Best Business Podcast | Understanding the CREATIVE Process of CREATING a Scalable Profitable Business & Songwriting 101 (Featuring Live Appearance from Hit Song-Writer Colton Dixon + 2 Long-Time Clay Clark Success Stories)

Audio Transcription

I’m confident with artistic expression because my only goal is to make something that I like and I know that I can keep working on it until I like it. So in some ways there’s no pressure because the goal is to make the thing that I like. I know what I like. If I don’t like it, I keep working and eventually we get to a place where we like it. Yeah.

Do you ever face the inner critic of, well, what if other people don’t like this? No, I don’t consider them at all. Really? Yeah, something I say in the book is that the audience comes last.

And I believe that. I’m not making it for them. I’m making it for me. And it turns out that when you make something truly for yourself, you’re doing the best thing you possibly can for the audience. So much of why, if you go to the movies, so many big movies are just not good, it’s because

they’re not being made by a person who cares about it. They’re being made by people who are trying to make something that they think someone else is going to like. And that’s not how art works. Art doesn’t, that’s something else. It’s not art. That’s commerce.

So if we’re making art, we’re making, it’s almost like, it’s almost like a diary entry. So it, can some, could I be concerned that someone else might not like my diary entry? Doesn’t make sense. You know, it has nothing to do with them. My diary entry has nothing to do with anyone else. So everything we make as artists are essentially diary entries. You could be anywhere doing a lot of different things, but you chose to be here.

Some shows don’t need a celebrity narrator to introduce the show. But this show does. In a world filled with endless opportunities, why would two men who have built 13 multi-million dollar businesses altruistically invest five hours per day to teach you the best practice business systems and moves that you can use? Because they believe in you, and they have a lot of time on their hands. They started from the bottom, now they’re here. It’s the Thrive Time Show starring the former U.S. Small Business Administration’s

Entrepreneur of the Year, Clay Clark, and the entrepreneur trapped inside an optometrist’s body, Dr. Robert Zunder. Two men, eight kids co-created by two different women, 13 multi-million We started from the bottom, now we here We started from the bottom and we’ll show you how to get here Started from the bottom, now we here We started from the bottom, now we here We took flight, started from the bottom And now we’re at the top, teaching you the systems To get what we got, Colton Dixon’s on the hooks I break down the books

See, bringing some wisdom and the good looks As the father of five, that’s why I’m alive So if you see my wife and kids, please tell them hi It’s the CNC up on your right, yo And now 3, 2, 1, here we go! We started from the bottom, now we here We started from the bottom, and we’ll show you how to get here

Started from the bottom, now we here We started from the bottom, now we here We started from the bottom, now we here We started from the bottom, and we’ll show you how to get here Started from the bottom, now we here We started from the bottom, now we here

Ladies and gentlemen, please stand to your feet and greet Colton Dixon in the house. Colton Dixon. All right, I’m going to go over here and I’ll let you do your thing. Hello. How is everybody feeling? Good.

I want to clarify one thing. I do love money. However, I’m not ruled by money. So Clay was kind of right on that. Did anyone come… can anyone sing out there? Few people? No one’s willing to admit it? Okay, well, you’re in luck. The Bible says just make a joyful noise.

So if you sound happy about it, you’re good. Can I teach you a song and us do it. Sing it with me. Come on. Okay, so, quick observation. I can see you when your lips aren’t doing this so It’s the beauty of like an intimate show like this. So let’s do it one more time. Come on 90 miles on the highway every day moving so fast taking all the wrong ways out

I never saw you coming, no You’re stopping me in my tracks, keeping me from the long way down Doesn’t matter just how many times I try There could only be a single reason why, so tell me How the miracles just happen like that, happen like that, happen like that You can say the stars align, but I know that it’s wrong and sun

How the miracles just happen like that, happen like that, happen like that Right before I hit the ground, son How you came along and found me Right before I hit the ground, son You came along and found me Some will say it’s magic

But I know that you did all that You’re the reason, there’s no doubt Doesn’t matter just how many times a time There could only be a single reason why So tell me I’m living in a ghost house

I’ve been like that, I’ve been like that, I’ve been like that You can say the stars align but I know that it’s only a charm I’m living in a ghost house I’ve been like that, I’ve been like that, I’ve been like that right before I ever felt some How you came along to found me

Right before I ever felt some How you came along to found me There’s no doubt when I feel your love Call me crazy and out of touch But I know that it’s from above, tell me You can say the stars are lying but I know that it’s more than time

And I don’t need any ghosts, I’ve been like that, I’ve been like that, I’ve been like that Right before I hit the ground some But you came along and found me Right before I hit the ground, son How you came along and found me Yeah, come on, good job!

My name is Colton Dixon Does anyone still watch American Idol? I’ll be more impressed by that. Okay, six people, that’s amazing. Did anyone watch American Idol over a decade ago? Okay, there’s more people, praise God for that.

I did American Idol, it was either 12 or 13 years ago. Wow, I feel old. If you watched, thank you, it’s amazing. That’s kind of how I got my start. Met Clay Clark through my father-in-law who owns a couple auto repair shops here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And I’ve got the best father-in-law in the

world. Clay will attest to that. And man, Clay Clark whipped my butt into shape. Let me tell you, as he does so well. Did we meet in 18 or 19? 18. So we met in 2018 and kind of hit it off, our love for music. And certain artists, like OneRepublic, drove our conversations. And then we started working together and then something called COVID happened in 2020.

And most of my peers were chilling and binging Netflix and we had our share of that as well. However, Clay had me writing and producing and I mean you name it I was going after it and doing it and would not be the same artist that I am today if it was not for Mr. Clay Clark. So give it up for Clay Clark.

I say that to also kinda set up how I would love to use this time if that’s okay we’re gonna go into worship here just a little bit but I’d love to play a couple songs for you. One of the ways that we would work together is I would write these songs and he would

play them for the staff and they would basically tell me if they sucked or not. So be a little more gentle on this first one because we actually have already released it so we’re not going to change it and it kind of is what it is. However I need some help with this. So I’m going to get my buddy, his name is Kyle. He’s a worship leader at Sheraton Church. Give it up for Kyle.

When I wrote this song, I just realized I might have intro’d you a little early. He’s coming in on the second verse, so. He’s a good looking dude, though, so he’ll enjoy looking at you. When I wrote this song, I walked into the studio with a Bible verse, Jeremiah 29 11, which says, Friend of the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you.

Plans to give you hope and a future. That’s a pretty awesome promise right there, isn’t it? So I walked in with a Bible verse, a title, and some musical inspiration. I have always loved a song called Hard Knock Life from the musical Annie.

Anyone know what I’m talking about? Okay. This is my take on Hard Knock Life. It is called Up and Up. Even though I walk through the valley sometimes it feels like a crawl through the valley but I gotta promise that I’ll hold on tight too. I can’t lose when I’m right beside you. Yeah, God, I know the plans you have for me But my car is overflowing

So while I’m in the in-between I’ma live my life knowing That if I get down You’ll pick me up from the ground You’ll give me love, you’re gonna give out Give in, no condition

You’ll lift me up and up again Now, no matter who surrounds I’ll let my hallelujah get out like a freight train sunshine or rain. I’ll lift you up and up again. Alright, so here’s what we’re going to do. Since we’re big on Q&A’s here.

Kyle, I’m basically just going to ask you some things and state some things. And we’re going to really lean in on your response. Deal? So the first thing. Ask me how I know he’s going to do it. You’re going to say, he did it.

That’s right. The second thing, every time a blessing is coming to me, what are you going to say? He’s in it. That’s right. Third thing, that was a two. Third thing, pick number three, my Lord.

Okay, number three. Forgot that reference. That was Shrek. Anyway, all right. The devil tried to make me turn away. What are you going to say?

Forget it. That’s right. All right, let’s do this. Ask me how I know he’s going to do it. He did it every time a blessing is coming to me. He’s in it.

The devil tried to make me turn. Forget it. Because even on my worst day, if I get down, you pick me up from the ground. You give me love. They don’t give up. It’s been no condition.

You lift me up. I’ll give them no conditions You lift me up and up again now No matter who surrounds I’ll let my heart elude you mid-night Like a freight train sunshine or rain

I’ll lift you up and up again Up and up again, yeah So while I’m in the in-between, I’ma live my life knowing That if we get down, yeah Now, no matter who surrounds, I’ll let my hallelujah get loud like a big train sunshine over me.

I’ll lift you up and up again. Yeah. Up and up again. Yeah. I’ll lift you up and up again. Kyle, everybody.

I Really love things like this because of how formal it is Often you’re on a tour and you’ve got 23 minutes 20 seconds, you know to do your set and Man, clay was kind enough to give me an hour and a half with the guys this afternoon. So, thank you so much That was a joke.

If it’s okay with you guys, I know there are some fellow believers in the room. I believe in worship so much that I believe it is a weapon. And this is a bit of a new song in the worship community. So if you don’t know it, let the words sink in. I think they’re really powerful. But they’re also pretty simple when we get to the course.

I think you can learn and jump in. So this is called, I Trust in God. Jesus is mine He’s been my fourth man in the fire Time after time I’m born of His Spirit And what He did for me on Calvary is more than enough. So I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail.

I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. I trust in God, yeah. Oh, I trust in God, yeah. I trust in Jesus. It’s never fail.

I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered That’s why I trust him, that’s why I trust him I sought the Lord and he heard and he answered I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered That’s why I trust Him, that’s why I trust Him I sought the Lord and He heard and He answered That’s why I trust in, that’s why I trust in God

My Savior, the one who will never fail He will never fail. I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never fail. He will never fail. He will never fail. He will never fail.

That’s why I trust in God. That’s why I trust in God. This sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee. I pray thou art. I pray thou art. It sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee.

How great thou art, yeah How great thou art How great thou art How great thou art Give it up for Kyle one more time. Come on.

Folks, real quick, Colton, before I let you get out of here, are you going to do one more song? Could you have one more song? Kind of your… Yeah. Okay, now before I let you go, I want to ask you, if you guys could grab a seat just for

a second, because I’m all about how do you do that? How do you… music, how many of you, music is sort of something you like, but you don’t know how it works? Okay, so we’re gonna demystify music real quick. We’ll do a quick music course with Colton Dixon. There’s a certain pattern to it. There’s a pattern to success, isn’t there? We talked about the pattern, there’s a workflow, but to music you have, you know,

you have the verse, you got the chorus, you got the verse Can you walk us through the mechanics of a pop song sure I sure can thanks to you I can do it probably better than I could a few years ago, okay? Pop songs the the number one thing that I’ve been told that I’ve read It’s this people want a course that’s memorable They want something that almost almost feels like they’ve heard it before.

But my favorite saying is this, don’t bore us, get to the chorus. So the shorter your verses, the shorter your pre-choruses, the better because people really just want to hear the chorus, there it is.

We haven’t talked about this, so if you want to rebuke me, it’s fine. But if you, when you’re going in to write a song, so you’re in the studio, how many of you would kind of like to see what that’s like to see someone in the studio write a song.

Okay, so you start with like a melody, or how does that happen? You’re in the studio. Yeah, I think. And maybe you could kind of walk us through, what is that process?

Because I just heard, I went to college with Ryan Tedder, and he would be in his room, and he would be talking in college. He would be singing, but there wasn’t any words.

Like he’d be playing a melody, and there was no words. I’m like, what are you doing? What is happening? What is going on? Are you, he says, I’m doing,

can you walk us through that process? Sure, so I will say this, I don’t know that there is a right and wrong way to write a song as long as you guys are, you know, enjoying what the artist is putting out. So I don’t know that there’s a right or wrong way to do it.

However, the way Ryan does it, the way I like to do it, is either writing from a title, I mentioned that about Up and Up, I kinda had a title. So I kinda knew where the sandbox was, right? So now it’s our job to go into the sandbox, into all the corners, and try and figure out

what we’re gonna say, how we’re gonna say it. But we kind of know the structure of the song. But what Clay is referring to is what we call baby talk. So we get a melody, right? I even heard this the other day. This is more true in pop music

than it is for Christian music for obvious reasons, but pop music is more about the music and the melody, right? It’s about how it makes you feel. Whereas Christian music, you have to be very intentional about what you’re saying, again, for obvious reasons. But people often get that melody and they will just start, I mean, it probably sounds like speaking in tongues if I’m honest with you. It’s like they’ll just start singing so up and up again. So it’s like, I mean, it’s just what it’s baby talk. But later you can go in and go, oh, I really like how these syllables fall. I really like where this melody

is landing. Is there a two syllable word that means this? So we’ll go and we’ll look and we’ll see if it’s the rhyme scheme. And it actually becomes very technical. But again, we’ve kind of set the parameters with the title or with the direction of the music or whatever, if that makes sense. There’s one person watching right now that needs to know. People always ask me when I record a podcast, who’s it for? One person. So, you’re recording, someone’s watching right now, they’re a musical artist, that’s what they want to do. And so, you’re going to the studio,

you’ve got a little melody, and do you get on the keyboard and just play that and record that so you don’t forget it? How do you lock in the melody even before you have any lyrics. How do you? For me, it’s all about voice memos in my phone. So that is my notepad, that is my pen and paper. I can be in bed, like my eyes are about to close,

and then boom, it’s like idea. I’m not saying it’s a great idea, but boom, it’s an idea. So I’m like, okay, so I’ll hit voice memos, and I will either sing it, or if I’m near a piano, I’ll play that,

or if it’s a lyric, I’ll jot it down. But yeah, sometimes I’ll get in the studio, and I’m like, hey, we need to write this song around a piano today or around an acoustic guitar today. Other times, we’re building the track as we’re writing the song.

Now, writing a song is 100% analogous to building a business. They’re the same process. So I make a workflow like this. Could you sing just a little bit more of heavily syncopated baby talk, just so I can have a,

can you do that real quick, though? Seriously, what you were just doing, because people can understand what that is. Yeah, sure. Okay, go for it. Right key.

There it is. And so, that’s how building a business is, though. It’s the same process. And I’ve worked with a lot of musicians, so I loved helping Colton, working with Colton. I get excited when I see people. I’m like, oh, I’m going to be a musician.

I’m like, oh, I’m going to be a musician. I’m like, oh, I’m going to be a musician. I worked with a lot of musicians, so I loved helping Colton, working with Colton. I get excited about it because it’s the same process. So when I start a business, I know that these 14 boxes have to be filled, but I don’t know all of them, what they’re going to be.

So I sketched and churched that waterfall out there, and my wife is like, because it’s alarming to be around people that are creative and in the moment. So I get the idea, I believe that the idea is a gift, an idea from God, and I write it down because I honor the idea. I don’t want to forget it. My wife’s like, what are you doing? I’m like, I’m spray painting where we’re going to build the waterfall. What waterfall? The one I drew in church. Who’s going to build it? I don’t know. And then I build it and the rock is like, boop, boop, boop. My wife’s like, what’s happening? That’s a caterpillar. Boop, boop, boop. Didn’t you just pay $5,000? Why are we moving it? Because it’s in the wrong spot. How do

you know it’s in the wrong spot? Because I don’t feel it. No, seriously. I mean, because I don’t feel it. Yeah, wow, that’s very accurate. And so, you know, a lot of people don’t start because they want it to be perfect. So it’s a lot like sculpting music. You’re crafting the lyrics. So I wanted to see if we could, if you’re listening today, you’re a musician, you’re an aspiring musician. Colton, where can people go if they want to hear your new stuff or music you’re working on? Where can they go to hear that?

Yeah, I mean anywhere you can see music I’m going to be there but my website is coltondixon.com. I know, very original. You can find social media, you can find new songs there, you can find videos there, merch there as well. I apologize but there was one song that you did that was heavy falsetto that blew my mind that was, and again I’m not trying to pin you in a corner and ask you, you have a big catalog of songs, but you have, it was such an emotional song and it was so, do you remember what that song was?

I think it’s called Autopsy. Yes! Yeah, yeah. So I thought if you could, I thought if you could today, if you could just play maybe a couple songs or maybe a little sample of some of your songs. And you can kind of, you know, because I want people to understand that, you know,

people might think it’s the pop music guy, but Autopsy was, it made, it literally made, like when I heard this song, it like brought me to tears. It was right at the time that my dad was dying from Lou Gehrig’s, and it was like, I listened to this song on repeat, and it was healing, and it was, it was all of that. But then there’s other songs he writes that are uplifting, and I just wanted you to hear a little sample pack. I’ll go over here, you do what you want to do, and then I’ll come harass you one more time.

This is for you and for only you. Got it. Because I love you. I played this song once live and it is the hardest song I’ve ever had to sing. So I’m just going to do a chorus of it. Yeah, I’m very nervous about this right now.

You got it. This song got me through something though. It was powerful. I am more than skin and bones I am more. That was for you, Clay Clark. Thank you.

You’re welcome. How much time do I have first? Between ten minutes and four hours. Okay, fantastic. I’ll lean towards ten minutes. How’s that sound?

Can I use this time to play, I think this is my favorite song I’ve ever written, and no one’s heard it yet. And I might be more nervous about this than singing Like a Girl just now. This topic means a lot to me,

but I wanna start by saying how awesome is it that we serve a God who chooses to see us through the lens of Jesus and what he did. And just a recap, if you don’t know, he lived a perfect life. He was blameless. He was spotless.

He died for everyone in the room. And then three days later, he rose again. That’s kind of the big pillar of why Christians believe what they believe. However, in that same thought, does it bum anyone else out that a lot of people view God through people? That bums me out, y’all. Romans 3.23 says, for all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.

I’m no exception to that. And I wrote this song kind of as a response. I know church hurt and deconstruction and there’s a lot of hot topics, hot takes in church even right now. And man, I kind of wrote this song with my wife in mind. We have two twin girls, identical, who are about to be four. Pray for me.

But I wrote this song with them in mind, but then I also, I had just people in general in mind who have ever looked my way and have seen something that is not pleasing to the Lord. I’m human, I’ve made mistakes, y’all. Like I said, I’m no exception. And I hope I remember the words,

because like I said, this is the first time I’ve played it, but I’d love to play it for you. This is called, In Spite of Me. So this is one of those times, maybe let me know if you like it or don’t, and we won’t put it out.

So here we go. All right. ♪ You say nobody’s perfect and I’ve never been a saint Not all scars are on the surface, written on my face I’m not the best example of the man that I should be But I hope you find Jesus and inspire me

If you could walk around in my shoes, or listen to my prayers, you’d hear me talk about my issues. The crosses that I bear, being broken does an excuse. The life that I should lead, but I hope you find the answers, I hope that you find peace. I pray in your perspective, is it based on what you see? Cause I am just a sinner who is lost and free. And I hope you find Jesus in spite of me.

Jesus is Started from the moment I was learning right from wrong It’s like the person Romans. It’s true that we all fall And I am no exception to chapter 3 verse 23 But I hope you find Jesus in spite of me. I hope you find the answers.

I hope that you find peace. I pray in your perspective, is it based on what you see? Because I am just a sinner who is basically free. And I hope you find Jesus I hope you find a reason To say that you believe

Just keep your eyes on heaven It’s all you’ll ever need I’m sorry for the damage The hurt that lies beneath But I hope you find Jesus In spite of me.

I hope you find Jesus in spite of me. Yeah. Wow. What do you see is the thing that holds people back the most from being their most creative and best self? I think it’s being concerned with what other people think

and a feeling of that the people who make great things are somehow special and that they’re not special, and that’s just not true. Everyone has the capability to make great things and none of us are special. It seems like a lot of people,

they’re focused on what other people think, like you said, and it almost, it blocks them into this kind of rut feeling, I guess, so they feel like they’re stuck in a rut. I don’t know if you’ve heard this before with a lot of your artists, but with me as a writer and an author, I’ve heard so many people come to me

and say, I want to write a book. And I ask them, how long have you been, had this idea that you wanted to write this book about this thing. Some people will say five, seven, ten years, but they’ve been worried about what people think or they feel creatively stuck in a rut. Do you ever feel stuck in a rut?

If so, how do you personally get out of that? I think taking action is a really great thing and not setting up barriers of entry. I can imagine a musician saying, I can’t play this song because I don’t have the right guitar or I don’t have the right equipment to do it and there are no barriers to entry There’s always a way I come from a punk rock background. So I’m on crack. It was a do-it-yourself

mentality and You know, I started my first record company not knowing Not knowing that was something you can do. It just really happened automatically. I wanted to start making records. I wanted people to hear them.

I never knew that you could get signed to a label. I just thought, well, if you want to make a record, you make a record. So I made records and, you know, print up 500 copies of a seven-inch single, for example. So I think there’s always a way.

You don’t have to wait for permission from someone else. I think that’s a big part people are waiting for permission to actually make their art to make their art Someone has to say, you know, I’ll hire you to do this or I’ll publish your book if you write a book or Set the stage to to allow you to do it, but I don’t think that’s the way great things are made From Napoleon Hill the best-selling author in the history of the self-help space, Napoleon Hill. He once wrote

here, he says, the man of decision cannot be stopped. The man of indecision cannot be started. Take your own choice. What? Says the man of decision cannot be stopped. The man of indecision cannot be started. Take your own choice. So I would say, if you’re going to distill this into your office and into your business, what do you do? Step number one is you gather the facts. You just gather the facts.

Step number two is you act. What? Yeah, yeah, you act. Now once you act, once you act, once you get into a place where you really are acting, you have to measure and refine. What am I saying?

Let’s go over it again here. So step number one, you define what you think the problems are, aka that you gather the facts. Step two, you act, step three, you’re going to measure the results, and step four, you’re going to refine. And this is every day as an entrepreneur.

Every single day, this is what you do. And I would argue it’s this is the way you type, this is the way you write a book, this is the way you make a script, this is the way you launch your ads. You define, act, measure, refine. But if you’re somebody that fears making a decision because it has to be perfect on the first try, you just can’t be a successful entrepreneur. And here to talk about it is David, the founder of BunkyLife.com.

Again, BunkyLife.com, it’s the home of the bolt-on bedrooms, the custom cabins that everybody loves there. Folks, check it out. It’s BunkyLife.com. David Frazier, welcome on to the Thrive Time Show. How are you, sir? I’m doing fantastically, and thank you so much for having me. I really want to tap into your wisdom about this idea though, because I see so many entrepreneurs that tell me, they say, Clay, I want to write a book. I say, great. One of my longtime clients say, I want to write a book.

I say, great. And I say, what do you want to write your book about? They say, I want to write my book about my journey to becoming the top insurance agent in my industry or the top mortgage guy or the top dentist or the top whatever. And I’ll say, well, let’s do it. And they’ll say, what do I do?

I said, step one, make a title, working title. Step two, make the table of contents, working table of contents. Step three, start writing. And then we’ll define, act, measure, refine. And that’s where a lot of people get stuck

because they don’t want to start until they’ve nailed down that it’s gonna be perfect. I wanna get your reaction to that. Why is it that people are so afraid of making the wrong decision to the point they won’t make any decision?

Well, it probably boils down to, I mean thousands of years ago, if you’re the guy that stepped a little bit out of line, a bear ate your face off. So I think there’s a little bit of a drive in the human psyche to kind of stay inside the herd and that’s the safe kind of spot to be. So I think that you have to kind of overcome that natural inclination because the reality is entrepreneurship is rewarded by taking risks.

Reward by taking risks. So let me just make it really specific. I’m gonna do a lot of examples here, back to back to back. And I wanna tap into your wisdom on this. So right now I have a haircut chain. One of the companies I have is a haircut chain.

We have a chain of businesses we cut hair, all right? So Wednesday night at 5.30, I’m gonna be interviewing job candidates who are going to come work for us at Elephant in the Room, or candidates who want to work at Elephant in the Room. And I’m gonna look at the resumes,

I’m gonna interview them, I’m gonna talk to them, do all the things that I’m gonna figure out. I’m gonna take the steps needed to find out who I believe is the best. But then after I do that, I’m going to have to hire somebody.

And the chances are, I will on average be right, but there are certain hires, David, where you look back and you say, no, it wasn’t the right fit. But all I can do is interview as many candidates as possible, read the resumes, call the references, conduct the interview, and make a call. I mean, at the end of the day.

So I do my group interview. Every week I interview candidates. Every week, if I think they’re a good fit, I schedule them to shadow in my office. And then every week I go ahead and start the hiring process and I onboard people that I think are a good fit. But I see a lot of entrepreneurs that struggle with the idea of hiring people because they

just cannot fathom the idea of making a hiring decision that doesn’t work out. I see it all the time. I mean, do you see this as well within your peer group? Do you see entrepreneurs that struggle to hire people because they’re afraid that the person won’t be a good fit? Yeah, for sure.

I mean, I definitely think I’m one of those people sometimes. It’s just like, it feels like this big thing. But the thing that helped me overcome that fear a little bit was people at a higher entrepreneurship level than me said, hey, you know what? You’re not really hiring someone for 50 grand a year, 80 grand a year,

100 grand a year, you’re really hiring them for the next two weeks for about one to three grand. You know, and then we look at it that way, it’s like, oh yeah, it’s a mistake that if you catch it early enough, you can undo it pretty quickly.

I don’t, I’m not afraid of it anymore, but I was a little bit at the start. I see a lot of entrepreneurs that are afraid of hiring people. I see a lot of entrepreneurs that are afraid of decorating their office.

As an example, my office, if you come into my office, like it or not, you can clearly, there’s clearly somebody in my office, aka me, that doesn’t have a problem with doing aggressive design. Like I have no problem doing design that I perceive to be enjoyable.

So I’ve got a massive waterfall in front of our building that I love. I’ve got a certain playlist in my office that I love. I have decor that I love. But I know a lot of people that, David, for whatever reason, they won’t decorate their own office. I go into their office and I say,

no, this is the real thing. I’ve had clients that have told me, they say, Clay, I want to make my office compelling like yours. I say, okay, great. Why don’t you send me, because most of my clients are out of town. I said, why don’t you send me video footage of your current office? And you look in their office and it looks like no one even offices there. And I say, why haven’t you put anything out? Why is there no decor at all? And they say, well, I just didn’t want to put out a print that offended somebody, didn’t want to go

with the wrong color, didn’t want to go with the wrong. I just want to get your reaction again. I mean, back to these ideas, because again, if you cannot make decisions after gathering all the facts quickly, you cannot become a successful entrepreneur.

Yeah, I think that the reason a lot of people don’t kind of put their mark on things is, like you said, the risk of offending. But the reality is, if you don’t stand up for anything or just make any type of a statement, no one can react in any way. It’s like a milk toast.

It just kind of melts in your hand. Whereas if you make a strong statement about something that you genuinely believe, ideally, you’re going to repel the people you don’t want, and you’re going to attract the people you do want, and it’s actually a double win. And again, if you’re out there today,

I’m telling you folks, if you are out there today and you’re saying, man, I just, I want to act. I just don’t want to get it wrong. The rhythm you got to master, there’s four steps. Define, act, measure, refine. Define, act, measure, refine.

You know, we have a big business conference coming up here featuring Tim Tebow. I’ve never had Tim Tebow come speak at our business conferences before. I’ve watched him from afar. I’ve seen him speak, but I’ve never had him come to my office. And who knows?

I mean, it might be the best decision I’ve ever made. It might be, wow, this was a great decision. Good job bringing in Tim Tebow. I’ve also had other speakers I’ve brought in in the past, David, where I think to myself, self, I mean, people on average love the workshops. People do.

They tell us, man, Clay, I love the workshops. I’m so glad we have so many great reviews, but we don’t have a 5.0 rating. We have a 4.9. And if you read the reviews, certain people say, ah, it just felt too raw. It felt too candid. It wasn’t politically correct enough.

And certain people didn’t like it. Other people love it, and again, I’m just trying to help somebody out there get over that fear of rejection, that fear of bringing in Tim Tebow for the conference, that fear of launching an advertisement that won’t work, the fear of hiring the wrong person, the fear of choosing the wrong logo, the fear of choosing the wrong color scheme. I just want to help somebody out there.

Again, I don’t struggle to make decisions, but I see it as a common problem with many wonderful clients that have had the opportunity to serve. They just really struggle with making decisions. What would you say to somebody out there that’s even worried about putting on a conference for look of embarrassment or worrying about speaking at an event, fearing that they might get rejected publicly?

What are your thoughts? Okay, so what I always say is the root word of decision comes from a Greek word for to cut off, to sever off. So you think about yourself standing at a fork in the road, and you have to sever off one of the paths. You have to choose one and cut off the idea that you could have chosen the other path. So a lot of people think that you can somewhat go down both paths, but you really can’t.

You can’t ride two horses. You can’t take two paths. So at a fork in the road, you have to cut off the life that you could have had if you went the other way. That’s the first thing that I always think about. And the reality is if you don’t make a decision, you’ve made a decision to sit around and do nothing and stare at two paths. So there really isn’t an option in a lot of scenarios where you can’t make a

decision. You are making one by just sitting around and avoiding actually choosing one of the two paths. You have to be able to cut off the potential of path one and choose path two or vice versa. Otherwise you just, you are going to be paralyzed and never move forward.

Now this is not a passive aggressive attempt to attack and or criticize your products, but I’ll just say this. You go to bunkylife.com, you’ve got a lot of different wonderful products that people now love. People now love these products. I mean, you’re selling many of them, people love them,

but I’m sure at one point at some time you designed something that you thought, well, that probably wasn’t a good idea or whoa, that wasn’t a good one. I’m not looking for the specific design that didn’t work, but what is your process now for introducing a new product at BunkyLife.com?

So if we get continual demand for something and we love the idea and we can make it ourselves in a cost-effective way, then we’ll consider it. Otherwise, if it doesn’t reach those three criteria, we don’t even consider something. So there’s lots of times people want us to make tiny homes or showers or things like all this random side stuff.

But for us, we just got to zoom in and get better on making the things we already make better. And we feel like that is a better strategy as opposed to like just offering everybody the bizarre, like going to a flea market and we’ve got bunkies and we’ve got showers and we’ve got camels and we’ve got

clowns juggling chainsaws. We don’t want, we want to be very zoomed in on we make the world’s easiest to build bunkee that you can build in the weekend. I’m going to go ahead and pull up the website one more time. And in closing here, I want to make sure we’re getting this idea. I’m going to repeat this notable quotable from Napoleon Hill. He says, the man of decision cannot be stopped. The man of indecision cannot be started. Take your own choice.

So on part two of today’s show, I’m gonna introduce the listeners to a wonderful longtime client by the name of Paul Solins. He has a company called Outside Inc. They do outside irrigation. They do outside, they basically take your,

let me pull it up real quick here. It’s Outside Inc. They basically will take your backyard that you are currently frustrated with and turn it into a place where people wanna go and visit. They really do a great job with the landscaping.

And I want you to hear his success story. But again, he did a very good job of deciding, you know what, I’m going to reach out to you guys. I’m going to fill out the form. I’m going to talk to you. I’m going to see if it’s a good fit.

And he’s having massive success, but he had to make some decisions there. So what do you say to some entrepreneur who’s watching right now that’s saying, ah, man, I’m thinking about going to monkeylife.com, I’m thinking about buying up one of these

things. What do you say to somebody? What’s what’s kind of your your your pitch to somebody who’s thinking about deciding to buy a bolt-on bedroom? Well, the reality is, if you think about puttering around this decision, another year is going to go by. And so basically you’re making a decision to not add extra space, not to be able

to host your friends and family, to not have that backyard office. So like we were saying earlier, you ultimately got to decide. If you say, hey, I’m going to choose to tough it out with whatever my situation is for another year or two or three, that’s fine. Make that decision. But if you don’t want to have an embarrassing stay every time your in-laws or your friends and family want to come visit, if you don’t want to have kids screaming in the background on every single Zoom call and every single client call.

If you don’t want to have basically no escape from your current house, then give us a call. 1-866-4-BUNKY. We’d love to talk about how we could potentially add some extra space to your backyard. Are most people buying a BUNKY to be kind of an escape room

for their own house, like their own private office, own kind of getaway, or are most people buying a BUNKY to be a bolt-on bedroom, like a guest bedroom, or what’s the most common reason people buy a full-time bedroom?

Definitely a full-time bedroom is the number one thing. If say you have a small cottage and you want everyone to be able to come for the weekend or even a back, you know, a smaller house, you want your in-laws to come, that’s number one. And the number two is definitely the home office

or extra space for hobbies or office business stuff. David, I greatly appreciate you carving out time for us today. Thank you for doing that. And again, folks, check it out, it’s Bunkeylife.com. Bunkeylife.com, and on part two of today’s show,

this is a wonderful listener out there, folks, just like you, who decided to reach out. He’s increased his lead flow by 10 times, and we’re gonna share with you his success story. Thanks again, David, we’ll talk to you soon. Thanks Clay, appreciate it.

I remember some bills of $4,500 a month just to get leads that I was having to pay for, and that’s only get a lead and a contact to where now I’m paying you $1,700 a month and I got 80 some leads last week alone and I paid you $1,700. And to me, that was huge for my industry.

That was one huge thing that just blown me away. Okay, folks, money is a magnifier. That’s what it is. Money is a magnifier. It’s an amplifier. It just makes you more of who you already were.

So as an example, if you’re a complete jerk and you make a lot of money, you’ll become a bigger jerk. And on today’s show, we’re interviewing a longtime client who’s a really nice, kind, decent person. He doesn’t claim to be perfect, nor do I think that he’s perfect,

but he’s a guy that I use over and over and over. I utilize his services to plant trees and do landscaping for my family, for my business, because I really enjoy him as a person. I consider him to be a friend, and it’s been awesome helping him magnify

and grow his business. And without any further ado, we have the founder of Outside Inc., Paul Sullins. Welcome onto the Thrive Time Show. How are you, sir? Doing good, Clay.

Thank you for having me. So Paul, I gotta ask you here, and correct me if I’m wrong, I’m looking at your tracking sheet, which for anybody out there who’s a client, we look at the tracking sheet.

And last week you had 89 leads. So 89 people reached out to you to inquire about hiring you to do landscaping, pool maintenance, backyard work for them outside, remodeling kind of work. And then I’m looking at your tracking sheet like a year ago, and you were getting like four or five leads on a weekly basis. Can you maybe walk the listeners through what it feels like

to be on the receiving end of 89 inbound leads in one week. It’s a little scary to be straight honest with you. It’s awesome just to know that the amount of work up front that we put in is actually paying off. You know, you see these people, you hear all these things and you’re like, hey, it’s gonna be there,

it’s gonna be there. And it’s been kind of mind-blowing to sit there. One of my office ladies comes in and goes, we’ve got 56 calls in one day right after a rainstorm. And to actually realize the work and the effort that we put in is actually coming to fruition. It’s been amazing. What I’m going to do is I’m going to pull up your website and I’m going to showcase what you do so people can get some context. I know you’re not a hologram, outside ink irrigation. Outside ink irrigation is one of the

websites. Also, folks, if you do a search on Google for outside ink and the word HULSA, you can find the website outsideink.co. So two different websites there. When you go to outsideink.co, we look here, we look at the services you provide. It’s French drainage, it’s landscaping, you do monthly home maintenance. If you look at the irrigation services, you guys are doing irrigation system repair and installation. So you’re not the only guy in your market who’s providing irrigation systems or French drains or, but you’re consistently getting a lot of leads.

So I want to focus on the four aspects of business growth. There’s a lot of them we could focus on, but I want to focus on four today. The first is marketing. You’ve got to get reviews from happy customers. Every single week I harass you about this and every week you show up with more, but these are actual customers that have actually done business with you.

Can you talk about the importance, and I’ll hit play, but I’ll hit mute as I’m playing these. Can you talk about the importance of gathering objective video reviews from real customers each and every week. What kind of value has that made when you’re even talking to prospective clients? It’s made a lot of difference. I mean, a lot of the phone calls,

we’ll sit there and go, hey, we’re the highest rated, most reviewed company in Tulsa. We’re doing all these things. And they’re like, yeah, we know, we went to your website. And we saw the clients speak about what you had done around their houses and how well you communicated with them

and that’s how we decided to work with you guys. So it’s just, you know, I’ve put on, I’ve put on so many different client reviews and interviews on the webpage and it’s been completely different, you know, through some of your training

and seeing some of your different videos from the business shows that you put on, Clay. I’ve noticed that we don’t have to have the best-looking and the most entertained TV-produced videos. It’s just getting videos of real people in their backyards, in their yards, and actually talking about you as a person and the products that we’ve done for them and how they’ve enjoyed

it. How often, when you meet somebody, and again, we’re focused just on marketing right now, when you meet with somebody, how often does the potential buyer reference the fact that you, they’ve watched a video review or have looked at examples of video reviews on your website as a percentage? Like how often do they reference, yeah, I’ve seen some of the videos or I’ve seen some testimonials? Percentage-wise, I would say at least 25 to maybe 50 percent. You know, I have a couple of different sales guys and I have some ladies answering the phones here.

I’m hearing it all the time. I’ve got an office right next to the lady answering the phone. She goes, hey, how did you hear about us? Well, we Googled you and then it’s like, oh, hey, you know this, this, this. They were like, oh, yeah, we already looked at your website and saw all the views, all the video reviews you’ve done.

It’s all the time. It might be more than that, but I would say in the neighborhood of 25 to 40%. And again, if you’re talking about marketing, folks, we’re talking about marketing, it’s VISM. There’s other details, but everyone needs to remember this. VISM, video reviews, images,

search engine content, more reviews. Let’s hop on to I, images. You’re constantly gathering images of your projects. So it’s not an event. I think a lot of people think planting a garden is an event, and it’s not an event.

I think people think that getting married is an event, it’s not an event. I think people think that raising a child is an event, it’s not an event, it’s a process. Every week you’re gathering images, before and after images of projects you’ve done. How has that paid off? Just the consistency of adding before and after images of projects. It’s been a, it’s actually done quite well. It gets my guys, number one, it helps my staff and us know that, number one, you know, because as the owner of the business, you can’t be on every job, you know, as you grow, it helps

me know that the guys are doing what I’m wanting them to do in the field. My company is actually being portrayed the way I want it to be portrayed. But then also, people always look at a company and look at, you know, we pull up at a nice fancy track and they’re like, oh, these guys, all they’re going to do is the big fancy jobs. Not all our jobs are big and fancy.

We talk and we work for the average Joe, the average person in the background. When they’re able to look on and see some of these photos of just a little small French drain or we poured a little 10 by 10 concrete patio, it actually helps us relate better to the clients and the customers in the field. I feel just having all those videos and pictures. Just to be super clear again, video reviews,

got to get them every week, images of projects. You do a great job with that. Search engine content, our team handles the optimization, the ongoing updates on the website. So you don’t have to mess with that. How much does that help knowing you,

for you knowing that you don’t have to go in to your website and figure out how to code and update a website every week? There’s no way I’d be where I’m at if I had to stick or mess with that. You know, running a company, a lot of people always say starting your business is an easy thing.

It’s managing it and keep on top of it. And these little details like this, I mean, we’re in the age now, word of mouth is one way, but most, everybody’s going to Google and go to your websites to see how to get hold of you. And that’s the marketing we are in today, society. And I think that is super important to have that up and running. And when I don’t have to mess with it, it is blowing me away. Because I mean, I’ve got to deal with my employees. I’ve got to deal with all this

other stuff. And so it’s just a huge peace of mind to know that that’s just taken care of. I don’t have to mess with it at all. Now, so again, we go back to this V.I.S.M. and I think one way we learn is through repetition, video reviews, images, search engine content, the ongoing optimization of the website. We handle that for all of our clients. And then M, more

reviews. We’re never done getting reviews. And so right now, if somebody goes to Google, and they do a search right now, and they type in Tulsa tree planting, which is how I originally heard about you, was I was looking to plant trees at one of my properties. I went to a church called Church on the Move, a really wonderful church that at the time was led by Pastor Willie George.

And the trees looked incredible on the property. And so I kept asking people, who does the trees? Who’s doing the work? And I kept hearing your name. And that’s how I first met you. And now today when someone types in Tulsa tree planting, you come up top in the search results, 703 reviews.

You’re constantly getting video reviews, images, search engine content, more reviews. Let’s talk about that for a second. How much has it helped you to have the most Google reviews, in addition to video, but the most Google reviews? It gives you validity. I really think with people, you know, I kind of tell this to people all the time. It’s like, I talk to my buddies of mine, their own businesses and or in the in any kind of a service industry. And I’m like, what do people do now? Nowadays, they go to Google, they Google, they’re Googling for French grains, they’re Googling for this, they’re

Googling where to go eat. And if you, you know, to be at the top of Google gives you the opportunity to actually talk to a client and to bid it. Now, you know, we still have to go out and sell the job to the client, but it’s been very important and very helpful to be able to be at the top to be able to get that. I don’t know if I quite answered your question.

No, this is great. And you’ve got the four aspects of business I want to focus on today. Again, step one, marketing and branding. We covered that. Branding is just anything people see. The website, the print pieces, the logo, the auto wraps. We handle all that with you. We do a lot of that work behind the scenes. That’s marketing and branding.

The second step is sales. Sales is converting an ideal and likely lead or an ideal and likely buyer into an actual buyer. And I believe that a lot of times, and I’ve worked with companies in the past that helped me with my marketing when I was first starting DJConnection.com, and I would say, well, yeah, I’m getting a lot of leads, but I’m not selling anything.

And they would say, uh, we don’t really help with that. We just focus on the marketing or just the branding, or just, I want to get your thoughts on the sales thing. Um, you do a very good job of tracking. Um, I won’t show your tracking numbers on today’s show, but you know, you do a very good job of tracking.

This is how many leads that came in. This is how many people bought. How has that helped you measuring and tracking your sales? Number one, it helps me because as I’ve grown, I’ve got multiple salesmen that work with me. Number one, I’m able to see what my guys in the field are selling every week. And it also gives me time to see, or not time, but gives me the capabilities of looking and

seeing how our ebbs and flows are in my business because I’m an outdoor service company. So in the springs and the falls, it’s able to see when I need to gear up for employees, when I need to gear up and get guys ready for stuff, when our down times are. So, you know, over the last two years, I’m able to go back and look at it going, hey, you know, January and February is going to be real slow December. So I really need to start as a business owner in October, you know, September and October

start pushing sales and start finding different ways to be able to get more business to keep my guys going So we can book out over that time. So if I wasn’t able to track my sales my leads coming in the Jobs were sold. I wouldn’t know, you know, you get so busy in your day in day out You don’t focus on that stuff and you know me meeting with you every week, you get trained to be able to look at that stuff and be able to see stuff ahead

as you’re growing your business and not looking in the rear view mirror going, man, I wish I would have kept that going or wish I would have known about that six months ago because then I would have been able to adjust then to help us now.

Now I’m sitting there going, hey, I’m gonna make money to pay bills and we got to get some jobs sold and I’m working in the rearview mirror trying to get stuff closed that we should have been working on three to four months ago. Now most of the clients I work with, I charge clients a flat rate of $1,700 a month plus a small percentage of growth and the idea is hopefully I’m the cheapest employee that

you have. You know, so you look at it and you go, okay, I’m paying this guy $1,700 a month. Okay, hopefully I’m the least expensive person on the payroll, the least expensive line item. But over time, once we produce fruit, hopefully that small percentage of growth,

that small percentage of the growth makes it all worth it. You know, and so that’s the idea is to achieve that true win-win. And so the next, the third aspect of the business coaching I wanted to cover on today’s show is management. So you look at a great project like this,

you got to do marketing, branding, true. Step two, you’ve got to do sales. But three, you’ve got to manage. And I think that most people who are self-employed feel sort of isolated and annoyed. I feel like most self-employed people

feel isolated and annoyed. They feel like, am I the only one seeing the level of jackassery that is often allowed in the American workplace today? And I have to work with all my wonderful clients to teach best practice management systems.

I think you do a fine job of that. That’s something that you, in my opinion, is one of your strengths. You do a very good job of communicating the expectations directly to the client, and you manage those expectations. You tell the client, hey, Mr. Smith, hey, Ms. Smith, we’re going to have your pool remodel or your pool fix or your pool house fixed or your outdoor siding project, your outdoor landscaping,

we’re going to have your retaining wall, we’re going to have whatever the project is, we’re going to have it done by this particular day. It’s going to cost this amount of money. And you do a very good job of managing that relationship with the client and then managing those employees

by the behind the scenes. Can you talk to us about the importance of just mastering management techniques? Well, I don’t know if anybody’s ever a master. One of the things I’ve learned, you know, and I’ve had clients over and over in my field sit there and go, man, when you said you were there, you were there.

You were there every time you said you were going to be there. And you did what you said you were going to do. And that, you know, number one, I like to be a man of my word. I mean, I like to be able to tell people when we’re going to be there. I work in the outdoor industry. I mean, it rains.

We’re in Oklahoma, so you’re going to have delays. But setting those expectations with the clients, number one, helps me to be able to go, hey, it’s rain. I can’t get it. We’ve been delayed because of this. And setting those expectations up front makes for a happy end product with your clients.

And just go through the process, say, hey, even when I sell the job, I’m like, hey, we’re the highest rated, most reviewed company in Tulsa right now, and here’s the reason why. But that also comes with, we’re really busy. We’re not going to be able to get to you tomorrow. And the thing is, the people that can get to you tomorrow are probably not going to give you the best product.

And setting those expectations with the clients up front, letting them know, hey, we’re gonna be a little behind. We’re six weeks out, we’re eight weeks out, and letting that client know that and then keeping them up to date. Then the client knows, hey,

they just didn’t take my deposit or they just didn’t take this and just disappeared. They know that, hey, we’re coming down, we’re there, we’re still there, we’re gonna get the benefit. So I think that’s one of the things that’s helping really to set that set with your clients and it makes it

important to them at the end because they know, I mean, some of these jobs are an investment for their backyard. It’s a lot of money for them on some of these projects. It’s just like buying a house. You want to know that you’re getting what you’re paying for and it’s going to be there when you expect it to be there.

We could share just hundreds of video testimonials or Google reviews. I’m just showing some examples here. But in the final area I wanted to cover on today’s show, again, I’m just making sure we’re recapping. Marketing and branding, that’s how you generate leads. Second step is sales. You convert ideal and likely buyers into sales. Three is management. You have to manage the expectations. And then the final step is

accounting and what I would classify as merit-based pay. At the end of the day, it’s not how much money you make, it’s how much you keep. And I just don’t think that most people think about that when they’re growing a business. And that’s becoming an increasingly part of our ongoing conversations is making sure that, you know, because, hey, you’re the kind of guy that quotes a customer a price and you hold yourself accountable to not changing your bid on the client. But that doesn’t mean that subcontractors

or employees won’t try to change the game on you and all of a sudden drive up your expenses. So can you talk about that, that final step of just the accountings. I think a lot of entrepreneurs, when they reach out for a business coach or a consultant, they don’t think about the accounting, but I would argue, as we continue to grow outside Inc., the accounting aspect of your business is

becoming a bigger part. I firmly agree. I just actually just came out of a meeting talking about accounting and bills and what’s coming in, fresh on my mind. And as you grow your business, one of the things I think as you’re young, you’re just trying to get jobs done.

You’re just trying to get whatever you can go. But as you grow, it becomes a huge part. It becomes, I think, more than what most people think it’s going to be. And getting, you know, keeping the money and keeping the accounting,

it’s just like this last year, Clay, me and you had been talking about, you know, doing merit-based because I think once if you get if you pay people enough where they’re comfortable they stay there they don’t want to grow you know as your business grows you want to grow you want to give them more money you know most most people want more money I think everybody would you know not

frowning against getting some extra money but as a business owner you want your salesman you want your guys out there in the field wanting to be able to make more money And if you just keep them on an hourly basis There’s no growth for them to perform better and to make more money so this last year I’ve switched my sales guys to a hundred percent commission well

I used to have them up a base and I put them over to commission and the amount of calls of Clients looking for their bids has got cut down and over half, he’s selling more jobs by, I would say, 30 to 40%, maybe more than that, since we’ve been tracking it. And it’s maybe a huge, huge thing. Because the thing is, if he doesn’t sell, he doesn’t get paid any money.

And so, especially when you find people that are eager to make more money, they’re going to sell more. You know, this is one thing I wanted to bring up, and I’ll let you go here, because I know you’re a busy guy here. For anybody other that doesn’t know this, when I built my first company called DJConnection.com,

after every event we did, I was obsessive about calling the bride after the wedding and asking them to leave us an objective review. Now this is before Google was super relevant, so we had WeddingWire and the Knot.com and those kind of things, or we would get video testimonials on an old school video camera we had back in the day. We would archive them and at a certain point, I remember I talked to a bride and she said to me,

you have thousands of video testimonials. And I said, oh, yeah, absolutely. And then now today people go to Thrive Timeshow.com, they click on testimonials. And I had a call I had just the other day with a wonderful man. And he was saying to me, I was going through your testimonials. And I had to stop around like page 30

because I kept looking at the testimonials. I realized there is really no end in sight. I mean, I’m looking at this and there’s like years after years after years of video testimonials. And I said, well, yeah, because we document that. That’s a very important thing that we do. But I want to ask you this question for anybody out there that’s thinking about coming to one of our workshops or scheduling a free 13 point assessment with myself to go over how to grow

their company. What would you say or maybe what kind of impact do you think that business coaching with our program has made on your business? It’s been huge. One of the things I love, the problem is a lot of times with business owners is they’re,

I feel, especially with me, we come from, for my instance, I come from, I call it W-2 employee status, working for somebody. And it’s like, hey, I’m going to go out here and start my own business. Well, I didn’t go to business school.

Nobody’s told me the next steps, what I really need to focus on. Because as you grow this business, like, what is it? You know, you can read a thousand books. And what’s made it huge for me is to be able to come along, you know, have you come along beside me and say, hey, you need to focus on this, and this is why.

You need to focus on this, and this is why. Because when we get down in what I call the trenches as a business owner you’re sitting there going man if you all you do is focus on that you can never focus on what you really need to do you can’t focus on your accounting and stuff like that and it’s been amazing it’s actually I don’t know how much it’s grown my company so far in the last two years but

it is the peace of mind is unreal because I’m not looking at my numbers at the moment. But it has been huge. It’s just like I used to have to pay, I think it was, I think we were paying in the neighborhood of $4,000 a month just for leads, just to get leads in now, two years ago. I mean, this time of the year, we’re, I mean, I remember some bills of $4,500 a month just to get leads that I was having to pay for it.

And that’s only get a lead and a contact to where now I’m paying you $1,700 a month and I got 80 some leads last week alone and I paid you $1,700. And to me, that was huge for my industry. That was one huge thing that just blown me away.

And I’ll say this too. You are a client that’s more private about your numbers. That just goes with your personality. Some of my clients are a little bit more flashy. They love to talk about their sales and their sales. But I can say this, I was looking at year over year. So you take the month of May when we’re recording this and you look at this week last year and last week you had eight leads. So last year, this week you had eight leads from what I can tell

on the tracking sheet. And this week we had 89. So whatever that’s worth for anybody out there. And again, you know, we have some of our clients that like to talk about gross sales and we, and Paul keeps it more private and that’s totally fine. So I just encourage everybody out there. You can have a tenfold increase in your number of leads, your amount of activity, you can do it, but you got to be a diligent doer. You can’t just be a hearer of these words. You have to implement what you’re learning. And Paul, I really appreciate

you for making the Thrive Time Show World headquarters look incredible. Thank you for the maintenance you provide. Thank you for the work you provide. And again, it’s been awesome serving you. So again, thanks for your time today, sir. Hey, thank you, Clay. Have a great day, buddy. Take care. Bye. All right. Bye. I’m Glenn Shaw, owner of Shaw Homes in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Started the company in 1985. At that time, it was one employee doing everything, me. I met Aaron Entis in 2007. The top three things that Aaron did for Shaw Homes was he brought in processes

that helped us be able to repeat over and over. He brought in unique hiring skills. He was able to find the right people for the right seat on the bus. Aaron brought sales techniques that we weren’t familiar with up until that time. When Aaron came, we were selling about 80, 85 houses a year. And during the 16-year period, we solved sales, get up over 400.

Before I met Aaron, the only sales manager we had was myself, and I was completely unable to perform that job. And so, Aaron brought major changes and great results with them. In the many years that I was building houses before Aaron, I was great at selling if somebody wanted to buy. But they had to be knocking on my door asking me to sell them a house before I could actually make that sell. I had no sales techniques and no ability to generate sales.

Aaron coming in as a natural salesperson just absolutely transformed that and made the sales experience better for the company and better for our buyers. But prior to Aaron, I would work all week for the company. I’d sit in the model home over the weekend, and I had a salesperson or two, but I was actually out there all weekend working that.

Since hiring Aaron, I was able to take my weekends off, even reduce my workload during the week. I went from working 60, 70 hours a week to almost a normal workload. So I’ve been a member of the Builder20 program in the National Association of Home Builders for 25 years, 20 years.

And during that time, I’ve seen a lot of sales managers with the other companies that have been involved. In my opinion, Aaron is smarter and sharper than any sales manager of any builder that’s ever been in our group. Some markets, they don’t have to try to sell, they just sell themselves. But with the ability to sell and to train and hire, Aaron was better than any of those

sales managers that were in my program. Well, I remember when I considered hiring Aaron many years ago, the thought of spending the extra money was a little scary, but in hindsight, it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. It freed my time, increased our sales, and at the end of the day, increased our profitability beyond my wildest expectations. Now, years ago, I was concerned that if I didn’t do whatever a customer asked me to

do, it might be the last house I sold. And so, over time, we were able to move away from unlimited customization to pre-designed options. The problem that we were having in those days is that the customer would tell us what they wanted, but they didn’t really know what they wanted. And we would deliver exactly what they told us to do,

and they wouldn’t be happy with it. So as we became more standardized, we give lots of options, but we don’t customize. And in the end, that allows us to sell more homes for better margins than spending countless hours trying to customize in just every avenue of the sales process. We get weekly reports on sales, on profitability, on production, and it provides all the manageable

tools that I need to review the company from a 10,000-foot level. All right, Thrive Nation, on today’s show, what we’re going to focus on is how to grow a successful company. So what I’m going to do is I’m going to pull up a graphic that is the theory of how to grow a successful company, but vision without execution is hallucination. And so if you go to thrivetimeshow.com forward slash millionaire, you can download a book

that I have written called A Millionaire’s Guide, How to Become Sustainably Rich. You can download it for free at thrivetimeshow.com forward slash millionaire, but you have to actually implement that which is in the book. And so on today’s show, we’re joined by a very successful person in the home building business, a great friend of mine, a man by the name of Aaron Antus. Aaron Antus, welcome on to The Thrive Time Show.

How are you, sir? I’m doing great, Clay. Thanks for having me on. Hey, so I got to ask you this for the people out there that want to prove you’re not a hologram. First off, what’s the website for your company so people can verify that you are in fact

a real business? You bet. It’s shahomes.com. S-H-A-W-H-O-M-E-S dot com. Shawhomes.com. I’m pulling it up. Shawhomes.com. That’s the website. Shawhomes.com. And when you and I met, before we met, you had been already very successful as a home builder.

You turned your dream of being a home builder guy into reality. Yeah. And so how many homes had you sold or what kind of sales had you done in your career as a home builder guy before you and I even met? Before we met, probably about 750 million in sales prior to meeting you.

And then you did, the year we first started working together, what were the sales totals that year? We were at like 19 million. 19 million, and then when you ended 2022, obviously we’re in 2023, and so we’ll see how this year ends,

but as far as ending 2022, how much sales did you do last year at the end of 2022? 2022, we were at like 84 million. Okay, so from 19 million to… 84 million. 84 million, so you’re doing some things right here.

And what we’re gonna try to do is kind of demystify the plan here. Okay, so here we go. So establishing revenue goals. Yep. When you and I first started working together, we started off with a 13-point assessment.

We went over your goals. I’m not going to ask you to share your goals on the air, but why is it important that you have goals? Well, I mean, goals are sort of your guideposts that, you know, you set something out there in front of you and you start chasing after it. And without that, you’re just kind of floundering in mediocrity.

You don’t have any reason to get up in the morning and really get after it. And so, you know, I think goals are, you know, it’s, you can have lots of different types of goals. And we’ve talked about a lot of this. We’ve talked about, you know, having financial goals and having, you know, fitness goals

and having friendship goals and just all these different areas. I know you’ve got the F6, you know. So that’s kind of something that, you know, we touched on very early on. You asked me like, is the goal,

is one of your goals more income or is it more time? And so I said, well, really at this point it’s more income. And then later it became more time. So you know, it’s changed over the time I’ve known you since 2016, we’re going on seven years and the income went up considerably.

So now it’s, you know, turned in the last couple of years towards more time. Now the breakeven numbers, again, I’m not asking you for the numbers on the show, but you guys have a lot of fixed costs. I mean, if you go to shawhomes.com, you’ve got framers, you have plumbers, you have tile people, you have so many skilled people, you have a full-time sales team, you have an admin staff, and if you don’t sell a house, you still have the service of the land, you still

have all the overhead. Why is it important for every listener out there to know their break-even point? How many deals they need per month just to break even. Well, yeah, because you’re going backwards real quick and it doesn’t take very long if you’re at the beginning of your business. It doesn’t take very long for you to be in a place where the creditors are knocking at

your door and you can’t pay your bills and all of a sudden you’re going to lose all your – for us, all of our trades, all of our suppliers are going to start backing out. So, you know, you’ve got to know what that number is that lets you tread water so that, you know, okay, this is the worst case scenario, everything above that, at least I’m into the profit zone. So, you know, you go out of business pretty quick.

Most businesses don’t last more than just a few months if they get below that break-even number. So now folks, again, these might seem like simple steps, but they’re all the linear steps you have to take to create time, freedom, and financial freedom. And if you want to grow your company, this is how you do it. Box number three, though, is you have to know the hours you’re willing to work.

Now, your incredible wife is here off camera for accountability, so at any point, you know, she could yell like, amen, or boo. But you guys are on the same page with the hours you’re willing to work, and you guys, as a couple, I want to brag on both of you, you guys both committed to sacrificing time and energy and a lot of things to get to where you’re at in life. And then as you had your children, you raised them, you decided to devote time to raising

said kids. And now that your kids are older, you’re devoting time to raising these kids. So it’s not like you advocated being a parent while also growing a company. You did both well. I’d love to get your thoughts on sitting down with your spouse, if you’re watching this today, or your significant other, and making sure you’re on the same page about how many

hours per week you’re willing to work? Well, yeah. I mean, you don’t want to grow a business to make a whole bunch of money just so you can split it in half later. Oh. Because that’s kind of what happens when you don’t work out those details ahead of time.

And so my wife and I have been married 25 years. We’ve been together for four before that. And so, yeah, sorry, 26. Did I just say 25? 26. Real quick, I hate to do this to you.

I just got in trouble. I hate to. Your wife just turned 27 on Thursday, and what you said is 100% false. Okay, so the unique value proposition here. Now let’s talk about this. Whether it’s growing a home building company or a dog training business or a haircut chain

or a carpet cleaning franchise or whatever business we’re involved in helping to grow, you have to sit down as a listener out there, as a business owner, and you’ve got to figure out what makes your company unique. Absolutely. So I want to ask you what makes Shaw Homes unique in the marketplace with other home builders? Yeah, we have more furnished and decorated model homes than any other builder in the market. So you know a lot

of times people when they walk into a home and they’re trying to decide if they like the floor plan, the layout, whatever, they usually most builders in our market have an empty house that they walk into. It just kind of echoes when you walk through it. There’s no furniture or anything. And we completely, as you can see in this little video here, we completely furnish and

decorate it, make it beautiful. We are the most award-winning builder in the state of Oklahoma. We’ve won like five times as many awards as any other builder in the market. So definitely that is one of our big takeaways. Now I’m going to throw you under the bus real quick, and I don’t mean to do this super passively aggressively, it’ll just be more of a subtle passive aggressive.

When I met you, you guys had all these awards but no one knew. That’s true. It was like this weird, bizarre thing where you have all these awards. I remember talking to you and I’m like, what makes you guys different? And you’re like, you know, we do a good job and you’re being nice about it. You’re a good salesperson.

But I said, well, I mean, tell me about the awards. And you’re like, well, we got this award, that award, this award, I need to shave now, this award, that award, I need to go brush my teeth, this award, that award, I want to go mow the lawn now, this award, that award, I’m thinking about retiring, this award, my kids are turning 18, I can see it, this award, and this award, and that award, and so we put those on the website and that helped.

The other thing you guys were, we needed to change was all these people were saying great things, but we didn’t have video reviews of them saying it on camera. Right. So it was like your online reputation didn’t match your real world reputation.

You had so much good momentum there and so many people loved you guys. And now you guys have, would you say 100 video reviews? Oh gosh, I would say more than that. We’ve got, yeah, we have a lot. Everyone can keep up.

You can just keep scrolling and scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. And this is actually all that’s on this page. If you go to our YouTube channel, we have way more than this. So again, and this is all the stuff. You’re going to grow a successful company, folks.

Step one, you’ve got to figure out your revenue goals. Step two, you’ve got to figure out your break-even goals. Step three, sit down for an hour of power. Sit down with your spouse. Make sure that you guys are on the same page of your hours you’re willing to work. Step four, unique value proposition.

Figure out what it is that makes you unique. And we have an in-depth guide that you can download for free at Thrivetimeshow.com forward slash millionaire if you get stuck. Next box. You got to improve your branding, your website, your one sheet, in your case model home presentations, business cards, social media branding, everything that a customer sees needs to be first class. I was talking to a guy named Ronnie Morales today, it’s Morales Brothers.

I think you met him at a conference. He told me, and I’m not slamming Ronnie, Ronnie if you’re listening, I’m not slamming you, this is the real thing. Ronnie said he listened to our show for seven consecutive years before ever reaching out. And now he’s reached out and he’s up 57% in about eight months. That’s awesome.

And we’re going to put his story on part two of today’s show because he’s in Texas and he’s seven years behind you. But he’s doing a great job. What do you think that thing is where people have bad branding and we’re not aware of it? Someone hasn’t brought it to our attention? What causes bad branding?

You know, the number one thing I hear business owners say is, well, you know, I don’t really need good branding because I sell everything by word of mouth. Oh yeah, baby. I’ve got such an incredible reputation that everybody just comes to me by word of mouth. And then it’s like, okay, yeah, but how much business did you do last year? Well, not very much.

And, you know, I’m really unprofitable, but I’ve got great reputation out there and I get a lot of word of mouth. So when people switch over to starting to improve branding, I know you helped us a lot with that in just creating a lot better looking website, creating a, you know, we’ve got an office environment now that is when people walk into our model home, they are blown away. We truly wow our customers when they come to our model homes.

It’s a one-of-a-kind experience in the state of Oklahoma. And the process of that, you know, just going through, branding it so that it looks really top-notch, and, you know, that includes everything from, you know, marketing to all of your senses and everything else. So it just really brought us to another level.

And when the customer comes in and experiences us after having walked through other builders homes, they usually come in and go, you guys are just on a whole nother level. It’s sights, sounds, smells, experiences, everything that your customer sees,

they’re grading you on. And you might not know that they are even judging you because they’re not filling out the form. And I have a funny story to share with you that’s kind of sad. I was working with a fitness guy years ago,

and I’m not gonna tell you what studies he’s in or what study folks, I know you wanna know, but I’m not gonna tell you. And he filled out the form because his wife wanted him to schedule a 13-point assessment.

He did not want to. He tells me, Clay, honestly, I’m just doing the call because my wife wants me on the phone. I got to, I don’t really don’t get leads from social media. I don’t get leads from marketing. I get all my leads word of mouth, like you were saying.

And I said, well, let me just do this. Let’s just, this first month working together, let me get all the passwords for your Facebook, your Google, your YouTube. And I’m just, as the first month we, I would just with every single client, we optimize your YouTube, your Facebook, your Instagram, your Twitter, your, you know, all that. We log on, this is a fitness guy. He was spending like 400 bucks a week every week on ads. And he hadn’t known, he wasn’t aware that every time a lead came in it got stuck in Facebook and went

to an email address that he wasn’t checking. So think about this. That’s not good. And it’s like 15 to 20 leads a week for years this guy had. That’s not good. And he didn’t even, so I’m going, you’re spending, you know, 20 grand a year on ads that you’re

not getting anything from. And are you aware that the phone number on your site rings to a phone that’s no longer real, a real phone. And I’m serious, this was real. And then he had before and after photos where somebody had had the idea of let’s get before and after photos. You know, where you interview someone before they start working out?

Yeah. But then they never completed the thought. You know what I’m saying? I do. Where it’s like they interview them about getting in shape, but then they never actually like aired the part where they’re in shape.

Oh no. So it’s just sort of like an interview with people that are not in shape And I’m like I did and again he’s busy guy busy entrepreneur that kind of stuff is very common It’s it’s kind of laughable. It’s not your company, but okay next box You got to determine your you your customer acquisition costs how much does it cost you to get a customer? So Aaron you guys run ads on on Google on Facebook on retargeting ads you have massive signage. There’s a lot of stuff you do.

Why is it important to know how much it costs you at the end of the day to get an actual new buyer of a shawl? Well because if you want more of those, you know what it costs to go generate more of those. And it’s a cost where it’s like, okay, well, I’m down in sales this month or this quarter or whatever, and I need four more sales to make it a good quarter here before the end of the quarter.

And it’s like, I know I can go put money into that and it’s gonna cost me X number of dollars per customer to get there. And so then it’s just a matter of, do I wanna spend that money to get to that point? So, for us, it’s a pretty high number

cause it’s a big ticket item, but for some people it might be very small to get that each customer. But for us, you gotta know what the number is because ultimately that goes into the price of your product and whatever you sell, you know, we’re doing homes.

That is one of our line item costs in our homes. That’s a cost. Yeah. Now, if you go to any of the businesses that I’m involved in you go to eitrlounge.com forward slash staff. I put in the password here. Once I put in the password,

I have all of the documents needed to run the company and they’re all saved. So the checklist for the manager, the opening checklist for the assistant manager, the bathroom cleaning checklist, everything needed to grow the company’s all in one place.

And therefore, the business, everybody who works there knows where to go to find those documents. This is the kind of stuff that fires me up and it makes other people crazy. So with the conferences we do, if we ever do a conference that’s out of town,

I have a checklist of stuff I print out. I know it seems kind of crazy for people, but this is real. I print it out and it’s like, okay, socks. I’m gone for four days, I want to have 12 pairs of socks. Why? Because it could be hot.

I don’t know. It could get wet. I don’t know. I have a list of deodorant and socks and shaving and I have a laptop and a backup laptop and I have patch cables and XLR cables and we bring three, you’ve seen all this stuff, but it’s multiple monitors, backup monitors, it’s backups for everything.

When you guys build a Shaw home, you’re not moving off of guesswork. There’s blueprints, there’s plans, there’s systems, so houses don’t fall down. There’s somebody out here listening right now that doesn’t have systems in place.

They don’t have checklists. They don’t have it. So they have to think about everything all the time, because if not, they forget a step. What would you say is the importance of having taken the time to have built these systems now?

It is the night and day difference between running around like your hair is on fire every day Constantly playing firefighter or you know you hear people say I’m up to my armpits and alligators You know it’s because you don’t have systems and processes and every time at Shaw homes every time that we have a problem come up We automatically go okay What step in our system did this fall apart in? And what’s broken in that step?

And how can we fix it so it never happens again? So we go fix the process. We address the problem for the customer, but then we go back after that and we go, how do we fix the process so we don’t repeat this problem? And the business owners that are running around

with their hair on fire all the time, it’s because there’s no systems, no processes. Everything is urgent. Everything is hair on fire. And it is a chaos world that you live in. And if you’re going to build homes for a living and build a lot of them, you cannot live in

that chaos world. Now, this next box, I get excited about all these boxes. This is what I get excited about. This this right here is what I care about. OK, the next box is boxes, management and execution. You have people on your team and I’m just going to give some examples. And I hope this benefits somebody out there listening. You have people on your team. It’s their responsibility every time that you do a new house, they go

out there and they design, or they get the blueprint on the website. They get the new design of the home because people want to see floor plans. So somebody’s job is to get those up there. Somebody gets photos of every house that you guys are building. Somebody gets videos of every house. Somebody puts them all up for sale.

Somebody answers the phone every day. Somebody calls the leads every day. Somebody cleans the bathroom every day. Somebody builds the houses every day. Now this is what I find, and I’m sure none of our listeners can relate to this. Some of our listeners fire people and then nothing happens.

So work with me on this. There’s listeners out there that I talk to every day because we do free 13-point assessments. So I talk to two or three people a day who go to ThriveTimeShow.com, they want to schedule a consultation. And the other day you heard me talking to Jordan, I said, Jordan, go ahead and keep setting those, he’s set an appointment with someone who’s definitely not a good fit. And you could tell he had a little question if that was okay.

And I said, I’d rather you set an appointment with somebody than not, because I don’t know if who’s a good fit or not. But the idea though is, I sit down, I was talking to a guy the other day and he was like, you know, the reason why my team did not get Google reviews or videos reviews this week is because we fired a guy. And I go, cause I’m just asking him, you know,

where are we stuck? What’s your biggest limiting factor? I have a big process I go through my evaluation. I said, who calls the leads? He’s like, well, normally I have a person that calls the leads, but we just fired her.

And I mean this, I’m going, how long have you been in business? This guy’s been in business for over 10 years and he’s reaching out for help, good person, we’re trying to help him, I think it’s gonna be a good fit. But, so I said, so basically, everybody follows the systems

until they don’t work there anymore, and then no one does the systems. And you go back and forth vacillating from things being done to not being done. And one of my favorite things about working with you guys is that you’re honest people, what does that mean?

You do your best to do what you say you’re going to do, and you hold yourself and the employees accountable. Absolutely. But what would happen if every week you, if somebody wasn’t performing, you remove them from the position and then the houses weren’t built for the week because something wasn’t going well or because maybe a salesperson wasn’t performing at the peak, you let them

go and the next thing you know, what would happen if you managed your company that way? It would be a disaster. I mean, I can’t just fire my superintendent without having somebody already ready to take over all of those responsibilities because I’ve got materials showing up at the job site today, tomorrow and the next day. I’ve got trades showing up who need some supervision, need to know what they’re supposed to be doing.

If I fire that guy with no warning, somebody else has to come fill in that position. So for us, we try to never have that gap happen. And sometimes it’s like you know that you’re gonna need to fire somebody and you can see the writing on the wall, but you wanna get the next person up

and ready to go before that happens. And you guys have a weekly meeting. So we talk a lot on this show from an employer perspective, but how frustrating would it be to be an A-player employee and you’re working for a C-player boss? You know, a boss that doesn’t have a staff meeting,

that’s not organized, that doesn’t pay people on time, that’s constantly emotional. I see that a lot. And so management is a learned skill. And thankfully, when I first met with you, you’d already really mastered, in my opinion, managing people. But this next box is where I thought we needed some help, was to build a system for constantly recruiting new people. Because certain people work for Shaw Homes for three years or four years, and then they want to go move, they want to have a baby,

they want to stay home, they want to get a new job. And even though you have a low turnover at Shaw, certain people get to their expiration date and it’s time for them to move on to something else. And because we didn’t have a process in place at Shaw at that time to consistently bring in a pipeline

of new people, it made it difficult to do the management that was needed. Can you talk about the importance of implementing a human resources program for hiring, inspiring, training, and retaining good people. It’s huge.

I mean, that was definitely an Achilles heel for us. And you helped us a lot with that. Putting in a, where every single week I’m seeing potential candidates that could come work for us, and they’re job shadowing, and seeing what it’s like to work in our company every single week.

It does multiple things. It helps the people who work there to know, hey, there’s other people who desire to come work here. Here we go. And, you know, if I’m not doing my job, I might get replaced. So there’s a little bit of that.

And then it’s also a thing of, you know, the people who are shadowing get to see the job being done by people who are happy doing their job. And it helps them to want to come be a part of Shaw Homes. I love Shaw Holmes. I’ve got a very long list of people right now in every single position that would be excited to come work for us if I did all of a sudden find myself with an opening, you

know, because occasionally people leave with no notice or whatever, you know, something happens, family emergency, whatever. Right. And you have that, oh, I need to replace somebody immediately. And the great thing about it is I have a whole bunch of people that I could plug into that position very quickly because every single week I am interviewing.

Now, the next box here is you got to do your accounting and in order to automate, in order to earn millions, you have to automate your accounting. What does that mean? You have to have a system in place for making sure you price your products and services correctly and that you pay yourself first, that you set aside a set amount of money to pay yourself and your staff.

And all these things work together. And what I find is people ask me often just not knowing, they come from a place of a good heart, they don’t know, they say to me, Clay, what is the most important step in growing Shaw homes? I’ve heard Aaron on the show, he’s a great guy. Clay, I’ve heard PMHOKC on the show.

Clay, I’ve seen OxiFresh on the show. What was the most important thing they did? And to me, that’s like asking a hiker, what was the most important step you took to get to the top of that mountain? Well, I was the one we took there an hour ago. I took a left step. No, it’s also, all right, that gasket of baker, what’s the most important ingredient? Is it milk? Is it sugar? Is it eggs? Is it, you know, it’s like asking a farmer, what’s

the most important thing, feeding the animals or watering them? What’s the key to your success? There’s just certain questions that I understand people want to know, but all of this has to work together and nothing works unless you do. So I have three final questions for you. For anybody out there that’s thinking about scheduling a consultation, a free consultation with ThriveTimeShow.com and myself, obviously they’re stuck with me if they fill out the form. I’m the only person that does 13-point assessments. I believe we, I’ve seen it since 2005,

we help people decrease their costs, increase their time, freedom, and profits. What would you say is the benefit of scheduling that 13-point assessment? Well, actually, the 13-point assessment was very eye-opening for me. You asked me a lot of tough questions that I probably should have been asking myself and wasn’t.

And so as we went through the questions, I was like, I think at every question you asked me, I was like, oh, that’s a good question. And I was like, hang on, let me think about that for a minute. So I find that it kind of helps open your eyes to, you know, hmm, these are some things that I know

I have some areas of weakness. And then there were, I think, a couple of the questions where I was like, oh, I know the answer to this one. I got this one, no problem. But it helps you sort of identify, I walked away having identified areas of strength

and areas of weakness, even though that really wasn’t the purpose of the phone call necessarily, it helped me to see that. And then I was like, hmm, I think I have a need in a couple of these areas, and I didn’t really

know what to do for myself. I didn’t have the answers. You know, in part three of today’s show, part two, we’re going to show the Ronnie Morales story. In part three, we’re going to do a testimony with Myron, and Myron just bought his first Lamborghini today, and he’s super fired up.

So Myron’s about six years down the path. We’ve been working with you for about eight years, whereas Ronnie’s been with us for less than a year. And it’s at a certain point that we have to take action. Knowledge without application is meaningless.

What would you say to somebody who’s like, you know, it’s $1,700 a month, and I’m spending that much right now on random ads and that much money on random regrettable purchases at the gas station, and a lot of iTunes I’m downloading. I’m spending $1,700 a month on various things, and I don’t know if I can afford it because I’ve just bought another vehicle that I can’t afford, but I’m leasing it. What would you say to anybody who’s kind of on that fence?

I mean, I would say you need to do it. I mean, it has been a game changer for us. I don’t know why you would sit there and think $1,700 a month is too much money to spend. Go find the money somewhere. Go empty out your sofa cushions. Go sell the stuff that you have in your house that you’re not using.

I mean, go get, you know, whatever you need to do to get to that place, you need to find that $1,700. And I will say this, that cost was very quickly replaced with the extra money we were making. And I’ve seen, I’ve actually seen, because I’ve been around you for a long time, I’ve seen a lot of your clients come in and right off the bat, they’re real nervous about, am I going to be able to, you know, because maybe they’re a smaller company or whatever,

and they’re like, I’m wondering if I’m going to be able to handle this 1,700 a month. And then I see them six months later, and I’m like, how’s it going now? And they’re like, man, we’re just hitting record after record.

I have referred several business owners to you. And they’re doing great. That are killing it. And that, you know, I’ll give one example. I won’t name the person, but I did send one of my very good friends to you

who was on the verge of losing his business because he just wasn’t able, he had bought another one of the shops of what he does. He opened it and it was not profitable and it was gonna take under both of his shops and I sent him over to you.

And I remember about three months later, I asked him, how’s it going? And he goes, man, we just had a record breaking month. This was amazing. And by the way, he said, first he just had another record breaking month,

just so you know. Yeah, and I know right now, not only does he have way more income, but he has a lot more time freedom because he’s been working with you for many years now. And so that was, it changed his life just like it changed my life. I would say if you’re thinking about, you know, doing a 13 point assessment, stop thinking,

dial the phone, pause this video, make the phone call, reach out to Clay, get it started right now. Now, final question I have is, I think people look at oxyfresh.com and they go in, there’s 500 locations now. And they look at Elephant in the Room and they go, there’s five brick and mortar locations now. They look at Shaw Homes and they go, you know, these are big success stories.

I don’t know that I can do it. What would you say to somebody out there that just feel like they might not have the, like all this stuff they’re going to learn is going to be over their head, too complicated. What would you say? I would say the information, the ideas are easy. It’s the application that is difficult for people.

The ideas that you share, there’s nothing that’s like, oh, my God, I don’t have a Ph.D., therefore I can’t do it. I feel like it’s all very, very simple stuff, but it is a lot of action to get traction, and you’ve got to get the action going, and I think if somebody has diligence and discipline or can learn diligence or discipline, they’re going to do extremely well, and it’s not about education. It’s about action. Now, Aaron, I got one thing I want to say, and then we’ll kind of wrap up today’s show with a boom,

because boom stands for big, overwhelming, optimistic momentum, and that’s what’s required to have success. You know, people watching this, they’re going, well, Aaron, he looks like a normal guy. Well, that’s true. They say, well, he sounds like a normal guy. He sounds like an all right guy. You know, that’s true.

But the one thing you can’t quite picture on the show, and I want to just give that gift to you folks who are watching is Aaron smells tremendous. If you had smell-o-vision, if you could just get up there and just smell that, it’s incredible. It’s his aroma that allows him to achieve massive success. So if you’re out there and you’re going, what’s the secret sauce? It’s not a sauce, it’s more of just a smell. So I don’t know if you qualify to have the kind of success he has unless you smell like he smells. It’s a really tremendous smell.

Okay, let’s do this thing with a boom. Here we go. Three, two, one, boom! When you did those, when you printed those first 500 singles, what was your dream or your vision?

Was it, okay, now I’m gonna, how do I sell these? How do, am I gonna give them away for free? What was the process for you? Combination of giving them away for free and selling enough to be able to make another one. That was always, any of the things I’ve made,

it’s always been about sustainability. As long as I can make another one, it’s a success. But at this point, you’re sustainable probably for life, I’m assuming, with the success you’ve had. So you don’t have to make something to try to make your money back or get your time back or whatever.

So what is the vision now? I think in those terms, I feel like I want to make it where it’s sustainable by itself. There’s something that feels good about that, that you make something that can live on not because of an endowment. Clay Clark is here somewhere. Where’s my buddy Clay?

Clay is the greatest. I met his goats today. I met his dogs. I met his chickens. I saw his compound. He’s like the greatest guy.

I ran from his goats, his chickens, his dogs. So this guy’s like the greatest marketer you’ve ever seen, right? His entire life, Clay Clark, his entire life is marketing. Okay, Aaron Antis, March 6th and 7th, March 6th and 7th, guess who’s coming to Tulsa, Russia? Oh, Santa Claus?

No, no, that’s March March 6 and 7. We’re gonna be joined by Robert Kiyosaki Robert Kiyosaki, best-selling author of Rich Dad Poor Dad Possibly the best-selling or one of the best-selling Business authors of all time and he’s gonna be joined with Eric Trump. He’ll be joined by Eric Trump We got Eric Trump and Robert Kiyosaki in the same place in the same place Aaron Why should everybody show up to hear Robert Kiyosaki. Well you got billions of dollars of business

experience between those two, not to mention many many many millions of books have been sold. Many many millionaires have been made from the books that have been sold by Robert Kiyosaki. I happen to be one of them. I learned from the man. He was the inspiration. That book was the inspiration for me to get the entrepreneurial spirit as many other people. Now since you won’t brag on yourself, I will.

You’ve sold billions of dollars of houses, am I correct? That is true. And the book that kick-started it all for you, Rich Dad Poor Dad, the best-selling author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki, the guy that kick-started your career, he’s going to be here. He’s going to be here.

I’m pumped. And now Eric Trump, people don’t know this, but the Trump Organization has thousands of employees. There’s not 50 employees. The Trump organization, again, most people don’t know this, but the Trump organization has thousands of employees. And while Donald J. Trump was the 45th president of these United States and soon to be the

47th president of these United States, he needed someone to run the companies for him. And so the man that runs the Trump organization for Donald J. Trump, as he was the 45th president of the United States, and now the 47th president of the United States is Eric Trump. So Eric Trump is here to talk about time management, promoting from within, marketing, branding, quality control, sales systems, workflow design, workflow mapping, how to build. I mean everything that you see, the Trump hotels, the Trump golf courses, all their products, the man who manages

billions of dollars of real estate and thousands of employees is here to teach us how to do it. You are talking about one of the greatest brands on the planet from a business standpoint. I mean, who else has been able to create a brand like the Trump brand? I mean, look at it. And this is the man behind the business for the last, pretty much since 2015. He’s been the man behind it. So you’re talking, we’re into nine, going into ten years of him running it and we get to tap into that knowledge. That’s going to be amazing.

Now, think about this for a second. Would you buy a ticket just to see Robert Kiyosaki and Eric Trump? Of course you would. Of course you would. But we’re also going to be joined by Sean Baker. This is the best-selling author, the guy who invented the carnivore diet.

Dr. Sean Baker, he’s been on Joe Rogan multiple times. He’s going to be joining us. You’ve got Robert Kiyosaki, the best-selling author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Eric Trump, Sean Baker. The lineup continues to grow, and this is how we do our tickets here at the Thrive Time Show.

If you want to get a VIP ticket, you can absolutely do it. It’s $500 for a VIP ticket. We’ve always done it that way. Now, if you want to take a general admission ticket, it’s $250 or whatever price you want to pay. And the reason why I do that and the reason why we do that is because we want to make

our events affordable for everybody. I grew up without money. I totally understand what it’s like to be in a tight spot. So if you want to attend, it’s $250 or whatever price you want to pay. That’s how I do it. And it’s $500 for a VIP ticket.

Now we only have limited seating here. The most people we’ve ever had in this building was for the Jim Brewer presentation. Jim Brewer came here. The legendary comedian Jim Brewer came to Tulsa and we had 419 people that were here. 419 people. And I thought to myself, there’s no more room. I felt kind of bad that a couple

people had VIP seats in the men’s restroom. Oh, no, I’m just kidding. But I thought, you know what, we should probably add on. So we’re adding on what we call the upper deck or the top shelf. So the seats are very close to the presenters, but we’re actually building right now, we’re adding on the facility to make room to accommodate another 30 attendees or more. So again, if you want to get tickets for this event, all you have to do is go to Thrivetimeshow.com, go to Thrivetimeshow.com, when you go to Thrivetimeshow.com, you’ll go there, you’ll request a ticket, boom.

Or if you want to text me, if you want a little bit faster service, you say, I want you to call me right now, just text my number, that’s my cell phone number, my personal cell phone number, we’ll keep that private between you, between you, me, everybody. We’ll keep that private. And anybody, don’t share that with anybody except for everybody.

That’s my private cell phone number. It’s 918-851-0102, 918-851-0102. I know we have a lot of Spanish speaking people that attend these conferences. And so to be bilingually sensitive, my cell phone number is 918-851-0102.

That is not actually bilingual. That’s just saying one for a one. It’s not the same thing. I think you’re attacking me. Now, let’s talk about this. Now, what kind of stuff will you learn at the Thrive Time Show workshop?

So, Aaron, you’ve been to many of these over the past seven, eight years. So, let’s talk about it. I’ll tee up the thing, and then you tell me what you’re going to learn here, okay? Okay. You’re going to learn marketing, marketing and branding. What are we going to learn about marketing and branding?

Oh, yeah. We’re going to dive into, you know, so many people say, oh, you know, I’ve got to get my brand known out there, like the Trump brand. Right. You want to get that brand out there. It’s like, how do I actually make people know what my business is and make it a household

name? You’re going to learn some intricacies of how you can do that. You’re going to learn sales. So many people struggle to sell something. This just in, your business will go to hell if you can’t sell. So we’re going to teach you sales.

We’re going to teach you search engine optimization. How to come up top in the search engine results. We’re going to teach you how to manage people. Aaron, you have managed, no exaggeration, hundreds of people throughout your career and thousands of contractors, and most people struggle with managing people. Why does everybody have to learn how to manage people?

Well, because, first of all, you either have great people or you have people who suck. It can be a challenge. You know, learning how to work with a large group of people and get everybody pulling in the same direction can be a challenge. But if you have the right systems, you have the right processes, and you’re really good at selecting great ones.

And we have a process we teach about how to find great people. When you start with the people who have a great attitude, they’re teachable, they’re driven, all of those things, then you can get those people all pulling in the same direction. So we’re going to teach you branding, marketing, sales, search engine optimization. We’re going to teach you accounting.

We’re going to teach you personal finance, how to manage your finance. We’re going to teach you time management. How do you manage your time? How do you get more done during a typical day? How do you build an organization if you’re not organized? How do you do organization?

How do you build an org chart? Everything that you need to know to start and grow a business will be taught during this two-day interactive business workshop. Let me tell you how the format is set up here. Again, folks, this is a two-day interactive 15.

Think about this, folks. It’s two days. Each day it starts at 7 AM, and it goes until 5 PM. So from 7 AM to 5 PM, two days. It’s a two-day interactive workshop. The way we do it is we do a 30 minute teaching session and

then we break for 15 minutes for a question-answer session. So Aaron, what kind of great stuff happens during that 15 minute question-answer session after every teaching session? I actually think it’s the best part about the workshops because here’s what happens. I’ve been to lots of these things over the years. I’ve paid many thousands of dollars to go to them and you go in there and they talk in vague generalities and they’re constantly upselling you for something, trying

to get you to buy this thing or that thing or this program or this membership. And you don’t, you leave not getting your very specific questions answered about your business or your employees or what you’re doing on your marketing. And what’s awesome about this is we literally answer every single question that any person asks. And it’s very specific to what your business is.

And what we do is we allow you as the attendee to write your questions on the whiteboard. And then we literally, as you mentioned, we answer every single question on the whiteboard. And then we take a 15-minute break to stretch and to make it entertaining when you’re stretching. And this is a true story. When you get up and stretch, you’ll be greeted by mariachis. There’s going to probably be alpaca here, llamas, helicopter rides, a coffee bar, a snow cone. I mean, you had a crocodile one time. That was pretty interesting. You know, I should write that down. Sorry for that one guy that we lost.

The crocodile, we duct taped its face. It was a baby crocodile. And duct taped around the mouth so it didn’t bite anybody. But it was really cool. You can pass that thing around. I should do that. We have a small petting zoo that will be assembled. It’s going to be great. And then you’re in the company of hundreds of entrepreneurs. So there’s not a lot of people in America today. In fact, there’s less than 10 million people today, according to U.S. Debt Clock, that identify as being self-employed.

So if you have a country with 350 million people, that means you have less than 3% of our population that’s even self-employed. So you only have 3 out of every 100 people in America that are self-employed to begin with. And when Inc. Magazine reports that 96% of businesses fail by default, by default you have a one out of a thousand chance of succeeding in the game of business. But yet the average client that you and I work with, we can typically double the

size, no hyperbole, no exaggeration, I have thousands of testimonials to back this up. We have thousands of testimonials to back it up. But when you work with a home builder, when I work with a business owner, we can typically double the size of the company within 24 months. Yeah. And you say double?

Yeah, there’s businesses that we have tripled, there’s businesses we’ve grown 8x, there’s so many examples you can see at thrivetimeshow.com. But again, this is the most interactive best business workshop on the planet. This is objectively the highest rated and most reviewed business workshop on the planet. And then you add to that Robert Kiyosaki, the best-selling author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. You add to that Eric Trump, the man that runs the Trump

organization. You add to that Sean Baker. Now you might say, Clay, is there more? I need more. Well, OK, Tom Wheelwright is the wealth strategist for Robert Kiyosaki.

So people say, Robert Kiyosaki, who’s his financial wealth advisor? Who’s the guy who manages? Who’s his wealth strategist? His wealth strategist, Tom Wheelwright, will be here. And you say, Clay, I still, I’m not going to get a ticket unless you give me more.

OK, fine. We’re going to serve you the same meal both days. True story. We cater to food and because I keep it simple, I literally bring him the same food both days for lunch. It’s Ted Escovedo’s, an incredible Mexican restaurant.

That’s going to happen. And Jill Donovan, our good friend, who is the founder of Rustic Cuff. She started that company in her home and now she sells millions of dollars of apparel and products. That’s rusticcuff.com. And someone says, I want more!

This is not enough. Give me more. OK, I’m not going to mention their names right now because I’m working on it behind the scenes here. But we’ve got one guy who’s given me a verbal to be here. And this is a guy who’s one of the wealthiest people in Oklahoma and nobody really knows who he is because he’s

built systems that are very utilitarian, that offer a lot of value. He’s made a lot of money in the, it’s the, it’s where you rent, it’s short term, it’s where you’re renting storage spaces. He’s a storage space guy. He owns the, what do you call that? The rental, the storage space?

Storage units. This guy owns storage units, he owns railroad cars, he owns a lot of assets that make money on a daily basis, but they’re not like customer facing. Most people don’t know who owns the mini storage facility, or most people don’t know who owns the warehouse that’s passively making money. Most people don’t know who owns the railroad cars, but this guy, he’s giving me a verbal

that he will be here, and we just continue to add more and more success stories. So if you’re out there today and you want to change your life, you want to give yourself an incredible gift, you want a life-changing experience, you want to learn how to start and grow a company, go to Thrivetimeshow.com. Go there right now. Thrivetimeshow.com. Request a ticket for the two-day interactive event. Again, the day here is March 6th and 7th. March 6th and 7th, we just got confirmation. Robert Kiyosaki, best-selling author, rich dad, poor dad, he’ll

be here. Eric Trump, the man who leads the Trump Organization. It’s going to be a blasty blast. There’s no upsells. Aaron, I could not be more excited about this event. I think it is incredible and there’s somebody out there right now, you’re watching and you’re like, but I already signed up for this incredible other program called Smoke Your Way to Thin.

I think that’s going to change your life. I promise you this will be 10 times better than that. It’s like I picked the wrong week with smoking. Don’t do the smoke your way to thin conference. That is… I’ve tried it.

Don’t do it. Chain smoking is not a viable… I mean, it is life changing. It is life changing. If you become a chain smoker, it is life changing. It’s not the best weight loss program though.

Right. Not really. If you’re looking to have life changing results in a way that won’t cause you to have a stoma, get your tickets at Thrivetimeshow.com. Again, that’s Aaron Antis. I’m Clay Clark. And reminding you and inviting you to come out to the two-day interactive Thrivetimeshow workshop right here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I promise you, it will be a life-changing experience. We can’t wait to see you right

here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That’s where you want to be. That’s where you want to be. That’s where you want to be. Yeah. What you want to see.

What you want to see. That’s where you want to be. Where you want to be. Yeah. You’ve got to be. To achieve.

Yeah. For the entrepreneurs, it’s a paradise For employees, it’s a changed paradigm For the poor and ignored, it’s a change mine For the mixplorers, it’s a major find For Tim Tebow, it’s goes a line For the Ericson Trump, it’s a mastermind For the Robert Kiyosaki, it’s game time For the first-time attendees, it’s oh my For the Oklahoma’s, it’s a sweet home of mine For the real business people, it’s so nice For the people going places, it’s a green light

For me and your crew, it’s a change vibe For each one of you, you can name your pride For the VIP, ticks a hundred, five times For me, it’s what I do, it’s my vibe Because the Thrive Time Nation is my tribe Got a top show, that’s where you wanna be, uh-huh, uh-huh, yeah Business growth is what you wanna see, uh-huh, what you wanna see Got a top show, that’s where you wanna be

Where you wanna be, yeah, yeah You got the big goals to achieve, yeah You got to achieve it, oh It’s time to thrive, what a time to be alive Breath in my lungs, thank you, Jesus Christ You got a chance to cause change upon the land

So beat that clock while you’re still alive, yeah So to you, do you prefer to keep making the wrong turns Or to turn it all around until you take the time to learn. Without vision, the people perish. That wisdom, you get impaired. Or be humble, grow a thousand fold.

Be for hires and share it. Can we kick it? Yes, we can. If you come with business problems, you leave with plans. At this prime time, shall we make wealth expand? We’re focused on implementation.

We teach marketing and improving your brand. How to build the systems and finance. We teach how to hire people and manage them. How to bring your dreams into reality That’s it, 05 I’ve been doing it cause that’s my jam All the go-pursuers do it, putting cash in their hands

Now that Eric Trump has joined us, he has joined the band Kiyosaki’s coming tall cause he’s in the rhythm But can he kick it? Yeah, yes he can Kiyosaki’s in the dojo of self-discipline So get your tickets now at Pratt Towers Show I’d buy them now, I’m still on hand

Pratt Towers Show, that’s where you wanna be Uh-huh, uh-huh, yeah Business growth is what you wanna see, uh-huh, what you wanna see Got to show that’s where you wanna be, where you wanna be, yeah Yeah, you got the big goals to achieve, yeah, you got to achieve it Got to show that’s where you wanna be, uh-huh, uh-huh, yeah

Business growth is what you wanna see, uh-huh What you wanna see Claps, I’ll show that’s where you wanna be Where you wanna be, yeah, yeah You’ve got the big goals to achieve, yeah You got to achieve it, oh