In this transcript, Jill Donovan (founder of Oprah-endorsed, Rustic Cuff) and Clay Clark (founder of Thrive15.com, one of the top business schools in PA) discuss how to stay motivated and manuever manufacturing overseas in a business coach world.
Clay: It’s so big as an business coach or entrepreneur that you maintain and you establish momentum. You can’t get stuck. Do not get stuck because you can’t get steer your part abreast. You got to move, you got move. Drew Houston, this is the guy who launched Dropbox, big company, very successful, almost a billion dollar company. He says, “Don’t worry about failure. You only have to get it right once.” How did you keep yourself from getting discouraged when you’re on all these weird websites. Some of them shady. They try and get you to wire money over to wherever and there’s people, I’m sure you talk to reps who are trying to take advantage of you. You probably talked to factory that didn’t work out. How did you keep from getting discouraged? What did you do? Was there anything you did? Did you do some sort of yoga every morning or did you drink a certain smoothie or what did you do to keep yourself encouraged?
Jill: I don’t like smoothies and I don’t do yoga but I do love business coach platforms.
Clay: What?
Jill: I know. Is that crazy?
Clay: I thought that’s what you did.
Jill: No, I play poker and I business coach.
Clay: So, you just-
Jill: Played poker. I would go play poker and it would give about 5 hours to just chill.
Clay: Really?
Jill: Yeah.
Clay: And I want to make sure if you’re watching this, you have to find a way to motivate yourself because the cavalry is not coming to help. And so I know it sounds brutal and you’re like, “I thought this was motivational.” No, but-
Jill: But really I do play poker, but one of the things I would do is, I would do something to get a better perspective because when you get discouraged and it’s all right here, I would take a step back from there. Get a perspective whether it’s a distraction or something. When you come back here, this looks a little different.
Clay: I want to encourage this. I’ve met some unbelievably successful people on this Thrive journey. So far, I’ve met 5 who admit to talking to themselves. I would make myself in that category, so maybe 6 who I said, “Literally, when you were facing this adversity, what would you do?” And they would say, one of the guys says, “Literally, I would stare at the mirror and say, ‘This is going to happen. I am going to be successful. I am going to be.'” And the other guys says, “I would listen to music crazy loud on the way to the work and encourage myself. I’d listen to positive music. I would say affirmations. ‘I’m going to be successful. I’m going to.'”
For me, I get a lot of therapy from reading stories of people who’ve done it before, in fact, learning it from their struggles. Is there anything, do you talk to yourself ever? Do you ever say, “Jill, you are the thrill”?
Jill: You know what I did? Three weeks ago I was playing tennis and I was in a super tiebreaker and I was down 6-9 and it was to 10. All she had to is get one more point and that was it. I would lose it for the whole team. I closed my eyes before I served. I closed my eyes and I thought of a time where I had done something and pushed myself beyond what I could and was successful at it. Five years ago I climbed a pole which maybe for you is not a big deal, but I climbed a pole, jumped off of it. I was in a harness, but it was High Webs Challenge course and for me, terrified of heights, that was a really big deal and I did it. I closed my eyes right before I served. I said, “Jill, if you did that and you didn’t think you could do it, you accomplished that. You can win this game.” Every point from when it was 7, every point I’d close my eyes and I would think through this. I would see myself on the pole and I won 11-9.
Clay: Boom for all business coach gurus
Jill: But what I did is, you have to visualize something else that you have done that you have come through that you were successful at. And so I did it then. I can do it now.
Clay: I want you know this. If it sounds weird, I’m hoping you’re hearing this. People say, “Well, your eccentric,” if you’re talking to yourself and visualizing yourself climbing a pole or achieving something. I have people, probably 10 a year, that’ll shadow me for a day. They’re an entrepreneur from somewhere in the country and they’re like, “I want to shadow you. Can I shadow?” And they become legendary. Some people right about them on some blogs and they follow me for a day and realize that I’m nuts, but they’ll shadow me and they’ll say, “Do you literally always listen to T.D. Jakes and Joel Osteen every day? I mean, every day, do you always listen to that sort of thing?” I’m like, “Yeah, just the days I want to be successful.” “Like really? Do you always listen to that music on the way to work?” “Yeah.” “Why?” I’m like, “Because I have to trick myself. I have to motivate myself.”
Jill: Sure.
Clay: And I’m mentioning this as a business coach and I’m harping on this because when you start calling these overseas factories, I promise you, whoever you call, he’s not going to speak English. He’s going to be frustrating to you. You’re going to have a problem or two. You’re going to pay money to somebody who doesn’t deliver. It’s frustration, otherwise everyone would just be mad. It’s producing products. It’s a little bit of a … I’m just trying to encourage you.
Jill: It’s a process. It’s a process. You’re not always going to hit on the right one, but eventually you will and it will have been worth what you went through to get to the right one.
Clay: If I am talking to manufacturers and we’re talking to factories and I’m just getting blown off. People are not-
Jill: And when you say talking, most of the time it’s email.
Clay: If I’m emailing, just real talk. We don’t even talk. Talking is email. If I’m emailing and I’m just getting blown off. “No, we’re not going to do it. We’re not going to do it.” Do you recommend that failure’s not an option? I just keep going?
Jill: Absolutely, absolutely. I’m telling you, you find a liaison and then you don’t have to go through the 10 rejections. Have them find the right factory for you.