Entrepreneur | PR 1010: Who Are These Media Folks? – How to Get Covered by the Media + Powerful vs Powerless People With Danny Silk

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. Started from the bottom, and that’s what we’re about to do. Clavis Tiberius Clark, how are you, my friend? I’m doing great. I appreciate you referencing my middle name. Yeah, I know that the kind of rumor or the legend is that you were named after a Viking warrior, is that correct? Yeah, my name is Clayton Thomas Clark. Not Tiberius. Well, my mom and dad are nice people. They’re kind people. And I am a honey badger. And whatever, you know, subtleties or any type of, I don’t have that. And so I have just a very, have you ever seen Star Trek? Yeah. James Tiberius Kirk? Mm. That’s, he and I are more similar than you know, okay The whole character of of you know, myself is based on that character. That’s beautiful. Yeah, okay So today we’re talking about PR 101 here and we’re gonna be talking about who are these media folks? Yeah, okay. Why is this important for business owners to know who these media folks are? Well, a lot of people watch this sometimes I think I think when you look at me, you’re gonna formulate an opinion about me, good or bad. So look at me right now. You’re going to say, well, he’s wearing a red tie, blue suit, pale, he’ll make certain judgments. I can tell you this though, when we get to 3,000 subscribers, I’m recording in a jersey. I’m recording an episode in a jersey, that’s real talk. You’re going to get a tan? Anyway, so what happens is people begin to formulate these opinions. Yeah, so this is what people have started to do with the media. Oh, it’s just the media’s fault. The media, bunch of freaking liberals, bunch of media, bunch of freaking liberals. Well, it doesn’t matter whether you’re conservative or you’re liberal or you’re, you know, libertarian, whatever you are. Media are humans. They’re actual humans. And when you realize it’s one human and one local station and then another human in a local station you add them all up together that becomes a station then that becomes a State of you know a media with a certain bias as a state I think we average it and then it moves up to the national media But it’s not like the media is like all these people are drones going we hate conservatives. We hate business No, they’re actual humans. Well lots of people to you’re a business owner and you’re watching this you might think I’m an orthodontist. Media doesn’t cover me. They care about different types of news, right? They think media only covers these type of stories. I had a lady, I worked with her about a year back, and she made a comment that I wanted to hug her, and then I wanted to like just, come on, lady. She said, you know, the media, they’re ridiculous. They will not cover any small business. The media just does not like small business. I’m thinking, all the reporters who work at the station, I know what they do every day. They wake up and they say, well I’m gonna have a drink of water here, a little bit of sip for my beverage, and then I’m gonna write a piece about a big business because I hate small business. I’m guessing he’s being sarcastic. That’s true. Okay. So what we’re gonna do here is we’re diving into figuring out who these media folks are. I’m pumped. We are going to kind of gather our information, a lot of notable quotables here from the great Michael Levine. Yeah. Is it true he’s a Thrive Mentor here? You can watch his episodes? He’s a Thrive 15 mentor. He’s a best-selling author. He’s represented Grammy award-winning artists and talent, people who’ve won Academy Awards, President Clinton. He’s represented Michael Jackson, Prince, George Michael, Careless Whisper. Remember that song, Careless Whisper? It’s beautiful. Wham, Last Christmas. Last Christmas, I gave you my heart. And the very next day, you gave it away. That’s it. That’s it. That’s beautiful. So we’re going to be doing a lot of notable quotables here from his book, Guerrilla PR 2.0. So we’re going to be hearing from one of the greats. The first kind of point that we’re going to touch on as we’re finding out who these media folks are is they are storytellers. Oh, yeah. Okay, so that’s a notable quote from his book. He’s explaining they are storytellers. This is what Michael Levine said. He said, I found reporters, editors, and producers to be an engaging lot overall, naturally curious, and ever on the prowl for good stories. What does this mean to you? And why, as a business owner, do I need to know this? Okay, well, as a business owner, if you’re watching this and you’re a thriver, most people who I know who have a successful business are like, let’s just get it done. We’re honey badgers. We’re like, just shut up, put duct tape on it and sell it. That’s just how we are. We’re just, we get stuff done. Now, the people who are like, well, what do you, when you said duct tape it, what do you mean by that? You love those people, don’t you? I do. So what happens is, these people who love to write, they love to read, they love to go to the film festivals in Canada, and they love to go to… These people become reporters, artists. So PR, media, is kind of like an art. So they’ve been attracted to an industry that allows them to write. That’s their art. So when they get published in the paper. They feel good internally Intrinsically they go gosh. That’s cool My story that I wrote I came up with is on the front page of the magazine right or the newspaper That’s why they love doing that so why is this good news for thrivers right now thrivers listening? Why is this good news for what’s good news because they wake up every day with the insanity of having to come up with a new story every day Could you imagine what it would be like every day to have a reporter, a news director who’s usually a Viking, that you have to report to every single day, who wants a news story, and it has to be fact-checked and be interesting to the readers or viewers. Every single night on the news, they have to have stories that are going to make you come back. How stressful is that? That’s very stressful. Well, what does that mean for me, though? I told you I’m the orthodontist, I’m the plumber, I’m the builder. If you can make a good story, they’re going to cover it. Because they’re going to say, thank you for giving me a story idea. Boom. So what’s an action step here? The action step is to think about your business from kind of a poetic, like a story perspective. Kind of put yourself in their shoes. Think about your business in terms of headlines. So if you said, local business is selling the heck out of washers and dryers, that’s not a story. But a story is such-and-such is bringing seven new jobs to San Diego or 70 new jobs or is helping the local economy by providing seven new jobs with the expansion of their new store. Now it’s like oh that’s a story! Think of all the new people and where do they come from. We can interview all the new employees. This is a story. So you got to put yourself in their shoes because they’re looking for stories every day. They’re looking for stories and they will thank you for sending them to them. They’re sending those stories to them. The second thing you need to know about these reporters is that they are a skeptical bunch. Yeah. They’re a skeptical bunch. This is what Michael Levine has to say about them, okay? He says, Journalists do possess one human quality in abundance, intense skepticism. That old movie stereotype of cynical, hard-bitten reporters has a basis in fact that lives on today. Have you experienced this at all? What does this look like really? Well what happens is, is there’s a lot of people that make up a lot of stuff that isn’t true. The best example I’d like for our Thrive program observer to type this in so we don’t forget the person’s name. Because I’m struggling to remember their name, that’s the beautiful part about Thrive, we can add this stuff, you’re gonna love it. It’s glorious. There’s a guy who literally bought a Canadian NHL team. You got to look this up. He bought the team with a zero dollar net worth. So he was able to falsify his financial documents and to convince the NHL that he actually was a multi-millionaire and he actually owned the team. They transferred ownership to him. I swear to you. And he had to write checks to his employees, you know, NHL players, for like 50,000 bucks a week. So he’s writing checks for like 50 bucks. I mean, I’m not kidding. And he told people, like, oh, I’m sorry. I guess I left a couple of zeros off or I forgot or whatever. And he found this way to take revenue from the gate and bring in just enough money to pay the players. And he kept this scam, that’s a true story. It’s on ESPN, a big scandal. But he was able to falsify that. Or there’s a guy named Kevin Trudeau. I can say this, and I’ve been saying it for a decade, but now it’s real. Kevin Trudeau is a scam artist. He’s a best-selling author who teaches you how to cure yourself of any disease just by thinking it and achieving it and eating herbal fragrances and weird stuff. Eating mushrooms and eat codfish and save yourself forever. He has these scams, how to get $10 million of grants from the government. He wrote all these books. Well then he got busted like multiple times and now he’s going to federal prison. So what does this mean for me as a thriver? What happens is I’m a reporter. I believe that you are not telling the truth as a business owner. So as a business owner if you have a real story with real supporting information to show what you’re saying is factual, you’re in baby because most people are BSing. So what do I do as an action step? They’re gonna assume I’m lying. How do I? One, write a headline. Right now, write a headline. Think of your story in a headline format. Two, is go ahead and have facts that back it. So we’re gonna focus on this story idea of San Diego appliance store expands and brings new jobs to San Diego. That’s the story. That’s the headline. Well then, the supporting things is how many jobs are you bringing? How much do the jobs pay per year? When do they start? And if you had some financial information that could back what you’re saying or certified public accountant verified information to back it and support it, that would be a great thing. And the media will be happy to cover those kinds of stories. Beautiful. So the third thing that is true about these media folks is that they view publicists as hired guns. They view publicists as hired guns. So here’s what Michael says. Because we publicists are hired guns, reporters don’t often put much stock in our pleas and arguments. At least not at first. I was told by one entertainment reporter from a large metropolitan paper that quote, publicists don’t believe in what they are selling. They’re just paid pitchmen. So what does this mean and why is this an advantage for business owners? Well if you’re right now watching this in San Diego, think about your local newspaper and your local, let’s say, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox affiliates. Google search right now for the kind of story you’re interested in. Let’s say you’re going to do a story about hiring people. You can type in San Diego, new jobs, and then the name of the publication. You’ll find a story where they’ve already written a similar story about another business at a different time. You can find the reporter and you can call them. You can find their email. You can call the station and call them. Just call them right up. And you say, hey, my name is Clay Clark right here in San Diego and our business is expanding and we’re bringing this many new jobs to the city and I love your work you wrote about this other company. I just thought your readers would love to know more about it, or your viewers. And they’ll go, well, are you really bringing new jobs? And you say, yeah, I’ll actually email you over. We’re expanding. Let me email you over some certified documents that shows from our accountant that we are actually growing and great things are happening. So you’re saying the advantage is that publicists are, we already know these people are skeptical, but they’re gonna be even more skeptical of publicists. So the business owners- They’re gonna handle that call. We can talk just like I did there. Now, if it’s a publicist, they’re like, oh, come on, give me the real. Is this guy really, why isn’t he calling me? Like, oh, he’s paying you to say this. Yeah, sure, he’s paying you to say that. So have you ever had a, you ever watched a, maybe a night at the Grammys or a night at the Emmys, and they say that this couple got in a fight, and you find out later that they got in a fight and they couldn’t show up on the red carpet on time because they were fighting, or they got divorced or something, but their publicist will always say, due to creative differences, the person is no longer on the film. So people hear publicist and they’re thinking, okay. Or no comment. Publicist says no comment. The athlete, you know, he’s upset, no comment. The athlete who can barely talk English all of a sudden has a poetic, almost unbelievable President Obama-esque narrative declaring how, I love women, and I think domestic abuse is terrible, and I look forward to engaging with the community to educate others on the, really? So it’s a publicist talking. So everyone smells it, and we know it’s not real. So that’s why there’s actually an advantage for you as a thriver and a business owner to actually approach these media folk yourself. And check it out, these people who love film festivals, they love art, they love the underdog, they’ll write about you. Love it. So the next little point here is we were calling it the golden tip, okay? This is the golden tip. This is Michael Levine’s golden tip. This is what he says. This is the golden tip. Listen up. They want good stories. They aren’t paid to say no, they’re paid to say yes to the right stories. That’s Michael Levine’s golden tip. What does he mean by that? They want to come to the party. They want to get invited. So let’s use the example. I go back to dating. I always go back to dating. Never very far away from dating. One of those guys that gives the dating advice nobody’s ever asked, but you keep giving it. Yeah, I never had anybody tell me thank you or they never use the advice. I just keep giving it because I know that’s what they want. Give it to us. What happens is you’re at a reputable establishment. Okay. You know, serves alcohol if you want it. Sure. We’ll call it a restaurant bar, so no one gets offended. There’s a girl over there, and she is single, and she is checking you out. Now, if you’re a lady watching this, there’s a dude he’s checking out. The point is, somebody wants to be asked. They’re like, I would love to be asked by this person to go on a date. That’s how the media is. They want you to call them right now and give them a story. They have to write a story every day. They’ve got to get a story out. Tonight, there has to be a story on the news. Every city, every night, 24-hour news cycle. Could you imagine the internal conflict they feel, always going, oh no, in 12 hours I have to write another story. They want to be asked. They want to be invited. But if you don’t invite them, they’re not going to, because they’re someone of the opposite sex who’s got a little bit of class to them. They’re not going to go ask you to ask them. No, no, they’re waiting for you to ask. All right, so Clay, I’m a thriver, and I’m hearing what you’re saying, but I don’t think you really understand kind of my city and what my business is. They won’t really write stories on my business. Okay? What can I do? Convince me that I can in fact have some PR success here. Well, okay, there is a story about, I think it was baby Jessica. It was this baby that fell into the well. I’m gonna have our Thrive Fact Checker look this up so we can add the supporting information. I feel horrible if it’s Jennifer or something, but it’s a baby that fell into a pipe, like a plumbing pipe back in the, and basically got stuck in a city drain is what happened. Michael Levine just took the story because he felt so horrible that this girl was stuck there. He reached out to the parents and said, let me share with all the local media about your story. It became the story all across the world for days. Everybody wanted to know the story. Another example, you had the member of the US military that ended up unfortunately getting locked in a Mexican prison there. Everybody wanted to share that story because it’s something we cared about. If it’s something people care about, they’ll want to share. So you have multiple different businesses that you own. I know you’ve got the men’s grooming salon, you’ve got the photography. What are some of the ways you have set up some of your companies to give back so you can get some of these PR stories in because it’s supporting a cause you care? Let’s start with some of the more tacky ones we’ve done. Okay, go. One is we actually set up a snow cone stand in the middle of our street in downtown so that you basically had to get a snow cone or run over a human. Wow. And then we gave, we bought a snow cone, all the money went to a charity. And all the local media covered it. It was a fun, feel-good story. My good friend Arthur Greeno, every time something, it just snowed, like crazy snow. He’s one of our Thrive mentors. Unbelievable snow, and he’s like, PR opportunity. I’m going to build the largest snow cone in the world. And he did it. And the media, both local, national, covered the story unbelievably. He set a Guinness Book of World Records for that there. He did the world’s largest lemonade. Any time you do something that’s the world’s largest or something that touches on a heartstring, the media will just respond. It just works. But it’s your job, now that you know who these folks are, to pick up the phone, send the email, put yourself in their shoes, right, so give them the headline, and then find a way that actually relates to the community, something that they’re looking for. I’ve got to quote Arthur Greenough, and I want to make sure that anyone watching this, this is the edited show, it’s always edited, but you know, sometimes, you know, Arthur gets a little wild. He gets a little wild. We’ve all seen it. He gets a little wild. And Arthur says, he says, you have to get off of your ass. Whoa. Whoa. You threw me off there. I didn’t know where you were going. An ass. You got a little bite at the end. Okay. You got to get off your ass. You have to ask people for help. Right. Nobody wants you to be successful more than you. Right. So you’ve got to make your own things happen. Right. To get a little bit deep, just a little bit into the formal schooling here. There’s a thing called a catalyst right that basically Creates the momentum it gets something going you have to be a catalyst. You’ve got to create some type of Inertia you’ve got to create your own momentum. You got to get it going you can’t just wait for something to happen You’ve got a it’s like Indiana Jones that big ball that chases him You know you got to get the boulder going there you got to push it But once it gets going the momentum will take care of itself, but you’ve got to get it going. That’s beautiful. Clay, you’ve given us practical action steps, you’ve given us knowledge, now it’s up to you to actually go implement them today. And I just want you to know that I appreciate you so, so much. I mean, if I was a hugger, I would want to hug you. I’m not a hugger, but I really am overwhelmed, so I’m just going to… Thank you so much. Thank you. Danny, thank you for being here, my friend. Hi, Clay. Hey, we have Thrivers all over the planet who clicked the little Ask the Mentor button. And a couple of the questions, we’re kind of starting to see these come in that are kind of in your wheelhouse, I think. Because you talk a lot about being a powerful versus being a powerless person, what it means to be a powerful person versus a powerless person. And we have a couple of Thrivers who’ve been reaching out wanting to know how they can be a more powerful person or a person who’s going to take control of their own life. Talk to me about the difference between being a powerless person and a powerful person, how somebody like, you know, can actually take control of their life. A powerless person is somebody that believes that life’s happening to them and they’re just surviving it. They’re just doing whatever they can to get through it because all these random things are happening And I didn’t know this was gonna happen. I didn’t know that was gonna happen I didn’t know you were gonna say that and then ruin my whole day. I didn’t know so you know I’m blaming my life I’m reacting to to the environment as it as it happens to me a Powerful person is a person who understands that that other people don’t control me I Control myself so I’m moving myself in my decisions and in my vision, in my goals. I’m moving myself towards where I want to be. With the decisions I’m making today, I know are creating the tomorrow that I’m going to live in. So I begin to realize that the quality of my life is directly connected to the choices I make. And so I choose to manage myself towards things instead of trying to survive the things that are coming at me. You know, Oprah has written that luck is preparation meeting opportunity. There’s all sorts of quotes there of a similar mindset. Thomas Jefferson talks about he believes in luck and the harder he works the more luck he has. You look at all these people who are successful and we see them run through the finish line. You see them on the cover of the magazine winning the award. But a lot of people don’t know that Oprah was abused. Thomas Edison had 10,000 some odd failed experiments of the light bulb. Walt Disney lost it all twice. Henry Ford lost it five times. It seems like, show me someone who’s successful, and I’m going to show you somebody who’s gone through a lot of adversity. What advice would you have for somebody who’s like, I want to be powerful, but I’m running into a lot of adversity. I’m on my 10,000th failed experiment of my life. What advice would you have for someone? One experiment away is what I would say. It’s all about the vision. It’s about what it is that I’ve set my face to accomplish in my life. I’m not committed to that, then I don’t really have much motivation or reason to take responsibility for my choices. Back to a point we made earlier where people decide about motivators in life either based on the vision that’s set before them or the pain that they’re trying to avoid. And your vision is what’s gonna give you the motivation needed to push through the pain? Yeah, like if my vision is to be an Olympic gold medalist, you don’t have to tell me how to eat. I am eating to fuel this machine called my body to accomplish that goal. And so I am sacrificing and I am selecting out and selecting in what will help propel me towards that gold medal. So, it’s the vision that is driving me and the sacrifice, the pain, the physical working, mental working, learning, everything I’m doing is moving me towards that gold medal. Final question, because I think this might really close the loop for the thrivers who are wanting to know this. What is the process you need to go through to cast a vision for your life? If you’re just sitting there, you know, there’s all sorts of research shows that most people have no specific goal. Now, all sorts of research shows that Dave Ramsey did a study on this. It’s on his website. There’s a book called Habits of the Rich by Tom Corley, and it shows that well over 80% of millionaires know where they’re going. They have a very specific goal or a vision as you call it. If I’m watching this and I do not have a discernible vision at this point in my life, regardless of age, what’s the exercise? What do I need to do to find that vision? Well, I think there’s numerous tools out there and I would just go get one of them. Okay. You know, because there’s books written about this stuff. And so to say, here’s the three easy steps to getting a vision, I’m not really sure what that would be. But I do know that you’re going to have to be able to describe what you’re aiming your life at. Who are you going to serve with your life? Who’s going to benefit from the effects of your life lived well? Who would that be? You’re going to have to define the service of your life. What are you going to bring? What is it that you are going to do? What do you need to learn? What do you need to master? What is it that you need to hone as a skill? And then I think you have to define maybe the action or the verbs, like dynamic or effective or how would you describe the activity of your life? I just want you to know, and a little anecdotal example here, being around you and other mentors that know your vision for your life, it’s inspiring because you have a crystal clear focus, and that allows you to push through the pain, but it also allows you to seem like to set the boundaries. It allows you to know what you’re about, what you’re not about, where to be, where not to be, make clear choices. I mean, it just seems you strike me as a person who’s a man who has a purpose, and you know where you’re headed. It’s true. Yeah, well, thank you so much for answering that question and bringing some clarity to the subject, my friend. You’re welcome. Thank you. God bless you. All right, 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, when you have a business that’s successful, and you’re in your expert opinion, would you need profits to get you to your goals? Yeah. Because if you have a $15 million business, but you have $15 million of expenses, it’s kind of pointless. Holy crap. All right. So the question I would have here for you, if you could take like, I don’t know, 10 minutes or less and see if you could save 3,000 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 thrive timeshow.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 three thousand bucks 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 could be true. So I encourage everybody to check out thrivetimeshow.com forward slash credit dash card thrive timeshow dot 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 then 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 not that’s not worth my time We getting mad, mad money There’s probably some, someone out there Okay that 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 throttletimeshow.com forward slash credit dash hard because you can compare rates, you can save money and you know, 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 $3,000 a year on average? I am at a loss and I cannot think of any other reason. 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? Oh, really, fool? Really? 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. Or 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 in my case, my particular case, I save over $20,000 a year. Holy crap! Wow. Which is uh you know like groceries when my wife goes to the organic stores. Find everything you need today? Yeah. Great. 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, alright? What’s your name? Patricia. Patricia, alright. 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 10 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, it’s an elegant, from Ridgway. It’s from Ridgway. Let’s buy 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 owe you money at the end of the day. No, you don’t owe us money. Because at the end of the day, the goal of the business is to create time, freedom, and financial freedom. 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, okay. I just want to let you know what type of accomplishment this is. Our competition, Orkin, Terminex, they’re both 1.3 billion dollar companies. They both have two to three thousand 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 or 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 Pest and Lawn 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, 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 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 that when 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 and that system has really, really been a big blessing in our lives. And also, 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. Okay, 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% 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 the use of 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 like 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 Lee Crocker, the head of Disney, with the 40,000 cast members. He’s friends with 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, and 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. Every 6 to 8 weeks he’s doing Reawaken America tours. Every 6 to 8 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 I’ve seen guys from start-ups go from start-up to being multi-millionaires. Teaching people how to get time freedom and financial freedom through the system. Critical thinking, document creation, organizing everything in their head to building it into a franchisable, scalable business. 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 of 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 listen 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. He’s impacted me a lot. He’s helped navigate anytime 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, 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. Right, 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. with our new neighborhood. This is our new van with our new marketing and this is our new team. We went from 4 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 a thousand The thrive time show today 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 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 you. 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 calls. Well, 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 5 clients to 20 clients on my own with networking, but I had no control over it. I didn’t, without the systems, you’re going to 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. 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 new, 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. That’s 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. 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. Right. And she’s been nailing down five and eight appointments a day. Somebody out there’s having a hard time. 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, or 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 basically make the systems. And you’re like the computer, and I’m like the software. It’s kind of how I would describe our relationship. Tim, I want to ask you this. When you and I reconnected, I think it was in the year 2000 and, what was it, maybe 2010? Is that right? 2011, maybe? Or maybe further down the road. Maybe 2013? 2012. Okay, so 2012. And at that time I was 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 meet? What was the first interaction? There was some interaction where you and I first connected. I just remember that somehow you and I went to Hideaway Pizza. But do you remember when we first reconnected. Yeah, well we had that speaking thing that oh There was so it’s victory Christian Center. I was speaking there My name is Robert Redmond. 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 you know 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 it was 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 wanna 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 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 the room here here at thrive You know he’s sending people encouraging messages he can kind of be that that life coach and business coach in terms of being that a motivator and that champion for people’s businesses, it’s 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 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 want to 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. And then 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.