Chris Hogan | Everyday Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth–And How You Can Too

Audio Transcription

Clay:
Today we interview Chris Hogan, the Dave Ramsey protege, who joins us to share about his new book Everyday Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth ― and How You Can Too. Chris Hogan’s new book is based upon the largest study ever conducted on United States millionaires. This guy rounded up 10,000 United States millionaires and asked them questions to discover their patterns, their habits, their routines, what is it that makes them super successful? And on today’s show, he distills the wisdom that he has learned as a result of investing years of research to discover the habits and the routines of the millionaire mindset.

Chris Hogan:
Well, the reality is, based on this study that we did, we found that 79% of the millionaires that we talked to didn’t inherit a dime. You control your destiny. No matter where you are right now, you have an opportunity to make a decision. And where you are doesn’t have to be where you end up. I want you to grow forward, get the relationships, the right people around you, believe in yourself, but take action right now.

Chris Hogan:
One of the stats that I absolutely loved was 98% of the millionaires that I talked to, 98%, which is virtually all of them, said this, that they feel that they control their own destiny. One of the things I’m trying to emphasize is I need people to look inside internally at themselves. I’m not worried about people’s opinions. Opinions are like yesterdays. I’m worried about what you believe what’s possible for you. Luck doesn’t exist. We’ve heard this phrase that, “Luck favors the prepared.” 64% of these millionaires that I talked to describe that they loved their career, and I thought that that’s a strong statement.

Chris Hogan:
Z, I am your father.

Clay:
Oh there we go. There we go.

Dr Z:
Oh nice.

Clay:
That’s a home run right there.

Dr Z:
Oh.

Clay:
There we go. Drop the mic, we’re done.

Speaker 6:
Can you dig it?

Speaker 10:
Get ready to enter the Thrive Time Show.

Speaker 10:
(singing).

Clay:
Yes, yes, yes, and yes. See it as always ecstasy when you are next to me. But today’s show is going to be a game changer.

Dr Z:
Game changer deluxe.

Clay:
[Z 00:02:58], on today’s show we’re interviewing Chris Hogan, who many considered to be America’s trusted voice on retirement. He’s the man with the plan. Chris Hogan, welcome onto the Thrive Time Show. How are you sir?

Chris Hogan:
I am fantastic guys. Thank you very, very much for having me.

Clay:
Everything sounds more excellent no matter what he says.

Dr Z:
I just want to call him up and just talk to him late at night. Just, “Hey Chris, what’s up?”

Clay:
It’s like when you have a British friend, a British Friend. They always sound smarter.

Dr Z:
Yeah yeah yeah.

Clay:
With Chris, everything, it just sounds more incredible. So Chris, I want to ask you my friend, you’ve had huge success with your career, but what was life like for you growing up? Where did it all start?

Chris Hogan:
Well, I was born and raised in Kentucky, central Kentucky. And so grew up with a big family that was loving, highly competitive. Our games of Scrabble and UNO involved a lot of muscles, sweat, and serious strategy. But grew up in a family with a lot of love and a lot of care. So I was very fortunate.

Clay:
So when did you figure out what you wanted to do professionally?

Chris Hogan:
I honestly figured it out, I thought I did, in 7th grade. I knew I wanted to go into the FBI. I’d always been intrigued by that and really had that as a goal all throughout my life, moving up in through college and even into grad school. But it was really having a chance to mentor with an agent as I got closer in the application process where I began to learn some of the not so good nuances of that career, and some of the dangers. And so I shifted and went into the business route. And as a former athlete, I knew if I could create a sport type of environment, and that kind of level of camaraderie with my team members, that there was nothing we couldn’t accomplish.

Clay:
For people out there that aren’t as familiar with your background, what sports did you compete in?

Chris Hogan:
Growing up, I played baseball, football, and track. When I got to college I focused purely on football there, and I had an opportunity to play all four years.

Clay:
Wow. So you’ve excelled as an athlete. You did well academically. How did you first get connected with Dave Ramsey, the talk show host and the financial guru?

Chris Hogan:
Yeah. It’s interesting. I had been living in Tennessee about two and a half years at that time. Knew of Dave, but I got a chance to get connected with him through a charity event, and that’s where I had a chance to not only get connected more with him, but really get a chance to meet him and sit down and talk with him.

Clay:
When did you first feel like you were beginning to gain traction with Dave or a connection where you knew you might have something magical together?

Chris Hogan:
Well, I could tell in as far as how, not only I felt, but also the people around me. I’m a leader of people, I love engaging people, I love helping people think bigger for themselves. As a former athlete, I approach leadership like coaching. I approach business like a coach as well. And so seeing people make progress coming from the help or guidance you’ve given them, that’s a great thing to see and to be able to feel.

Clay:
So your new book is designed to do just that, to give people encouragement, to give them direction, to walk people down a practical path. It’s called Everyday Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth – And How You Can Too. What first inspired you to sit down and write this book?

Chris Hogan:
Can I be honest with you?

Clay:
Yeah.

Chris Hogan:
Okay. I was doing a media hit on a panel, and this guy, he was the last one to speak, and he had the audacity to look into the camera and tell people that the American dream was dead and gone.

Clay:
Ah.

Chris Hogan:
That it’s impossible to build wealth anymore. I know he’s a village idiot. I was fuming. I was so mad, because I knew there was a single mom or a widower or young a couple, or a not so young couple hearing this and they might believe that it was true. And so I set out to prove without a shadow of a doubt if it’s possible. So we did the largest study that’s ever been done. We talked to over 10,000 millionaires all across the US, and I wanted to dig in and find out the truth.

Clay:
What was your process like for getting a hold of these 10,000 millionaires? Did you call them, did you fax them?

Chris Hogan:
It was massive.

Clay:
Did you text them? Yeah what did you do?

Chris Hogan:
It was massive. At first we started reaching out to people obviously that are in my tribe or in Dave’s tribe. People that know us and are aware. And we got to around 4,000 there. But then I said, “No, we need to make sure we’re talking to people out in white space.” So we actually engaged with a research firm to help us reach out to get people all across the United States. And so this was a year and a half long research project to really dig in and get all the information that we needed for this study.

Clay:
In your book, again, Everyday Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth – And How You Can Too, some of the stats there are mind blowing. You report that 74% of millennials and 52% of baby boomers believe millionaires inherited all of their wealth. How is this very different from reality?

Chris Hogan:
Well, the reality is, based on this study that we did, we found that 79% of the millionaires that we talked to didn’t inherit a dime. 79%. Now this is important because of a few reasons. If you believe the only way that you can have wealth is to inherit it, and you come from a family that doesn’t have any, then you feel like you’re excluded and it’s not possible. And reality is, is these millionaires were first generation millionaires. These were all people that built wealth over time by being intentional with their money and having a plan. And this was important because I wanted people to know the truth that these millionaires are not trust fund babies. They’re not someone in a slick suit in front of a fancy car in front of a mansion. These are hardworking men and women that have built wealth over time. And if they can do it, you can too. And so I really wanted to drill in and for people to see the characteristics, understand the process, so they can get on the path themselves.

Clay:
Chapter one of your book, if listeners out there buy the book and open it up, it’s called You’ve Been Lied To. As I was looking through this, I was saying, “Oh yeah, someone needs to hear this right now.” Because I grew up without money and I know what it’s like to have a false reality or false perception of reality as to the way that the world works and how it relates to money. What is chapter one all about, You’ve Been Lied To?

Chris Hogan:
Well, I needed to set it up. I needed everybody to understand the reality and the myths that we’ve been told. That you have to go to a fancy school, that you have to inherit it, that you have to make a large salary in order to build wealth. I wanted to hit all those things up front so people could start to realize and go, “Man, I’ve thought some of this.” Or, “I thought all of that was true,” so I could systematically begin to show them the truth. And the reality is, is it doesn’t matter where you go to school. 62% of the millionaires, as you look at this, they didn’t go to a private school. They went to a public state university. 9% of them went to community college. 8% didn’t graduate, didn’t go to college at all. So it’s all these prerequisites that we tend to have in the back of our minds that unfortunately we can start to believe is true.

Chris Hogan:
And unfortunately, if we believe that, then we feel excluded from it. And I don’t want people to feel excluded. I want them to feel included in this opportunity. They just have to wake up and start taking the steps.

Clay:
Blowing in my mind.

Dr Z:
Come on now. Preach the good word.

Clay:
Dr Z, you now own a bank, and you once washed-

Dr Z:
I own a piece of a bank.

Clay:
… and you once washed dishes.

Dr Z:
Yes.

Clay:
You now own an auto auction.

Dr Z:
Yes, that’s true.

Clay:
A piece of an auto auction?

Dr Z:
No, I own the whole thing.

Clay:
You now own an optometry clinic, you now own several multimillion dollar companies, and you started off washing dishes. Do you disagree strongly with Chris Hogan? Were you given a silver spoon and that was your key to the universe when you were washing dishes?

Dr Z:
No, I think obviously Chris has the numbers and he’s spot on, and it’s a shame that people out there don’t understand. I mean, we had a gentleman on the other day that had come from Ukraine at 13 years of age. And they had $2 in their pocket when they immigrated over here. His father, his mother, I think he had a couple, three other siblings. He was on the show the other day, Mr Shark. And it was so … Mr [Scharf 00:10:55] I think. And it was so refreshing because he said, “You what what? It was so exciting to come to a country where if you just were diligent and you worked hard, you could actually make something of yourself and you could … I mean, you were limited just by yourself.”

Clay:
You know Chris, in your book, you teach these principles here that Z was just speaking of. You write in your book that, “Millionaires take responsibility.” What does that mean? And how is that different than how most people process life by default?”

Chris Hogan:
Well, I think, in our society now, it’s real easy and it’s almost become custom to blame someone else. To have this victim thinking or this mentality where I’m going to blame somebody because I don’t have something. Or a scarcity mentality that it’s not available to me if someone else has it. And I think we have to be very, very careful. That mindset will limit you and prevent you from reaching your potential. And so personal responsibility means that, “Hey, if you did something and it went well, great job.” Millionaires will own that. If they did something and it didn’t work or it didn’t go well, they’re not looking to blame anybody, they own that as well. And I just think it serves to the mindset of these people and the fabric of what they’re made of and how they’re designed.

Clay:
Chris, in your book, we write that millionaires are consistent. What do you mean by consistent? And how is that different again about how the average person lives by default?

Chris Hogan:
Well, most people I think are inconsistent by nature. Meaning we’ll start something, but we may not follow through with it. And I think the focused people, people that are very intentional with what they’re doing and the results that they want, are on the other hand extremely consistent, meaning predictable. That they’re investing month after month. They’re looking consistently at their money. They’re understanding where they are and they’re striving to improve themselves, but also their situation around them. And I think it just goes to show. One of the stats that I absolutely loved was 98% of the millionaires that I talked to, 98%, which is virtually all of them, said this: that they feel that they control their own destiny. Which means that they are understanding that, hey, if they’re going to make something happen, they believe in themselves and they’re giving it their all. And I think it just goes to show that these are people that have a mindset of striving, not being a victim.

Clay:
What would you say to somebody who has a worldview that is that they need things through entropy just to work in their favor? They’re looking for serendipity to take them to success. They need a third party to arrive with a sort of a handout or some sort of mystical connection. What would you say to somebody who has that kind of thinking?

Chris Hogan:
I would just tell them to please wake up quickly because luck doesn’t exist. We’ve heard this phrase that luck favors the prepared. Listen, here’s the reality. We all have different start points. Some people have more advantages than others, but we’re all in the same race. And we have to choose to run this race, or choose to sit back and not run. We get that choice. I talk about it. I said, “Listen, I remember in grade school when I was younger. Mama Hogan, she had to sign a permission slip in order for me to go on a field trip. Right? I couldn’t leave the school if she didn’t sign it. But here’s the thing that I realize now. As grown adults for all of us, none of us need a permission slip to chase down our dreams.”

Dr Z:
Come on now.

Chris Hogan:
“None of us need a permission slip to be able to attack debt and build wealth. We’re adults. We get to sign it ourselves.”

Dr Z:
Chris, is this something you can grab somebody and shake them really hard and say it maybe loud enough with your really cool voice, and change mindsets? I mean how do we change mindsets out there with all … I mean, like Clay said, the percentages of even baby boomers, which shocked me, and the percentage of millennials, which didn’t shock me that much thinking that all millionaires inherited. How do we change someone’s mindset?

Chris Hogan:
I think the best way to change your mindset is to have the conversation. That’s why I’m around doing speaking events all around the country and doing media hits. I want to hear the truth. And unfortunately a lie can believed if people tell it long enough, loud enough. So I want people to see the truth and hear it, but I also want them to experience it and see it. For the people out there that are building wealth over time, I want to encourage them to talk to these young people, talk to the not so young people, let them know that it’s possible.

Clay:
Chris, in my office we have people of all different faiths and skin colors and we’re all working together towards a common goal. I think a lot of people, when they Google you, and they see a successful African-American, they’re going to have a certain … Certain people think, “Man, if I’m an African American, maybe it’s harder for me.” Or certain people think, “Oh it must be easier for you.” What are your thoughts on race as it relates to success? Does it factor in at all? Do you care? Does it factor into your mindset? Or what would you say to the people out there that are not white?

Chris Hogan:
Yeah. Well I would say this. I mean regardless, as I said, we all have different start points and we all have different advantages and disadvantages, but we get to all run the same race. And as I look at this and as I talk to people all across the country, one of the things I’m trying to emphasize is I need people to look inside internally at themselves. I’m not worried about people’s opinions, opinions are like yesterdays. I’m worried about what you believe what’s possible for you. And I think that’s the thing, that internal thing is very, very important. I’ve had disadvantages from growing up. I come from a single parent home in rural Kentucky, but I decided to chase some dreams. And I had some great people around me along the way. And so I want people to hear me and say, “Listen, if I can do it, I know you can.” It’s that simple. You just have to believe that it’s possible for you. And then you have to decide.

Chris Hogan:
And once you believe and you make a decision, then you have to take the right action. And then ultimately you can’t blame anybody else but yourself if you don’t do it.

Clay:
“Millionaires are hard workers,” you wrote in your book. Chris, define what do you mean by a hard worker.

Chris Hogan:
Hard workers, these are people that they are extremely focused on doing their job, but also doing it with diligence. They’re not showing up just punching a clock and watching time fade. They’re actually engaged in their jobs. 64% of these millionaires that I talked to described that they loved their career. And I thought that that’s a strong statement. To be involved in something that you care about, that means you care about not only the results, but you care about the company that you represent and also the people that you serve. And so this aspect of hard work is being present, being 100% engaged and doing the best job that you can.

Dr Z:
Chris, real quickly, did you keep the narrative on, or the data on the 10,000 millionaires that you did that you researched? How many of them are self-employed or entrepreneurs? Versus-

Chris Hogan:
Oh great question. We were hovering it right at about 12%.

Dr Z:
Really? Okay.

Chris Hogan:
Yes.

Clay:
12%?

Chris Hogan:
Yes.

Clay:
So you’re saying there’s 88% of the people you surveyed who are millionaires that don’t own their own business?

Chris Hogan:
That is absolutely correct. So that means they’re working for someone else. Here’s the thing that blew me away as well. A third of all the millionaires that we talked to, a third of them never had a six figure household income. A third of them. That meant if two people were working combined, they didn’t make six figures, yet they were able to build wealth consistently over time. And so I want people to hear that stat. And it’s mind boggling, but you think about it and you go, “Wait, hold on. Yeah, you don’t have to have a large six figure income to be able to build wealth. What you do need is a plan for the money that you are making. You do need to get yourself out of debt. You do need to be intentional with saving.” The number one wealth building tool these millionaires use was our standard 401(k), a company sponsored retirement plan. 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and IRAs. So these are the same tools we all have access to, so we don’t have an excuse on why we’re not doing it. We have the ability and the tools to do it.

Clay:
Let’s say that you were in front of an audience right now, because I know you do a lot of speaking events. Let’s say you were in front of an audience right now of, picture in your mind, maybe three or 400 people. And they’re saying, “What do I need to do right now?” They all have jobs. They have a consistent income coming in. What do they need to do if this audience filled with people who are around 30 years old, if they want to retire well? If they want to finish well financially. What do they need to do?

Chris Hogan:
I think there are three things that they would need to do. Number one, they would need to believe that it’s possible for them to do it. I think this is really, really important because we all come from different families, different backgrounds, and a family’s belief system can become our own. But we have to decide for ourself and believe what’s possible. Second thing is, is they need to grow in their knowledge. Understanding how this money stuff works. Understanding the importance of investing, the importance and the threat of debt, not only to now but to your future. And then third, we got to take the right actions. That means starting to budget, starting to be intentional with our investing, be intentional with our savings. And I think those three things are the game changer. So believe, grow a knowledge, and then take the right actions. Those three things will put you on the pace to becoming an everyday millionaire.

Clay:
You come across as a beautiful man and a guy with a great voice, you probably could be a voice actor if this whole speaking writing thing doesn’t continue to work out for you. How do you organize the first four hours of a typical day? I mean, if you wake up, what time are you waking up and what are you doing during those first four hours?

Chris Hogan:
Yeah. Typically I’m getting up around 5:45 unless I have a media hit that requires me to get up a whole lot earlier. But I get up, I have breakfast. I start to begin to look at my day and prioritize. I start my day off writing thank you notes. Starting off with the attitude of gratitude. It’s a game changer. And that’s where I’m recognizing people on my team, people in the community where I’ve done a speaking engagement. I just think starting off writing someone a note of gratitude is a great way to start the day. Then from there, I’m in various meetings, whether it’s on projects or for my radio show, or for TV hits that I’m doing later in the day.

Clay:
We’re joined here today as well here with Zack O’Malley Greenburg from Forbes fame here. Zach how are you, sir?

Zach:
All right. Thanks for letting me on.

Clay:
Hey Zach, you’ve been in the room with most recently Kanye West. You’ve sat down with Kanye, did an interview with him. You’ve sat down with Ashton Kutcher, Justin Bieber, these people that we know them for their success, but we maybe don’t know them for their work ethic. How would you describe the work ethic of a Katy Perry, of a Kanye West, of an Ashton Kutcher? What does that look like?

Zach:
Yeah. I don’t think anybody is going to work harder than Kanye West. He is always working. And in fact, you might not see it because it looks fun to be creating stuff, to be creating beautiful things, whether they’re songs or sneakers or what have you. But I mean he gets up and he’s thinking about creating stuff, and he goes to bed and he’s thinking about creating stuff. And it’s happening at four in the morning and it’s happening at four in the afternoon. He gets these squalls of creativity which can evolve into hurricanes of an idea of a product, of a album. And that’s just how he functions.

Clay:
Chris, when you were working with Dave Ramsey, you were working with him on a daily basis or around him, what’s it like working with super Dave?

Chris Hogan:
Oh, Dave is a great guy. He’s extremely passionate. We are focused on serving people that aren’t here, which means we understand that we exist to be able to help others. And so we are constantly looking, constantly evolving, looking at things, trying to figure out how to make them better, how do we reach more people. And so he’s running 150 miles an hour still after all of these years.

Clay:
We find that a lot of successful entrepreneurs that we interview on this show have super powers that some might consider idiosyncrasies. Chris do you have like an idiosyncrasy or something kind of weird, but it’s kind of your superpower? Something that you do. I mean, are you … Walk us through maybe some of your idiosyncrasies that you’re comfortable with sharing with the thrive nation.

Chris Hogan:
Yeah. Oh absolutely. I think it’s one of those, I care about people. And I have this intuitive nature of understanding when someone’s got something going on in life, and being able to connect with them and share with them, and just be there to listen. I think another superpower I would call is follow up. If someone is going through something good or bad, I am intentional in checking in on them, talking with them and making sure they understand that I’m for them as a person, not necessarily them as an employee or as a teammate. And I think that that’s something that I learned from my grandmother. My grandmother was an amazing woman who would spend time with people, and she really cared about them. So I’m grateful to have learned or earned that skill as well.

Dr Z:
Well Chris those aren’t weird at all. Those are actually kind of cool. Those are …

Clay:
Chris I got to ask you this here. Josh with Living Water Irrigation’s here with us. He’s one of a long time client and he’s grown his company from 300,000 to $1.9 million in sales. Things are going good. He’s a guy coming into some money here Chris, so he’s going to ask you some tough questions here I’m sure. So let’s see if he can stump you.

Josh:
I actually got a little bit of a two part question here-

Dr Z:
Oh two part.

Josh:
… just to make it just crazy and silly.

Clay:
Oh wow.

Josh:
What simple tangible thing for someone to begin investing or to begin planning for retirement, what would be the most simplistic thing you would do there to get somebody started on that path of that discipline or consistency? And then the second would be, I was reading over your Five Simple Habits of the Average Millionaire, so all those things seem really simplistic. So how do you hammer these things home, Chris, on the simple and investing for retirement and then the habits?

Chris Hogan:
Very good. I think to the first part, and as far as how do you begin that consistency, I always start people off with their dream. Like I want them to tell me about what’s the thing you want to do if money didn’t matter. Like what’s the thing that you would just love to do? And people tend to tell me a myriad of things. They want to travel, they want to do stuff for family, they want to do mission trips. I mean they want to do all these things. And you see people start to light up. And I said, “Okay, that’s your why. That why, that thing right there that you got excited talking about, that’s the thing that you’re striving for. Now what I want us to do is lay out a path, and there’s a path that leads you to that. There is a path that leads you near it, and there’s a path that leads you from it.” And I begin to kind of systematically help people understand that.

Chris Hogan:
From an investing standpoint I talk about the stock market a lot like the supermarket. Like you can go in a supermarket and there are things that you can get in there that are good for you. There are things you can get that aren’t so good, right? Well, just like the stock market’s the same way. There are things that you can invest in in the stock market that are good for your financial future, there are things that are not so good for your financial future. So I kind of start with that baseline.

Chris Hogan:
But going back to the characteristics that I talk about, I think it’s more of being able to see those so we can kind of look inside ourselves and ask ourselves, are we being hard workers? Are we being consistent? Are we taking personal responsibility and being intentional with how we use our resources that we have now? So I think these are all characteristics we can start to do, we can decide to do. But I think more importantly we have to continue to do over time.

Clay:
Zack, you with Forbes, I mean you were interviewing some of the world’s wealthiest people on a consistent basis. Have you noticed that … are they all intentional about their net worth? Have you seen this? I know it’s a broad brush question, but I mean do these people, are they aware of their net worth? Do they care about it? Do you sense that they, like a Jay Z, does he know his net worth? Does it Dre? Does a Diddy, do these guys know how much they’re worth?

Zach:
Well I think a lot of them, they may not know whether they’re worth 721 million or 748 million. They have a general ballpark idea, but when you’re putting together estimate of someone’s net worth, it’s not just like there’s a stock ticker that moves up and down and it’s like, “Oh, we’re up like $3 million today”, because most of the moguls that I deal with have a lot of interest in private companies. So it’s kind of comes down to how do you value that company? It’s a little trickier. But I think they don’t … They probably didn’t get into it to get rich. They’d got into it because they had an idea that they really cared about and believed in, and they’re interested in being rich as well.

Clay:
Both.

Zach:
And it’s how do you marry those two sides of it?

Clay:
As Chris said earlier, it’s like they love what they do, so they’re good at it. And then they also care about the money too?

Zach:
For sure. And I think that when people are doing it just for the money, it comes off as inauthentic. And Jay Z is somebody who’s always done a really great job of being open about it. Like, “Hey, I want to build this company. I want to control my own financial destiny, and yeah, I’m going to rap about it.” But it feels somehow more authentic for him to be rapping about his own champagne company than to be getting paid by some giant corporation to do it.

Clay:
Chris, final question here for you.

Zach:
I’ve got a final one too.

Clay:
Oh you do? Okay. We’ll rapid fire. I don’t want to paint our guest into a corner.

Zach:
No, no we don’t ever want to do that.

Clay:
But my final, final question here. You’ve got the mic. Before you drop the mic, what’s one thing you want to make sure you share with all of our listeners out there, Chris?

Chris Hogan:
I think more importantly that you control your destiny. No matter where you are right now, you have an opportunity to make a decision, and where you are doesn’t have to be where you end up. I want you to grow forward, get the relationships, the right people around you, believe in yourself, but take action right now. No more wasted time.

Dr Z:
You know we said earlier your voice sounded like a very kind Darth Vader.

Clay:
Oh, kind.

Dr Z:
So to end the show, I have a favor for you, Chris.

Chris Hogan:
Okay.

Dr Z:
If you don’t mind, I’d like for you to say, “Z, I am your father.”

Chris Hogan:
Okay. All right. Just for you. Here we go.

Dr Z:
All right here we go.

Chris Hogan:
Z, I am your father.

Dr Z:
Oh, there we go.

Clay:
Oh nice.

Dr Z:
There we go. That’s a home run right there. There we go. Drop the mic, we’re done.

Clay:
That was great. Chris, thank you so much for being on today’s show. And if you’re out there listening today and you’ve yet to purchase a copy of Everyday Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth – And How You Can Too, check it out. Again, Chris, thank you so much for being on the show.

Chris Hogan:
Guys, thank you so much, it was an absolute pleasure. And if people want to learn more, they can go to my website, chrishogan360.com

Clay:
Chrishogan360.com. One more time. That’s chrishogan360.com. You take care, sir.

Chris Hogan:
Thank you guys. Take care.

Dr Z:
Well done.

Clay:
And now, without any further ado, three, two, one, boom.

Aaron Antis:
Hi, I’m Aaron Antis with Shaw homes. I first heard about Clay through a mortgage lender here in town who had told me what a great job he had been doing for them, and I actually noticed he was driving a Lamborghini all of a sudden, so I was willing to listen. In my career I’ve sold a little over $800 million in real estate. So honestly I thought I kind of knew everything about marketing and homes. And then I met Clay, and my perception of what I knew and what I could do definitely changed. After doing 800 million in sales over a 15 year career, I really thought I knew what I was doing. I’ve been managing a large team of salespeople for the last 10 years here with Shaw Homes. And I mean, we’ve been a company that’s been in business for 35 years. We’ve become one of the largest builders in the Tulsa area, and that was without Clay. So when I came to know Clay, I really thought, “Man, there’s not much more I need to know, but I’m willing to listen.”

Aaron Antis:
The interesting thing is our internet leads from our website has actually in a four month period of time, has gone from somewhere around 10 to 15 leads in a month to 180 internet leads in a month. Just from the few things that he’s shown us how to implement that I honestly probably never would have come up with on my own. So I got a lot of good things to say about the system that Clay put in place with us, and it’s just been an incredible experience. I am very glad that we met and had the opportunity to work with Clay.

Aaron Antis:
So the interaction with the team and with Clay on a weekly basis is honestly very enlightening. One of the things that I love about Clay’s perspective on things is that he doesn’t come from my industry. He’s not somebody who’s in the home building industry. I’ve listened to all the experts in my field, our company has paid for me to go to seminars, international builders shows, all kinds of places where I’ve had the opportunity to learn from the experts in my industry. But the thing that I found working with Clay is that he comes from such a broad spectrum of working with so many different types of businesses, that he has a perspective that’s difficult for me to gain because I get so entrenched in what I do, I’m not paying attention to what other leading industry experts are doing. And Clay really brings that perspective for me. It is very valuable time every week when I get that hour with him.

Aaron Antis:
From my perspective, the reason that any business owner who’s thinking about hooking up with Thrive needs to definitely consider it is because the results that we’ve gotten in a very short period of time are honestly monumental. It has really exceeded my wildest expectation of what he might be able to do. I came in skeptical because I’m very pragmatic, and as I’ve gone through the process over just a few months I’ve realized it’s probably one of the best moves we’ve ever made.

Aaron Antis:
I think a lot of people probably feel like they don’t need a business or marketing consultant because they maybe are a little bit prideful and like to think they know everything. I know that’s how I felt coming in. I mean we’re a big company that’s definitely one of the largest in town, and so we kind of felt like we knew what we were doing. And I think for a lot of people they let their ego get in the way of listening to somebody that might have a better or different perspective than theirs. I would just really encourage you, if you’re thinking about working with Clay. I mean the thing is it’s month to month, go give it a try and see what happens. I think in the 35 year history of Shaw Homes, this is probably the best thing that’s happened to us. And I know if you give them a shot, I think you’ll feel the same way.

Aaron Antis:
I know for me, the thing I would have missed out on if I didn’t work with Clay is I would have missed out on literally an 1800% increase in our internet leads, going from 10 a month to 180 a month. That would have been a huge financial decision to just decide not to give it a shot. I would absolutely recommend Clay Clark to anybody who’s thinking about working with somebody in marketing. I would skip over anybody else you were thinking about and I would go straight to Clay and his team. I guarantee you’re not going to regret it because we sure haven’t.