Clay Clark | The Jack Nadel Story: A Lifetime Of Riches With Jack Nadel

Audio Transcription

Get ready to enter the Thrive Time Show! Started from the bottom, now we’re here. Started from the bottom and we’ll show you how to get here. Started from the bottom, now we’re here. Started from the bottom, now we’re here. Started from the bottom, now we’re on the top. Teaching you the systems too, kid. What we got coming, 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 what I’m about. 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 Well Jack, thank you for letting me come to your casa and harassing my friend well, it’s my pleasure to have you I Absolutely honored. I feel like, you know, talking to you today, it’s sort of a It’s a walk through history as well as a look into the future and you’re such an entrepreneurial Guy that’s six at six decades as an entrepreneur Yeah, yeah, it’s let’s see. I Guess my entrepreneurial career started the day I left the Air Force Which would be you know, 70 years ago 70 years ago. Well, today we’re talking about kind of your story, really a lifetime of riches. And I want to start basically with where you grew up. Where did you grow up, my friend? I grew up in New York City on the streets of New York. And I thought, in retrospect, of course, it was a great education because I guess I learned how to survive. I learned that as tough as you are, there’s someone tougher. As big as you are, there’s someone bigger. And I went along with the… Those streets in those days were almost owned by gangs. And each gang had a different orientation. Some were… different orientations, some are this, some are that, but the toughest one was called the Polly’s and they were right a few blocks away. So the first day I walked to school I was five years old, or six years old, and I went right through there and I got stopped and there was an old gang and they asked for protection money and I said, what’s that? I said well, it cost you five cents to go through here. It cost you ten cents a week. I Said okay. Okay. So I don’t have I don’t have five cents. So they beat me up and I learned something from that Walked away. I didn’t pay the protection money. I never saw them again. I just walked around that street Really? I just avoided it, which reminded me later of the strategy of the Pacific, moving towards Japan, they kept skipping islands that were not necessary. They didn’t have to waste life and money on taking something that wasn’t necessary. So I wasn’t going to prove anything, I’m not going to beat them, I don’t even want to confront them. And the answer was to avoid it. So you kind of knew where the mines were and you avoided it. I avoided it. Listen, you get 10 kids and they’re all taller and bigger than you. I was a big kid. There was no contest. My favorite author, David Runyon, the race doesn’t always belong to the big and the strong, but that’s the way to bet it. Well, I want to ask you this question here because you grew up in a childhood that sounded like it was tough in certain areas. When did the idea to become an entrepreneur first, when did that idea first come into your head? Do you remember when that happened? Yeah, well first first first of all, you know, there was no stigma to being On the streets of New York. I mean the fact that I was poor was a Was fact but everybody around me was poor. Okay, and most of them were poorer than I was and I had a angelic mother mother who, when she prepared food for us, always prepared for somebody else as well. So I learned that, A, you could get along together. It was like a 1928 League of Nations. Every race, everybody was represented there. And there were gang fights and all that, but they all got straightened out and learned how to survive and how to exist alongside of each other. I think the first time I had the entrepreneurial thought, I saw a guy had a contest on marbles. And if you hit the, if you went, you got a cigar box and put three holes in the cigar box, and if you rolled the marble through the hole, you won 10 marbles. Almost impossible. So I got a box. I wanted to be on that side of the action. So I purveyed the box, and I was the owner of a lot of very good Emmys because of it. So that was your first business, your first entrepreneurial endeavor? I would say so. I would say so. So now, when did you, or I guess how old were you when you decided to join the military? Well, I, it was a contest, quite frankly, in the family. I wanted to go when the war started, and my mother was able to hold me at bay until the following year. On my 19th birthday, I enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps. And three years and three months later, I enlisted as a private, of course. And three years and three months later, I came out as a captain and I had flown 27 B-29 combat missions over Japan. Now, when you served, I mean, you were decorated with the distinguished flying cross and the air medal with the three oak, the leaf clusters there. Can you kind of explain what those mean or what those, those are unbelievable awards, you know, unbelievable recognitions for your service. Can you kind of explain what those were for? Well, I think the air medal with the oak leaf clusters was a reward just for surviving. I mean, if you lasted every so many missions. I never was quite sure whether I had four oak leaf clusters or three, but there’s three on the medal, so I’ll take the three. Distinguished Flying Cross was something entirely different. That was for a theoretically heroic deed or something that you did above and beyond. And it happened to me when I was, I can even tell you the date, April 4th, 1942. I had a mission to Japan. The first time we had fighter escort. And if you recall the war history, we took Iwo Jima in order to have a base for fighter aircraft to accompany the B-29s when they went over on the bombing mission. Or to protect the B-29s. that mission where there was for the first time we had fighter protection, but the, it was a fierce battle. One of our, one of our friends bailed out. We stopped and bailed off and, and, and I called the pilot and said, there’s no way we can make it back to Saipan, which is our home base. I want to go. And they told us this morning that they had Iwo Jima was really in our possession, but there was still fighting going on the island. So we actually made the first emergency landing on Iwo Jima. Coming back. And I plotted a new course, first from Japan to Iwo Jima, and then from Iwo Jima to Saipan where I was stationed. And when we landed, there was, we had to feather two engines out of four, which is not a good idea. And it all came out right, but we had something over 100 holes in the plane. And we landed, we did get an emergency land at Iwo Jima. The crew had to get out, surrounded the plane with drawn pistols because there were snipers all over the place. And if you saw one, don’t fire because you’re going to draw a lot of other fire, but watch. And this is exactly what happened. We climbed back in the plane and we flew on back to Iwo Jima. Really? To Saipan, I’m sorry. Just to give a little context, because I have spent a lot of time in preparation for meeting with you, you know, reading about the B-29 and reading about… But how many guys were in the plane with you in a B-29? We had a crew of 11. 11? 11, yes. There was the pilot, co-pilot, bombardier, and navigator with the four officers. And then there was the engineer radio operator and various gunners. And I’ve been told that it was kind of like flying in a big bus. I mean, it’s not necessarily the most quick to turn or easy, you know what I mean? It’s a big… Well… It’s designed for bombing. The bigger the ship, the longer it takes to turn. This is a navigator. Because it usually had a hundred holes in it. I mean, you’d been shot a hundred times. That’s right. That’s just, that’s just surreal. I mean, so when was the turning point where you decided that you wanted to become a successful entrepreneur? I mean, cause you said basically at age 22, now you’re out of the military. When did you decide to become an entrepreneur? I think I always had in mind that I was going to go into my own business. I’m not even sure the word entrepreneur existed at the time. But I do know and I remember the night before my crew and I departed from Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to head home, we talked about the future and I did say, one was going back to the farm, the pilot was going to do crop dusting, he loved flying, that’s all he wanted to do. I said, there’s only one thing I want to do. I said, I want to get into business. And the world has been devastated, decimated, and there are huge reconstruction, a lot of merchandise that’s needed. So I’m going to, in fact I want to go into the import export business. That’s what we did, my brother and I. Did you get a degree or some kind of training to get into the import exporting business? I mean, how did you get, did you go back to college? I think it was called Hard Knocks College. Okay. No, I was 16 and it was 1940 and the economic situation was such that my family needed the support that I could help generate to support the family. that really required a college education, like being an engineer or a lawyer or a doctor, something technical. I felt that I could do just as well getting out there and starting to work and starting to provide the world with all the merchandise that they wanted but didn’t know where to get. Well, you don’t have a degree, but you seem like you’re very much a lifelong learner. I mean, you’re somebody who apparently wants that, is seeking that practical knowledge. And from my understanding, I mean, you basically managed to make a profit every year for 67 straight years, despite all the ups and the downs in the economy. You know, we’ve had recessions, and we’ve had booms, and we’ve had more recessions. I mean, you’ve seen it all happen. I mean, how have you managed to make a profit for 67 years with all the ups and downs in the economy? And what would you say is, how would you describe how you did that? Well, I would say that the most important thing, which I tell every new entrepreneur, every new, everybody going into person, is you have to learn how to do two things. One is to listen and the other is to think. And the listening, many times people, particularly when they’re negotiating a deal, are thinking more of what they’re going to say than what the other person wants. And what I want to do is find out how I can make you happy at the same time, because As far as making a profit, I’d say my great fortune was that I realized early on there was no word like entrepreneur, but there was a word called opportunist. Okay, opportunist. And I was an opportunist. I felt when that window opens, get through it. So Jack, I mean, you said something profound there. You said you have to learn to listen and learn to think. Can you kind of deep dive into that and explain to me what you mean by that? Yeah, there are different conditions all the time. I know that I’ve done some teaching in schools. And the one thing I say is, no matter how well thought or how well done your business plan is, there is going to be something happen that’s unanticipated. And you have to be ready to move at that moment. Try not to get the last degree or the last drop of water out of the sponge. Yeah. Is that if you’re making a deal, make a deal. The best deals are those where everybody comes out and there are those kind of deals. So for me, it was always what is at the moment an opportune time to sell a certain product. Usually it was to answer to an inquiry. One of my sayings that I followed right from the get-go was to find the need and fill it. What was the need going to be? So how I made a profit every year, I would take a loss on certain things. I knew enough at the time that I would take a loss or I was on the wrong track to change direction. And I was able to change direction and find out what was the positive way to go. Now, in your mind, how important is it for everyone to dedicate themselves to being a lifelong learner if they truly want to achieve success. Because as I think about your career, the world is so different in the 30s, in the 40s, in the 50s, in the 60s, and you were successful through the 40s, in the 50s, in the 60s, in the 70s. I mean, the world has changed so much, but yet you continue to succeed. How important is it to be brilliant and you don’t have to be a genius. People ask me, can you make an entrepreneur or does an entrepreneur have to be born that way. You can’t teach them anything. You couldn’t teach Steve Jobs or Bill Gates or any of these people that founded industries how to do something. They invented it. But the bulk of us people, 98% of the people, who have some kind of intelligence, have to learn just how to be disciplined. And to follow that discipline and make it work for you. So that every down stroke has an up stroke. I think the biggest disaster I had, and I won’t go into details, but I wound up owning a company in Italy. Oh, wow. And I was in the city of Torino, which is right here in Milan. And doing business in Italy is like living in the middle of a grand opera. It was so much fun, but it was so dangerous. Okay. And the danger was that there was not a government-friendly atmosphere. It was, there are a lot of restrictions in a lot of places that you couldn’t go. And one day I was, they gave me a call on a particularly cold day and said, you’re breaking the law. And I said, I didn’t know it was against the law to lose money. And we found out you really do under the Italian law have to have 25% of your people handicapped or veterans. Really? At that time. Now, this was in the early 70s. So it just didn’t make sense. I knew we had to move out of Italy. I couldn’t change the Italian government. I wouldn’t change the words on a Puccini opera, so I’m not going to change the government. And I said, well, how am I going to do this? In France, they actually were paying bonuses for people bringing jobs to France. Really? Same problems you have today. Jobs. Jobs, the economy. I think the basis of everything is the economy anyway. Yeah. So this business of jobs, and lo and behold, they’re actually paying me to have jobs there. And that was a big sum of money. You’ve had business ventures in Asia, in Italy, I mean, just all over the world. What was the first business venture that you did after you got out of the military? What was the first deal? What was the first venture you did? The first venture I did was I knew there would be a shortage of a lot of material. And we went to the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, where they had a very active foreign trade division. And they got inquiries from all over the world. And one of the inquiries was from a Chinese group who were looking for navy blue woolen material. Well, there was no such thing as navy blue woolen material. During the war, they manufactured mostly olive drab. But how could we sell large quantities of navy blue material to the Chinese? And the answer was to buy the army olive drab diet navy and sell it to the Chinese. Now this we did without a fuck in the bank. Really? And so how do you finance that? But once more, go to the experts. I went to the head of the department of the Union Bank, never forget they were a very good bank at the time, and still are, and they had the terrific people, he told me all about a thing called letters of credit. Well not having been educated, I didn’t know what a letter of credit was. But he said, you can get back-to-back letters of credit from the Chinese government. So I got a letter, I did get a letter of credit for the total amount of the wool and material we sold. We did sell the wool and material. They grasped it. I don’t think the cable was there five minutes before they said, ship, I forget how many thousands of yards and we financed it through the banks by using the original letter of credit from China as security against all of our other activities. And you’re blowing my mind and I think for a lot of people who are watching this, you know, you think about becoming an entrepreneur. I talked to a who are ready, aim, aim, aim, aim, and eventually you have to fire. And you’re kind of more of, it sounded like, the ready, fire, aim. You gotta fire. You just gotta fire. You gotta fire. You gotta fire, never know until you fire. It’s a very good example. And I just, I guess, you know, that was a early success for you. What was one of the biggest setbacks that you faced when you’re attempting to start your first businesses. What was one of the biggest where you look back and you go, wow, that was not good? Well, I think I have to go back to what I talked about previously was our Italian experience. Okay, that was the… We owned a factory in New York where we were manufacturing ballpoint pens. And we wanted, we found out suddenly, without going through all the wise and way of force, that there was a market for American pens in Europe at the time. Learned one of the first rules of export, incidentally. When the dollar is weak, you can export easily. When the dollar is strong, it’s very difficult, because all the American merchandise becomes more expensive with a stronger dollar. So anyway, pretty soon we’re selling more pens in Europe than we were in the United States. And our Italian distributor came to me with the proposition, let’s open a factory, instead factory. Instead of having to import parts, we can import the complete pen, have it, or we can assemble the parts and have it in inventory and be able to get much better delivery. That sounded wonderful. It did sound wonderful, it was, but it didn’t work because of these that you couldn’t get financing, you had too many forms to go through, you had a socialist. What I love about your career is that I’ve tried to research and get to know as much as I can about you, is again you go back to the story of you being a kid in New York City, you just avoided those people and those problem areas so that you wouldn’t get beat up, and here you are in business and you ran into some brick walls and you decided just to work around them. I tried. We found a very lovely place in the south of France. We actually, it’s like an adventure story, had to steal our own factory. Really? In the dead of night, a French longshoreman. This you don’t have time for now. But in retrospect, it was a lot of fun. While I was doing it, my heart was in my mouth most of the time. But we did go to France, and we were successful there. And it all worked out great. Now, up to this point, I mean, you’re 91 years old. Is that correct? Right. OK, so you’re 91 years old. We are surrounded by this just archive of entrepreneurial success here. We’ve got pictures of you with President Clinton. We’ve got letters from President Reagan, I mean there’s so many, it’s probably hard to even answer this question, but up to this point, what have been some of your biggest or I guess proudest business achievements up to this point? I do think my proudest achievement was very unheralded, it was the being on a trade mission by President Reagan. And at that time, it was a very difficult time we were having. We could not sell American merchandise in Japan for many different reasons. But mainly the Japanese were blocking it as well. But we went to Japan, we met with the highest level people. We were blind and died and it was wonderful. And I love the Japanese culture. But I found the crux of the problem is the Japanese, and I remember sitting in a room with the president of Sony and the president of Mitsubishi and Them saying we can all do great. We have to we have to respect the traditions of the other Country, and I said that That’s very good as well. Here’s the point You people being Americans invent Everything. I mean you have great inventors, great creators of new merchandise. We are the greatest manufacturers. So way back then in 1985, I think it was, he was telling me we should be the software and they should be the hardware. Oh, wow. Which I thought was great. I said, I made a mention about making a deal and the president of Mitsubishi said that’s deal and the president of the distribution of that’s the problem we have with americans you come over here to make a deal we come to establish a relationship and from that relationship springs many deals uh… although it does a lot of the wisest words i heard because it’s it’s true well let me give a little context to the thrivers watching who might not know this but when president reagan asked you to to serve on this on this uh… trade mission to japan uh… there was nine people total that were selected right i think there was just somewhere there and you weren’t a political homer i mean you weren’t mailing you weren’t going to the thousand dollar a plate republican dinners you were you know put Ronald Reagan posters on the top your house you were you you were doing that I mean you you were a maybe a you’re just a business guy who had had some success and of all the people on the planet they could have chosen they chose you and a team of less than a dozen and you were on that team that just feel unbelievable when you receive that letter I felt I felt wonderful, particularly, I’ll complete the heresy all the way, I was a Democrat. Really? So you were over here on the left side of the field. Right, right, but I had the most experience. I had been trading with Japan and with China and with Hong Kong for many, many years and I knew the ropes and I knew the behind the scenes. One of our missions was to try to get, for example, Toys R Us to have an outlet in Tokyo. Oh wow. And we got it. We actually got it, but you see, their tradition was a certain means of distribution. Right. It’s very paternalistic. It comes through the trading company and the bank and then the wholesaler and then the retailer. So if you went into Japan at that time, what you saw in the retail store in the window, that was the inventory. So that they sold that piece, they first had to go back to their supplier. And the other part of it was that in Japan there was great, great loyalty to companies and companies to people. They were like going to school to a team. There’s a company song, they work together and it was cradle to the grave security. Well, the problem we have in that market, in that place, is that there is no such thing. I mean, today, if our entrepreneurs look out there, what’s our chance? The best chance for the American economy and the best chance for our individual success is to be in your own business and to command your own destiny. So, that was, the Japanese trip was a wonderful lesson for me. And I’m flying back to the United States on a version of Air Force One with the Secretary of Commerce and he’s asking me, well how do you think we did? I think we did great. So that’s like the apex or one of those top things. Tell me about some of the awards you’ve been honored with over the years, just some of the awards that you’ve been honored with over the years. Is there any that stand out to you? I was voted for and asked to be, and I was, chairman of the Trade Association of the Promotional Products Association International. Wow. I was, five years later, they elected me into their Hall of Fame. Oh, wow. Which was a very distinctive honor at that time. I don’t think there were more than two dozen people that achieved that status. And the very fact, the exciting part to me was the success of the people that were with me and how they grew and how the company grew and how we, if we made a mistake, we’d say so and we’d go on from there. Well, you know, the question I want to ask you, it’s probably a ridiculous question because it’s, you’ve had 91 years of wisdom, you’ve been in business for over six decades, but if you had to give entrepreneurs, if an entrepreneur is watching this, one piece of wisdom that you’ve gained over the years, or maybe a couple pieces of wisdom that you’ve gained over the years that you feel like would make the biggest impact on their life right now, what would those be, or what would that word of wisdom be? One, listen. Listen to what’s going on. Two, read the newspapers and read all the headlines on what’s going on because everything affects everybody else. Three, I would be an opportunist. There are certain conditions that exist right now that didn’t exist two years ago and may not exist So you have to learn how to, as you said, fire, fire, and then you’ve got to take that chance, you’ve got to get out of the line. And you’ve got to take a risk. You’ve got to take a risk. You’ve got to take a risk. I’ve had the pleasure of working with some veterans on the stations. And you make, because veterans have a double problem. They have to make the transition from military to civilian life, then they have to make the transition to making a living out of that civilian life. Okay, what would you say to the person who’s watching who says, I am fairly risk-averse, but I want to be an entrepreneur? What would you say to that person? If you mean by risk-averse, you mean you fear risk? I’m afraid of risk. I just say I want to start a business but I just can’t take that kind of rejection. Go get a job. You’re not an entrepreneur. I couldn’t be a long distance runner with one leg. There’s no… fear is part… I wouldn’t say fear, I would say stress. Stress is part of being in business. If you don’t want stress, then you don’t want to be in business because you’re going to have stress. It’s going to come from every side. You’ve got to be prepared for it. One of my mentors was explaining to me, he says, you know, the more success you have, the more stress you have, the more stress you have, the stronger you get because you grow through resistance. And he said, you’re not going to get less stress the higher up you go. Promotion is just asking for more problems. I can’t argue with that at all. As a matter of fact, I was thinking, you mentioned I’m 91 years old. Yeah, I’ve slowed down. I can’t play golf anymore. I can’t play some of the things I used to do, but fortunately my mind is working. And fortunately we are living in 2015 where there are such things as voice programs and computers, so as an author I can write all I want even though I can’t see too damn good. Yeah. and I talk my script. So I’ve written our last two books on the voice program. Wow. On the Apple computer. And it’s the other end. Now one of the proudest moments I had, I started a organization that I called CAPS, C-A-P-S, Computer Access Program for Seniors. And what I said, every senior should know how to use a computer, not just an email with his or her family that to be in touch to do the things that you want to do. If you’re going to go into a new business, you want to check out the business. Who’s in it? What have they done before? I can’t do anything better than today’s search engine. Yeah. So all this is available now. And I think we’re very fortunate if we’re able to take advantage of it. Well, you know this, but on behalf of thrivers all over the world, currently in 39 countries every day it grows, but I appreciate you serving our country and keeping this country free. I know it wasn’t a fun task you did. And then I appreciate you coming over here and making this country great, you and these other entrepreneurs who created these jobs. And I just, I can’t thank you enough for your time and your wisdom. It just means the world to us. Thank you for letting us be here. One of the things, you asked for one thing I would leave, I just thought of it. Yeah, sure. Have fun with it. Whatever you’re doing, have fun with it. And I have fun with everything I’ve done all my life. Have fun with it. Have fun with it. Have a, get a laugh out of it. Don’t take yourself too seriously. You’re not curing cancer. You’re trying to make a few bucks to make your life better and make your family’s life better and make as many people around you as you can. But have fun with it. Well, thank you, my friend. My pleasure. All right, JT, so hypothetically, in your mind, what is the purpose of having a business? To get you to your goals. So it’s a vehicle to get you to your destination. And would you need profits to get there? I mean, when you have a business that’s successful, in your expert opinion, would you need profits to get you to your goals? Yeah, because if you have a $15 million business, but you have $15 million of expenses, it’s kind of pointless. Holy crap! 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 ten minute consultation to see if they can reduce their credit card fees by at least three thousand bucks a year. Why would they not do it? Yeah, why would they not do it? Maybe because they didn’t understand how you said the website. This tree is a symbol of the spirit of the Griswold family Christmas. No, that’s clear. Okay, so that can be true. So I encourage everybody to check out thrivetimeshow.com forward slash credit dash card thrivetimeshow.com forward slash credit dash card What would be another reason why someone would not be willing to take 10 minutes to compare rates to see if they could 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 make it more than $3,000 every 10 minutes, and they’re like nah. That’s not worth my time. There’s probably someone out there that would think that. Well, I’ll just tell you folks, if you’re out there today and you’re making less than $3,000 per 10 minutes, I would highly recommend that you go to thrivetimeshow.com forward slash credit dash hard because you can compare rates, you can save money, and 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 Profit deal This 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. I cannot think of any other reason. 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 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. But 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, uh, you know, like, uh, groceries when my wife goes to the organic stores. Find everything you need today? Yeah. Great. Okay. Oh, God. No! Everything okay, ma’am? Oh, 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, all right? What’s your name? Patricia. Patricia, all right. I need you to take a deep breath. We’re about to do the cheese. You know, that’s the difference between eating organic and not organic. So, because my wife eats organic, I had to take the 10 minutes needed to compare rates to save the $20,000 a year on credit card fees just for one of my companies. One question. What’s the brand name of the clock? The brand name of the clock, Rod, do we have it? The brand name of the clock, it’s an elegant, from Ridgway, it’s from Ridgway. Let’s buy the clock and sell the fireplace. I encourage everybody out there, go to Thrivetimeshow.com forward slash credit dash card. You schedule a free consultation, request information, a member of our team will call you, they’ll schedule a free consultation, it should take you 10 minutes or less, and they’re going to compare rates and see if they can’t save you more than $3,000 a year off of your credit card processing. You were hoping what? I wouldn’t owe you money 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. Let’s go, let’s go. 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. I just want to let you know what type of accomplishment this is. Our competition, Orkin, Terminex, they’re both $1.3 billion companies. They both have 2,000 to 3,000 pages of content attached to their website. So to basically go from virtually nonexistent on Google to up on the top page is really saying something. But it’s come by being diligent to the systems that Thrive has, by being consistent and diligent on doing podcasts and staying on top of those podcasts to really help with getting up on what they’re listing and ranking there with Google. And also, we’ve been trying to get Google reviews, asking our customers for reviews, and now we’re the highest rated and most reviewed Pest and Lawn company in the Tulsa area. That’s really helped with our conversion rate. The number of new customers that we’ve had is up 411% over last year. Wait, say that again. How much are we up? 411%. Okay. So, 411% we’re up with our new customers. Amazing. Right. So not only do we have more customers calling in, we’re able to close those deals at a much higher rate than we were before. Right now, our closing rate is about 85 percent, 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. That has obviously, the 411% shows that that system works. Yeah, so here’s a big one for you. Last week alone, our booking percentage was 91%. We actually booked more deals, 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 is by implementing the systems that Thrive has taught us and helped us out with. Some of those systems that we’ve implemented are group interviews. That way we’ve really been able to come up with a really great team. We’ve created and implemented checklists. That way 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, is it the diligence and consistency in doing those, and that system has really, really been a big blessing in our lives. And also, you know, 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. Okay, 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, that they taught us those systems, they taught us the knowledge that we needed in order to succeed. Now it’s been a grind, absolutely it’s been a grind this last year, but we’re getting those fruits from that hard work and the diligent effort that we’re able to put into it. So again, we’re in a rut. Thrive helped us get out of that rut. And if you’re thinking about working with Thrive, quit thinking about it and just do it. Do the action and you’ll get the results. It will take hard work and discipline, but that’s what it’s 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 pediatric dentist. Through our new digital marketing plan, we have seen a marked increase in the number of new patients that we’re seeing every month, year over year. One month, for example, we went from 110 new patients the previous year to over 180 new patients in the same month. And overall, our average is running about 40-42% 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 services, you’re choosing to use a proof and turnkey marketing and coaching system that will grow your practice and get you the results that you’re looking for. I went to the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry, graduated in 1983 and then I did my pediatric dental residency at Baylor College of Dentistry from 1983 to 1985. Hello my name is Charles Colaw with Colaw Fitness. Today I want to tell you a little bit about Clay Clark and how I know Clay Clark. Clay Clark has been my business coach since 2017. He’s helped us grow from two locations to now six locations. We’re planning to do seven locations in seven years and then franchise. 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. So think of this guy with a team of business coaches running 160 companies. So in the weekly he’s running 160 companies. Every six to eight weeks he’s doing reawaken America tours. Every six to eight weeks he’s also doing business conferences where 200 people show up and he teaches people a 13-step proven system that he’s done and worked with billionaires helping them grow their companies. So he’s icing 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, making it, putting it into, organizing everything in their head to building it into a franchisable, scalable business. One of his businesses has like 500 franchises. That’s just one of the companies or brands that he works with. So, amazing guy. Elon Musk, kind of like smart guy. He kind of comes off sometimes as socially awkward, but he’s so brilliant and he’s taught me so much. When I say that, Clay is like he doesn’t care what people think when you’re talking to him. He cares about where you’re going in your life and where he can get you to go. That’s what I like the most about him. He’s like a good coach. A coach isn’t just making you feel good all the time. A coach is actually helping you get to the best you. Clay has been an amazing business coach. Through the course of that we became friends. I was really most impressed with him 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. Anyways, just an amazing man. He’s impacted me a lot. He’s helped navigate. Anytime I’ve gotten nervous or worried about how to run the company or navigating competition and an economy that’s like, I remember we got closed down for three months. He helped us navigate on how to stay open, how to get back open, how to just survive through all the COVID shutdowns, lockdowns. I’m Rachel with Tip Top K9, and we just want to give a huge thank you to Clay and Vanessa Clark. Hey guys, I’m Ryan with Tip Top K9. Just want to say a big thank you to Thrive 15. Thank you to Make Your Life Epic. We love you guys. We appreciate you and really just appreciate how far you’ve taken us. This is our old house, right? This is where we used to live a few years ago. This is our old neighborhood. See, it’s nice, right? So this is my old van and our old school marketing, and this is our old team. And by team, I mean it’s me and another guy. This is our new house with our new neighborhood. This is our new van with our new marketing. And this is our new team. We went from four to 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 and I have used over and over to start and grow successful companies. When we get into the specifics, the specific steps on what you need to do to optimize your website. We’re going to teach you how to fix your conversion rate. We’re going to teach you how to do a social media marketing campaign that works. How do you raise capital? How do you get a small business loan? We teach you everything you need to know here during a two-day, 15-hour workshop. It’s all here for you. You work every day in your business, but for two days you can escape and work on your business and build these proven systems so now you can have a successful company that will produce both the time freedom and the financial freedom that you deserve. You’re going to 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 big chocolate Easter bunny, but inside of it, it was a hollow nothingness. And I wanted the knowledge, and they’re like, oh, but we’ll teach you the knowledge after our next workshop. And the great thing is we have nothing to upsell. At every workshop, we teach you what you need to know. There’s no one in the back of the room trying to sell you some next big get-rich-quick, walk-on-hot-coals product. It’s literally we teach you the brass tacks, the specific stuff that you need to know to learn how to start and grow a business. I encourage you to not believe what I’m saying, and I want you to Google the Z66 auto auction. I want you to Google elephant in the room. Look at Robert 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 loan us. 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 call. Well, okay, so Clay, it’s like I would go up and down from about $10,000 a month up to about $40,000, but it’s up and down roller coaster. And so now we’ve got it to where we’re in excess of 100 clients. That’s awesome. And so I would have anywhere from five clients to 20 clients on my own with networking, but I had no control over it. I didn’t. Without the systems, you’re going to be 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 7-8 years and I’ve got doubled 5 times. Which is just incredible. I mean the first time you do it, that’s one thing, but when you do it repeatedly, 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. 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 two to three hundred 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. 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, yeah, and or let’s say about 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 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’s 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. 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 wanna implement, no matter what you’re involved in. I would like to describe the other people that work with Clay are people that are going somewhere with their life. Marshall, in the group interview, talks about how, you know, the best fits for this organization are the people that are goal-oriented. So they’re on their own trajectory, and we’re on our own trajectory, and the best fits are those people where there can be a mutually beneficial relationship, that as we pursue our goals, and we help the business pursue those goals, the business helps us pursue our goals as well. And so I say people that are driven, people that want to make something of their lives, people that are goal-oriented, they’re focused, and they’re committed to overcoming any adversity that may come their way. Clay’s passion for helping business owners grow their businesses is, it’s unique in that, I don’t know if there’s anyone else that can be as passionate. You know, whenever a business starts working with Clay, it’s almost as like Clay is running that business in the sense that he has something at stake. You know, he’s just serving them. They’re one of his clients, but it’s as if he is actively involved in the business. Whenever they have a win, he’s posting it all over his social media. He’s shouting it across the room here at Thrive. You know, he’s sending people encouraging messages. He can kind of be that life coach and business coach in terms of being that motivator and that champion for people’s businesses. It’s again unique because there’s no one else I’ve seen get so excited about and passionate about other people’s businesses. The kind of people that wouldn’t like working with Clay are people that are satisfied with mediocrity, people that wanna get through life by just doing enough, by just getting by. People who are not looking to develop themselves, people who are not coachable, people who think that they know it all and they’re unwilling to change. I would say those are the type of people, and in short, anyone that’s content with mediocrity would not like working with Clay. So if you’re meeting Clay for the first time, the advice I’d give you is definitely come ready to take tons of notes. Every time Clay speaks he gives you a wealth of knowledge that you don’t want to miss. I remember the first time that I met Clay I literally carried a notebook with me all around. I was looking at this notebook the other day actually. I carried a notebook with me all around and I just took tons of notes. I filled the entire notebook in about 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 Be open to learning something new. Be open to challenging yourself. Be open to learning and adjusting parts about you that need to be adjusted.