Business Coach | Education: What’s Going On??
Audio Transcription
During this episode, America’s #1 Business Coach, Clay Clark brings on the Founder of Launch Academy, Dominick Cooper, on the show today to talk to you about how the education system is broken! You will learn why going to college does not always mean your degree will be used. Stay tuned for today’s controversial episode.
Learn About The Broken Education System From The Business Coach : Podcast Transcript
[silence]
Clay Clark: All right, Thrive nation, welcome back into the conversation. It’s the Thrive Time Show on your Friday with your business coach. This is a Friday, baby. Many of your out there are listening and you’re saying, “Listen, I want to start and grow a successful business.” And many of you who are also listening and you go, “Hey, I have a business, but I also have kids. I have some kids right now that are living at my house. If they don’t score a certain score or more on their ACT, they may live with me forever,” because you bought into this concept. You believe that your kids should go to college.
I’m not going to have that debate with you but I’m going to say you believe your kids need to go to college because they need that knowledge, and so that’s the path. You said, “My kids are going to go to high school, then they’re going to college.” That’s the move. So what’s happening is you’re realizing that you’ve been doing your research and you realize that if your kids don’t score a certain ACT score or higher, then it’s going to be lot more expensive for you to send them to college.
That’s kind of where you’re at. You’re going, “Okay, I’m a Thriver. I listen all the time. I want to learn how to start and grow a successful business. But, I also have kids and I want my kids to be successful. I want to pay that forward. I want my kids to achieve the American dream.”
So we have a guest today on the show that I’m so excited because we always feature Oklahomies. These are people right here in Tulsa who are doing big things. This is a guy who started a company. Let me brag on him for a second. It’s called Launch Academy. In full disclosure, Dominick used to work with my team back in the day. He was actually a member of the DJ Connection team out there DJ-ing weddings and that kind of thing. Then he went on to become a school teacher. He had that dream of being self-employed someday.
He now does it. He now works for himself. He’s full-time. A lot of you who are listening, the American dream for you, according to Forbes, 57% of you define success, you say, “I define success as I want to own by own business.” Fifty-seven percent of you want to own your own business He owns his own business.
So Dominick, first off, man, welcome into the show. Welcome into the Box That Rocks. How are you doing?
Dominick Cooper: I’m doing fantastic. I do have to say with owning my own business, you mentioned the fact that today is Friday, and I just think about all of my teacher friends who are spending the whole week waiting until Friday after school. They have the weekend.Now that I have Launch Academy off the ground, every day feels like a Friday to me.
Clay: You like it.
Dominick: I love it. I love it.
Clay: So let me let you brag on the business a little bit here. So this week, people are finding you all over the Internet. They’re typing in Tulsa tutors, tutoring in Tulsa, Tulsa tutoring, and they’ll find your website. How many people in the last week have just Googled you, have found you? In the last, maybe let’s say, seven days?
Dominick: I would probably say somewhere around a thousand.
Clay: Really?
Dominick: Yes. Probably around a thousand people have probably Googled Tulsa tutoring and reached out to us.
Clay: Your phones are exploding, people are reaching out to you. What they’re doing is they’re realizing that if they don’t improve their child’s academic success, if they don’t help — usually, it’s the mother of the student who reaches out to you or is it the father? Usually, who reaches out to you?
Dominick: I would say, normally, it’s the mother that reaches out to us. Mothers seem to be a little bit more concerned —
Clay: What does mom say typically when they call you? What does mom say?
Dominick: “Hey, we have this child who came into our life 17 years ago, and we’re just trying to figure out how we’re going to pay for college.”
Clay: Let me ask you this, I’m listening right now. Because I went to a high school at Dassel Cokato High School in rural Minnesota. I want to ask rhetorically, say our show producer, if he can guess my ACT score the first time I took it, Sam. Again, what’s the highest number you can get there, Dominick?
Dominick: The highest number you can get is a 36.
Clay: The lowest number that’s discernable for the human race is what?
Dominick: If you get anything lower than a 12, you would have been better off guessing, so yes.
Clay: Okay. So Sam, if you had to guess — now, Sam is not miced but again, you can respond audibly, it’s okay. If you were to guess what did I get on my first time I took the test?
Sam: Twelve.
Clay: A 12. He says a 12. He said, “I think so much of you. I’m going to guess a 12.” Now, Karina, his incredible wife, you guys have been married how many years now? Is it two years or three years?
Sam: Six years.
Clay: Six years, whoa, whoa, unbelievable. Karina, if you had to guess, what did I get on my first time I took my ACT? If you had to guess a number? If you’d just pick a number. He says 12. What do you say? She says 16.
See, these people, it lets you know, they’re going, “This guy is like a rock. His mind doesn’t work.” I’m not offended by my the guesses. I’m just going to tell you. I did not score a 20. I scored I think a 18. So I went back and I had this tutor guy who showed me the force, kind of like what you do. I took it the second time. I got like a 22.
Dominick: That’s awesome.
Clay: Take it again, a 23. Take it again — no, I’m not kidding. I kept taking that thing. I want to say four times but I ended up getting to a level where Oral Roberts University would accept me. I had virtually no scholarships for academic performance at college. But in high school, I was a straight — pretty much I was between A and a B+ student, did very well in high school.
So if I’m listening right now and I’m going, “My son and daughters doing awesome in school but their ACT, man, they’re just struggling. How much can having a score of a 20 versus a 30 impact the scholarships that a student has? How much will it cost me as a parent if my kid does not go from a 20 to a 30 on my ACT?”
Dominick: Pointing out the fact that these parents who have kids that were like you who do well in school but just struggle with these standardized tests, you would be surprised how common that is among the American population. But what ends up happening is these kids have learned all of the, I guess, skills that it takes to be a good student but they never learned how to be a test taker.
Clay: Oh, so what, me the business coach, we’re talking about today, Thrivers, we’re talking about two things here. One is how to start a successful business. We’re going to feature the Launch Academy. You actually [unintelligible 00:07:08] the founder of Launch Academy, Dominick Cooper, but we’re also going to be talking about how you could improve your child’s ACTs. That’s two simultaneous parallel paths we’re going down here. The topic today is called, What’s Going On? What’s Going On? I’ve got an audio song right here, a tribute ready. Here we go.
[music]
Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On. Remember that song?
Dominick: Oh, that is beautiful. That is beautiful.
Clay: Thrivers, do you guys remember when Marvin Gaye used to be the man? Oh, Thrivers, just let that marinade. This song, remember that song?
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: Just let it soak in right here.
Dominick: I didn’t plan on playing this until Friday night but we can play this right now.
Clay: Brother, brother, brother, brother. Okay. We’ll play some more Marvin Gaye throughout today’s show. But what’s going on? That’s the question. You said here, I’m giving you some statistics that you have researched, you are a — full disclosure, you’ve been a school teacher at Victory Christian Center. Is that right?
Dominick: That’s one of the places, yes.
Clay: Where else did you teach?
Dominick: I also taught at Jenks High School over there.
Clay: You didn’t teach at the Cracker Barrel. I mean you’re actually a bonafide teacher. You’re not the Cracker Barrel going, “Hey, kids, this is what to do.” You’re a real teacher.
Dominick: Oh, yes, yes. I’m bonafide.
Clay: People who are listening going —
Dominick: Bonafide, certified, all of the above.
Clay: “Does he teach at Chuck E. Cheese? Is he a real teacher?” You’re a real teacher.
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: You make a statement, number one, that’s very offensive, very offensive, by the way, for me because I have kids, very offensive. I’m offended. Here we go. “Kids are doing the worst they’ve ever done in school.” What are you talking about? Give me some statistics. Give me research. Prove what you’re saying. That’s a crazy statement.
Dominick: All right. First off, I have to apologize before the show really gets rolling because I might get a little but fiery because this something I’m just super passionate about. With kids —
Clay: You’re passionate about kids doing poorly in school. You want them to do poorly in school. You’re a sick freak.
Dominick: I don’t want them to.
Clay: You want kids to do bad in school. What a sick freak.
Dominick: This is what’s happening. This is just what’s happening in the United States, also in Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, 33% of fourth graders are at reading level and 29% of eight graders are at reading level. This shows —
Clay: That’s from the US Department of Education.
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: But I’m saying, what does that mean, at reading level? At reading level, really? What does that mean?
Dominick: So what that means is approximately 70% of fourth graders can’t read like a normal fourth grader.
Clay: Seventy?
Dominick: Yes, 70%, and then it gets worse.
Clay: It’s probably not. It probably doesn’t affect anybody.
Dominick: But then it gets worse when you get into eight grade.
Clay: I mean the ability to read, critically think, process things. Now, Karina is here. I’m going to pick on Karina quite a bit today because, Karina, she’s inside the Box that Rocks with her incredible husband, her beautiful husband, Sam. I’m just looking for just a little affirmation because she’s seen this, because she helped me in one of our businesses, did a very fine job at Elephant in the Room, helping us for years, did an excellent job.
I don’t know if it ever amazed you, but when you’re interviewing people, you’re meeting people, you’re talking to potential people who might want to work in the business, how they just can’t read? You give them a handbook and they’re a college graduate or they graduated from the university of whatever, or they went to a trade school and they can’t read. Has that ever amazed you, or you’re like, “Really? You can’t read?” and it’s part of it. It’s shocking, but part of it’s going, “Oh no.”
This is not a good thing. You’re saying, Dominick, this is 70% of people right now, if you’re listening right now, 70% of the people listening, their fourth grader cannot read well.
Dominick: Yes. They cannot read at the same level that all fourth graders should be at, and then in eighth grade, it gets worse.
Clay: Okay, eighth grader it gets worse? What do you mean?
Dominick: Eight grade, it actually goes up from about 70%, so closer to 71%, 72%. Not only that, but eighth grade is the reading level that you have be at in order to get a driver’s license.
Clay: Now Thrivers, let me, as a business coach, tell you this. I’m going to read you a notable quotable by Steve Jobs. He’s the guy who founded Apple, he co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak in his parent’s garage. The garage Mahal, the garage Mahal, and Steve Jobs,is also the guy who was the former CEO of Pixar. He says this about education, “It’s absurd that the American classrooms are still based on teachers standing at a board and using textbooks. All books, learning materials, and assessment should be digital, interactive, tailored to each student, and providing feedback in real time.”
That’s when he was talking to President Obama. He said this when speaking to President Obama. He says it’s absurd, that the education system is absurd. Now, the thing is you do at Launch Academy, you do tailor the way that you mentor and you tutor kids based upon their learning style. I see you do it. You customize that. Why do you have to customize and custom tailor the way you teach for each student?
Dominick: Every student learns differently and it breaks down into three main areas. You’re either a visual learner, a audio learner or kinesthetic learner. Which is a —
Clay: Wait a minute. I’m trying to take notes. I’m at Oklahoma Joe’s. I’ve just ordered some baked beans. They’re very good, by the way. With some hot sauce, I’ve added it. I stirred it around a little bit. I’ve taken those baked beans over to Regent Bank. I’ve got my AM radio that I brought with me. I’m trying to take notes. You got to understanding, I got a lot going on here. You’re saying that one, the first way is visual?
Dominick: Visual is the first one. That’s if you learn better by seeing things.
Clay: Now, the second is what?
Dominick: Audio.
Clay: Audio?
Dominick: Audio.
Clay: Audio. Audio? Are you saying audio?
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: Audio, okay, and then the third is what?
Dominick: Kinesthetic.
Clay: Kinesthetic?
Dominick: That’s the big one, yes.
Clay: Is that like new stretching exercise?
Dominick: Kind of, yes.
Clay: I don’t mean to cut you off but I’m going to have to because for second time, we got some incredible sponsors. When we get back, you’re going to break down these three and I’m going to make sure I’m pronouncing it correctly. Visual.
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: Audio.
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: Kinesthetic.
Dominick: Yes. 100%
Clay: Is that right? Kinesthetic or kinesthetic?
Dominick: I mean tomato, tomato.
Clay: Okay. Well, it’s kinesthetic. When we get back, you’re going break it down, the learning styles. The people who want this, “Hey, most of my kids needs maybe some tutoring.” What’s the no-brainer offer? What do you doing right now at Launch Academy? What’s the super move?
Dominick: The move that we’re doing right now is we are offering an entire month of tutoring for $1.
Clay: An entire month for a dollar?
Dominick: One month for $1.
Clay: How can you afford this? My friend, I have audio from some of the Thrivers. It’s what they just said themselves.
Recording 1: Surely, he can’t be serious?
Recording 2: I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley.
Clay: [laughs] I use the —
Dominick: That is it. That is what it boils down to. One month for $1, and yes, we are serious.
Clay: I tell you what, Thrivers. I’ve never heard a hotter deal ever. Go to Launch, what’s the website?
Dominick: Launchacademytulsa.com.
Clay: Stay tuned. Thrive Time.
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Clay: All right, Thrive nation. Welcome back into the conversation with your business coach. We are broadcasting from inside the box that rocks, which is inside the thrive15.com world headquarters, which is inside the beautiful Tulsa, Oklahoma region, which is inside the center of the universe, located on the planet Earth, on this beautiful continent called North America. Inside this is galaxy, this planet. We have other — That’s just it. I can’t verify it, Dominick.
We have special guest here. Dominick Cooper, the founder of Launch Academy. I cannot verify it, but we’ve had rumors that other planets have began to tune into the show, because they’re going, “We need to know how to start a business,” and I’m like, “Really? Other planets? That’s pretty flattering, mister Pluto. That’s a real thing.” Dominick, if I’m listening right now, though sincerely and I’m going, “What are you guys talking about today?”
What we’re talking about today is two things. We’re talking about how to start and grow a successful business, which we always do. You have turned your dream into reality. I want to be clear. Forbes says that 57% of people want to start or grow a business. 57% of people want to start a business. 57%, that’s a lot of people. You have achieved that dream. For many people, the American Dream. How old are you now?
Dominick: I am 28 years old.
Clay: 28?
Dominick: 28.
Clay: Two to the eight?
Dominick: Yes. Not even 30 yet.
Clay: Wow. That’s two izzle for shizzle plus eight?
Dominick: Yes, that is correct.
Clay: Two to the eight. You are 28 and you’re already doing the American Dream. You already have a business. Tough questions for you. What is your business?
Dominick: Our business is Launch Academy tutoring company, and what we do is we help students not just with tests prep for the ACT and SAT, but also we teach them the skills that they need to be successful in the world of tomorrow.
Clay: Tough questions. These are coming in hot, fast. It’s like a rapid fire, here we go.
Dominick: Okay, I’m ready.
Clay: Are you married?
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: Do you have any kids?
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: Okay. Has it ever been stressful to start your own business?
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: Are you excited to finally own your own business?
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: Have you ever woken up feeling like you’re being chased by a lion and chasing a bag of money?
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: Okay. You are a bonafide entrepreneur. You know what it’s like to be stressed and excited, the whole deal, and you’re talking about something you’re passionate about because you are a former school teacher. Is this correct?
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: You’re a former school teacher. You’re not teaching at cracker barrel.
Dominick: No.
Clay: You’re not running around like a clown costume, doing inflating balloons.
Dominick: Not anymore. Those days are behind me.
Clay: Okay. You used to be an actual teacher that worked, Jenks?
Dominick: At Jenks, a private school in the area of Victory Christian, actually I did a stint at a prego school.
Clay: A what school?
Dominick: A pregnant school, for pregnant teens.
Clay: Really?
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: Okay. You’ve talked in a lot of places.
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: You’re saying, “What is going on?” You’re saying, “What’s going on with the education system?” and you’re so frustrated with the lack of education that was going on at the various institutions that you worked in. You decided to start a tutoring company to help people. There’s an OSU player, and I don’t know if you feel comfortable sharing his name, if not, it’s okay, but if you want to, it’s fine. But the OSU player, there’s an OSU football player, who had what kind of a ACT score before you began tutoring them?
Dominick: Yes. I’ll mention his name and if you want to see his mother’s testimonial, it’s on our website, launchacademytulsa.com. His name is James Lewis.
Clay: James Lewis.
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: He is a player that was being recruited by Oklahoma State University to play the great game of football.
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: What was his ACT score before seeing you?
Dominick: He had an 18, actually, the same score you had. Now, that I think —
Clay: Yes. He and I, we’re on the same boat. We’re dominating. We do whatever we want. We got half the points.
Dominick: Yes. No. With him, though, it was a little bit different because he had gotten an 18 three times in a row.
Clay: Yes, and that’s because he wanted to show that 18 was the number of Peyton Manning and he wanted to show that, his allegiance to him —
Dominick: [laughs]
Clay: He’s like, “Listen, I am so dedicated to Peyton Manning. I want to score the same number that he wears on his uniform three times,” and then he wanted to move on to the next level, which is what number?
Dominick: He wanted to get to a 22. That was the number that OSU said, “You have to get a 22 in order to play with us.”
Clay: A 22.
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: For him to be a full scholarship athlete.
Dominick: That’s correct.
Clay: At Oklahoma State University.
Dominick: That’s right.
Clay: His name again was what?
Dominick: His name is James Lewis.
Clay: You can go to what website and see his mother’s testimonial?
Dominick: Yes, if you go to launchacademytulsa.com, we have several reviews on there and testimonials, including one from his mother, Opal Lewis, who talks about-
Clay: Opal.
Dominick: – her experience with that.
Clay: What was his final score on his ACT?
Dominick: We worked with him for a few months, and just to give you some back story. It was really a Hail Mary for the mother. He was in a senior year. He had one test left to take. It was the last 10 yards. He was either going to make everything or lose everything.
Clay: Make everything or lose everything.
Dominick: They came to us.
Clay: That’s like fourth in 10. He’s got to get in the end zone to get this deal.
Dominick: Yes. It was incredible. What ended up happening is we worked with him, and then he took it again. Results come back, he made it 23.
Clay: A 23? Sweet God in the Oklahoma State University.
Dominick: Plus a little extra, yes.
Clay: He ended up getting into Oklahoma State University, and he’s now on scholarship at Oklahoma State University. That’s a true story.
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: What’s the biggest improvement you’ve ever seen a student make, ever? Don’t give me that hyperbole. Don’t give me that —
Dominick: [laughs]
Clay: No, seriously. Don’t give me that sales pitch. We’re like, “Yes, I saw somebody.” I want to know a name and I want to know a number. Where they’re at, where they’d get to. Give me first name.
Dominick: Yes. His name is — last name was Weaver.
Clay: Weaver, okay. We got Weaver, fine. Sounds credible. Weaver.
Dominick: Leave it to Weaver. We have to go with that. With Weaver, he started off at a 19.
Clay: 19.
Dominick: And ended up with a 28.
Clay: What does a 28 mean when you go to a college?
Dominick: Twenty-eight means you can go to most schools in the United States bar like Ivy Leagues. Not only that, but you will probably be getting some scholarship money.
Clay: That’s huge. People get to save thousands of dollars by improving their ACT score.
Dominick: Yes, tens of thousands.
Clay: Your issue, we’re getting into today, is what’s going on? You’re saying, “Hey, what is going on?” Marvin Gaye, let’s just listen to some Marvin Gaye, let’s marinate here. Marvin Gaye is saying What is going on, do you remember that song?
Dominick: I love that song.
Clay: Marvin Gaye is saying, what’s going on? You’re saying, what’s going on? First, you said kids are doing the worst they’ve ever done in school.
Dominick: It’s true.
Clay: The second thing you said, it’s very controversial, you are a very controversial man. It’s controversial even speaking to you. I almost want to just cover my face and just — anyway, you say this, “They are being told to college a lie.” Who is they? What are you talking about the college a lie?
Dominick: All right. They is not only the students in high school. They is also the parents.
Clay: What?
Dominick: The parents are being lied to.
Clay: But I was told if I send my daughter to Baylor that she would be successful and without a degree you are a complete idiot. That’s what I was told. I was told. I was told that. I signed up. I bought the sweat shirt.
Dominick: Complete lie and the sweat shirt is probably the best thing that you got out of the deal for most parents.
Clay: Give me some statistics, give me something to prove what you are saying because I don’t believe you. I am a listener. I listen to 1170 everyday, I’m just putting up with you today. You’re obviously either, A, quasi-inebriated, or B, misinformed, no way is college a lie. Give me some statistics.
Dominick: All right. Here is the deal. First off, kids go into college and have no idea what they are doing, 80% of college students end up changing their major. This is from a 2013 study by the National Center of Education.
Clay: 80% of people change their major?
Dominick: 80%, four out of five.
Clay: That sounds kind of major if you are changing your major that much.
Dominick: Yes, you have no idea what you are doing. Not only that but changing your major, guess what that means? That means another year of college, that means another year of loans.
Clay: If I’m a college, in college by the way is a business. What? College by the way is a business. What? If I was a college, I would love it if you change your major. I would love you change your major six or seven times, maybe go back for six years, maybe go back for seven, probably pitch you an MBA along the way. What’s another statistic you have to prove what you are saying.
Dominick: All right. Here is what it boils down to. Thais is what I call the walk of educational shame. The walk of educational shame is 68% of high school graduates are already enrolled in college.
Clay: 68%. Now, when we come back Thrivers, you’re going to break it down because you are very passionate about this concept that college is a lie. Stay tuned to the Thrive Time Show to learn more.
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All right it’s the Thrive Time Show on your radio and Thrivers here we, here we, here we go. My name is Clay Clark and I am a business coach. I’m the former SBA entrepreneur of the year. Always honored to be here. Today, we are working without Doctor Robert Zoellner who is out expanding his vast entrepreneurial empire and many of you say, where is he today? Where does he go? Where does this guy go? Is he busy like a mystic? I’ll tell you where he’s gone. I’m just going to chart his travels real quick.
First off, he went to Guatemala. You’re like, “Guatemala? That’s a long way away. I feel like that’s farther than okomogy,” yes, he was there. Then he went to Minnesota to watch a Vikings game and then he went to Phoenix I believe and he went to Chicago to see a Cub’s game. I don’t know where he is going. I think he is going to Arizona this time. I think he is going to Arizona. But the man, he loves to travel. He went to Kentucky by the way. He has a horse that’s on the path to the Kentucky derby and he’s living the American dream.
I’m telling you Doctor Zoellner has been a huge impact in my life, somewhere between a father and a brother and a partner. I don’t know what he is but for me he’s been a huge impact in my life. If you’re listening right now and you say, “Gosh, I need that. I need like a guy who can show me how to grow a successful business.” Doctor Z is honestly the business mentor I’ve ever talked to. If you go to thrivetimeshow.com, you can always hear the past radio shows that we’ve archived.
They are at thrivetimeshow.com. You can hear them in podcast form. I’m telling you what, he’s unbelievable. You have to hear all the podcasts, all the radio shows because he is such a source of wisdom, such a great guy, unbelievable. Now, today we are trying to fill in, inside the box of rocks. It’s like we’re trying to fill the shoes of a giant. How do you fill the shoes of a giant? What? Do you need a giant foot? Yes, you do.
I brought in the giant foot. I brought in a guy here named Mr. Dominick. He is the founder of Launch Academy. He’s living the American dream, meaning that he actually has taken his idea to start a successful business and has actually done it. I say successful, eight out of ten businesses that are founded go out of business according to Forbes. How long have you been doing launch academy?
Dominick: We’ve been doing this for a decade now.
Clay: A decade, really? This is 10 years.
Dominick: Ten years.
Clay: And you are still doing it.
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: Your full time, this is your deal, this is your passion. We’re giving you an opportunity today to talk about something you are passionate about which is the education system today. What is going on? We said the first point was kids are doing the worst they have ever done. Two, you’re saying they are being sold the college a lie. My friend, give us some more statistics. Prove to us that college is a lie. Smoke and mirrors.
Dominick: Here is the college lie. First off, 68% of high school seniors who are graduating, they are already enrolled to start attending college, 68% already bought into the lie. Now, here is the thing. After that, 55% of them will graduate.
Clay: 55% of the people who enroll in college will graduate.
Dominick: Nearly half of them will drop out.
Clay: Where are you getting this data? Where is this from? Is this from yourmumsblog.com?
Dominick: No, this is from the National Center of Education statistics.
Clay: I can Google this National — What?
Dominick: National Center of Education statistics.
Clay: I think you’re a liar. I think college is the best. It’s the best, it is the best. College is the best. If I believe that you might not be accurate, you’re saying I can Google that statistic and find it?
Dominick: Yes. With college students, only 55% of them graduating, that’s from 2015 Bloomberg articles. This is just a couple of years ago.
Clay: You have another statistic coming up next that I do agree with and this is the one that kind of blows my mind, feel free to pontificate.
Dominick: All right. If you are listening in right now, you might have to pull your car over for this next one because .it’s [crosstalk].
Clay: Give me a second. I’m trying to — Listen here, I went to Oklahoma Joe’s and I bought myself some baked beans. I’m trying to — I can’t text and drive. It’s like a police state. It’s like a nanny state. I can’t text and drive. I’m not allowed to photo shop and drive anymore. I used to be able to get out my laptop and photoshop while driving.
Dominick: I’ve seen you driving, it looks like it.
Clay: You’ve actually seen me. You’ve seen me in the Hummer. You have?
Dominick: Yes, it was insane.
[laughs]
Clay: Anyway, here’s the thing is Thrivers. You’re saying, “Give me a second, let me pull over. I went to Oklahoma Joe’s I bought the baked beans, I’m trying to eat those while I’m driving,” so you’re pulling over. You’ve got to shoot the paper out. I’m ready to take some notes, go.
Dominick: Get ready for this bomb, here we go. Nearly half of these students who graduating, now bear in mind, only half of the ones who got in there are graduating, half of the one show made it, they are going to get a job that doesn’t require a college degree.
Clay: No, bomb. Repeat it one more time please.
Dominick: Half will get a job that doesn’t require a college degree.
Clay: Half the people are getting a job that doesn’t even require a degree. It’s kind of a deal where you say, if you go to college, half of you are –I’m paraphrasing. Maybe I’m saying the same words again, you’re saying half of you are going to get the job that doesn’t even require a degree.
Dominick: If you go to college, half of you are going to make it through college. That’s the first thing. Then those of you who did make that, congratulations, now only half of you are going to get a job that actually requires that degree.
Clay: I have audio from you earlier today. I know it’s inappropriate but you came here to the studio inside the box that rocks inside the thrive15.com world headquarters. You came here. You were preparing. You’ve very studious, very diligent. You’re reviewing the notes. I remember you’re talking and I hope I don’t offend you but I took my smart phone out, very smart phone and I decided to record what you were saying without your permission. This is what I heard you say, here this.
Stinger: You can’t handle the truth.
Clay: I was like dude, “You can’t be saying that.” Then I took it out again and I’m like let me replay, what did he just say?
Stinger: You can’t handle the truth.
Clay: You’re saying that 50% of people who go to college will not graduate. Then the people who do graduate, 50% of them won’t even use their freaking degree and I’m going in loan. I’m going in debt for that. I got a loan for that, are you kidding me?
Dominick: Let’s take this a little bit closer to home.
Clay: No.
Dominick: Parents out there, you have two kids. Guess what? One of them is going to get a college degree and not going to use it.
Clay: Here we go. I’m going to college for the experience. I want to meet people. It’s like a big church camp where I want to go and meet people. I love people.
Dominick: It’s about who you know.
Clay: It’s about who you know and you can’t really put a price on that, except for the $50,000 in debt. What about people who say, “I’m going to college for the experience”?
Dominick: All right. There is a fantastic quote by I believe it was Bezos.
Clay: Jeff Bezos.
Dominick: Yes, Jeff Bezos, he referred to colleges as being the equivalent of subprime mortgage lenders.
Clay: Oh, that’s Peter Till. If you Google Peter Till, he is the venture capital guru who funded Facebook, part of the PayPal team, the PayPal mafia he upstart papal. He said that colleges today, college counselors today are the equivalent of subprime mortgage lenders before the mortgage crisis. All I’m saying he thinks it’s con, he thinks it’s a scam.
When we come back you are going to get deep into it, but you’re saying what’s going on with the education system. This next point here, the third point is you’re saying college students in upstarting their professional life with a flaky background. You said flaky, like frosted flakes? What do you mean, flaky like dandruff?
Dominick: Flaky like they think they got it all together but when the rubber meets the road, they just like corn flakes hitting the road. They’re just going everywhere.
Clay: You’re saying that if I do go to college and I do save up the money to put my kids through college and I do go in debt to put my kids through college. You’re saying that even if my kids graduate, I’m going to have a shaky sort of a non — I’m really certain now with some rough situations here.
Dominick: Absolutely, and we’re talking about that percentage of kids who make it through college and then get a job that requires another degree. Guess what, the degree gets you in the door but skills get you up the elevator.
Clay: I’m going to argue with you. I’m going to fight with you. When we come back, I’m listening right now and I’m going, “There is no way bro. You have to have a degree to be successful. What do you doing? What’s your website? I want to learn more. I want to check you out. What’s your website?”
Dominick: Yes. Website is www.launchacademytulsa.com and we’re going to be right back.
Clay: I’m going to check you out. Stay tuned.
[silence]
Clay: All right, thrive nation. Welcome back into the conversation. We have a guy in the booth today who has turned his dream into reality. This guy is inside the thrive15.com box that rocks, which is located on the left coast of the Arkansas river with inside the beautiful thrive15.com, 20,000-square foot world head quarters. It is Dominick Cooper, the founder of Launch Academy and he is going to get some stuff of his chest.
So we’re talking today about this concept. He says, “What’s going on?” You’re a tutor and you tutor students. You help mentor students. You help them improve their academic performance and you’ve really began — it’s sort of a negative show. I don’t want to rip you, but it’s sort of a negative show, this is a sort of a negative show. This is a show where typically people come with their positivity. You’ve been pretty negative.
You said one, kids are doing worse than they’ve ever done before academically and then you supported it with facts. I’m like, “I’m not here to talk about facts. I’m here to talk about feelings.” Then the second that you go on — you support it with facts then you said that college is a lie and then you again support it with facts.
I mean it’s just like, “What is this guy? He’s supper negative.” It’s like the other third, it’s like you said the students today end up their professional life with a flakier shaky background. That’s a pretty big deal you’re saying. So, if someone does go to college, they do get a degree, you’re saying they start up with a shaky background. Give me some sort of statistics to prove what you’re saying because I think you are crazy.
Dominick: All right. First of, when they are graduating college — this is the average student loan debt in the United States. This is the average, $35,000 is what they are graduating at.
Clay: You’re saying the average student is graduating with $35,000 of debt and why is that a problem in your mind?
Dominick: That’s a problem because that can be a down payment on your house or for most students, they end up paying that off in 10 years and that’s $250 a month so that’s a car payment that they could have had and it’s just unnecessary.
Clay: If I’m listening right now and I’m a shameless college apologist and I believe in having copious amounts of debt. I believe that saying to people, the experience was worth it. Sam and I, what we did in college, we were on the same floor. We had the same shirt. We connected and you know the thing is that people can’t connect unless they do it at college. Because in college, that’s the best memories of your life.
They’re memories you can’t put a price on and the thing is when you go out there and you get a degree, it tells the world that you’re certified and approved and bonafied to e successful. If I’m somebody who that’s where I’m coming from right now. I’m tired of you attacking, it’s because — I’m telling you what, you can attack my religion. Right now, we’re in a country right now where you going to attack my religion.
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: You can do it? You could say, you’re clinging to your guns and your gold because you’re an idiot. You’re clinging to your religion and your guns and your gold because you’re a moron. Obviously, if you have a religious belief and you believe in guns and you believe in America, you’re a total moron.
You are going to attack all those things. We’re in a country where you can do that. It’s okay to attack my religious believes but you cannot attack my education, I’m really frustrated. What statistics do you have to proof that starting of your professional life with a college degree might not be a good thing?
Dominick: First of, they found that — this is from a 2015 article on the Wall Street journal.
Clay: The Wall Street journal, is that even repeatable? Is that a thing?
Dominick: The WU, as some people call it.
Clay: The Wall Street Journal. Okay.
Dominick: In the Wall Street Journal, they did a study of tens of thousands of people and found that the vast majority of — I would say entry level employees have virtually no white collar skills.
Clay: Okay. What does this have to do with a degree? So I have a degree, how does that relate to me not having not having any entry level skills? What are you talking about? What are you doing? Give me the bone.
Dominick: First of, part of that is communication skills. These people don’t know how to communicate.
Clay: I’ve got e degree. I got to study business. I studied business. Basically, I went back, I got a minor in what I would call psychology because that’s it says on the paper. I got my mind in psychology, got my major in my business. I’m like boom. Boom, hire me. Boom, I got $35,000 of debt so I need you to pay me. I need to start of at $22 an hour. I mean right now. I’m listening to you right now and I say I disagree with you.
I definitely have a degree. I have matriculated through the system. I owe some money. I have a business degree. Boom, what are you going to say about that, boom?
Dominick: I’m going to say first of, can you produce results?
Clay: [laughs] Negative, you are so negative. If someone’s saying I — you might be right. I’ll tell you this, I own businesses and I would tell you this, I see many, many people who graduate with a degree in graphic design. This is a pet peeve I have right now. A young lady from Florida last night sent me her resume. I saw it right before we wrapped up the show. I got the chance to wrap up the show in the afternoon.
Then basically at the end of the day, I get back and then I look at all the show notes and then I look at all the emails that are coming. This person has a graphic design portfolio that is not so good. They’re sending over their PDF with their portfolio.
Dominick: But they have a degree.
Clay: They have a degree and they’re from Florida and bless her heart, her father is a thriver. He is a member of the thrive15.com platform. He is like, my daughter would be a perfect fit, and I feel bad. But because you have a $70,000 student debt that you’ve acquired as a result of going to the art institute of Florida or whatever, it doesn’t mean that I want to now pay you. She even said I would be willing to start for 60,000 in a year. Your work is awful.
Dominick: Thank God, she would be willing to start for that, that’s still there.
Clay: But she feels because she has a debt, she has to start at a certain level to pay off the debt. I’m not willing to pay more just because she has a debt. The next fourth, this is the fourth move. You say this is very — this is a statement you make. It’s very controversial. Statement number one you said, is you said kids are doing the worst they’ve ever done in education. You’ve proved it with some facts. I’ll give you that one, point for you.
Two, you said they’re being told that college is a lie. You said, they’re being told that basically the myth they are being sold about college is a lie and you proved with some stats. Okay. I’ll give you that.
The third did you said students end up starting their professional career with that shaky background. They’re in debt, it’s not a good thing. They don’t have any skills. The fourth statement you make, and this is where I’m really getting frustrated with you, yes, I’m starting frustrated because you keep being negative. You’re saying disengaged teachers are a problem. What does that mean?
Dominick: Yes. What I mean is disengaged teachers has become an epidemic in the United States. Just to give an example. The annual cost for a married couple with one child which just a few weeks ago as myself and my wife. A married couple with one child, their annual cost to support their family is a little over $56,000.
Clay: Repeat that again. I’m trying to take some notes here. I’m trying to eat my Oklahoma Joe’s baked beans. Thank you. I need a little — I’m trying to take notes and eat the —
Dominick: [unintelligible 00:39:23] Those beans have to be incredible.
Clay: Listen, many people are listening to the show and what’s happening is they are finding there is almost a hypnotic rhythm that’s begin to. They’re going, “Everyday, all I do at noon is I go to Oklahoma Joe’s and I listen to the Thrive Time Show and then I go to Oklahoma Joe’s and I listen to the Thrive Time Show,” and they’re stuck in the trance. So give me a second, I’m trying to take some notes repeat that again.
Dominick: All right. The annual cost of living for a married couple with one child is a little over $56,000 a year.
Clay: What does this have to do with the fact there’s disengaged teachers?
Dominick: Let me tell you, this is what it has to do. With teachers, the average US teacher with at least a master’s degree and 10 years of experience, 10 years of experience working that job, you’re earning $44,900 annually.
Clay: You’re telling me that a teacher with 10 years of experience can’t even earn enough money to support their family?
Dominick: Yes. They can’t get married or have a kid.
Clay: You’re saying, so if you go to school and you become a teacher and you study and you’ve been a teacher for 10 years, you can’t support your family?
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: You’re fairly passionate about this. Why don’t you go ahead — I don’t hear any passion. Why don’t you go ahead and share some passion and views here.
Dominick: Let me tell about this. When I was working at a school here in the area, when it came to healthcare —
Clay: Ooh, healthcare. Why do you care about your health, you selfish idiot?
Dominick: I had myself, my wife and my child on a healthcare. Okay. With that $44,900 a year — By the way, I was making about $10,000 less than that working in Oklahoma. They also had to take out about $800 every month out of my cheque for healthcare.
Clay: I think communism is really the only way to go. I mean I think in your situation, where you’re a teacher, you’re listening right now and you’re going, “I’m not going to make enough money to feed my family and I’ve been doing it for 10 years.” I think you need to switch to communist. I mean they tried it in the former USSR and it didn’t go so well there. But, let’s not right them off.
They went over to North Korea. Okay. So, it didn’t go so well there. But, they went to Cuba and, freak, that didn’t go so well either.
Dominick: It didn’t go well.
Clay: But, they did go over to China and they didn’t do so well there either. Okay, okay. So, communism might not be the move. But, the thing is, you’re saying that teachers realize they can’t make any money, so really the top teachers begin to move on. They begin to say, “I’m looking for something else.”
Dominick: Unless, both couples are working then they can support their family. But, what ends up usually happening is that teacher has to end up getting an additional job. An additional job means, they’re not going to be engaged in the classroom.
Clay: Here’s the deal, Thrivers, if you have a teacher teaching your kids and they have two jobs, it’s hard for them to pay attention on your student because they’re trying to pay the bills. It’s hard to do it. When we come back, Dominick Cooper, the founder of Launch Academy — What’s your website my man?
Dominick: Launchacademytulsa.com.
Clay: He’s going to be getting into it, getting really, really detailed and explain to us, why did it get this way? Why did education system end up this way? Stay tuned.
Dominick: You wouldn’t believe it.
Clay: Thrivetimeshow.com on your fabulous Friday.
[silence]
Boom, boom, boom. We are back in your room bringing some audio in your ear. My name is Clay Clark. I’m the former SBA Entrepreneur of the Year sent here to teach you how to make your dreams persevere. You see, many times, you want to start a business. You want to grow a business. But, what you do is you lose hope because you don’t see progress. You don’t get that immediate market validation that you thought.
You wanted your business to go viral but it didn’t happen. You wanted your business to have immediate success, but it didn’t happen. But I’m telling you what, this is the show where we teach you what you need to know to start or grow that succesful business on a practical level and a show where we feature local Oklahomies, people that have actually started and grown a successful business.
Now, here is something that it’s a kind of disturbing thing. According to CNN Money, 59% of Americans now believe that the American dream is not possible. But, inside the box that rocks today, Thrivers, we have Mr. Tim Redmond, the guy who grew a business from two people to over 450 before that business was sold to the Turbo Tax people back in the day. And, we have Mr. Dominick Cooper, the guy who started Launch Academy and it’s a very successful tutoring company. He now does this full time. Dominick, how long ago did you start Launch Academy?
Dominick: We started Launch Academy about 10 years ago, almost to the month.
Clay: You’re very passionate about educating the youth of America.
Dominick: Oh, yes. Absolutely. It’s literally what I live, eat, sleep, everything. It is my life.
Tim Redmond: You’re a teacher, right? Aren’t you a teacher, sir?
Dominick: I used to be a teacher. I’m a reformed teacher, I guess you can say.
Tim: A reformed teacher.
Dominick: A teacher who makes money, let me put it that way. I’m a teacher who actually makes money.
Clay: You’re a teacher —
Tim: [laughs] A cathalystic teacher. What?
Clay: Okay. I want to give you a point for that. Let give you a point. Let me crank up my point system here. That was a loud point. Let me give you a quieter point. That was a good point. One more point, just to — That’s three points. You’re a teacher that makes money. I want to reset this. We’re talking about the education system, why it’s broken and what is going on. You talked about what’s going on. You talked about the stats that show that 33% of fourth graders are reading at a level of 29% at reading level.
Basically, you’re saying, 33% of fourth graders can’t read the way they should. 29% of eight graders — actually, I got that wrong. You’re saying 33% of fourth graders can read the way they should. 33% can read the way they should.
Dominick: Yes. That’s the only 33%. So literally, if you have three kids lined up, two of them cannot read at the level they’re supposed to be at.
Tim: 67% can’t read.
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: You said this, 25% of high school graduates are hitting the minimum standards for math, only 25% of them.
Dominick: Yes. To put this into perspective, the minimal standards is a 60% of knowledge, so literally they’re missing 40% of the content and that’s on average, and only 25% who could do that.
Clay: Wait a minute. You’re saying that the standard is what? The actual standard you’re going for?
Dominick: The standard is 60%.
Clay: The standard is saying, hey listen, if you can get six out of 10 right, you’re a genius. That’s the goal.
Tim: This is horrible.
Dominick: Yes, yes. Only 25% of people can do that.
Clay: Okay. Now, so Thrivers, if you’re listening right now —
Tim: This is outrageous.
Clay: So Thrivers, if you’re listening right now, many of you might go, “That’s shocking.” Well, check it out. I employ people and to me, it’s not. Serious, we run around the building and I’m like, “Can anybody spell? Do we have someone who can spell? Do we have a speller? Can we have somebody here who can spell?” Felicia, I’m going to tell you what, she can spell. How in the — Can you not spell when you have spell check? “Oh, I didn’t know.”
Okay. I’m thinking, well maybe high school is really teaching the arts. Maybe elementary schools are really teaching the arts, can’t draw, can’t use paper, only uses the computer. Okay. So, you can’t. What about communication? Can’t communicate, can’t look you in the eye. What about time management? Can’t do that either. It’s bizarre how down the tubes we’ve gone but he’s going to help us get out of that toilet of the education system.
Then, you said, how did it get this way? Talk to me about this. Go off, my friend. Tell us, well how did we get this way? How did the teachers get disengaged?
Dominick: Really, it breaks down into three main areas. It’s disengaged teachers, disengaged students and then another phenomenon known as grade inflation, AKA, grades are now meaningless.
Clay: Okay. Let’s go into the first one here. So, the first one, if you’re saying —
Tim: Now, you’re going to get me upset right now.
Dominick: Oh, man, I know.
Tim: Are you kidding me?
Dominick: I know. It’s the rotten truth.
Tim: We all get a trophy, right?
Dominick: Yes. But with disengaged teachers, basically the way the economy has structured now and has been for many decades is most families are unable to support themselves on one income. To put this in contrast, the annual cost for a married with one child is about $56,000 per year and the average teacher makes $44,900 per year.
Clay: I’m going to reap you. I’m going to reap you. All the people listening right now who are pro-teachers getting paid more money, let’s do war. Here we go. I went to high school at Dazzle Kokedo High School. I’m sure it was the most screwed up high school in the world and I’m sure that all the schools in Oklahoma are awesome. But, my school — so you cant be super offended because I’m talking about Minnesota and that’s not here.
You see, you can talk about bad things somewhere else but not here. So here we go, that’s other people, not you people. Gallup did a study. They said 70% of the teachers are not engaged or are actively disengaged. Which means that they — this is what this means, this is the definition from Gallup. It means that they are not connected to their jobs in an emotional way. They do not go over and above and they actually hate their jobs.
Now, I went to high school. I’m just telling you, my situation. I grew up to a school, it’s 2,038 people. Many people have the fallacy, “Well, their class size are small so the teachers are going to love it.” Here’s my school, my freshmen year, I had a teacher named Mrs. Jansen. Mrs. Jansen say, “Listen, freshmen, I want you to learn the love of literature. I want you to learn the love of — I want you to learn –” So, we read Lord of the Flies and we got so into that and we were talking about Peggy and why did they kill him, and Jack, and why was he so physically beautiful and why did they put him in charge and just the whole thing.
Tim: Yes, the humanity.
Clay: She’s into it. She’s into it. By the end of the semester, I’m kind of like, “Yeah, I’m into it,” kind of a weird way. I’m like, maybe I’m going to become a poet or an artist or an author or something. Then I go to my second hour. My second hour teacher, she was a lady who was about 23 when she started and she used to go, “All right, everybody. We’re going to teach Algebra.” It’s was like Algebra three or whatever it was in my freshmen year.
Algebra is just, “We’ll teach you Algebra two and one thing is all the study answers are actually in the back of the book. And so, I just wanted everybody to know that. So, I’m going to go. I got some things I’m going to do and I’ll be –” She would just not be in the class. Then, we go to hour three, and I had a guy with the wood shop class and he was literally — I’m not exaggerating. He said this. He said, “Guys, I know that some of you are smoking pot, and that’s okay as long as you’re not leaving the residue. Because when you leave that res in the room, it causes a problem. I’d really appreciate it if you guys would leave that alone.” So I got a fourth hour.
Tim: What in the world?
Clay: No, I’m serious. I got a fourth hour. Fourth hour was a deal where I had a teacher. She taught Spanish and she was passionate but she refused to speak in English and she would yell at you.
Tim: Yes. I mean, see–
Clay: She would yell at you after class in English if you didn’t know it. I am not kidding. She never, the entire time, broke character, and none of us could understand it. She is like, “It’s immersion, it’s immersion.” After class, she’d go, “It’s immersion. If you’re not learning there is a problem with–” Then I go on to the genius in my fifth hour. These are — I wrote something–
Tim: Oh, my goodness.
Clay: It’s preparation for the show, I’m serious. I went through this. I was reflecting back. Then I go, I required gym class and my teacher, his whole thing was he was an open homosexual and he would talk about how attractive we were, all the time. He would be like, “Man, you guys. You guys. I’m going to tell you what.” And we’re like, “You’re so weird.”
Tim: You’ve got to do some more stretches this hour.
Clay: I am not kidding. He would make these comments about and you’re like, is he homosexual or maybe he’s bisexual? Because the girls, he’d make lewd comments about the girls. This was my fifth hour. Sixth hour I had choir. Now, choir was a laser show because the teacher we had was basically — you know, how a substitute has no respect?
Tim: Yes.
Clay: He was that kind of man. People would yell during the classroom. And then my seventh hour, we had so many like arguments and fisticuffs that the teacher sort of gave up. So I only had two teachers. I was thinking about the stats. That’s pretty intense. I can only think of two teachers that at any point gave a crap at all during my freshman year.
Dominick: That matches really pretty much to two-thirds of people who are totally disengaged with their work.
Clay: In any industry, though. You go in any industry, like you go into insurance, you go into auto mechanics, you go into any. So it is not just teachers but it’s the majority of people are disengaged. I don’t think it’s necessarily about the money but, to your point, is if you are diligent, then you wouldn’t want to stay as a teacher because financially you can’t even support your family.
Tim: Yes. If you can’t support your family, then guess what that means? You’ve got to get a second job and your head is not going to be in the education game when you are in the classroom. You’re in the game of how am I going to make this next car payment, how am I going to pay for crazy health insurance costs for a family of four by the end of the month? You’re not thinking, “Did Jimmy learn this concept for algebra one? Did Sarah remember to turn in her book report?” It’s just not at the front of your mind.
Clay: You guys have got to watch the Steve Jobs lost interview from 1990.
Dominick: Oh, I love those.
Clay: That was leaked.
Dominick: Those are awesome.
Tim: I think I have watched it two or three times now.
Clay: One of the things he did – I’m sure it was 1995. He gave this a little over one hour interview. He is talking about how teachers today who are really good, leave to do something else because really good people as a general rule want to be paid what they are worth and so they move on.
So he is saying that the best and the brightest don’t stick around as teachers, unless you have almost a religious belief of why you are a teacher, you feel called to be a teacher. That’s not a good thing. Now, the second move and I want to get Tim’s take on this in a second here, the second move is you’re saying you have disengaged students. What does that mean, bro?
Tim: Basically, the students in your classroom, not only do the teachers not want to teach there, but the students don’t want to learn there.
Clay: Okay. Now, here is what I did in school. You tell me if I’m wrong. Tim, you tell me if this was something different than what you did. Because back in the day, when you went to school, people had it right. Here we go. My senior year, I elected to go to college so I skipped my senior year of high school and went to college early because my junior year was a complete waste of time. And so my junior year what I did is I would enroll because I already had it on my credits.
Tim: Yeah.
Clay: I would enroll in classes like wood shop, painting, things that just had no bearing at all in my life. You could choose what classes you wanted. I would just take the easiest path possible so that I could just sort of drift around and get a B. I knew that my teachers didn’t care. I didn’t care and I just was there to get a B. Tim, did people, when you were going to high school do that or was it a more rigorous — talk to me about it.
Tim: Every generation has got folks that are plugged in or not plugged in here, so I had my share of it. I had a couple of teachers that engaged me entirely in the learning process.
Clay: Oh boy.
Tim: Where I loved it. But I had a number of people that were just doing it, just because they were doing it like a. k. a football coach that stopped teaching history or Driver’s Ed. Those were the ones that brought it down.
Clay: I have to tell you, there is a lady who taught me at Earl Robert’s University and I was a freshman. Her name was Amanda. I wish I could remember her last name because I would love to go to Facebook and send her a message.
Tim: She taught you how to read, right?
Clay: She did. No. I am not kidding. I was going to college and I couldn’t critically read. I couldn’t read to comprehend. You ever seen that Dominick, where you work with someone who can’t read to comprehend?
Dominick: Oh yeah, absolutely.
Clay: So you’re reading. You can get a B in school by just memorizing stuff, but I couldn’t read and remember. She said, “Here is what I want you to do.” I couldn’t read and apply. I couldn’t read and think. I’d just read. She says, “Here is what I want you to do. Try to take three times longer to read everything than anybody else, and I want you to highlight anything in the book that is meaningful. I want you to write in the margin what it means to you and how you can act upon it. Like how it is actionable and what you think about it or how it made you feel or how you react to it or your thoughts on it.”
To this day, if you see my books, I’ll write in the column, “I totally disagree with that, that’s a great point, oh I could apply that.” Then I take all the action items from every book and I add them to the front of the book and I go do them. It’s pretty funny I’ll use the same action steps as the world’s most successful people. You have success. I am not the world’s most successful people but in terms of income and revenue and these kinds of things, I would say I am in the top 1% statistically in those kinds of areas and it is not because I am a genius. It’s because I learned to read.
And if it wasn’t for her passion, I would not have learned that skill. The thing is you’re saying you have a solution to this. If I’m listening right now and I am a student and I am not doing well academically what can I do man, what is the offer, what’s your move?
Tim: A few things here. One is to kind of break away from this factory mindset. With that being said what it is, is you have to individualize your education. You have to make it specific to you and you have to make it so that your aspirations and passions are nurtured and grown.
Clay: When we come back, Dominick is going to get into us and tell us more about launch academy and how his program can help mentor your student. If you’re a parent and your student is trying to get into college and their ACT scores are low, he is going to teach you how to make that thing grow. Stay tuned, thrivetimeshow.com.
Thrive Nation. Welcome back to the conversation about how to start and grow a successful company. Today, we have a guy on the show, Mr. Dominick Cooper, who is actually been able to do the American dream that so many of us want to do. He had a vision to start his own business.
Dominick: I did.
Clay: He actually did it. He was a former school teacher and was able to turn his love for education and teaching kids into an actual functional business. It’s a business show, and so I would like to paraphrase how I think he did it. You tell me if I am wrong here.
Dominick: Yeah.
Clay: You saw that the current state of education was awful. You saw a problem, which we talk about all the time. You saw a problem and then you thought that you could solve it and basically help people tutor their kids at better way than they were getting in the normal school system. You thought, hey, I could personally tutor all of Tulsa. If anybody in Tulsa is listening right now, what’s your offer right now by the way? What is your big offer you are doing right now?
Dominick: We have a crazy offer going on right now. It is one month of tutoring for $1.
Clay: One month for $1?
Dominick: One month for $1.
Clay: What?
Dominick: One month for $1.
Clay: Okay, so you have one month…
Tim: Is that negotiable?
Dominick: That is not negotiable.
Clay: So here is the deal. You do that because you realized that once you can sit down with a kid and work with them for about a month, you can totally help them out academically and you believe that the power of one tutor can absolutely change someone’s life. Is that correct?
Dominick: Absolutely. Saying the phrase tutor is an understatement. That’s one reason why at Launch Academy we actually have academic coaches who help them not just with their academics, that is the tutor side of it, but also with a lot of life coaching, so teaching these students, skills like time management.
Tim: Oh, this is awesome.
Dominick: Like organization, like being able to write a resume and be able to do graphic design.
Clay: Now, I want to talk to you, Thrivers because if you are listening right now and you’re saying, “Listen, I have a son or a daughter and they are just struggling academically.” And you’re going, “I need to help them.” Well, first of, don’t beat up your kid too much. There is a solution here. One is you’ve got to launch — what is your website, Launch Academy?
Dominick: Launchacademytulsa.com.
Clay: You go there. It’s a dollar for a month. Dominick can help straighten out your kid, help them academically perform better. Tim, I want to get your take on this in just a second. We were talking off-air about how one teacher has the power.
If you are a teacher right now and you’re listening and you’re just recovering from being offended, but if you are listening right now and you’re a teacher and you’re like, “Hey, I did this because I care about people,” you can absolutely change the trajectory of your students’ life.
We have an audio clip I want to play here. This is from the late Steve Jobs, the guy who was the co-founder of Apple. This is a man who was the CEO of Pixar, and this is a man who struggled in school. So here we go.
Steve Jobs: My childhood was very fortunate in that way. I had a rough time in school.
Interviewer: It sounds like you were really lucky to have your dad as sort of a mentor and a hero. I was going to ask you about school. What was the formal side of your education like?
Steve: School was pretty hard for me at the beginning. My mother had taught me how to read before I got to school. When I got there, I really just wanted to do two things. I wanted to read books.
Clay: So that’s Steve Jobs and he’s saying, when he went to school, all he wanted to do was read books and best he discover and explore. He discovered that the education system was geared for memorization. Hey, do this, read this, memorize it get a B. Read this, memorize this. This is my school experience; read this, memorize it, quickly forget it, get a B. Read this, learn this, take the test, regurgitate it, get a B.
Then when you get to the end of the year and they say, “What did you learn in Algebra?” I don’t know. I got a B but I’d always fail the final exams. I didn’t know what it’s about, I didn’t retain anything. It was all about just a game of trying to go memorize all the States. Right now, as adult, I’m a 36 years old man, can I name all the States? No, but I had to do that. I don’t know why but I guess I had to. I’d have to memorize all the capitals. I’ve never closed the deals as a result to my memorization skills.
One teacher that made me memorize the periodic table, I asked her why, she said “Because it’s required.” Okay, great. Then as an adult, I’ve never used that periodic table. I guess, I spent hours contemplating what californium was all about.
Tim: Wait, you haven’t used the quadratic formula yet?
Clay: I am obsessed with magnesium and the quadratic formula. That’s something I’m interviewed, the Tigris and Euphrates is the Mesopotamia river valley, matter so much to me and I’m so glad of my vast knowledge of the equator but Tim, I’d go to you. Have you had a teacher that made an impact in your life that really helped you?
Tim: I’ve had throughout. First of them, my dad was actually a professor at one time. PhD in chemical engineering but he taught me a lot about teaching. I was telling you off the air in my junior year in high school. I’ve been in a really serious car accident, I lost my ability to think and even to read and write. I had to learn to do that all over again. School before that was never even a challenge, it was really a challenge. I had an English teacher, I love Math, love Science, almost blew up the entire school there during high school and Chemistry too.
But with English which I was never fond of, she was so in to it, Clay, that she yanked me in and emotionally I embraced that thing. I love the class. It woke me up and I think it was half the healing in my mind is through that class.
Clay: Steve Jobs talked about how a teacher, talks about in this interview that he could — he talks about how a teacher could make anything interesting or almost anything uninteresting. The way that the education system and the passion of the teacher can change everything. Dominick, If I’m listening right now and I’m going Okay, I embrace the fact that the education system is not that ideal. I can’t change it. I embrace the fact that teachers aren’t paid enough. I can’t change — what can I do? What is a practical thing? Anybody listening right now can do, if they want to help their kid perform better academically. What’s the moves?
Dominick: Really, the biggest move is talking to your kid, finding out are their aspirations. What is it that they’re good at? What are their passions? What is it that they could do for hours and it just feels like minutes and help foster those things. The other thing is helping them with their academics yourself. Now if you don’t have time to help them with their academics that’s where Launch Academy comes in. Where we’re able to pair your student with an academic coach who’s actually paid based on how much improvement your student makes on their academics.
Clay: I’m going to say this about time, too. My wife and I, we home school our kids in sort of a Clay Clarke kind of a way. What I do is I have five kids and I want them to be trained, matriculated, coached, I want them to be mentored. I want them to learn how to read well. I want them to learn Math.
Dominick: I don’t want them to be public, that’s what you are saying.
Clay: I don’t want them to meet most of the other kids and their parents so I want to shelter. You want to put your kids in a bubble? You’re right, I live in a bubble as an adult so I like living in my bubble. Thing is I hired a teacher who was the Bixby, teacher of the year Miss Tristy Friar; if you’re listening right now. Tristy Friar is — your blessed to know her. A great lady. She works with our kids. She mentors them, she teachers them and she is with homeschool but she teaches our kids probably 25 hours a week and it’s a great thing.
I’m just telling you, if you’re listening right now and you’ve gone mad, I’m spitting a ton of money on private school or a ton of money on this or that. It’s absolutely not as –it’s not as an affordable luxury as you might think, to hire a tutor but if you’re going, “I want to tap my toes in the water and see if the tutor is right for my family and for my child, my students there. How can they find out more about you? What’s the offer you have right now?
Dominick: What you can do is you can go to launchacademytulsa.com. Right now, we’re giving away a whole month of tutoring for $1.
Clay: A whole month for a dollar?
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: You know the only thing it’s a better deal than that?
Dominick: What is that?
Clay: Anything on the menu at Oklahoma Joe’s. I had Oklahoma Joe’s for lunch today. They just happen to be a sponsor of this show but I’m not kidding. Sam, our producer can tell, he brought in today baked beans, burnt ends, America. Now, Thrivers, baked beans, burnt ends, America. There’s nothing better than Oklahoma Joe’s, unless you’re having your Oklahoma Joe’s in the lobby of Regent Bank. So go to bankregent.com, go to Oklahoma Joe’s. Check it out.
Thrive Nation, welcome back into the education themed conversation. You see, today we’re talking about how to start and grow a successful business but specifically we’re talking about the whole education system. We have a entrepreneur, a local Oklahomie, a guy from Green country here who was a teacher and he’s sitting there teaching kids and working with kids. He’s walking around, teaching class. He’s matriculating kids, educating kids, showing kids the way. Teach them the moves and one day he goes “The system is broken. I want to do something about it.”
So he leaves, flies away. Leaves, start his own business called Launch Academy. Now his thriving tutoring company is mentoring and teaching kids all across Tulsa, what they need to know to academically grow. That’s what he does. Dominick, how are you doing my friend?
Dominick: I’m doing fantastic. I actually did have some Oklahoma Joe’s baked beans and it’s just simmering inside me right now.
Clay: You’re starting to catch up.
Tim: Did you eat those in the Regent Bank?
Dominick: I just waited in the lobby a little bit.
Clay: That’s the thing in — the thing is Sean Kouplen, he’s CEO of the bank and he says, seriously as a sponsor what you tell people, you want them to know that we’re a very fast growing bank. We have very convenient hours for business owners. We’re business friendly bank. We have monthly seminars. We have personal business coaching that we do to teach our business owners how to be successful. We have all these tools and I’m going, “Yes, but also you allow people to eat the baked beans in your lobby which is cool. I’m going to talk about that and also, you have the best suckers I’ve ever seen there.” These are some benefits that I want to talk about.
Dominick: Yes, there are some fine suckers there.
Clay: I’m going to read the definition of education. I want you, Tim, to unpack this. This is from Martin Luther King Jr. We had Martin Luther King Day just a week ago, I want read this to you. He said, “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of true education.” Whoa Tim, what are we talking about here?
Tim: It’s not just as memorization thing that we have, it’s just a small part of who we are to solve problems. We’ve got to get our entire imagination involved here. We got to get our entire system involved with, balanced by this good character; of content of the character that he talks about.
Clay: I’m going to give you an example of this, Napoleon Hill, one of my favorite authors. He is the author of Think and Grow Rich. That book made such a big impact on my life that I named my son after Napoleon Hill. You might say “Who’s Napoleon Hill? When Napoleon Hill decided back in the day that he wanted to become educated on how to achieve success. He reached out to Andrew Carnegie who was the world’s wealthiest man during his time, between number one and two. He was kind of like how Bill Gates is always number one or two in the world for the wealthiest people.
He reaches out to Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Carnegie begins to mentor him and he was like his apprentice. Anyway, he becomes very successful. He writes Think and Grow Rich, the number one self-help book of all time. He went on to become the personal mentor of, not a lot of people know this, Ronald Roberts back in the day. Ronald Roberts University – he and Napoleon Hill were buddies.
Napoleon Hills says this, he talks about, “Intelligence is your ability to get what you want quickly without violating the rights of others.” The ability to get what you want quickly, and so here is an example of what I have seen. This is what I see. There is a lot of people who have learned a lot and caught it, memorized a lot of things but they are not educated. They can’t find the results they want quickly.
As an example, there is this jackass, who’s all over the internet right now named Tai Lopez. Tai Lopez, how you doing? Read the transcript, check it out. This guy, what he does is he claims that he reads a thousand books a year. He says, “I’ve read thousands of books. I read a thousand books. I read a book every day.” That kind of stuff.
The thing is I do know that James Stovall is a Tulsa guy. He is an entrepreneur who is a blind bestselling author. What he does is he has audio books and he speeds them up and he listens to it.
Tim: He’s telling me, he said, “Tim, every morning usually most books are eight hours long and I have one hour I dedicate to it so I turn up the speaking so it’s eight times faster, so I could get through a whole book listening to it in one hour.
Clay: He will do this and he’ll actually go through and he’s actually had his life turned into a movie. He’s actually a best-selling author. Jim Stovall is a legend, but he became successful after going blind. He’s written a book with Steve Forbes. Powerful. They just sent me a pre-release of their new book. Jim Stovall and Steve Forbes, they sent me a copy of their newest book and I’m just telling you — Jim Stovall is writing a book with Steve Forbes from Forbes magazine. This is lights out. Unbelievable guru here.
He talks about how he listens to these audio books. But this Tai Lopez, a charlatan guy is going, “Well, what I do is I listen to — I read a book every day. I read like a thousands of books a year. If people want to know how I got my big house and they want to know how I did it. For me, I mean, it’s not about that. It’s about–” and he just is an idiot. The thing is, there’s people signing up for his program left and right because they went to college and they learn how to memorize stuff. They didn’t learn how to judge that the fruit of a tree by the roots.
You see, if you want to judge — if you look at the fruit you want to know, “Is this good fruit?” Look at the roots. They don’t understand the idea of character and so I want to give you an example about education. I want you to break it down here, Dominick, okay?
Dominick: Okay.
Clay: This is George Washington Carver. He says, “Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.”
Dominick: Oh, my gosh.
Clay: When you learned about entrepreneurship for the first time, you learned about that. You’re educated about entrepreneurship. When did the lights go off for you? Where you thought, “Man, I can actually own my own business.”
Dominick: Actually, you might not even know this, Clay. The lights went off when I was with you.
Clay: I’m sorry about that.
Dominick: We were actually, I think we’re about to DJ a show together. I was shadowing you and you treated me to a wonderful Subway sandwich.
Clay: Oh, it’s classic.
Dominick: You asked me what my dream was and I talked about doing a tutoring company and talked about later on even building a school. You asked me a question that just stuck with me which was, “What’s stopping you from doing it tomorrow?”
Clay: [laughs] Here’s the thing now. Aristotle has a notable quote. I’m going to break it down. Aristotle.
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: Our philosopher friend. He says, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” I shared with you, I said, “Hey, what’s stopping you from starting a business now?” And you had to sort of entertain that, marinate on that. How long did it take you before you said, “Okay, I agree with that.” A lot of people, I mentioned that too, they’re almost offended by the fact that their success could happen now. They don’t have to wait until after they’re married or until after college or after they — when did that become your reality?
Dominick: I would say I marinated on it for at least a few days. It was something that definitely stuck with me and finally I just decided, “What is stopping me?” I made a list and just started knocking down the dominoes one by one.
Clay: Now, Thrivers, if you’re listening today and you’ve had that dream to start or grow a successful company, and I know you have because 57% of you, according to Forbes, have said that you want to start or grow a successful business. I know you have what it takes to be successful. Right next to me, I’ve got a guy named, Tim Redmond, who coaches businesses. He coaches startups. He coaches successful, existing companies. Tim, why is it so important, for everyone listening right now, to know that they have what it takes to start and grow a successful company?
Tim: It’s so important because, Clay, they’ve got to engage their heart in this pursuit. If they don’t think they’ve got what it takes, they’re not going to show up to do the development work that –because it gets hard. Life plays the opposite. You start to do stuff and just the opposite happens. That opposite, if you stay in there, stay persistent, it makes you stronger. It gets you there.
Clay: Now, Thrivers, if you want to learn more about one on one business coaching or you want to hear the podcast version of today’s broadcast, go to thrivetimeshow.com. I’m telling you when we come back, we’re going to get more into the entrepreneurial education. Stay tuned. Thrivetimeshow.com baby, baby. Boom.
Thrive Nation, welcome back into our conversation where we are talking about practical education and specifically it’s an education theme show because the guests that we have on today are dynamic. We’re always going to bring in the best of the best on the show. Today we have a guy, Dominick Cooper, who’s a former school teacher who thought, “You know what-” he’s doing the whole Forbes thing where Forbes says that 57% of you want to start or grow a successful business at some point. There’s this thing called Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Dominick, did you ever teach that at school, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
Dominick: I did not teach it but it was taught to me, yes.
Clay: Why didn’t you teach it at school? What was your deal?
Dominick: Well, mostly because I was being smothered by all of the standards that I had to teach kids that they’re never going to be-
Clay: Smothered. All right, well, I’m going to argue with you here for a second. Here we go.
Dominick: Okay.
Clay: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, this is one the things they teach you at school. I’m going to read it off to you. It’s like a pyramid, okay? At the bottom of the pyramid is everybody has this first deal for psychological — they have a feeling of safety. They need to feel like, “Am I safe?” Okay?
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: Then, if some would argue then they need to have food and shelter. Then they go, “Actually you need food and shelter first.” Well, okay, we’ll get into it, but I’m saying as a general rule, if you don’t have food and shelter, it’s hard to worry about any other aspect of your life. Then you move up and they say, these psychologists, these geniuses, they get together and they say, “Once you have food and shelter then what you want to do is, you want to feel a sense of belonging.” You want to go, “I am part of something bigger than myself. Bigger than myself.”
Dominick: We are the world.
Clay: We are the world. There’s still a lot of “we are the world” a lot of Michael Jackson. There are people dying and you starting to listen to all that. It’s a beautiful thing. Then you move up to esteem needs. You want to feel good about doing something that you feel — you’re good at a skill, good at a craft. Then there’s self-actualization where you get to focus on being the best that you could be.
Now, here’s the deal, if you’re listening, you have won the lottery. In the history of the world there’s never been a better time to be born. Some of them says, “Back in the Bible you’d live to be 400.” I don’t want to get into that debate with you today, but here’s the thing is that, back in the day Grandpa’s dying of polio at the age of 34, right? Am I wrong with American history? Back in the day, people are having wooden dentures. They’re dying of-
Tim: Old age was 30 years of age. 35 if you really got up there.
Clay: Yes. The pilgrims are like, “Hey, you guys want to eat some shoes?” “Yes, I do want to eat some shoes. That’ll be a great way to survive until we get to Plymouth rock.” Then they get to Plymouth rock and they’re going, “Hey, I don’t know if — what was that? Is that Bernie Sanders?” Bernie appears like a vision, he says, “Hey, everybody all you got to do is work 36 hours a week because anything above 36 hours that is unethical,” and they go, “Wait, but if we don’t sow the seeds and grow the corn will die,” and then he’s, “I know you would die but it will be unethical if you don’t work so much,” and so they’re like, “Shut up, Bernie.” So, they all get back to work. They’re all working hard and that’s how the pilgrims did. They worked all the time. 12 months a year they’re working.
Tim: Half of them still die.
Clay: Half of them still die. Now here we are in 2017 where you — if things aren’t going well, you have an Obama phone. Things aren’t going well, you got the Obama healthcare. Things aren’t going well, you got the Obama college. Things aren’t going well, Obama. That’s why we pay 50% of our money in taxes, but the point is, life is not that hard now compared to what it was.
Tim: Which by the way, today he’s no longer reigning as President.
Clay: Right. Just because I bring up a political thing first, it doesn’t mean that you can bring up a political thing second.
Tim: I’m just saying, it’s a realization. This is the last day. We are free.
Clay: Wow. Unbelievable. Here’s the deal, now Thrivers, we know that this program does not necessarily endorse the political opinions of Mr. Tim Redmond. Although we have a Donald Trump book on our desk and you can kind of figure out who we are in favor of because we’re capitalists. But anyway, moving on. What happens is, is that you now realized, at a certain age, you could start a business.
Dominick: Yes.
Clay: How old were you?
Dominick: I would say I was about 21, 22.
Clay: If you’re listening right now, I don’t care how old you are, you could start a business. Ray Kroc started McDonald’s when he’s in 50’s. You’re like, “No, he didn’t. The McDonald’s brothers started it.” They did. That’s right, but he’s began the franchising process when he was over 50 years old, okay? You could start, anybody could start. I’m going to read you this notable quotable that I want you to unpack at my friend, okay?
Dominick: All right.
Clay: This is Steve Jobs. This is the guy who’s a co-founder of Apple. The guy was the former CEO of Pixar. He says this, “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool that I’ve encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Almost everything, all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment and failure, these things just fall away in the face of death. Leaving only what is truly important.
Remembering that you’re going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking that you have something to lose. You are already naked. There’s no reason not to follow your heart.” Bam. That was just — Steve Jobs, good job.
Dominick: I love that. Love it.
Clay: I’m going to ask you this, when did you make the jump?
Dominick: Yes. I made the jump actually it was really just earlier this year.
Clay: This year you decided, “Hey, I’ve been working this for a long time and I’m full time.”
Dominick: Yes. I was juggling both ships. I was teaching and doing Launch Academy at the same time. I know a lot of people out there, they had to do that when they started their business and I tell you what, just keep doing it because there’s going to come a point when you can make the jump. When you can burn the boats and it’s beautiful.
Clay: If someone’s listening right now and they’re going, “Okay, Mr. Burn the boater. You have a — I know you’re full time now and it looks like you’re gainfully employed or sort of. I’ve heard Launch Academy growing.” By the way, you have hundreds of members, it’s growing every day and it’s a membership based program but for someone listening right now they go, “Hey, my kid, he’s not doing well academically, I don’t know I can afford a tutor such as yourself, a person who’s been a teacher for over a decade.” How much does it cost, no BS, the first month, what’s the cost?
Dominick: The very first month with us is only $1.
Clay: $1? What’s the catch?
Dominick: The catch is your student becomes incredible on their academics, that’s the catch.
Voice-Over: Holy cow.
Clay: Let me do that again. Harry came in slow there. He’d been having a little too much of a bender before the show so let me try it again, here we go.
Voice-Over: Holy cow.
Clay: You’re saying, it’s how much again?
Dominick: $1 for one month of tutoring.
Voice-Over Holy cow.
Clay: Oh, that’s amazing. Tim, if someone’s listening, right now and they say, “Listen, I don’t need education for my kid, I need business education for me.” I have a business, my kid is doing well in school, but I need a coach or a mentor or a teacher. I need a business teacher, I need someone who can teach me business. Not like give me a syllabus, give me an MBA and we talk about it for six years. We were talking about a guy who’s saying, or a woman listening saying,” I have a business and the sky is falling, I need help, I need somebody to coach me, to teach me how to grow my business. What is it that you do as a business coach?
Tim: Well, I tell you, I love the process here. We will take a look at their business. We’ll take a look at their thinking processes and we will create a scalable system. We’ll convert their non-systems or their unproductive systems into very productive systems. We’ll help them in their thinking so they’re not going to contradict the work that we do on the outside towards their systems.
Clay: I want to a give a very specific example of this. There’s a security company that I was working with. They sell security badges that kind of thing. They’re located in the Northeast. If you want a lanyard for a badge, for a conference or your office, like a security card to get in. We discovered is, we always do this when we coach businesses. We looked at it and we said, “How many people are on your website today.”
There’s about 600 people every day on their website, that’s pretty good. I’m going, okay, we look at that. Do the phones ring? “Yes,” the owner says,” They ring.” I said, “When you answer the phone, is there a script, do we have a script. Is the phone being answered and do we have a script.” “No, I let the people kind of say what they want to say. I said, “I would like to put a system on your phone that will record the calls for quality insurance and then we will make our determination.”
We discovered that — and by the way the system you can use is eight by eight or it’s a system called Celerity. We discovered that what percentage of the calls Tim Redmond would you guess, out of a hundred daily calls that would come in and for every hundred calls, what percentage of the calls did they answer?
Tim: Well, I’ll tell you there are some companies that they never answer it. But I would figure maybe 50%.
Clay: Like three or four a day.
Tim: No way. 97%, that’s like burning money.
Clay: Well, they send it straight to voicemail hell. When you call, it’s like, “Thank you for calling Global Enterprises, [beeps] press four, [beeps] press three, if you want to get to sales. [beeps] Press two to rehear this message” and then you hit the number, “Hello, thank you for reaching the desk of Bob Smith, it’s Tuesday the fifth” and you are, it’s Monday. Tuesday the fifth– so you realize this guy is not updating his system. Then when they did take a call, when you heard the calls, it was awful.
All I’m saying is, we went in and just practically made a script, we fixed the system for having answered the phone. We required all phones be answered within the first two rings. They were able to double the revenue of the business by doing that.
When you see companies like Barbee Cookies, great product, and all they needed to do was get to the top of Google. Right here in Tulsa, 85th in memorial, they’re top in Google, type in Tulsa cookies. Google it, Tulsa cookies, and they’re top in Google. Why are they top in Google? Because they know the system. What about Score Basketball, a great basketball facility? They’re beating Russell Westbrooks camps right now for enrollment, why? Google Tulsa basketball camps and you’ll see that he’s tops. Dominick, if people want to learn more about education, educating their kids, where can they learn more?
Dominick: What you got to do is, you got to pull your car over right now and get on your phone, type in www.launchacademytulsa.com and take advantage of one month for $1. I’m being serious, it’s one month for $1. Even if it’s a horrible experience, which I can guarantee you, it will be anything but, you’re out a dollar, it’s a no-brainer.
Clay: Now, Thrivers, if you want to start a business or be coached on how to grow your business, I’ll give you two options here. One, go to thrivetimeshow.com and sign up for one of our in person two-day workshops. There’s no back of the room sales, no smoke in the mirrors. We have scholarships available, it is awesome. Move number two is you go to thrive15.com and sign up for the world’s best business school at thrive15.com and as always, Thrivers, three, two, one, boom.
[01:25:23] [END OF AUDIO]
