Business Coach | 6 Steps for Turning Your Passion Into Profits Ep. 107

Audio Transcription

Learn From The Business Coach As He Helps To Turn Your Passions Into Profit : Podcast Transcript

Voice-over: And now, broadcasting from the center of the universe and the Thrive15.com world headquarters.

Let’s go.

Presenting the world’s only business school without the BS, with optometrist and entrepreneur, Dr. Robert Zoellner, and the former Small Business Administration Entrepreneur of the Year in your ear, Clay Clarke. It’s the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170. Three, two, one, Boom.

Clay Clarke: All right. What’s going on there Tulsa and Oklahomies. Welcome back to the Thrive Time Show. This is a place that many of you have discovered as kind of your audio dojo of mojo, and a place that you go for show to learn how to start or grow a business. For many of you, you’ve discovered, Z, people have discovered this is not a political show, Dr. Zoellner. This is not a political show.

Dr. Zoellner: I thought it was home and gardening. It’s not home and gardening?

Clay: It’s not home and gardening. It’s not political. What we’re —

Dr. Z: How do I know when to plant my tulips if we don’t talk about that?

Clay: If you stay tuned to hour three of this two-hour program, we’ll get into those gardening tips. Today, we are talking about a subject that’s very near and dear to our heart. It is the six steps for turning your passion into profit.

Dr. Z: Profit, that seems so dirty.

Clay: A lot of people are listening here, and let’s say that you’re a musician. As an example, hypothetically, you are a musician or you are a painter.

Dr. Z: I just want to paint paintings. I want to play my music. I just want to do my thing.

Clay: You’re obsessed with the human eye. You want to make the human eye better. You want to help improve vision. If you want to turn your passion into profits, you want to listen up because according to Forbes, Dr. Z, 57% of Americans, 57% of the people listening to this program, and I’m sure we have non-Americans who are also listening, but 57% of Americans want to start or grow a business. If you’ve ever wanted to start or grow a business, this show is for you.

Dr. Z: This week’s been really exciting. We switched times. We’re not drive time anymore. We’re lunch time. You’re eating your egg salad. You’re on your way to TGIF Fridays maybe for lunch because it is Friday, by the way.

Clay: It is Friday all day.

Dr. Z: Or, you’re going to Oklahoma Joe’s which, as we know, has incredible barbeque.

Clay: If you’re looking for a great way to end your week and to celebrate the conclusion of a great work week, go to Oklahoma Joe’s. They have two locations to serve you. Get those legendary baked beans. It could change your life.

Dr. Z: Change your life. Or, you’re on the way to the mall to buy a Christmas outfit because it’s party time. It’s Christmas party time. You may have one tonight you’re going to. It’s Friday night. You could have something you’re going to tonight. You got to get the right outfit.

Clay: You got to get the right outfit. Now, Z, we have a very special guest on today’s program. A guy who, I mentioned this leading into the show here, but if you’re a musician and you want to turn it into a paid career, there’s a lot of people who are musically talented. There’s a lot of people who have a passion, but they haven’t figured out how to turn their passion into their profit center or into their job.

We’ve got a guy today by the name of Mr. Merton Huff who is actually the praise and worship leader for the Metropolitan Baptist Church. A church that my wife and I attend. He is a phenomenal, a phenomenal praise and worship leader. He’s super humble, but they’ve been doing things right for 100 years. This is their 100th anniversary.

[cross talk]

Dr. Z: I had that on my mug. I visited the other day with you, and they say, “Your first time visit, you always get a mug and a hug.” I was drinking coffee just out of my mug this morning.

Clay: Mr. Mert, how are you my friend?

Merton Huff: Man, I am great. How are you?

Clay: Man, I am honored to have you on the show. I think I want to ask you a question that a lot of Thrivers want to ask a business coach because there’s somebody listening right now who goes, “I’m just so passionate about something and I can’t figure out how to turn it into my job.” At what point in your life did you realize that music was going to be your career?

Merton: I realized it probably very early on. I started playing piano at about four or five years old. My mom played piano. She started me and my sister singing gospel and my dad sang quartet. He played guitar. We learned very early on how to harmonize.

Clay: You guys were like the Partridge Family, is that it? You guys have a big bus you drove around in?

Merton: No, we didn’t have a bus. We had a station wagon.

Clay: Kind of like a bus, bus-ish. That’s good, all right.

Merton: We learned very early on just to sing and harmonize. I think we were so enthralled with music growing up. All my aunts and uncles played piano. My granddad was a preacher, so we were in church all the time. I could show you some videos of everybody singing, everybody’s playing. We’re taking turns jumping on the piano like we’re arguing over who’s going to play because there’s so many talented people in the room.

Clay: Here’s the thing that I’ve discovered. I went to college at Oral Roberts University. I grew up without money. I didn’t have a rich uncle or a rich family member supporting me. I think a lot of people when you’re 17, you’re 18, you’re 19, and now all of a sudden, you look up and you’re 30. At one point, you had a big passion and a big dream. At some point, most people go, “Yes, I got to get realistic.” Why did you not get “realistic?” Why did you just decide to focus in on music and make it your career?

Merton: I think there was a time that I did get realistic. I graduated at 16. I skipped the 11th grade. I graduated early, and I went into college at 16. Everybody said, “Major in business or do something.” Nobody told me to go into music because they didn’t feel like it was profitable.

Clay: It’s kind of a weird thing to do.

Merton: I went into paralegal, and it was like watching paint dry.

[laughter]

Merton: It was like torts and legal research and civil procedures. Then, I changed my major to business.

Clay: Really, to business. It’s business time now.

Merton: I hated that. Then, I went to school for hair. I learned how to do cosmetology and barbering. I did hair for probably the next 15 or 16 years.

Clay: During the break, can you give me a little trim up over here?

Merton: I got you, I got you, yes.

Clay: Z’s trying to get a perm.

[laughter]

Clay: I’m just kidding. What age did you finally get back into music?

Merton: I stayed in music in the church, but I used the hair business to fund some of my projects as far as music. I used what I made doing hair to pay for my studio time and to get into the studio to record music while I was in Atlanta and different things. I never really left the industry as far as music is concerned.

Clay: When did you become full-time musician? What year was that? How old were you when that happened?

Merton: 2010, I was 29, turning 30.

Clay: 29.

Merton: Yes.

Voice-over: You’re listening to the Thrive Time Show on talk radio 1170.

Clay: If you’re listening right now Thrivers, I want you to get out a sheet of paper or, Z, some people are using Etch-a-Sketch or an iPad. It’s really hard to write with an Etch-a-Sketch, but some can do that while driving, and it’s very safe for these people. Some people can do it in their office, but I want you to go and write this down right now.

I want you to write down if you only had one year left to live, what would you spend your time doing in these five areas? Here we go. Faith. If you had one year left to live, what would you be doing with your time as it relates to faith? Second, family. Third, finances. Fourth, friendships. Five, fitness. Because Dr. Z is present, we’re going to add one more, Dr. Z. What’s that?

Dr. Z: The bonus F, and that is what would you be doing for fun?

Clay: Fun, wow.

Merton: That’s the best one.

Clay: That’s the best one. I read a book about fun, but it wasn’t —

Dr. Z: For those of you out there that know Clay who is like — we’re not sure what planet he’s from, but we know that his DNA does not match up with the normal human. I’ve been working with him now for a couple of years, and he is a working machine, robotic in fact. I’m always trying to say, “Hey, listen, bro, all work and no play, that’s no good.” Anyway, that’s the sixth one. You got to have a little fun, but that’s a great question. If you had one year left, 365 days. Maybe it’s a leap year, you get that extra day.

Clay: I’m going to say, it could come across as a downer, but I hope this is an uplifting moment for the listeners. When I was in college, we’re going to get into these six steps, but I want to tell you the story because this is what happens for most people. Something horrible has to happen to shake you out of your slumber.

According to USA Today, they did a study and they found, you can Google this and verify, 59% of Americans think that the American Dream is no longer possible in the United States, 59%. People go to work, they go to church, they go home. They go to work, they go to church, they go home. Okay, they go to work. You get stuck in that groove and you look up you go, “I’m 50.”

Now, here’s what I want to help you with. When I was in college, I was going to Oral Roberts University. There’s one guy by the name of Ryan Tedder who’s now, he writes songs for Beyonce and Adele. He lives right across the hall from me. There’s me, there’s a guy by the name of — we’ve a lot of different characters on the floor, but there’s a lot of these different characters, Meeker, you know Meeker, he wanted to be a sports agent.

What happened was as we’re all going out doing college. I started my DJ business in my dorm room because that’s how I paid for college. Owe you $16,000 a year at the time, and so you divide that by five because I charged $5 a head to attend the dance parties that I threw at the Marriott where it was oh so very hot, and that’s how I funded college. I’m out there promoting my business because I have no other alternative. I’m promoting DJ.com because I have no other way to stay enrolled. That’s how I did it.

One day my friend, my roommate, Mark, he says, “Hey, I can’t go with you tonight to set up. I want to go with you, but I can’t. A good friend of ours, Nick, his tire blew out halfway on the way to Stillwater. He called me, I got to go help him.” He drives out there, drives back, he sees some sort of animal on the road or something. He tries to avoid it and he gets killed in a car accident.

I came back from the DJ show. At Oral Roberts University, they have all men dorms and all women dorms. This guy had been my friend since I was like three or four years old.I’d known the guy for — we actually went to a high school in Minnesota, I moved back to go to Oral Roberts University and a large part to be his roommate.

And I come back and there’s all 32 guys, all just sitting there, quiet as could be and the fort’s really boisterous and vibrant and I — no one could talk. They were all just — they looked super somber. Adam pulls me aside and he goes, “Hey, Mark’s dead.”

Dr. Z: Wow. Sure is heavy.

Clay: And just that thought of just, “What?” And you go, “Okay.” And all of sudden it hit you like, man life is such a gift. Every day is such a gift. This is the day that the Lord has made and we should rejoice and be glad in it. But some of us are delaying that focus and that joyfulness because we take someday, we got Monday, Z, we got Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. This just in Friday, Saturday.

Dr. Z: Today.

Clay: Sunday, but we never have Someday. And so what we do is we delay and then we wait for a big life-altering event, a disease, a death, something. And all of a sudden, we go, “Wait a minute, what am I doing?” And what we want today is we want to shake you, Z, we want to help you become awake. And so Z, what advice would you have for someone who’s listening right now who feels like you’re in kind of a coma and you’re just now starting to shake yourself and you’re, “Wait a minute, I don’t know whether I am doing what I want to do.” What advice would you have for them Z?

Dr. Z: Well, I would do what exactly what you said. Get out a piece of paper and write down those six answers that you ask for and listen to the rest of the show because what we’re going to do is, we are lighting a fire underneath your passion. And we want you to turn that passion — because if you’re doing what you love, your passion i.e. and you’re making money on it [laughs] life is good.

Clay: Let me tell you this Thrivers, if you’re listening right now, there are six steps for turning your passion into profits and when you learn these, I’m telling you, it’s going to absolutely change your life around.

Dr. Z: I can hardly wait to get to them. Are they coming up next?

Clay: They are coming up next.

Dr. Z: All right. Right after the break?

Clay: Right after the break. You got to stay tuned. These six super moves, coming up when we return.

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Voice-over: Live, local, now. You’re listening to the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170.

Clay: All right, Thrive Nation welcome back to The Thrive Time show during your afternoon. I’m telling you what Thrivers, if you are looking for a quick mid-day pick me up, if you’re looking to learn how to start or grow a business, you have found your right show. My name is Clay Clark and I am a business coach. I’m the former SBA Entrepreneur of the Year in your ear and as always, I am joined with a man, he is an Optometrist but he’s trapped inside an entrepreneur’s body, it’s Dr. Robert Zoellner. Sir, how are you?

Dr. Z: Well I’ve been trapped in here now for a while.

Clay: Are you news to it?

Dr. Z: You know what, the funny thing about the show is, is that I can little bit that out.

Clay: Just a little bit.

Dr. Z: Just a little bit. And now that this whole week we’ve been on it lunch time, people are calling in, they’re emailing and saying, “Listening to your show actually makes my chicken salad sandwich taste better.” And I don’t know if that’s an actual fact — I can’t prove that.

Clay: It’s hard to prove it.

Dr. Z: It’s hard to prove but we are the number one business talk show in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Clay: That is true. And Z, I’m going to tell you this, there’s a little secret I want to share with the thousands of people listening. And as long as you’re listening right now and you promise not to share it with any more than 10 people, we’re okay.

Dr. Z: [whispering] It’s a secret. It’s a secret.

Clay: [whispering] But Doctor Z actually owns an auto auction. You own an auto auction.

Dr. Z: Yes, I do.

Clay: And you’ve invested in a bank.

Dr. Z: Yes.

Clay: And you have a horse —

Dr. Z: Sleep center.

Clay: Sleep center and a ranch.

Dr. Z: And a horse ranch. And the Jimmy and all that — yes.

Clay: So you’re not really an Optometrist?

Dr. Z: Listen. Don’t let anybody paint you in a corner. Today we’re talking about taking your passion and turning it to profit. P for P. Passion for Profit. In other words, doing what you want to do, what your passion about doing, and actually making a living doing it. Because people got bills.

Clay: People have bills.

Merton: Yes.

Dr. Z: Word of the street is people have bills.

Clay: This just in from our home office, at the west coast of the Arkansas river.

Dr. Z: [laughs] Just in. So listen folks, this show is about encouraging you and then locking that entrepreneur in you. Because there is — buried down deep that you may have crushed it down over the years, you might have settled for something, you might be punched in the time clock but deep down inside, as studies after studies have shown, the last one from Forbes said, hey almost 6 out of 10 of you want to start your own business. We’re here to help you do that.

Clay: We have a guy on the show today who has taken his passion and has turned it into his profits and into his career. He’s taken something loves to do and he’s turned it into what he does for a living. It is the Praise and Worship leader over there at the Metropolitan Baptist Church. This guy has it been at church for over — this year is their 100th year.

Dr. Z: That’s a long time.

Clay: And Mr. Merton Huff is their Praise and worship leader. Mr. Merton, how are you sir?

Merton: Man, I’m great. How are you?

Clay: Man, I am psyched.

Dr. Z: You haven’t been their Praise and Worship leader the whole 100 years have you?

Merton: No, I have not.

Dr. Z: Because you look pretty young, that’s why I’m —

Clay: He was starting to look a little bit old.

Merton: I was just about to say it, I’m not a hundred, just so you know.

Dr. Z: I’m not a hundie, no, yes. All right. Just checking, making sure.

Clay: I remember when Merton used to lead when Mabel — he and Mabel used to get up there and it was awesome, he’s been there for a 100 years. Seriously though, we’re talking about step number one of How to Turn Your Passion Into Profit, step number one, is you have to find a problem that you are passionate about solving. I’m going to give you a notable quotable that I’m going to ask you, Z, here. Here we go.

Dr. Z: Okay. All right.

Clay: This comes from the CEO of Evernote, Phil Levine. He says, “There’s a lot of bad reasons to start a company, but there’s only one good one, one legitimate reason and I think you know what it is, it’s to change the world.” Now, I don’t know whether I necessarily agree with that but it’s something to think about. But Z —

Dr. Z: Deep thought.

Clay: – talk to me about this, for anyone listening right now and they’re struggling to find a problem that they’re passionate about solving, they’re struggling to find their niche in the world, what advice would you have for them?

Dr. Z: Well, make sure the problem is, is something solvable, something we can turn in to profit. I hate potholes but I’m not going to be like, “Yeah, that’s my problem, I’m going to solve it.” [laughs]

Clay: I really hate gravity. I don’t do well with gravity, I don’t like it. [laughs]

Dr. Z: I’m going to reverse gravity. Yes, exactly. Same thing. So make sure it’s something that you really, really want to do. And also, let’s think this thing through folks, through our steps today and from listening to the show, we’re going to give you practical steps on how to go from where you are right now to opening that business that makes money, that you go, “You know what, I love going to work everyday. I’m the man or the woman that’s in charge now. This is awesome. I have control of my destiny and I’m doing what I love to do.” And you know what when people do what they love to do, it makes the world a better place.

Clay: It does. And people come back and bring friends. People come back and bring friends. Now, Merton, I want to ask you this because you’re a Praise and Worship leader, how would you describe the problem that you solve for the world? What is it that you do as a Praise and Worship leader? What is your job? If someone says, “What do you do? What does a Praise and Worship leader actually do? What is your thing?”

Merton: So I feel like my job is to offer people love and healing through music.

Clay: Through music?

Dr. Z: Oh, that’s awesome.

Merton: Through music like —

Clay: Now I’m going to tell you what you do for me on a Sunday and you tell me if you — if I’m doing it wrong here. Okay?

Merton: Okay.

Clay: So I get up on Sunday, I usually get up about 5:00 AM or 4:00 AM every day. I get up —

[cross talk]

Clay: So I get up, I’m reading my books and we have the holidays like everybody else, we have Thanksgiving, family’s in town, you tell me a perfect family by the way. If you’re listening right now and you’re a perfect family, feel free to judge me. But here’s the thing is —

[laughter]

Clay: – you’ve got family in town, you always have a random uncle who’s always hitting me up for money or somebody — everyone’s got the uncle Eddie, the cousin Eddie and you’ve take the family to church and I’m telling you, some things have upset you. You’ve opened up your cellphone, you’ve seen some text messages that were not that positive, maybe you got a Facebook message or an email.

Actually I turn that off on the weekend, but let’s just say hypothetically, I come to church and I’m not exactly in the right disposition. I believe in Jesus and Christ but I’m not mentally there yet. Merton, have you ever seen people show up to church that are not mentally there yet?

Merton: Every week, absolutely. [laughs]

Clay: Not at the Met. It’s other church, it’s other church. Not at the Metropolitan Baptist.

Merton: Oh, no. At the Met too, every week Mo.

Clay: No, so people come — Now, how long does it take you typically to get somebody in to the spirit of worship?

Merton: Well, I think it depends on what happens before they get there. Oftentimes like you say it but, oftentimes if the song gets right and sometimes I’ll stop singing just for a moment just to remind them of God’s goodness and reasons that you have to be thankful, reasons that you have to feel love. You may not feel it in this moment —

Clay: I don’t mean to put you on the spot but I do want to put you on the spot, could you think about what you played last Sunday when people were getting there? Can you think of what that song was? Can you get to think about that?

Merton: Which one?

Clay: Maybe that song you might have played when people first get there? Could you cue up something here? kind of give — just to give us a little teasing here of what you do professionally.

Merton: Okay. [singing] You are my strength–

Clay: Oh, keep it going now.

Merton: [singing] – strength like no other —

Clay: I’m just getting there, oh man, I’m not very happy.

Merton: [singing] – strength like no other

Clay: I wonder if the kids — why did the kids take —

Merton: [singing] – reaches to me.

Clay: I got all these negative Facebook messages — wait a minute —

Dr. Z: I got a bad Google review.

Merton: [singing] You are my hope —

Clay: I’m starting to forget about Facebook now.

Merton: [singing] – hope like no other —

Clay: My kids had a fight this morning. I’m just upset.

Merton: [singing] – hope like no other —

Clay: Oh, it’s starting to happen. I’m starting to feel it.

Merton: [singing] – said it reaches to me.

Clay: I’m starting to feel it, I’m starting to get into it, Z. I’m starting to feel it. That’s what he does.

Dr. Z: That’s what he does and Mert I going to ask you a question now. So, that’s your job you’re doing right now, but what is your — that’s your passion, music. I love the fact that you’re making a living doing what you love to do. What’s your big dream? What’s your big thing? What do you want? What do you see yourself? I give you a blank canvas and you could just paint whatever you want to paint, what would it look like Mert?

Merton: If I could paint whatever I want to is to share music internationally. I like to be out there full throttle doing what I can do every day all day. I love leading worship, I love being at the church.

Dr. Z: Bro you want to go viral is that it?

Merton: Yes.

Clay: I tell you what, I’m just telling you when I go to church, every time I go, I’m just telling you, and I mean this little face bumped to you, it carries me through about Tuesday. Now I’m telling you, I’ve a complaint though, because Wednesday I’m starting to– I manage a lot of employees-

[cross talk]

[laughter]

Dr. Z: Yes there you go.

Clay: – between Z and I there’s about 700 employees. Between Z and I, okay? So when you start to — so about Tuesday you start to have the first or second employee theft, you’ve got the first or second. I’m serious we got real stuff that happens. People stealing stuff, we’ve got people breaking stuff, we’ve got people faking-

Dr. Z: People not showing up.

Clay: – not showing up, faking sickness and I’m like, “Mert, where’s Mert? Mert, Mert, where’s Mert?”

Dr. Z: Mert I need you. [laughs]

Clay: We’ll have him on the show every Tuesday now just to get me going.

Dr. Z: To get you going back again. [laughs]

Clay: But I’m just saying, if you’re listening right now Thrivers and you can solve a problem for people then you can charge people for that solution, and I mean that in all sincerity. You got to find something that you can do, that it’s a problem you can solve for people and Mert does that, Z.

Dr. Z: I know I love it and that’s — when you see somebody doing what they love and making a living doing it and it’s just so electric, it’s just so fun. It’s what we are about as business coaches. It’s what we’re about as entrepreneurs – trying to mentor up the next generation of business owners.

Clay: Step number two when we come back, we have to attempt to sell it. So if you think you have something, you have to attempt to sell it. Stay tuned Thrive Time Show.

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Voice-over: You’re listening to the Thrive Time Show on Talk Radio 1170.

Clay: All right Tulsa T-town Oklahomies welcome back to the Thrive Time Show. My name is Clay Clark,  I’m a business coach and the former SBA entrepreneur of the year in your ear, and as always I’m joined with the co-host, with the mo-ost, it’s Dr. Robert, Dr. Z-Zoellner. Sir, how are you doing?

Dr. Z: I’m fantastic it’s Friday, it’s the Christmas season. What could be better? It’s lunch time, I’m at Oklahoma Joe’s having my burnt ends and baked beans and living a life, listening to the show on my little smart phone going, “Man, these guys are going to coach me up.”

Clay: You know there’s a certain pageantry in the air. There’s certain festiveness, there’s a certain– we have — I’d say what, this is the time of year where you start to get out those holiday accoutrements.

Dr. Z: Oh, the accoutrements.

Clay: You are the core, you d’core. You begin to change the ambiance of your atmosphere and you just — it’s just the holiday. Someone just — you just can-

Dr. Z: Compliment.

Clay: – you can smell the radio, and you can smell the pine comes. We brought on a guy here today who can really change the atmosphere of any occasion. It is Mr. Merton Huff, the praise and worship leader here, for the Metropolitan Baptist. We’re talking today about how to turn your passion into profit. Mr. Mert, how’re you doing?

Merton: Hey, hey, hey, I’m doing good. How are you?

Clay: Man I’m excited to talk about step number two, Dr. Z, it is you must attempt to sell it. Step number one you got to find a problem that you’re passionate about solving. But step number two, you have to actually attempt to sell it. I’m going to give you a notable quotable here you go, “When everything seems to be going against you remember that the airplane takes off against the wind not with it.” Henry Ford. Henry Ford the guy even started ford —

Dr. Z: He did got the [unintelligible 00:24:55] car thing didn’t he? Was that the car guy?

Clay: Yes, he had some success. Now, here’s the thing is —

Dr. Z: Is that he had Chevrolet I forget.

Clay: – once you Z, you think you’re good at something, once you think you have a thing, you have to go out there and attempt to sell. I have a story for you.

Dr. Z: Oh, I got– okay, okay, story time — no, no

Clay: Here we go. I was starting this DJ connection business and people were saying, “Dude you’re pretty good.”

Dr. Z: Oh, yes. In your dorm room?

Clay: Yes and I’m like —

Dr. Z: No, no, this is back when you’re — before that or what?

Clay: This is before I was in the dorm. This actually when I was like 15 years old. 15 years, it was 15 not quite 16. We had this thing called Students against Drunk Driving. These guys would get together and they would have a dance they would call the Sad Dance. Which is a ridiculous name for a dance, but the Sad Dance, and they hire a local DJ like the local FM guy, and he’d be like, “All right kids, welcome to the dance party, we have a good time tonight.” And he’d play.

He’d always play like a random song like, he’d play [sings] “If it hadn’t been for Cotton-Eye Joe I’d been married a long time ago, where did you come from, where–?” And you’re like, “What?” and then he would go into some R&B song like by Montell Jordan, [sings] “This is how we do it–” and then he’s going into some like slow song and you’re just like, “What is–“

Dr. Z: “What is going on?”

Clay: “This guy is so random.” And you look and you’re going, “This has to change.” So I was openly complaining to Miss Paige, and Miss Paige is the lady who organized the student dances and she says, “Mr. Clarke if you and Mr. Schultz think you can do a better job.” By the way she looked like Louis from the Superman show.

Dr. Z: Oh, yes.

Clay: I was like, “What miss Paige? why would–“

Dr. Z: “What do you think you are Miss Paige?”

Clay: We all secretly were in love with this lady. She said, “If you think you can do a better job than the DJ, then you can do it yourself.” And I’m like, “I’m in it, I’m doing it, let’s go.”

Dr. Z: I’m in it.

Clay: Anyway, I booked the equipment, I rent equipment, I had no DJ experience, I’m 15 years old, my dad had to drive me to the school dance. But let me tell you what, I worked out a deal where I got to keep $5 a head after the first hundred kids.

Dr. Z: Profit.

Clay: So I’m going, “I got to sell this thing.”

Dr. Z: You got to sell it, maybe sell it.

Clay: Now, Z, I broke some rules you tell me how bad of a party fail, Mert, how bad of a party fail this would have been. I invited all the kids from other schools.

Dr. Z: To the high school?

Clay: To the school dance, middle school dance.

Dr. Z: To the middle school? It just keeps getting better. So the middle school dance, you invite all these randoms–

[cross talk]

Clay: Yes, I invited kids from Richfield, from Adelanto, from Hutchinson, from Richfield-

Dr. Z: Hutchinson, even the kids from Hutchinson?

Clay: – and sir, I’m not exaggerating. We ended up going from like 150 kids, which was the average attendance, to like nearly 1,000 like breaking fire codes. But I was totally motivated to sell it, and I found that when you trying to sell it people say, “Who’s going? Who’s going to be there?”

Dr. Z: “Who’s going to be there?”

Clay: I’m like, “Everybody is going to be.”

Dr. Z: “All the cool kids.”

Clay: Yes. So and my friend, he was a little bit older than me, he driving me around in his car we drop off flyers, were promoting that thing, but we had to hustle. Z, if you want to see good hustle you go to the mall during the holidays, or you go to New York City and you see a street vendor or one of those vendors at the mall, they got to hustle. But, Z, tell me why is it so hard to sell it? Once you have the big idea, why do so many entrepreneurs get stuck when it’s time to sell it?

Dr. Z: Because they’re good at making the thing.

Clay: Making the thing.

Dr. Z: They’re making the thing, they just don’t know how to sell the thing. And that’s marketing, that’s closing, that’s asking for the buy, that’s being– you’ve got to be purposeful in that. We’ve got shows on it, you can go back on thrivetimeshow.com and see some shows that we’ve done on marketing, being purposeful, asking for the buy. A lot of people who’d spend the time at show that they won’t even ask for the buy, they be like, “Mm-huh”

Clay: “But I just want to make gluten free cupcakes. I just want to make gluten free cupcakes.”

[laughter]

Dr. Z: “Look at my thing,” and then they be like [unintelligible 00:28:22] the thing at the back of their mind, “They probably don’t want to buy them. They probably — “

Clay: Bro, I got a food truck bro, bro.

Dr. Z: You’ve got to get that there’s a sense of purpose to it, and you have to be proactive, and we love to sell our ABC and that is, Clay?

Clay: “Always be closing.”

Dr. Z: Right, because you know what? You may have the best way, I promise you there are people out there that have made a wonderful widget, and they’ve made a great widget, just like world-changing widget.

Clay: “It is the world’s best widget.”

Dr. Z: “This just in, this widget will change your life.” And yet they sell none of them because, they don’t follow step two and that is, you’ve got to work on selling product.

Clay: Z, we have fabulous training on selling. But we come back after the break I want to hear how Merton, okay, how Mr. Merton Huff, praise and worship leader, how he was able to sell himself to his first full-time music gig. What that process was like because many musicians are very talented, Mert would you agree?

Merton: Yes, absolutely.

Clay: Many talented people out there, who are not doing this full-time?

Merton: Yes absolutely.

Clay: They’re selling insurance, they’re selling cars but, you, you are the envy of America. You are doing what you love to do a full-time.

Merton: [laughs]

Clay: We’re going to talk about his specific journey, Z, to going from, “Hey this is my passion, but now this is my job.”

Dr. Z: Yes, absolutely. And you know what? What’s so fine about this show is, is that we bring on local success stories, we highlight them, and we give you a little flavor, a little taste of their life, what they’ve done, for encouragement, for edification to try to pump you up so that you go from being a want-repreneur to a–

Clay: Entrepreneur.

Dr. Z: There you go.

Clay: Now, Z, if somebody wants to find out more about Mert, or Mert, if people want to find out more about you, where can they find you on any givenSunday?

Merton: Metropolitan Baptist Church, 1228 West Apache, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74127.

Clay: Stay tuned. Thrive Time show.

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Voice-over: You’re listening to Thrive Time show on top radio 1170.

Clay: Alright Thrive Nation, Tulsa Oklahomies. Welcome back to the Thrive Time show, where we are broadcasting from the left coast of the Arkansas River in beautiful Jinx America and we are nestled in the box that rocks. My name is Clay Clarke. I’m the father of five human kids. That kind of pseudo father of many chickens, of many cats and I am joined here today with a guy who’s been a mentor of mine. He’s like a father figure meets entrepreneur. He’s one of my favorite. I honestly will say of male humans, in the male human category, you are my favorite male human. Dr. Robert Zoellner sir.

Dr. Z: You’ll call that what? A a father-enuer?

Clay: You’re a father-enuer.

Dr. Z: Or a dad-preneur

Clay: It sounds really close to manure and I just want to steer away from that.

Dr. Z: Yes steer away from that. But I tell you what, I finally came out and for those of you that ever get the invite to go to the — what is called the compound which is the Clarke residence. They’re building a wall. They’ve got trees surrounding there, they’ve got this — it’s really — And your man cave. I will admit is — and we did a show out of there last week, so you can get it on Thrive Time show and check it out. But it’s unbelievable.

Clay: You like it.

Dr. Z: The chickens?

Clay: The chickens are beautiful

Dr. Z: The chickens are a thing.

Clay: They’re the kind of tame. They want to hang around the humans.

Dr. Z: They just followed us around.

Clay: They follow you like a dog or a cat.

Dr. Z: I can confirm that they do have five human children. Lovely kids by the way

Clay: Great kids, wonderful wife. I keep tricking her into staying married to me. It’s a tough battle — I fight on a daily battle she can’t see, Z. She’s ever been into your clinic, she’ll never be able to see.

Dr. Z: You pay me a lot of money not to correct her vision completely.

Clay: That’s right.

Dr. Z: Now I get it. I get it. It makes sense.

Clay: That works for me. Now, here’s thing, Z, we’re talking today about the step number two. You have to — once you determine your passion and you want to turn it into your profit, you have to actually sell it. You have to convince people to hire you to do what you’re passionate about. We brought on a guy today, Mr. Merton Huff. He is the praise and worship leader of the Metropolitan Baptist Church. This is a fabulous church. It’s about — what is it about? 10 miles north of Downtown? Maybe eight miles?

Merton: Maybe eight miles

Clay: Eight miles north of Downtown. Mert, I want to ask you here my friend. How did you — or I guess we’ll start with, when did you get your first full-time music gig?

Merton: I think my first full-time gig was here in Tulsa Actually. I was living in Atlanta, and I actually went to tour in Switzerland for Christmas with the choir. I was talking to a buddy of mine, I said, “Man, I want — I really want to be able to do full time music. I want to do hair when I feel like it.” I was working in the salon there and I was a music director at a church.

Clay: You’re a music director at a church you’re doing hair on the side?

Merton: Yes, I’m doing hair on the side.

Dr. Z: Is it like a Barbershop?

Merton: Yes, like Barbershop.

Dr. Z: You’re like therapist really that trimmed hair.

Merton: Yes.

[laughter]

Clay: You’re doing the hair/therapy with people and you’re working as a music ministry guy and you’re just going, “Hey, I want to do this full-time.”

Merton: I want to do this full time, yes. I was recording music. Like I said I was using the salon business to pay for my music. I was doing all these things and I posted my resume on this site called churchstaffing.com. Never thought about it again, never even looked at it again. The church here found me on Church Staffing, they looked me up on YouTube and it was like, “We got a loop.”

They contacted me on Facebook and they said ‘’Do you have your resume on Church Staffing?” And I was like, “Yes.” They said, “We want to bring you out to talk to you about full-time position here at the church as director of music, performing arts and all those things,” and I said, “Oh wow.”

They flew me out. I did a rehearsal with the choir. They had narrowed down to three candidates. They did a nationwide search news like, “We narrowed down to three people, you’re the second.” I did a rehearsal with them and an interview, several interviews, lunches and things, and I did a Sunday service with them. After the service it was unanimous. Like, “The church wants you to come, and you come. If you say you take it, we’ll cancel the last guy and we’ll bring you back in two weeks to find a place.” And two weeks later I was moving.

Dr. Z: Man you must have nailed the thing. Because they even cancelled the last guy, that’s pretty sweet.

Clay: Can you give us a little sampling of what people can hear on a Sunday service there at the Metropolitan Baptist —

[crosstalk]

Merton: Here we go. [singing] Who is he who answers when I call? Who is there in the time of need? And when I get weak, who give me strength? Who else but God, who else but God. Who has power than what eyes can see? Who orders the wind to blow and rivers flow? And who be there when everyone else leaves? Who else but God, who else but God?

Dr. Z: Just a little sampling for Friday. You’re probably at lunch. You sit there having your chicken salad sandwich, and you’re like, “I feel better. I don’t know if it’s the chicken salad. I just all of a sudden I feel better. I think I can make it to the weekend now.”

Clay: There was three lessons that he just taught. I don’t know if he is cognitively aware that you just taught these, but there’s a couple of three moves that I want to share with you as relates to selling your — the world on the concept they should pay you for your passion. One, is you got to have a second job. You’ve got to do it.

Dr. Z: Or third or fourth. We’ve been there.

Clay: I worked at Target, I worked at Applebee’s, and I worked at West Telecommunications selling outbound calls for DirecTV.

Dr. Z: I’m a mathematician but that’s — I count three.

Clay: Yes, my wife is working at office depot and I spent all of my money on ads. Now, Z, when you started your business, you actually worked for another optometry clinic while starting your own.

Dr. Z: Yes because they make seven days so it’s convenient that there was an extra day or two that I wasn’t working in my own job, so I could go work in somebody else’s and — you’ve got to do it. That’s as far as Super mode. That is strong. People are like, well, they’re just —

Clay: “I just want to work out there.”

Dr. Z: They set out their CD or they post a resume, and they just sit in their home playing Attender all day, or X-Box, or Atari, whatever you’re into. Then they’re like, “Yes man they’re going to call me soon, I know man.” And just wait for their phone to ring.

Clay: Step two, and I posted this on the Thrive15 Facebook here this morning, Ryan Tedder who is the songwriter for Beyonce and Adele and one republic, he talked about how he would buy CDs and at the bottom they have a customer service number you can call for customer service. He would call that number consistently and he would send his demos, and the thing is check it out. The harder you work the luckier you get. I’m quoting Thomas Jefferson. “The harder you work the luckier you get’’

So, you’ve got to fail more. You got to get more no’s before you get a yes. If you had not posted that resume you would not have got that call.

Merton: Yes, absolutely.

Clay: I mean everyone’s got it. You got to shoot. You’re not going to ever make a shot if you don’t take the shots.

Dr. Z: That’s a deep thought right there deep thought by Clay.

Clay: This just in from my home office. You have to make sure that you do that though, and the third thing is you got to hold out for the dream job. You’ve got it. You can’t settle. If you would have said, “You know what, I’m working in a barber shop and I’m working part time and that’s all there is going to be and I’m 29. I’ve missed my shot.” You wouldn’t have got the job.

Merton: Absolutely and I think another thing for me also was location. I don’t know if that works for everybody but being in Atlanta is a place that’s saturated. It was saturated with musicians, and artists, and models and every career people you think of, it’s saturated. If I limited myself to say, “Oh I’ve got to make it I’ve got to stay here in Atlanta.” I moved here to Atlanta, and I know so many friends and so many people who say, “I got to stay here.” Kind of putting all your eggs in one basket.

Clay: What you did is — Thrivers, if you’re listening right now, I want you to get a sheet of paper. Forget that sheet of paper you started on earlier and make a list of all the things you’re willing to give up, Z. The tradeoffs that you’re willing to make for what you want. Now I’m going to tell you this, when my wife and I we decided to start Thrive15, before I was able to successfully Shark Tank my good brother from another mother, Dr. Zoellner, into teaming up with us, Vanessa and I we literally had this conversation.

She goes, “What are you willing to give up?’’ We have five kids. She said, “what are you willing to give up?”And I said I’m willing to get up at 3:00 A.M, every day for ten years. But I’m — because I’m not going to work late but I will get up at three and I’ll go either there’s certain boundaries. Every weekend I’m with my kids, the nights I’m with my kids, the weekends, but I’m willing to get up at three.

I’m willing to put in that extra six hours a day, every day. I’m not going to stop until we get there, because I know that we’ve built a successful company, we know how to build a multi-million-dollar company. We’ve done it numerous times and people keep asking me, “Can we meet for lunch?” People keep saying, “Can I pick your brain for lunch?” I go, “I’m not available.” I felt bad because I know what it’s like to grow up in poverty. I know how it’s like to not have money and I wanted to help people but I can’t do it because you’re busy Z, I’m busy.

We wanted to find a way to help millions of people start and grow a business. I was willing to give up a certain set of things and you’ve been willing to give up a certain set of things. We do this radio show not as — we do is to help people who are looking for a business coach. That’s our whole passion man. We’ve made a list of what we’re willing to trade off. How important is that, Z, for people to go in eyes wide open, and make a list of the things they’re willing to give up or trade-off?

Dr. Z: Eyes wide open because here’s the thing that people do is they see somebody successful and they go, “Oh, that looks easy.” There must be– apparently, it’s easy.

Clay: Super easy.

Dr. Z: Then they start down that road of trying to take their passion and turning it into profit, and they hit the speed bump. They hit a pothole. And what they do they go, “Okay. That’s it.”

[cross talk]

Clay: – “a little adversity. I’m done.”

Dr. Z: “I had no idea that someone would complain. That everybody would love what I’m doing, so I’m out.”

Clay: “Probably not meant to be. Things aren’t going well.”

Dr. Z: I’m out. I didn’t see that pothole. I didn’t know until there was a pothole. Here’s the thing about it, is that when you get honest with yourself and say, “What am I willing to do?” Like Merton, you said, “I wanted to move wherever I need to go because that’s more important to me than living in Suburbia Atlanta,” or wherever you were living. I know you said Atlanta, but you know. The thing about it is folks you’ve got to address that, because being an entrepreneur, turning your passion into profits, if it were easy we wouldn’t have that on this radio show.

Clay: Yes. If it was easy.

Dr. Z: If that was easy.

Clay: The thing is, according to the statistics that are out there right now, a little over 50% [unintelligible 00:42:07] 59% according to the USA Today, 59% of Americans believe that the American dream is not possible. If that’s you, you’re wrong. We’re here to help you have the success that you deserve. When we come back we’re going to teach you step number three because once you nail it, Z, you’ve got to scale it. I repeat, Z, once you nail it, you’ve got to scale it. Stay tuned.

Dr. Z: Come on. Preach it.

Clay: Thrive time show.

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Voice-over: Broadcasting from the center of the universe. Featuring optometrist turned entrepreneur Dr. Robert Zoellner and US SBA entrepreneur of the year, Clay Clarke. This is the Thrive Time Show on talk radio 1170.

Clay: What is going on Oklahomies in Tulsa? Welcome back to the Thrive Time show. We provide you with business school without the BS and ES. My name is Clay Clarke, I’m the former SBA entrepreneur of the year in your ear and I’m joined here with Dr. Robert Zoellner. Let me tell you a little story about Dr. Zoellner. He grew up, he didn’t have a lot of money, didn’t have a lot of-

Dr. Z: Wait, wait. [unintelligible 00:44:16] on that growing up.

Clay: Okay. How many kids were in your family growing up?

Dr. Z: Seven. Six boys and one girl.

Clay: Financially the family was tight, you went to college, it is you and you studied optometry and mathematics?

Dr. Z: Yes. Go RiverHawks.

Clay: Go River– is that a thing?

Dr. Z: Yes. That’s actually a thing.

Clay: I thought that you’re making up for a second. I trust you. I move forward.

Dr. Z: No. Back when I went to school we were the red men but our colors were green. It was a little– I played on the soccer team and so it was confusing they be like, “Go Red –“

[cross talk]

Dr. Z: – “go red men that were green.”

Clay: Yes. You went on and you started your optometry clinic and then from there what was the next business?

Dr. Z: Auto auction.

Clay: From the next business what was that?

Dr. Z: Sleep center.

Clay: Then from there?

Dr. Z: A DME company which is durable medical equipment company —

[cross talk]

Dr. Z: – medical, horse ranch. If you drive south of Tulsa on your way to Okmulgee, which is a fine community by the way, shout out to Okmulgee. On your way you go down highway 75 and on the west side you’ll see a magical beautiful heavenly place called raccoon Zee ranch.

Clay: Raccoon Zee ranch is a raccoon Zee ranch. But any way you’ve gone on to have a lot of success. You’ve built multi-million dollar businesses and you take time out of your schedule to teach people how to start and grow a business. I’m excited to have you on the show and Mr. Merton Huff. This is the praise and worship leader guys from the Metropolitan Baptist Church. He’s joining us today because we’re talking about how to turn your passion into profit. Merton is actually full time, every day doing his passion. Merton, how are you doing sir?

Merton: Man, I’m great. How are you?

Clay: Man, I’m excited to talk about step number three because once you nail it you’ve got to scale it.

Dr. Z: You’ve got to scale it.

Clay: This is the CEO of Starbucks. He says, “Risk more than others think is safe. Dream more than others think is practical.” I’m going to give you an example. This right here the profundity of this thought. I’m going to tell you a little about my story, and Z has a story that’s a little bit better that he’s [unintelligible 00:46:06].

Dr. Z: [laughs]

Clay: But a few years ago I sold DJ connections, I was 27 years old. I’m 36 now. And people booked me and they said they had booked me to come speak at their event and I went out there and spoke and the event planner goes, “You’re kind of like Jim Carrey meets business speakers.” I’m like, “I don’t really see that but okay.”

Then the next person said, “You kind of like a business comedian.” And then another person, and another person. Pretty soon, I have no exaggeration, like 20 in a month. 20 speaking events in a month. 15 in a month. Traveling around the country and people were paying me and I was going, “I have five kids. Even though it’s nice to stay in these beautiful hotels,” the Hotel Victor in Miami, by the way, is first-class. Awesome.

When you go to these places you’re going to Roatan, you’re going to Honduras, you’re going to all these places speaking and people love having you and you feel good about it but you going, “What are my goals? What are my goals?”I started saying to tell myself, “I want to be with my kids, I want to– and I made my F5 list; faith, family, finance, fitness, friendships. I realized I don’t want to travel around in a big aluminum tube, flying on airplane, speaking in events. What I want to do, is I want to mentor millions, but I want to do it within the friendly confines of Tulsa, Oklahoma. I want people just fly to me.

Dr. Z: Absolutely.

Clay: Now we have the Thrive15 world headquarters just at nine years later, and guess what Z? People are flying to Tulsa to come to these workshops and I’m telling you what? These workshops, it’s the world’s best business workshop period. You go, “Period?” Yes. You go over to Thrive 15.com/conference, you watch those testimonials.

You know what? We have a scholarship program that we’ve teamed up with many generous investors and we’ve made affordable for anybody. If you’re listening right now and you have seven dollars, “seven dollars?” Yes. We’ve never turned down a single person because of financial limitations. I’m telling you what? We have a real estate agent that was not a real estate agent two years ago and now the lady’s making over $300,000 a year of commissions doing this.

We have my brother-in-law who had a vision to start the Elephant in the Room, and I didn’t give him a big cash balloon. I said, “Hey, I’ll match you dollar for dollar.” The Elephant in the Room is a very successful company and he turned it from a vision into reality. We have– I can go on and on the stories of entrepreneurs. We have a Canadian mortgage guy who closed last he made Commission’s over $100,000 of US money for the first time in his life as a result of this.

We have a guy who has an alarm company named Curtis who is killing it. We have a young guy from Ukraine name Mykhailo who lives in New York who learned how to start and grow business on Thrive15. I just talked to him today and he said, “The things I’ve learned.” He went from a college student to literally making over $275,000 of gross revenue last year as a result of what he learned at our conferences.

Voice-over: You’re listening to the Thrive-time-show on talk radio 1170.

Clay: You talk about a crazy idea convincing people to fly to Tulsa? Not exactly the pretty birthplace of tourism to come to a business conference and it has happened. Whatever your vision is I empower you, I anoint you and I tell you, it can happen. But once you nail something you got to find a way to scale it, Z.

Dr. Z: Well, I tell you what, there’s something in the water in Tulsa though. If Wall Street Journal claimed this is one of the top five places for entrepreneurs to start a business. They say it was actually the number one for women entrepreneurs to start business. There’s something in the water here in Tulsa and it’s reached the rivers. Right. we’re the left coast of the river. We’ve tapped into that water source right here and we are just pumping it through the pumps to come down.

Clay: I want to ask you this, Z. For people who are listening and they go, “Okay. Okay.” When you first started to be able to treat patients, because the first step was being able to run ads, they would successfully advertisements to successfully get patients into your doors. But once you got people to come in to Dr. Robert Zoellner and associates, first it was just Dr. Robert, that’s you.

D. Z: Just me.

Clay: And you had an associate.

Dr. Z: Yes, it was me and one girl that worked there.

Clay: So it’s two people.

Dr. Z: Two, dos.

Clay: After you nailed that process how long did it take you before you were able to build these repeatable, step-by-step systems that allowed you to duplicate? how long did that take you?

Dr. Z: You’ve got to do it right off the bat. For me, it was just that whole process and I’m still doing it. Just the other day I’m actually now expanding my location because I want to see more patients and you can only physically put so many people into the space. I’m constantly tweaking it. I just hired another doctor, I’ve got eight doctors now that work for me. Some weekends now we’re working three doctor shifts because of the number of clientele that come in.

The thing about it is, you control your business gas pedal. Your business is like a car and the gas pedal, you can control that. If you want to go fast you just press down on that, you may say, “Whoah, whoah, whoah, I can’t go faster than that” well, that’s up to you. We’re not here to tell you how big to make it, we’re here to tell you that it’s possible to scale it and to make it bigger. That’s what it’s about because you do one widget and you sell that widget and then you make a profit selling that widget and you say to yourself, “Hey, I think I can do this”.

Now, we’re here to help coach you up on how to make a 100 widgets and then a 1,000 widgets and maybe even, oh gosh, a 1,000,000 widgets?

Clay: At our workshop we have myopic step-by-step, I’m talking about the detailed, diligent very very specific training to teach you. The Elephant in the Room, the checklist that we have, to open the store, to close the store, to sell a membership, to provide you a custom tailored haircut. By the way if you’re listening right now, if you’re a listener, the Elephant in the Room, we have three locations to serve you and it’s a $1 for your first haircut.

Merton, the church, as the Metropolitan Baptist Church has continued to grow, about five years ago you guys realized, “Hey, we’re out of space”.

Merton: Yes, absolutely. We were having three services; eight, ten and twelve.

Clay: Talk to me as a praise of worship leader. On service number three, what sort of spiritual place do you have to get to to coach yourself into being? How do your vocal cords even take three services in a row?

Merton: Vocally, it can be hard on the voice, you’ve got to really pace yourself, you’ve got to make sure you can hear yourself, but you’ve definitely got to be prayed up and in a good frame of mind to realize these are new people, they just got here, they haven’t been here.

Clay: You start getting raspy by —

Merton: Actually I’m clear by twelve, eight o’clock I’m raspy, ten I’m good, twelve I’m ready, I’ve got to warm up.

Clay: You guys opened up a third service and then you said, “You know what? if we’re going to grow this church to the next level, we have to build a building”.

Merton: Yes, we build a building. We build our life center first, we needed the classroom space and the office space. So we actually built the life center first.

Clay: I have an action of them right now, if you’re listening right now and you own a business and by the way in Tulsa, Oklahoma according the Tulsa chamber of commerce, “Over six out of ten of the jobs in Tulsa are provided by a small business owner”. Again, if you’re listening right now, “Over six out of ten of you are working for a small business owner.”

I want you to ask yourselves right now, what is your biggest limiting factor? I repeat, what is your biggest limiting factor? I refer to them often as BLFs, but what is your biggest limiting factor? You have to ask yourself that question because, Z, Why is it so important to focus on what’s limiting your growth my friend?

Dr. Z: Because you want to grow and that’s the thing, I call it, “Limiting membrane, your biggest limiting membrane”.

Clay: I like it, now i’m going to call it BLMs.

Dr. Z: Here’s the thing, I tell this to all of my employees. When they come to me with a problem I’m like, “Thank you for telling me about that problem” they kind of cock their head and look me like, “I think he’s happy I told him a problem” I’m like, “Now I can fix it, I couldn’t fix it if I didn’t know about it, so thank you for empowering me now to dig in and to fix this problem.” That limiting membrane, that limiting filter, that limiting thing is a problem and if you don’t know it, shame on you because we’re going to coach you up to know it.

Clay: One of my businesses that I struggled to grow to scale was a company called, DJ Connection. And before I sold it we were doing 4,000 events a year. I struggled, because I kept trying to find disc jockeys that I would hire and over time I realized, “I don’t need to find guys who know how to DJ, I’ve got to find people who know how to be a good employee”

Dr. Z: Show up on time.

Clay: And teach them how to become a DJ. You can show up on time, you win life’s lottery by the way.

Merton: Big up.

Clay: I ended up having to teach people who’d never Dj’d before how to become disc jockeys. And I’m telling you, if you can do that, you can do anything. Step number four — I’m just telling you, trying to teach a grown adult man who has previously worked at QuikTrip how to become a disc jockey, that is a thing you can do. Step four, is you want to get out a calculator and determine how much money you want to make. You have to invest the time to sit down and go, “How much money do I want to make?” and here’s where it gets deep, you’ve got to figure out how much money you want to make per hour.

Dr. Z: Per hour?

Clay: Yes, so you’ve got to divide the amount of money you want to make by the hours you’re willing to work and now you start to go, “Okay, that’s how many transactions I need to do”. Quickly you’ll discover that you can’t do every single transaction if you want to scale that business. Z, I’m telling you, I’m excited to talk about the specific details of determining how much money you want to make because I think a lot of families, they don’t talk about money around the dinner table.

Dr. Z: They don’t and you know, it’s maybe not the family time to talk about it, but definitely the husband and wife or the team together talk about that because you’ve got to have the mark, you’ve got to have the target, you’ve got to know what you’re going for before you start the journey of going for it.

Clay: Because as Kevin Garnet once said, “It’s not about the money, but it’s about the money”.

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Voice-over: You’re listening to the Thrive Time show on talk radio 1170

Clay: Alright Thrive Nation, welcome back to your inspiration station. For many of you this has become your midday audio dojo of mojo, my name is Clay Clark and I am here as a business coach to enlighten you, and to entertain you, to educate you and teach you how to start and grow a successful business. I’m going to tell you what, I remember what it was like on the outside looking in and my wonderful wife, she had just got a job working for this guy named Dr. Z.

Kind of a legendary figure. He has his name on the sign right there outside of the Woodlin Hills Mall, you see his name on the sign and my wife goes, “I got this job, my friend Carrie helped me get this job” So my wife’s working there at the front desk for Dr. Z. When you go there, you drop your wife off to work, we’re sharing a car and I used to sit there in the lobby looking in going, “Gosh, I wonder how he does it” because I had built this DJ entertainment company and I couldn’t grow it past doing about three or four weddings a weekend, because I personally only had the time capacity to DJ three or four times a weekend.

I’m looking at you going, “This guy is seeing like — I don’t even know how many patients, like 10 patients an hour? Like 15 patients an hour?” All I know is the patients are coming in and out and I’m going, “How is it possible?” so I started asking him some questions, met this guy at Ruby Tuesdays, I did a lot of stalking and I was able to learn a little bit about it. Dr. Z, it’s an honor to have you on the show today, you’re the best co-host on the planet my friend, how are you doing?

Dr. Z: I’m fantastic, it’s Friday, it’s over lunch time. This week we’ve changed, we were drive time and now we’re at lunch time, which is fun, twelve to two. Welcome to the show everybody out there, to Tulsa’s biggest business talk show. You didn’t really stalk, you did more of a creeping move. For the longest time we didn’t know who you were because Vanessa is this angelic, lovely person. If you know her you know what i’m talking about. Just a sweetheart of a girl.

You were just a little bit like a DJ, kind of a half DJ – half thug look to you. You had the big clothes, a little bit the attitude, that’s it. Come on give to me more, a little bit the attitude, you seemed like you were just a little angry almost, just a little angry.

Clay: I’ll tell you this, this is the thing. Back in the day if you stepped on my shoes I would fight you, that was the whole deal. The thing was, you get a nice pair of shoes and you get a guy, and this is the attitude I had that was wrong. You go to the movie theater and someone steps on your shoes and you scowl at them.

So you’re like a 40 year old dad, and I’m an 18 year old guy–

Dr. Z: Juggling popcorn and two drinks.

Clay: Yes, and you step my shoes and I’m just making that look like, “Really? really?” and then the guy looks back because he’s almost like, “As a man you have two options, either fight or flight” So guys looks back and like, “Yes, you want to go?” The next thing it’s on. It’s just stupid. I was paying a dumb tax everyday.

Dr. Z: Everyday the dumb tax.

Clay: Now, Z, we have a very special guest on today. We have the praise of worship leader for the Metropolitan Baptist Church, it’s Mr. Merton Huff. Mr. Merton How are you doing?

Merton: Man, I’m great, how are you man?

Clay: Brother, I am feeling it today like a petting zoo. We’re talking today about how to turn your passions into profits. We’re moving on to step number four. This is the part that’s tough for people, it’s get on a calculator and determine how much money you want to make per year. What you got to do is you have to think about all the things you want; faith, family, finance, fitness, friendships, and —

Dr. Z: Fun. The bon is fun.

Clay: And you get to think, “How much is that cost?”

Dr. Z: How much?

Clay: You want to figure out. You go, “Could this be how much it costs for you?” Let’s make it easy. Let’s say it costs 100,000 per year to live your ideal lifestyle.

Dr. Z: Six figures.

Clay: Then you divide that by 50 weeks because you can take maybe two weeks off for vacation which I’ve never done. But let’s say you did it. You divide it, now you got about 2000 a week. Then you say, “Well, there’s 40 hours in a week that I’m willing to work.” By the way, as an entrepreneur you need to work about 60 or 70.

Dr. Z: You get to choose them.

Clay: Yes you get to choose either 60 or 70 hours a week you want. But there you go, “Okay. I’m going to take about $40 an hour to achieve my goal.” Now you got to think about, what are the skills that I have that will allow me to earn that kind of income or the skills that I need to have to earn that kind of income? Or maybe, if you maybe make cookies and maybe making cookies isn’t afforded on our job, how can you scale it and teach other people to make those cookies so that you can bring in that kind of revenue? I’m going to read you a notable quotable and then, Z, I want to get your feedback on that. Here we go.

This is notable quotable from Tim Ferriss the author of the 4-Hour Workweek. He’s also a venture capital investor he says, “All the most important things the timing always sucks. Waiting for a good time to quit your job the Stars will never align, the traffic lights of life will never all be green at the same time. The universe doesn’t conspire against you but it doesn’t go out of its way to line up the pins either. Conditions are never perfect. Someday is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you. Pro and con lists are just as bad. If it’s important to you and you want to do it, eventually just do it in correct course along the way.” Wow, Z, unpack that.

Dr. Z: Well I’ll tell you what? We’re not saying quit your job what we’re saying is start your passion. There’s a difference. Merton explained earlier beautifully that he was working in a barbershop and then he took his profit that he was making and he was turning it into studio time, practice time, recording time, because he still had his dream.

He didn’t say, “Okay, I’m going to stop being a barber all right? And I’m going to be a musician.” No. He hybrid them. That’s what we’re saying to you. Sometimes it’s one job, sometimes it’s two, sometimes it’s three. You know what I’m saying? What you’re doing out there keep doing what you’re doing but start small, get it started, fix it continuously, fail forward and get it going.

Clay: Merton, I want to ask you, how many hours were you working back in the day? Barbershop? Ministry? How many hours were you working?

Merton: Man, probably 60,70,80-

Clay: You were hustling?

Merton: Yes. but I would-

Clay: What time were you waking up man?

Merton: I would be in the salon on a Saturday from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM. Sunday morning service at 7:00 AM.

Clay: If you’re listening right now and you go, “Men, that seems brutal.” I’m going to tell you what? I took a job doing construction because much like Merton I wanted to be somewhere else and I realized that my destination would require some sacrifice. I got a job working construction for a company called Lund Poured Walls. Gordy, this is what Gordy told me. Gordy’s the boss. Gordy says, “If you work 40 hours a week I’ll pay $10 an hour. Now after 40 I’ll pay a time and a half. Now after 60 you make double. How many hours you want?” I said-

Merton: Yes. A billion?

Clay: Oh, Man. I said, “What time can we start this? Well, we meet at the cenex, it’s a gas station up there in Cokato. We meet at the cenex at five and we drive down to Iowa to work on the jobs. If you want me to be on the shift till 7:00 PM, I can do it. Is it 14 hours a day? He said, “Yes.” I work 14 hours a day, I did that five days a week and then I worked as a home health aid.

It started at 8:00 PM and work from 8:00 PM until midnight as a home health aid. I did that five days a week. Then on Saturday I worked as a home health aid all day and Sunday. I would typically log in a week almost 100 hours. 90 hours a week. I was banking two grand a week. Two grand a week. 1800 a week. Two grand a week. I bought my first DJ system cash from Joey Shake, my sales rep over there the guitar center —

Dr. Z: Joey shake?

Clay: Yes. Of the intersection of it’s [unintelligible 01:04:01] the mall of America down there in Minnesota. I went down there to guitar center and I remember paying. I just paid him. No debt, and I bought a Mazda MPV with 180,000 plus miles on a maroon. I hand-painted that thing, baby, and I’m telling you what? That’s how I roll. But you know what? I had to start somewhere. If you’re listening right now your success, Z, is not going to be handed to you. Will it?

Dr. Z: No it won’t. I tell what? If you’re waiting for your competitors to make your car payment, your house payment, or take care of you physically, it’s not going to happen.

Clay: I’ve called them they never called me back.

Dr. Z: I call, I don’t get my email just another day. What we’re doing is this, we’re encouraging. This whole show today is about passion into profit. But you got to do step one. First, you got to write it down. What is it? Two, be– and now we’re talking about what your budget. What would you want to make? What’s your goal?

Clay: You’re got to do it.

Dr. Z: You got to do it. Then you break that down so you’re making it in bite-sized portions. You go, “$100,000 I can’t.”

Clay: “Seems like over whelming.”

Dr. Z: “Now 2000 a week oh, that’s better.” Guess what? If you’re working five days a week or you can make seven but you could work five days a week and that’s about $400 a day. Okay, now we’re getting down to, “Okay, I can see this.”

Clay: But Bernie Sanders wants me to work 34 hours a week. Now Thrivers listen to this. When we come back we’re going to be teaching you step number five. You got to teach a third-grader how to do it. Once you can do something and you can sell it and you can scale it. You’ve got to be able to teach a third-grader how to do it. Stay tuned to talk about systems.

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Voice-over: Live, local, now. You’re listening to the Thrive Time Show on talk radio 1170.

Clay: You are also listening to Michael jack and in fact, we are back. My name is Clay Clarke, I’m the former SBA entrepreneur of the year and I am glad to be here with the man, the myth, the legend, the guy’s been helping Tulsa see 2020 for 25 years. I’m I kidding? No, I’m not. It’s Dr. Robert Zoellner. Sir, how are you?

Dr. Z: Hello Thrivers out there? Thanks for listening to the show. You like our new time? 12 to two. It’s kind of fut. It’s over, not drive time, no it’s lunch time or you could technically drive at lunch.

Clay: You can technically– you get in your car and drive.

Dr. Z: Drive maybe over to Oklahoma Joe’s and get some Bernie eggs and some baked beans. That’s my move over there.

Clay: Tell me this is weird or not.

Dr. Z: That’s my move.

Clay: One move I like to do is put my car in the idle mode and I like to just drive around that parking lot. I just marinate, and enjoy my alone time during lunch. Is that weird?

Dr. Z: That’s not weird you know it’s Friday. It’s the Christmas season. I know you guys everybody’s got either excited, you may have a Christmas party to go to tonight. Just be careful, just Uber, be safe. We want you next week to listen to the show-

Clay: Check the expiration date on that cheese you’re getting. People giving you all this holiday cheese, check the expiration on that. Just make sure it’s– make sure [unintelligible 01:08:04] in that mess. [unintelligible 01:08:06] out there.

Dr. Z: You are summary gifters.

Clay: Now you can’t ever get enough of a guy I like to call [unintelligible 01:08:11] name because you can never get enough of Mr. Merton Huff. This is the praise and worship leader for the Metropolitan Baptist Church. He’s on the show today. We’re talking about how to turn your passion into profit. How to turn your thing, you’re passionate about into your full-time job. Now step 5 is you got to teach a third-grader how to do it. Once you’ve been able to find your thing that you do, and you’ve been able to sell it, and you’ve been able to scale it, now you’ve got to teach a third-grade how to do it.

Dr. Z: What? Well, third grade? That dude’s like– let’s see third grade would be like eight years old.

Clay: I don’t get it. The thing is you’ve got to make it so simple that it’s duplicatable, that it’s repeatable. Steve Jobs, that’s the guy who co-founded Apple, he was the CEO of Pixar he says this, “Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there you can move mountains.” You have to teach an army of people how to do your system. Merton, I want to ask you this. At the Metropolitan Baptist, you help work with the kid’s programs is that correct?

Merton: Yes. We had a big annual children and youth day back in October.

Clay: You had to teach a lot of kids, like an army of young kids.

Merton: Yes. Was almost 100 kids.

Clay: How to sing some songs.

Merton: Yes.

Clay: What was the song you taught the kids?

Merton: [laughs] We did this one song by Kirk Franklin called victory.

Clay: Can you play for us a little bit?

Merton: Yes. It’s like, [singing] Hey Yo one, two, three, get up we got victory, no weapon they throw at me, you know it won’t prosper no-no. Just got laid off (I’m doing good), house ain’t even paid off (I’m doing good), should be afraid but (I’m feeling good), all the time you say (God is good).

You can calm down, down down, don’t forget who’s in control. Walls are falling down down down, get ready for the new Jericho. You waiting on God —

Clay: You had to teach all these kids that song?

Merton: Yes, absolutely.

Dr. Z: You know what, I think you could teach me this one. I must nearly be as a third grader.

Clay: Break it down, how did you do it? What was the first step? What was the first point you took?

Merton: The first thing I do is I let them hear it, I let them hear it a couple of times.

Clay: Here we got it. Teach Z and I. Teach us

Dr. Z: [chanting]

Merton: This is how you do it; [singing] Hey yo one two three, say that.

Clay & Dr. Z: [singing] Hey yo one two three.

Merton: Get the rhythm.

Clay & Dr. Z: [singing] Hey yo one two three.

Merton: Do it again

Clay & Dr. Z: [singing] Hey yo one two three.

Clay: Oh yes.

Merton: That’s the rhythm.

Clay & Dr. Z: [singing] Hey yo one two three.

Merton: [singing] Get up we got victory ah-ah-ah

Clay & Dr. Z: [singing] Get up we got victory ah-ah-ah.

All: [singing] Get up we got victory ah-ah-ah.

Merton: Listen to the rhythm. [singing] ah-ah-ah. You’ve got to break it up like that. You got to really simplify

Clay: And you’d simplify

Merton: Because we have so many different levels of gifts and so–

Clay: Can you teach a 36-year-old man and a 53-year-old man? In fact a 52-year-old man?

Dr. Z: I’ll be– Next year I’ll be 53.

Clay: 52

Dr. Z: I would not call you a liar for one year. I’m not going to do it.

Clay: You look 27.

Dr. Z: I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to do it.

Clay: You have to simplify. That’s why we are multiple.

Merton: You’ve got to because you have so many different levels and everybody has to be able to understand it like you just said.

Clay: The pastor at the church, Pst. Wright Owens. He says, “A lot of people dare to say, they go to church, and this is an issue that I have had with churches for years and I’m going to tell you this, I had to make the switch to the mate, I’ll not say what, I love church on the move and Pst. George is a master of taking a big idea and making it simple.

But the praise and worship that you deliver is what really has just pulled me in. When [unintelligible 01:11:23] Carlton, when he switched churches when higher D was shut down, I had to find a place that was kind of like it. What Pst. Owens does well is he takes a complex idea and he breaks it down like fractions so that you can turn it into some action.

Merton: Yes, absolutely.

Clay: He does that. He breaks it down. Why is it so hard from — because there’s a lot of great talented music ministers out there, why is it so hard to teach a third-grader how to do something that you can do? What’s the challenge with that? Why is it so hard for so many people to teach a third grader?

Merton: I think sometimes we assume that they should know. I think for me, that’s the thing. You assume that they should know. A man 36-year-old, and somebody who’s nine years old, I can assume that they know.

Clay: Back to you Z, you’re teaching people now how to dilate a pupil, teach people how to check a patient in, why is it so hard to teach a functional college graduate how to properly treat and greet a patient?

Dr. Z: Probably because they’re just brokers. They just know everything bro, so why do they need to learn bro?

Clay: Common sense is not common there. You have to make it in their system.

Dr. Z: Bro I got this bro, really. I don’t answer a phone, I answer phones all the time bro. I’m like a professional phone answerer. I just let it flow.

Clay: I don’t need a script. I don’t need a script. It’s like when people call me I just say what flows.

Dr. Z: Let me just flow bro, I’ve got this. I got this bro.

Clay: You hear this all the time, from experience.

Dr. Z: Yes, you hear it all the time, and the thing about it is, is that I’d rather have someone with a great attitude and no knowledge of an eyeball, and hire them, and teach them all way how to do it. You know what I’m saying?

Clay: Mr. Chet Cadieux back in the day. He taught me this. This is the guy who’s the president QuickTrip. He says, “You hire character and you train skill.” I repeat, “You hire character and you train skill.” Somebody’s listening right now. What’s happening is you’re hiring people who are lacking the character and you’re not investing the time needed to teach the skill because you’re trying to make a short road. You’re waiting for it to develop.

Z, it’s like some people are looking for the quick path. They’re going, “Instead of hiring people of character and training skill, I’m going to hire the highest skilled people I possibly can.” You know what? It’s hard to teach people how to stop doing things the wrong way once they become loyal to dysfunction.

Dr. Z: Absolutely. You give me a high-class person and I can teach them how to push the buttons.

Clay: Thrivers when we come back we’ll teach you step number six. You wnat to know what step number six is? I tell you what, you have to stay tuned to learn super-move step number six.

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Clay: All right Thrive Nation, welcome back to your inspiration superstation. You’re listening to Talk Radio 1170 during your midday and my name is Clay. I’m the co-host with the mo-ost, sent here to entertain and educate you, to teach you how to become the most successful entrepreneur you can possibly be. Today I’m joined with the co-host with the mo-ost Dr. Robert Zoellner. Sir, how are you?

Dr. Z: Thank God it’s Friday.

Clay: Oh it is.

Dr. Z: Speaking of God, we’ve got a wonderful guest on the show today.

Clay: Speaking of God, nice segue-way. This guy is

Dr. Z: I’ve never been around them.

Clay: He helps the people at the Metropolitan Baptist church enter into the presence of worship every Sunday. They’ve got two services, one at 9:00 AM, while the next one’s at 11, is that right?

Merton: Yes sir.

Clay: If people are looking for a church home, I’m telling you– If you’re looking for a church home, a place that can help you come alive, a place you can reconnect, a place where the people or people are just good people, you’ve got to go check out the Metropolitan Baptist Church. We have captured their praise and worship leader. We have sequestered him here tonight. It is Mr. Merton Huff. Mr. Merton, how are you?

Merton: What up now. I’m good man, how are you?

Clay: I am excited to have you on the show. We’re talking about how to turn your passion into profits. This final little supermove, step number six is you’ve got to hire a viking to manage your people. You’ve got to ultimately have somebody who holds people accountable. Dr. Z, I’m going to read you a notable quotable, and I will have you unpacked for me.

Dr. Z: All right. Unpack it.

Clay: This is from Jim Rohn, the best-selling author, motivational speaker, he passed away somewhat recently but he says, “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” Z, some of those listening right now and they’ve come up with something they’re passionate about, they’ve been able to turn it into their job, they’ve been able to sell it, now they’ve been able to scale it, now they’re able to teach it to third graders but there’s dysfunction, there is discord, no one’s doing their job, help them. Coach them. Teach them what to do.

Dr. Z: You’ve got to have the discipline. I tell you what, a lot of people out there, we call them want-repreneur.

Clay: Want-repreneur.

Dr. Z: In other words, they are always sitting around the coffee shop, and they’re always telling their buddies or anybody or even person may be serving their latte or their Christmas flavored beverage of choice, and they’re telling them about their passion, they’re telling them about their dream, they’re telling them what they want to do. That’s good, that’s first step. That’s the thing we’re talking about – passion into profits.

Clay: I want to move out of my parents’ house bro. That’s my main thing overall bro.

Dr. Z: You know what, what happens is that, so you say, “This is what I want to do.” That’s great. That’s good. We’re fanning the flame of wanting to do something, taking your passion, getting ouch, get that going hard impulse, but here’s the deal. Here’s the deal, and then I go over here, sitting there, the idea that you’ll get it done, the idea that you’ll actually finalize that and make it into something, and what would you have to have to get there is discipline. What’s that mean? That means that you have to be purposeful. You have to say, “I have a schedule.” You have to say, “No to pain.”

Clay: No? You have to say, “No?”

Dr. Z: Apparently,

Clay: Okay, OB1 can know a bit, tell us about that. Tell us the force.

Dr. Z: It’s a small word, but you’ve go to have it in your repertua because you don’t want to get tied up in everybody else’s stuff. You want to have the discipline to do your steps. Your steps, yes. You’ve come up with your steps, we’re going to help you with them day-by-day, week-by-week, and that discipline will get you across the bridge shuffling.

Clay: I want to pitch this to Merton. I want to ask Merton his take on this because you doing praise and worship there every Sunday, and you guys your choir is on point.

Merton: Oh, thanks man.

Clay: These guys can get it done. How many hours are you practicing? What kind of discipline, what kind of rehearsal happens behind the scenes to make that happen?

Speaker 4: I feel that I have to drill them a lot on the parts to make sure they– Because you’ve got different levels of singers. There’s a lot of drilling to make sure that they have it. A lot of times I’ll send them apart, like I’d record them on my phone and send it to them to make sure each section has it. I have section leaders. I have somebody who sings all the parts to the singer section. I have somebody who manages the outer section. I send it to the band, and I say, “Hey, we have a band also that’s separate to the choir.

Clay: You practice until you– Thrivers, someone needs to write this down. You don’t practice until perfect, you practice until you can’t get it wrong.

Merton: Absolutely.

Dr. Z: Wow, that’s [inaudible 01:19:01].

Clay: You’ve got to practice until you can get it wrong. I’m just going to tell you this, with my team, Elephant in the Room, it’s a men’s grooming lounge, and every Friday, if you want to come in at 8:00 AM and watch what we do, we train our team. What happens is we want to have our team training for the big three Elephant in the Room.

Dr. Z: The big three?

Clay: Yes, when you come in for your hair cut, your first hair cut, it’s $1, but there’s big three. We want to tell you about our membership, that’s the number one. Two, if we are running behind for some reason, we want to be able to overcome that and make sure you feel respected and we care about– but 2% of the time we’re running behind, and we want to be able to make you feel loved and appreciated while you’re there.

We don’t want it like, to have that awkward like you’re in an elevator with someone that you don’t know kind of weird, weird mojo. The third is we want to deal with an irate customer who we call a terrorist, who is that one of a hundred people who’s just nuts.

Voice-over: You’re listening to the Thrive Time show on Talk Radio 1170.

Clay: Thrivers, what we want to today is we want to help you wake up. Okay? We want to help you wake up. A lot of people you want to turn your passion into profits but you’ve been asleep for a while. You’ve been going through the motions of life and we need to help you wake up and so we have Merton on the show today. And Merton has agreed, our musical guest, has agreed to perform a song called Wake Up by John Legend. Merton, are you ready?

Merton: I’m ready.

Clay: Let’s do it, man.

Merton: [singing] Wake up everybody, no more sleeping in bed.

Clay: Here we go.

Merton: [singing] No more backward thinking, time for thinking ahead.

Clay: You got it Thrivers.

Merton: [singing] The world has changed so very much from what it used to be. There’s so much hatred, war and poverty.

Clay: All right, Thrivers, here we go.

Merton: [singing] The world won’t get no better if we just let it be. The world won’t get no better, we’ve got to change it, yeah, just you and me.

Clay: We’ve got to change it, Thrivers. Here we go.

Merton: [singing] Wake up all the teachers, it’s time to teach a new way. Maybe then they’ll listen to what you have to say. Because they’re the ones who’s coming up and the world is in their hands. When you teach the children, teach them the very best you can. The world won’t get no better if we just let it be. The world won’t get no better, we’ve got to change it, yeah, just you and me.

Clay: Oh, yeah, we’ve got to change it, Mert.

Merton: Yes, sir, absolutely.

Clay: Now I’m going to tell you what. If you’re listening right now and you have just a little bit of ember, I don’t care if you’re 40, I don’t care if you’re 50, I don’t care if you’re 60. I really do not care. I’m going to give you some examples. Do you know Ray Croc, the guy who’s famous for franchising McDonald’s? He did not have any discernible success until his 50s? Did you know that? Did you know that the guy, Mr. Dyson, who made the Dyson Vacuum, that guy struggled for over a decade?

Do you know that Uber, Uber? Uber took the guy over five years to take off. You know Twitter took seven years? Do you guys know that Amazon, Jeff Bezos, he could not get funding from anybody so his own Mum and dad liquidated their savings, $300,000 and they funded him. Did you know that Walt Disney lost it all twice? Do you know that Henry Ford lost it five times? Do you know that Dr. Z had to work at a job?

Dr. Zee: I’ve got a job.

Clay: A job, had to save all this money.

Dr. Zee: Could be a silent J, could be ‘ob, I don’t know.

Clay: Do you know that Merton had to move from Atlanta, Hotlanta, to Tulsa, Oklahoma to turn his dream into reality? Merton, what advice would you have for anybody listening right now who says, “You know, gosh, I don’t know. Am I too old; am I too old to start my music career? Am I too old to become that entrepreneur? Am I too old to become that person I want to be?” What encouragement would you have for them?

Merton: Absolutely, you’re never too old. I heard a saying before that said, “The brick wall is only there to stop those who aren’t serious.” Hey, you’ve got to keep going. If-

Dr. Z: Come on, preach it.

Merton: If you run into a brick wall, you’ve got to break it down. You’ve got to do something. You get around it or go over it, or do something. It’s only there to stop you if you’re not serious. You’ve got to keep going.

Clay: The brick wall is only there to stop those who are not serious. Z, what encouragement do you have for somebody who’s stuck? What, maybe, three things they can do. They’re listening right now and they go, “Okay, I’ve got a little ember. I’m starting to get a little passionate.” What are some things that they could do, right now, today.

Dr. Z: Here’s what they can do, right now. Ready? With Merton on the show and visiting the Met-I’ll just call it the Met Church with you Clay, a few weeks ago. If I don’t play this segment, I’m going to feel bad about myself. This is in honor to the Met. You’ve got to-listen if you stuck, hey, you’ve got to get online [unintelligible 01:23:56] www and do what you’ve got to do.

Clay: What’s that?

Dr. Z: You’ve got to go to Thrive15.com. Come on, preach. T-H-R-I-V-E-1-5.com.

Clay: What’s that website?

Dr. Z: Pull out your credit card, swipe it, ring it in for $19. That’s all. How much?

Clay: And what if I don’t have any money, what can I do?

Dr. Z: We’ve got scholarships.

Clay: You have a scholarship?

Dr. Z: Uh-huh. At your military, it’s free.

Clay: For free for military? How does that work?

Dr. Z: Free. You get on Thrive15.com for $19 a month; you can have business coaching excellence.

Clay: And if you say, “You know what, I love the online videos but I want to come to an in-person workshop.” We now have those available. By the way, there are 15 hours over two days.

Dr. Z: And what if I can’t afford an in-person workshop?

Clay: We have an actual scholarship program available for you. It’s a scholarship program. I’ll tell you what, we’ve never denied a single person because they cannot afford it. If you want in-person, one on one coaching for those that can afford it, we have that too. It is the world’s best business school and the world’s best business coaching platform. It is Thrive15.com, Dr. Z.

Dr. Z: We took our passion. We sold it, we scaled it. We hired Viking [unintelligible 01:15:09]. Trust me, players, he’s a Viking. He’s even from Minnesota Dude. We did all the six steps we’re teaching you today and that’s why it’s successful. We know what we’re talking about. That’s why you’re listening to the show because with our practical steps, every day, 12:00 to 2:00, you’re going to make it.

Clay: Here we go, three, two, one, boom.

Merton: Everybody.

Clay: Here we go.

[01:25:34] [END OF AUDIO]

[01:25:34] [END OF AUDIO]