Entrepreneur | Checklists

Audio Transcription

Get ready to enter the Thrive Time Show. We started from the bottom, now we’re here. We started from the bottom and we’ll show you how to get here. We started from the bottom, now we’re here. We started from the bottom, now we’re here. We started from the bottom, now we’re on the top. Teaching you the systems to get what we got. Cullen Dixon’s on the hooks, I break down the books. Full T’s bringing some wisdom and the good look as the father of five. That’s what I’m about So if you see my wife and kids, please tell them hi It’s me and see up on your radio and now three two one Micaela clay welcome to the dojo of mojo here at the thrive 15 headquarters, my friend. How are you? I’m good. Nice to be here. Hey, you were the thriver of the month in what month? January. January. And rumor has it, you were going to be here, we were all excited by the way, but then the plane you were supposed to be on, I guess, did what now? What did it do? It went off the runway. It was hovering over the Hudson. Really? The nose of it was over the Hudson. The Hudson River? The Hudson River. In New York? In New York. Because of the snow, it was sliding off? It was just ice and a couple inches of snow on the runway. They’re still trying to get the flights in. Well, there’s a new notable quotable that we’re trying to make famous here at Thrive. And it says, when the tippy of the plane you’re going to be on is hanging over the Hudson, don’t get on that plane. That’s just a new quote we’re developing. Well, anyway, today we’re talking about checklists. And specifically, the name of the business that you’re building right now, your startup, is? American Hybrid Homes. Now real quick story here. You are originally from Ukraine, is that correct? Yes, I moved here when I was 13. 13. And what why why did your like why did what motivated your family to move here? What was the deal? We have four, well we, my parents had four kids. Yeah. And my dad was an orthopedic surgeon and he couldn’t afford to support us. So he gave up his office and everything to move here and become a carpenter. So he lived here three years before we moved, the rest of the family moved here. What’s inspiring to me about your story is that your dad obviously sacrificed a bunch. Eight years of school. To move to America, where he thought it’d be a better opportunity. But then you, rather than just squandering that opportunity, you’ve decided to build your own business. And it’s like, to me, the most inspirational. Like, I, when we first started Make and Thrive, I was telling you, I had this vision. I’m like, we can help people all over the world who wanna know this stuff. And business colleges are 30,000, 40,000, 50,000, whatever they are, per year. And when I heard there’s a guy who moved from Ukraine when he’s 13, who’s now here, when you posted your story, and now he’s here in America, and he’s starting his own business, second generation immigrant, you know what I mean, or first generation immigrant. I just thought, this is awesome. So I am excited for you, my friend. I’m also pumped that you named your company American Hybrid Homes. That’s awesome. So I’m pumped. So we’re talking today about checklists though this topic right here of checklists is Probably the most important operational episode that will ever be recorded on this website now I’m a guy who always says well, this is a great move is the best movie ever This is the worst movie ever and I know I’m a kind of a polarity guy I did it to the best movie or the worst movie ever. But seriously this episode operationally, this is probably the most important episode that we’re ever gonna record, okay? Because checklists, a checklist is a thing that can solve so many problems. And it’s so obvious, and it’s so needed, and it’s so important, but yet people don’t do it. So we’re first gonna break into why people don’t do it. Then we’re gonna talk about why people need to do it. Then we’re gonna talk about how to make it, okay? So why don’t people do it? I’ll tell ya. And we’ll add a notable quotable here. I wanna add it to the screen. But Dale Carnegie, and I don’t wanna butcher the quote, but Dale Carnegie talks about, he’s the guy who wrote, How to Win Friends and Influence People. He talks about how, when you’re working with humans, you have to remember you’re dealing with creatures of pride and greed and all sorts of emotions, not just logical, they’re not just creatures of logic. So what happens is we know we need to make a checklist, but yet we have this big thing that’s in the way called pride. So we know over here, we know step one, we need to make a checklist. Step two, we know we need to do it, but the step two pride gets in the way and we never get to three. So we need to cross out the pride and we need to just make a checklist. So let’s give an example. When you go out there and you’re going to install your materials, because the service you provide makes homes more efficient, right? Yes. So let’s say you booked your package, your smallest package. What are you actually going to service are you delivering at that point? Just air sealing. Basically you stop the air from leaking out of your house. Air sealing. Yeah. So that it’s air seal. And this is a service that you’re delivering. Yeah. Now what are all the steps do you need to do this? Well first you do you perform tests, which is analysis, to find these holes. So the first thing is test. Test what? Test the house. When you say the house, what are in the house? The front door. Okay, so the front door. Next one, where else do I test? Attic. Attic. Where else do I test? Just room by room pressures. Room by room. Is it possible that a guy who would work for you might forget a room? No, because it’s on the checklist. That’s right. So you just tricked me. Unicorn, awesome. Leprechauns. When I get to be photoed on camera, it’s amazing. So here’s the thing is, you’re like the only person by the way who’s ever said that, that no, because I have a freaking checklist. This is great. So you know why people need a checklist right here. We need one. Why don’t we use one though? Because pride gets in the way. Yeah. And then why do we need one? Because it’s going to ensure the quality. If we have a checklist, right? And we, every single time, so if your guy goes out and installs this service, he does the air seal test. If he goes through and he tests door number one, the attic, room number two, whatever, if he does that, at the end of it, he’s going to have to put his signature here that he actually went through each room. But then the next step is you are going to need to follow up to make sure that it happens. Okay? So you’re going to have to have the manager, you’re going to have to follow up. So let’s get through this. Again, why don’t people use checklists? Pride gets in the way. Why do we need a checklist for quality control? Without a checklist, the quality, you can’t scale it unless you nail it. So I used to have DJs work for me, okay? We used to do all these, we did, you know, about 4,000 events a year. And I’ll never forget this. I sent a DJ out to a wedding. Imagine how horribly mad you would be if you were a bride. I sent a DJ out. I said, hey, you got all the songs? Yep. You got the lights? Boom. You got the sound? Yep. You got the equipment? He goes out to the wedding and he shows up at the wedding without a, want to guess? Speakers. Yep. No speakers. Really? Now was I smart enough to realize that, man, we forgot speakers for a wedding. I should probably put that on the checklist was I smart enough? No. No no no no I had it beaten to my skull why? Because I had pride. Now I go to another wedding sit another guy out the guy says hey dude I just showed up at the wedding and I don’t have a microphone No. I get to a wedding. Now these are things that are unbelievable. One of our guys gets to a wedding. Doesn’t bring the song for the first dance. Was I smart enough to put it on a checklist? No. Each of these cases resulted in me either being sued or having to do big refunds. And each time I’m like, it’s common sense. Common sense is not so common, right? Yeah, common sense is not so common. But here’s the thing, I was being an idiot. So let’s think about this for a second. You know you need a checklist, but people won’t do it because of pride. You know without a checklist you can’t have quality control, right? But yet we don’t make it. So I just keep going out there. I’m booking weddings and I’m ruining weddings. Just BAM ruin a wedding. BAM ruin a wedding. About once a month ruin a wedding. Terrible. You know how horrible I felt? There was a girl who worked at Barnes & Noble until like… she probably still works there, but she was there at least a couple years ago. And I go in to get a book and she was a girl whose wedding I ruined like a decade ago. Nope, I can’t make this up. True story. She kind of dresses goth and stuff. She’s very memorable. And I walk in and she’s like And I’m going I’ve got my daughter with me my daughter’s like eight I didn’t have a daughter at the time when I did her wedding and I’m just like And then I have to check out and the way it would work this big guy gets in front I’ll never forget like it was yesterday this guy gets in front of me and he takes this aisle this person He says I’ll help who’s next and I’m like and then she’s like I’ll take his next and I’m like sir sir, and I’m like and I walk up and I’m like oh No, and there she is and she’s like You ruined my wedding and I’m like What you know, how do you play that off? I mean, it’s just it’s a bad deal and like as an adult man This is like it’s had to have been at least maybe you know, this is like I mean In the last five years or so, I ran into this person again. Now with your service, could you imagine if you charged somebody to make their home more efficient and then you accidentally set the house on fire? Does this kind of stuff happen? Yeah, definitely. All the time, because people are operating without a checklist. So let me read this quote to you. This blows my mind. This is from the book called Checklist Manifesto. And by the way, if you’re watching this and you’ve not read Checklist Manifesto, you got to do it. Checklist Manifesto just blows your mind. It’s a study of John Hopkins University, medical, you know, medical study there. This guy studies them. He studies master builders. He studies a variety of industries. He studies the airline industry. flown by Southwest Airlines has such a ridiculously low crash record. I mean, they almost never crash. They crash like this amount of time. You know what I’m saying? It’s like almost never. Why do those planes almost never crash, but people crash cars all the time? Well because it’s like a system. It’s a duplicatable, scalable process that Southwest uses to ensure the quality. Wouldn’t you hope that if you’re flying your plane, that your plane doesn’t run out of gas? Have you ever driven in a car where somebody’s running out of gas? I personally drove a car that ran out of gas. So I was the one driving, and I’m driving back from a bridal show, and I didn’t have it on my checklist to get gas, and I’m all pumped up about life, and I’m driving, and I remember looking over at one of our guys, Jason, and I’m like, and all the guys are sleeping trusting that I’m going to drive us to our location while not running out of gas. And I’m like, uh-oh. And Jason’s like, what do you mean? I’m like, uh, I think we’re out of gas. He’s like, you think we’re out of gas? How could you think we’re out of gas? I’m like, I don’t know what had happened. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know what happened. And he’s like, how do you not know what happened? What happened is you didn’t, nothing happened. That’s why we’re out of gas. But this happens all the time. And so if I’m not making a huge case for why checklists matter, let me read, let me read from this, an excerpt from this book. Nonetheless, that know-how is often unmanageable. Avoidable failures are common and persistent, not to mention demoralizing and frustrating across many fields from medicine to finance business to government and the reason is increasingly evident The volume and complexity of what we know has exceeded our individual ability to deliver its benefits correctly safely and reliably Knowledge has both saved us and burdened us that means that we need a different strategy for overcoming failure One that builds on experience and takes advantage of the knowledge people have, but somehow makes up for our inevitable human inadequacies. I don’t know who would have these inadequacies. Me. You know, so and there is and there is such a strategy though it will seem almost ridiculous in its simplicity, maybe even crazy to those of us who have spent years carefully developing our more advanced skills and technologies. It is a checklist. And there’s all sorts of stats, which we are going to add to the screen right now. But John Hopkins University did a study on what percentage of infections that patients were getting were caused by accidents. It’s scary. Doctors not using checklists, scary. DJs not using checklists, scary. Guys who are making homes more energy efficient without a checklist, scary. So we need a checklist for every aspect of the business. And so I’m going to go ahead and put these up on the screen because we want to have the kind of efficiency and the kind of quality that Boeing has with their airplanes. So here we go. One is your marketing. You’re going to need a checklist for marketing. So what does every print piece need to have on it? You need to make a checklist for that. Social proof, phone number, website. You think I’ve ever done a mailer and forgot to put my phone number or website on it? Yeah, I have, right? That’s stupid, it’s a dumb tax. You don’t want to pay those taxes, okay? Dumb tax. Marketing, sales systems. Do you think you want to have a system in place for after you make a sale, you charge the customer’s card, you deposit it here, you send them an invoice? Yes, you do. Service delivery, the actual service, delivery. The next is accounting. Is it important to make sure that you deposited money, that you paid your team, that you paid all your bills, that you… Yes. Follow-up. Is it important that you have a checklist that says after you’ve installed this energy efficiency improvements into someone’s home, doesn’t it make sense that you would then call them every two months after or maybe every six months to see how it’s going? Or to check in with them? Would that not increase your sales if you did that? Yeah, because I mean, one leads into the other one. Now, human resources, when you hire a guy, don’t you want to make sure that he’s not a rapist a terrorist a drug addict a felon a Right, so you’re probably gonna have to have a checklist for checking on your human resources, right? We don’t want to do you think that I want to like tell a customer? Hey, I’ll follow up and I’ll make sure I’ll make sure I follow up I’ll make sure I send you those receipts and I forget no Do you think that I want to go two months in a row without paying my sales tax? No. Do you think I wanted to go and ruin all those girls weddings? No. Do you think I wanted to go to Barnes & Noble and get there and every single time, every freaking time I went to Barnes & Noble I was like… and I’m a reader and they closed down the other one. What was it? Borders? Borders got closed down so I’m like in there like… I had to run for the books. I’m like you know trying to run over there to get a copy of a book and run back. Like, it was awkward shopping for books because I screwed up her wedding. Sales systems. Do you think I want to pay a bunch of sales guys who work all the time and never close anything? Marketing. Do you think I want to do marketing that doesn’t work? I have done so many mass mailers that I forgot to put the phone number on it. It’s crazy. You’ve got to have a checklist. Now, the final is public relations. If you’re contacting the media, don’t you want to make sure you’re sending, you know, the press release that includes all the information that a press release needs to have? I mean, wouldn’t it be terrible if your first impression with the New York Times was a bad impression because you forgot to send them the stuff on the checklist that you needed to send them? Right? So now we get into how do we make a checklist. This is our third step. How do we make it? We’re gonna start specifically with the, we’ll just make a checklist for HR today. Okay, so we’re going to try to have a rapist free work environment. All right, so you go in there and you like the guy, you did an interview, he came in, you like the guy. Do you feel like for the interview you should have a checklist of what questions you ask every candidate? Yeah, just keep it consistent. All right, so we’re going to go ahead and make a list of questions that we ask. Check one, two, three. Then after we do that, don’t we want to go ahead and make a checklist here? We just say do a background check on back, you know, do a background check on the guy. Right. So we put here back around check. Remember, our goal is to have a rapist free work environment. What’s the next thing you’d want to put on your checklist? References. Yeah, references. Let’s put them down. References. You’d want to get two phone numbers for the guy. You’d want to know his address, right? You’d want to know his zip code. You’d want to know his state he’s in. You’d want to go over here. You’d want to look at his Facebook. Is it okay to look at your employees’ Facebook? I don’t know, your customers do. Yeah. The one thing that was great about the rapist guy is not only was he a rapist guy, but his Facebook looked like he was a rapist guy. So on his Facebook, it’s like all these gang signs. Smug shot. You know what I mean? Like, I’m serious, it’s crazy. Do you think your customers Google your employees? Yeah. Oh, dude. Let me tell you a little story about that. A couple years back, I was Googling a guy, now that I have a checklist. So I’m bringing the guy in, Google. See homie from the side. Little tattoo, see him from the side, little tattoo. See him from the front, little DUI. See him from the side, little DWI. See him from the side, little firearm possession. See him over here with a little, see him in my office. Hell no, because I got a freaking checklist. So I google people. Make sense? Yeah. But you’ve got to do all this. Now look at all the steps we’ve already come up with. You probably got to ask him ten specific questions. You’ve got to do a background check, you got to do references, you got to do two phone numbers, you got to do an address, you got to do… what else would you want to do? Anything else? I mean some of these questions wouldn’t be in the 10 questions, like work experience. So you wanna get a resume from the person? Yeah. Now, how stupid would it be to hire an HR director, and he’s like, well, what should I do? And I’m like, well, what you should do is you wanna basically do research on each candidate to make sure they’re properly qualified and they’re not a rapist. He’s gonna forget a step, isn’t he? Yeah. Unless there’s a? Checklist. But with a checklist, oh! But still, it’s not done just because we make a checklist. You have to have the signature of who? The HR person. Right, so our team member has to do it, okay? Signature. And then we have to have the signature of who? The owner, the manager, whoever’s gonna follow up. Because without accountability, you can count on it not working. It being everything. So now you want to have a manager signature. So you’re saying, Clay, that even if I have a checklist I have to go through my time to verify that a guy actually did a background check? Yes. You mean just because I made a checklist? I already made a checklist that says that all the DJs have to bring a mic, speakers, they have the first dance. You mean I have to… Yes. So let me tell you what you do incorrectly if you want to screw the system up. I made this beautiful checklist because I was an idiot or I was ill-informed or whatever. I made a checklist for loading my DJs out. Speakers, mic stand, lights, XLR cable, CD players, backup amp, backup chords. It’s like a 50-point checklist. I’m talking about the Taj Mahal of checklists. My checklist was on the top of Mount Awesome. Mount Awesome, population me. My checklist was awesome. Here I am at the top of this thing feeling good about life. I have read my checklist manifesto. I feel like I’m the boss. I have an awesome checklist. This thing is 50 points. It is freaking awesome. Oh baby! I went to Dagobah, spent time with Yoda making this checklist, I am pumped, right? So I said, hey, Mikaylo, you got a show tonight? Do you want to go ahead and load yourself out? And we’ll see you tonight. Dumb! Do you think the guys actually use the checklist? No. That’s right. And do people think that I’m an ask-hole because I ask them if they use the checklist? Yes. So I walk up to the guy and I say, hey, did you use the checklist? What does the guy say? Yeah, of course. I’m like, okay, let’s go through your card and look then. Mic stand, I don’t see it. Speakers, got them. Mics, okay, mic, great. Amp, XLR cord. First dance, have you tested it? Yeah, I did. No, you didn’t. Gas. Gas, lighting, amp, crossover, mixer, cordless mic, map for the show, Garmin to get there, schedule, itinerary, two contact numbers, two contact numbers? Do you know that I had one DJ who was loading out for a show and he goes, I know where it is and I’m like, you do? Yeah, I know where it is. There’s a city by the same name in Kansas and in Texas. Do you think he drove to the wrong state? Yes. Yeah. Oh yeah. He drove to the wrong state. And why did he go to the checklist or why do you go the wrong state? You never did a follow I didn’t follow up because with account without accountability You have to count on people doing it wrong and people will think that you are an ask Hole because you ask them Does that make sense? Yeah people all I do don’t get about my don’t get my business I remember there’s a 45 year old man who used to DJ for us and he’s like, do you not trust me? And I remember like no, no, I do trust you said well, why do you have to follow up all the time? Do you not trust me? Well guess what? I didn’t follow up with him. And you know what he did for me? You know what he did? Guess what he did to me? He robbed me blind. He stole everything I had. Seriously. Right? So, next time you make a checklist, one, make the checklist. Remember that you have to follow up because without accountability you can count on everything not being done right? You have to be the askhole but next time you think about not using a checklist remember this sound and you’re in that meeting and let me tell you what we had some girls working with us and they looked over and they’re like and when they found out how many had an ankle bracelet and they started googling and found out that he was a rapist, do you think they wanted to work for my company anymore? No. No. So I’m just telling you, you have got to, one, step one, recognize why it’s so important to use a checklist and why pride will get in the way. You got to decide right now that pride is not going to get in the way. The second is you need to make a detailed checklist for all aspects of your business. Hiring, firing, sales, marketing, PR, anything that you want to do repeatedly. Should you even make a checklist of what to pack when you go on a trip? Yeah, I have one. Why? Because I’m not going to forget a charger. I’m not going to forget my underwear. Have I ever got to a speaking event without my shoes? Yes. Why? Jackassery. Why? I don’t have a checklist. You see what I’m saying? So it seems like it’s an easy thing, but now today we have to bring phone chargers, we have to bring laptop chargers, we’ve got to bring, right? Have I ever gone to a speaking event without a credit card? Let me tell you a story about that so we don’t forget. This is my final thought I’ll give you. I had a speaking event in Wisconsin years ago. I fly up there, I didn’t bring my credit cards. So I get there and I’m about to rent my car and they’re like, well, you need to go ahead and give us the card. And I’m like, the card? Yeah, the card. I got the card on file. No, I mean, we need to see the card. Oh, you got the card? You know, I got my license. I don’t have my cards on me. Well, sorry, you can’t rent the car. Well, my speaking event is like I fly into Milwaukee. I fly into Milwaukee and I fly there and I’ve got like five hours away, like the northern regions of the state, and I don’t have a car. Now as luck would have it, a taxi driver’s like, I’m looking around trying to figure it out, he can sense some trouble in the force. He says, I’ll drive you up there. I said, you will? $800. $800 to drive up there, taxi fee? He says, yeah, I’ll do it. I mean, just if your wife can call you with a credit card number, I’ll run it right now. So I paid $800 of dumb tax. Yeah. Because I didn’t bring a freaking checklist of what to bring on my speaking events. I ruined a girl’s wedding who still hates me at Barnes and Noble because I didn’t have a checklist. Doctors are killing people because they’re forgetting to use a checklist. I mean, it’s unbelievable. So it’s very, very important that you do that. So when you go back home to New York, think about all the aspects of your business and every time you’re out there doing it, make a duplicatable and scalable process. Make a checklist. Make sense? Make sense. Hey, you are a beautiful man. Have a great day and… Alright JT, so hypothetically, in your mind, what is the purpose of having a business? To get you to your goals. So it’s a vehicle to get you to your destination. And would you need profits to get there? I mean, when you have a business that’s successful, in your expert opinion, would you need profits to get you to your goals? Yeah, because if you have a $15 million business, but you have $15 million of expenses, it’s kind of pointless. Holy crap! All right, so the question I would have here for you, if you could save 3000 bucks a year by reducing your credit card fees would you do it yes absolutely all crap why would somebody out there who’s listening right now who has the same mind why would they not I’ll go to thrive timeshare.com forward slash credit dash card thrive timeshare.com forward slash credit dash card to schedule a 10 minute consultation to see if they can reduce their credit card fees by at least 3,000 bucks a year Why would they not do it? Yeah? Why would they not do it? Maybe because they understand how you said the website This tree is a symbol of the spirit of the grid wall family Christmas No, that’s that’s clear. Okay, so that that could be a deck of be true So I would encourage everybody check out thrive time show calm board slash credit dash cards right time show calm board slash credit dash card. What would be another reason why someone would not be willing to take ten minutes to compare rates to see if they can save $3,000 or more on credit card fees. Maybe they think it is a waste of time and then it won’t it’s not possible There’s somebody out there Okay that would think that Well I’ll just tell you folks, if you’re out there today and you’re making less than $3,000 per 10 minutes I would highly recommend that you go to thrivetimeshow.com forward slash credit dash hard because you can compare rates, you can save money and you know, the big goal in my opinion of building a business is to create time, freedom and financial freedom and in order to do that you have to maximize your profits. Holy crap. Now, one way to maximize your profits is to increase your revenue. Another way to do it is to decrease your expenses. It’s a profit deal. It takes the pressure off. JT, is there any other reason why somebody would not be willing to take 10 minutes to compare rates to see if they could save a total of $3,000 a year on average? I am at a loss and I cannot think of any other. Shampoo is better. I go on first and clean the hair. Conditioner is better. I leave the hair silky and smooth. Oh really fool? Really? Really fool, really! Stop looking at me, swan! Let me tell you a good story here real quick. I actually years ago compared rates with this company here called IPS. It’s Integrated Payment Services. And I scheduled a consultation. I don’t know if I was skeptical. I just thought, whatever, I’ll take ten minutes. I’ll compare rates. I can’t tell. You can tell me I’m a doctor. No, I mean, I’m just not sure. Why can’t you take a guess? Well, not for another two hours. You can’t take a guess for another two hours. And in my case, in my in my case, my particular case, I save over twenty thousand dollars a year. Holy crap. Wow. Which is like groceries when my wife goes to the organic store. Find everything you need today? Yeah. Great. Okay. Everything okay ma’am? It’s just that you only scanned a few items and it’s already 60 bucks. I’m so scared. Okay I’m a trained professional ma’am. I’ve scanned a lot of groceries. I need you to stay with me. It’s just that my in-laws are in town and they want a charcuterie board. This isn’t gonna be easy so I need you to be brave, all right? What’s your name? Patricia. Patricia, all right. I need you to take a deep breath. We’re about to do the cheese. You know, that’s the difference between eating organic and not organic. So because my wife eats organic, I had to take the 10 minutes needed to compare rates to save the $20,000 a year on credit card fees just for one of my companies. One question, what’s the brand name of the clock? The brand name of the clock, Rod, do we have it? The brand name of the clock. It’s an elegant, from Ridgway. It’s from Ridgway. Let’s buy the clock and sell the fireplace. I encourage everybody out there, go to thrivetimeshow.com forward slash credit dash card. You schedule a free consultation, request information. A member of our team will call you. They’ll schedule a free consultation. It should take you 10 minutes or less. And they’re going to compare rates and see if they can’t save you more than $3,000 a year off of your credit card processing. You were hoping what? I wouldn’t owe you money. No, you don’t owe us money. Because at the end of the day, at the end of the day, the goal of the business is to create time freedom and financial freedom. And in order to do that, you need to The number of new customers that we’ve had is up 411% over last year. We are Jared and Jennifer Johnson. We own Platinum Pest and Lawn and are located in Owasso, Oklahoma. And we have been working with Thrive for business coaching for almost a year now. Yeah. So what we want to do is we want to share some wins with you guys that we’ve had by working with Thrive. First of all, we’re on the top page of Google now, okay? I just want to let you know what type of accomplishment this is. Our competition, Orkin, Terminex, they’re both 1.3 billion dollar companies. They both have two to three thousand pages of content attached to their website. So to basically go from virtually non-existent on Google to up on the top page is really saying something. But it’s come by being diligent to the systems that Thrive has, by being consistent and diligent on doing podcasts, and staying on top of those podcasts to really help with getting up on what they’re listing and ranking there with Google. And also, we’ve been trying to get Google reviews, asking our customers for reviews. And now we’re the highest rated and most reviewed Pessimon company in the Tulsa area. And that’s really helped with our conversion rate. And the number of new customers that we’ve had is up 411% over last year. Wait, say that again. How much are we up? 411%. Okay. So 411% we’re up with our new customers. Amazing. Right. So not only do we have more customers calling in, we’re able to close those deals at a much higher rate than we were before. Right now, our closing rate is about 85%, and that’s largely due to, first of all, like our Google reviews that we’ve gotten. People really see that our customers are happy, but also, we have a script that we follow. And so when customers call in, they get all the information that they need. That script has been refined time and time again. It wasn’t a one-and-done deal. It was a system that we that we followed with Thrive and in the refining process and that has obviously the 411% shows that that that system works. Yeah so here’s a big one for you so last week alone our booking percentage was 91%. We actually booked more deals and more new customers last year than we did the first five months or I’m sorry the first we booked more deals last week than we did the first five months of last year from before we worked with Thrive. So again we booked more deals last week than the first five months of last year. It’s incredible but the reason why we have that success is by implementing the systems that Thrive has taught us and helped us out with. Some of those systems that we’ve implemented are group interviews. That way we’ve really been able to come up with a really great team. We’ve created and implemented checklists. Everything gets done and it gets done right. It creates accountability. We’re able to make sure that everything gets done properly both out in the field and also in our office. And also doing the podcast like Jared had mentioned that has really, really contributed to our success. But that, like I said, the the diligence and consistency in doing those. And that system has really, really been a big blessing in our lives. And also, it’s really shown that we’ve gotten the success from following those systems. So before working with Thrive, we were basically stuck. Really no new growth with our business. And we were in a rut. And we didn’t know. The last three years, our customer base had pretty much stayed the same. We weren’t shrinking but we weren’t really growing either. Yeah and so we didn’t we didn’t really know where to go, what to do, how to get out of this rut that we’re in. But Thrive helped us with that. You know, they implemented those systems, that they taught us those systems, they taught us the knowledge that we needed in order to succeed. Now it’s been a grind, absolutely it’s been a grind this last year. But we’re getting those fruits from that hard work and the diligent effort that we’re able to put into it. So again, we were in a rut, Thrive helped us get out of that rut, and if you’re thinking about working with Thrive, quit thinking about it and just do it, do the action, and you’ll get the results. It will take hard work and discipline, but that’s what it’s gonna take in order to really succeed. So, and we just wanna give a big shout out to Thrive, a big thank you out there to Thrive. We wouldn’t be where we’re at now without their help. Hi, I’m Dr. Mark Moore. I’m a pediatric dentist. Through our new digital marketing plan, we have seen a marked increase in the number of new patients that we’re seeing every month, year over year. One month, for example, we went from 110 new patients the previous year to over 180 new patients in the same month. And overall, our average is running about 40 to 42% increase month over month, year over year. The group of people required to implement our new digital marketing plan is immense, starting with a business coach, videographers, photographers, web designers. Back when I graduated dental school in 1985, nobody advertised. The only marketing that was ethically allowed in everybody’s eyes was mouth-to-mouth marketing. By choosing to use the services you’re choosing to use a proof and turnkey marketing and coaching system that will grow your practice and get you the results that you’re looking for. I went to the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry, graduated in 1983 and then I did my pediatric dental residency at Baylor College of Dentistry from 1983 to 1985. 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. 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 is just amazing. This kind of guy has worked in every single industry. He’s written books with Lee Crocker, the 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, graphic designers, and web developers. They run 160 companies every single week. Think of this guy with a team of business coaches running 160 companies. In the weekly, he’s running 160 companies. Every 6-8 weeks he’s doing Reawaken America tours. Every 6-8 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. I’ve seen guys from start-ups go from start-ups to being multi-millionaires, teaching people how to get time freedom and financial freedom through the system. Critical thinking, document creation, organizing everything in their head to building it 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. 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 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. 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. Clay has been an amazing business coach. Through the course of that, we became friends. My most impressive thing was when I was shadowing him one time. We went into a business deal and listened to it. I got to shadow and listen to it. When we walked out, I knew that he could make millions on the deal and they were super excited about working with him. 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. 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. Anyways, just an amazing man. So, anyways, impacted me a lot. He’s helped navigate. Anytime I’ve gotten 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. I’m Rachel with Tip Top K9, and we just want to give a huge thank you to Clay and Vanessa Clark. Hey guys, I’m Ryan with Tip Top K9. Just want to say a big thank you to Thrive 15. Thank you to Make Your Life Epic. We love you guys, we appreciate you, and really just appreciate how far you’ve taken us. This is our old house. Right, this is where we used to live a few years ago. This is our old neighborhood. See, it’s nice, right? So this is my old van and our old school marketing. And this is our old team. And by team I mean it’s me and another guy. This is our new house with our new neighborhood. This is our new van with our new marketing, and this is our new team. We went from four to 14, and I took this beautiful photo. We worked with several different business coaches in the past, and they were all about helping Ryan sell better and just teaching sales, which is awesome, but Ryan is a really great salesman, so we didn’t need that. We needed somebody to help us get everything that was in his head out into systems, into manuals and scripts and actually build a team. So now that we have systems in place, we’ve gone from one to 10 locations in only a year. In October 2016, we grossed 13 grand for the whole month. Right now it’s 2018, the month of October. It’s only the 22nd. We’ve already grossed a little over 50 grand for the whole month and we still have time to go. We’re just thankful for you, thankful for Thrive and your mentorship and we’re really thankful that you guys have helped us to grow a business that we run now instead of the business running us. Just thank you, thank you, thank you times a thousand. The Thrive Time Show, two day 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. Zellner and I have used over and over to start and grow successful companies. 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. 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 gonna leave energized, motivated, but you’re also gonna leave empowered. The reason why I 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, it 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. 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 Zellner 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 systems 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 we’re going to give you your money back if you don’t love it. We built this facility for you and we’re excited to see it. If you go back eight years ago, think about the number of clients you had back then versus the number of clients you have now. As a percentage, what has been the growth over the past eight years, do you think? We’ve got to inspire somebody out there who just doesn’t have the time to listen to their calls. Well, okay, so Clay, it’s like I would go up and down from about $10,000 a month up to about $40,000, but it’s up and down roller coaster. And so now we’ve got it to where we’re in excess of 100 clients. That’s awesome. And so I would have anywhere from 5 clients to 20 clients on my own with networking, but I had no control over it. I didn’t, without the systems, you’re going to be at the, you’re going to be victimized by your own business. For somebody out there who struggles with math, if you would say that your average number of clients was 30 and you go to 100, as a percentage, what is that? I have grown, I have doubled every year since working with you. So I’ve doubled in clients, I’ve doubled in revenue every year. That’s 100% growth every year. So I’m looking, we’ve been good friends seven, eight years, and I’ve got doubled five times. Which is just incredible. I mean, the first time you do it, that’s one thing, but when you do it repeatedly, I mean, that’s unbelievable. We’re working our blessed assurance off this year to double. We’re planning on doubling again. We’re incorporating some new things in there to really help us do it, but we are going to double again this year. I started coaching, but it would go up and down, Clay. That’s when I came to you, as I was going up and down, and I wanted to go up and up instead of up and down. And so that’s a system. So creating a system is you have nailed down specific steps that you’re going to take no matter how you feel, no matter the results. You lean into them and you do them regardless of what’s happening. You lean into them and it will give you X number of leads. You follow up with those leads. It turns into sales. Well, I tell you, if you don’t have a script and you don’t have a system, then every day is a whole new creation. You’re creating a lot of energy just to figure out what are you going to do. The best executives, Peter Drucker is a father of modern management, he said, the most effective executives make one decision a year. What you do is you make a decision, what is your system, and then you work like the Dickens to make sure you follow that system. That’s really what it’s all about. So with a script here, we have a brand new gal that just came in working for us. She nailed down the script and she’s been nailing down appointments. Usually we try to get one appointment for every 100 calls. We make 200 to 300 calls a day on that script. So she’s making how many calls a day? She’s making between two and three hundred calls a day. And our relationship is weird in that we do… if someone were to buy an Apple computer today, or let’s say you bought a personal computer, a PC, the computer is made by, let’s say Dell but then the software in the computer would be Microsoft let’s say or Adobe or whatever that is so I make I basically make the systems and you’re like the computer not like the software is kind of how I would describe our relationship Tim I want to ask you this will you and I reconnected and I think it was in the year 2000 and was it maybe 2010 is that right 2011 maybe? Or maybe further down the road. Maybe 2013? 2012. Okay, so 2012. And at that time I was five years removed from the DJ business. And you were how many years removed from tax and accounting software? It was about 10, 11 years. We met… How did we meet? What was the first interaction? There was some interaction where you and I first connected. I just remember that somehow you and I went to Hideaway Pizza. Do you remember when we first reconnected? Yeah, well, we had that speaking thing. Oh, there it was! So it was Victory Christian Center. I was speaking there. My name is Robert Redman. I actually first met Clay almost three years ago to the day. I don’t know if he remembers it or not, but I wasn’t working with him at the time. I asked to see him and just ask him some questions to help direct my life, to get some mentorship. But I’ve been working with Clay for now just over a year. The role I play here is a business coach, business consultant, I work with different businesses implementing best practice processes and systems that I have learned here by working with Clay. And the experience working here has, to put it real plainly, has been just life-changing. I have not only learned new things and have gained new knowledge, but I have gained a whole new mindset that I believe, wherever I end up, will serve me well throughout the rest of my life. Since working with Clay, I have learned so much. I mean, I would like to say it was everything about business in terms of the different categories. I haven’t learned it all, but I’ve learned all about marketing. I’ve learned about advertising. I’ve learned about branding. I’ve learned how to create a sales process for organizations in any industry. I’ve learned how to sell. I’ve learned how to create repeatable systems and processes and hold people accountable, how to hire people. It’s almost like every aspect of a business you can learn, I have learned a lot in those different categories. And then, again, the mindset that I’ve gained here has been huge. You know, working here, you can’t be a mediocre person. You are a call to a higher standard of excellence, and then as you’re called to that standard here, you begin to see those outcomes in every area of your life, that standard of excellence that you want to implement no matter what you’re involved in. I would like to describe the other people that work with Clay are people that are going somewhere with their life. Marshall, in the group interview talks about how, you know, the best fits for this organization are the people that are goal-oriented. So they’re on their own trajectory and we’re on our own trajectory. And the best fits are those people where there can be a mutually beneficial relationship that as we pursue our goals and we help the business pursue those goals, the business helps us pursue our goals as well. And so I say people that are driven, people that want to make something of their lives, people that are goal-oriented, they’re focused, and they’re committed to overcoming any adversity that may come their way. Clay’s passion for helping business owners grow their businesses is, it’s unique in that, I don’t know if there’s anyone else that can be as passionate. You know, whenever a business starts working with Clay, it’s almost as like Clay is running that business in the sense that he has something at stake. You know, he’s just serving them. They’re one of his clients, but it’s as if he is actively involved in the business. Whenever they have a win, he’s posting it all over his social media. He’s shouting it across the room here at Thrive. He’s sending people encouraging messages. He can kind of be that life coach and business coach in terms of being that motivator and that champion for people’s businesses. It’s, again, unique because there’s no one else I’ve seen get so excited about and passionate about other people’s businesses. The kind of people that wouldn’t like working with Clay are people that are satisfied with with mediocrity, people that want to get through life by just doing enough, by just getting by, people who are not looking to develop themselves, people who are not coachable, people who think that they know it all and they’re unwilling to change. I would say those are the type of people. And in short, anyone that’s content with mediocrity would not like working with Clay. So if you’re meeting Clay for the first time, the advice I’d give you is definitely come ready to take tons of notes. Every time Clay speaks, he gives you a wealth of knowledge that you don’t want to miss. I remember the first time that I met Clay. I literally carried a notebook with me all around. I was looking at this notebook the other day actually. I carried a notebook with me all around and I just took tons of notes. I filled the entire notebook in about about three or four months just from being around Clay, following him, and learning from him. And then I would say come coachable. Be open to learning something new. Be open to challenging yourself. Be open to learning and adjusting parts about you that challenging yourself. Be open to learning and adjusting parts about you that that