Clay Clark | The PR Expert of Choice for Michael Jordan, Prince, Nike, Pizza Hut & More Michael Levine Teaches Public Relations & Entrepreneurship Success 101: At Clay Clark’s ThrivetimeShow.com Business Conference

Audio Transcription

Transcribed with Cockatoo

(Speaker 3)
Some shows don’t need a celebrity narrator to introduce the show, but this show does. In a world filled with endless opportunities, why would two men who have built 13 multi -million dollar businesses altruistically invest five hours per day to teach you the best practice business systems and moves that you can use? Because they believe in you, and they have a lot of time on their hands. They started from the bottom, now they’re here. It’s the Thrive Time Show, starring the former U . S.

(Speaker 3)
Small Business Administration’s Entrepreneur of the Year, Clay Clark, and the entrepreneur trapped inside an optometrist’s bunny, Dr. Robert Zillner.

(Speaker 2)
Two men, eight kids, co -created by two different women, 13 multi -million dollar businesses. Again, I know what we know about Hollywood, and I’m not trying to go there with it, but who’s ever watched Forrest Gump? Who’s ever watched Catch Me If You Can? Those are two movies. So the guy who is the main star of Catch Me If You Can, he lived in Tulsa, where I’m from, Tulsa, Oklahoma. And I’ve always been the kind of guy, and I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing or what that is, I’ve always been the guy who believed that I could do it.

(Speaker 2)
And I used to stutter as a kid, I couldn’t talk until I was about 12. We didn’t have any money. But I’ve always been the guy who’s thought to myself, self, why can’t I go meet George Foreman. You know, I mean, I like George Foreman, you know, big George, you know, the lead mean girl machine. Why can’t I go meet him? And so I did, you know.

(Speaker 2)
I’ve always thought like, why can’t I interview Wolfgang Puck? And so I did, you know. And why can’t I spend a day with the founder of Hobby Lobby and let him follow me around? Let me follow him around all over this. That’s fun, by the way, when you follow, I call it shadowing. You shadow a super successful person.

(Speaker 2)
And one of the great, there’s three great ways to learn that you should learn, and then I’ll introduce, three great ways to learn, and then we’ll introduce our speaker. One is you can learn by just studying idiots. So you could go to the beach, the beach over there, was it Venice Beach? And you could walk around and you could say, I have a question. What are the steps that you’ve taken to get here? You know, my wife and I did a pedicab in Venice Beach a few months ago, and the guy driving the pedicab said, sir, I am intoxicated, and I do want you to know that.

(Speaker 2)
” And I go, well, it’ll be exciting. But to get to a place where you’re in your mid -40s and you’re completely hammered during the middle of the day on Venice Beach as a pedicab guy, it requires a certain commitment to jackassery. So one way to become successful is to study what unsuccessful people do and just reverse it. Second is you can reach out for mentors. But the problem is, is most people that I’ve met that I’ve interviewed on my podcast who are super successful, they’re not wanting to come mentor me or you because they’re out doing it. You know, they don’t want to watch a movie about becoming successful.

(Speaker 2)
They are successful and people want to make a movie about them. So you got to find Mentors that’s a great a great way to do that and the third tool that I think is powerful I think it’s a powerful tool again. This is not a shameless plug for what I do But it’s just find books written by super successful people find Interviews find audio but find a way because your mind it becomes what the mind is fed the mind it becomes what the mind is fed and so I’m a Christian and Everything I hear is filtered through that But I encourage you, today’s guest, I didn’t bring him here because he’s a leader of a ministry. I didn’t bring him up here because he’s leading a church somewhere. I didn’t bring him up here because he’s an expert about Matthew 24. I brought him up because he’s the world’s number one publicist ever in the history of marketing.

(Speaker 2)
There is nobody who’s had more success as a publicist, and he’s dyslexic. It’s not a backhanded compliment, and he’s a best -selling author, and he is a man that I call my friend, and now I hope soon you can call him your friend, too. Ladies and gentlemen, please stand to your feet and greet my good friend and yours, Michael Levy!

(Speaker 11)
Here you go.

(Speaker 1)
Hello, everyone. It’s a shame he’s so shy. Really, isn’t that tragic? If he could just learn to open up a bit, relax. Friends, I’m very happy to be here. But if we could start, I think it’s, I think it just feels, I feel inclined to suggest that we start by applauding Clay and his mission.

(Speaker 1)
He’s extraordinary. Clay Clark is extraordinary. And he’s been extraordinary for a long time. And you’re extraordinary for being here, so thank you. And I want to punctuate, this isn’t what I intended to say, but I want to punctuate something that Clay said a moment ago, because I don’t want it lost. Friends, I’m not very bright.

(Speaker 1)
Honest to God, I’m not very bright. But I am above average at watching what bright people do. And damn it, you know that’s been helpful. And the truth is that I might be even better at watching what dopey people do. And you know what? Isn’t that worth thinking about?

(Speaker 1)
If you watch what really impressive people do, and then also with equal acuity, watch what dopey people do, and you simply don’t do what the dopey people do, and you do a lot of what the smart people do, you’re gonna win. You’re gonna win. Now, we’re in a church, so I can’t curse. So this is gonna be my, you know what I meant to say. You know what I meant to say. You know, when I was growing up, Clay gave you a little background about some of the obstacles I had, and we all have had obstacles, and we’re gonna talk about that a little bit.

(Speaker 1)
But when I was growing up, for some kind of weird, wacky reason, I was modestly obsessed as a young person with what in the God’s name is become of me. What am I going to become? I did not come from a privileged home, and what am I going to become? But in midlife, after asking that question perennially for decades, I came to conclude that you never fully grow up in life. You never fully grow up. And so I replaced the question, what am I going to become when I grow up, to What have I become thus far?

(Speaker 1)
Isn’t that a worthwhile question? What have I become thus far? I think it’s a worthwhile question. And when I started asking that question at midlife, what have I become thus far, I realized to my absolute surprise and even horror that One of the things that I had become thus far, not the only thing, maybe not even the principal thing, but one of the things that I had become thus far, to my surprise and even shock, was an evangelist. I had become, in part, an evangelist. Now, my religious friends tell me that an evangelist is nothing more than a bringer of good news.

(Speaker 1)
And by the way, for a young man that grew up in a dysfunctional Jewish home in New York City, I promise you, I did not intend on becoming an evangelist. I promise you that. But I am, I think, in certain ways, the kind of evangelist that wants to come today to bring you some good news. But I, for those of you who know me well, know that I am the type of evangelist that comes to bring you good news only after first bringing you some bad news. And that’s unfortunate, but true. And so I’m going to begin with some bad news.

(Speaker 1)
And the bad news is that whether you figured it out or not, God willing you have. Life is difficult. Life is difficult. In some ways, I think one of the greatest parental mistakes of the last generation or more. is the lack of emphasis that parents have placed on teaching their children over and over and over and over and over again that life is difficult. And let me help you in case you haven’t noticed.

(Speaker 1)
Life is difficult if you’re tall or short, black or white, gay or straight, young or old, rich or poor. Life is difficult. That’s the bad news. However, though life is difficult, and it’s difficult for all of us, with enough attention, enough dedication, it is winnable. It is overcomable, though it will remain difficult, perennially difficult. And so that is where we start today.

(Speaker 1)
I want to ask you a question, if I may, if you would be willing to be open and honest with me and yourself. on your journey from when you were a very young person on the path that you’re still on. How many of you felt that you were in early life and on your journey up an underdog, maybe a misfit of some type, didn’t quite fit in? How many of you felt that you had certain obstacles that you had to overcome Maybe some others didn’t. How many of you? Raise your hand.

(Speaker 1)
Raise it real high. How many of you felt yourself to be an underdog? Good many. Well, I was an underdog. I know I may be up here, given the introduction Clay gave me, it doesn’t appear so. But I promise you, I was an underdog.

(Speaker 1)
And many of you were underdogs. Now we’re going to talk about a simple, though not easy, four -step path simple -though -not -easy path for underdogs. their journey up. Let’s think of it maybe as a ladder. Can we do that? As a ladder, four steps ladder.

(Speaker 1)
Here we go. Step number one. And by the way, how many of you, by the way, have met young people in their lives that say, I can’t get a job. I can’t get a job. I can’t find this. I can’t get a job.

(Speaker 1)
Have you done that? Have you have you run across many young folks that have shared that with you? Well, friends, I’ll get him a job in an hour. See, I’ll get him a job in an hour. You want to know how we’re going to do it? Very simple.

(Speaker 1)
Step one, work for free. How about it? Work for free only. you’re going to come to understand that it’s not free. You’re getting well paid if you got a brain, because it’s called knowledge and opportunity. See, a jackass, whoops, I better, well, wait a second now.

(Speaker 1)
A young person that doesn’t think too straight, which is about 99 .9%, particularly in today’s world, thinks they’re working for free, I’m not getting paid. Son, come on. You’re getting well paid with knowledge and opportunity. You do that first step, work for free. Very hard for people to resist free. See, now here’s some good news, because that doesn’t sound too good at first, right?

(Speaker 1)
Work for free. But here’s some good news. Ready? It’s not going to be long. It’s not going to be long. See, it won’t be long.

(Speaker 1)
If you work hard, if you come in early, you stay late, and you say about twice a week to whoever the hell gave you the job, thank you for the chance, it won’t be long. How long will it be? I don’t know, maybe six months or a year, but it’s not gonna be long, see? Then you graduate to step two. Step two, what’s step two? Now, by the way, In the beginning, you’re working for free, and all your friends are working at Taco Bell.

(Speaker 1)
So you’re working for free, you get $0 an hour. They’re working at Taco Bell, they get $15 an hour. Who’s winning at that point in the story? Well, it would appear that your Taco Bell friends are. See, that would be the appearance, wouldn’t it? Okay, but then you graduate right up to step two.

(Speaker 1)
Step two is called work, below market.

(Speaker 10)
Work below market.

(Speaker 1)
See? Step two. You’re already on step two. You’re halfway there. Work below market. Now what does that mean?

(Speaker 1)
Well, it means that your friends over at Taco Bell at 15 an hour, you’re working for 10 an hour. It would appear in the world’s terms they’re winning, but you’re on the ladder, see? And here’s some more good news in case you haven’t figured it out yet. It won’t be long. It won’t be long. Come early, stay late.

(Speaker 1)
If your boss says, hey, come in, Sally, at nine, leave at four, you say, thanks, I’ll be in at eight and see you, leave at five. Don’t do what you’re paid to do, do more than you’re paid to do. Come on now, you got a brain. All right, now you’re on step two. Your Taco Bell friends are still winning. It’s okay, it won’t be long.

(Speaker 1)
Now you graduate to step three. Step three is you work for market. They work for market, you work for market. Okay, 15 -15, now the race is tied. Not to worry. Not to worry.

(Speaker 1)
It won’t be long. It won’t be long. Because before long, if you got a brain and you listen to Clay and other people like Clay. Friends, step four is your Taco Bell pals are working for market and you’re working for a fortune. Because in case you haven’t figured it out, let me help. Profits.

(Speaker 1)
Write it down, would you please? Profits are better than wages. Have you figured that out? If you haven’t, stay with me later and I’ll visit with you. Profits are better than wages. See, isn’t that interesting?

(Speaker 1)
So there’s the four steps. Anyone can start yesterday. They can start today. Next time a young person comes up to you and gives you a sob story, say, you know what? This isn’t serving you, son. Come on now, Mary, you gotta do better than that.

(Speaker 1)
You were born in America. Now look, I was born in April, of 1954, April of 1954. At the moment I was born in New York City in April of 1954, there was a one in 30 chance, a one in 30 chance that I would have been born in America. See, 29 out of 30 people born on that damn day were not born in America. So guess what? In case you haven’t figured it out, I won the ovarian lottery, and guess what?

(Speaker 1)
You, born in America, as screwed up as it is now, and we’re going to hopefully turn this around, and if we do, it’s because of entrepreneurs. Washington ain’t going to fix it, in case you haven’t figured it out. Your people in Sacramento, by the way, they’re not only not going to fix it, they’re going to screw it up as best they can. Entrepreneurs are our only hope. That’s why I believe what Clay’s work is, is so sacred, because not only is he teaching people how to make a future, a fortune, a future, right? And he’s doing that.

(Speaker 1)
He is contributing in ways that are, listen, if you said to me, who do you think is helping America more, Clay Clark or 40 of the 50 state governors in America?” I’d say, well, I don’t know, but my bet is on Clay. What do you think? And I know for sure he’s doing better than that guy in Minnesota.

(Speaker 8)
For sure.

(Speaker 22)
I mean, come on.

(Speaker 1)
man. That’s a low bar. All right, so there we are. That’s the start, isn’t it? Now, I’ve come to tell you a little story, and then we’re going to give you plenty of time for questions, comments, suggestions, and alternative speeches. And like Charlie Kirk, if you disagree, you come up first.

(Speaker 1)
That’s how it goes. All right, now. As I began my journey, I became obsessed with a question that I really found powerful, important. The question that I was obsessed with in my new career many years ago was, what was it that super successful people knew, adopted, had as part of their mindset, lifestyle? What was it that they knew that mere mortals like me didn’t know? Was there something?

(Speaker 1)
Was it all just luck or was there something? Now at first when I started to ask the question, it would appear to my eye there wasn’t anything. I couldn’t seem to find what was it that Michael Jordan and Bill Clinton or Oprah Winfrey and Elon Musk had in common or Donald Trump or what was it? Was there something? I couldn’t seem to get it, but I stuck with the question over and over and over again. What were the qualities?

(Speaker 1)
What was it, if there was anything?

(Speaker 11)
Now, at first, didn’t appear to be anything, except they were rich.

(Speaker 1)
Okay. But I stuck with the question. And you know, after several years of sticking with the damn question, I came to conclude that I think I’m seeing patterns. I was representing the biggest stars in the world. I gave advice to three U . S.

(Speaker 1)
presidents, both political parties, which means I’m a hooker. And the three qualities that I think I discovered in all super successful people. Now, remember, listen to me. I didn’t say successful. I said super successful. I didn’t say successful, son. I said super successful.

(Speaker 1)
Pay attention. What was it? And you know what? I came to conclude that there were three qualities present, all super successful people, including our president here and including Anyone you can think of, dead or alive, all super successful people had three qualities present 100 times out of 100. OK? It wasn’t a 99 deal.

(Speaker 1)
It was a 100 deal. Here we go. Write them down. I’m going to try to do it in a way that might be memorable for you, but we’ll see. You’ll get to grade me later. Here we go.

(Speaker 1)
Number one, all super successful people had a quality that I would refer to as obsession. obsession, a burning, maniacal rage as if your life depended on it. Maybe you didn’t hear me. All super successful people had a quality, a mindset of obsession, as if your life depended on it. Okay, obsession. Number two, all super successful people had a sense of optimism, but it was a very paradoxical sense.

(Speaker 1)
Now, dear friends, If you don’t feel you have a good working definition of the word paradox, I would encourage you to go visit your uncle, ChatGPT, and look it up. See, why is that? Because, you know, friends, so much of life is rich, pregnant with paradox. Isn’t that worth thinking about? The optimism that our super successful people had was not naive. If I’m a good person, good things will happen.

(Speaker 1)
What comes around goes around. No, no. It was a different kind of optimism. Write it down. Here we go. It was an optimism born, born after a militant need.

(Speaker 1)
Think of the words. It was an optimism born, created after a militant need. obsession, to face the brutal facts. It was an optimism born after a militant need to face the brutal facts. And dear friends, when our super successful people, friends, looked out into the face of destiny here, were the two brutal facts that they stared into the face of. Fact number one, the game is not easy.

(Speaker 1)
Have you figured it out yet? The game is not easy. Number two, the game is not fair. However, though the game is not easy and though the game is not fair, with enough burning maniacal rage, the game is winnable. Though not easy and though not fair. smartest thing ever said to me on the topic of optimism was said to me by General Colin Powell.

(Speaker 1)
He said it in only six words. It’s hard to be profound in six words. Try it sometime. Try it. Here’s what he said. Write it down, darling.

(Speaker 1)
Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier. He’s a military general. What he was trying to say, I believe, is that if you take 50 men or women and you put them in an environment and you saturate them with negativity, those 50 men can’t fight with the force of two. Isn’t that worth thinking about? Those 50 men or women can’t fight with the force of two.

(Speaker 1)
However, if you take the same 50 men or women and you saturate them with optimism, those 50 can fight with the force of 5 ,000. Think about that. Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier. Number three, obligation. I’m doing them in O’s for you so you can remember them together. I’m gonna give you a quiz too.

(Speaker 1)
Okay. obligation. Our super successful friends had a way of being in the world that was unique, particularly in contemporary life. They were impeccable with their word. Their word was their bond. They were reverent with time.

(Speaker 1)
10 o ‘clock on Wednesday didn’t mean 11, 15 Thursday. They made their obligation with their word was principally to themselves, principally to themselves. Let me give you two examples, if I may. I’m going to tell you about two kinds of people in the world. Person number one, first type of person comes up to you and says, you know, next year, I’m going to lose some weight. Next year, I’m going to lose some weight. That’s person number one.

(Speaker 1)
You’ve met people like that, maybe. Person number two says, hey, hey, hey. Hey, hey, hey. Listen to me. Eight pounds, August 4th. Maybe you didn’t hear me.

(Speaker 1)
Isn’t that a different way of thinking? Their goals were measurable, discernible, often written, virtually always shared with someone. So I meet people here all the time, you or anyone else. I say, hey, hey, Mary, Sarah, Jose, you got some goals?

(Speaker 25)
Yeah, I got goals.

(Speaker 1)
I said, great, you got goals? Yeah, I got goals. Oh, that’s wonderful, Mary. Can you show them to me? Well, I don’t have them written down. Then, darling, you don’t have goals.

(Speaker 1)
You got a bunch of fun ideas floating around your really pretty head. That’s not a goal, darling. That’s OK. So with The third O, which is obligation, comes today’s only voluntary homework assignment. And then we’re going to get to questions, comments. suggestions, and alternative speeches.

(Speaker 1)
Here’s your voluntary homework assignment. First of all, isn’t that cool? It’s voluntary.

(Speaker 25)
It’s the best kind of homework.

(Speaker 11)
It’s voluntary.

(Speaker 1)
You don’t have to do it. Voluntary. The best kind. All right. Now, I can promise you if you choose to do it, and I don’t know that you will because it’s voluntary, but if you choose to do it, you can do it in 10 minutes or less. Not bad.

(Speaker 1)
You can do it in the next 24 hours.

(Speaker 30)
So far, so good.

(Speaker 1)
You can do it for free, free 10 minutes or less next 24 hours. Not so bad. I’m going to make it better. If you do it, I don’t know that you will. It’s voluntary. But if you do this one homework assignment, just this one 10 minutes or less for free, if you do this, just this one homework assignment, I will make you a 100 percent guarantee.

(Speaker 1)
One hundred percent. that it will change your life radically, instantly, permanently. Promise. Here, dear friends, is your voluntary homework assignment. Are you ready? I want you to go home in the next 24 hours and make a commitment.

(Speaker 1)
Fire your flaky friends. In the next 24 hours, I want you to go home and make a commitment to fire your flaky friends. Did you hear me? Well, friends, I hope this has been some conversation that will get you on a journey to think a second time. Isn’t it interesting? When we’re young folks, we think about things first and second time, then we go to college and we get screwed up there very often, and we stop thinking because we get busy, right?

(Speaker 1)
We get busy. We don’t think a second time. So these are ideas meant to encourage you to think a second time.

(Speaker 2)
Now, we’re going to go, if you’re willing, if you’re bold enough, if you’re courageous enough, to questions, comments, suggestions, alternative speeches. Clay Clark’s up here. Now, Michael, quick interjection. People wanted to know, we now know that Eric Trump, he’s going to be speaking at 12 .15. So 12 .15. So for anybody who is wanting to know, Eric will be here at 12 .15.

(Speaker 1)
What we’ll do is we’ll do a Q &A format. If you have a question, If you wanna come on up here, and I’ll pass you the mic, and then you can ask any questions. If you disagree or you want a clarification, you wanna argue with me, come on up, see Brother Clay. I love it, it’s all good.

(Speaker 2)
And maybe you’ll change my damn mind. See, I told you, I’m not very bright. Okay, so we’re gonna bring up question number one, two, three. Anybody wanna come up here? Again, just come on up here. I’ll pass you the mic.

(Speaker 2)
Any questions? for Michael Levine? And just so you guys know, some of the things that Michael did that were really impactful for me was he talked about the obsession. At the time, I was in the process of building multiple businesses, and Michael would just say things like, Are you absolutely obsessed with this being successful? Or is this something you just are talking about potentially happening? And his clarification and ability to hone in the focus of the entrepreneurs slash his clients, it’s been something he has done.

(Speaker 2)
But he also invented this thing or wrote about this thing called the Tiffany theory. which Michael talked about, where you judge somebody based upon the gift wrapping. And Michael, so my first question I want to ask you, and then we’ll introduce these folks here.

(Speaker 1)
Could you explain, what is the Tiffany Theory? Because that’s how I first discovered you. Tiffany Theory, good note. OK, Tiffany Theory. I come to visit you today. Young lady, what’s your name?

(Speaker 1)
Can’t hear. Sister Sandra, I have come to visit you today, and I’m going to bring you a present, darling. That’s the only way to be. I’ve got to bring you a present. Now, Sandra, lucky for you, the present I’m going to bring you is going to come in a beautiful box with a gorgeous red ribbon. See?

(Speaker 1)
Blue and red, Tiffany box.

(Speaker 11)
Now, you get the present, you open it up.

(Speaker 1)
First of all, what do you say when you see the box? Wow. Now, whatever gift I give you in that box has a higher perceived value in your own mind than if I gave it to you in no box or a box of less prestige. Now, why is that true? Not because Sandra’s a jackass, but because Sandra lives in a culture. in which we gift -wrap everything.

(Speaker 1)
We gift -wrap our politicians, our corporate heads, our movie and TV stars, and you want to know something else? We even gift -wrap our toilet paper. Isn’t that worth thinking about?

(Speaker 2)
Come on now, you’re smart enough to know that God sees the inside and humans see the outside. Outside, come on. Just throwing it out here, how many of you have really met or discovered me or us through the Reawaken tour?

(Speaker 1)
OK, so just so you know, things that blow my mind about Michael’s career. He represented both, am I correct, President Clinton and George Bush?

(Speaker 2)
I have given non -paid media counsel to President Reagan, who, by the way, used to be in all the papers. President Bush, the father and President Clinton, which just blows my mind again. So I now knowing what I know, I don’t know.

(Speaker 16)
Do we have political parties?

(Speaker 2)
Maybe we have a unit party. I don’t know. But Michael Levine might know.

(Speaker 29)
You could ask him during the break.

(Speaker 24)
OK, sir, what’s your question?

(Speaker 18)
You have there.

(Speaker 29)
Thank you, Mr. What’s your name?

(Speaker 27)
Senator Burt Burt.

(Speaker 23)
Yes.

(Speaker 16)
Big bad bird.

(Speaker 28)
Go.

(Speaker 16)
All right, so you talked about firing your flaky friends. I did.

(Speaker 1)
I mentioned that I’m starting a new business and a lot of the folks here I’ve met are starting a new business. Yes. How would you recommend to go find what I call whale hunting Wednesdays or the ungettable clients? Well, listen, using the steps for I think let’s not. focus right initially on whales.

(Speaker 27)
Let’s focus on building a product or service.

(Speaker 1)
What kind of product is it, brother? What kind of business is it? I print artwork on walls that come alive. Let’s start at step one, shall we? Isn’t that an awfully good place to start? Step one is building

(Speaker 1)
a product or service so good, so damn good, that the world can not ignore you. Start there. And then Clay has talked so eloquently. I don’t think anyone in America that I’m aware of has spoken more profoundly, more relentlessly about the power of reviews. Let me mention why, because you might say, well, that’s good and true and all that. But why is that profound?

(Speaker 1)
Because Clay has an awareness. I don’t know if it’s intuitive or just awareness that we’re living in a very, very, very cynical age. Let me give you a statistic. 30 years ago, American adults, 30 years ago, American adults, 78 % of all American adults over 18 in America felt that authorities would either do the right thing or try to do the right thing. Authorities were doctors, politicians, clergy, lawyers, business leaders. Today, 30 years later, 78 percent.

(Speaker 1)
Today, 18 percent. Under 30, 2 percent. Clay somehow was wise enough, smart enough, intuitive enough to know, hey, we’re in a cynical age. If I have social proof, like reviews, right? So focus that first. Then whale hunting, you know, brother, I gave you some clue.

(Speaker 2)
It’s hard to say no to free. Isn’t that hard? Okay, well, Clay’s got a whole line. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

(Speaker 2)
Okay, next question coming in hot.

(Speaker 1)
What’s your name? Where are you from?

(Speaker 8)
And what question do you have?

(Speaker 1)
My name is Michael Lynn.

(Speaker 26)
I’m from here in Yorba Linda, California.

(Speaker 1)
Hello, Michael.

(Speaker 25)
Hi.

(Speaker 1)
What’s your favorite movie of all time? Don’t really watch movies anymore. Don’t watch movies. Okay, go. What’s your question? My question has actually…

(Speaker 1)
And by the way, you can also… You can have a question or you can have a comment. You don’t have to have a question. You have a comment, come on up. Go ahead. My question has to do with what you said about firing your flaky friends.

(Speaker 1)
So as a Christian, how do we draw the line between firing flaky friends and not giving up hope for those people? Listen, I don’t care what… internally your feelings are about people. I’m just trying to conduct, I’m trying to share with you what I think your behavior should be. If you wanna pray for somebody on Sunday, God bless you, do whatever the hell you wanna do. I’m just not, don’t get in business with them, son.

(Speaker 2)
Don’t marry them. Come on now, fire your flaky friends.

(Speaker 1)
Now, you might say, really, why should I fire flaky friends?

(Speaker 24)
Because the truth is that nothing Nothing, nothing interferes with the potential of a human’s capacity for greatness like the secondhand fumes of flakiness, the secondhand fumes of flakiness.

(Speaker 2)
I want to interject one thing real quick here, because I mentioned earlier, I didn’t bring up Michael here to be like a religious expert, you know. or a question I am NOT a biblical scholar as I mentioned he represented Bill Clinton and George Bush. So there we go Okay, so I am NOT a biblical scholar. Yes. Could you imagine being the PR consultant of choice for Bill Clinton? Could you imagine?

(Speaker 2)
A lot of marketing needed. Okay, so what I want to just throw out, though, is the Bible says, and Sean, you can put it up on the screen, the Bible says, for a companion of fools shall suffer harm. And you might say, who wrote that, right? Well, that’s gonna be the book called Proverbs, right? The book Proverbs, Proverbs, a book in favor of action, right, Proverbs. However, the homeboy that wrote that book, who wrote that book, somebody, somebody, King Solomon, he had 700 wives and 300 concubines, so he didn’t get it all right.

(Speaker 2)
And then the follow -up classic to Proverbs, what, you got Ecclesiastes there? When you get a chance to read the books written by King Solomon, you’re gonna discover that he earned a lot of money and he made a lot of mistakes. And I think if we’re honest, some of us are flaky from time to time, but I wanna make sure you get this from a biblical perspective. I wanna make sure you get this, is that Michael is super compassionate. When I met him and I said, hey, I’d like to pay you to teach me certain things. He charged me money for that.

(Speaker 2)
And we had a videographer who, God bless him, didn’t bring a backup, didn’t bring backup batteries to the shoot.

(Speaker 22)
And so I’m paying this guy a large sum of money for three hours.

(Speaker 2)
I’m just being real. We’re paying more than $10 ,000, let’s say, for three hours, okay? And my videographer, I can see the radar.

(Speaker 1)
Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop. And the guy on my team’s like, we’re out of batteries. And Michael turns to me and he says, You know firing flaky friends is the key to success because now during this interview where you’ve traveled all the way

(Speaker 23)
from Tulsa to this place and now instead of filming me you have to go get batteries and and then the young man was like I’m sorry I guess I forgot and Michael could you maybe share what you remember about that because after the shoot all of our video guys got back to the hotel and they were like oh snap we’re idiots And so he educated everybody, but it really was helpful, because we lost almost a third of the time together.

(Speaker 1)
How many tires you got on your car, son? Four.

(Speaker 22)
No, you don’t have four.

(Speaker 1)
How many tires does he have in his car? Five. Really? How do you count five? What’s the five? Spare.

(Speaker 1)
Oh, you have a spare tire? Is that real?

(Speaker 16)
I didn’t know that.

(Speaker 21)
OK, good.

(Speaker 20)
Now listen, one other thing about firing your flaky friends.

(Speaker 11)
By the way, the number one candidate of flaky friends to fire, can you guess who it is?

(Speaker 19)
It’s yourself.

(Speaker 2)
If you’re flaky, fire your ass. Yourself. Ding, ding.

(Speaker 10)
Ding, ding.

(Speaker 1)
Okay.

(Speaker 7)
All right.

(Speaker 1)
Next, come on up here.

(Speaker 7)
Okay. Wow. Okay.

(Speaker 18)
Ma ‘am, what is your name and where are you from and what question do you have?

(Speaker 17)
I’m Nicole.

(Speaker 1)
What’s your name, young lady?

(Speaker 7)
I’m Nicole. Nicole, favorite movie of all time. Go.

(Speaker 1)
White Chicks. White Chicks. I love White Chicks. I like her. All right. What’s your question or comment?

(Speaker 1)
My question is that how does obsession change your personal life? Because I’ve heard a lot that it changes your business. How does that change your personal life? Well, let’s agree, dear friend, that it has impact. Life is a series… Listen, I don’t know if you figured this out, Nicole.

(Speaker 1)
I don’t know you. I haven’t had a chance to get to know you a little bit. But I have observed something, and tell me if you’ve observed the same thing, but we’ll see how it goes. Best I can figure out, Nicole, rich people get about 24 hours a day, and poor people get somewhere in the range of 24 hours a day. And Oprah gets about, give or take, 24 hours a day, and homeless folks get about 24 hours a day. So you say, how does it impact your personal life?

(Speaker 1)
We only get 24 hours a day, 168 hours a week. How are we gonna spend them? Now, if you wanna spend however much time, greatness is not a calling for everyone. Isn’t life really, in essence, isn’t life really? One question with two parts. Nicole, what is it you most want?

(Speaker 2)
Hold on, hold on, darling. Stay with me, it’s got two parts. Nicole, what is it you most want? What is it you’re willing to give up to get it? Isn’t that worth thinking about? And there’s no right answer.

(Speaker 2)
Everyone answers differently. You get it? Let’s give other people a chance because we got to, you know, Clay’s got other stuff. All right, real quick here. I’ll make sure I clarify this idea. Again, back to King Solomon.

(Speaker 2)
How many of you have ever read Proverbs? Have you ever contemplated what it would like, what kind of poor choices you’d have to make to have 700 wives and then 300 concubines? So there’s a lot of wisdom to be gained in that book, right? There’s a lot of wisdom, but you also have to understand, this was a deeply flawed human, right? And Ecclesiastes is a book where if you read Ecclesiastes, who’s read Ecclesiastes? You should wash down Proverbs with Ecclesiastes.

(Speaker 2)
It talks about how at the end of the book, King Solomon, he’s going, at the end of the day, the whole meaning of life is just follow God’s laws and keep his commandments. So this is a business conference where I’m really trying to help you have success financially. And as a Christian, how many of you grew up around the prosperity message or prosperity gospel? How many of you grew up around the poverty gospel? I grew up around the family where, you know, we would cast out the demon of poverty that would happen. We had Carmen.

(Speaker 2)
Remember Carmen, the musician? He’s in my living room casting out the demon of poverty. That’s great. We had a lot of the Benny Hinn kind of people around my life, you know, and yet we were still poor, and I’m not attacking Benny Hinn or Carmen, but we just were poor, you know. And so I totally detached from Christianity. Didn’t read the Bible and in any way shape or form read the Bible or connect with the Bible And I only went to church begrudgingly because my wife wanted me to and I became massively successful Financially, but to become successful in life beyond finance.

(Speaker 16)
We need to get back to God.

(Speaker 1)
Does that make sense to you? I’m in the same page. So Michael, I’m not I want you to know this he’s teaching you these brutal principles of business, that law, the law of sowing and reaping, and these concepts that for whatever reason, churches don’t talk oftentimes.

(Speaker 16)
I know Pastor Phil does, but a lot of churches won’t talk about, if you don’t sow seeds, you can’t reap a harvest.

(Speaker 11)
The Bible says, for a companion of fools shall suffer harm. A lot of pastors don’t wanna say, hanging out with flaky friends will cause poverty.

(Speaker 16)
So I just encourage you, when in doubt, go back to the Bible.

(Speaker 10)
Okay, so, sir, what is your name, and what questions do you have?

(Speaker 1)
My name is Mark. And what I have is step one. Hi, Mark. What’s your favorite movie of all time? Oh, Over the Sunset, of course. Go ahead, Mark.

(Speaker 1)
What’s your question? So the question is, step one on the four steps. Word. for free, okay work for free, but we’re in a day of the Malaysians You can’t get them to work at all and they think that they’re worth more than they could possibly ever be worth So they go in there and they demand $20 to flip burgers at the McDonald’s. They don’t demand it society’s taught them They are entitled to it now that we got a screwed -up society and don’t be part of that. No, you see clay talked about Interesting thing about wisdom, didn’t he?

(Speaker 1)
And you know what I’ve observed, Clay? There’s a difference in life between being smart and being wise.

(Speaker 13)
Smart and wise.

(Speaker 1)
Smart and wise. Difference. Difference. A smart person knows that a tomato is a fruit. See, that’s what a smart person knows. A wise person knows don’t put it in a damn fruit salad.

(Speaker 1)
Now, how do we attract these people? How do we attract these Malaysians to work off knowledge that we’re able to give them that they just don’t see? They don’t put. I damn near ruined my life trying to convert people. I damn near ruined my life. You know, I meet somebody and I’d say, I’m going to make them successful if it killed me, if it kills me.

(Speaker 1)
Damn near did. Thank you. Find people who get it. and who want to get it. Now, let me tell you something brilliant that Clay taught me about 15 years ago. Every week, every month, there’s people in this room who have done it.

(Speaker 2)
I did it. I thought I was pretty far along, and Clay taught me this. Have a recruitment fair meeting If you got a job, have a recruitment fair. If you don’t have a job, have a recruitment fair. If you might have a job, have a recruitment fair.

(Speaker 2)
Always, always, always be looking for people with that spark. Now, there are not many of them. But that’s why you’ve got to keep looking for them.

(Speaker 9)
Jackie, James, Robert, can you guys come on and tangle the cords there?

(Speaker 2)
We know things are going well when we’ve got the nest beginning to form. So we’re good to go. Let’s bring up our next question. But before we do that, just to be clear, we’re going to talk about the system that Michael talked about here.

(Speaker 6)
But when I was building the photography business, as an example, we needed photographers.

(Speaker 1)
We needed like 40 photographers.

(Speaker 6)
When I was building my DJ company, we needed 80 disc jockeys. It’s like a pirate ship with 40.

(Speaker 15)
Music.

(Speaker 14)
And so in order to do that, you have to hire people at scale.

(Speaker 13)
And so we’ll talk about the onboarding process of how to find good people, how to hire them.

(Speaker 6)
And that’s what Michael’s referring to. As they’re untangling this, ma ‘am, what is your name and maybe what question would you have?

(Speaker 1)
Marlena Martin. What’s your favorite movie of all time?

(Speaker 6)
Sound of Music. They don’t make it like that anymore, right? OK.

(Speaker 1)
Hi, friend. Hello. I really loved everything that you’ve said. But the fire.

(Speaker 2)
Every time you agree with me, darling. I think you’re brilliant. Finding employees or people to work with you that really honor their word. We’re losing service stations. It’s really hard to find people. Leaders are called on to do hard things in case you haven’t figured it out.

(Speaker 2)
You see, every one of you can say, but it’s hard. That’s why you’re gonna win, because you’re willing to do hard things. And Clay Steven told you how to do it. We’ll walk you through the step -by -step system on how to find good people. I promise we’ll walk you through that. Thank you, great question.

(Speaker 2)
We have time for two more questions. Again, what’s gonna happen is Eric Trump’s gonna be here at 1220. How many of you have ever been to one of the Reawaken events? pre the Charlie Kirk shooting. So I want you to know when we were looking at the, may he rest in peace, but we were doing the reawaken events. The number one bill was always security.

(Speaker 12)
And so what will happen is the secret service is going to show up here and they’re going to do what’s called a sweep.

(Speaker 2)
which means they have to come in here with dogs and make sure we’re all safe. And so if you guys can all work with me through that process, because we don’t want to have any incidents.

(Speaker 4)
We never had an incident at any Reawaken America event, although we stopped many of them. And so the stories that you didn’t hear were the ones we stopped. And so I just want to make sure that we have a great experience. So when Eric gets here, just kind of listen in and I’ll let you know announcements about what we’re doing. And I don’t know what we’re doing, but I’ll let you know.

(Speaker 1)
We might have to all go over here where they sweep this room or maybe we stay here and they sweep that room. I don’t know. But you won’t be able to leave. between the time of 12 20 and 1 30 and that’s because they’re gonna be checking all the entrances and exits and there’ll be a bunch of people here and so that’ll happen here at 12 20 so we’ll take a break here in like five minutes we’ll kind of stretch we’ll come back for one session before Eric Trump joins us okay so what what what is your name and I what movie what movie what movie do you like my favorite movie of all time is what about Bob and my name is Ruth to eat Hi, Ruth. Hi. I’m just here because I love the MAGA movement.

(Speaker 1)
But how can we make America great again if we don’t make America godly again? And my goal and request is how do I get people to what I have gotten, my passion, to invest in our youth?

(Speaker 11)
because money comes and goes but souls are eternal and that’s what my major thing is and that’s my My thing I want to do and I would like to you know team up with people that are actually here from the reawakened America And I’m gonna go over here behind this board I’m not a spiritual teacher, but what I can tell you is how we began and Whatever it is in life you want to do, right?

(Speaker 1)
Probably a pretty good idea, particularly if you’re not as bright, like me. I’m not too bright.

(Speaker 2)
If you watch what the great ones do, watch what they do. Now you say, I want to affect youth. So affect youth.

(Speaker 9)
Maybe watching a little bit about what Charlie Kirk did might work.

(Speaker 1)
Isn’t that worth thinking? And then watch what the dumb ones do, and don’t do that.

(Speaker 2)
Isn’t that worth thinking about? Okay. Let’s go. All right, time for one final question.

(Speaker 10)
Thank you so much for your question. Thank you, ma ‘am. Appreciate it. This is the final question.

(Speaker 5)
Let’s give him some applause for the final question. Yeah. Okay.

(Speaker 1)
What’s your name?

(Speaker 5)
What’s your favorite movie? Hi, Michael.

(Speaker 1)
My name is Matt. My favorite movie… Big Bad Matt? Yes, sir. And my favorite movie is The Passion. So my question is..

(Speaker 1)
. Question or… Yeah, question. So as somebody that has witnessed, interviewed, and been seeing people that are of high level, when talking about obsession, What do you see internally that drives that obsession and how do they continuously pull from it? You know Matt, people are unique, personal, idiosyncratic, but one of the ways that maybe we’re simply is that we are all, whether we know it or not, consciously or subconsciously, born with a big dream of some type or another.

(Speaker 1)
Now, some people’s big dream is to fly a rocket ship to space, and some people’s big dream is to get married and have a kid, and trying to identify what it is you want to do before you die is a worthwhile pursuit. What is it that Matt wants to accomplish, so help him God, or so help him universe, however you want to say it, before you leave this earth?

(Speaker 5)
Now look, I don’t know when you’re going to die, son, and I don’t know when I’m going to die.

(Speaker 1)
It could be tonight, right? But if you live to be 80, Pretty good age. You get 25 ,500 days. Now, if you live to be 90, that’s a good old age, right? You get 29 ,200 days. That’s all you get, son, if you live to, so what is, you try to reverse engineer, what is it?

(Speaker 1)
And then, of course, what are you willing to give up to get it? Now, you look like you’re in pretty good shape. You go to the gym? I’m a personal trainer. OK, so you go to the gym. Now, if I said to you, hey, brother, I want to look like you someday.

(Speaker 1)
OK. And listen, I’ll tell you what. Tell you what. I want to look like you and I’m willing to go to the gym once a month. Michael, son, Michael, come on now. We got to we can’t we can’t get you there.

(Speaker 1)
And once a month, you got to give up more to look like that. That’s the price. Now, before I say goodbye and thank Clay one more time, I hope it was of some value to you today. If you are a member of this audience or you’re a participant in Clay’s entrepreneurial, life -changing, country -saving adventure, I will speak with you.

(Speaker 2)
Now, maybe not immediately, but I’ll speak with you either by Zoom or phone. for 15 minutes. We’ll sit. We’ll talk about your big dream. Now, there’s a lot of people in this room. It’s going to take me a while to get through some of them.

(Speaker 2)
Not all of you will be interested, but I will do it. I’ll commit that as a tribute to this young man right here.

(Speaker 9)
OK, so thank you.

(Speaker 2)
I’m going to hang around a little bit, but sounds great. Thank you. I just remember the first time that I was in his presence, I was terrified the entire time. And that feeling continues today. I just learned a lot from Michael. Michael, thank you for investing time and energy.

(Speaker 2)
I appreciate you. There he is. Michael Levine, folks. Yes. All right. And I need…

(Speaker 2)
Jordan and Danica to join us here. And what we’re gonna do for a second, Sean, can you queue up Rapper’s Delight, Rapper’s Delight, that’s the Sugar Hill Gang Rapper’s Delight. We’re gonna take a five minute stretch break, okay, because we’re gonna do a little stretch, just kind of stretch, because we have Eric coming here and I want to make sure we have a little time to kind of stretch. So let’s take a stretch break. We’re gonna come back here at 1130, our final session before Eric, you know, joins us. So we’ll come at 1130, we’ll do a Q &A, then we’ll have Eric Trump.

(Speaker 2)
So again, and I need Danica and Jordan nearby. I also need Andrew Sorcini nearby. I need to have Pastor Dave Scarlett nearby, Pastor Dave Scarlett if I can. And Josh Spurl nearby, Josh Spurl. And Sean with Suncoast Pest Management.

(Speaker 2)
So if I called your name, if you could be nearby, that would be great. And we’re gonna come back here at 11 .30 for our final session before, our final session before Eric Trump speaks.

(Speaker 8)
And Sean, crank it up. That’s what you want to be. That’s where you wanna be, uh -huh, uh -huh, yeah Business growth is what you wanna see, uh -huh, uh -huh That’s where you wanna be, where you wanna be, yeah, yeah If you’ve got the big goals, do what she did, yeah, do what she did For entrepreneurs, it’s a paradise For employees, it’s a changed paradigm For the poor and ignored, it’s a changed mind For the explorers, it’s a major find For Tim Tebow, it goes a line Call all bits of mastermind.

(Speaker 2)
For Baba Kiyosaki it’s game time. For the first time attendees it’s oh my. It’s a sweet home of mine. Business people it’s so nice. It’s a queen, it’s a chain. Six hundred five times.

(Speaker 2)
For me it’s what I do, it’s my vibe. Because the Thrive Time Nation is my tribe. Thrive Time Show, that’s where you wanna be.

(Speaker 8)
Uh huh, uh huh, yeah. It’s time to thrive, what a time to be alive. Can we kick it? Yes we can If you come with business problems, you leave with plans At the primetime show, we implementation We teach marketing and improving your brand How to systems and finance We teach how to hire people to stand Dreams into reality land. Since 05 I’ve been doing it, cause that’s my jam. Helping goal pursuers do it, putting cash in their hands.

Now that Ed’s joined us, he has joined the band. Kiyosaki been told, cause he’s in the rhythm. I guess he cares. Kiyosaki’s in the dojo of self -discipline. So get your tickets now at Plata Show End. I’d buy them next year on hand.

You’ve got the big goals to achieve, yeah, you’ve got to achieve them. That’s our show, that’s where you wanna be, uh -huh, uh -huh, yeah Business growth is what you wanna see, uh -huh, what you wanna see That’s our show, that’s where you wanna be, where you wanna be, yeah, yeah You’ve got the big goals to achieve, yeah, you’ve got to achieve it all

Transcribed with Cockatoo