Business Coach | Learn How to Master the Creative Process of Songwriting & Workflow Creation + Interview w/ Hit Song-Writer & Artist Colton Dixon + Join Eric Trump & Kiyosaki At Clay Clark’s March 6-7 Business Workshop

Audio Transcription

I’ve been wanting to the desert you seen a cloud and forever over me but I believe the rain is coming cuz you’re one of those vacant job loans Call the life, you’re the light I put my trust in Every word you say is gonna come true

You will lead me to the promised land Everything you say is gonna happen, even though I haven’t seen the end But I will build a world in the sand where they say it never rains I will stand up and play, and I’ll do anything it takes And you’re way in my sails, your love never fails or fades. ♪ ♪ I’ll build a boat in a desert place. ♪

♪ And when the flood and the water starts to rise, yeah, ♪ ♪ I’ll rise and storm, because I got you with artistic expression. Um, because the, 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 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 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 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 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 gonna 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 a diary entry. So it… Can someone… 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. diary entries. 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 US 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 dollar businesses. ♪ We started from the bottom, now we’re here ♪ ♪ We started from the bottom, and we’ll show you how to get here ♪ ♪ Started from the bottom, now we’re here ♪

♪ We started from the bottom, now. We started from the bottom out here. We 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 it’s 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 C and Z up on your radio, 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’re here. We started from the bottom, now we’re here. We started from the bottom, and we’ll show you how to get here.

Started from the bottom, now we’re here. We started from the bottom, now we’re 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 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, 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 let’s do it together? Okay, it goes like this. Here it goes, just hop in like that, hop in like that, hop in like that. It’s pretty simple. I think you can do it.

Here it goes, just hop in big ghosts, just happen like that, happen like that, happen like that. Okay, so, um, 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 how the music goes, it’s happen like that, happen like that, happen like that

here we go, this song is called miracles 90 miles on the highway, everyday 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 to make miracles just happen like that,

happen like that, happen like that. You can say the stars align, but I know that it’s happened like that, happened like that, happened like that You can say the stars align, but I know that it’s more than time I don’t believe it Cause it’s happened like that, happened like that, happened like that Right before I hit the ground, son How you came along and found me. Right before I hit the ground, son, how 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 I try There could only be a single reason why So tell me, I don’t even care So stop it like that, stop it like that, stop it like that Tell me I’ve been like that right before I hit the ground, son You keep me on the phone, yeah

Right before I hit the ground, son You keep me on the phone, yeah 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 timing I don’t need to hear ghosts, I’ve been like that, I’ve been like that, I’ve been like that

Right before I hit the ground, son Oh, you came along and found me Right before I hit the ground, son, you came along and found me. Yeah, come on, good job. My name is Colton Dixon. Did anyone, 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.

I 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 kinda hit it off, our love for music and certain artists like One Republic 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 kind of set up how I would love to use this time, if that’s okay. We’re going to go into worship here in 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 gonna change it and it kind of is what it is. However, I need some help with this so I’m gonna 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, For I know 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 I’m gonna live my life knowing if I get down you pick me up from the ground you give me love and don’t give out giving no conditions you lift me up and up again now.

No matter who surrounds. I’ll let my hallelujah get loud like a freight train sunshine over me. 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’s coming to me, what are you going to say say, He did it. That’s right. The second thing, every time a

blessing is coming to me, what are you gonna say? He’s in it. That’s right. Third thing, that was a two. Third thing. Pick number three my Lord. Okay, number three. Forget it. I got that reference. That was Shrek. Anyway, all right. The devil tried to make me turn away. What are you gonna say? Forget it. That’s rightrek. Anyway, all right. The devil tried to make me turn away. What are you gonna say? Forget it. That’s right. All right, let’s do this. Ask me how I know he’s gonna do it. He did it. Every time a blessing’s coming to me. He’s in it.

The devil tried to make me turn away. Forget it. Cause even on my worst day. If I get down You pick me up from the ground You give me love and don’t give a give and no conditions You lift me up and up again now No matter who surrounds I’ll let my heart and lose you in love

Like a freight train sunshine over it I’ll let you open up again Open up again, yeah God, I know the plans you have for me yeah So while I’m in the in between I’ma live my life knowing That if I get down and Yeah

Woooo Woooo Woooo Woooo Woooo Woooo Woooo Woooo Woooo Woooo get down. Yeah. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. Now, no matter who surrounds

I’ll let my hallelujah get loud like a freight train sunshine over it I’ll lift you up and up again Yeah, yeah Up and up again, yeah

I’ll lift you up and up again 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 you know, to do your set. And man, Clay was kind enough to give me an hour and a half with you 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 word sink in I think they’re really powerful But they’re also pretty simple when we get to the course I I think you can you can learn and jump in. So this is called, I Trust in God. He’s been my fourth man in the fire, time after time. I’m born of His Spirit, I’m washed in His blood.

And what He did for me on Calvary. ♪ Lost in His blood ♪ ♪ And what He did for me on Calvary is more than enough ♪ ♪ So I trust in God and my Savior, the one who will never fail He will never fail Oh, I trust in God My Savior, the one who will never fail.

He will never fail. That’s why I trust in God. Oh, I trust in God, yeah. Oh, I trust in God, yeah. I trust in Jesus. He’s never failed me. I sought the Lord. Oh, I sought the Lord.

I sought the Lord, and He heard, and He answered. 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.

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 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. He will never fail. That’s why I trust in God. That’s why I trust in God. That’s why I trust in God.

This seems my soul, my Savior God, to Thee. How great Thou art. How great Thou art. I’ll wait a while, I’ll wait a while. Then 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, 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 get out of here, are you gonna do one more song? Could you have one more song, kind of your? Yeah. Okay, now before I let you go, I wanna ask you, if you guys would 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 not? We talked about the patterns. There’s

a workflow. But to music, 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. Pop songs, the number one thing that I’ve been told

that I’ve read, it’s this. People want a chorus that’s memorable. They want something that 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 and maybe you could kind of walk us through. What is that process? Because I heard, I went to college with Ryan Tedder. And he would be in his room. Name drop.

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 does it, the way I like to do it, is either writing from a title. I mentioned that about Up and Up. I kind of had a title. So I kind of 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, 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, da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da. I mean, it’s just what it’s baby talk. But later you can go in and go,

ooh, 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 fits the rhyme scheme. 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. 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 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 okay so that is 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 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 It’s writing a song is 100% analogous to building a business or 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 key Don’t real quick though seriously what you’re doing, so people can understand what that is.

Yeah, sure. Okay, go for it. Right key. You know, whatever. There it is. That’s it.

And so, I’m going to play it again. I’m going to play it again. I’m going to play it again. I’m going to play it again. And so that’s how you building a business is the same process. I worked with a lot of musicians so I loved helping Colton working with Colton. I get excited about this 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, but my wife’s like, what are you doing? I’m like, a spray painting where we’re gonna build

the waterfall, what waterfall? The one I drew in church. Who’s gonna 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. Because I don’t feel it. Yeah, wow, that’s very accurate to some degree. 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 and 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 to a corner and ask you if 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 people might know you as 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 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 wanna do. Okay. here 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. Okay, this is for you and for only you because I love you. I’ve 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. This song got me through something though. It was powerful.

It was powerful. It was powerful. It was powerful. ♪ Tear apart my heart and soul by every inch, take away all the pain. 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 4 hours.

Okay, fantastic. I’ll lean towards 10 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 want to start by saying how awesome is it that we serve a God who chooses to see us through the lens of Jesus, 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, Inspire 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. ♪ They say nobody’s perfect and I’ve never been a saint ♪

♪ Not all skies are on the surface, written on my face. I’m not the best example, or the man that I should be. But I hope you find Jesus in spite of me. If you could walk around in my shoes, 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 bear Being broken does an excuse the life that I should leave

But I hope you find Jesus In spite of me I hope you find the answers. I hope that you find peace I’m praying your perspective isn’t based on what you’ve seen. Cause I am just a sinner who is best set free. And I hope you find Jesus in spite of me.

It started from the moment I was learning right from wrong. It’s like the verse in 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’m praying your perspective isn’t based on what you’ve seen. Cause I am just a sinner who is biased and free. And I hope you find Jesus. 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 hurt that lies beneath. But I hope you find Jesus in spite of me. I hope you find Jesus in spite of me. 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. We’re all, 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, that 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? And some people will say five, seven, 10 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? And 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.

Like 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 in punk rock 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. 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 allow you to do it, but I don’t think that’s the way great things are made. The notable quotable 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, 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 their folks. Check it out. It’s bunkylife.com. David Frazier, welcome onto the thrive time show. How are you, sir? I’m doing fantastic, Clay, 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 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’s 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, 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 going to do a lot of examples here back to back to back. And I want to 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 530, I’m going to 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 going to look at the resumes. I’m going to interview them. I’m going to talk to them, do all the things that I’m going to figure out.

I’m going to 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, you know, 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 henna-hot, 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, it’s a mistake that if you catch it early enough, you can undo it pretty quickly. Um, I don’t, I don’t know.

I’m not afraid of it anymore, but I was a little bit at the start. I see a lot of entrepreneurs that are, 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 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 a 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. So why don’t you send me video footage of your current office? And you look in their office, 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. If you 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 it 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. There’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 wanted 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. Define, act, measure, refine. 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’m never going to bring in that person again. So when we have our workshops, I mean, people on average love the workshops. People do. They tell us, man, Clay, 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 with a 4.9

And if you read the reviews certain people say I 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. And again, I don’t struggle to make decisions, but I see it as a common problem with many

wonderful clients I’ve had the opportunity to serve. They just really struggle with making decisions. What would you say to somebody out there that’s even, you know, worried about putting on a conference for look of embarrassment or worrying about speaking at an event for 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 some type of 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 past, you have to choose one and cut off the idea that you could have chosen the other path. So that all people think that it 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 had 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 do sit around and do nothing and stare at 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 to or vice versa. Otherwise you just, you are going to be paralyzed and never move forward. Now, this is not in 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, you know, clowns juggling chainsaws.

We don’t want, we want to be very zoomed in on. We make the world’s easiest to build bunkky that you can build in the weekend. Now I’m gonna go ahead and pull up the website one more time. And in closing here, I wanna make sure we’re getting this idea.

I’m gonna 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 want to 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, I, I’m thinking about, uh, going to monkey life.com. I’m thinking about buying up one of these things. What do you say to somebody?

What’s kind of 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 gonna go by. And so basically you are making a decision

to not add extra space and 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 like private office, own kind of getaway? Or most people

get buying a bunky to be a bolt-on bedroom, like a guest bedroom, or what’s the most common reason people buy a bolt on bedroom? Definitely bolt on 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 bunkylife.com, bunkylife.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 going to share with you his success story. Thanks again David, we’ll talk to you soon. Thanks Clay, appreciate it. Clay Clark is here somewhere. Where’s my buddy Clay?

Clay’s 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,. I met his dogs. I met his chickens. I saw his compound He’s like the greatest guy 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 is marketing Okay, Aaron Antis on March 6th and 7th March 6th and 7th, guess who’s coming to Tulsa, Russia? Ooh, Santa Claus?

No, no, that’s March. March 6th and 7th, you’re going to be joined by Robert Kiyosaki. Robert Kiyosaki. Best-selling author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Probably the best-selling, or one of the best-selling

business authors of all time and he’s going to 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 Pornhub, Robert Kiyosaki, the guy that kick-started your career, he’s gonna be here. He’s gonna be here, I’m bummed. 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. It’s 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 gonna be amazing. Now think about this for a second you know would you buy a ticket just to see a Robert Kiyosaki and Eric Trump of course you would of course you would but we’re also gonna be joined by Sean Baker this is the best-selling author the guy who invented the carnivore diet. Oh yeah. Dr. Sean Baker. He’s been on Joe Rogan multiple times. He’s going to be joining us. So 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 the 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 with the

most people we’ve ever had in this building was for the Jim Brewer presentation Jim Brewer came here that the legendary comedian Jim Brewer came to Tulsa and we had 419 people that were here 419 people Yeah, and I thought to myself, but 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 so 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 to 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 Juan 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? Oh yeah, we’re gonna dive into you know so many people say oh you know I 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 gonna learn some intricacies of how you can do that. You’re gonna

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 gonna teach you sales We’re gonna teach you search engine optimization. It’s come up top in the search engine results We’re gonna teach you how to manage how to manage people Aaron you you I mean 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, people are, you

either have great people or you have people who suck and so it could 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 know, you can get those people all pulling in the same direction. So we’re gonna teach you branding, marketing, sales,

search engine optimization. We’re gonna teach you accounting, we’re gonna teach you personal finance, how to manage you accounting. We’re gonna teach you personal finance, how to manage your finance. We’re gonna 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. Now let me tell you how the format is set up here. And again, folks, this is a two day interactive 15. Think about this, folks, it’s two, it’s two days, each day starts at 7am. And it goes until 5pm. So from some 7am to 5pm, two days to two day interactive workshop. The way we do it is at 7 a.m. and it goes until 5 p.m. so from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. 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-and-answer session so Aaron what kind of great stuff happens during that 15-minute question-and-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 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 gonna probably be alpaca here, llamas, helicopter rides, a coffee bar, a snow cone. I mean, there’s just- You had a crocodile one time. That was pretty interesting. You know, I should write that down.

Sorry for that one guy. We lost the crocodile. We duct taped its face. So that, right? We duct taped. It was a baby crocodile.

And we duct taped. Yeah, duct tape around the mouth so it didn’t bite anybody. But it was really cool. Passing that thing around and petting it. I should do that.

I should. We have a small petting zoo that will be assembled. It’s gonna 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 US debt clock that identifies 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 1 out of 1000 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 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, but Clay, is there more? I need more. Well, okay. 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 had managed this? Who’s the, 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 in the food. And because I keep it simple, I literally bring in the same food both days for lunch. It’s Ted Esconzito’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. 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 giving 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,

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 you want to change your life you want to give yourself a 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 thrive timeshow.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 gonna be a blasty blast there’s no upsells 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. Oh!

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 to quit 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… I mean, it is life-changing. It is life-changing. If you become a chainsmoker, it is life-changing. It’s not the best weight loss program, though. Right. Not really. So 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, reminding you and inviting you to come out to the two-day interactive Thrive Time Show 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.

 

Transcribed with Cockatoo