Entrepreneur | Dealing With The 7 Myths Of Franchising

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 hear what we got. Cullen Dixon’s on the hooks, I’ve written the books. He’s bringing some wisdom and the good looks. As a 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. Terry, thank you for being here, my friend. Clay, good to be here. Thank you. Hey, we were talking about dealing with the seven myths of franchising. So we’re going to get a little mythological here. And now, Terry, you’ve traveled all around the world. You’ve given many talks about the myths of franchising. And so this is sort of your bread and butter here. And so today, we’re going to talk specifically about the seven myths of franchising. And these include myth number one, I’ll only be successful if I find the right business. Myth number two, I can only be successful doing something I love, business, franchise, doing something you love. Myth number three, I’ll instantly know the right opportunity when I see it. Myth number four, I can’t be in a business I know nothing about. Myth number five, there’s no freedom in a franchise. Corporate dictates everything. Myth number six, franchises stifle creativity. And myth number seven, I can’t afford a franchise. And so we’re going to get into these these myths here. And so Terry myth number one. Okay here we go. I’ll only be successful if I find the right business. In your mind and from your experience what is why is it this a myth that someone can in fact find the right franchise? What does that mean? Well this kind of comes from stems from the idea that it’s sort of a needle in a haystack process. That there’s really only maybe one or two ideal businesses that are right for me. And, you know, I’m that unique that the business needs to match up to all these elements, when in fact the opposite is true in franchising. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of business models in franchising that will actually exceed the expectations of the individual looking to be in that business. So you’re saying to me, if I’m saying I’m looking for that one out of 3,000 franchises, the perfect one, the utopic one, you’re saying, calm down, there’s several of them out there that could work for you, right? Absolutely. Okay. Now, if I feel like I can’t find the right business for me, what kind of franchise business should I be looking for? If I’m like, I’ve looked at all of them, and I just can’t find the right one, what would you say to me? How would you, I guess, correct my thinking there? Well, from experience, most people will go about it from a standpoint is I’ll know it when I see it. So the reason they haven’t found, and they’ve been looking at a lot of things, is they’re really looking for something to happen to them that signals that it’s the right franchise without having much of a plan or thought out about what it is I’m looking to accomplish with that business. So they don’t look at the business as something that’s going to drive specific results. They look at it from making a connection, almost like falling in love. So what are some of the unrealistic expectations that franchise owners may, or potential franchise owners may set when it comes to finding the right business? Is it just that they’re going to find that true love when they see it? Is that the biggest one? Yeah, well, I’ll know it when I see it as the most common one. And then it drills down into all kinds of things. Can I go to the country club and play golf and feel good telling my buddies I’m in that business? So there’s an ego aspect of it. There’s a pride associated with it. And that’s not uncommon. And most franchise businesses will overcome that. Although I understand the guy that invented the little umbrellas that go in the tropical drinks, and patented that, has made over a billion dollars just selling those little umbrellas. Sometimes it doesn’t matter what the business is. Those are the types of things that people get caught up on, because they feel it’s that big of a jump or a leap that they have to be so precise that anything outside of that accuracy will mean failure, which is really what they’re fearing. Now, myth number two is I can only be successful doing something I love, or doing a business or franchise that involves doing something I love. Terry, how could it possibly be wrong to exclusively focus on finding a business or franchise doing something that I love? It’s not necessarily wrong. It’s just a myth. It’s not necessarily the case, because if you go and look in the bookstore or go online and read articles, there are going to be thousands of articles and books written about go-do which you know, love, and enjoy, and success will follow. Now, if you look at that in results of what people do who launch those businesses outside of franchising, following that advice, is they have the highest failure rate, and they have the most experienced background and knowledge. In franchising, 97% of the people who own franchises never had any background or experience or knowledge of it, don’t even necessarily love the product or service before, and have the highest success rate. So it’s a myth from a standpoint of the way people approach it. So you’re saying that I should really make a list of things I love to do and then find a franchise that can help me spend more time doing those kinds of things as opposed to finding out what I love and finding a business that does directly that all day. Exactly. The business is designed to accomplish an environment for you and your family to be able to live the dream, not that the dream is the business or the perfect model or something you’re comfortable with. Makes sense. Guys, especially, we have egos, and we let that get in the way of we need to be one with the business, we think. And the business needs to be us, rather than using it as that vehicle. Now myth number three here. I know, or I’ll instantly know the right opportunity when I see it. Terry, you are in the franchising, you’ve been doing this all day, every day for years, and you hear people make the statement, well, I’m just going to know the right opportunity when I see it. In your mind, why is it a wrong belief that, and even potentially a dangerous belief, to have this belief that you’re going to know it when you see it? Why is it dangerous or why is it risky? Well you kind of have to look at what do they base that on, and they base that on their current reality. And you know, clients tell us all the time that they’re very realistic in the way they approach their lives and the way they’re going to approach researching a business. What we’re really saying when we say we’re very focused on realities, we’re focused on everything we know up to this point. Because our reality comes from that. But we now eliminate possibilities. And when you eliminate possibilities beyond something that will connect with you emotionally, you overlook the really emphasis of why a business is designed to be that vehicle. It’s kind of a story time with Terry Powell moment here. Can you think of an example of a business owner that you’ve met with who now owns a franchise, who found something that they weren’t actually that interested in, but is now making bukus of dollars to the point where they now can focus on these kind of hobbies all the time? Kind of an interesting story. It was one of the last clients I worked with before I stopped coaching to drive and build the franchise business. The gentleman was very successful in the construction business and had grown it very successfully, made millions of dollars, and had built it to turn it over to his sons who were now taking that business to build for themselves. And he was looking for something. He just couldn’t retire. So I remember I showed him a number of businesses, and pretty much everything I showed him, he discounted. And he said, nah, that’s not for me, that’s not for me. So we talked about, well, when are you going to know when you’re going to see it? And he said, well, you know, we went through that process. Long story short, when we got to the three business models, he totally dismissed one without even, before I could get it out of my mouth, and that was the haircare franchise. Right. And the other two, he said, you know, I’m not crazy about these, he said, but I’m going to listen to you. I know you said it’s about not making decisions. It’s about discovering some information, but I’m not going to do anything on this one. So I let him go ahead and take that path, and he came back over the time, and I said, you know, this is missing, that’s missing. I said, you remember that other business you discounted? What if we look beyond where your thoughts were about that and we found that those weren’t necessarily the case? He said, I don’t think that’ll happen. I said, well, we’re not making any decisions, so do you trust me enough to explore that? He said, yeah, you. Well, today you own seven of those. Really? Yeah. But he just right away from the beginning say, I’m not going to get into the haircutting business because… He said you couldn’t pay me to own a haircare. Because of probably that ego thing and probably that, that just that all those non-logical… But he actually sits, he actually spends time traveling and has multiple homes. He actually can run those businesses, those seven businesses, which are not in the same state, like you would manage watching satellites orbit at NASA Control Center in Florida after they were launched. And that’s how he runs those businesses. Really? He keeps his finger on the pulse of a great lifestyle. That’s amazing. That’s amazing. Now, Terry, I think that it’s, you know, we say it’s important that we tell people, you don’t want to buy into the myth that you’re going to know the right opportunity when you see it. But at the same time, what are some of the variables that I should be looking for then to know if it is the right kind of franchise? Well that comes from determining when you’re going to know it. So we work on the goals, needs, and expectations around the possibilities profile. And people can typically describe what they don’t want more than, easier than they can what they do want. So we take them through an exercise that really asks the tough questions about what’s this going to look like when we get there. Okay. And what’s the real why for you? Why are you exploring it? But more importantly, why will you build that business? What are you looking to accomplish? And they actually come to a self-discovery process about their building that income, lifestyle, wealth, and equity. And then they start to really connect the reason why we planted that seed. So it really starts with figuring out that profile and what you’re looking for and what your goals are. Start there. Focus there. Okay. Now myth number four, I can’t be in a business I know nothing about. Now Terry, how am I going to have any success in a business if I have no knowledge in particular of what that is? Like example, if I bought a piece of franchise, a pizza franchise, and I have no idea about making pizzas, I have no background, I’m not Italian, I don’t know anybody who makes pizzas. How can I possibly be successful there? It’s a legitimate question and it’s a large concern for most people because when they express that, I’ll say, well, have you ever owned a business before? They’ll say, well, no. Well, how do you know you’re going to be successful in business if you’ve never owned one before? They typically say, well, I’ve been managing and driving success in business for others all my career. So that’s what I want to connect, is they have the model of being able to execute. Now using the business model to do that. I don’t have background or knowledge, which means in the work environment, if I were interviewing for a position, I would be rejected immediately. So therefore, in their minds, if I don’t have the background experience, why would I go to this business? Because I wouldn’t succeed in any other career choice. There’s a lot of top-level managers out there who actually explained, have explained to me that they hire people who don’t have an experience in a particular area because they bring a threat, they bring a, they’re they’re malleable, they’re trainable, they don’t bring bad habits, but they say they’re looking for a coachable attitude and a tradable attitude. That’s kind of what you need to have if you’re gonna buy a franchise, right? Absolutely. You have to be open to the fact that those possibilities in a proven model are going to allow you to bring your energies and resources together with that business model and create a synergy that is the results. OK, so now we’re moving on to myth number five here. Myth number five. There’s no freedom in a franchise corporate environment. Basically, there’s no freedom in a franchise because corporate dictates everything. Can you walk me through why this is not the case? Well, let’s talk a little bit about why they get to that conclusion. Yeah, it’s interesting. When you look at a franchise license agreement, which is what this is, is it feels very confining until you look at it from a standpoint. You ask, how can this protect me and the others who invested in this franchise? So it seems restrictive when, in fact, it really is protective in nature. So once they get an understanding of that, they don’t feel so confined. But there are guardrails that in a franchise you must be willing to stay within. Not everyone is well suited for that. I wouldn’t work well in a franchise model. I’m more entrepreneurial. I like to be creative, get outside, and challenge the guardrails. But most people are much better off in an environment where they have those guardrails and they can really focus on those. So what’s an example that you’ve seen or can you think of an example in your career, kind of a, what’s a story you can think of, of somebody who maybe bought a franchise and has been able to be creative in a bunch of other areas of your life because of the financial success but maybe had to stick within the guardrails? Well, the beauty of a franchise is you get to have creativity in the marketing of it. Because there’ll be a myriad of things that that franchisor will provide that you can market to generate revenues and drive business. And more than anyone will ever be able to execute on. Because they know that franchisees will pick different ones based on their style, their personality, what they’re comfortable with as far as marketing and doing business development for that. So there’s a lot of creativity. The franchise is never going to dictate things just for the purpose of dictating. It’s an interdependent win-win relationship. The only reason they’re keeping you in those guardrails is to maximize your results on your investment. So the whole idea that there’s no freedom, you’re saying, hey, there is freedom. You get to choose what kind of marketing materials you want. You get to choose who you hire. You get to choose where you’re going to open and what city you’ll be in. There’s a lot of things you can choose. It just protects you from making crazy decisions that could destroy the brand for everybody else. And when clients get challenged about that, I ask a simple question. Is it more important to you to have the freedom to do what you want to do or to have the results that will drive your income, lifestyle, wealth, and equity? If you had to make a choice, what would be more important? And if they say, well, I want the freedom to make my own choices and not follow the rules, then we suggest to them that they need to start their own business, not to go into a franchise. It’s very interesting that you can view the same rules as in one case you might say, well, this is corporate constantly micromanaging me. You could look at it that way. Sure. Corporate is micromanaging me. Or you could look at it as, no, they’re protecting the brand. Because I know for me, if I put money into buying a franchise and there’s some crazy guy doing stuff that’s getting national attention for being bizarre and breaking rules, I don’t want to be associated with that. So it’s interesting how just that mindset you have to have here. All right, Terry, we’re talking about myth number six here, that franchises stifle creativity just in general. You know, franchises stifle creativity. Terry, why do so many entrepreneurs believe that they won’t be able to be very creative within a franchise system? Why do they believe that? A lot of times there are people that are looking at franchise systems that really aren’t truly entrepreneurs. And they’re not quite as concerned about that as more entrepreneurial people will be. But all of them have concerns that they’ll be stifled from being able to add their personal side to it, their creativity to it. And the beauty of franchising is that they understand that about the relationship between the franchisor and the franchisee. So they actually factor into the business model areas that, where that franchisee and their team can actually customize marketing, promotions, business development, community involvement, all types of things beyond most people’s ability to be creative to allow them to express and exercise that. So you’ve worked with thousands of franchise owners. I mean, how much does corporate really kill creativity or does it even kill creativity in your mind? I mean, what’s the limits here? What’s the… Well, the reality is some of the greatest improvements to every franchise system in existence came from franchisees being creatively minded, but not just jumping to implement it without working with the franchisor to test it first. Okay. So there’s a lot of room. The example of McDonald’s menu board, if you take off hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries, Coke, and milkshake, everything that’s left came from franchisees looking to improve the business. Every one of Ray Kroc’s ideas failed. In fact, the idea of going into breakfast in McDonald’s is kind of an interesting creativity aspect where a lot of franchisees were really pressing this issue, but most didn’t want to do it because it meant they had to be open longer hours. So they took a vote and 96 percent of the franchisees were against breakfast. But McDonald’s had already done the research and determined that if they didn’t make this shift, that their franchisees revenues would continue to decline. One year after they implemented Breakfast, I think it was 93% said, thanks for not letting us make that decision. It’s the best thing we’ve ever done. So it is a deal where a lot of, in that case, a lot of franchisees didn’t want to switch over to this new model. But corporate had done the research and tested it and said, we’re going to go with it. And then later on, they came back and saw the value in that decision. So it sounds like you can be creative, but corporate’s gonna try to make the best decision for everyone to be successful. They’re not gonna allow you just to set your own building on fire just because you wanna exercise your ability to set fires, right? Yeah, the key is most people talk about best practices. In a franchise, there are no such thing as best practices. There’s only the current license model to do business in. Everything else would be considered next practices. So it’s testing, making sure before they’re implemented that they’re being researched as being a next practice. So that’ll be the next version of the improvement of the model. Now, myth number seven, our final myth here, is I can’t afford a franchise. Terry, we have some specific additional trainings up here on Thrive where people can really learn about specifically how to finance their business, but as a general belief, how prevalent is this belief that I can’t afford a franchise or to get in the franchise business? When you meet somebody who kind of expresses interest, how common is that belief? How widespread is it? It’s very common. When I do this session at the national franchise shows, I ask them why they’re all there, and they kind of laugh. Well, we’re here looking for an opportunity. So how long have you been doing it? And they’ll talk about it. I’ll say, what’s holding you back? The number one thing is money. So the perception is that I don’t have enough, or it’s going to be difficult to obtain, or that it takes far more than I could ever afford, when the reality is just the opposite of that. It’s kind of a broad question, but how affordable are franchises to the average person in your mind? Well, the affordability aspect is really not the important factor as much as it is looking at it from a standpoint of how do I invest properly to get a maximum return. So when I’m thinking of affordability, I’m typically thinking of things that are commodities that don’t appreciate in value. Usually, I spend my money by investing it into a franchise business, is going to be an appreciated value and asset. So it’s a major concern of how you do that, but the fact of the matter is with the right amount of education, awareness, and discovery, you can come to realize that there’s multiple ways to fund a franchise business. And lots of times it’ll be using two or three different funding options consecutively for that investment that’ll make the difference. Well, Terry, I appreciate you dealing with these myths. I think these are things that a lot of us, they get in the way of being able to take that first step when it comes to buying a franchise. We have these myths. And obviously, you haven’t been in the business for 30 years, you know what these seven are. So I appreciate your time more than you know, my friend. Great, thank you, Clay. Thank you. Good talking to you. Alright JT, so hypothetically, in your mind, what is the purpose of having a business? To get you to your goals. So it’s a vehicle to get you to your destination. And would you need profits to get there? I mean, when you have a business that’s successful, in your mind, in your expert opinion, would you need profits to get you to your goals? Yeah, because if you have a $15 million business, but you have $15 million of expenses, it’s kind of pointless. Holy crap. All right. So the question I would have here for you, if you could take like 10 minutes or less and see if you could save 3000 bucks 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 don’t understand how you set the website. This tree is a symbol of the spirit of the Griswold family Christmas. Now that’s clear. 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 ten 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 that it won’t, it’s not possible. If there’s somebody out there that’s making more than $3,000 every 10 minutes and they’re like, nah, that’s not worth my time. Hello! We getting there, everybody! We getting there, everybody! There’s probably some, someone out there. Okay. They 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 it because you can compare rates you can save money and you know the big the big goal and 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. 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. rates with this company here called IPS. It’s integrated payment services and I scheduled a consultation. I don’t know that 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 particular case, I save over $20,000 a year. Holy crap! Wow. Which is like groceries when my wife goes to the organic stores. Find everything you need today? Yeah. Great. Okay. Oh, God. Everything okay, ma’am? It’s just that you’ve only scanned a few items and it’s already $60. 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 Ridgeway, it’s from Ridgeway. 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 gonna 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 would know you money No, you don’t owe us money because 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, okay? I just want to let you know what type of accomplishment this is. Our competition, Orkin, Terminex, they’re both 1.3 billion dollar companies. They both have two to three thousand pages of content attached to their website. So to basically go from virtually non-existent on Google to up on the top page is really saying something. But it’s come by being diligent to the systems that Thrive has. By being consistent and diligent on doing podcasts and staying on top of those podcasts to really help with getting up on what they’re listing and ranking there with Google. And also we’ve been trying to get Google reviews, you know, asking our customers for reviews. And now we’re the highest rated and most reviewed Pessimon company in the Tulsa area. And that’s really helped with our conversion rate. And the number of new customers that we’ve had is up 411% over last year. Wait, say that again. How much are we up? 411%. Okay, so 411% we’re up with with our new customers. Amazing. Right. So not only do we have more customers calling in, we’re able to close those deals at a much higher rate than we were before. Right now, our closing rate is about 85%. And that’s largely due to, first of all, like our Google reviews that we’ve gotten people really see that our customers are happy, but also we have a script that we follow. And so when customers call in, they get all the information that they need. That script has been refined time and time again. It wasn’t a one-and-done deal. It was a system that we that we followed with Thrive and in the refining process. And that has obviously, the 411% shows that that system works. Yeah, so here’s a big one for you. So last week alone, our booking percentage was 91%. We actually booked more deals and more new customers last year than we did the first five months or I’m sorry the first we booked more deals last week than we did the first five months of last year from before we worked with Thrive. So again, we booked more deals last week than the first five months of last year. It’s incredible, but the reason why we have that success is by implementing the systems that Thrive has taught us and helped us out with. Some of those systems that we’ve implemented are group interviews. That way we’ve really been able to come up with a really great team. We’ve created and implemented checklists. Everything gets done and it gets done right. It creates accountability. We’re able to make sure that everything gets done properly, both out in the field and also in our office. And also doing the podcast, like Jared had mentioned, that has really, really contributed to our success. But that, like I said, the diligence and consistency in doing those in 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. 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, they taught us those systems, they taught us the knowledge that we needed in order to succeed. Now it’s been a grind, absolutely it’s been a grind this last year, but we’re getting those fruits from that hard work and the diligent effort that we’re able to put into it. So again, we were in a rut, Thrive helped us get out of that rut, and if you’re thinking about working with Thrive, quit thinking about it and just do it. Do the action, and you’ll get the results. It will take hard work and discipline, but that’s what it’s gonna take in order to really succeed. So, we just wanna give a big shout out to Thrive, a big thank you out there to Thrive. We wouldn’t be where we’re at now without their help. Hi, I’m Dr. Mark Moore, I’m a pediatric dentist. Through our new digital marketing plan, we have seen a marked increase in the number of new patients that we’re seeing every month, year over year. One month, for example, we went from 110 new patients the previous year to over 180 new patients in the same month. And overall, our average is running about 40 to 42 percent 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 Dentistry from 1983 to 1985. Hello my name is Charles Colaw with Colaw Fitness. Today I want to tell you a little bit about Clay Clark and how I know Clay Clark. Clay Clark has been my business coach since 2017. He’s helped us grow from two locations to now six locations. We’re planning to do seven locations in seven years and then franchise. Clay has done a great job of helping us navigate anything that has to do with running the business, building the systems, the checklists, the workflows, the audits, how to navigate lease agreements, how to buy property, how to work with brokers and builders. This guy is just amazing. This kind of guy has worked in every single industry. He’s written books with Lee Crockrell, head of Disney, with the 40,000 cast members. He’s friends with Mike Lindell. He does Reawaken America tours where he does these tours all across the country where 10,000 or more people show up to some of these tours. On the day-to-day, he does anywhere from about 160 companies. He’s at the top. He has a team of business coaches, videographers, graphic designers, and web developers. They run 160 companies every single week. So 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. So 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, making it, putting it into, organizing everything in their head to building it into a franchisable, scalable business. Like 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 him 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 of 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. 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 and the guy’s integrity just really wowed me. It brought tears to my eyes to see that this guy, his highest desire was to do what’s right and anyways, just an amazing man. So anyways, impacted me a lot. He’s helped navigate anytime I’ve 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 ten 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 Thrivetime 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 system 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 small business loan? We teach you everything you need to know here during a two-day, 15-hour workshop. It’s all here for you. You work every day in your business, but for two days you can escape and work on your business and build these proven systems so now you can have a successful company that will produce both the time freedom and the financial freedom that you deserve. You’re gonna leave energized, motivated, but you’re also gonna leave empowered. The reason why I built these workshops is because as an entrepreneur, I always wish that I had this. And because there wasn’t anything like this, I would go to these motivational seminars, no money down, real estate, Ponzi scheme, get motivated seminars, and they would never teach me anything. It was like you went there and you paid for the big chocolate Easter bunny, but inside of it, it was a hollow nothingness. And I wanted the knowledge, and they’re like, oh, but we’ll teach you the knowledge after our next workshop. And the great thing is we have nothing to upsell. At every workshop, we teach you what you need to know. There’s no one in the back of the room trying to sell you some next big get-rich-quick, walk-on-hot-coals product. It’s literally, we teach you the brass tacks, the specific stuff that you need to know to learn how to start and grow a business. 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 it. We built this facility for you and we’re excited to see it. 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. Okay, so Clay, it’s like I would go up and down from about $10,000 a month up to about $40,000, but it’s up and down roller coaster. And so now we’ve got it to where we’re in excess of 100 clients. That’s awesome. And so I would have anywhere from 5 clients to 20 clients on my own with networking, but I had no control over it. I didn’t. Without the systems, you’re going to be 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 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. So that’s when it 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 it will give you X number of leads you follow up with those leads Turns into sales. Well, I tell you, you know, it’s 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 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. On that script! So she’s making how many calls a day? She’s making between two and three hundred calls a day. And our relationship is weird in that we do, if someone were to buy an Apple computer today, or let’s say 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. That’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 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. 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 about business in terms of the different categories. I don’t learn 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. You know 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 the mindset that I’ve gained here has been huge. You know, working here, you can’t be a mediocre person. You are a call to a higher standard of excellence. And then as you’re called to that standard here, you begin to see those outcomes in every area of your life, that standard of excellence that you want to implement no matter what you’re involved in. I would like to describe the other people that work with Clay are people that are going somewhere with their life. Marshall in the group interview talks about how, you know, the best fits for this organization are the people that are goal-oriented. So they’re on their own trajectory and we’re on our own trajectory. And the best fits are those people where there can be a mutually beneficial relationship, that as we pursue our goals and we help the business pursue those goals, the business helps us pursue our goals as well. And so I’d say people that are driven, people that want to make something of their lives, people that are goal-oriented, 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 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 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 learning and adjusting parts about you that need to Be open to challenging yourself, be open to learning and adjusting parts about you that need to be adjusted.