Entrepreneur | Dr. Z’s 10 Rules of Business Rules #6-#10

Audio Transcription

Get ready to enter the Thrivetime 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’ve written the books. He’s bringing some wisdom and the good looks. As the father of five, that’s where I’mma dive. So if you see my wife and kids, please tell them hi. It’s C and Z up on your radio. And now, three, two, one, here we go. We started from the bottom, now we’re here. We started from the bottom, and that’s what we gotta do. Oh, yeah. Tulsa, welcome back to the Thrive Time Show. This is your audio dojo of mojo, and the place that you go to learn how to start and grow a successful business. My name is Clay Clark. I’m the former SBA Entrepreneur of the Year. What does that mean? Okay, you just said it, but what does that mean? It means I was the former Small Business Administration Entrepreneur of the Year. So if you’ve ever gone to apply for a bank loan, typically the loans you get are called SBA loans, or Small Business Administration sponsored loans. The SBA is a government organization that helps advocate the growth of small business. I say all that to say that my wife and I have been very blessed and fortunate to have started and grown numerous successful businesses in the Tulsa area. What we want to do is we want to invest our time and our energy on really giving back and to say thank you to the city of Tulsa and the state of Oklahoma and really teach you as a listener how to start and grow a successful business as well. My wife and I, we believe so much in mentorship. Everybody has to have a mentor. And a guy who has mentored me from afar and up close and person is the guy right next to me. It’s Dr. Robert Zellner. Sir, how are you? Hello. Happy Tuesday, Thrive Nation. It’s an honor to be here. We are so excited that you’ve tuned in to the show today. We’re actually wrapping up. I have 10 main business points when I give a speech and people are like, what are your secrets to business? What’s your secret sauce? I have 10 points and of course a bonus 11 because I’m always going to give you a little bit more than you want. You know what I’m saying? Here’s how I see you using your rules and these rules in business. I kind of see it as, if you’ve ever been around Dr. Zellner, there’s three superpowers that the man has that are profound that I always kind of pinch myself and I’m like, I can’t believe I just witnessed that. One is you have unbelievable time management skills. You got to get her done. Two, you have unbelievable decisiveness. Like once you get all the facts, you act. Make a decision. Three is you’re able to take motion or action without emotion. It’s not that you’re an emotionless cyborg, but you’re able to just act. I think a lot of it is because you’ve taken the time to distill the things you’ve learned through your career of business, some of the mistakes you made, and you’ve put it into a system now and you have these ten rules. It’s almost like when you encounter these daily situations in business that we all encounter, you’re able to make these quick decisions and manage your time effectively because you have these rules. And so we talked on the first, yesterday, about your first five rules. And if you missed it, you’ve got to go to Thrivetimeshow.com to listen to it again because the first five rules that you laid out in your upcoming book called The Business Pig and on yesterday’s show are profound. But today we’re getting into rule number six through ten. So rule number 6. Wait a second, let’s do a little quick recap of yesterday’s show. That will lead us into, because we’re going through 6 through 10 today, and so 1 through 5 was yesterday. Clay, why don’t you recap those for the audience? Rule number 1, pigs get fat, hogs get butchered. Z, what does that mean? Well, that means don’t be greedy. You can listen to the show yesterday. We really break it down and marinate over it. We have some great quotes from some very famous people, and it deals with greed in business. Now rule number two, be the pig at breakfast not the chicken. What are we talking about? And that talked about commitment. Your level of commitment as an entrepreneur, if you’re listening out there and you say I want to start a business, I’m telling you right now you’ve got to be committed to it. And that’s what that segment, that’s what we talked about that and I had a lot of fun breaking that down. Rule number three, know when to cook that pig. It’s all about celebrating. It’s all about the journey of business and it’s all about celebrating it with your staff and being kind to your staff and saying, hey listen, let’s set a goal and we hit it. Let’s party a little bit. Let’s celebrate a little bit. Now, rule number four, batting clean up, was the piggy bank. The batting clean up. It’s a grand slam, hopefully. The piggy bank is delaying gratification and saving some money because if you’re going to start a business, you need a war chest, i.e. money, i.e. capital. And rule number five, that’s a Cinco rules Cinco Cinco no time blue ribbon pig hey listen bad stuff happens And when you’re dealing with the customer you can’t let the bad stuff that happened affect your you know affect the way you deal with That customer you might be saying you know my my my friend Call me a bad name last night. It’s really upset me you guys shake that off at showtime in other words You’ve got to shake off you got to wash off the mud you got to present yourself ready to go. As a business owner, you’ve got to be high and tight and show time because that appointment you have to sell your widget or that customer that just walked in the door, called on the phone is the most important thing in the world to you right then and there. You can deal with the mud and the bad stuff, the negatives, the problems. You can deal with that when you’re away from the business transaction. And now we move on to rule number six. Drum roll, please, Justin. Here we go. It’s big pig eats first at the trough. The big pig eats first at the trough. What does that mean? What are we talking about? What does that mean? Well, you know, in business, this is going to sound weird, and a lot of people don’t understand this, and we’re going to break it down today and make sure you get it. As a business owner, there’s this triad of things. There’s different categories of people that are in the business. There’s a business owner. The owner. Okay. There’s customers. Okay. And there’s employees. Okay, there’s the three, the triumvirate there. The triumvirate. Okay, so when you own your business, you’re going to have you listening right now, the thriver. We’re going to help you start that business and grow it, but you’re a component. You’re one of these one things, okay? And then you’re going to have employees, all right? And then you’re going to have what we call customers, i.e. the people you’re selling to. Got it. And so many times people get the wrong order of who gets to go, what’s the most important, and who gets served first. And that’s what I mean. Big, big, big, it’s kind of a funny, if you think about it, but the big, big, he walks up to the trough, he looks down at the trough and he goes, I think I get to choose. Oh, I like the slop down here a little better. He walks over there, because all the little pigs are waiting for him to get to his spot. And then once he gets on his spot, then the other ones can kind of fill in. I have some questions that I’m going to ask. Don’t worry. We’re not leaving you out just at the trough. I want to ask you this question because I know specifically, I’ve talked to a Thriver who has a construction company. And they get calls on their cell phone from people who are having an emergency all the time. Yes. And if you’re in construction, you know what I’m talking about. Maybe you installed an air conditioning unit for a customer last year, or you did some plumbing for them, or you built a house for them. People have problems 24-7. So the customer will call them at night, weekends. Those are small businesses. So the business owner is to a point now where they’re in their 50s and they are continuing to react. So literally seven days a week, because they’ve been in Tulsa for a long time, seven days a week there’s always an emergency and they’re always on call. And oh, by the way, Z, they don’t make any money. And I’d ask them, I said, why aren’t you guys charging more money? Why aren’t you guys charging more, A? And B, why are you personally available 24-7? And so I want to kind of relate that to your optometry clinic because your optometry clinic is open, is it not, seven days a week? Yes, it is. So how do you, A, balance making money, and B, how do you offer great quality support to your customers without you personally doing it? What advice would you have for these guys? Well, training, checklists, making sure you have the right order of management in place and the people that are responsible. In other words, when the alarm goes off on the weekend, I’m not the first one called. I am called, but I’m not the first one called. But what I’m saying is, here’s the thing, here’s the take away from rule number six. If you’re listening out there and you own the business, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I’m going to let you in on a little inside knowledge. You are the big pig at the trough. Listen, if you’re not number one in your business, if you’re not making money, if you’re not satisfied, if you’re not being taken care of, if you don’t have enough profit coming in, guess what happens to the business? Boom! It shuts down. So many people own the business and they put themselves last. They don’t make enough profit because, well, I don’t want to charge too much for my thing. I found a problem to solve. The problem is the biggest thing and the most important thing it’s not you and the health of your checkbook and health of your mental checkbook that’s your brain is the most important thing and there’s a thing behind that that like a concept because if you put yourself first well I see a lot of entrepreneurs are listening right now you have maybe according to let’s just go the the small business administration Small Business Administration. They did research on this and they showed that in the city of Tulsa, 65% of the jobs that are created in Tulsa are created by small business owners. You’re listening to the Thrash Time Show on Talk Radio 1170. So you have a staff of six people. It’s more likely you have six people or ten people and not 400. So when you then do things where you say, hey guys, we’re open seven days a week, but I will be off on Saturday and Sunday. Correct. And you will work on Saturday and Sunday. So you’re working five days a week, but you’re going to work Wednesday through Sunday. I’m going to work Monday through Friday because I’m the owner, and I’m going to be off on the weekend. And so the employee or the team member goes, well, how come that’s not fair? I mean, you get the weekend off and I have to work every weekend? That’s not fair. How would you respond if you were asked that question from an employee? Well, I understand it’s your choice. That’s the deal. That’s the job. You can either take the job and work it with a good attitude and be happy about it. I’m going to pay you for it. Or you know what? I’m sure Applebee’s or Arthur Greeno may need you at Chick-fil-A. Or there’s another job that if you can get a different schedule, then have at it. But that is the job and the days that it worked. And I need you to have a good attitude and that’s the way it is. And you know sometimes you find people that actually work in the weekend because they go to school or whatever and that’s the only time they can work. So there’s a right fit out there for the schedule, but don’t give up the fact that you’re the big, big, oh, you look at them and say, oh, I’m so sorry, you’re right, I’ll work the weekend. You only want to work Monday through to Thursday and a half day Friday? Well that’s fair, that’s what you want. And that’s what I see sometimes, maybe not that extreme, but I see sometimes… No, I see it that extreme. As a coaching client, I see it that extreme, and I see it more so. I see these people who are working in the construction business. Literally, a customer calls them at 8 p.m. They answer the phone. Boom. They go, thank you for calling such and such construction. They go, I hate to call you at night, but I have an emergency, and I need you to come out. So then they come out, and they fix the problem, they solve the problem, and then the customer goes, hey, since we use you all the time, can we go ahead and not pay for this repair? And they go, yeah, sure. And I see it all the time. And the customers abuse them. And then on Monday, after working all weekend, the employee says, hey, I can’t come in today. I have a problem going on. Can you fill in for me? And the owner says, yes. And I see them being abused by the customer, being abused by the employees and I and I and this is the whatever this is a kind of business rule. This is a rule that I teach my coaching clients all the time I say listen you can expect whatever you accept. Correct. And that is that is so hard to do to change the expectations of what you’re willing to accept. Here’s the thing most people start a job when they think it’s a popularity contest. There’s another job, they’re starting a business. I’m like, you know, I just want everybody to like me. I just, you know, I just want to be loved. I just, you know, gosh, I sure hope I don’t disappoint anybody, you know? Folks, you’re starting a business. It’s about making profit. It’s about growing it. And it’s also about keeping your sanity, keeping a plan, and also understanding that you are the big pickets of profit. You get to choose, you get to pick. It’s your business. You’re the boss. And sometimes making that transition from a co-worker, trying to get along with everybody, to an employee, to a this, to a that, you’re the boss. You’re the jefe, as you say. Now, Z, I want to, when we come back, I want to really get your feedback on this, because this is not a political show, and we’re certainly not going to get into politics today. But during the election season, one of the things that politicians like to do is they like to throw out the concept of, I’m going to be the candidate that breaks the disparity between the executive pay and the employee pay. I’m the one who’s going to bridge the gap. I’m the one who’s going to bring income equality. I’m going to make sure that those executives and those business owners, those entrepreneurs, they’re not making ten times more than the average employee. I’m going to be the one who comes in there and who bridges the gap and income disparity. I’m going to spread the wealth because that’s my deal. I’m going to make sure that people aren’t getting huge bonuses. Meanwhile, they’re making huge bonuses on the backs of their employees who work so hard. And I want you to kind of give some feedback out there to the entrepreneur who almost is starting to feel guilty that they’re making three, four, five, six, maybe even ten times more than the average employees. Oh, we’ve got a great show and so much to talk about. Stay tuned to Thrive Time Show. All right, Thrive Nation, welcome back to your inspiration station. This is your audio dojo of mojo. My name is Clay Clark. I’m the former SBA Entrepreneur of the Year. And Z, Dr. Z, do you know who is here? Do you know who is snuck into the box that rocks, my friend? Can you feel the aura and the presence of this magical princess of greatness. Well I tell you what, while you were listening to the commercial just a few minutes ago, I was indulging and now I’ve got a, I mean I’m on a sugar high like it’s hard to measure. I mean I’m just, my sugar count is like off the chart. I just had, what was it, cinnamon, the cinnamon cookie? A Haley’s Heavenly Cinnamon Roll cookie. We love having Kat on the show, the Barbie Cookies, because she brings us, I’ve got the box right here. Yeah, you do. If you’re on Facebook Live, you can see the box right now. I’ve got the box of goodness. And there’s a couple missing out of here. Clay and I just pounded them on the break, and I had the little Haley’s… Cinnamon Roll Cookies. Yeah, I’m on such a high, I can’t even remember that, but it’s so good. And Cat with Barbie Cookies. Welcome, Cat. Thank you, Dr. Z’s rule number six, he has ten rules of how to run a successful business from his years building multiple multi-million dollar businesses. He has ten business rules. And before we get back into rule number six, Kat, if someone’s listening right now and they’ve never been to barbiecookies.com or they’ve never visited your store, where were you located, my friend? We’re located at 8393 South Memorial Drive. So we’re just south of 81st and Memorial in the Renaissance Shopping Center. And why is a box of Barbie cookies the perfect holiday gift for anybody out there who has any sense of class or style or patriotism, really? Why is it the perfect gift? Because they’re delicious, Clay. Delicious gourmet cookies. What’s better than that? I will tell you this. We buy them all the time for clients. I recommend that my clients buy them for their clients. Barbie cookies, it’s the gift that keeps on giving, Thrivers. You’ve got to go in there, get a box. If you’ve never been there before, they always give you samples. It’s awesome. You’ve got to check it out. Now, Z, we’re talking about rule number six, which is the big pig eats first at the trough. For someone who’s listening right now who doesn’t understand what this principle means, please reset it my friend. Well here’s what it means is that the business owner, you should come first. I know this sounds weird but if you’re not happy, if you’re not making a profit, if you’re not taking care of your needs, that’s why you started the thing. Okay I’m gonna argue with you. Captain Passive. Okay. But the overhead music, I chose the playlist because I really do like that kind of jazz bar feel, but a lot of my employees don’t like it because they say they have to hear the same playlist over and over and over. So now I’m listening to their favorite songs so that they don’t get upset at me. What would you say to that? Yeah, well you definitely don’t want to upset an employee because they always come in front of you. It’s their needs above yours. You let them pick their own schedule. You let them pick how much that they earn. You just let them run the place because they are your, no, no, no, no, no, you’re the big pig. And that means when the farmer comes out and slops the sloth, you get to decide, where do I want to eat? Where do I want to, and then all the other ones kind of gathering around you. And I know that sounds weird, but it’s a pig analogy. And you’ve got to put yourself first. If the big pig ain’t happy, none of the pigs are happy. Trust me on that. And then also, we’ve got to also put, well, who comes next? What’s the next pig at the trough? Is it an employee or a customer? And this is where a lot of entrepreneurs get it wrong, too. Who comes next? The owner’s first. Who comes next? This is going to freak some people out, but the customer comes next. The customer comes next. Yes. Okay, so let’s get into, you know, break that down for us, my friend. What do you mean by that? Well, the customer can fire you anytime he wants. Oh, that doesn’t seem very nice at all. I mean, you could fire, you know what, you have the right to fire the CEO of Walmart. You’re just taking your dollars somewhere else. You’re taking your dollars somewhere else. You can fire the CEO of Target. Okay, now I’m going to ask Cat. I want to ask Cat because Cat’s out there running the business. She’s running Barbie Cookies. And Kat, you started off, you’re a school teacher. People are going, your cookies are so good. Correct. Then it’s like all of a sudden it’s you and a couple people. And now you’ve got a big thriving team. You’re opening your second location. Where’s the second location going to be? It’s going to be in the Atlas Life building downtown at 4th and Boston. How excited are you about this? Oh my gosh. It’s just craziness. We’re thrilled. You’re listening to The Thrash Time Show on Talk Radio 1170. We’re going to break this down. So you, have you eventually kind of created a certain decor at Barbie Cookies? How would you describe the decor inside the Barbie Cookies location? Kind of a shabby chic, I guess you’d say. Kind of like barn wood? Sure, reclaimed lumber. Okay, and tell us about the chandelier you have. What’s that chandelier looking like? So we have this awesome chandelier. When you enter the bakery above our baby bar, we have a chandelier made of cookie cutters that customers, family and friends brought in, signed for us and we hung it on this awesome chandelier. Now have you ever had a moment where an employee who used to work there or who works there now did not like the hours that you had to put on their schedule. You scheduled them for certain hours. Have you ever had an employee say, I don’t like the music we’re playing, or I don’t like the hours you’ve scheduled me for? Absolutely. Has it ever happened before? Absolutely. Was it hard for you, or is it hard for you to emotionally get through that when they don’t want to do what you need them to do? Talk to me about that because you’re a lady who didn’t start off as an entrepreneur. You started off as a school teacher because you love teaching and now you’re the owner of a thriving business. Talk to me about that. Was that hard to do? That was so difficult for me to do because I wanted to accommodate their needs. And I just find it fascinating listening to Dr. Z and saying that the owner, that their needs come first. That was like foreign to me until I became a thriver. And then I realized, you know what, I need to change my thinking or I am going to go crazy. Crazy! I’m going to walk you through because I know Kat. I’m going to tell you that Kat is one of the kindest, most compassionate people. She’s kind. She’s compassionate. She’s caring. She loves people. I will tell you, if you…and I’m not saying Kat’s done this. I’m talking about myself back in my early DJ career. I used to say…I remember talking to this one DJ and I said, his name was also, his nickname was Z. It wasn’t you, but it was Z. And I said, so Z, what schedule do you want? He goes, well, I’d kind of like to be off on Saturdays. And I’m like, well, you realize every bride, he gets married on a Saturday. And he’s like, yeah, but I kind of, I do want to work a lot. I need a lot of hours, just not on Saturdays. So then I give him, I actually scheduled him for like Friday shows at bars and restaurants. And he’s like, and I really would like to be done by 10. Okay. So I’m going, you can’t, and then he’s going, and then I need this next weekend off though because of the, I got to say, I got to say, you literally go crazy trying to accommodate their needs. You cannot do it. You can. And that’s why this is so liberating. And just even like for cats saying, you know, I struggled with this until I finally just got my head wrapped around it and just embraced it. And once you embrace it and realize that being the boss is not a bad thing and that being the boss is what you’re about and being the business owner you have to put yourself first. And I know it sounds crazy but until you do you’re not going to be satisfied. You’re not going to be happy. You know and so that’s an important concept. That’s why it’s one of my top ten. We had a person the other day, kind of a new member of the team and they said, hey can we listen to a different kind of music. You know it’s Christmas season and I’d like to listen to a different kind of music. And I said, yeah, you know, the office we listen to both kinds, R&B. Yeah. And they said, what? I said, that’s my favorite music. And so, you know, what day? Everyone gets off on a Friday before Christmas. Yeah. So that’s the day that we’ll play Christmas music because I personally like R&B. That’s me. And it’s my business. I work here. I pay the bills. So I want to listen to what I want to listen to. I’m just gonna tell you what, if you own a business, you’re going to be working all the time. You’re going to be going through hell to start that thing. You might as well enjoy the music. They’re playing overhead, Z. You gotta enjoy your own overhead music, my friend. Embrace the fact that you owe a little Michael Jackson. Oh, wow. He was the big pig of the trough. Whenever we wanted a moonwalk, he’d just moonwalk. Whenever we wanted to do a hee hee, he just did a hee hee. Now when we come back, we’re going to get even deeper into this concept of the big pig eats first the trough. All right, Thrive Nation, welcome back to the Thrive Time Show. This is your audio dojo of mojo and the show that you listen to to learn how to start and grow a business. See, many of you, many of you have been listening to politics. You’ve been spending a whole year going, Hillary, has he got to win? Trump, has he got to win? Rubio, has he got to win? What’s going to happen? They’re going to do a recount. You know, what’s going to happen? Immigration, should they build a wall? Should they not? Oh no, what’s going to happen?” And you’re going, I need a change. I need to focus on some things that I can learn or listen to during the day that I can actually control. I want to learn about some things, some variables, that if I learn these principles and I apply them in my own life, I can actually begin to have success. Because according to Forbes, 57% of our listening audience, 57% of Americans want to start a business at some point. And so you’ve tuned into the Thrive Time Show. And I’m going to tell you what, you’re in for a treat today. Zeke, can you tell us about the, can you tell the listeners about the treat that we received from our special guest today? Well, there’s multiple treats, by the way. And what we love to do on the Thrive Time Show is we love to take local, successful business is, and get the owner on and just let them give you some of their little secret sauce or in this case secret cookie dough because we have the founder and owner of Barbie Cookies, Miss Kat Graham, and we love having her on the show because she’s a sweet lady and a fun lady and we love her story. Her story is so awesome, her testimony, but also she brings us cookies and they’re really, really good. Yeah, we’re going to be looking at her tomorrow and the next day and the next day. We just love those Barbie cookies. Now, Kat, for people who don’t know who you are, tell them about Barbie cookies and how you got started in the business. Well, I started baking about 25 years ago when I was teaching school and raising my kids and people along the way would just over and over again say, Kat, you need to open a bakery. And I’m thinking, really? I don’t know anything about business. And I’m raising kids and teaching school and when am I going to do that? But about seven years ago it happened. When you say it happened, what happened? I was in a women’s Bible study actually and my business partner Kelly was in that Bible study with me and I just happened to say, does anyone need cookies for the holidays? She said, well do you have a website or a commercial kitchen? I said no. She said, well okay, let’s make that happen next thing you knew it’s business time it’s a business yes and did you start the business at a good time in your life was it the perfect time to start a business There’s Tuesday, there’s Wednesday, there’s Thursday, there’s Friday, there’s Saturday, there’s Sunday, but some day, some day never happens in the calendar. And so you just started right where you were with the tools you had, and now Barbie Cookies, you’re on the verge of opening up location number two. Where’s location number one? Location number one is at 83rd and Memorial. Oh wow, and if people come in there, if they’ve never been there, if they’ve never been into Barbie Cookies, what can they find inside there? They can find about 25 different types of gourmet cookies. Delicious gourmet cookies, might I add. And just some great folks in there. Great customer service. Great atmosphere. Let me say this. Let me say this. What better way to say I love you this holiday season than with a gift of a box of Barbie Cookies. Go to barbiecookies.com. All right, see, we’re moving on here, so we’re on rule number six, okay? Rule number six deep dive it in one more time Oh gosh big pig eats first at the trough meaning the owner you got to put your needs ahead of everybody else But second here comes the customer They’re the second pig at the trough talk to us about why this matters to keep this in the right order well It matters because here’s the deal. I’m part of my mo on my optometry clinic is convenience. So we’re open on Sundays. To be very honest with you, I really don’t have a lot of my employees that are saying, ooh, ooh, ooh, I’m so glad it’s open on Sundays. That’s such a convenient day for me. The doctors are like, ooh, I want to see patients on the weekends. I want to see patients on Sundays. But you know what? The patients that come in that have to come in on the weekend or say, oh my gosh, we’re open seven days a week, it’s a huge thing for them. So by putting the customers ahead of my employees’ wants, now I’m able to service many more customers, many more patients than that. Also, too, you gotta understand that the employee can’t fire you. Oh. The employee can’t fire you. The customer is the one that can fire you. It’s the customer that pays the bills. I have a very powerful, passionate story that’s very near and dear to my heart that I would like to share about this concept. Are we going story time? It is going to be a story time. Here we go. This is probably six months ago. There’s an employee in our office. We have two monitors. Every employee has one screen where you can type and edit and work on what you’re working on for graphic design. And then there’s another screen. We have two screens because Carnegie Mellon research has shown that people are more effective when you have two screens. You don’t have to minimize and drag windows. I won’t belabor you with the point. The point is two monitors is more effective. So this guy, he’s watching movies on the left screen. One of the movies he’s watching was American Beauty with Kevin Spacey. Have you seen this movie? Do you know about this movie, Z? Yeah, it’s been a while, but I’ve seen it. Sure. There are a couple scenes in the movie that are not appropriate for an office environment. So he’s watching the movie. We have many rules. One is that you can’t watch a movie during the work day. Two, you can’t be watching that movie during the work day. Three, whatever. So I walk up to the guy and say, Hey young man, I want to make sure you’re aware you can’t be watching movies during the work day. The second monitors so that you can be more effective at your job. He says, Well I was just listening to it while I was working and I get that, but I want to make sure you understand the profundity of what you just told me. I am your boss and if I said today I want you to sprint around the building until you vomit, that’s what you would need to do because I’m the boss. Don’t push back here. You need to turn that off. He goes, well, I don’t want to. We had a wedding that we had to do for Epic Photos that weekend. Because I’m a smart guy, I like to think I’m a smart guy, I decided, hey, you know what? I want you to go ahead and just watch that video as much as you want. Sure, watch it. Enjoy it. Have a good time. Kevin Spacey. Another employee pulls me aside and goes, are you kidding me? You’re going to let him watch a video? The hypocrisy. He’s watching a movie at work. The hypocrisy. I said, yeah. And then so I let the guy go take photos at the wedding. We had a very, very, very busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, and then we got to the end of October. November is a slow season for weddings. Well, imagine that. You have to sit them on commercial shoots and these kind of things. And I pulled them aside and I said, hey, you know, I said, Billy, we’ll go use his name, Billy. I said, hey, how you doing? Great. Hey, do you want to watch more movies? And he goes, yeah, I do. Great. Because you can watch it from home because you are fired. Boom. And that’s the deal. And I did that all the time. It’s just like. Well, you said some magical things in that little story time that you did. Still hot about it. You are passionate. We pushed some buttons. This big stuff is really doing you well. I’m getting you going. That’s my spirit animal. But what you did is this. Why didn’t you just walk up to him and he gave you push back and said I wouldn’t stop the movie. Why didn’t you just fire him? Why didn’t you just say, well, get your crap and get out of here. Why didn’t you do that? Well, I used to do that as a young man. What I find is I would end up working 24-7, you know, 7 days a week I’m working because I’m just firing people who are not compliant. Yeah, so you did the right thing. In your mind you fired that young man right then, but you made sure you went through the filter of what? And I say this all the time, you went through the filter of what’s best for the business. Long term it wasn’t best to have him here because he was teaching all the other employees that one, your word didn’t matter. Yep. Two, you’re an ineffective leader. Oh. And three, basically, you’re the boss. Right? Yes. But you also showed them that you’re bigger than that and that you’re smart enough to know when to actually fire him because what’s best for the business. Now, Z, I have a notable quotable from John D. Rockefeller, the world’s wealthiest man during his lifetime. He says, every right implies a responsibility, every opportunity an obligation, every possession a duty. I’m going to sum this up for you. If you’re a business owner, you have a responsibility to make sure that you are the first one at the trough, and the customer is the second one at the trough, and the employee is third. And we come back, we’re going to deep dive into rule number seven. And do you want to know what Z’s rule number seven of business is? Well, I’d love to tell you, but you’re going to have to come back, Z, after the break to learn rule number seven. Alright Thrive Nation, welcome back to your inspiration station. You could be listening to politics, but instead you’ve decided to learn about some things that you can actually apply in your own life. You see Thomas Edison, Thomas Edison, the guy who started that little company called GE, the guy who invented the light bulb. Some of you might be saying, he stole that from Tesla. Actually he didn’t invent that. That could be true. But he also invented recorded audio, recorded video. Some of you go, he saw that too. Well, he has the patents on him. The point is, Thomas Edison says that vision without execution is hallucination. So are you hallucinating or are you executing your vision? That’s the question. And today we’re teaching you Dr. Z’s, Dr. Robert Zellner, his ten rules for business. He has 10 rules he’s distilled through his career in business, and they’re going to be featured in his upcoming book called The Business Pig. And so we’re breaking it down like fractions. And Dr. Z, we have a very special guest with us, Miss Kat Graham of Barbie Cookies. And here we go. Rule number seven, pig in the mud, happy as, love her, not a fighter. Be a pig in the mud. Z, what are we talking about, be a pig in the mud? What does that mean? Well, here’s what that means. Is that if you’re a pig and you’re in the farmyard, where’s your happy spot? Mud. Mud. Boom. Boom. Now, you might say to yourself, what does that have to do with business? Well, I think a lot of pigs and business, a lot of people, people that listen to the show who own pig farms. No, no, no. All over the state of Oklahoma. Well, I mean, they could be, we could actually have a pig farmer listen to the show. I’m sure we do all around the world, and they’re like, yes, this is my show, finally, some pig love, some love for pig farmers. No, what that means is be purposeful in your environment of your business. In other words, if you’re not happy when you’re in your business, then you can’t be happy. Happy is so important as a business owner. What I mean by that is this, is that let’s say you allow your employees to set the lighting, control the music, arrange your office. You let other people set up your environment. And that’s not the way it is. What the farmer does is puts the water in the mud and then the pig goes. He’s got a choice of either getting in it or not getting in it, but he’s happy when he’s in it. So you need to be purposeful in your environment. And then what that does is it leads to this. It leads to the idea now that you are happier in your environment and it’s easier to be a lover, not a fighter. When you’re happy, it’s easier to be a lover and not a fighter. So we’re kind of breaking down a couple things there. It’s kind of a big concept. We’re going to mull it on and break it down. I want to go to the Darth Vader negative side and we’ll go to Kat with the positive side. Okay, all right. I like that. All right. Those of you who know or are listening, I’m the co-founder of Elephant in the Room, the men’s grooming lounge. I’m also the founder of DJ Connection, Party Perfect, which is now Party Pro. Anyway, I go on. But let me give you some examples. These are some things. This is one example. The Elephant in the Room, our men’s grooming lounge, it is the self-actualization. As if you’ve ever been to college and you study Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the bottom level is food, shelter, and as you move up, your goal is to be able to have self-actualization, meaning that you get to live a life that you like. And my brother-in-law, he is obsessed with beard oil, beard balm, historic barn wood, local craft beer. He’s got this mojo, hot towel treatment, straight razor shaves. He’s got this whole Amish paradise he’s working on with the beard oils. He’s all about essential oils. And I’m telling you what, the elephant in the room, men’s grooming lounge, by the way, if you’re listening, your first haircut is a dollar. The first haircut is a dollar. There’s three locations. It is him. Yes, and if he were a pig, that is his little pile of mud. That’s his mud. That’s his mud. And that seems kind of positive. Now let’s go to the dark side. I built a company called DJ Connection. And one of the things that DJ Connection that I had when I owned the business was I wanted every single rep to make 100 calls a day. And it irritates me. I cannot stand employees who are playing video games or who are on skateboards and doing things. I just can’t stand it. And so when I sold the business, I sold the business to somebody else and he did a great job and the business is doing very well now, but we have different things that we value. So for me, if you played video games at work, I seriously would fire you and yell at you. Like that would just happen immediately. I would yell at you. I can’t stand it. I would, I mean, seriously. And if you brought a skateboard into the work floor, I would be yelling at you. You would, you would be afraid to bring that in the office. Now he though has that culture. He likes that kind of thing. He likes where people can play video games and they get to bring their, uh, you know, their airsoft guns to work and shoot each other in the parking lot and he just likes to have kind of this casual atmosphere. And there’s not a right or a wrong, but I’m telling you, when I sold the business, I had to like kind of wipe my hands clear of it because I can’t be around an office where people are riding skateboards inside the workplace. You’re listening to the Thrash Time Show on Talk Radio 1170. Because it wasn’t my dojo of mojos. So Cat, I want to ask you, what is your mud, figuratively speaking? What about Barbie cookies? Are you intentional about creating that you love so much? I love that it’s a positive environment, Clay. I love that when you walk in, it’s clean, it’s inviting, it smells great because we’re a cookie bakery. Oh yeah. The music is playing. What kind of music do you like to play? Just as a kind of overall genre. Well, my favorite is our jingle. Oh, your jingle? Sure. It’s a, uh, celebrate life, it’s always delicious, barbies, cookies. That’s it. That’s it. Nice jingle. Nice jingle. That’s great. You know, Kat, one time you told me that it’s like, you wanted it to be like you’re walking into your grandmother’s living room slash kitchen. Yes, that’s right. And you know what, when you said that, I just, it was just, I just got a warm fuzzy when you told me that. Who didn’t like walking? You walked in your mom’s, you had that aroma of cookies coming out, your grandma was cooking. It was just like, oh, it was a safe place. If you’re not on Facebook Live, get on Facebook Live right now, but we’re going to go through your box here. Awesome. Talk to me about your box. How would you describe this brown color? So that is like a chocolate brown box. Is there a certain color of brown that’s not chocolate brown? Are there many colors that could be the wrong color? Yes. So this chocolate brown matters to you? Yes, it does. And this blue, what would you call this color? It’s like a Carolina blue. Carolina blue is the color, right? Yes. So if Z and I just put a navy blue, that wouldn’t work. No, sir. And the words on here, it says, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3. 16. Yes sir. Why is that on this box? I thought I was buying cookies. Sure. Because we believe deeply in that verse and felt like that’s part of us. That’s part of the business. So we felt it appropriate to put it on our packaging. I’m going to go ahead and try to argue with you on the air. Is that okay? Yes sir. Yes, sir in and out burger the founder of in-and-out burger was a communist Sympathizer for those of you who don’t know that he was a he sympathized with communism And then he had an epiphany where he changed his worldview and he became a Christian So to this day on the wrappers on a hamburger or at the bottom of the cup He puts Bible verses on the cup and the wrapper and he was so intentional that he made it in the bylaws, they could not change it ever. So even though he’s dead and the new ownership no longer holds that belief, he did that. And I’m just saying that doesn’t mean that he’s right or he’s wrong, but In-N-Out Burger, if you’ve ever been to it, they’re making no innovations to the menu. It’s the same thing. It’s actually in the bylaws. They cannot change the menu. It’s the same thing over and over. But it is his mud. It is his pit of mud. It’s his business. It’s your business. You can do with it as you want. Okay? And so many people are like, Oh, I don’t want to. Hey, it’s your, it’s your playground. It’s your backyard. If you want to hose it down and make a big pile of mud, get like a pig, like a pig would like to do it. Get on in it. And one thing that you’ve taught me is you I’ve watched you do it is you love to wear soccer jerseys. Yeah. Yeah. He’s soccer. Okay. And you love to wear soccer themed, you know, apparel. And I know many people that are saying they might not say it out loud to you maybe they’ve said it to you but you’re you’ve served on the board at a bank you know so you’re in situations where maybe the professional attire that most people would wear board meeting with my soccer jersey on I mean you should have seen the looks that I got they’re like what in no who is this character yeah and you know what you have you have you’ve worn the scrubs you’ve done that you’ve checked that box and white jackets you’ve dressed in that professional, you know, shirt, but now you’ve got to a point where you no longer need to. And now you’ve created your own mud, your own atmosphere, and you’re now able to self actualize. And I just get the feeling that you don’t feel bad that you no longer even wear the uniform that you require your own people to wear. That’s absolutely correct. And the second half of the pig in the mud is that when you’ve designed that and you’re laying there in the mud, it’s hard to find a pig that’s not happy. And when you’re happy, I’m telling you what, folks, as a business owner out there, I’ve encouraged all the time to be the lover, not the fighter. And you can do that when you’ve been purposeful in creating your atmosphere that puts you in a good mood. Because what’s going to happen is difficulties are going to arise. You’re going to have customers that have been treated poorly. You’re going to come up with someone who wants to fight with you about something, whether it could be even an employee, it’s definitely gonna be a customer at some point. And I’m telling you right there, I’m telling you in life, if you have been purposeful in creating your environment, you’re happy to be there at work, you’re in a good mood, we’re doing showtime, like we said earlier in the show, I mean, I think it was yesterday, we covered that one, but the thing about it is it’s easier to be a lover and not a fighter, and when you’re a business owner, I’m telling you this right now, it’s so much easier not to fight. Because what will happen is, is that when you have a problem, be, as long as you’ve taken the high road, you’ll never take the wrong road. And being nice and being the lover, not the fighter, is the way to go. We’ll unpack more of that when we come back. Now Thrivers, now I want you to take the challenge. I call this the Barbie Cookies Christmas Challenge. You go over there to Barbie Cookies at 83rd and Memorial, you go in there and you buy a box of a dozen cookies. And if you do that, then you come over here to the Thrive15.com World Headquarters. I’m going to give you a free copy of my most recent book, Thrive. You can go get a dozen cookies. I’ll give you a free copy of my book. It’s going to be a game changer. It’s for this week only. It’s the pre-Christmas gift that keeps on giving. Get over to Barbie Cookies. All right, Thrive Nation, welcome back to the Thrive Time Show. It’s business school without the BS. This is Tulsa’s only local business radio show and the dojo of mojo, fo-show for many entrepreneurs out there. It’s a place where you can come to on a daily basis and you know that you’re going to get some positive training, some positive actionable education, and really it’s going to give you the step by step instructions that you need to implement to start and grow a successful business. But today, I am super, super excited about today’s show because Dr. Robert Zellner has been, how long have you been an entrepreneur in the Tulsa area? How long have you been? 25 years. So 25 years. Let’s just kind of walk through your career briefly of how you built this string of multi-million dollar businesses. So your first business that you started was what? Dr. Robert Zellner and Associates. It’s an optometry clinic that has two locations and eight optometrists that work in the business. It’s open seven days a week. And your second business was what? Auto Auction. Makes sense. You look at the human eye all day, the retinas, the corneas, and then you’re like, oh, get into automotive. Are there big solutions? How does that happen? Yeah, you just draw, you connect the dots. It’s a long story. You know what? One of these days, we may tell the story of all that, but I owned, it’s called Z66 Auto Auction. Then I went to Dr. Z’s sleep center. It’s a diagnostic sleep center where we help people sleep At night better all very logical very very logical. Then we have a and then have a disease which is a DME company What’s TV durable medical equipment? Oh? And so we sell we sell all kind of a medical equipment that predominantly CPAP machines Because we guess what we have people over here that are sleeping and may need one and now I have a business, oh well, we can actually provide that. So, and I have a couple of those DME companies and then I have a ranch south of town where I raise and race thoroughbred horses, Rockin’ Z Ranch. And you’ve invested in a bank, you’ve invested in an online education school, Thrive15.com. Yes, that’s right and Thrive15 is the latest thing and now we actually have a radio show because you know how I can prove that? You’re listening to it right now. Now, see, the thing is that you’ve been able to live the American dream, and I think a lot of people want to say, well, how much money do you make, and how do you manage your time? And that’s kind of more of a TED Talks thing. We’re talking about the stuff behind the stuff, and you have distilled your 10 rules. You put down your 10 rules as your 10 rules for business, and we’re hopping into rule number 8 of your 10. Rule number 8 of your 10. Yeah, yeah, do what we said. We’re going to wrap up number seven. I’m going to punch home something. Punch it home. I’m going to punch home something there. I’ll tell you what, when a customer comes to you with a problem, you can fix it little or you can wait until it becomes a bigger problem. Because nowadays, some people just get worked up and worked up and they’re just looking for an outlet for their anger. And they’ve way exploded on something that they really shouldn’t have exploded that much on. A problem, one of your employees did, they dropped the ball. Oh. And any time you drop the ball, what you’ve done is you’ve taken the hammer, I’ve got my pin, which is going to signify a hammer, and I’m going to hand my pin to Kat. And what I’ve done now is I’ve made a mistake, and I’m going to give you the hammer. And then you know what, when they swing it and they hit you in the head, you’re always like, ow! You weren’t supposed to do that. Nobody ever swings a hammer. I know I gave it to you, but you know, that wasn’t very nice. The point is that one of your employees is going to drop the ball, you’re going to drop the ball, your business is going to drop the ball, and you’re going to have a problem. Now, you can be a lover in that problem or you can be a fighter. And what I’m encouraging you to do, and this is that pig in the mud, because the pig in the mud, he’s happy. He’s loving life. He ain’t hating nobody, no time. So be a lover and address the problem head on. Be kind, be nice, and fix it. Fix it quick. Fix it fast and it will be less expensive. I’m going to give you some examples. The elephant in the room, our men’s grooming lounge, guys come in for haircuts. And we’ve won a lot of awards for top quality haircuts. We train all the time on it and my brother-in-law is obsessed with it and I would encourage you if you’re listening right now, take the challenge. Come on in. It’s one dollar. One dollar for your first haircut. Come on and try it. See if it’s not a superior experience. But you know what? Occasionally we miss the mark. And occasionally we’re not perfect, right? It happens. But my brother-in-law is so good about responding quickly. Yes. And he constantly is dwelling on this. You feel like you’re in the same motivational talk every Thursday morning because he’s going, guys, if there’s a problem, tell me immediately and I will deal with it. He’s always preaching that to his managers. Steve, why is it so important that you respond quickly when there’s a customer service problem? Why do you need to respond as fast as possible? Can I tell you a horrible story? Okay, yeah. As long as it involves you and not my businesses. My turn. My turn. So we had an older lady come into the office and we dilated her eyes and she had what we call an ankle closure attack. And you know we’re open seven days a week and she goes home, takes a nap, wakes up and she has pain in her eye and it’s a problem, right? Not good. Yeah. Instead of coming back in to see us, instead of calling us on the phone, of course they panic button go to the ER. Okay. Go to the ER. Go to the ER. We’re here, I got a problem with my cornea, my retina, and my viscera is spreading. Well the ER, God bless them, they didn’t have an eye doctor handy. And so they just, you know, oh my gosh, this is a problem. So the poor lady was in pain longer than she needed to be. And she had some damage to her eye that she didn’t need to have. But the people that can fix it, the people that knew what was going on, nobody contacted them. I.e. us. Open 7 days a week, doctors on call 24-7, quick phone call, problems fixable, let’s move on in life. So they wait another, and she’s in a lot of pain. So then they finally get her into an eye specialist, right? Who, I’m telling you what folks, it’s a thing called competition. Some of your competitors are going to be nice and play fun and play fairly, and some of them are just going to be downright just mean. Very Darth Vader-esque. Very mean and nasty and if they got an opportunity to put you under the bus, they’re going to put you under the bus. They’re going, oh so this, so you went over to Dr. Robert Zellner’s. Yeah. Well I tell you what, there’s three things I know about him. One is he hates his customers, the second is he hates people, and the third is he hates the customers. We’re purposely trying to hurt people. Who are people? Oh no. That’s a not joke. So then he gets her fixed up and he just gets her revved up that she was just treated so poorly. So poorly. She doesn’t know. I mean, she’s listening to this man and God bless him. I’ve forgiven him and moved on in life. So this lady’s daughter calls my office and says, listen, you need to pay boom, boom, boom, boom. You need to pay all this money because it’s your guys’ fault. It’s absolutely your fault. You ruined my mom’s life. And for once in my life, I wasn’t the lover and I was a fighter. Oh no. I just got to own up to it. I should have been the lover. I should have said, you know what, you’re right, let’s fix this quickly. And I said, you know, it really wasn’t our fault. And you should have done XYZ. And the hospital should have called us. And why were we… And so I fought. You got pretty intense. I got pretty intense. And you know what she did? She… I’m going to go with sued you? Yeah, they went out and found a lawyer who works on what they call contingency. Those are fun guys. Fun guys. And they, Mexican elegance, served a lawsuit. I’m like, you know, this could have all been prevented. So then what happens is, as an optometrist or a physician out there, you have what they call insurance, medical malpractice insurance. Insurance. And so guess what? Here again, I don’t get to drive the boat on it. An insurance company steps in and says, well, this is our money now. It’s our problem now. We’re going to step into this. And now you’re out of the equation. And it’s our money. It’s our liability now. I mean, it’s our money out of our pocket. You’ve paid us your premium. So now we’re going to handle this, right? We are going to get involved here. That’s Smith. That’s Hutch. We’re Smith and Hutch. Smith and Hutch. You’re listening to the thrash time show on Talk Radio 117. And then what they said is, listen, due to the cost of litigation, and to the cost of attorneys and the whole depositions and going back and forth, we’re just going to go ahead and settle with her for X amount of dollars. And I looked at them and I said, why? Why? You’re not just being an idiot. You know, you don’t have to say that. Because we thought about it over our expensive lunch, which by the way you have to pay for. Yes, this is the way we do business. And they ended up giving her, this lady, which of course her attorneys took a big chunk of it, but they ended up giving her a lot more than they wanted from me from day one. And you might say to yourself, gosh, you were kind of an idiot then. And I said, and I’m Thrive Nation, you’re listening to me right now, and I will admit I was a fighter, not a lover, didn’t take my own advice, but you know what? I can’t affect yesterday, but I can sure affect tomorrow. Now Cat, I want to ask you this, Cat, as you’re kind of hearing Dr. Z share this story, how do you, what is your process, because you guys have, or you guys are known, you have great reviews on Google, unbelievable reviews on Facebook, people all over the world love those Barbie cookies. They go to barbiecookies.com and they just go, that flavor is so good. But occasionally I’m sure, maybe not you, but I’m sure somebody in your business at one point has made a mistake. How do you, what is your process for handling a mistake or a customer complaint? We choose to be lovers, not fighters. Oh, I’m going to give you a hug. Very professional hug is happening here on Facebook Live. Sideways, little Facebook Live hug. So honestly, the customer always comes first. Every time. In fact, a problem came up last week and it wasn’t our fault. A package was lost through one of our local carriers whose name I will not mention. And a sweet lady called me from Oklahoma City and said, Kat, my son’s birthday is tomorrow and we don’t have our cookies. And this is the third year in a row they’ve requested Barbie cookies for their birthday. And so I called the carrier and said, excuse me, this is the tracking number, where are the cookies? We don’t know where the cookies are. I have no idea where they are. Our carrier ate them. So here it is. It’s Friday afternoon. The twin boys, their birthday is the next day, Saturday morning at 10 a.m. So we drove the cookies to Oklahoma City. No, you didn’t. You did? Yes, we did. We drove the cookies to Oklahoma City Friday night. Thank you, Cole Stacey. And those little guys had their birthday cookies. So was it our fault, Dr. Z? No, no. No, it wasn’t our fault. But we made it right. Now Thrivers, I’m just going to tell you this right now. When you work super hard to start and grow a business, I know that you take pride of handling things the right way. But here’s what’s going to happen. There are two things that are very predictable. I’ve done business coaching for years. They are very predictable. They are going to happen as your business grows. One, you are going to hire more people, which means that people who are not you are going to be dealing with customer complaints. So people who are not you are going to be dealing with the complaints. And two is as you make more money, you’re going to have less time. And compassion, check it out, compassion, so I want you to write that down, compassion requires time. So see now in the urgency of the moment and the speed, you’re going faster and faster as your business is growing, you might make a harsh decision. So I want you to do right now as an action item is go ahead and get out a sheet of paper and go ahead and write down how you’re going to handle customer complaints and then the calm moment called right now. Go ahead and do it. I mean, do it during the commercial break. Write it down. Write down. This is how we’re going to handle it. And you know, Southwest Airlines, they’ve done that. And they’ve told their staff, this is how we’re going to, if for some reason someone’s flight is canceled or something is delayed, this is the autonomy that you have as a front desk person. These are the rules, these are the things you can do. Disney World has done that. Elephant in the Room, we’ve done that. But you’ve got to do it, because otherwise as an owner, your team is going to call you about once a week with a problem, and you’re going to be really busy, and you’re going to make a harsh and rash decision that’s not the right one. So go ahead and take the time out right now. Steve, why is it so important that you take the time, my friend, to write down how you want your teammates to handle complaints? Well, you don’t really have to write it down. I mean, you tell someone, and six months later they should be able to remember everything you told them absolutely That’s why the Bible was not written down You have to write it down because here’s the deal you want to be to the same over and over and over and six months Later you may have gone through now two or three people are doing it And if you’re waiting for people to kind of tell the story, here’s what we do Now you tell the next person. And then you tell the next person. Guess what? Something’s going to get lost in translation, always does. So write it down, get it in your manual, your checklist, your little book, your little happy place to go to. Oh yes, I don’t know how to deal with the problem, but I know where to go find the answer to dealing with the problem. Excuse me one minute, ma’am. You go flip, flip, flip, flip. Oh yes, and that’s what I do. I give you barbie cookies. Thank you. There you go. And everything’s better. What do you say to the entrepreneur who says, Listen, at Oswald’s Bagels, we’ve never written anything down for 25 years. I make every bagel myself. I don’t need to write stuff down. It’s Oswald’s Bagels. Remember. What would you say? I would say, Oswald, that’s why you’re the only one working. And that’s why you never get a day off. And that’s why you don’t make much money. Thank you for Oswald. So, when we come back, we’re going to be getting into rule number eight. Rule number eight. What is it? We will tell you when we come back. Oswald’s Bagels. All right, Thrive Nation, you are in for an audio treat today. We have the incredible co-founder, the founder of Barbie Cookies, Miss Kat Graham on the show and Dr. Robert Zellner on the show. It is an all-star show. It’s a main event. But before we get too deep into Dr. Z’s 10 business rules. By the way, you want to write each and every one of these down, the 10 business rules. If you missed yesterday’s show, we went through rules number one through five, you can go to thrivetimeshow.com and listen to it again. You can find those rules. But today we’re going to be going from rule number six through 10. But before we get into that, Kat, Graham, can you just tell the listeners out there, some people out there are looking for a last minute Christmas gift. Right now they’re going, oh no, the countdown has begun. I must get a Christmas gift and it must be classy and it must be good. Kat Graham, why are Barbie cookies the perfect Christmas gift? Because number one, they’re delicious. People recognize the box. When you take a box to a client or neighbor or friend and they see the blue tool that’s normally wrapped around that box, they know that you went to care and an expense to purchase that box of cookies and give that as a gift. See, could you explain to the listeners, I know it’s hard to explain, but could you explain the profundity of the flavor, the flavor fabulousness that went on inside your mouth when you had that cinnamon roll cookie? What was going on there? That laser show. It was like an explosion of wonderful. It was like a leprechaun rode in on a unicorn and took a wand and just smacked me on my tongue and then gave me a pot of gold and rode off. That’s basically what happened. Endorphins, the dopamine, I want to get the leprechaun, I want to get the unicorn, I want to try the Barbie cookies, where can I go to do this? So you just come to the Renaissance Shopping Center, 83rd and Memorial, Barbie Cookies are on the end cap. 83rd and Memorial. Now, Thrivers, I’m going to tell you what, I’m going to plan the perfect afternoon for you right now. Here we go. Step one, get over there to Oklahoma Joe’s Barbecue. Get those baked beans. Burn ends. Burn ends. Get the burnt ends. Get the baked beans. And then immediately drive over to Barbie Cookies. Get over to Barbie Cookies. Be the office hero. Buy a box that rocks for your entire office team. Then go to Thrive Time Show. Listen to today’s show five or six times until your brain explodes because you need to learn these moves. Rule number seven was be a pig in the mud. Basically make your office environment an environment that you want to go to, a place where if you were a pig, you would love being in the mud. Make your office environment a place that you are passionate and excited about going to. Now rule number eight is, we’re talking about being pig-headed here Zee and don’t be a fool. What do you mean when you say pig-headed, don’t be a fool? Talk to me about it. things, 1828, defines pig-headed as willfully or perversely unyielding. Unyielding. Thank you Webster. Examples of this in a sentence would be the kind of pig-headed person who seems to believe that facts only confuse an issue. If you are a general and you have an army and you’re going to war, by the way, which is not too far off if you’re an entrepreneur and you have a business. Oh, by the way. Okay? Yeah. Every great general in the history of great generals had what they called a war council. War council. Follow me with this. I’m following you. Okay. And so what that means is that there’s a certain amount of bravado that comes with being the business owner of, I’m doing it my way, this is my thing, and I’m going forward with it. I did it my way. But the day you don’t listen to suggestions, the day that you become pig-headed to the point of… A great story. The other day on the show, maybe it was Friday, could have been Thursday’s show. I sort of blacked it out. I sort of blacked it out. Just listen to them all, but Clay had the perfect example of being pig-headed as a business owner. I picked on me in the earlier segment. No, you’ve got to pick on me. This is why I just, it’s an emotional dark place. So the move back in the day was the yellow pages. They were huge. And so you sometimes would change the name of your business or you’d start it with an A so you could be first. A plus automotive. Yes. And then what you would do is the size of your ad, the bigger ads came first. A listing. Right? It’s called A listing. Yes. And so, you know, if you got a half page and you want to beat him in the phone book, you’d go to a full page, right? Boom. Then you go to a two page, boom. Then you go to the back page, boom. Then you go to the little sticky thing on the front of the phone book. I got the sticky thing on the front. I’m like a freaking genius. Boom. I got that. Yeah, I’ve got to beat that. I’m a DUI guy. You want to get a DUI, you see me in the front of the phone book. Boom. I’m a stick of, right on the front of the phone book. Boom. I think years later, back in the early 2000s, one of Clay’s employees said, hey boss, there’s a thing called the internet and like websites. Listen to me here Josh, I got this sticker on the front of the phone book. Boom. Game over. And Clay was pig-headed. He was unwielding. He did not listen to counselor’s suggestions. And so he said, ah, that’s not a thing. The internet’s never going to catch on. I got my thing. You know, and so then all of a sudden, a couple of years later, guess what happened? Sales go off the cliff. In other words, they go down. That’s not good. I swear, Josh, the sales are going down because your negativity not because of the internet I did finally before the whole thing ended up in a bloody mess of Wreckage and carnage and what we call closed down business clay finally saw the light And he said you know what maybe we need to get a website. Maybe we need to do some search engine optimization Oh by the way, we covered that on Friday shows last week. We listen to it great show. We need to hey We need to embrace this new technology. We need to change with the times But I built my business on this I built my I was the king of the yellow pages I would get a free dinner once a year at any sushi place. I wanted with my ad read I don’t care. We have a thing. I don’t care gluten-free is a thing. I don’t care for organics What I don’t even know what that is you know I’m just gonna make them So you got it you got to be flexible you got to listen to suggestions. And I see business owners that don’t do that. They don’t listen to their own world council. One, they don’t have one. And two, they don’t listen to them. You know, at the bank, we had a board of directors that would advise and talk and go through stuff, you know. And so the guy, Sean Copeland, the CEO of Regent Bank, would listen to them, follow the instructions, follow the direction. That was his world council. I want to argue with you real quick, because I think there’s someone listening right now who doesn’t quite… I want to make sure we’re getting this you want to listen To the customers yes You don’t want to listen to the newest person you just hired at the lowest level who works in the position No, he’s not he shouldn’t be on your wall counsel right he’s not one of your guys. What to make sure yeah Yeah, yeah, don’t fight. Let’s fight about it. So I’m just by the way We got a fight. I’m just making sure we get this here There’s some people are going so you do want to listen to your counsel But yes, who should be in your counsel, my man? Your inner circle as a business owner, as you grow your business, not every one of your employees should have access to you. You should have no more than 12, and until you’ve really grown big, it should be more like four, five, or six, maybe even three or four that have full access to you. And then they have three, four, five, or six that have access to them, and you set up a hierarchy within your organization. But not every single person in that, is that mean? I’ll tell you this, it sounds a little bit mean, but I’m going to tell you this because Kat Graham listens to her customers over there at Barbie Cookies. When we come back, she’s going to list off just a few of the enhancements, the improvements, some of the new flavors, some of the things that she’s added since day one, because when she started, she had a certain number of cookies and a certain number of flavors, but now she’s built the ultimate dojo of cookie mojo there at 83rd and Memorial. I like that. And she’s been listening to those customers. She’s been listening to you. So she has not been pigheaded. Right. She’s listened to suggestions. But not from everybody, just from you, the loyal customers. Well, and that’s a key one to listen to, you know. And she has like her key baker, and her key baker says, you know, let’s why don’t we try this? I think we can build a better mouth trap this way a Good business owner a good entrepreneur who listens to that and then they make you know What they analyze the situation and they’re decisive and they make a decision You mean they get all the facts and they act they make a decision Yes, maybe thrivers stay tuned we come back Hello Thrive Nation, my name is Clay Clark and I am joining you here on the Inspiration Superstation, Talk Radio 1170, where it’s the Thrive Time Show, your audio dojo of mojo. We were just listening to some Michael Jack and now we’re back. That’s Dr. Robert Zellner, my name is Clay Clark, and to my right we have a very special guest. She is perhaps the queen of cookies. She is the lady who is bringing more flavor to Tulsa than any other woman. She is Tulsa’s Betty Crocker on steroids. It is Ms. Kat Graham. How are you, ma’am? Doing wonderful. Thanks, Clay. You know what Kat is? What is Kat? She’s Tulsa’s sugar mama. Oh, wow. She’s bringing the sugar in the box that rocks. I’m going to say this, and I’m not just saying this to hype up Kat, I’m going to say this. Her business, she had these great, great cookies, and now that she’s begun to market the cookies and basically people are hearing about the cookies, Kat, would you agree that once people try the cookies one time, that it’s game over, they come back? Yes. I mean, that’s the thing, right? Sure. You have samples, though, right there. We do. Okay, so 83rd Memorial, you have samples available. So if you’re listening right now, I want you to take the Kat Graham Barbie Cookie Challenge. Here’s how it works. You go over there to Barbie Cookies, and if you’ll buy a dozen cookies as a Christmas gift, I, my name is Clay Clark, hold me accountable, I’m going to provide you with a free copy of my most recent book called Thrive. And it is funny, it’s hilarious, you’re going to like it, and it’s included with, so you just go get the dozen cookies over there. She’ll take care of that part. Then come over here to the thrive15.com world headquarters and we’ll give you a new copy of my book, Thrive. I’m telling you, it’s going to be good stuff. It’s great cookies, great things you can learn. It’s all available right there. But Cat, talk to me about the flavor, Cat. The flavor. Why is the flavor so good, Cat? The flavor is so good because we use fine ingredients. We have great recipes and we bake what people love. Now Z was teaching us his rule number eight, which is you don’t want to be too pig-headed. You want to listen to the customer, listen to your counsel and you want to pivot as needed. So when you started out Barbie Cookies, from the time you started it until now, what are some of the changes that you’ve made as a result of listening to the changing needs of your customers? Well, one significant change was providing gluten free cookies for customers. Gluten free cookies? Yes. And I’ll tell you Clay, that was not on my radar. When I went into business, I was not thinking how can I provide the best gluten free cookies to Tulsans and great Americans all over the country. It just wasn’t in my wheelhouse. But after several years of people saying, hey Cat, are you going to make gluten-free cookies at any point? I finally caught on and thought, hey, I thought these customers are really wanting gluten-free cookies. I need to spend some Sunday afternoons doing a little R&D and providing those for them. So that’s what we’ve done. And I’ve also noticed that your decor of your new bakery, you’ve been there for about two years now, maybe a year and a half? A year and a half, yes. It is significantly upgraded, changed, enhanced from your previous location. Correct. What are some of the neat visual accoutrements or some of the neat features they can find inside your new bakery that maybe you didn’t have in your old bakery? Well, in the new bakery, we have what I call like a shabby chic farmhouse look where we’ve She used reclaimed lumber, beautiful white quartz countertops, beautiful cabinetry, just to give a warm grandma’s home kind of feel. That’s beautiful. Now again, Thrivers, go to 83rd Memorial, get on over there to Barbie Cookies. Now Z, we’re getting into rule number nine. The three little pigs, the three legs of advertising. Talk to me, Goose. Z, talk to me. What is it? Talk to me. Well, you know, I’m writing a book called The Business Pig, and if you get on our website, thethrivetimeshow.com, where, yes, you can listen to all the shows we’ve recorded as many times as you want, take copious notes, and then redo it, and go, oh, I missed that the first 12 times I listened to it. You can listen to it. But when you pull up that website, it’s kind of funny. There’s a picture of Clay on the left side, and he’s about half robotic because he’s a combination of a cyborg from some planet with human flesh. It’s complicated. Claytron. Yeah, so Claytron. And then I’m on the right-hand side and I have a pig in front of me. And my friends are always saying, is that purposeful? Is that a type? Is that a new business? Yeah. Are you a pig farmer? No. All my 10 business principles plus the bonus 11 you’ll get today if you hang in there and listen to the show all deal with farm-yard analogies about pigs, right? Yeah. Yeah, it’s just kind of my move. Now, Z, I’m excited about, we’re very close to pulling the trigger on a couple billboards, and I’m telling you, then you can start to see the faces that were made for radio. Right? People can see it. They’re going to see that pig all over Tulsa. We’ll dark those out. But the three pig story goes something like this. Once upon a time, there was an old mother pig who had three little pigs and not enough food to feed them. So when they were old enough, she sent them out to the world to seek their fortunes. And everybody listening right now, well at least by about six out of ten, you’re thinking, I want to get out there and seek my fortune. I want to do my own business. I want to be an entrepreneur. And this show is for you. So you in this story are one of the little pigs being sent out to seek your fortune. Right? So the first little pig was very lazy. Very lazy. And that happens with entrepreneurs sometimes. He didn’t want to work at all and he built his house out of straw. He doesn’t want to build a house out of straw because it’s easy. Yes, the second little pig worked a little bit harder but he was somewhat lazy too and he just built his house out of sticks. I just want to build it out of sticks. I have some sticks readily available. And then the best part is they sang and danced and played together the rest of the day. They did not have a good work ethic. They did not have a good work ethic. The third little pig worked hard all day and built his house with bricks. It was a sturdy house, complete with a fine fireplace and chimney. It looked like it could withstand the strongest winds. Because here’s what happens. As we know the rest of the story, you know the story, you’ve heard it many times as a kid. Then the wolf comes along, and what is the wolf in this story? The wolf is your competition. Oh, come on now. The wolf is your competition. The wolf is, you know what that wolf might have been, like one of your buddies earlier on, like Clay and myself. I’ve had doctors leave me and start other practices, now they compete against me. Clay’s had guys that have left and taken his list and bought us the same speakers and the same fog machines and gone out there and tried to out-DJ him in the competition. So the wolf can be someone that’s actually very close to you. I mean, Cat, you could have someone at some time leave and then now they’re going to set up Mickey’s cookies, you know, or Billy’s cookies. Billy’s cookies! Billy’s cookies! They could do it! And that’s the wolf. The wolf is the competition, whether you know them or not. And marketing is always a key component to any business, alright? And we have a theory here at Thrive15.com that you don’t want to rely on just one avenue of marketing. Right. One avenue of advertising. And you see, the first pig, it was a straw. And really, you straw to make bricks by the way But they didn’t complete the process and they just had one one angle Okay, second pig same thing just sticks was a third one though had a component had multiple avenues Multiple legs we called the three-legged stool here at thrive 15. Yep. Well, we encourage entrepreneurs to have three areas of Advertising all going simultaneously. Oh, yes Yes, that’s the key. All going simultaneously with a call to action, a great message, professionally done, well placed to your target audience. We have all the training on that on thrive15.com, right? But the angle here is you’ve got to advertise and you can’t be lazy and just sing and dance around and do one thing and expect that to build your business. I’m going to tell you this right now. If you’re listening to us right now and you’re going, okay, what’s an example? Well, for Elephant in the Room, we do not stop with search engine optimization. Every single month we invest in search engine optimization. That’s leg number one. Leg number two, we do targeted online ads. You know, the ads that follow you around the internet, that show up in Facebook and that kind of thing. And the third is we put out those $1 signs that say $1 for your first haircut. And when we look at our pie chart and we go 90% of our business is from word of mouth. I know, but we got to get new people in because those new people will then tell their new social circles and we grow. But you’ve got to have a three-legged marketing stool. You’ve got to have a three-legged marketing system. So if you’re listening right now, during the break I want you to go ahead and write down what are the three avenues of marketing that your business is using or could be using to build a balanced approach to successfully advertising and marketing your business. Stay tuned. Rule number 10. Hello Thrive Nation. Welcome back to the Thrive Time show during your afternoon. And I’m telling you what, we have got a final incredible segment of the show here today. You are not going to want to touch that dial. Dr. Z is now going to be breaking down his rule number 10 in business. You see, he’s been in business as a successful entrepreneur for 25 years. years, not just in the industry of optometry, but in banking, in the horse breeding industry, the niche there. He’s been successful in the durable medical equipment niche, in a sleep center. He’s been involved in extermination. Are you involved in extermination? Is this a real thing? Are you now involved in the extermination business? My brother, I helped coach and mentor my brother. Now he has Zillner Exterminating. I’ve got another brother, he’s a successful business, he has Zillner Chiropractic. He was trying to figure out a name for his business, and I said, dude, your last name’s Zillner. I spent a lot of money in making that name more known than not in this town. Use it, you can use it. He’s like, oh, yeah, that’s a good idea. So you’ve got mentor coach, but yeah. I’ve got the Sleep Center, the DME companies, the auto auction, the blah, blah, blah. But anyway, the thing about it is we don’t just read a book and regurgitate that back to you. We’ve lived the life, we’ve made the mistakes, we’ve been the mentors, we’ve been the mentees. Is that the word? Yeah, we’ve done it all. We’ve done it all and we’re using our life lessons and practical business steps to help coach you up so you don’t make the same mistakes. I’m going to say this real quick before we get into this final, this tenth move, this tenth rule, is we’re honored to have a very special guest on the show today, Ms. Kat Graham of Barbie Cookies. Ms. Kat, how are you? Doing great, thanks Clay. Now I’m going to say this, I’m going to brag on Kat because Kat, by the way, just turned 22 I think last week here. So Kat’s going to be, after Barbie Cookies, she’s opened her second location, but after she franchises that beast and it grows, the principles that you have learned to build Barbie Cookies, I promise you could come into epic photography, my business, and you could grow that and that’s why I’ve been successful in the party rental business and Wedding photography and an advertising agency and a haircut business and you’ve been successful in banking I that every business is the same there’s these 13 proven moves that work over and over and over But there are these 10 business rules these profound Principles that dr. Z has taken the time to distill because he’s seen predictable patterns He’s seen these consistent things happen over and over. If you learn these ten rules, it makes it very easy to operate your business and make those decisions on a daily basis. So rule number ten is pig advice. Z, what is pig advice? Well, here’s the deal in business. I’ll tell you what. If you are a successful person in your personal life, if you are happy in your personal life, you’re more likely to be successful in your business life. Oh, come on now. And there’s some things about being a well-rounded person, having a person that enjoys life and enjoys their friendships and enjoys their family and is what we call a well-rounded person. The kind of guy who could enjoy the free mints they provide at the Olive Garden. I mean, here at Thrive15.com, we don’t just teach you how to be the soup Nazi. No soup for you! No soup for you! He had a line out the door of a soup shop. You know? He would sit there and serve soup, and if someone offended him while they were in line, he’d say, no soup for you, right? Whenever he’d get out of line, you know? So he had a successful business, but he wasn’t the kind of person that I think you want to spend the afternoon with. You’re like, hey, hey, soup notch, let’s go down and get a beer and watch the football game at Buffalo Wild Wings. You know, I mean, that wasn’t the guy. Part of our coaching here at Thrive15.com is not just business, but it’s also just living life and living life well. I tell you what, I’m going to officially make the change. We’re now calling it the F6 and not the F5. We want to teach you how to have a successful… We want you to be successful in these six areas. One is faith. Two is family. Boom. Third is finances. Boom. Fourth is friendships. Five is fitness. And sixth is just in from our home office. Now it’s official. It is? Fun. Fun. Yes. A well-rounded person is a much more enjoyable person. You’re a much better leader. You’ve got a better handle on things. You take problems in business much easier. You deal with things. And I tell you what, you overall will be a better business person. And so this last one’s kind of a fun play on the whole kind of being a pig. You know, the whole book’s kind of written on, you know, pig analogies, pig stories, you know. This is from Dr. Z’s upcoming book, The Business Pig. So here’s, so if a pig were to give you advice, pig advice. Here we go. The pig would tell you something like, it would say, eat well. Eat well. That’s all we hear, we see the pig eating, you know. And it also says, keep your snout clean. You know. What does that mean? That means keep your nose out of other people’s business. Don’t gossip. Don’t, you know, don’t spread stuff. See, I was going through your drawer there in your desk and I found, I hope that wasn’t weird, I was just going through your emails. I was just digging through your Facebook. I noticed you were logged on. I just tried to get in there. Like in our family, we have a rule of thumb. If one of my brothers calls me and wants to find out about one of my other brothers, I say, well, call him. Oh! Oh, that just happened. Back to music. Yeah, keep your snot clean. Never squeal on your friends. That kind of goes along with that. In other words, don’t be a squeal on your friends, okay? Another thing a pig is very curious. I think it’ll actually go through when you’re curious. If it’s an entrepreneur, just like Kat was saying earlier about being curious, and I love that she said, you know what I did? I took several Sundays and I got curious on how to make a gluten-free cookie because that’s what people wanted and so I was like can I do that that’s a curiosity and so then she Worked on it and worked on and you got it figured out now you have a gluten-free cookie. I’m curious Kat What is your number one most popular cookie the one that every time people have the cookie they go Oh Billy that would definitely be Haley’s heavenly cinnamon roll cookie Haley’s heavenly cinnamon. That’s what I had today Why do people have to have this cat? What is the deal? What is so magical about this cookie? It’s just so delicious. So if someone wants to get their hands on these cookies for the holidays as a great Christmas gift to their family, last minute Christmas gift idea, how can they get a hold of you? Where can they find these cookies? They can come to the bakery at 83rd and Memorial. They can go online to BBQCookies.com. They can shoot us an email at sales at BBQCookies.com. Z, I’m telling you what, we’re getting some great advice from Kat, some great advice from you. What’s the next bit of the pig advice, my friend? Well, a pig would tell you to ham it up. Have some, you know, ham it up, have a little fun. That’s what we do, ham it up. And also, a pig would tell you, don’t wallow in life’s difficulties. You know, the glass is half full, not half empty. Don’t focus on the problems. Go ahead and get the solution to it and be happy and move forward in life, okay? And then also, the last one is kind of our fun thing is to go hog wild. That’s what a pig would take. Go hog wild. Woo! Hoggy, hoggy, hog hog. And I have two of my favorite pig quotes. I can’t end the show without these two favorite pig quotes. Two pig quotes. This just in from our home office. And one of them is from one of my favorite men in history, and that’s Winston Churchill. Okay. This is a prime minister who basically stood up to Adolf Hitler during World War II. Kind of a big deal. But he says, I’m fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down to us. Pigs treat us as equals. I like that. You like that. It’s got a little nutty bite to it. Yes. And George Bernard Shaw says this. Says, never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it. Oh, that right, you can marinate on that for a couple hours right there. Yeah, we can do a whole show on that one. Well, here’s the deal, Thrivers. We’ve got four things that you can do right now. You’ve been exposed to the ten business rules of Dr. Z. You have four moves you can do right now. Move number one is you could do nothing. Yes, you could do nothing. A lot of people do. In fact, according to any data that’s out there, but specifically, I encourage you to Google this right now and check it out. According to CNN Money, 59% of Americans do not believe the American Dream is possible and are doing nothing to attempt to achieve it. 59%! They’re going, it’s not possible, I’m not doing anything, that’s just life, that’s the way it is. Breaks my heart. Not good. So we have an unbelievable opportunity as Americans to go out there and to start and grow a business. You can turn your idea. Kat, you are a school teacher and now you are opening up your second bank. How exciting! It’s very exciting. How many weeks until you open up the second one? About eight. Unbelievable. Are you kind of scared? Yes, of course. I’m excited. I’m excited. Now the second thing you can do here Thrivers is you can go to thrive15.com. It is the world’s best business school. By the way, instead of being like $25,000 a year to go to business school. It’s like $20 a month. It’s $19 a month And if you can’t afford it, we have a scholarship program for you and Z if you’re in the military What do we have for you? Everybody that signs up and pays the full price, which is only $19 a month Thank you. We’re going to give you a free membership to any military and that is active or inactive past military service You can get on there and apply for that and we will we will give you that as soon as we get, you know, we’ve got a couple of them in the queue. So we need some people to sign up at the $19. We have a few military people out there going, I want my free membership, I want my free membership because, you know, the studies came out and said that when they get out of the military, they’re woefully prepared for life in the business world. So that’s unfortunate and we’re helping change that with our free scholarship program for the military. Now move number three is you can sign up for a thrive15.com in-person workshop in person. It’s right here in Jinx, America on the left coast of the Arkansas River in a 20,000 square foot facility You come over here We’re gonna teach you time management sales search engine optimization It’s seven and a half hours a day for two days in a row and we have a scholarship program available as well It is the world’s best business workshop ever I’m telling you I wish I would have had this when I was starting my first Businesses and move number four is you can sign up for now in person one-on-one business coaching. Business coaching. We’ve distilled Dr. Z and my, my, my, Z and I have teamed up together to make our 13 point business system now so repeatable, so duplicable that anybody can do it. And I tell you what, one more, one more thing you could do, one more thing you could do, one more thing you should do. You should tell your family that you love them by getting over there to Barbie cookies Z. Oh, a box of good, I tell you what, you bring in a box of Barbie cookies into the house and you know what you just bring in love cat what’s your website where can people find out more about Barbie cookies Barbie cookies calm Barbie cookies commons Z as always my friend three two one all right JT so hypothetically in your mind what is the purpose of having a business 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 in expenses, it’s kind of pointless. Holy crap! Alright, so the question I would have here for you, if you could take like, I don’t know, 10 minutes or less and see if you could save $3,000 a year by reducing your credit card fees, would you do it? Yes, absolutely. Holy crap! Why would somebody out there who’s listening right now who has a sane mind, why would they not go to Thrivetimeshow.com forward slash credit dash card, Thrivetimeshow.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 a year. Why would they not do it? Yeah, why would they not do it? Maybe because they don’t understand how you set the website. This tree is a symbol of the spirit of the Griswold family Christmas. That’s clear. That can be true. So I encourage everybody to check out Thrivetimeshow.com forward 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 that’s making more than three thousand dollars every ten minutes, and they’re like nah, that’s not worth my time We getting there, rap money. We getting there, rap money. There’s probably someone out there. Okay. 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 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? 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. It’s 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 10 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 case, my particular case, I save over $20,000 a year. Holy crap! Wow. Which is like groceries when my wife goes to the organic store. Find everything you need today? Yeah. Great. Oh God. Everything okay ma’am? It’s just that you’ve 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 going to be easy, so I need you to be brave, alright? What’s your name? Patricia. Patricia, alright. 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… Let’s buy… 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 at the end of the day. 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 create additional profits. 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. OK. I just want to let you know what type of accomplishment this is. Our competition, Orkin, Terminix, they’re both one point three 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, you know, asking our customers for reviews. And now we’re the highest rated and most reviewed Pest and Lawn 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%. So 411% we’re up with, 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 followed with Thrive in the refining process. And that has obviously, the 411% shows 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, 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 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 diligence and consistency in doing those in that system has really, really been a big blessing in our lives. And also, it’s really shown that we’ve gotten a 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 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, and 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. I mean, you’ll get the results. It will take hard work and discipline. But that’s what it’s going to take in order to really succeed. So we just want to 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 pediatrician. 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-turn-key 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 Industry 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. And Clay’s 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, and graphic designers and web developers, and 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. 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 startups go from startup 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 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 comes off 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 him most about him. He’s 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 is 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 and anyways, just an amazing man. So anyways, impacted me a lot. He’s helped navigate any time 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 fourteen 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 about 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 gonna teach you how to fix your conversion rate. We’re gonna teach you how to do a social media marketing campaign that works How do you raise cap? 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 going to 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 edific 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. I encourage you to not believe what I’m saying, but 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’ve built this facility for you and we’re excited to see it. If we 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. 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 five clients to 20 clients on my own with networking, but I had no control over it. Without the systems, 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 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 I’ve worked with you. 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 when they needed 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. Right. And 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. And so 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 hundred calls. We make 200 to 300 calls a day per rep. Right. And she’s been nailing down five and eight appointments a day. Somebody out there’s having a hard time. Call them 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 buy 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 basically make the systems. And you’re like the computer, and I’m like the software. It’s kind of how I would describe our relationship. Tim, I want to ask you this. You and I reconnected, I think it was in the year 2000 and, what 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 re-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. But do you remember when we first reconnected? Yeah, well, we had that speaking thing that… 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, you know, 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 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. 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 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’d 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. helping business owners grow their businesses is it’s unique in that I don’t know if there’s anyone else’s 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. You know, he’s sending people encouraging messages. He can kind of be that life coach and business coach in terms of being that a 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 wanna 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 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 to learning something new. Be open to challenging yourself. Be open to learning and adjusting parts about you that need to be adjusted.