Entrepreneur | Over Deliver And Soon You Will Be Overpaid

Audio Transcription

Get ready to enter the Thrivetime Show! We started from the bottom, now we’re here. We started from the bottom and we’ll show you how to get here. We started from the bottom, now we’re here. We started from the bottom, now we’re here. We started from the bottom, now we’re on the top. Teaching you the systems to get what we got. Cullen Dixon’s on the hooks, I’ve written the books. He’s bringing some wisdom and the good looks. As the father of five, that’s where 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. David, thank you for being here, my friend. Thanks, Clay. Appreciate it. Yeah. Well, hey, we are talking today about over-delivering, and you will soon be overpaid. Now, quick back story here for you. I used to work at Target and I think I might have been one of their worst employees in the history of the company. So you learned. Now I was there and my goal was I would try to go and get pretzels when the manager wasn’t looking because you got employees who got free pretzels. So the manager would walk away and I would go get a pretzel and then when he would show up I would try to act like I was working, you know, like I was just putting something on the shelf and I had this whole system. Okay. But the problem was they could never point to anything that I did. And so I never got promoted. I never really got asked to be around and I didn’t really get fired. But after the holiday rush, I somewhat got unhired. You know where they said, we’re just not going to. That’s not the same as getting fired. Well, I said, we’re not going to bring you back. You know what I mean? The whole thing. I see. You can’t work here. I’m not going to renew your contract. I’ve been there. Yeah, okay, all right. Okay, so, David, you know, the best-selling author, Napoleon Hill, he says, by establishing a reputation as being a person who renders more service and better service than that for which you are paid, you will benefit by comparison with those around you who do not render such service. And the contrast will be so noticeable that there will be keen competition for your services no matter what your life work may be. So during your career, how did you try to exceed the expectations of the coaches and the players and the organization that you played for? I tried to help in every single way I possibly could because I understood that if the business was successful, then I was going to be successful. When I came to San Antonio, we had won 21 games the previous year. And I think we had something 8,000, a little over 8,000 season tickets sold. So we had an arena that held, I don’t know, 17, 18, maybe 19,000. And so the team asked me to go out to a bunch of different cities here in South Texas and drum up some interest for the Spurs. And I remember, distinctly remember, some of the other players telling me, man, why are you doing that, man? They’re just running you around like a dog and pony show. Man, you don’t need to be doing that. It’s, you know, just do your job. You know, the management, they just, they’re trying to make a dollar. They don’t really care about you, blah, blah, blah, all that sort of stuff. And I thought to myself, if I don’t help them, if I don’t help them do their jobs, then that’s going to hurt my job. I want this team to be successful. The more successful this team is, the better we all are off. So, I decided to go ahead and cooperate with the team and I wasn’t getting paid any extra for doing all of these trips down all over Texas. Beautiful country. Hot in the summertime. So it was a lot of fun, got to meet a lot of the fans and get up close and personal to the fans, but it did drum up interest for the Spurs and it got people personally interested in our team or getting to know me and touch me and it started something really good and then we actually started winning, which also helps the bottom line as well. And I read, now what is your partner’s name for the Venture Capital Fund? It’s a private equity fund, it’s a value-add fund, and his name is Dan Basikas. Okay, and it’s a private equity fund, for clarification. I had read somewhere where there was a quote that said, well, if David Robinson is involved in it, I am going to, I would like to invest. Or if David Robinson’s involved, then I would like to be a part of it. And it was an interview, I believe, with this gentleman and a couple other people. And the whole idea was that you’ve built a reputation now, where let’s just say hypothetically that all of your accounts were emptied and you found yourself homeless, you could probably go house to house in San Antonio and probably get some food, right? I would not do that. Okay. But you’re right. I’ve gathered a lot of favor here in San Antonio, and it’s a tremendous amount of favor, even to the point where in some places I’ve gone to go eat lunch and they don’t make me pay for lunch. So I might be able to eat. So certainly, yes, it’s been a blessing. And it’s because of this concept of over-delivering. It’s because I care about this community. And not only have I said that with my mouth, but I’ve tried to back it up with my resources and my time. And I think people see that and appreciate that. I think what’s interesting, for anybody watching this, you might say, yeah, well, you’re seven feet tall. And, you know, it’s easy for you to say well there’s a lot of people that are seven feet tall that are drafted every year and unfortunately there’s a lot of these guys who for whatever reason are not beloved by fans who are actually and I remember as a kid and this is why this is one of things I love about you the most so fun when I met you I had this vision of here I’m so excited to meet this guy and I had this vision of like I hope he’s as awesome as I remember him being. I really did. I mean this stuff sincerely. And I… You’re just setting yourself up for disappointment here. No, I mean it. No, this is good, though. But when I have met other athletes numerous times in my life, not all athletes, I’ve met some great athletes, but I have been sadly disappointed numerous times when I met them in the flippant attitude towards others or the way you saw them treat the people around them or when I’ve sat near court side and you watch the way that an athlete treats the ball boy and you say, gosh, that person. And when they’re on their way out of their career, there probably won’t be a lot of people wanting to help them. Yeah. I mean, unfortunately, you’re exactly right. I mean, it’s not just athletes. I think it’s all over. You can see business people as they rise up the chain. They don’t have time for a hello. Who doesn’t have time for a hello? Who doesn’t have time to make eye contact and say, hey, how you doing? Everything good? You know, and I mean, that’s, that’s ridiculous. It’s a crazy concept. And, and I remember back when I was in college, I was with a friend of mine and the friend of mine was telling me, he was questioning me, why do you try to say hello to everybody? And, you know, it’s, we’re at the game, we’re trying to watch the game, stop signing autographs, stop talking to people. And my thing was, look, these are the people that support you. So in the end, it’s gonna pay off if you encourage them as well. And so here we are, 25, 30 years from that point. And over the years, I’ve been able to build up a nice reputation where, you’re right, if I start my private equity fund, I go out and people have a sense because they’ve seen me year in and year out do what I’ve done, they have a sense that I’m not going to try to take their money, I’m not going to try to take advantage of them. Even if I don’t succeed in my venture, I’m not cheating anyone. I’ve had people come to me and they, you know, people are going to invest in other people. They’re going to invest in you because they see something in you that’s worth investing in. And I like to think that over the years that I’ve been able to establish some credibility there. So let’s say that I’m watching this right now and I’m at a point in my life where I own a business, like say I own a bakery, and I decide I’m pumped up. I’m going to exceed the expectations of my customers. What kind of things do you think you could do on a small level if you’re a business owner? Start with kindness. Just start with kindness. Day in and day out as they come in, go out of your way to greet them. And go out of your way every once in a while, give them a cup of coffee or something that just shows that you’re thinking about them. That will engender some relationship there. And I think that those small things, if you’re able to do them day in and day out, if you’re a person that they like to see, that brings a peace or a joy to their day, they’ll look forward to coming in and seeing you. And it will increase your business. I met the gentleman at this facility up front. I was talking to him. I said, how long have you worked here? And he said, I’ve been here for three years. And I said, well, how’d you kind of get to where you are? He said, I started at the bottom. I was the valet guy. And I’ve worked my way up to where I manage this. And it’s just interesting how whenever people over deliver, they eventually get promoted, they get noticed, they gain favor. And one of your favorite historical figures here, George Washington Carver, he explains that ultimately the measure of your success will be measured by, he says this, it is simply service that measures success. What does he mean by that when he says it is simply service that measures success? Well, if you look at the first half of that quote, the first half of that quote is, it is not how tall a man is or how wealthy he is or what type of car he drives, but it is simply his service that will measure his success. So he’s comparing it to the things that the world typically recognizes as success images. But for us, really, it’s what have we given? What are we blessing with what we have? And that will determine how successful you’ve been is how much you poured your life into other people. Now, David, during your career, you’ve undoubtedly seen a lot of super talented people come into the league, but quickly because they maybe have a habit of putting forth less effort than what they’re paid to do, they find themselves on the way out of the league. Now a lot of injuries and things can shorten careers as well. But why do a lot of super talented people not work hard? What is the deal with the guy who has the whole world right there? Whether it’s the NBA or it’s a business owner. He has all the talent, has all the capital he needs. What is going on in the mind, you think, for a lot of people that maybe we just don’t overdeliver, we underdeliver. What’s that all about? I mean, I think you bring up a great point. When you look at sports, right, it’s easy to recognize those guys that put the extra time and the extra effort in. You know, back in my day, it was guys like Michael Jordan and, you know, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird. Those guys were legendary for the extra time they put in. They put in countless hours of shooting, of weightlifting, of preparing themselves a guy like carl malone the you could tell he put countless hours into that body of his he was he was uh… pretty buff out there uh… and so he he over deliver you know you could get by with doing less work you could get by with showing up to practice at the last second and throwing your shoes on and playing because you’re a good athlete but over the long haul you’re not going to create any more value by doing that. But nowadays you have guys like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant. You see these guys and it’s ridiculous the amount of work that they put in and how they’re putting all the extra time lifting and preparing themselves and it has created a value that exceeds what these guys are paying them. It seems like Kobe’s making a lot of money, but what he’s brought to that team, I guarantee you he’s worth it to that team. LeBron James is worth that to Miami. He’s worth that to the NBA in general. Kevin Durant, same thing. He’s brought a value to Oklahoma City that you almost can’t even put into numbers. There was a guy that, I won’t mention his name because I don’t want to throw specific athletes under the bus here, but there was a guy who was being interviewed. He won an award a couple years back. And they’re asking him, well, what’s the biggest change you did this year? And he says, it was in the NBA. And he said, well, I really started working out. And I thought, what? Isn’t that what you do every day? And he started saying, well, he started working out. And if you peel it back a little bit, well, this guy admitted he basically had been a party animal every night, game night, game, the day before a game, the day of the game didn’t matter. And he didn’t work out and he just started Applying himself right and the income disparage The income disparity between him and other people with the same same talent is amazing So it’s a deal where had he applied that effort. He probably could have won awards up to this point. No, absolutely I mean, I think it’s it’s such a clear Thing we can see in our in our athletes how they create that value for themselves and how they work and how they prepare themselves and guys who create a job for themselves because they’re hard workers, because they’re a guy who will put the time in and the energy in. And you know, you wouldn’t think that this is extra, but it’s not the minimum. And so many guys settle for the minimum. When I first came into the league, a lot of guys would just come in and try to get in shape in training camp. That’s not a good idea. I mean, really, you could get a job that way, but it’s not the ideal way to get a job, and you’re not creating any real value for your team. You come in early, you’re in shape, you’re a leader, you’re a guy who sets a tone and an example. You’re a guy I want around every single year. You’re a guy that’s going to, I’m going to have you on my roster even if you can’t play, because you’re a guy that brings more to the table than just what I pay you for, your value goes up incredibly. Your job security is much better, and your usefulness becomes much better. Inevitably, you get better at your job. You get to be a better, more efficient, more effective person. David, I know you’re not super comfortable with me quoting you because I know you view yourself as a human who’s trying to do life to the best of your ability. But I’m going to say this. In an interview, you said that playing basketball was a God-given gift, but it was your duty to make the most of that gift. What kinds of things do you do now on a daily basis to try to make the most out of the God-given gift of maybe celebrity or of your height or the fact that you’re recognizable. What do you try to do on a daily basis to make the most of using the gifts that you have? I think if I could go back and probably adjust my statement a little bit, I’d say my size is more of the God-given gift. I’m seven feet tall. That’s kind of a God-given gift there. The athletic ability that I have that goes along with that size is a gift. Yes, I’ve always felt a responsibility to make the most of the gift and and not necessarily for a personal reason I’m not I Wasn’t trying just to be successful for myself, but because I felt like there were other things in life I wanted to accomplish and and and that helps you I think it helps you through different phases in your life when I retired my passion for life didn’t didn’t wane because basketball was a vehicle and that was one phase of my life. I’m stepping into a new phase with business and it’s still helping me accomplish many of the same goals I wanted to accomplish in the community and it’s stimulating my senses and my intellect. So, you know, it’s fantastic when you have a vision about what you wanna do, who you wanna be and understand that all of it is, if you have gifts, use them, use them in every single area you can. Use them in your marriage, use them at work. Use those gifts in a way that will benefit people and it will pay off in the long run. I have a question. Did you not like basketball during high school? I would say, I wouldn’t say during high school. My first two years of college, I would say, I did not like basketball. I mean, it was my scholarship. It was my opportunity to go to school. So I certainly felt a responsibility to my school, but I didn’t think going to practice every day was particularly fun, and beating my body up every day was particularly fun. And at that point I was not great, I was marginal. So I put in a lot of time and a lot of energy and a lot of work and wasn’t getting a lot of wonderful feedback yet. So yes, it was a challenge for a little stretch there playing basketball, but it was also a wonderful opportunity. It got me into a wonderful school and it opened some doors for me. So I continue to pursue it. So where do you get this work ethic from? Where do you get this idea? Because you really became a believer in the Christian faith, you know, basically during your rookie year. I mean that’s what became very intense for you. But even during college, your work ethic is somewhat legendary. The idea that you would at least apply yourself all the time. What is that? Where does that come from? I hate to admit it, but I think more fear than anything else. Just fear of failure. I just, I wanted to be great at something, at anything. I felt like I had a lot of abilities, but I wasn’t making the most of those abilities. And I know a lot of people probably feel that way. They feel like I’m just not taking advantage of what I have. When you have gifts, you have opportunities, and you’ve squandered some of those opportunities, it presses in your mind more that you need to figure out a way to be better. Lee Cockrell, the guy who used to run Walt Disney World Resorts, he said that fear was one of his motivators, too. to that he just said he wanted he his mother been married numerous times and he basically was kind of raised in somewhat of a way where he he wanted to prove that he was worthy and he had sort of this fear and he has some insecurities there yeah so it doesn’t really matter where we get the work ethic from but we need one and maybe fear is a little bit of a strong word I I think one of the one of the great things for me was I was never afraid of people or the circumstance I was afraid that I would not reach my potential. And and I never wanted to be the reason I don’t reach my potential. And so so in that sense, the fear of failure, the fear of not becoming what I’m supposed to become was was really my driver. And and I can I can relate to what Lee Cockrell said, because most certainly when I stepped out there on the court, I did not want to be the weakest guy, the smallest guy. I remember my freshman year in college, I read the Washington Post, and the newspapers had an article about me and said this is, it was about the team, but it said this young 6’7 freshman that Navy has shows some promise, but at times he’s painfully frail, and he looks like a swizzle stick in a blender. That’s what they said. That’s what they said. So I cut the article out and I taped it on my board and I said no one will ever call me a swizzle stick in a blender ever again. So for me that was a motivation. I did not want to be that guy. And so I worked a little bit out of you know just that I was, I hate to say fear because fear is not a great motivator necessarily, but I did not want to be that guy and I knew I had the ability to change it. People don’t realize, and I did not realize until talking to you about it earlier, that you were one of the more slender centers. You were giving up weight to Akeem Olajuwon. Absolutely. How many pounds were you giving? Akeem was probably 260, and I was 230. So for my first eight years in the league, every year I came in at 235. So I’m 235, most of those centers, Patrick’s at 255, 260, Akeem’s at 255, 260, then you’ve got the bigger guys like Shaq who’s at three-something. I don’t know exactly what he has, but he was three-something, so he was maybe 100 pounds more than me. And so I had to work out. The fear of going out there and getting embarrassed by any of these guys made me say, I’m going to prepare myself as well as I can. What if I’m watching this and I go, uh-oh, I have a bad work ethic. And I know somebody watching this right now is saying this, they’re saying, our company has a bad work ethic. Like, as a leader, I’ve created this culture where I have a bad, it’s not good, or it’s not great. How about that, it’s not great, it’s maybe just okay. What could I do, what’s maybe an action step or something I could do to start to be, if I take ownership of it and say, man, I’m naturally a little bit lazy, or what can we do if we wanna get serious? Do we need to find an accountability partner? Do we need to? Absolutely, accountability is the big key. There has to be something that, or someone, that keeps driving you and helping you get to where you wanna get. I had the Naval Academy. I had that constant poke and prod in my side saying, get up, get up, go do this, go do that. And so I learned how to be disciplined through through college. They made me get up at five o’clock in the morning and go down to the to the astroturf field and run and do the things that I wasn’t, I didn’t want to do. They made me every hour on the hour keep track of every second. You have three minutes to get your room clean, be back out here in the hallway. Okay. So you went through that process and they helped me be more disciplined. So that was my accountability partner. It was college. But certainly you can find people in your life that can help you be accountable. People who are around you, people who are better or more disciplined at whatever it is in their work, in their job, who can help you be a better and a more disciplined person. And be willing to subject yourself to that. You know, if you’re an athlete, you find a coach. Well, I would suggest the same thing in a business setting. Find a coach. And we’re not hard-selling business coaching services. We’re just being honest. You need to have accountability. I’m giving you a basic principle. I don’t own any coaching services. I just want to make sure that everyone’s there. I have no personal interest in it. I don’t coach anybody. That’s not what I do. But at the same time, you have to know yourself, and you have to know what you need. And if you don’t have certain talents, that doesn’t mean you can’t be a leader. That doesn’t mean you can’t succeed. It just means you need to make up for that weakness with an external source. I don’t know how much of it is luck or how much of it is just how it worked out, but when you look at Kobe Bryant and you look at Michael Jordan, both of them are phenomenal athletes. And they’re both phenomenal work ethics. But they both really hadn’t won a championship without Phil Jackson. And it seemed like that was the common link with both those guys. And there’s a lot of championships there. And I think everybody watches this. So we all need some sort of coach. And then when you get married, then you have a new coach. And so the idea is we all need some sort of coach to help us. Now, George Washington Carver, though, he said this, he said, start where you are with what you have, make something of it and never be satisfied. Why is it important that we never get satisfied? Wow, we’re never who we need to be and that’s, you know, as long as we’re here on this earth we will never be who we’re supposed to be, you know, we’re limited by this body, you know, that we’re only as good as with this, this, this thing we carry around, right? And it’s going to fade away. It’s going to get weaker and weaker. So, yeah, I mean, we need to continue to grow and we need to continue to push ourselves. And we have these talents. You have to keep using them. You have to keep putting them to work. It’s a travesty. We can see it in our children, right? We send our children off to school and they don’t want to go to class and they don’t want to do it. You’re wasting everything! You have this ability, why would you waste it? Well, it’s the same for us. Why would you waste what you have? There’s things that you do well that nobody else can do well. Well, learn how to use those things in a way that benefits everybody. And so it doesn’t make sense for you to waste your talent. For somebody who might watch this and say, well, George Washington Carver sounds like a workaholic. I’m just, I’m just, I’m not, I don’t think that way, but I’m just saying if I’m somebody who thinks that, how do you find the balance between never being satisfied and being a workaholic, or do you even have this idea? Yeah, well, that’s a great question. I think that, you know, you find that balance because of the circumstances in your life. We always prioritize, we always know what’s important by what’s going on around us. If I have a family, if I have a wife, the Bible’s real clear about this. The Bible says it’s better for you not to be married. Why? Because you can devote yourself 100% to doing whatever you need to do. But if you have a wife, then you spend half of your time really blessing her and building a family, which is not a bad thing. It’s just a requirement. It takes time. It takes commitment, right? So if we have a family, that’s a lot of our energy. And we have to understand, hey, I want to be great at this. I want to spend time at this. I never want to be satisfied, but also half of me is in the family. So I don’t want to be satisfied in the family either. I want to continue to press. So so you know you just you you you look at your circumstances, and you you work accordingly What what is important my work is important my family is important That’s where I put my energies So if I’m watching this right now And I own a small business or if I work for a small business or if I’m a leader of a major Corporation or no matter what who I am if I can just wake up every day with the idea of exceeding the expectations Of other people I can it’s kind of the sky’s the limit almost. Well, absolutely. I think you need to, you know, once you define what your product is, and you need to know how to exceed the expectations of the people that you’re providing for, and yes, if you can get really good at that, the sky is the limit for you. Even if you’re a first round draft pick, and you know, that might mean going around and helping sell season tickets to your pro team without any extra compensation. And I think no matter where you are, we’re never too good or in too great of a job to over deliver and exceed the expectations of people. Well, I learned that early on in the NBA. I came into the locker room and I thought, OK, if I put up my 25 points and 12 rebounds, I’ve done my job. That’s what they pay me for. But what you quickly realize is that there’s more to it than that. You have to be a leader. Guys are looking at you. They’re saying, hey, can we follow this guy? So some of your energy goes into building a team. I mean, that’s part of it. Then the organization asks you, hey, can you come and talk to the fans? Is that part of my job? And then there’s other things that kind of come added in there. So you want to learn how to over deliver in all of those areas? Did you get a bonus for helping mentor Tim Duncan? No, no, you know what that’s a good I’ll bring that up with Tim. That’s okay. I’m not sure who to collect that from any Well, I’m just I mean, you know things you did though that have made your team successful and I think it’s awesome that you’re a example of a guy who First round draft pick is out there selling season tickets. So well, I would say that I’ve gotten paid that back and more so it’s been a win-win. Awesome. Well if you’re over delivery you will be overpaid and so David I appreciate your time. Thank you so much my friend. Appreciate that. Alright JT so hypothetically in your mind what is the purpose of having a business? To get you to your goals so it’s a vehicle to get you to your destination. And would you need profits to get there? I mean is that when you have a business that’s successful and you’re in your mind your expert opinion would you need profits to get you to your goals? yeah because if you have a 15 million dollar business but you have 15 million dollars in expenses it’s kind of pointless holy crap alright so the question I would have here for you if you could take like 10 minutes or less and see if you could save three thousand bucks a year by reducing your credit card fees would you do it? Yes, absolutely. Holy crap. Why would somebody out there who’s listening right now, who has a sane mind, why would they not go to thrivetimeshow.com forward slash credit dash card, thrivetimeshow.com forward slash credit dash card to schedule a 10-minute consultation to see if they can reduce their credit card fees by at least $3,000 a year? Why would they not do it? Yeah, why would they not do it? Maybe because they don’t understand how you set the website. This tree is a symbol of the spirit of the Griswold family Christmas. That’s clear. Okay, so that can be true. So I encourage everybody to check out thrivetimeshow.com forward slash credit dash card thrivetimeshow.com forward slash credit dash card. What would be another reason why someone would not be willing to take 10 minutes to compare rates to see if they can save $3,000 or more on credit card fees. Maybe they think it is a waste of time and that it won’t. It’s not possible. There’s somebody out there that’s making more than $3,000 every 10 minutes and they’re like, nah, that’s not worth my time. We getting there, I’m ready. We getting there, I’m ready. Probably some someone out there. Okay. They would think that. Well, I’ll just tell you folks, if you’re out there today and you’re making less than $3,000 per 10 minutes, I would highly recommend that you go to thronetimeshow.com forward slash credit dash hard. Because you can compare rates, you can save money, and the big goal, in my opinion, of building a business is to create time, freedom, and financial freedom. And in order to do that, you have to maximize your profits. Holy crap. Now, one way to maximize your profits is to increase your revenue. Another way to do it is to decrease your expenses. It’s a profit deal! It takes the pressure off. JT, is there any other reason why somebody would not be willing to take 10 minutes to compare rates to see if they could save a total of three thousand dollars a year on average. I am at a loss I cannot think of any other. Shampoo is better. I go on first and clean the hair. Conditioner is better. I leave the hair silky and smooth. Oh really fool? Really? Stop looking at me, swan! Let me tell you a good story here real quick. I actually years ago compared rates with this company here called IPS. It’s Integrated Payment Services. And I scheduled a consultation. I don’t know if I was skeptical. I just thought, whatever, I’ll take ten minutes. I’ll compare rates. I can’t tell. You can tell me I’m a doctor. No, I mean I’m just not sure. Why can’t you take a guess? Well, not for another two hours. You can’t take a guess for another two hours? And in my case, in my case, my particular case, I save over twenty thousand dollars a year. Holy crap! Wow. Which is, you know, like groceries when my wife goes to the organic stores. Find everything you need today? Yeah. Great. Okay. Oh God. Everything okay ma’am? It’s just that you’ve only scanned a few items and it’s already 60 bucks. I’m so scared. Okay I’m a trained professional ma’am. I’ve scanned a lot of groceries. I need you to stay with me. It’s just that my in-laws are in town and they want a charcuterie board. This isn’t going to be easy so I need you to be brave all right. What’s your name? Patricia. Patricia all right. I need you to take a deep breath. We’re about to do the cheese. You know, that’s the difference between eating organic and not organic. So because my wife eats organic, I had to take the ten minutes needed to compare rates to save the $20,000 a year on credit card fees just for one of my companies. One question, what’s the brand name of the clock? The brand name of the clock, Rod, do we have it? The brand name of the clock and sell the fireplace. I encourage everybody out there, go to thrivetimeshow.com forward slash credit dash card. You schedule a free consultation, request information, a member of our team will call you, they’ll schedule a free consultation. It should take you ten minutes or less, and they’re going to compare rates and see if they can’t save you more than $3,000 a year Off of your credit card processing you were hoping what I wouldn’t know you money Oh, you don’t owe us money because at the end of the day at the end of the day The goal of the business is to create time freedom and financial freedom in order to do and in order to do that you need to create additional profits 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 Owasso, Oklahoma. And we have been working with Thrive for business coaching for almost a year now. Yeah. 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. I just want to let you know what type of accomplishment this is. Our 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 non-existent 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 Pesce Monde 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%. 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, like 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, 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 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, that way 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 it’s really shown that we’ve gotten a 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, 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 turnkey marketing and coaching system that will grow your practice and get you the results that you’re 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 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 Crockerill, head of Disney with the 40,000 cast members. He’s friends with like Mike Wendell. 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, and graphic designers, and web developers, and they run 160 companies every single week. So think of this guy with a team of business coaches running 160 companies. So in the weekly he’s running 160 companies. Every six to eight weeks he’s doing reawaken America tours every six to eight weeks He’s also doing business conferences where 200 people show up And he teaches people a 13-step proven system that he’s done and worked with billionaires helping them grow their companies So he’s icing 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 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. So 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, like 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. And 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. And 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 listened to it. When we walked out, I knew that he could make millions on the deal and 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. Anytime I’ve gotten nervous or worried about how to run the company or, you know, 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 and we just want to give a huge thank you to Clay and Vanessa Clark. Hey guys, I’m Ryan 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. This is where we used to live a few years ago. This is our old neighborhood. See? It’s nice, right? So this is my old van and our old school marketing. And 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 14, 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 1000. The Thrivetime show two day interactive business workshops are the highest and most reviewed business workshops on the planet. You can learn the proven 13 point business system that Dr. Zellner and I have used over and over to start and grow successful companies. 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 escape 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 gonna leave energized, motivated, but you’re also gonna 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. If we go back eight years ago, think about the number of clients you had back then versus the number of clients you have now. As a percentage, what has been the growth over the past eight years, do you think? We’ve got to inspire somebody out there who just doesn’t have the time to listen to their phone. Okay, so Clay, it’s like I would go up and down from about $10,000 a month up to about $40,000, but it’s up and down roller coaster. And so now we’ve got it to where we’re in excess of 100 clients. That’s awesome. And so I would have anywhere from five clients to 20 clients on my own with networking, but I had no control over it. I didn’t, without the systems, you’re gonna be at the, you’re gonna be victimized by your own business. For somebody out there who struggles with math, if you would say that your average number of clients was 30 and you go to 100, as a percentage, what is that? I have doubled every year since working with you. So I’ve doubled in clients, I’ve doubled in revenue every year. That’s 100% growth every year I’ve worked with. So I’m looking, we’ve been good friends 7, 8 years and I’ve got doubled 5 times. Which is just incredible. I mean the first time you do it, that’s one thing, but when you do it repeatedly, I mean that’s unbelievable. We’re working our blessed assurance off this year to double. We’re planning on doubling again. We’re incorporating some new things in there to really help us do it, but we are going to double again this year. I started coaching, but it would go up and down, Clay. That’s when I came to you, as I was going up and down, and I wanted to go up and up instead of up and down. And so that’s when I needed a system. So creating a system is you have nailed down specific steps that you’re going to take, no matter how you feel, no matter the results, you lean into them and you do them regardless of what’s happening. You lean into them and it will give you X number of leads. You follow up with those leads, it turns into sales. Well, I tell you, if you don’t have a script and you don’t have a system, then every day is a whole new creation. You’re creating a lot of energy just to figure out what are you going to do. Right. And the best executives, Peter Drucker is a father of modern management, and he said the most effective executives make one decision a year. What you do is you make a decision, what is your system, and then you work like the Dickens to make sure you follow that system. And so that’s really what it’s all about. So with a script here, we have a brand new gal that just came in working for us. She nailed down the script and she’s been nailing down appointments. Usually we try to get one appointment for every 100 calls. We make 200 to 300 calls a day per rep. And she’s been nailing down five and eight appointments a day on that script. Somebody out there’s having a hard time. Call them in script. So she’s making how many calls a day? She’s making between two and three hundred calls a day. And our relationship is weird in that we do, if someone were to buy an Apple computer today, and or let’s say about a personal computer, a PC, the computer is made by, let’s say, Dell. But then the software in the computer would be Microsoft, let’s say, or Adobe or whatever that is so I make I basically make the systems and You’re like the computer not like the software’s kind of how I would describe our relationship Tim I want to ask you this well you and I reconnected And I think it was in the year 2000 and 2010 is that right 2011 maybe or maybe even further down the road maybe 2013 2012 okay, so 2012 and at that time I had five years removed from the DJ business And you were how many years removed from tax and accounting software? It was about 10 11 years. We met How did we remeet? What was the first interaction or some interaction where you and I first connected? I just remember that somehow you and I went to hideaway pizza, but you remember when we first reconnected. Yeah Well, we had that speaking thing that… Oh there it was! So it’s Victory Christian Center. I was speaking there. My name is Robert Redman. I actually first met Clay almost three years ago to the day. I don’t know if he remembers it or not, but I wasn’t working with him at the time. I asked to see him and just ask him some questions to help direct my life, to get some mentorship. But I’ve been working with Clay for now just over a year. The role I play here is a business coach, business consultant. I work with different businesses implementing best practice processes and systems that I have learned here by working with Clay. And the experience working here has, to put it real plainly, has been just life changing. I have not only learned new things and have gained new knowledge, but I have gained a whole new mindset that I believe wherever I end up will serve me well throughout the rest of my life. Since working with Clay, I have learned so much. I mean, I would like to say almost everything about business in terms of the different categories. I haven’t learned it all, but I’ve learned all about marketing. I’ve learned about advertising. I’ve learned about branding. I’ve learned how to create a sales process for organizations in any industry. I’ve learned how to sell. I’ve learned how to create repeatable systems and processes and hold people accountable. You know, how to hire people. It’s almost like every aspect of a business you can learn, I have learned a lot in those different categories. And then again, the mindset that I’ve gained here has been huge. You know, working here, you can’t be a mediocre person. You are a call to a higher standard of excellence. And then as you’re called to that standard here, you begin to see those outcomes in every area of your life. That standard of excellence that you want to implement no matter what you’re involved in. I would like to describe the other people that work with Clay are people that are going somewhere with their life. Marshall in the group interview talks about how, you know, the best fits for this organization are the people that are goal-oriented. So they’re on their own trajectory, and we’re on our own trajectory. And the best fits are those people where there can be a mutually beneficial relationship that as we pursue our goals, and we help the business pursue those goals, the business helps us pursue our goals as well. And so I’d say people that are driven, people that want to make something of their lives, people that are goal-oriented, they’re focused, and they’re committed to overcoming any adversity that may come their way. Clay’s passion for helping business owners grow their businesses is, it’s unique in that, I don’t know if there’s anyone else’s that can be as passionate. You know, whenever a business starts working with Clay, it’s almost as like Clay is running that business in the sense that he has something at stake. You know, he’s just serving them. They’re one of his clients, but it’s as if he is actively involved in the business. Whenever they have a win, he’s posting it all over his social media. He’s shouting it across the room here at Thrive. He’s sending people encouraging messages. He can kind of be that life coach and business coach in terms of being that motivator and that champion for people’s businesses. It’s, again, unique because there’s no one else I’ve seen get so excited about and passionate about other people’s businesses. The kind of people that wouldn’t like working with Clay are people that are satisfied with mediocrity, people that want to get through life by just doing enough, by just getting by, people who are not looking to develop themselves, people who are not coachable, people who think that they know it all and they’re unwilling to change. I would say those are the type of people, and in short, anyone that’s content with mediocrity would not like working with Clay. So if you’re meeting Clay for the first time, the advice I’d give you is definitely come ready to take tons of notes. Every time Clay speaks, he gives you a wealth of knowledge that you don’t wanna miss. I remember the first time that I met Clay. I literally carried a notebook with me all around. I was looking at this notebook the other day, actually. I carried a notebook with me all around and I just took tons of notes. I filled the entire notebook in about three or four months just from being around Clay, following him and learning from him. I would say come coachable. Be open to learning something new. Be open to challenging yourself. Be open to learning and adjusting parts about you Be open to learning and adjusting parts about you that need to be adjusted.