Business Coach : Power Of Appearance
-Once upon a time, I worked at Target and Applebees, and I worked at call centers where we sold gas rebates which I’m sure weren’t even real. And I know that you grew up without money. So from a practical level, where can I get some nice clothes if I can afford it?
-Well, if you’re really thrifty, and believe it or not, I still– the other day, my sons and I went to the thrift store.
CLAY CLARK: Boom.
-We went to the thrift store because, frankly, my kids are growing so fast that there’s no point in spending $200 on a suit that they’re going to outgrow in four months. So we said let’s go there and take a look. And I was impressed with some of the stuff that they have. You have to be picky, but it’s kind of one of those that, what’s your goal. If you don’t know your goal, hire a business coach.
-There’s a business called EIRTlounge.com, elephant in the room, it’s EIRTlounge.com. One of the owners there, one of the managers there, these guys are one of the most fashionably dressed guys I know–
ARTHUR GREENO: Yeah, they are.
-And they’ve won awards for their fashion. They get written about in the newspapers all time for their fashion style tips. They go thrift store shopping to find their stuff. So I don’t think it’s about cost. It’s about looking like the boss.
ARTHUR GREENO: That’s right.
-Now,as a business coach how big a first impression can a new employee make on you if they’re dressed sharp when you first meet?
-Oh, a tremendous amount. For one, it tells me that they value their job.
-Now, reprogramming the mind. We were talking about to reprogram that thing. How to really program your mind. Every business coach can decide to have the poverty mentality, or the prosperity mentality. Many entrepreneurs who come from nothing battle this poverty mentality. In their minds all the time, I know I did. Can you describe for me what the poverty mentality is?
-I think the poverty mentality is one that there’s only a certain amount of things. There’s been studies that have shown that there’s enough food in the world to feed every single person, but yet you see on TV all these people who aren’t eating. And so I have people come to me, friends or whatever, and they say, you know what–
-You’re eating too much. Save some for the kids.
-No, they don’t say that to me.
-That’s what they say to me.
-I have people that come to me and they’ll say that there’s no good guys left in the world. It’s a young woman, there’s no good guys. All of them are taken. The reality is, that’s not the truth. They may not be looking in the right spot. Where are you going? Well, I’m going to the bar to look for them. Well, maybe that’s not the best place to go look for the good guys you’re wanting. Where would a good guy hang out? Well, maybe at church. Maybe with a business coach.
Maybe you should go to church. But it’s a mentality of there’s only a certain amount of things. When, if you flip that around, there’s always enough of everything. There’s enough money in the world to take care of everything. There’s enough food in the world to take care of everything. There’s enough of everything out there.
-So at some point in your life, you had to make that switch from the victim to the victor, from the poverty to the prosperity mentality. When did you do that?
-Well, when that really happened was when I went off to college. When I was in high school, I started making the baby steps. I started surrounding myself with a better people, and started kind of seeing things from a different view. But when I was in college, it really became– when you have no money and you’re trying to put yourself through school and working three jobs, you really get to the mindset of can I do this? And then you have to start figuring out a way to make it happen. And we would do all kinds of crazy things. For me, I did all kinds of crazy things to stay in my school.
-Such as?
-Well, for example, when I was going to college, I worked three jobs, and I would give plasma. And so I would work 40 hours a week at Chick-fil-a, as much as I could, then I would work at a gas station two nights a week. And then on Sundays, I would work– there was a church, and I would work at the church and do stuff for them. And then when I was trying to study, I would go give plasma, because it took a couple hours to give plasma. So I would study while I was giving plasma, and I would use that money to gas my $200 car.
-You were practically like having two jobs– plasma while reading.
ARTHUR GREENO: Pretty much.
-Is that a success tip you’d like to encourage the Thrivers out there to maybe give some plasma?
-The thing for me is, you do whatever it takes. Even when I was with Chick-fil-a, when I was very first with Chick-fil-a, I wasn’t earning a whole lot of money. And my wife and I said, you know what? We want to go to each other some Christmas presents. So what did we do? We went and gave plasma so we can give each other Christmas presents. And I remember telling the guy– he said, what is your job? And I said, I’m the owner of Chick-fil-a at Eastland Mall. And he was like, shut up. And I was like, no, I’m serious. And he goes, no. Shut up. He didn’t believe me. And so I had to show my business card. But the thing is that, if you want success, you have to do whatever it takes to make that happen.
[CHURCH ORGANS]
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