Business Podcast | How Do You Get Your Staff to Implement Your Proven Systems to Grow Your Business NOW? | “Effective Management Is Getting the People On Your Team to Deliver the Results That You and Your Customers Want With a Spirit of Excellence.”

Hey, what are you doing?

I’m just cleaning the bathroom.

That’s good. Let’s go to lunch.

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 in their hands. They started from the bottom, now they’re here. It’s The Thrivetime Show starring the former US Small Business Administration Entrepreneur of the Year, Clay Clark, and the entrepreneur trapped inside an optometrist body, Dr. Robert Zoellner. Two men, eight kids co-created by two different women, 13 multi-million dollar businesses.

Get ready to enter The Thrivetime Show.

(Singing).

Yes, yes, yes, and yes, Thrive Nation. We are in the air everywhere. And on today’s edition of The Thrive Time Show, I’m talking about, we are talking about, how to improve the quality control of your business. What are the specific steps that you need to take the quality control of your business to the next level? You have a checklist for your office, but how do you know they’re actually following it? I mean, as an example, I own multiple companies, multiple businesses I’m involved in, and so I’m just going to go through some examples that maybe would resonate or connect with you. But if you have a business, and let’s just say one of my clients this week as an example, she has a very, very detailed checklist for how she wants her social media posts to go out as it relates to her company.

And she’s in what I would call a white collar professional industry. And what she does is she has, you might call it wins of the week, or you might call it testimonials, or good news, or some kind of positive things that she wants to share with her customer community, with her customers. And so the employee that she hired, when her new employee was hired, she gave her a very detailed checklist that you get to work at this particular time of the day, and it’s an 8:00 to 5:00 work environment, it’s in person. And your job as the social media coordinator or outreach person is to post the social media videos of the day and the social media posts of the day in the correct way. And so my client, who I’ve been working with and helping her to fix this issue, she hired the person, the person seemed sharp, they had a nice resume. She told her what to do, she gave her a checklist.

And then, all right, so the employee began to do nothing. At first, it started out with a confusion of, “I don’t know what to do. What am I supposed to do?” And this is what’s going to happen. If you manage employees, you’re going to find the following three excuses over and over again. The employee will say, “Oh, I forgot.” There’s a lot of I-forgot moments. “I forgot.” The second excuse is, “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to do.” And then the third will be an emotional argument that will somehow be used to supersede logic. And so my client has this social media coordinator and the social media coordinator’s job is to upload the content. And so my client gives the person the checklist and pays them very well to do it.

And to her surprise, the social media person didn’t post the videos or any of the social media posts that she was supposed to post. So she goes and talks to the young lady she hired and says, “I don’t understand why you didn’t post.” And the young lady says, “Oh, I forgot.” And to save you the whole long story, several weeks go by. The person says, “I forgot. I didn’t know what to do,” they made emotional arguments. And then they actually just quit. So the question is, how do you get people to actually implement the systems? I mean, once you’ve created all these systems, how do you get people to implement the systems? And if you were to come to one of our in-person Thrivetime Show two-day interactive workshops, you would discover that Dr. Robert Zoellner and I, we have many successful companies and we don’t have a hard time getting our employees to do the jobs that we need them to do.

And it doesn’t really matter what business we’re involved in, whether it be the haircut business or carpet cleaning or optometry or auto auctions, just like you, we have employees that work with us, wonderful employees, and we also have employees that need a carrot or a stick to do the right thing. But at the end of the day, managing people, management, right? Excellent, think about this, folks, effective management. What does effective management mean? Effective management is getting the people on your team to deliver the results that you and your customers want, that you and your customers want, that you and your customers want, in a spirit of excellence. That’s what it is. I mean, in a spirit of excellence. So again, the question is how do you do that?

Effective management is getting the people on your team to deliver results, to deliver the results that you and your customers want with a spirit of excellence. And that’s what it is. So how do you get employees to actually do what they’re supposed to do? Well, the method is, one, you create checklists and systems for everything, you create checklists and systems for everything. For what? For everything. Anything you want someone to do, create checklists, scripts, and systems for everything. Make it so that it’s so detailed that you couldn’t do it wrong unless you wanted to. So create checklists, scripts, and systems for everything. Step two is install merit-based pay for everything.

So whether it is a front desk person or front desk guy, someone in a bookkeeping, someone in the accounting, someone in sales, you want to find a merit-based pay system that you can implement for every position within your company. Otherwise, you’re going to be constantly plagued by a lack of quality control, and you’re going to be constantly plagued by the three predictable excuses. And what are the three predictable excuses? Well, you have three. And this is what humanity’s got. I mean, humanity’s had thousands of years to refine these excuses, but these are the three they’ve come up with. One is, “I forgot.” Two, “I didn’t know what to do.” Or three, an emotional argument.

So let me give you another example. Years ago I was working with a client that was a dentist, and a very high-quality, high-skilled dentist. I won’t get myself in trouble, I’ll just say they’re a Midwest, high-skilled, high-quality dentist. And he offered veneers or a high scale, upscale, expensive, elective cosmetic surgery for teeth. And a lot of celebrities and people will pay to have their teeth recreated, to have them reformed so that they look like they have a perfect smile. That’s what it is. So this dentist, though, again, I’d worked with them and I helped him fix this very, very quickly.

He had a front desk person at the time, a front desk guy who just refused to ever mention the fact that he offered veneers. So people would come in for teeth cleaning and teeth whitening, and he would just not ever mention to the customers that he offered, that his dentistry, that the dentist who was my client offered upscale elective cosmetic surgery, which by the way, there’s a company called CareCredit that was providing financing. So you could get a whole new smile for as little as $100 a month was the sales pitch. Get a brand new smile for as little as $100 a month.

And so I sat down with the owner and I said, “Here’s what we’re going to do. First off, we’re going to create what? We’re going to create checklists, systems, and scripts for everything. We’re going to create checklists, scripts, and systems for everything. So a script to answer the phone, a checklist to clean the bathroom, a merit-based pay system, but we’re going to get a checklist, a script, and a system for everything. Then we’re going to install the merit-based pay system. Now, the merit-based pay system means that you’re going to pay somebody very well if they get something done with a spirit of excellence, and you’re going to pay them poorly if they don’t.”

So he said, “Well, how do you do that in my industry? I’m a doctor. How do you do that?” So what I did, I’m just giving you some examples here, is we paid him a bonus, the front desk guy, every time he gathered an objective review from a happy customer, because WebMD at the time was very relevant, WebMD, Google, these sorts of things, it was very important that he was able to get his staff to get Google reviews and the staff didn’t want to do it. So I told him, “Listen, every time that your employee gets a Google review from an actual client, an objective Google review, pay him $10, $10 per review.” I mean, the guy sees 40 patients a day, 20 patients a day, the guy should be able to make really good money. He goes, “Well, that’s really good money.” I said, “Okay, then pay him $5 a review.”

Long story short, they arrived on $5 per review. And so the front desk guy, who was motivated to make more money because previously he had a flat rate salary, this man who could never get Google reviews at all, who never seemed to ever mention the cosmetic surgeries and upscale percentages and upscale products they could provide for their customers, all of a sudden he starts getting Google reviews every day, six a day, 10 a day, eight a day. And so all of a sudden, this dentist, his number of leads are going up. He’s calling me every week for a weekly meeting. He’s saying, “Clay, the amount of leads I’m getting is going up dramatically. It’s wild. I mean, we went from seven reviews and like a three point whatever score up to a 4.8, 4.9, hundreds of reviews.”

And okay. So I said, “Well, that’s great, that’s great. Now, to be top in Google, Mr. Dentist, there are four things you have to do. One, you have to have a canonically compliant or a Google-compliant built website. Two, you have to have your website be the most mobile compliant. Three, you have to have the most original content, and four, you have to have the most objective reviews. So you’re doing great. Now we got to get this front desk guy to write the content.” And the front desk guy’s like, “I don’t want to write the content, I don’t need to write the content, I don’t like to, I wasn’t hired to write the content.” You get the idea. So what do we do? We make a checklist, make a system, make a script. And we paid the guy every time he put out an article, every day, paid him 30 bucks. So he made 30 bucks every morning to write an article about dentistry, commonly asked questions, frequently asked questions, we paid the guy $10 per a Google Review to get the Google Review.

And then again, the dentist says, “Nah, I think we’re going to pay him $5.” So we found that $5 was the effective amount. So we’re paying, again, this is just giving examples here that you can think about. So examples would be $30 per article, so he’s paying him $30 per article. Why is he paying $30 per article? Because to rank top in Google, you have to have the most original content, and he ended up paying $5 per review. So if you’re paying $5 per Google review and $30 per article, all of a sudden this guy, who’s the front desk guy, who is not very motivated, all of a sudden he’s making really good money.

Now, the problem we had here was, “Okay, you’re doing the article, you’re doing the reviews, but are you actually ever upselling?” And the answer was no, he was not ever upselling. So how did we get him to upsell? We introduced commission, right? So commission-based upsell. So what does that mean? Commission-based upselling. So that means the front desk guy, every time that he convinced a client to buy something, he made a percentage. And I believe the percentage we arrived upon was 5%. And most of these dental procedures are several thousand dollars, so the front desk guy went from a job that he hated in a position where he was constantly debating with the dentist about whether he wanted to do the work or not, to a very high-paid job. I mean, it ended up becoming a job where this guy’s making almost six figures a year, the dentist is bringing in millions.

The whole thing was great, but it would not have happened without the checklist, the scripts and the systems for everything, and installing merit-based pay for everything. And I see this so often because I’ve worked with so many clients, and if you go to thrivetimeshow.com, and you look at our clients’ success stories and testimonials, you’re going to see that I’ve helped thousands of clients over the years to grow their successful companies since 2005. And knowing what to do and actually doing it are different ideas. And neither one is more important. I mean, if you don’t know what to do, that’s a bad look. And if you know what to do, but your staff doesn’t do it, that’s a bad look too. So what you have to do is to, in order to have effective management, you have to be able to introduce checklists, scripts, and systems for everything, including merit-based pay systems for everything.

So again, step one, create checklists, scripts, and systems for everything. Step two, install merit-based pay for everything. And if you don’t, you’re just going to be plagued by the constantly, but by the normal, they’re very normal, they’re very consistent, the three predictable excuses of, “I forgot, I didn’t know what to do,” or the emotional argument. So on part two of today’s show, what I’m going to do is I’m going to share with you a little more in-depth training on how to effectively manage your people. And then I’m going to share with you some testimonials of some actual clients we’ve actually worked with that have produced massive success as a result of implementing these systems. So the big topic today we’re focusing on is how do you get your staff to implement proven systems?

Now, let’s think about this for a second. Let’s say you’re listening right now and you’re trying to lose weight, or you’re trying to gain weight, you’re trying to buff up for some big workout thing, competition you’re doing. How do you motivate yourself to stay on track, to not eat as much or to go work out more or whatever your goals are? How do you motivate yourself to do things? Typically, humanity is motivated by both carrots and sticks. And so before we move on, I want to point this out. If you don’t have sticks in place, people, a certain percentage of the population, I would argue half or more, won’t do anything either. And I encourage, I challenge you to look this up, I’ll put it on the show notes here for you.

But according to The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 75% of employees steal from the workplace. So if they’re stealing from the workplace, if 75% of employees admit to stealing from the workplace, is it shocking at all that they would be willing to not do their jobs unless you put in some kind of merit-based pay system? I mean, is that shocking? It’s not shocking to me. I’ve been self-employed for so long. Would it be shocking to you that 85% of employees lie on resumes? What? 85% of employees lie on resumes. What percentage? 85% of employees, according to Inc. Magazine, lie on their resumes. So what does that mean? That means that the people, the 85% of employees that would lie on their resumes and the 75% that would steal from the workplace, they’re now on payroll, they now work for you.

“No, my people would never do that.” Okay, interesting. And do you think this might not happen with partnerships? What? Yeah. I mean, have you ever worked with a partner that’s taken money out of the account and, “Oh, I’ll just use this for some personal expenses over here. Oh, I’ll use this card over here for a little personal over here, I’ll just reimburse myself for this extra little training I was doing for the benefit of the company.” Have you ever seen those scenarios? Were you born yesterday or are you new to businesses? If you’re new to business, maybe these are new scenarios, but if you’ve been in business for a while, this all makes sense. So is it shocking that partners would do this? No, it’s not.

So what we have to do again is if we want to have massive success, and I know you do, and you want to manage your team and get your team to implement proven systems, how do you do that? How do you effectively manage people? Step one, this is step one, you create checklists, scripts, and systems for everything. Now, step two, you want to install merit-based pay for everything. And if you don’t, because if you don’t do this, by default, you will experience the following three predictable excuses. What are they? One, “I forgot.” Two, “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know. I wanted to know, but I didn’t know.” Third is the emotional argument. And that’s just, that’s how it’s going to be. We can’t change humanity and what makes people steal from the workplace and what makes people lie on resumes and what makes people not do their jobs, but we can focus on what we can control, which is creating checklists, scripts, and systems for everything, and installing merit-based pay for everything.

And with nothing further ado, here’s a brief testimonial from Dr. Chad Edwards, a doctor that we helped to grow dramatically. And then you’re going to hear some more about how to effectively manage your people.

I started a business because I couldn’t work for anyone else. I do things my way, I do what I think is in the best interest of the patient. I don’t answer to insurance companies, I don’t answer to large corporate organizations. I answer to my patient and that’s it. My thought when I opened my clinic was, “I can do this all myself. I don’t need additional outside help in many ways. I mean, I went to medical school, I can figure this out.” But it was a very, very steep learning curve. Within the first six months of opening my clinic, I had a $63,000 embezzlement, I lost multiple employees.

Clay helped us weather the storm of some of the things that a lot of people experienced, especially in the medical world. He was instrumental in helping with the specific written business plan, he’s been instrumental in hiring good quality employees using the processes that he outlines for getting in good talent, which is extremely difficult. He helped me in securing the business loans, he helped me with web development and search engine optimization. We’ve been able to really keep a steady stream of clients coming in because they found us on the web. With everything that I encountered, everything that I experienced, I quickly learned it is worth every penny to have someone in your team that can walk you through, and even avoid some of the pitfalls that are almost invariable in starting your own business. I’m Dr. Chad Edwards and I own Revolution Health and Wellness Clinic.

You have questions, America’s number one business coach has answers. It’s your Broda from Minnesota. Here’s another edition of Ask Clay Anything on The Thrivetime Business Coach Radio Show.

All right, Thrive Nation, welcome back to another exciting edition of Ask Us Anything. And on today’s show, we are talking about the difference between merit-based pay employees and flat-pay employees, salaried employees. Again, easy for me to say, merit-based pay employees versus salaried employees are employees who can’t make any more money no matter how hard they work. So before we get into the data and the research, before we get too deep into the weeds here, Marshall, why does a job for you not appeal at all if it is a flat salary?

It doesn’t appeal because my ceiling is capped. I know that I’m going to make so much, and no matter whether I perform well or don’t perform well, I’m not going to be able to make more money. And so I love to be able to go eat what I kill, I love to be able to know that because I am busier, because I am performing more effectively, because I’m producing more results, I’m going to get paid more. And that’s why I love the merit-based pay versus the flat salary.

All right. Clay Staires, you are a former school teacher. Talk to me about the kinds of behavior that you would see from your fellow colleagues who are all on a flat salary. No, seriously, because a lot of people have never been a school teacher or have never worked for the government, but what kind of work ethic, or lack thereof, would you see from your colleagues who all made a flat salaried wage in any public school system?

Oh, let’s see. I’m really tired today. I think we’ll watch videos in the classroom today. I think that’ll be a good thing. I think I’ll wear my sweats today. I think that’s a good move for me. I get 10 sick days a year, I’m taking every dadgum one of them. I get another six personal days. I’m going to take those as well every single year.

I had a friend of mine, he was a teacher who’d taught in the public school system for over 30 years, and he got this thing called tenure. I’m not sure how many years you have to work before you earn the tenure. Is it three?

Three.

And so basically, unless he sexually or physically assaulted a kid, he’s good to go. And they had this thing called personal days, I’m not sure if you’re familiar with that.

Yeah, oh yeah.

But it’s where you could call in and your employer was not allowed to ask a why.

Yes, I remember this.

And he would just call in-

And at that point, Clay, I loved it because I was a C player in those days.

So let me just tee up what he would do. He DJ’d for us on the weekends, on a Saturday usually. So what happened is he would tell me, he’s like, “Dude, here’s the deal,” because we were merit-based pay and the job he had during the day was not merit-based pay. Because I was merit-based pay, he would tell me, “Just so you know, I am not going to be at work off Saturday or Sunday. I’m just telling you in advance, I’ll be out of town.” I’m like, “Okay.” But as I got to know this person, he started telling me, “I’m calling in my workplace and I’ve put you as a backup employer or my second employer or whatever. And I took a paid personal or whatever this personal day, so I’m going to call in last minute on Thursday and Friday, I’m going to call in last minute on Thursday and Friday. I’m telling you in advance though, I’m going to be gone Saturday and Sunday. I also have a call in last minute on Monday so I can string together a long weekend, because I’m going to Florida.”

And I’m like, “So you’re going to go to Florida on Wednesday knowing for sure you won’t be at work on Thursday, but you’re going to call them Thursday morning with a personal issue.” He goes, “Oh, exactly.”

It’s the system.

He said, “All the teachers do it.” And I’m going, “Are you serious?” Have you seen seen that scenario unfold, Clay Staires?

Oh, completely. I have. Unfortunately, again, unfortunately, yes. And again, it’s not just teachers. I mean, it’s just in that salaried world of whether I’m awesome or whether I suck, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to get paid the same, so I might as well just be marginal.

So again, as we’re talking today about flat salaries or just salaries where you’re capped versus a merit-based pay system, the level of performance of the average employee is just dramatic, Marshall. I mean, people who are chasing a carrot, they are just sincerely and much more motivated than the average person who, no matter how hard they work, they make the same amount of money. And there’s a book called The Service Profit Chain that’s written about this concept. And The Service Profit Chain essentially establishes relationships between profitability, customer loyalty, employee satisfaction, loyalty, and productivity. But Marshall, you’ve read the book, you’ve broken down the service profit chain. Why does merit-based pay dramatically impact the performance of the average employee?

Okay, so merit-based pay is so crucial because at the service profit chain core, that’s what drives it. So they find, “Okay, we understand that we need to increase customer loyalty.” Well, what drives customer loyalty? What they found in the Harvard Business Review is that customer satisfaction, that’s what drives it. So they’re like, “Okay, how do we drive customer satisfaction?” Well, what they found is employee satisfaction, and at the core of employee satisfaction are things like merit-based pay. They know I can make more if I produce more and my employer is going to engage with me, they’re going to train me, they’re going to help me become better and therefore help me make more money. That’s really cool. And so that’s why merit-based pay in the Harvard Business Review, this is one of my favorite topics.

If it’s okay, I would like to just tee up some ample examples and we’ll go to QuikTrip first. The convenience store industry, the gas stations, for those of you listening in different parts of the country where you cannot find a QuikTrip, convenience store, there are billions and billions of dollars generated every year by QuikTrip, they’re a very successful company. Just Google search QuikTrip convenience stores to learn more.

Marshall, contrast your experience as a customer going into a Shell gas station versus a QuikTrip gas station, going into a QuikTrip, merit-based pay culture versus a Shell flat rate, salary-based culture. Talk to me about the difference between merit-based pay QuikTrip versus salary, let’s pay as little as possible, Shell.

I have a confession to make, and it was one of the lowest moments of my life, but last week I was like, I’m looking around for a QuikTrip to pull over, maybe use the restroom, get some gas, get something to drink on the way to the show or something. So I just pulled over in a local gas station. I’m like, “It can’t possibly be bad.” And I assure you, there’s like open standing water back there, there’s like a gas tank. So I’m like, “Oh my gosh.” They’re giving me a key to the restroom with like a car carburetor attached to it or something like that. It is wild. But you walk into QuikTrip, it’s always clean, everything’s always stocked, there’s checklists on the door showing the last time it was cleaned and who it was clean by. As a customer, I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else. I would go out of my way in order to go to QuikTrip.

Okay. Clay Staires, you travel a lot, you’re a paid speaker, you travel all around the world. People in San Diego love you, people in New York love you, people in Florida love you. You speak all around the world at different events, and you and Lisa, your wife, incredible wife, have a great time, a great opportunity to travel together.

Yes, love it.

And to speak. Just in the future, as you’re adding more and more speaking events, it’s exciting to see you guys do that, but you, I’m sure, have flown on many different airlines.

Yes.

Could you please contrast Southwest Airlines and their merit-based pay culture versus pretty much-

Everyone.

Everyone.

Yeah. Oh my gosh. It’s night and day, and there’s been several times where flying out of Tulsa sometimes can be tough with your choices, but man, if I can get on Southwest, it’s the only way to go. The friendliness, the ease in getting onto the plane is so much easier. Clay was actually literally on a plane one time that was not Southwest, and I just asked the stewardess, or the flight attendant, pardon me, and could I have some snacks, some peanuts or something like that? She literally looked at me with angst in her eyes and said, “This isn’t Southwest.” She literally said that.

Okay. Marshall, I want to be united in this idea.

Okay, there we go. Airlines.

I want to be united in this idea because as great Americans, we’re not here to name specific American airlines that suck. We need to be united in this idea.

That’s right. Yes.

We don’t want to name specific American airlines that suck. We don’t want to do that. We’re not the kind of people that would name specific, right? Are we united in this idea?

That’s right.

We’re not going to name specific American airlines that suck.

Exactly.

Right. But talk to me, Marshall, your experience. You’re a tall guy, you’re a tall man. How tall are you?

I’m 6’7.

You have flown on many different airlines.

Yes.

Talk to me about the courtesy, or lack thereof of, of Southwest Airlines versus other airlines when it comes to just accommodating you and other people.

I would say on other airlines, it has been disastrous. When the flight is empty, I kid you not, there’s an economy class and then there’s economy plus with a little extra legroom. And when the flight is empty, I might like to go up a little extra couple rows and sit in the economy plus, because there’s five people on the plane. And I’m promptly asked, “Sir, you didn’t pay for an economy plus, can you please move back to the economy seating?” There’s literally nobody else on the plane.

A little fun factoid for you, this is a little fun factoid for some of the listeners out there. A lot of our listeners like to tune in for the fun factoids.

Fun facts. Yeah.

Oh, Marshall, I think I might have hit the wrong button. I’ll just kind of make a sound effect.

Okay.

Okay. So Marshall, I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but Delta is actually the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet.

That’s right.

Completely unrelated to this conversation.

That’s correct.

Because we are United in our decision-

Yes, as Americans.

… to not speak specifically antagonistically about any other American airline.

That’s correct.

Have you ever flown on another airline outside of Southwest Airlines that was a positive experience? Because if you have, I want to keep it fair and balanced. I mean, people have said good things about Virgin, people have said good things about JetBlue, which was started by a former Southwest employee.

That’s right.

Have you ever had, Marshall, an experience that was positive with another airline outside of Southwest Airlines?

No.

Clay Staires, we want to be united in our non-attack of American Airlines. Fun factoid, the fourth letter of the alphabet here in the Greek language is Delta. Just a fun factoid. Have you ever had a positive experience with another airline that’s not Southwest Airlines?

No, I have not. Six hours, six hours on the tarmac.

Starbucks. Starbucks, merit-based pay. So what happens is I actually met a lady who’s the regional manager for the Starbucks stores in this area a few years back. And she was sharing with me at the end of the month, she makes a percentage of the store’s profitability. She personally gets to keep a percentage of the store’s profitability. Sounds to me a lot like merit-based pay. The better they perform, the more she makes.

Bingo.

So have you ever been into a Starbucks, Marshall?

Yes.

Clay Staires, have you ever been to a non-Starbucks?

Yes, I definitely have.

Have you noticed the difference between a local donut/coffee shop with the white ambiguous styrofoam cups versus a Starbucks, Marshall?

Yeah, it’s vastly different in that I could go to a Starbucks in the Northeast or down South or here in Tulsa, and I know that I’m going to get the exact same experience across the board.

It seems to me in these first few examples that merit-based pay versus salaried pay, there might be something to this whole idea that you pay people based upon what they do versus what they say they’re going to do. Do you guys agree at this point?

I agree.

Yes.

I’m with you.

Okay. So Disney World versus the average amusement park. Have you ever been, Clay Staires, to a Bell’s Amusement Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma?

Yes, I have.

Do you remember Bell’s?

I remember Bell’s.

Marshall, do you remember Bell’s?

Phantasmagoria. Oh, thank you very much.

Himalaya.

Do you guys remember you could actually bring a Pepsi can-

No.

… and you could get in for like $5?

Yeah, that’s right.

Your admission to Bell’s Amusement Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma was only $5 if you brought in a Pepsi can.

That’s right.

And do you remember how that was too much?

Yeah. You’re like, “I don’t know.”

“I don’t think so.”

I mean, it was like you went into an airport store. The airport store has a store called like News or something. CBS News, CNBC News.

Right, something like that.

And you’re looking for like a tuna fish sandwich from the CNBC airport store. It’s weird. And you’re looking for a tuna fish sandwich and you’re thinking, well, in a typical the American economy, 2018, I’d probably spend $6, $5 on that. At the airport. It’s like $26.17.

Yes.

It’s like $26.17 Or are you going to the airport and you’re looking for a yogurt, like a yogurt parfait? A yogurt parfait is typically what, guys $2 at Whole Foods, $3 at Whole Foods, Sprouts, maybe $3, whatever. You go in the airport. Marshall, how much could you expect to pay for a yogurt parfait at a typical airport?

It’d be like $17.50.

Do you remember how that felt when you went into Bell’s, you brought in a Pepsi can, you did your duty to help recycle, you go in there and normally it was like $30? And they said, “Well, did you bring a Pepsi can?” You said, “Yeah.” They said, “Well, it’s $5.” Do you remember the feeling of like, “This is probably too much”?

You’re like, “I could use this $5 for so many other things.”

“I’m being gouged here.”

Yes.

And do you remember how, no matter how your shoes were going into Bell’s, you would always leave with gum going on your shoes going out?

Shoes were different.

What about Bell’s amusement Park was terrible? Their culture of salaries, paying people as little as possible. And then let’s contrast that to Disney World. So let’s go with Disney World versus Bell’s. So Clay Staires, you’re on the team Bell’s. Tell us what was terrible about Bell’s. And then Marshall one up with Team Disney. So let’s go with you, Clay Stairs, first.

Well, just the cleanliness at Bell’s, like you were saying, your shoes change while you’re there.

They’re like offering tetanus shots when you get out of the bathroom.

Oh, yeah. And another one… Well, I’ll take that one, then Marshall, we’ll go to you with Disney World. Then back to me.

When we were interviewing the former executive vice president of Walt Disney World Resort-

A partner, a friend, a frequent guest on The Thrivetime Show, Lee Cockrell.

We’re there in Walt Disney World and we watched different cast members, not team members, but cast members walk around the park and pick up trash. And we never saw trash down on the ground for longer than, I don’t know, 10, 15 seconds.

True story.

Because somebody’s coming by and picking it up, because that was how important that was.

They assign a specific area and they walk up and down all day picking up trash and greeting guests. That’s what Disney World does.

It was impressive.

At Bell’s, people almost walk around like avoiding the trash. They’re like, “Oh, there’s trash.”

Try not to see it, try not to see it.

I’m on salary, I make a flat rate here, and I can’t get promoted. No matter how hard I work, I can’t make anymore. I’m out.

Bell’s had that culture of carnies too, that were always just a little [inaudible 00:36:33].

For the listeners out there, we have a lot of listeners who are in Florida-

Small hands.

California, Canada, Australia. We have a lot of high class listeners that cannot relate to the term carnie. Could you please explain what a carnie is, Mr. Clay Staires?

They’re carnival people, they’re they’re vagabonds. They are travelers, they are bohemians, they’re moving with the trucks.

And they usually talk, they kind of have their own thing where it’s like a, “Well, I’ll tell you what. You want to play here today to win a chance to win that big old stuffed animal. I respect that. Because you know, you want to step right up or are you a wienie?” And you’re like, “Did this man just call me a wienie?” You just ask somebody, “How much does it cost to play this game?” “Well, I’ll tell you what. You a wienie or you going to play the game there?” And they do a lot of like, “Well, I’ll tell you what” And they do a lot of just, it’s like they’re into noodling.

Yes.

One of the redneck games.

There we go. That’s right.

They’re just an interesting breed of people, they carnies.

That’s correct.

Marshall, contrast the carnie culture of Bell’s versus that of, by the way, the bankrupt Bell’s, Bell’s now out of business, versus that of the consistently profitable Walt Disney World Resorts. Marshall, talk to me carnies versus what kind of people can you find at Walt Disney World Resorts?

Well, first of all, we’re talking about cast members. So they’re not employees, they’re not team members, they’re cast members. And that’s exactly how they acted. They’re actually always on the showtime, they call it showtime there at Disney World.

Well, I put on my pants this morning and it became showtime right away.

And so you’ll see all of these cast members in their character acting as Cinderella, they’re acting as Goofy, Goofy is another one. They’re acting-

I’m dressing up like I’m Mario and Yoshi, Marshall. I didn’t brush my teeth, but do we know if Mario and Yoshi brush their teeth? No, we don’t.

And so you’ll see that regardless of what’s going on in whatever the cast member’s life, how they feel, they’re acting the entire time that they’re out in front of their guests, because this is supposed to be the happiest place in the world. And you can have that-

Hey, Marshall, real quick here. At Bell’s a lot of people are getting that fancy Bluetooth technology, at Bell’s we’re offering brown-tooth technology, Marshall. You know what I’m saying?

No, you can’t have that.

No, that’s not a thing, that’s not a move.

I want to make sure you get this. At Bell’s, those of you have not been to Bell’s, it was unbelievable how low the quality standard was. And for years, Tulsa was forced to go to Bell’s as its only entertainment option. Now we go to Chick-fil-A.

Yes.

Clay Staires, have you ever been to a Chick-fil-A?

Yesterday.

Marshall, have you ever been to a Popeye’s?

Ooh. Yeah.

Have you been to a Chick-fil-A, Clay Staires?

I have been to a Chick-fil-A.

Have you been to a Popeye’s, Marshall?

Yes, I have.

So please contrast. Now, Clay Staires, you get to be the good guy now.

Oh, yeah?

Talk to me about the merit-based pay culture of Chick-fil-A, where they pay people based upon results and not based upon intentions, versus that of Popeye’s. No offenses to Popeye’s, we’re just talking about facts. When I say with all due respect and no offense, henceforth, I can say whatever I want. So Clay Staires, Chick-fil-A, why do people line up and form a line around the building for Chick-fil-A?

Well, number one, I’ll go first here, Marshall. Number one, my pleasure. Just the courtesy and the kindness of the people behind the counters, and they’re like 16, 17, 18 years old.

Nice people.

That’s right.

Nice people, and look nice.

I feel like I’m going to a Mormon missions trip. Thank very much to Chick-fil-A.

Nice people filled with homeschoolers.

Now we go here to Popeye’s. Marshall, have you been to Popeye’s?

Yeah.

Objectively, do you like the chicken?

I don’t. I don’t like it more than Chick-fil-A.

Have you been into a Popeye’s?

Yeah, I’ve been into a Popeye’s.

What’s the difference between the people at a Chick-fil-A versus the people at Popeye’s?

Well, you’ll just stand at that counter with the register and you can almost see the eyes from back behind the grill, and they’re like looking, “Does he see us?”

They’re like shocked.

They’re like, “Oh, we have a customer coming.” “What do we do? I wasn’t prepared, I wasn’t prepared for what is going on.” But that’s how it feels. Like with Chick-fil-A, when you walk in, they’re greeting you and acknowledging your presence immediately. But at Popeye’s, they’re like, “I’m here.” You almost want to yell, shout at the store.

“Guys, I’m here.” I mean, seriously, when you walk into Popeye’s, you want to freak of Popeye’s employee out? Just go there. They’ve never seen a customer show up. It’s amazing how it still exists, seriously.

That’s right.

Okay, now Chick-fil-A, another good attribute, Clay Staires of Chick-fil-A. Think about Chick-fil-A. What makes Chick-fil-A so spectacular in your mind?

Okay, I’m doing two here. Clean and the music. I’m going there.

Cleaning the music. Marshall, contrast that to Popeye’s.

The fluorescent light bulbs that are out, or worse than that, they’re not out, but they’re just kind of flickering. So you feel like you’re in an industrial park inside the Popeye’s, and you’re like, “Oh gosh.” And it’s eerily quiet later at night and so you’re like, “Can I just get my chicken and get out of here?”

Or they got the TV going, they got the TV going. So you got some kind of random drama going on.

Now again, Chick-fil-A really does accommodate as a parent, they accommodate the kids. They always have balloons for the kids, slides for the kids, a nice environment for the kids, my kids want to go there. My kids, kids when they’re like 12, when they’re 13, they start to develop a filter. But 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, my kids will just say, no filter. They’ll say, “Dad, we don’t want to go to Popeye’s. It’s terrible.” Now as an adult, you go, “This podcast host is mean. He’s slanderous. This is a mean person. He’s mentioning a company by name and talking about how terrible it is.” Yes, because everybody out there knows it. You just don’t want to say it. Marshall, talk to me about how Popeye’s accommodates kids. Talk to me about the slides, the balloons for the kids. Talk to me about the Popeye’s aura they bring to the table on a daily basis.

Okay. I’m not a parent. Clay Staires, you help me out with this.

But I’ve never been to Popeye’s.

But you help me out with this.

Okay, I’m with you.

You’re going to Popeye’s, you’re bringing your kids when your kids are little, okay?

Yes. Kids, don’t touch anything.

Yeah. Dwarf kids, dwarf little kids. If they’re headed towards the playground, the thought crosses your mind, what did the other kids touch before they touched it?

Exactly.

Do we need to wipe this down? But at Chick-fil-A, it’s always clean. Everything, it’s spotless. If you’re out there today and you’re going, “I don’t really see the difference between merit-based pay and flat-pay, salary pay.” Marshall, could you read the notable quote from Jack Welch? Jack Welch, the CEO, who famously grew GE by 4,000% during his tenure?

Yes. So Jack Welch, he says, “If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings and put compensation as a carrier behind it, you almost don’t have to manage them.” And Clay, I want to one up you with another quote from my main man, Steve Jobs.

In my face.

Okay, so this is what Steve Jobs talks about A players, okay? He said, “I noticed that the dynamic range between what an average person could accomplish and what the best person could accomplish was 50 or 100 to one. Given that, you’re well advised to go after the cream of the cream. A small team of A-plus players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players.” What does this mean? This means if you’re going to hire people, hire the A-plus players. And what are a plus players looking for? They’re looking for merit-based pay. Set it up.

If you are out there today and you’re fighting this idea, I want to just give you an example we can all relate to, everybody knows about this. Marshall, are you aware? Do you watch a lot of NFL?

Yeah.

Who’s your favorite team?

The Cleveland Browns, baby.

Okay. And I will tell you that the Cleveland Browns, objectively, these guys are really turning their organization around, but I want to make sure that we get an example of merit-based pay. The NFL stands for Not For Long if you don’t produce.

That’s right.

Why, Marshall? Why does it stand for Not For Long if you don’t produce?

Because they’re in the business to win games and sell tickets.

Okay, so think about this. The average career of the NFL player is what? Marshall, if you had to guess, the average career length of an NFL player is what?

I would say maybe six years, eight years?

Three, four.

Really?

I’m going three or four.

3.3.

Boom.

Really?

Yeah, 3.3. Now I want to tell you an example of from my favorite team, the New England Patriots, and I just want to give you an example about why the Patriots can win year after year. They create a team where the vast majority of the income for players can be made via incentives. So as an example, Rob Gronkowski, who is an all pro future Hall of Fame, tight end for the New England Patriots. He has a contract that’s very nice, but the guy can earn up to $4 million a year of additional income based upon incentives. And those are like making the Pro Bowl, and it’s per game he plays. So he has an incentive to play hard, he has an incentive to play at his best. It’s based upon getting to the playoffs, number of catches. There’s a lot of incentives and we’ll put a link to Rob Gronkowski’s 2018 Patriots incentives. But at the NFL level, and I’m just ripping on myself right now, I definitely do not have the talent and/or skill or the will to play in the NFL, I couldn’t do it even if I wanted to.

But if let’s just say that we were all 6’8 and we were very athletic. Marshall, would you want to play in the NFL if you couldn’t earn millions of dollars per year?

No, I probably wouldn’t.

Clay Staires, I mean, if you were offered an opportunity to play in the NFL, knowing that there’s concussions, injuries, a lot of times life altering, like I heard an interview the other day with Jerome Bettis, the former running back, the Hall of Fame running back for the Steelers, and they were asking him about what it’s like getting up every day? How are you dealing with retirement? He goes, “Every morning is,” again, I’m paraphrasing. He says, “Every morning is a living hell.” He’s like, “I just have so much pain, arthritis. It takes me till about noon just to kind of get my mind right.” And there’s a lot of people in the NFL that have a similar, if you look up, Marshall, put it on the show notes Michael Strahan’s hands. Clay Staires, have you seen Michael Strahan’s hands?

I don’t think I have.

Okay, I’m going to pull it up so you can see it on the screen here. It’ll blow your mind. This is Michael Strahan, and this is what an NFL career does to you. Look at his fingers.

Oh my.

Look at those fingers.

Whoa, that’s not right.

But I’m just saying how many people out there, Marshall, you included, would want to play any sport at all if your fingers were going to be in continual arthritic pain for the rest of your life, if you could not earn millions of dollars as a reward? I mean, nobody’s going to do it. Would you do it? Clay Staires?

I would do one play, but not two.

Okay. So a lot of people though would say, “I’m not going to play in the NFL,” but if there wasn’t that kind of merit-based pay. Now, let’s dial it down a little bit. How many listeners out there, Mr. Listener and Mrs. Listener, listening out there today, I ask you this. Would you be willing to care about the profitability of a billion-dollar company like Starbucks if you did not earn a bonus based upon the profitability? I mean, Clay Stairs, if you were the district manager, regional manager for a Starbucks, would you care at all about the profitability if you couldn’t make more by essentially living at Starbucks to make it more profitable?

No.

Marshall, Disney World, you’re a manager of Disney World. Would you at all care about the profitability of Disney World if you could not make more money as a result of the success of the team?

No, I wouldn’t care.

Okay. Chick-fil-A. Clay Staires, if you owned a Chick-fil-A, and no matter how bad or good it did, you made the same amount of money per year. Would you care?

No, I would not.

I can say this, if I ran a QuikTrip or Southwest Airlines, I wouldn’t care. And maybe you’re listening today and you say, “You’re bad people.” I think we’re honest people.

Yeah. Well, Clay, that goes back to, again, to me as a school teacher, flat pay. And the only way for me to make more money was to teach another year, and I got like a two and a half percent increase.

There’s just no reason to want to do a great job.

Yeah.

I think if you’re out there and you’re honest with yourself, you’re going to probably not be super motivated to do something unless you can make more money. That’s why you started a company, that is why you started a company. You started a company because you wanted to make money based upon the value that you add to the hour and not get paid based upon the hours that you work. So why would you not share the wealth and create a merit-based pay program for your team? Marshall, what’s the biggest struggle that clients have that entrepreneurs have, that business owners have when it comes to implementing merit-based pay? Where do you get the pushback?

I don’t know how to implement it, I don’t know what it should be. I don’t know metrics-wise what it should be.

Clay Staires, where do you get the most pushback on how to introduce and implement a merit-based pay program?

Oh, yeah. Most of the people that, when I bring up the topic with our clients, Clay, they don’t have any idea what it is. And they think immediately they go to paying employees more money. No, I can’t afford that. I can’t afford that. That’s the pushback that I’ve had.

So if you’re out there today and you are struggling with implementing merit-based pay or any other best practice that we teach on The Thrivetime Show, I would encourage you today, book your tickets to our next in-person Thrivetime Show workshop. Because. Marshall, when people have a specific question about how to implement merit-based pay for their specific company, home builders, doctors, dentists, lawyers, chiropractors, what do we do in between the breaks?

Well, we have a 45-minute sprint where we’re teaching a principal, and then the 15-minute break, we’re actually breaking out into small different groups and answering any questions that you have. And then we actually have boards that we will have up there so that you can write down your questions and we’ll answer all of the questions that you have before you leave.

Clay Staires, if somebody has a question at the workshop, you’ve seen this, they’re going, “I just don’t know how to implement the merit-based pay, I have a question.” What do you see us do? We just disregard the question or how do we handle it?

Oh no, we address it right there. We address it right there, we answer it to the satisfaction of the person that answer the question.

We even stay during lunch, we stay after the workshop, we’ve met people before the workshop. That’s where we capped the workshop at 150 people or so. So if you’re out there today and you’re, “Gosh, I want to take my business or life to the next level,” I would encourage you to book your tickets to our next in-person Thrivetime Show Workshop today. It is irrefutably the world’s highest and best, it’s the world’s best and most reviewed workshop, the world’s best and most reviewed business workshop. It’s called The Thrivetime Show Workshop. You can book your tickets online today by going to thrivetimeshow.com. That’s thrivetimeshow.com. And now without further ado, 3, 2, 1. Boom.

3, 2, 1. Boom.

3, 2, 1. Boom.

Hello, my name is Charles Colaw with Colaw Fitness. Today I want to tell you a little bit about Clay Clark and how I know Clay Clark. Clay Clark has been my business coach since 2017. He’s helped us grow from two locations to now six locations. We’re planning to do seven locations in seven years, and then franchise. And Clay has done a great job of helping us navigate anything that has to do with running the business, building the systems, the checklists, the workflows, the audits, how to navigate lease agreements, how to buy property, how to work with brokers and builders. This guy’s just an amazing.

This kind of guy has worked in every single industry, he’s written books with Lee Crockwell, head of Disney with the 40,000 cast members, he’s friends with Mike Lindell, he does ReAwaken America Tours where he does these tours all across the country where 10,000 or more people show up to some of these tours on the day-to-day. He does anywhere from about 160 companies, he’s at the top. He has a team of business coaches, videographers, and graphic designers, and web developers, and they run 160 companies every single week. So think of this guy with a team of business coaches running 160 companies. So weekly, he’s running 160 companies every six to eight weeks, he’s doing ReAwaken America Tours every six to eight weeks. He’s also doing business conferences where 200 people show up and he teaches people a 13-step proven system that he’s done and worked with billionaires, helping them grow their companies.

So he’s seen guys from startups go from startup to being multimillionaires, teaching people how to get time freedom and financial freedom through the system. Critical thinking, document creation, making it, putting it into organizing everything in their head to building into a franchisable scalable business. One of his businesses has like 500 franchises. That’s just one of the companies or brands that he works with. So amazing guy, Elon Musk kind of like smart guy. He kind of comes off sometimes as socially awkward, but he’s so brilliant and he’s taught me so much. When I say that Clay is like he doesn’t care what people think when you’re talking to him, he cares about where you’re going in your life and where he can get you to go.

And that’s what I like the most about him. He’s like a good coach. A coach isn’t just making you feel good all the time, a coach is actually helping you get to the best you, and Clay has been an amazing business coach. Through the course of that, we became friends. When I was really most impressed with him is when I was shadowing him one time and we went into a business deal and listened to it. I got to shadow and listen to it and when we walked out, I knew that he could make millions on the deal and they were super excited about working with him. And he told me, he’s like, “I’m not going to touch it, I’m going to turn it down.” Because he knew it was going to harm the common good of people in the long run and the guy’s integrity just really wowed me. It brought tears to my eyes to see that this guy, his highest desire was to do what’s right.

And anyways, just an amazing man. So anyways, impacted me a lot. He’s helped navigate anytime I’ve got nervous or worried about how to run the company or navigating competition and an economy that’s like, I remember we got closed down for three months. He helped us navigate on how to stay open, how to get back open, how to just survive through all the COVID shutdowns, lockdowns because our clubs were all closed for three months and you have $350,000 of bills you’ve got to pay and we have no accounts receivable. He helped us navigate that, and of course we were conservative enough that we could afford to take that on for a period of time, but it was anyways, great man. I’m very impressed with him. So Clay, thank you for everything you’re doing.

And I encourage you, if you haven’t ever worked with Clay, worked with Clay, he’s going to help magnify you. And there’s nobody I have ever met that has the ability to work as hard as he does. He probably sleeps four, maybe six hours a day and literally the rest of the time he’s working and he can outwork everybody in the room every single day and he loves it. So anyways, this is Charles Colaw with Colaw Fitness. Thank you, Clay. And anybody out there that’s wanting to work with Clay, it’s a great, great opportunity to ever work with him. So you guys have a blessed one. This is Charles Colaw. We’ll see you guys. Bye-bye.

Hi, I’m Aaron Antis with Shaw Homes. I first heard about Clay through a mortgage lender here in town who had told me what a great job he had been doing for them, and I actually noticed he was driving a Lamborghini all of a sudden, so I was willing to listen. In my career, I’ve sold a little over $800 million in real estate, so honestly, I thought I kind of knew everything about marketing and homes. And then I met Clay and my perception of what I knew and what I could do definitely changed. After doing $800 million in sales over a 15-year career, I really thought I knew what I was doing. I’ve been managing a large team of sales people for the last 10 years here with Shaw Homes and we’ve been a company that’s been in business for 35 years, we’ve become one of the largest builders in the Tulsa area, and that was without Clay.

So when I came to know Clay, I really thought, “Man, there’s not much more I need to know, but I’m willing to listen.” The interesting thing is our internet leads from our website has actually, in a four-month period of time, has gone from somewhere around 10 to 15 leads in a month to 180 internet leads in a month. Just from the few things that he’s shown us how to implement that I honestly probably never would’ve come up with on my own. So I got a lot of good things to say about the system that Clay put in place with us, and it’s just been an incredible experience. I am very glad that we met and had the opportunity to work with Clay.

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

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

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

I think in the 35-year history of Shaw Homes, this is probably the best thing that’s happened to us, and I know if you give him a shot, I think you’ll feel the same way. I know for me, the thing I would’ve missed out on if I didn’t work with Clay is I would’ve missed out on literally an 1,800% increase in our internet leads. Going from 10 a month to 180 a month, that would’ve been a huge financial decision to just decide not to give it a shot. I would absolutely recommend Clay Clark to anybody who’s thinking about working with somebody in marketing. I would skip over anybody else you were thinking about and I would go straight to Clay and his team. I guarantee you’re not going to regret it because we sure haven’t.

My name is Danielle Sprik and I am the founder of the Sprik Realty Group here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After being a stay-at-home mom for 12 years and my three kids started school and they were in school full-time, I was at a crossroads and trying to decide what do I want to do? My degree and my background is in education, but after being a mom and staying home and all of that, I just didn’t have a passion for it like I once did.

My husband suggested real estate. He’s a home builder, so real estate and home building go hand in hand, and we just rolled with it. I love people, I love working with people, I love building relationships, but one thing that was really difficult for me was the business side of things. The processes and the advertising and marketing, I knew that I did not have what I needed to make that what it should be. So I reached out to Clay at that time and he and his team have been extremely instrumental in helping us build our brand, help market our business, our agents, the homes that we represent, everything that we do is a direct line from Clay and his team and all that they’ve done for us.

We launched our brokerage, our real estate brokerage, eight months ago, and in that time we’ve gone from myself and one other agent to just this week, we signed on our 16th agent. We have been blessed with the fact that we right now have just over $10 million in pending transactions. Three years ago, I never would have even imagined that I would be in this role that I’m in today building a business, having 16 agents, but I have to give credit where credit’s due. And Clay and his team and the business coaching that they’ve offered us has been huge, it’s been instrumental in what we’re doing. Don’t ever limit your vision. When you dream big, big things happen.

The Thrivetime Show, two-today interactive business workshops are the highest and most reviewed business workshops on the planet. You can learn the proven 13-point business systems that Dr. Zoellner and I have used over and over to start and grow successful companies. I mean, we get into the specifics, the specific steps on what you need to do to optimize your website. We’re going to teach you how to fix your conversion rate. Now, we’re going to teach you how to do a social media marketing campaign that works. How do you raise capital? How do you get a small business loan? We teach you everything you need to know here during a two-day, 15-hour workshop. It’s all here for you. You work every day in your business, but for two days you can escape and work on your business and build these proven systems, so now you can have a successful company that will produce both the time freedom and the financial freedom that you deserve. You’re going to leave energized, motivated, but you’re also going to leave empowered.

The reason why I’ve built these workshops is because as an entrepreneur, I always wish that I had this, and because there wasn’t anything like this, I would go to these motivational seminars, no money down real estate Ponzi scheme, get motivated seminars, and they would never teach me anything. It was like you went there and you paid for the big chocolate Easter Bunny, but inside of it there was a hollow nothingness. And I wanted the knowledge and they’re like, “Oh, but we’ll teach you the knowledge after our next workshop.” And the great thing is we have nothing to upsell. At every workshop, we teach you what you need to know. There’s no one in the back of the room trying to sell you some next big, get rich quick, walk on hot coals product.

It’s literally, we teach you the brass tacks, the specific stuff that you need to know to learn how to start and grow a business. And I encourage you to not believe what I’m saying, and I want you to Google the Z66 Auto Auction, I want you to Google Elephant in the Room. Look at Robert Zoellner and Associates. Look them up and say, are they successful because they’re geniuses or are they successful because they have a proven system? When you do that research, you will discover that the same system that we use in our own business can be used in your business. Come to Tulsa, book a ticket, and I guarantee you it’s going to be the best business workshop ever and I want to give you your money back if you don’t love it. We’ve built this facility for you and we’re excited to see you.