Entrepreneur | Setting a Vision for Your Business – How to Keep Quality People Engaged and Bad Hires off of the Team – Growing Your Business with the Right People With Bryan Smith

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 gotta do. Ryan, thank you for letting me harass you, my friend. How are you? I’m doing well. Hey, I’m really sorry about your OU there. I understand that they had a tough game there versus Baylor. In your mind, was it lack of focus? Was it lack of a vision? What was the deal? Lack of talent. Lack of talent. OK. Well, we’re not going to do that today, but we might come back to that topic. But today, we are talking about setting a vision for your business, how to keep quality people engaged and bad hires off of the team. Now, Brad, I want to start off by reading this quote from Jack Welch, who’s probably the most successful CEO of his era, a guy who grew GE at a rate of about 20% a year every year that he was CEO and previously they didn’t really grow at all. And he says this here, he says, everyone has an idea but it’s really about executing the idea and attracting other people to help you work on the idea. Can you talk to me a little bit about why that is so hard? I mean he makes it sound so simple that you just, you know, you just you basically have this idea and you need to attract the right people and then you do it. But why is it so hard for most people? You know, I think this just goes back to a myth we’re talking about and writing about right now and it’s, if I can do it, anybody can. And I just don’t think that that’s true. Just because somebody else is getting it done, just because somebody else is successful at it doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to do it. Having a vision for your company comes, it’s an idea that you’ve got to have that only you have for the company. But I think to come up with that vision, there’s got to be a good amount of drive and motivation present as well. So you feel like it’s got to be a huge, you say a good amount of drive and motivation. What do you mean by that? Because I think a lot of people are like, I’m motivated, I’m driven. What does that mean? You know, that answer is so hard to come to. I meet people all the time that are very successful that I could swear aren’t nearly as driven as I am, and then the opposite. So I think it’s just, it has to do with how much time someone’s willing to spend or how much money sometimes someone’s willing to put into their company. It comes in different forms. Sometimes people don’t have to put much time. They’ve got other resources they put into it. So I think it’s whatever you find that you’ve got to plug into your company that you’re doing it. That could be surmised as a drive. We talked to a person the other day who had a business and what they found is that their business is basically they’ve decided to open up the second location. So they currently own a business and they’ve decided hey business is so good we’re going to open up a second location. But since they opened up the second location they feel like they’re having endless employee problems. They just can’t ever seem to staff it. The employees are now late. Late’s kind of the average. People are calling in sick all the time. And it seems like the staff was talking to the lady, and she said the staff is actually talking back to her openly. They’re saying, well, I don’t really care if it’s break or not. I’m going, or that kind of stuff. People are arguing back to her. And then people are actually starting to question her recipes, like her actual recipes for her restaurant. They’re saying, you know, what are these recipes? I feel like if we change this recipe or change this decorating idea. So the whole thing that made the first place successful, people are now starting to push back against. The employees are starting to push back against the tenants that made their first business successful. And employees are starting to complain now about their uniforms they have to wear. And they’ve begun complaining. Customers now have started even complaining. That’s why she sent us the email. Customers are now starting to complain about the high turnover. Where they’re going, hey, every time I sit down to eat, it’s new people, service isn’t good. And then when I talk to them, she says, I feel just really too busy to train my people. But you know, and I feel like chaos is now the norm. Help. Well, can you, what would you say to this person? With the two restaurants, one being new, it almost sounds like less is more. It sounds like the second location was opened up without a solid foundation. Just because they were busy and successful with the other one, how long were they busy? How long were they successful? What was all that built upon? I would identify first, you’ve got to identify the issues like they’ve emailed about. We’ve got to figure out why these issues didn’t exist at the first location and why they now exist at the second, I would think, as a starting point. One thing we know is that the first location was a business that she and her husband ran together. And the second, they’ve hired a manager to run it, and it seems like that he maybe is not, for whatever reason, he’s not pulling off the same standard that they had with the other one. What would you say? Well, and it sounds like that the leaders are spread too thin. You know, everybody wants to be successful. Everybody wants to open up multiple locations if the first business is successful. I don’t think it’s always the answer. It sounds like this one’s already open and already going, and that maybe possibly that the manager they have hired is not pulling their weight. And if you’ve decided that keeping the second location open is the way to go, yeah, they’re all in. And that’s what you have to do. Then, and I think what you’re gonna have to do is you’re gonna have to sit down and look at the staffing. I think you’re gonna have to figure out some shuffling. Maybe you need some other people from the first location to go to the second location that are that are leaders. So you’re saying maybe move over some good people from the first location where the leaders are. Sure. We’re doing it the right way. Maybe blend those into the second location. Blend the staff. Maybe your next true manager could be within that that group of people that’s going to help you lead the second location. I think that that’s step one. They’ve identified the people that are the problem. I’d shuffle the staffing now and I’d be looking for the leader that’s going to help with that second location with buy-in. Someone that’s going to have to think like they do. Someone who’s going to think like they do. So bring in somebody who’s got a little buy-in to it. You mean like in terms of maybe they share profit with them or there’s some sort of emotional buy-in or what do you think? Well, I think the buy-in first has to be mental. I think you’ve got to find someone that’s going to join your team that cares about that business almost like you do. OK. There’s a restaurant that I went to recently. It’s phenomenal. My wife and I, you’ve probably gone there before, but it’s this Italian restaurant in town. And my wife and I will go there. And they hired this new guy, Tommy. We’ll call him Tommy Guth. This guy is unbelievable. He is seriously like, we went in before. The restaurant used to have a big delay. You would never get greeted. They were always so busy that they could never greet you. Sure. And people started to complain about it. The new guy they hired, the manager, has set a new tone. Like the last three months, you walk in and he’s like, hey, how many you guys are going to be looking for dinner for tonight? And you’d say like three. Well, I apologize for the delay. We’ve got a big, big line here. Let me go and get you some appetizers. What do you want to drink? And he would just like, he’s customer service focused. It seems like he’s just like another owner. So he sounds like these people might need a guy just like Tommy, kind of a honey badger that’s gonna help run it, right? Well Clay, those people are all over town and something we’ll probably talk about later today is everywhere you’re out these people are around. And if you own a business, you’ve got to be noticing these people. I went into a technology store the other day, a very popular one here in town, just like your restaurant. Yeah. And there was a guy working behind the counter that was answering the phone, helping people on both sides of the desk, and still trying to sell a product to me by explaining it to me and telling me how it works. And all that being said had the most humble demeanor I’ve ever seen in my life. So I recruit him. Time out. So I just want to make sure the Thrivers are getting this. You’re out at a technology store, you’re getting, what are you buying? You’re buying like an iPad, you’re getting a refrigerator? We’re buying a TV for the new office. You’re getting a TV for the new office. You’re in there getting a TV, and this guy’s answering the phone, he’s dealing with customer service, and he’s trying to upsell you with a humble demeanor? Yeah, well, and I’m a different kind of buyer. I’m one of those people who already knows what I’m going to get. When I go into a store, I don’t want to talk to anybody. I don’t want to know what you know, I don’t want to know what the product is. I already know. And I educate myself all the time on the different types of buying personalities, and I’m definitely one of those as a do-it-yourself. And so for this guy to actually get a minute to talk with me means that he’s pretty good because I’m in there, I’m getting what I want, and I’m leaving. So you’ve got to be aware of these people all the time. If you own a business, you’ve got to be looking all the time. So your intent is up. You’re like, whoa, this guy’s a great guy, I should hire him, right? Always. Okay, so the radar’s going off. So what do you say to the guy? What do you say to the guy once you find the guy? You know, a lot of times the strategy of always being recruiting and prospecting for your business means that you may not have a position today. But a lot of times that means you want to start a relationship with him. And I would just grab the guy and say, hey, I own businesses in town, you’re the type of guy that can do whatever you want. Do you still want to work here for the rest of your life?” And if they say, well, no, not really, I hand them a card and say, call me. Boom. That’s it. And that, real quick, that’s the super booth, by the way. I found a lot of good guys. I found one guy at Taco Bell. I found one guy at a golf shop. I don’t even golf. I just went to the golf shop. I don’t know why I was in the golf shop. I was probably some weird, I thought it was like a trap door, like a Narnia deal. I went into the closet and ended up in a golf shop. But I’ve found really good people over the years by just doing that move. Now, it’s worth expanding on. These restaurant people we’re talking about right now aren’t in a problem right now if they do this particular thing. And when I find someone all the time that I think has a chance, I continue to build that relationship. I see if I receive the email or phone call from them. I invite them into my office a few times. I give them a few assignments. What I start to do is groom a person to work for me before they work for me, so that by the time that they do, the buy-in is there. The respect, the commitment, and the loyalty starts to build itself way before they ever work in my office. And if lots of small businesses did this one little thing constantly, there would never be a staffing conversation. So the lesson nugget here, I guess, would be the big takeaway is that every time that we’re anywhere, you’re always recruiting if you’re a small business owner. I think you should. And that doesn’t mean you have to be working all the time. You don’t have to be working all the time to recruit. If you’re at restaurants and the server shines, you need to do something about it. If you’re anywhere and someone is shining, it’s easy to throw a card out and ask a person, hey, is this what you’re going to do for the rest of your life? Now, Thrivers, if you’re watching this and you’re going, everybody? No, if the pastor’s giving an unbelievable sermon or he’s giving a great talk at a funeral, you don’t pull him aside and say, hey, hey, hey. Probably not. You don’t do that. Probably not. You’re a great communicator. You should work here. No, but I mean, the general rule, your intent is always up, and I could not agree more. Now, Bryant, you’re a guy, just to give the Thrivers a context, you’re a guy who’s built a culture-focused, I’m going to use the word, powerhouse. There are people who know about your insurance agency and the growth you have, and they’re going, this guy’s a powerhouse. So when you first hear this situation about this person having a problem, right away you’re thinking what, you just don’t have the right people? Is that what your answer? You know, sometimes not having the right people is going to be the answer, but it’s not always the solution. You know, getting everybody, getting rid of everybody doesn’t fix everything because now you’re running the place by yourself. So I don’t know that it’s always definitely we’ve got to just clean house all the time. And that’s what you hear. I’ve heard that for years and years. Let’s just clean house. I think a lot of times that there are people that can be helped. And I think when I look back at this restaurant, I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I bet a lot of the problems lie within the leaders, lie within the owners of the business. Let me ask you this question here. Can the owner of this business, the person who owns the business, they’re paying the bills, they’re working the late nights, they’re doing the accounting, the sales, the marketing, can they really be held accountable for underperforming employees? I mean, is that really? Absolutely. Yeah. I think in any business, the leaders are always going to be responsible for how good or how bad the business is run and how good and bad the results are. And what I’ve found in small businesses is that all the leaders, owners, entrepreneurs, or the people that own the place, when they start to take responsibility for their shortfalls, things automatically get better right away. Well, let’s go ahead and tackle these issues one by one here. In that way, we can get through each one and get your feedback on what this person should be doing. One is dealing with the endless employee problems. Brian, does somebody get out of the cycle of having endless employee problems if that is their current normal? I mean, if this has become normal, do they ever… How does somebody get out of that? I mean, how does somebody go, hey, we’re used to turnover, we’re used to underperformance, how do they come in and go, ah, that’s it? How do they do it? Well, I think what you have to do is you’ve got to stop doing everything the same way, the way you’ve always done it. And if you can stop and restart and reconnect with the vision that you had for the business originally, reconnect with the goals and expectations that you have and then clearly and transparently communicate them to your staff and the team that you have. You’ve got to find out who’s with you and who’s not with you. I think this restaurant that you’re talking about is to the point where now they’ve got to find out who’s with them and who’s not with them. of all time, arguably, during his tenure. He says, face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be. So why is it so hard for many business owners to deal with the fact that they might not – when they ask the question, are you with me or are you not? Why is it so hard for them to deal with, like, hey, there’s some people who are not with me in my midst. How do I deal with it? I mean, why is it so hard? You know, so many business owners I meet struggle with connecting with their staff. A lot of them feel trapped and feel like that, you know, if they let someone go, they’re going to get behind. The strategy we’ve been discussing already solves this problem. You know, so many people want to talk about, well, what else can you do? What else can you do? What else can you do? Go back to the beginning. We’ve talked about how not to even get there. How not to ever get there is to always be recruiting, continually be connecting with your staff. If you own a business and your ultimate goal is to get out of that business, you’re not really a business owner. You’re kind of an investor, in my opinion. I meet a lot of people that have zero time spent in their business, zero time with people, and they call it their business. That’s not their business. They’re an investor in that business. And you’ve got to be clear to yourself about what you’re really doing. Small businesses don’t survive without the nucleus. And if the nucleus begins to detach or isn’t a part of it, it dies. You’re getting scientific. Small businesses don’t exist without a nucleus? Sure. So that’s the core, what, the center portion? That’s what works for me. Okay. The reason why I’m asking this is because in my business, I know I do, I take time out to talk to people, specifically, very intentionally, because I used to not do it. But if someone has a life issue or they’re dealing with something, I take time out to get to know them because people don’t, really, John Maxwell says, people don’t care what you know until they know how much you care. It sounds like that’s what you’re talking about. You’re wanting to build that nucleus where people really know that you do appreciate them, you do value them, you do have that connection point. I was just talking recently with some small business owners I know that have a lot of new franchises. And I challenge them, and I say this a lot to people and talk about it a lot, I ask this question, do we spend time to develop the potential of our people, or do we leave that up to other people to do and hope for the best? And what that just boils down to is so many people think they’re so busy, they don’t want to do the things that matter. Staffing, the team, employees, whatever you choose to call your group of people in your business, if you don’t get to the root of it and begin to connect and develop your people, you won’t have your people. And even if you have somewhat financial success over time, the argument could be how much better could it have been if you would have connected and developed your own people. The turnover train is such a pain and it’s so expensive. Some people have figured this out, but most haven’t. Almost every place you go has not figured out the turnover train because people want to motivate with money. There’s lots of statistics out there that show that money is a good motivator, but it’s not everything and it definitely has its limit. And I had to learn that early in my business as well. I started to figure out people would tell me that they had working in my office. So if I’m a Thriver right now and I’m watching this and I have really failed to connect with my employees or maybe I just have two dudes. So let’s say I’ve got a business and it’s two dudes. It’s me and two dudes and I just haven’t connected. What are some action steps, some stuff I can do right now, every week maybe, to connect with my staff? What are some things I should be doing? Well, if you’re already paying a fair wage and you believe that that is something that is appropriate, I think you’ve got to look a little bit deeper and find out what motivates your people. Figure out what is it that keeps them going. And going back to the restaurant or to the store I went to or the restaurants you’ve gone to, is figuring out what motivates each individual person the most. And almost none of them are ever going to say, well, more money. I figured out in my particular business that I have, people are motivated by the things that they can’t usually buy with their own money. It took a little digging to figure that out, but what that means is you’ve got a mom working with your office. She’s got two kids, and her husband works a job too, and they make a fair wage, but they can’t go buy new things all the time. You find out, what is it that if she could buy it, what would it be? But if you give her the money, she can’t buy it because she’s got to take it home to her family and they’ve got other priorities. But what is that one thing? And I’ve been able over the last few years to find out what is that one thing that if you can’t buy it, but if it showed up, what would it be? We have one of our videographers on set here who’s obsessed with the movie Noah, you know, the new one. The one that’s not even close to true? Yeah, that one. And I have felt what motivates him is just talking about that movie with mentors. So I just talk about it and it makes him feel like, man, this is a special company, a place I want to be and so that’s for you. Well, that’s a great example too. And these are such, everyone thinks that these little tidbits are not a big deal. They are a big deal. The funny thing is that some of them more make or break parts of your business. And you make a good example about the guy that’s on your team. I know some people that if they can just join a certain group for dinner or coffee, they’re motivated for months and months. Because now they feel like they’re important. If you can find these little things in your business, you don’t have a lot of these issues. And so many people take them for granted because they’re like, well, that didn’t cost me any money. Or I didn’t have to pay $5,000 and go listen to some guru tell me about this. Yeah. Well, no, these are just basics that nobody do. Well, let’s go on. Let’s go on to the next one here. It says employees are constantly late. Brian, how does an owner go about keeping their staff members from being chronically late when this type of behavior has become normal? Let me give you an example. You got a meeting that starts at 7 a.m. right with this restaurant. Somebody rolls in at 7 10. They’re like, you know, next week, Ray Rowan, 715. Next week, they don’t show up. How does this person deal with this? They sound like lateness has become a chronic issue. You know, this one’s so tough, but I believe it leads with example. I’ve made a promise to every person I’ve ever hired that I’ll never ask them to do anything I’m not willing and already probably doing. And so I would tell that leader, are you late? Do you stroll in whenever you feel like it? The problem with business owners is they’re so old school these days, and I don’t believe it’s a wrong or right situation, but I talk to lots of business owners and say, it’s my place, I can do whatever I want. Bam! It’s my place, I’ll show up at 9 for the 7 a.m. meeting. And that’s true. I mean, I guess that’s okay if that’s what you want to do, but in the new generation of people that you have working for you, different ages, different mindsets, different backgrounds. People are looking at that kind of stuff. If you think that you can just come and go as you please, your staff will do the same thing. Well, you know, I’ve found that one thing that’s big, and Napoleon Hill has his laws of leadership that he published, and I just knew for me, I was probably 22, 23, I was reading that book and I’m going, I’m asking people to be here and to do this, but I’m not doing this so I had to really check myself You know really and go gosh I’m asking people to do things that I wouldn’t do so I had to realize that you know a DJ company at the time But I’m like if I’m gonna ask the guys to wow every bride I’ve got a wow every bride if I’m gonna ask the guys to show up these events on time I got to show up early. You know that kind of thing so I think it’s big. Let’s let’s assume No, let’s just go down this rabbit trail. Let’s assume that this person is always showing up on time. Sure. But yet their staff is still late. What would you do? Well, and I think you’re making a good point, Clay, about getting involved and doing parts of your business that you’re asking everyone else to do. And it doesn’t mean you have to do it all day. It just means you’ve got to show your staff that you’re still involved in this business you call yours. And if someone continues to be late, yet the leaders are on time, the leaders are setting a good example. You simply have somebody that just doesn’t want to be at work on time. I know. And if the person doesn’t want to be on work on time, then they’ve got to go. There’s so many books and publications on what do you do for these people. There’s nothing that you do. You let them go and hopefully they learn someday that being on time to work is a good idea. You hurt my soul. But that’s the truth canon right there. Truth canon. Now, let me ask you this here. So do you have a system in your office where you have some kind of point system for write-ups? Let me give you an example, okay? Awesome. I’m the best employee you have and I’m late. Oh, one time, right? Oh, it’s a unique situation, right? So you go, hey, I give you grace. Second time, I’m the best employee you have and I’m late a second time. This would never happen again. But then a third time. Do you have a point system or some way to eventually like, okay, you’ve accumulated enough points, you’re a gonzo? Well, and you know, this particular topic, we’re getting away from all the fun quotes and all the fun sayings and making people feel good. When it comes to staffing, there’s good and bad. When people are doing good, you recognize them and you recognize them publicly. When people aren’t doing so well, there has to be something in place that protects you from them. What that means is you definitely have to have some kind of a system. I document everything. Every conversation and email that I have with an employee or staff on where they’re at with their position, how they’re doing in their job, it’s documented because I’ve got to be able to have a conversation with them later. People can change. If they change for the worse, I want to be able to have a good conversation about, hey, here’s the things that we’ve talked about in the past. Here’s how many times you’ve been late. Here was the expectation, and you didn’t live up to it. And unfortunately, we’ve got to part ways. And people want to write and talk about all these special ways to do this thing. There’s no special way to do it. It’s to be very clear and very frank with the person about what’s been done wrong and how they’ve violated your expectations multiple times and that it’s time to move on. Now, let’s move on to this next issue here, number two here. This next employee issue. Employees are always calling in sick when not sick. So Brian, how does this business need to go from stopping the old fake cough move, where the person walks in and goes, I just wasn’t feeling very good, boss. I was going to come in, but I just feel terrible. Do you want me to come in? And I just, you know, the whole fake stuffy nose sound there. That’s the precedent that’s already been set where people are faking like they’re sick. They can call in right before their shift. They’re supposed to be at the restaurant at 9, you know, for the breakfast stuff. They’re getting there at 8.58, they’re calling, boss I just feel sick. How do you deal with that? You know, this requires setting boundaries and expectations very clear. I think people are always looking for the secret potion on the answers like this. There aren’t any. I found this epidemic is usually alive only in businesses with leaders that allow it. It’s easily fixable with transparent, clear expectations. If you allow people to do this deal, they will do it. And there’s no secret out there that will help you get around the awkward conversation of telling people they can’t lie to you. So let’s give an example, let’s role play this real quick. Ugh, ugh, 858, I’m calling you. Hey Brian, I can’t come in, I’m just feeling kind of sick. What do you do? You know, Clay, I’m going to ask you if you just found out you were sick two minutes before you were supposed to be at our office. Generally, the answer is no. And then I’m going to let you know, you know, either this is the first time that you’ve done this or I’m going to say, Clay, you’ve called in five times this quarter. Are you really sick? Be honest with me. And you know, a lot of times people will be honest with you and a lot of times people will continue to carry on the lie. And you’ve got to decide if you’ve been lied to and you see that you have, you’ve got to do something about it. You can’t continue to let people, you can’t be held hostage to your staff. But rewind a few paragraphs we’ve been talking about. Had you been doing the number one thing that the most successful business owners do, which is continually network and recruit for their business, you won’t be worried about this phone call. You know, one thing I want to say here real quick for anybody watching this, I know when employees are sick, one thing that I like to do with businesses and I work with them is I say, hey, if people are sick, that’s fine. But I would have a deal where if they don’t supply a doctor’s note, then they get a certain number of points. So the example would be, let’s say that I call in sick, and you say, you know what, I understand that you’re sick. Our policy is you’ve got to call in 24 hours in advance. Go to the doctor today, bring a note in, we’ll take care of it. And if someone can’t supply a note, then they obviously weren’t sick enough to go to the doctor, which is why they probably are BSing you or have some sort of… And I would just encourage you guys, whoever you’re watching this, to set up some kind of policy in writing for how you’re going to deal with it. And when it happens, it’s clear expectations like what you’ve been saying. People have to know up front. They’ve got to know up front what the rules are. You can’t just put the rules in place after. So put the rules in place up front. Don’t just do them afterwards. Now, Brian, this is a good one. The staff talks back and argues with her about her recipes and her ideas for the restaurant decoration. So it sounds to me like she’s trying to run a restaurant and a homie’s saying, I don’t even like this food. Why don’t we make a different style of potatoes? Or why can’t we make a different kind of chicken? Or to me, it’s kind of getting into that whole insubordination deal. What advice would you have for this incredible lady to take charge of the situation and keep her employees from constantly talking back? It’s gotta be draining. Well, in hearing all the issues that she’s having, you know, all boiled down to a couple of main problems that obviously would have to be discussed on a different conversation. But I think for this specific situation, they’ve got to have a meeting today. They’ve got to draw lines in the sand now. They’ve got to now set the expectations that they obviously haven’t set before. So it’s going to be a little tough now because in a perfect world, they’re always recruiting, right? They’re always networking and they have these expectations set up ahead of time. Well, and they’re going to have to set these rules up, but they’re going to have to remember one little thing is that they’re going to be expected to follow those rules too. Okay, so again, you don’t want to ask people to be held accountable for something you’re not willing to do. Now let’s talk about this here. The employees have now begun to complain about their uniform requirements. They’re going, I don’t want to wear that. What would you do? You know, and a lot of old school people are going to hate this answer, but when I think about the uniform and needing it, there’s definitely some good reasons to have uniforms in certain places of business, schools, restaurants, and whatnot. But I would ask, did you include the staff in any part of the uniform decision making process? And people are going to say, what in the world? Old school guys are going to say, why in the world would I do that? This is my business. Well, the reason why you would do that is because when you take a different generation of people and you let them have an idea about what they’re going to wear every single day that you’re probably not wearing, you’re going to see that the buy-in changes. They get to give you ideas now. They become the owner of the uniform. And all of a sudden, it’s not about, oh, I’ve got to wear this uniform. It’s about they created this uniform. Let’s say that the staff, let’s say, and I know this didn’t happen in this situation, but let’s pretend it did. Let’s pretend I’m a business owner and I’m watching this and I did staff. Sure. And now we’ve come up with this unbelievable uniform. One that eight out of ten people were like this is great. Yeah. But now Greg over there in accounting just for whatever reason can’t seem to clean the shirt or find the pants or sure yeah he just keeps showing up weird. What would you do? You know it’s again goes back to the questions of everyone’s always digging for that secret answer to keep them from having an awkward conversation. I think you have to have an awkward conversation. People are always searching for that secret little solution to keep them from having that awkward conversation. This is big. I want you to marinate on this. I want to end on this. This is a capstone thought to me. It’s huge. I want to kind of bring this in here and then I want to talk about some training But I want to kind of wrap up on these two thoughts here because that a awkward conversation You haven’t married for 13 years. You hate to have the awkward conversation. He’s just my wife telling me like you can’t do that So the whole awkward conversation thing my wife’s pretty direct no one wants to have that though I own business You don’t want to have the awkward conversation. Why do we fear the awkward conversation so much? We think it’s going to fix itself, or at least we hope we do. Or we just don’t understand what it truly makes a successful business. Successful business requires expectations and accountability. It requires transparency and follow-through. And last of all, I think it requires a genuine amount of consistency all the time. Now, okay, so let’s look at this here. If I feel like, right, if I’m watching this, and this lady had indicated she feels too busy to train any more people because chaos has become the norm. So a lot of people you talk to, I know you meet them at the business networking because you’ve been so successful, a lot of people come to these business networking events and they’ll want to ask you, like, hey, how are you doing it, bro? Bro, broseph, how are you doing it? And then they always say, I’m so busy, though, I don’t have time. I don’t have time to read books. I don’t have time to study. I don’t have time to manage. I don’t have time to train. Specifically when someone says, I do not have time to train my people, I’m too busy, what would you say? Well, I think of course, again, it’s another one of those really, really special secrets. But I think effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is the discipline to carry it out. This particular topic reminds me of tithing. So if you’re a tither, you know what, that tithing happens first. And so when you go and you’ve decided you’re going to make a tithe, you tithe first, not last. It’s this very same situation when it comes to your business. Training, developing, and leading your staff would come first to me. Without them, you have no business. So what I don’t understand is when someone sits down and tells me they don’t have time to work on the most important, crucial piece of their business, and that’s the people that open it and close it every single day. You just blew my mind. It’s just unbelievable. Let me try to duct tape my brain and put it all back in and just unpack this a little bit here. Okay, so one is you’re saying tithing. A lot of people watching this maybe don’t know what tithing is. Maybe they go, tithing, schmithing, what does that mean? Real quick, can you explain what tithing means? in my faith and other faiths is about giving back to the church that you’re in. It’s 10% and what happens, the point of it, it’s not the money. The point of it is, and people lose touch of this, it’s not about the money, it’s about giving first. And so you decide to give your money back that you’ve been giving to the church first, the first 10%. So when I think about this particular topic, it’s very equal to tithing. You’ve got to work on your business first. You’ve got to work on the staff first before all these other things that you’ve decided you’re going to do, committed to, and thrown all these irons in the fire. You won’t have any irons in the fire if you can’t take care of this part, and that’s the team. You won’t have any irons in the fire if you can’t do this part. Now unpacking the final two areas, because you just, it’s truth canon here. You said leadership is putting first things first. Yes. Then you said management is what having the discipline to carry it out. To carry it out. Can we impact that for a second? Leadership is saying what it’s saying, hey this is my priority. Is that what you’re saying? I think it applies to your business, it applies to your family, it applies to relationships. Leadership is putting the first things first, the things that really matter. Yeah. Setting up all the things that you need to do and then it’s not just enough to say that these are important to me. You’ve got to go and manage those things. You’ve got to go and carry out the things you’ve set to do. When you opened up a business, you decided you were going to have people there to offer customer service, sales, whatever it is to other people. Did you forget that you’ve got to train and develop these people? They’re first. They’re what makes the whole thing go around, and you’ve got to focus on them first. Well, I’m going to try to put your moves into action real quick here. So one, leadership, putting first things first. I know what I need to tell you now. Two, management, I’ve got to have a discipline to carry it out. It’s going to be awkward, but here we go. It’s ecstasy when you’re next to me. Thank you. JT, do you know what time it is? 410. It’s TiVo time in Tulsa, Roseland, baby. Tim TiVo is coming to Tulsa, Oklahoma, June 27th and 28th. We’ve been doing business conferences here since 2005. I’ve been hosting business conferences since 2005. What year were you born? 1995. Dude, I’ve been hosting business conferences since you were 10 years old, but I’ve never had the two-time Heisman Award-winning Tim Tebow come present. And a lot of people, you know, if I followed Tim Tebow’s football career on the field and off the field. And off the field, the guy’s been just as successful as he has been on the field. Now, the big question is, JT, how does he do it? Well, they’re going to have to come and find out, because I don’t know. Well, I’m just saying, Tim Tebow’s going to teach us how he organizes his day, how he organizes his life, how he’s proactive with his faith, his family, his finances. He’s going to walk us through his mindset that he brings into the gym, into business. It is going to be a blasty blast in Tulsa, Russia. Also, this is the first Thrive Time Show event that we’ve had where we’re going to have a man who has built a $100 million net worth. Wow. Who will be presenting. Now, we’ve had a couple of presenters that have had a billion dollar net worth in some like a real estate sort of things. Yeah. But this is the first time we’ve had a guy who’s built a service business and he’s built over a hundred million dollar net worth in the service business. It’s the yacht driving multi-state living guru of franchising. Peter Taunton will be in the house. This is the founder of Snap Fitness, the guy behind Nine Round Boxing. He’s going to be here in Tulsa, Russel, Oklahoma, June 27th and 28th. JT, why should everybody want to hear what Peter Taunton has to say? Oh, because he’s incredible. He’s just a fountain of knowledge. He is awesome. He has inspired me listening to him talk. Not only that, he also has, he practices what he teaches, so he’s a real teacher. He’s not a fake teacher like business school teachers. So you’ve got to come learn from him. Also, let me tell you this, folks. I don’t want to get this wrong, because if I get it wrong, someone’s going to say, you screwed that up, buddy. So Michael Levine, this is Michael Levine. He’s going to be coming. You say, who’s Michael Levine? I don’t get this wrong. This is the PR consultant of choice for Michael Jackson, Prince, for Nike, for Charlton Heston, for Nancy Kerrigan. 34 Grammy Award winners, 43 New York Times bestselling authors he’s represented, including pretty much everybody you know who’s been a super celebrity. This is Michael Levine, a good friend of mine. He’s going to come and talk to you about personal branding and the mindset needed to be super successful. The lineup will continue to grow. We have hit Christian reporting artist Colton Dixon in the house. Now people say, Colton Dixon’s in the house? Yes, Colton Dixon’s in the house. So if you like top 40 Christian music, Colton Dixon’s going to be in the house performing. The lineup will continue to grow each and every day. We’re going to add more and more speakers to this all-star lineup, but I encourage everybody out there today, get those tickets today. Go to Thrivetimeshow.com. Again, that’s Thrivetimeshow.com. And some people might be saying, well, how do I do it? What do I do? How does it work? You just go to Thrivetimeshow.com. Let’s go there now. We’re feeling the flow. We’re going to Thrivetimeshow.com. Again, you just go to Thrivetimeshow.com. You click on the business conferences button, and you click on the request tickets button right there. The way I do our conferences is we tell people it’s $250 to get a ticket or whatever price that you can afford. And the reason why I do that is I grew up without money. JT, you’re in the process of building a super successful company. Did you start out with a million dollars in the bank account? No, I did not. Nope, did not get any loans, nothing like that. Did not get an inheritance from parents or anything like that. I had to work for it and I’m super grateful I came to a business conference. That’s actually how I met you, met Peter Tong, and I met all these people. So if you’re out there today and you want to come to our workshop, again, you just got to go to thrivetimeshow.com. You might say, well, when’s it going to be? June 27th and 28th. You might say, well, who’s speaking? We already covered that. You might say, where’s it going to be? It’s going to be in Tulsa, Russell Oklahoma. I suppose it’s Tulsa, Russell. I’m really trying to rebrand Tulsa as Tulsa, Russell, sort of like the Jerusalem of America. But if you type in Thrive Time Show in Jinx, you can get a sneak peek or a look at our office facility. This is what it looks like. This is where you’re headed. It’s going to be a blasty blast. You can look inside, see the facility. We’re going to have hundreds of entrepreneurs here. It is going to be packed. Now for this particular event, folks, the seating is always limited because my facility isn’t a limitless convention center. You’re coming to my actual home office. And so it’s going to be packed. So when? June 27th and 28th who you you’re gonna come who you I’m talking to you you can get your tickets right now at Thrive Time Show dot com and again you can name your price we tell people it’s $250 or whatever price you can afford and we do have some select VIP tickets which gives you an access to meet some of the speakers and those sorts of things and those tickets are $500 it’s a two-day interactive business workshop over 20 hours of business training we’re going to give you a copy of my newest book, The Millionaire’s Guide to Becoming Sustainably Rich. You’re going to leave with a workbook. You’re going to leave with everything you need to know to start and grow a super successful company. It’s practical, it’s actionable, and it’s TiVo time right here in Tulsa, Russia. Get those tickets today at thrivetimeshow.com. Again, that’s thrivetimeshow.com. Hello, I’m Michael Levine, and I’m talking to you right now from the center of Hollywood, California, where I have represented over the last 35 years, 58 Academy Award winners, 34 Grammy Award winners, 43 New York Times bestsellers. I’ve represented a lot of major stars, and I’ve worked with a lot of major companies. And I think I’ve learned a few things about what makes them work and what makes them not work. Now, why would a man living in Hollywood, California in the beautiful sunny weather of LA come to Tulsa? Because last year I did it and it was damn exciting. Clay Clark has put together an exceptional presentation, really life-changing, and I’m looking forward to seeing you then. I’m Michael Levine. I’ll see you in Tulsa. James, did I tell you my good friend John Lee Dumas is also joining us at the in-person, two-day interactive Thrive Time Show Business Workshop. That Tim Tebow and that Michael Levine will be at the… Have I told you this? You have not told me that. He’s coming all the way from Puerto Rico. This is John Lee Dumas, the host of the chart-topping EOFire.com podcast. He’s absolutely a living legend. This guy started a podcast after wrapping up his service in the United States military and he started recording this podcast daily in his home to the point where he started interviewing big-time folks like Gary Vaynerchuk, like Tony Robbins, and he just kept interviewing bigger and bigger names, putting out shows day after day. And now he is the legendary host of the EO Fire podcast and he’s traveling all the way from Puerto Rico to Tulsa, Oklahoma To attend the in-person June 27th and 28th Live time show two-day interactive business workshop if you’re out there today folks you’ve ever wanted to grow a podcast a Broadcast you want to get him you want to improve your marketing if you’ve ever wanted to improve your Marketing your branding if you’ve ever wanted to increase your sales, you want to come to the two-day interactive June 27th and 28th Thrive Time Show Business Workshop featuring Tim Tebow, Michael Levine, John Lee Dumas, and countless big-time, super successful entrepreneurs. It’s going to be life-changing. Get your tickets right now at thrivetimeshow.com. James, what website is that? ThriveTimeshow.com. James, one more time for the TVS. ThriveTimeshow.com Everything rides into night Even if I got three strikes I’ma go for it This moment, we own it I’m not to be played with Because it could get dangerous See these people I ride with This moment, we own it Thrive Time Show two-day interactive business workshops are the world’s highest rated and most reviewed business workshops because we teach you what you need to know to grow. You can learn the proven 13 point business systems that Dr. Zellner and I have used over and over to start and grow successful companies. When we get into the specifics, the specific steps on what you need to do to optimize your website, we’re going to teach you how to fix your conversion rate. We’re going to teach you how to do a social media marketing campaign that works. How do you raise capital? How do you get a small business loan? We teach you everything you need to know here during a two-day, 15-hour workshop. It’s all here for you. You work every day in your business, but for two days you can 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 with 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. 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, but 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’ll even give you your money back If you don’t love it We’ve built this facility for you, and we’re excited to see you And now you may be thinking what does it actually cost to attend an in-person two-day interactive Thrive Time Show business workshop? Well, good news, the tickets are $250 or whatever price that you can afford. What? Yes, they’re $250 or whatever price you can afford. I grew up without money and I know what it’s like to live without money. So if you’re out there today and you want to attend our in-person two-day interactive business workshop, all you got to do is go to thrivetimeshow.com to request those tickets. And if you can’t afford $250, we have scholarship pricing available to make it affordable for you. I learned at the Academy in Kings Point, New York, acta non verba. Watch what a person does, not what they say. Good morning, good morning, good morning. Harvard Kiyosaki, The Rich Dad Radio Show. Today I’m broadcasting from Phoenix, Arizona, not Scottsdale, Arizona. They’re close, but they’re completely different worlds. And we have a special guest today. Definition of intelligence is if you agree with me, you’re intelligent. And so this gentleman is very intelligent. I’ve done this show before also, but very seldom do you find somebody who lines up on all counts. And so Mr. Clay Clark is a friend of a good friend, Eric Trump. But we’re also talking about money, bricks, and how screwed up the world can get in a few and a half hour. So Clay Clark is a very intelligent man, and there’s so many ways we could take this thing. But I thought, since you and Eric are close, Trump, what were you saying about what Trump can’t, what Donald, who’s my age, and I can say or cannot say. Well, first of all, I have to honor you, sir. I want to show you what I did to one of your books here. There’s a guy named Jeremy Thorn, who was my boss at the time. I was 19 years old, working at Faith Highway. I had a job at Applebee’s, Target, and DirecTV. And he said, have you read this book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad? And I said, no. And my father, may he rest in peace, he didn’t know these financial principles. So I started reading all of your books and really devouring your books. And I went from being an employee to self-employed to the business owner, to the investor. And I owe a lot of that to you. And I just wanted to take a moment to tell you, thank you so much for allowing me to achieve success. And I’ll tell you all about Eric Trump. I just want to tell you, thank you, sir, for changing my life. Well, not only that, Clay, thank you, but you’ve become an influencer. You know, more than anything else, you’ve evolved into an influencer where your word has more and more power. So that’s why I congratulate you on becoming. Because as you know, there’s a lot of fake influencers out there too, or bad influencers. Yeah. Anyway, I’m glad you and I agree so much and thanks for reading my books. Yeah. That’s the greatest thrill for me today. Not a thrill, but recognition is when people, young men especially, come up and say, I read your book, changed my life, I’m doing this, I’m doing this, I’m doing this. I learned at the Academy at Kings Point in New York, acta non verba, watch what a person does, not what they say. Whoa! Hey, I’m Ryan Wimpy, I’m originally from Tulsa, born and raised here. I went to a small private liberal arts college and got a degree in business and I didn’t learn anything like they’re teaching here. I didn’t learn linear workflows. I learned stuff that I’m not using and I haven’t been using for the last nine years. So what they’re teaching here is actually way better than what I got at business school. And I went what was actually ranked as a very good business school. The linear workflow, the linear workflow for us in getting everything out on paper and documented is really important. We have workflows that are kind of all over the place, so having linear workflow and seeing that mapped out on multiple different boards is pretty awesome. That’s really helpful for me. The atmosphere here is awesome. I definitely just stared at the walls figuring out how to make my facility look like this place. This place rocks. It’s invigorating. The walls are super, it’s just very cool. The atmosphere is cool, the people are nice. It’s a pretty cool place to be. Very good learning atmosphere. I literally want to model it and steal everything that’s here at this facility and basically create it just on our business side. Once I saw what they were doing, I knew I had to get here at the conference. This is probably the best conference or seminar I’ve ever been to in over 30 years of business. You’re not bored. You’re awake and alive the whole time. It’s not pushy. It’ll try to sell you a bunch of things. I was looking to learn how to just get control of my life, my schedule, and just get control of business. Planning your time, breaking it all down, making time for the F6 in your life and just really implementing it and sticking with the program. It’s really lively, they’re pretty friendly, helpful, very welcoming. I attended a conference a couple months back and it was really the best business conference I’ve ever attended. At the workshop I learned a lot about time management, really prioritizing what’s the most important. The biggest takeaways are you want to take a step-by-step approach to your business. Whether it’s marketing, you know what are those three marketing tools that you want to use to human resources. Some of the most successful people and successful businesses in this town, their owners were here today because they wanted to know more from Clay and I found that to be kind of fascinating. The most valuable thing that I’ve learned is diligence. That businesses don’t change overnight. It takes time and effort and you got to go through the ups and downs of getting it to where you want to go. He actually gives you the road map out. I was stuck, didn’t know what to do and he gave me the road map out step by step. We’ve set up systems in the business that make my life much easier, allow me some time freedom. Here you can ask any question you want, they guarantee it will be answered. like motivates me and also give me a lot of knowledge and tools. It’s up to you to do it. Everybody can do these things. They’re stuff that everybody knows, but if you don’t do it, nobody else is going to do it for you. I can see the marketing working, and it’s just an approach that makes sense. Probably the most notable thing is just the income increase that we’ve had. Everyone’s super fun and super motivating. I’ve been here before, but I’m back again because it motivates me. Your competition’s going to come eventually or try to pick up this tag. So you better, if you don’t, somebody else will. 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 a thousand. So we really just wanna thank you, Clay, and thank you, Vanessa, for everything you’ve done, everything you’ve helped us with. We love you guys. If you decide to not attend the Thrive Time workshop, you’re missing out on a great opportunity. The Atmosphere Place office is very lively. You can feel the energy as soon as you walk through the door. And it really got me and my team very excited. If you decide not to come, you’re missing out on an opportunity to grow your business, bottom line. Love the environment. I love the way that Clay presents and teaches. It’s a way that not only allows me to comprehend what’s going on, but he explains it in a way to where it just makes sense. The SEO optimization, branding, marketing. I’ve learned more in the last two days than I have the entire four years of college. The most valuable thing that I’ve learned, marketing is key. Marketing is everything. Making sure that you’re branded accurately and clearly. How to grow a business using Google reviews. And then just how to optimize our name through our website also. Helpful with a lot of marketing, search engine optimization, helping us really rank high in Google. The biggest thing I needed to learn was how to build my foundation, how to systemize everything and optimize everything, build my SEO. How to become more organized, more efficient. How to make sure the business is really there to serve me as opposed to me constantly being there for the business. New ways of advertising my business as well as recruiting new employees. Group interviews, number one. Before we felt like we were held hostage by our employees. Group interviews has completely eliminated that because you’re able to really find the people that would really be the best fit. Hands-on, how to hire people, how to deal with human resources, a lot about marketing and overall just how to structure the business, how it works for me and also then how that can translate into working better for my clients. The most valuable thing I’ve learned here is time management. I like the one hour of doing your business is real critical if I’m going to grow and change. Play really teaches you how to navigate through those things and not only find freedom, but find your purpose in your business and find the purpose for all those other people that directly affect your business as well. Everybody. Everybody. Everyone. Everyone needs that directly affect your business as well. Everybody. Everybody. Everyone. Everyone needs to attend the conference because you get an opportunity to see that it’s real.