars, no money down, real estate, Ponzi scheme, get motivated seminars, and they would never teach me anything. It was like you went there and you paid for the big chocolate Easter bunny, but inside of it it was a hollow nothingness. And I wanted the knowledge and they’re like, oh but we’ll teach you the knowledge after our next workshop. And the great thing is we have nothing to upsell. At every workshop we teach you what you need to know. There’s no one in the back of the room trying to sell you some next big get rich quick, walk on hot coals product. It’s literally, we teach you the brass tacks, the specific stuff that you need to know to learn how to start and grow a business. I encourage you to not believe what I’m saying, and I want you to Google the Z66 auto auction. I want you to Google elephant in the room. Look at Robert Zellner and Associates. Look them up and say, are they successful because they’re geniuses, or are they successful because they have a proven system? When you do that research, you will discover that the same systems that we use in our own business can be used in your business. Come to Tulsa, book a ticket, and I guarantee you it’s going to be the best business workshop ever. And we’re going to give you your money back if you don’t love it. We built this facility for you, and we’re excited to see it. And now you may be thinking, what does it actually cost to attend an in-person, two-day interactive Thrive Time Show business workshop? Well, good news, the tickets are $250 or whatever price that you can afford. What? Yes, they’re $250 or whatever price you can afford. I grew up without money and I know what it’s like to live without money. So if you’re out there today and you want to attend our in-person, two-day interactive business workshop, all you’ve got to do is go to thrivetimeshow.com to request those tickets. And if you can’t afford $250, we have scholarship pricing available to make it affordable for And if you can’t afford $250, we have scholarship pricing available to make it affordable for you.