Startup Business | Celebrating 4 Clay Clark Business Coaching Client Startup Success Stories + From Startup to Success Story “When I Hired Clay Our Bank Account Was Sitting On Zero. We Ended the Year With Almost $900,000.”

Audio Transcription

Transcribed with Cockatoo

My name is Danielle Sprick and I am the founder of D. Sprick Realty Group here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After being a stay -at -home mom for 12 years and my three kids started school and they were in school full -time, I was at a crossroads and trying to decide, what do I want to do? My degree and my background is in education, but after being a mom and staying home and all of that, I just didn’t have a passion for it like I once did. My husband suggested real estate. He’s a home builder, so real estate and home building go hand in hand, and we just rolled with it. I love people, I love working with people, I love the building relationships, but one thing that was really difficult for me was the business side of things.

The processes and the advertising and marketing, I knew that I did not have what I needed to make that what it should be. So I reached out to Clay at that time and he and his team have been extremely instrumental in helping us build our brand, help market our business, our agents, the homes that we represent. Everything that we do is a direct line from Clay and his team and all that they’ve done for us. We launched our brokerage, our real estate brokerage, eight months ago. And in that time, we’ve gone from myself and one other agent to just this week, we signed on our 16th agent. We have been blessed with the fact that we right now have just over 10 million in pending transactions.

Three years ago, I never would have even imagined that I would be in this role that I’m in today, building a business, having 16 agents, but I have to give credit where credit’s due. Clay and his team and the business coaching that they’ve offered us has been huge. It’s been instrumental in what we’re doing. Don’t ever limit your vision. When you dream big, big things happen. So I was introduced through a friend of mine who I do business with.

He is a builder in the Banner Elk area. Known him for years and he When he knew that I was getting ready to start my own business, he bluntly said, you’ve got to talk to Clay and his team. So what I have liked most being able to team up with a coach, Sean, who has poured into me every single week and made the path easy. It’s every week we get on a call and he gives me like, what’s the next step? And the steps are broken out into tasks that are doable for me within a week. I would not have known what I didn’t know.

So when I started the business and hired Clay, our bank account was sitting on zero and we ended the year of 2020 with almost a $900 ,000 revenue. We were what between 35 and 40 percent profitable. I would rate you past a 10. So I have actually recommended your company to multiple business owners throughout the year and will continue to do that because I know that we would not have had the revenue that we created within our first year and I know that we would not be able to look at the goals that we’ve created for this coming year. Starting a business, you really have no idea what you’re doing. And one thing that seems pretty simple that

I probably should have known and didn’t realize is that I was not a manager of any sort. I had no management, what I would call skills that I had in the past, and I had no experience in management. And With the help of Sean and Clay and their team, they have instilled those skills in me and they have taught me step -by -step how to not only manage a team, but to grow a team and how to cultivate a culture within a team that attracts talent. the team members that we’re looking for. So we’ve hired three employees. There’s four of us, including myself.

And we have, of course, I am what we would call, I guess, principal designer. And then we have another designer who is By the end of this year, we will title her as a lead designer. We have someone working in our marketing, sales, and human resources. And then we have someone working all of our back -end stuff, which would be our administrative, pricing, ordering, tracking, setting up delivery and installs. The system that you guys have helped me with is implementing the group interview. That was something that I pushed off in the beginning.

I was very skeptical on it, but now I understand and see the value in it. So what you guys have helped me to do is we hold a group interview every single week, and we basically get first impression, like who out of the group of people that showed up this week is somebody that we think is worth setting up a shadow day with us. And that was the process in which we put Alicia through, our newest employee, and she has been an employee with us for four weeks now. And I would say that she is probably an A player. And I believe the reason that we know that so early in is just because of the process that we followed with the group interview. So we spent a little over $11 ,000 in marketing, which if you had told me that before I met you, I would have thought that you were crazy.

Cause I would have, I would have, I would have had great fear in thinking that we were going to dump that kind of money into marketing in our first year. However, after looking at the numbers within the first year, we more than paid for that. We had a profit of, I think, over $12 ,000 on the money that we put into it. So coming into starting the business, I had experience with a network marketing company for a short period of time. And so I had learned, I think, the foundation of sales. However, I feel like you guys have taken that to the next level.

When I started working with you guys, what we started doing pretty soon was putting together a workflow chart and being able to break down the different steps in which our process had to be run to create the cell. And so by doing that, we have really nailed down our workflow process and we’re being able to tighten that up with every project that comes through. Yeah, so you guys from the very beginning started helping me to build systems for every task that I was doing. The main reason for that is so that when we brought people into the team, we were able to teach them on that system and they were able to teach someone else on that system. So we were able to basically take my calendar and look at different things that I was doing see what is the priority, what is not the priority, what can we take off of that calendar and dump onto somebody else’s calendar.

So we started creating systems for those so that someone else could take over that. It has changed everything. I would say that bringing her in and training her off of systems immediately has just changed sped that whole process up. I was expecting her to have at least 10 weeks of training, and here we are on four weeks. And when we had our morning huddle just this morning, she was pretty good. She said, I got this.

If I have any questions, I’ll come to you. Not that she’s not completely trained, but she’s been trained on the systems, and she’s working the systems. So it’s alleviating more time for me to be able to work more on income producing tasks while she continues to build off of the systems that we’ve trained her. So I would say that the Dream 100 has been the slowest moving system. It’s taken us longer to really get a feel for what that system needs to look like and how it needs to be run, just given the, you know, the industry that we’re in. However, I think that as far as marketing, that is the key place for our marketing is the Dream 100.

Right now, that is what is bringing in the ideal leads. And just from the growth and response that we’ve had from the Dream 100 up to this point, based off of conversations that we’re having, our biggest fear right now is that we’re going to be gaining too many leads to be able to take on this year. I would say take a leap of faith and dive into it. Be sure that you show up and you are very coachable and you take on the task that they ask you to take on and know that by doing this and by having the faith in what you’re signing up for that you will grow a business and you will grow your business fast and so I would highly recommend this to anybody. Hey, how’s it going?

I’m Thomas Crosson, owner and founder of Full Package Media in Dallas, Texas. I’ve been a coaching client with Clay Clark since the beginning of our business. We started about a year ago, August of last year. I had no clients, no idea what we were doing, no clue really what was going on. And now we’ve grown to where we’ve got six photographers, we’ve got office space here. I have an admin sales person that works for us full time, developing an online system and a lot of that growth we attribute to Clay helping us and there’s so many things that, I mean, his stuff is not revolutionary.

It’s not this crazy walk on hot coals and all this stuff. It’s just real, real stuff. And like group interviews, we were totally against group interviews. We were like, no, we’re different and we’re special and we need to do one -on -one interviews so we can find good quality candidates and not just kind of do this group interview thing. We tried that and failed miserably. We did group interviews, now we do them every two weeks.

And it’s awesome. It works good. We always have kind of an influx of new people that we can train, get going. He’s helped us a lot with our website, graphic design, SEO. SEO is another thing that I thought before I started this business and before Clay that it was kind of a joke or something that only your apples of the world and Amazon could get to the top of Google. But Clay said, no, just do these things.

follow these steps, and you’ll get there. And I think now we look today and we’re number two for Dallas Real Estate Photography. If you don’t believe me, you can look. So we’re getting to the top of there. That’s really cool. It’s really awesome to get leads that people call you and say, hey, I found you on Google.

We want to hear about your services. So that’s really great. I’d say there’s nobody out there that’s not a good coaching client for Clay. anyone, regardless of the business, it’s not about what the business is, what the specialty is. It’s about following the steps, doing what he says. You know, it’s a good thing.

An hour a week, it gets you on track and keeps you kind of in line of what you’re doing and what you shouldn’t be doing. And it’s good to kind of give you some flow and future goals of your business. And I remember our first meeting, we set our goals and our goal was to do 16 shoots a week. And at the time me and my business partner slash girlfriend Gretchen were like, oh, that’s we’re never gonna do 16 a week That’s just like crazy And today we’re doing nine and we did about 54 last week. So He’s helped us grow, you know, we put in a lot of hours a lot of hard work as well But if you follow his steps and do what he do what he says There’s a lot of principles that he’s kind of taught and still in us That help us. So yeah, click Clark.

He’s the way to go. I want it venture out to find someone else, they’d be more expensive and a lot more fluff and no real actionable work and things to get your business growing. So that’s the way to go. I started a business because I couldn’t work for anyone else. I do things my way. I do what I think is in the best interest of the patient.

I don’t answer insurance companies. I don’t answer to large corporations. I answer to my patient and that’s it. My thought when I opened my clinic was I can do this all myself. I don’t need additional outside help in many ways. I mean, I went to medical school.

I can figure this out. But it was a very, very steep learning curve. Within the first six months of opening my clinic, I had a $63 ,000 embezzlement. I lost multiple employees. Clay helped us weather the storm of some of the things that are just a lot of people experience, especially in the medical world. He was instrumental in helping with the specific written business plan.

He’s been instrumental in hiring good quality employees, using the processes that he outlines for getting in good talent, which is extremely difficult. He helped me in securing the business loans. He helped me with web development. and search engine optimization. We’ve been able to really keep a steady stream of clients coming in because they found us on the web. With everything that I encountered, everything that I experienced, I quickly learned it is worth every penny to have someone in your team that can walk you through and even avoid some of the pitfalls that are almost invariable in starting your own business.

I’m Dr. Chad Edwards and I own Revolution Health and Wellness Clinic. be on your show. Thank you for all you do. I hear the ripple effects from you are good ripple effects. You know what I mean? People rave about what they learn from you.

So congratulations. And we went from expecting maybe $250 ,000 this year to we’re at $400 ,000. Hi, I’m Kelsey with K &D’s Wooder Finishing. I’m a business owner at 23. So I’ve been working this K &D’s company for about five years now, and we started working with Thrive. What I’ve seen from Clay and his group at Thrive is they’ll give you a simple system.

And it’s the simple systems are the ones that people can wrap their brain around. They’re the ones that people can work with on a day -to -day basis. Hi there, my name is Stephanie Pipkin. I am 24 years old and I own Black River Falls Cleaning Services. We opened in April of 2019 and it is now mid -June of 2020. So I wanted to talk today about the success and growth I have achieved by implementing the proven path with Clay Clark’s team and my business coach, Luke, from Thrive Time.

It has been insane, to say the least. I started working with them in mid -February of this year, so we’re about four months in of working together, and it has completely transformed my business in pretty much every facet. So I’m gonna check my notes here. So in four months my leads have tripled. I was getting probably like two leads a week now I’m getting more in the like 10 to 15 leads a week. I have doubled my number of employees.

I’m now hitting the highest revenue weeks in the history of the company. to week it seems like We went from about six appointments today as our highest in February to now 14 to 15 appointments a day and Hiring quality employees has become much simpler and less stressful by using their systems for hiring. I typically only get maybe two complaints a month if that and everybody shows up to work. I just have really high quality employees now, especially in something people typically consider a high turnover type of work, you know, cleaning houses, cleaning businesses. I have amazing employees now and I get rid of the ones who are not so amazing and bring on new ones because of, you know, group interviews and interviewing every single week. It’s just been great and I don’t waste as much time on… low -quality candidates anymore and your coach will hold you accountable I mean which I love again the tough love is really great you know looks like a a stern father figure but he’s also nice but also stern when he needs to be when I’m being lazy and not doing the things that I know I need to do because I don’t want to do them so that’s just great worth every penny I mean I pay him a million dollars a month if I can and maybe someday I’ll be able to but I would just say go for it if it seems like a good fit just go for it Do what they say, even if you think it’s stupid or ridiculous, just do what they say because it’ll work.

You know, people, when they look at my business, you know, people in my town, they think I’m lucky. They think I’m just, you know, things just happen for me. And you know, maybe I am lucky, but it has a lot to do with hard work and, you know, perseverance and, you know, working till you cry sometimes. That’s just being an entrepreneur, which if you’re a business owner, you understand that. But it’s having these systems in place of, you know, of course I’m going to be successful. It’s an absolute, because I have all this stuff in the background happening.

And I have Luke and Clay and everybody on their team working really hard to make sure that I’m a success. And I can tell that they are just so excited every single week when I’m having all these wins and things like that. They’re so excited for me. So it just, it’s the best thing ever. And I would suggest to anybody to work with them. So sorry for the long winded reply, but I just had so much to say and I could go on for hours probably.

about how amazing they are. But thank you to Clay and Luke and the entire team there, everything you guys have done for me, and I am so excited to continue to work with you for years to come. Thanks so much for watching. My saying is, if it’s important to you, hire a coach. And I think that’s one of the reasons people are not successful is they, you know, they eat a cheeseburger instead of hiring a coach. You know what I mean?

And so, My coach pushes me. They’re younger than me. They push harder. They’re trained. And as my rich dad always said, you know, amateurs don’t have a coach, but professionals always have coaches. So I’ve always had coaches for whatever was important.

My rich dad was one of those persons. I wanted to learn how to play Monopoly in real life. So he was my coach. Play Clark, man. He is one character. It’s a good word for character.

Yeah, that is it. He’s good, driven, smart, and I’ve never met a guy who was so hyper all the time. He’s doing so much good. And then I met his mother, and she just says, she just lets him be Clay Clark. I mean, so, you know, he’s endorsed by his mother, and he’s doing magnificent work. So, it was great meeting you out there and all the people that he surrounds himself with.

His, Clay Clark starts his days at home. o ‘clock in the morning. Oh, it’s incredible. Yeah, he’s he’s like, he’s he’s a machine. He’s a machine. But his you know, I could I have problems with my company starting at nine o ‘clock.

Yes. Hundreds of people showing up at 5am in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Man, he’s a leader of a leader. He’s a fantastic young man. No, he is. He is.

Clay Clark is here somewhere. Where’s my buddy, Clay? Clay’s the greatest. I met his goats today. I met his dogs. I met his chickens.

I saw his compound. He’s, like, the greatest guy. I ran from his goats, his chickens, his dogs. So this guy’s, like, the greatest marketer you’ve ever seen, right? His entire life, Clay Clark, his entire life is marketing. 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.

I mean, we get into the specifics, the specific steps on what you need to do to optimize your website. We’re going to teach you how to fix your conversion rate. 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 own. 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 the thrive15 . com 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 Thrive15 . com workshop, we teach you what you need to know.

There’s no one in the back of the room trying to sell you some next big, get rich quick, walk on hot coals product. It’s literally, we teach you the brass tacks, the specific stuff that you need to know to learn how to start and grow a business. And I encourage you to not believe what I’m saying. And I want you to Google the Z66 auto auction. I want you to Google elephant in the room. Look at Robert, 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’ll even give you your money back if you don’t love it. We’ve built this facility for you, and we’re excited to see you.

Transcribed with Cockatoo