Welcome back to the Thrive Time Show on the radio. This is an extension of the NPR network where we talk about feelings and business coach things. No, it’s not. It’s the Thrive Time Show on your radio and if you are looking for a new place to call home, if you’re looking for a place on the radio dial to stick around for a while … Back in the day before it was digital, Z, people had to dial. You had to dial that thing and it was too much to change it and so what we’re finding is many Thrivers are saying they are beginning to change their schedule to block out the two hours.
We have one guy, this is a true story, he says, “I now have arranged my work schedule so I can hear the whole thing.” And I’m like, “No, you didn’t.” He goes, “No, I did because there’s a thing where I keep getting these business coach nuggets and I apply them all day and so I just ask to leave a little bit earlier, stay a little bit later.” Whatever. He adjusted … So he has a two-hour break in the middle of the day. He stays later, gets there earlier because your mind is what your mind is fed. Uh-oh. Your mind is what your mind is fed. What you think about, you bring about and your net worth is your network so who you surround yourself with impacts you, how you think. What you feed your mind … Your mind is what it is fed. So your mind, you, the listener right now, what are you feeding your mind? That’s a business coach question.
So, here we go. Z, Justin Moore, he’s the founder of Elephant in the Room. Full disclosure, he is my brother in law. But, he’s been building that business faithfully, diligently, doing his thing, it’s his vision, we just power the Death Star as a business coach client that turns those dreams into a reality but it’s his vision, his plan, his experience. So Justin gets to ask you any question. Jackson gets to ask you any business question and then Sam the Man, we have to get nine minutes of power, let’s make it happen. So Justin, any business question for Z, you got it.
Justin: I’ve got like eight questions but Dr. Z may not realize this but he’s a generous man. He opens his house every Thanksgiving and I snuck in a couple times and … So I realized when you haven’t mentored or business coach someone and you want to be part of their life, you have to be an asset because you probably aren’t knocking down my door, Dr. Z. Clay had to be an asset to you in some way or some form there so I’ve never seen an extensive collection of … I don’t know if you personally hunt but I want some of that, the game you have on the wall. We just got our first deer mount on the wall at one of our shops so we want to … And Dr. Z, just said he was going to be a life long member so you may see him at the shop, you can ask as many questions as you want but come out and see him next week. He’s going to be out there.
But, my question is, the more asset do you have to have early on, and I can say personally as a entrepreneur that it’s lonely, it’s scary, it’s almost like leaving the cave of fire, of security, of … Just to small rations of food and you’re on this mountain and you want to go higher but it’s storming and you don’t know what’s on the other side of the mountain and it’s beautiful on the other side of the mountain. But, when did you feel that you reached that moment of I’ve made it or have you yet but, what was contributing factors along the way as far as your mindset and these businesses that you just talked about today?
Audio Recording: It’s so nice up on the mountain. I have a little business coach cave man. I go back into. I sit there and meditate and I say to myself, “How did I get up here?” [inaudible 01:18:02] And I look down and I go, “That was a long way to climbing.”
Dr. Zelner: You know, Justin. That’s an excellent question and I think one of the things that I encourage young entrepreneurs to do is to not look down. I know it’s a silly kind of business coach analogy. It’s climbing up the mountain and climbing up something but a lot of time we get so concerned about the fall. We get so concerned about things that can go wrong. We get so concerned about what if’s that we just don’t keep our eye on the prize and just keep going forward. You know, there’s a reason why the eyes are in the front of our head, not in the back of our head, and that is just that forward mindset of it just doesn’t matter. You can have a horrible day, you can go a horrible review, you can have someone call up and just yell and just be just so mad at you and you can let it. You can let it ruin your day. You can let it ruin your week. You can let it ruin your month. You can let it ruin your business. You can let that happen. Or, you can say to yourself, “You know? I have a singular focus and my focus is that I’m going to fight through whatever adversity comes my way.” And, I probably felt that way about … I started in ’91 and it probably took about four or five years before I really felt myself.
Now, I’m a little bit more on autopilot on some of the things that are going on. You know what I’m saying? It’s kind of like, the first [inaudible 01:19:19] a business that makes it three years are going to make it for the most prat, right? The three year cycle on a business is the most treacherous for a business. Your first year is very treacherous. Second year you get a little more … And the third year, you can get those … Now, you’ve got that traction. Now, you’re really starting to roll. So probably year four or five I really felt that and that’s why I started looking at doing other businesses and so when you start to do those multiple businesses that means that you feel confident in the team you have to run that first business or to help and to maintain it.
Clay Park: And for the few who are listening, the reason why you chose not to just scale your optometric clinic and to open up multiple locations is because a little bit of the law. We don’t have time to get in all the details but you realized it was a better decision for you to take over Tulsa then it would be to go all around the country opening up stores. Because you had already done that when you’d served as your role in leadership with what? iMark?
Dr. Zelner: Yes. I was president of iMark for years and doing job from as a matter of fact. That’s a whole nother story. Maybe we’ll get to it one of these days and tell you all about it. But, the thing is is this is I said to myself, “Hey, listen. I can leverage the name. I can leverage the branding that I’ve done in this town.” That’s the thing you’ve got to understand. You get that vertical integration of leveraging what you’ve already done. You build off your past success especially when you get a business coach.
So when I started my auto auction and I would go call on a car dealer-
Clay Park: They knew the name.
Dr. Zelner: And they knew the name and I could get the mean, I could get the golden look. I could get that because they’re like, “I’ve heard of you.”
Clay Park: Now, I wanted to distill what he just said into something you can write down. One is fear. Fear is false evidence appearing real. He doesn’t put up with that. There’s no fear. No false evidence [crosstalk 01:20:48]. Focus stands for focus on core tasks until success. He does it. He talks it. He does it. It’s amazing. I just kind of distill it into witty little things you can remember but fear, false evidence, spearing wheel, you don’t up with it. Focus. You stay focused. Jackson, any question? Ask the Zohan.
Jackson: I got one question. It’s more of a personal style of question because everybody
Jackson: That’s what it is. And everybody faces personal problems but I mean, you’ve built quite a few companies. People have problems with their families, relationships, friends, whatever. What was the biggest personal challenge that you had when you were trying to start up your company. In the earliest days of your company, what was the biggest thing that you had to overcome so that you can grow and get to where you are now?
Dr. Zelner: The first thing that popped into my mind, which I’m not sure is … It wasn’t the biggest problem but it’s the first thing that popped in my mind and that is, when you start your business you grab help from wherever you can and so that is why we are business coach wizards. You grab family members and then sure they’re after you. They have that kind of entitled, entitlement kind of a bit to it.
Clay Clark: Hey, I’m going to come in a little bit later. Everyone else is on time but I’ll later. I’m related.
Dr. Zelner: And then all of a sudden you realize that you really need to let them go but they’re family and then that’s-
Clay Park: You don’t want to fire your own family.
Dr. Zelner: That’s a tough one.
Clay Park: Unethical.
Dr. Zelner: Yeah. It’s ethical. And it happens. But the thing about it is you go, I got to do Thanksgiving with them every year. I got to see them every year. I got to do the thing with them every year, bah, dah, dah, dah, every week, whatever. And then finally you just say, “You know what? The filter that I’ve got to run every decision through is what is best for the business?” And you know what? And we say it. It’s in the movies. It’s a saying that those guys say a lot and it’s somewhat true but it’s nothing personal, it’s just business. Of course it’s personal and they take it personal. It takes a while to overcome that but letting family and friends go … I had a friend that worked for me. Turned out to be not a good employee and he needed to move on and I didn’t realize how bad it was. When things are close to you you don’t even know and then when I finally said, “Listen. It’s not working out. You need to move on.” And then all my other staff were like, “We were afraid to tell you because we knew he was one of your good friends.”
Clay Park: Sam, ask the Zohan anything. Here you go. Coming in hot, business coach radio show producer Sam.
Speaker 8: Here’s a real quick one. When starting up a business, if you have no debt but you also have no credit, what would you be your opinion or your best way to fund or finance the startup?
Dr. Zelner: Well, you’ve got to get credit. You’ve got to go get some debt. And the only way to get credit is to get debt and then pay the debt off. I know that sounds crazy. I know some of these people going out there going, “I’m so happy I’m debt free.” But you don’t own a home. You don’t have a car. You don’t really live
Clay Park: Let me make that very actionable. Go to creditcards.com. They have all different levels for junior startup, growth, big, great, big. Everything from the black card for the premium to the you have no credit at all, as a business coach this is helpful. But you’ve got to go to creditcards.com and apply for something.
Dr. Zelner: Absolutely. I remember when I was a senior in optometrist school and I got a thing in the mail that said, “Up to $10,000 Master Car.” I was like, “Well, here we go.” They’re finally acknowledging. I’m going to be a full doctor here pretty soon. Anyway, I’m an optometrist of course. But anyway, the thing about it is that I applied. I was so excited. I finally got my credit card in the mail and that thing is like $500. It was up to 10,000, it wasn’t 10,000.
Clay Park: So here’s the thing, Thrivers. Whether you need help with your credit, you need help with sales, you need help with marketing, you need help with motivation, we’ve got all the answers. It’s business coach school without the BS. There’s four ways to serve you. One, go to thrivetimeshow.com and check out the podcast, subscribe it. Move number two, go to thrive15.com. It’s $1 for the world’s best business school without the BS, which at last count was $35,000 some odd dollars less than the University of Tulsa. And move number three is you can sign up for in person, one on one business coaching and a free consultation. Because sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know. And move number four, make yourself a hero. Be a hero to your family and get out to an in person Thrive Time workshop, baby. It’s a game changer. I’m telling you what. When you get to that 6-figure club and you say, “I want to get into that 7-figure,” you know, that multi-million dollar business, it feels good. So I’m telling you what, quit living in the hood, start living good. Go to thrivetimeshow.com, get the info and Z, as always.
Group: Three, two, one, boom.