Entrepreneur | Putting In Your Time Versus Putting In Your Heart | Celebrating the TipTopK9.com, Platinum Pest & ColawFitnes.com Success Stories

Audio Transcription

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. This started from the bottom, now they’re here. It’s the Thrive Time Show, starring the former U.S. Small Business Administration’s Entrepreneur of the Year, Clay Clark, and the entrepreneur trapped inside an optometrist’s body, Dr. Robert Zunich. 8 kids co-created by 2 different women. 13 multi-million dollar businesses. I break down the books, see bringing some wisdom and the good looks As the father of five, that’s why I’m alive So if you see my wife and kids, please tell them hi It’s the CNC up on your radio And now 3, 2, 1, here we go! 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 here Clay Clark, how are you my friend? I’m doing awesome man. They put the new rule in place here where I can’t have my coffee cup on the set. So I feel empty, but I know my cup is full elsewhere. Well, and you were drinking coffee, and I know that you just kind of, you drink coffee out of necessity. You don’t even like the taste, though, right? You just kind of smash it in your face. Put it in my face. Right? Yeah, yeah. Well, listen, today we are talking about putting in your time versus putting in your heart, okay? And we’re gonna be looking at kind of a big problem that we see in our society where a lot of people don’t like their jobs, they feel stuck, they want to do something different, and at the same time employers are saying that the hardest thing that they do each day is trying to find good employees. So there’s some kind of disconnect here. So let’s dive into this though. We’ve got a little mystic statistic for you, okay? According to Forbes, 74% of people would consider finding a new job, okay? 31% don’t like their boss, 31% cite a lack of empowerment as a reason to leave, and 43% cite a lack of recognition as the main problem. Have you seen this as a pattern, like most people in America don’t enjoy their job right now? Yeah, I would say that, I see, because I’ve consulted with businesses all over the world, all over the country, and what I see is that a lot of people, we have a job, and we’re not fully invested, our heart’s not in it, and we’re kind of just viewing it as a paycheck sometimes. And we’re not fully invested in it, we don’t really achieve a lot, therefore we don’t get promoted, therefore we don’t get recognition, therefore we don’t get more opportunity, or more empowerment from our boss, it’s sort of a kind of a death cycle. And we can say, well, I hope my manager gets better. We can say, I will start becoming more engaged once my manager gets better. It’s not my fault. But the reality is, is that if you’re waiting for your manager to get better, you’re probably going to be waiting your whole career. Because all sorts of statistics show that most managers aren’t the best either. So what I would encourage you to do is just do the best you can do where you’re at so you can get the empowerment, so you can begin to become engaged, so that you can get promoted. Well, and I like what you’re saying, though. The ball’s kind of in our court. So if there’s 74% of people that really don’t like their jobs, would love to find a new job. It’s interesting, though, because our next mystic statistic here from Inc. Magazine says nearly four out of 10 US employers are having difficulty finding jobs or filling jobs. 53% of leaders at small businesses say they face a very or fairly major challenge in recruiting. And in a survey of Inc. 5000 CEOs, 76% said that finding qualified people was a major problem. Again, we just see a disconnect though. It’s not just employers, you know, employees hating their jobs. There’s people looking for good people. Well, I think that the thing is, again, is that, you know, if you’re at a job right now, the great thing is that a lot of employers are having a hard time finding the people that they need. So let’s just say you’re working in the sales department right now and you know that the web team needs some help. There’s nothing wrong with at night studying PHP development, front-end web coding, going online, studying these courses, learning web design, so that way when the company’s looking to promote a web guy, they know you, they like you, you’ve already earned that position. And now when you say, hey, by the way, I can also do web design, you’re almost like a for-sure hire. So I would just encourage you, if you’re watching this, to make sure that you’re developing your skills and improving on a consistent basis, learning new skills, so the companies who are struggling to find the people they need, find the talent they need, can promote from within. Because most employers would prefer to promote from within. Right. Jim Rohn talks about how you don’t get paid for the hour, you get paid for the value you bring to the hour. And I think a lot of people have this mindset that this is what I make each hour, and that’s kind of their view. There’s nothing, they can’t see past that. What else would you have to add to Jim’s quote here? Well, you know, one thing I would say, and just to share with you, you know, Jim, his story is awesome because he grew up, really, you know, was a poor guy, and lived the American dream, became a multi-millionaire, really dominated his profession. He knows a lot about coming from the bottom to the top. What I found is when you’re at the bottom, if you’re not careful, let’s be honest, when I had my first job at Target or Impact Ministries or Applebee’s, I didn’t have a lot of talent. I didn’t have a lot of skill, didn’t have a lot of talent, but I had a lot of time. By investing in myself, through self-help and reading and becoming an expert in sales and marketing and web development in these certain areas I was able to bring a lot more to the marketplace Okay And then more and more people would reach out to me to do more and more things and pay me more and more But if you are at the job you’re at right now and you’re waiting for the job to bring you new skills It’s probably not going to happen. So you need to be improving your skills You’d be committed to self-improvement Every hour that you’re at the job when you get home to and that way you start to get paid for the value you add, not just for the hours that you’re sitting at a desk. Love it, let’s jump on into this then. I want to, you kind of touched on it a little bit here, but let’s do a little story time, okay? Okay, yeah. You talked about how you learned that you need to put your heart into it and really bring value to the company, but there is a time, right? There was a time when your heart really wasn’t in it, maybe, when you were at Target or whatnot. Give us a little story time here on what the old clay would do and what that would look like. Well, I know when I worked at the Norseman, one of the things is they have like a special – Just for the few people that might not know the Norseman, can you – I know that’s – The Norseman is a Nordic-themed restaurant in rural – Is it like wildly popular or – I would add about seven people. No, no, we have a town called Cocado, Minnesota where 2,038 people lived and there was one major restaurant in town called The Norseman. If you go to Starbucks today, they always have this little internal phrase that says, if you have time to lean, like lean against a wall, then you have time to clean. Well, at The Norseman, my thought was, if I’ve got the place clean, I’ve got time to peace out. So what I would do is I would clean the bathroom, and not clean the bathroom, really. I would just clean the bathroom, I’d go through the checklist and kind of pretend. Oh yeah. Not fully clean anything, not really. And then I would just like peace out. And I kept my, I had this little system where I would try to get as many half pound or quarter pound hamburgers eaten per shift as I could. Oh, that’s impressive. So my thought was like. It’s an honorable cause. Well my thought was, you know, like here’s the deal, Butch, my boss, he’s probably not gonna know. And you know, so every shift I’ll try to get like three or four quarter pounders down. Let me ask you this though, what’s the impact of having that mentality? Not putting your heart into it, putting your time in, what’s the impact? Well, one of my boss, Jeff, kept saying, get, what are you doing? Why are you, what, stop eating, get to work. Why aren’t you cleaning? What are you doing? So I started getting micromanaged because I needed someone to manage me. I started to lose any sense of empowerment because they just, they took responsibilities away from me. And then I actually started being treated almost like I was a mildly mentally dysfunctional Because I acted like it. Yeah, and so I was basically cast as The black sheep and they said, you know, this guy is not a hard worker. He doesn’t know a lot of anything So let’s have him bus tables and when he’s not doing that give him something to do because he doesn’t have the ability to think Yeah proactively. It’s kind of the conversation was going on. It was a soul-sucking, hour-sucking job where I got paid minimum wage, got very minimum tips because I did a very minimum job. But over time, I started to learn that mindset is going to get you stuck. That was the mindset I brought to work every day while working at the Norseman. So you were treated, you the palest man in the world, were treated like the black sheep. That is true. I was the black, pale sheep. What’s crazy about this though is that the mindset you’re describing that you had back in the day is not uncommon. We got another mystic statistic here. This is from a recent Gallup poll that says 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at their jobs. They lack motivation and are less likely to invest discretionary effort in organizational goals or outcomes. 13% of all people working in jobs right now are engaged at all. It means that the people watching this, probably 87% of you watching, are not the people this is talking about. Right, not you people. We know on Thrive only, Thrive, we only have the 13%… Not you people, other people. We have the 13% that’s engaged. Exactly. The other people are not engaged. But I’m just being real. I’m just encouraging you to ask yourself, are you engaged? Because for a second, forget about the job for a second. When you work at a job, remember, this is your opportunity to build a reputation, to build a practical education, and to build a network. Okay, it’s a reputation, it’s that practical education. That’s what you need to build, that network. And if people start to know you and learn your reputation as this guy doesn’t work hard, you’re not helping yourself. And you’ve got to look at it, our time on this planet is very limited. So you want to absolutely bring the best you can every single day to the workplace so that you start to get that reputation as being the guy that people want to hire. And you’ll find over time you’ll get promoted or you’ll build your resume and can apply for another job, but you just don’t want to be stuck doing minimal effort like 87% of the people. Well, what you’re saying, it sounds like a good ideal. Like, oh, work hard, put your heart into it, but I feel like I could probably be representing a lot of the thrivers out there that say, hey, you don’t really know what my job is. It really is a dead-end job. What do you say to those people? Where they’re at where they say, no, no, no, that doesn’t quite apply to me. I’m actually in a worthless job. There is nothing I can take out of this. Let me say this story. There’s a guy right now that I do consulting with a lot of companies. And there’s one guy I met at a conference, and he’s an owner, and he was explaining to me he’s got a guy in his office who’s like late 60s, and he’s always late to work. He’s always been late to work for the last 10 years. He’s been late to work, he never gets his job done, he doesn’t really get the, you know. And so he’s like, hey, I have to lay off a guy who I know hasn’t saved for retirement, he’s in his late 60s, how do you think I should do that? That is such a difficult spot to put your employer in when you’re not bringing it. This guy said that this guy for the last 10 years he’s worked at the company over 10 years and he says every year he’s never brought it. Even when he was 59, 60, 61, he just doesn’t get his job done. It puts your employer in a weird spot because they’re going to have to punt you. It’s going to hurt yourself. You just really, really, really, really, really need to make sure that you’re applying your full effort every day in your job. I promise you, if you’re working in a really small business right now, if you’re working at a gas station that has three, it’s a locally owned gas station, and there’s three employees who work there, if every day you smile at every customer and bring enthusiasm and bring joy, I promise you at some point a potentially new employer, someone else who might have the opportunity to hire you, will walk in and will say, hey, how you doing? Are you interested in another job? And you might have an opportunity to get promoted out of that job or hired out of that job. So no matter where you are, as long as you’re around humans, you just need to be diligent. You need to over-deliver because I’m telling you, you have an opportunity to build your reputation or to hurt it every day. So you’re saying it’s not only a negative outcome that could come about this by not putting in your heart by getting fired. You’re saying there’s actually no matter where you are there’s positive possibilities. Absolutely. I worked at Target and I’ve shared this story on some different Thrive episodes but when I was working behind the electronics desk I had a guy walk in who’s a customer and I was just bringing at that point in my life. I was bringing it. I decided to over deliver to bring the energy and I actually got a job from a customer. Okay. I can’t tell you how many times that’s happened throughout my career when I own the DJ business. Every time I’m out there DJing weddings and entertaining people would come up and give a card and they’d hire me for another event. As a speaker today, every time I speak, you go with me, people say, hey, do you have a card? I’d like to book you for another event. But if you are out there over delivering, whether you’re self-employed or you work for someone else, you will get noticed. Alright JT, so hypothetically, in your mind, what is the purpose of having a business? Um, to get you to your goals. So it’s a vehicle to get you to your destination. And would, uh, you need profits to get there? I mean, when you have a business that’s successful, 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! Alright, so the question I would have here for you, if you could take like, I don’t know, 10 minutes or less and see if you could save 3,000 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 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 didn’t understand how you said the website. This tree is a symbol of the spirit of the Griswold family Christmas. No, that’s clear. Okay, so that can be true. So I encourage everybody to check out thrivetimeshow.com forward slash credit dash card Thrive timeshow.com forward slash credit dash card What would be another reason why someone would not be willing to take 10 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 then it won’t it’s not possible There’s somebody out there that’s making more than three thousand dollars 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 someone out there. OK. 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 because you can compare rates, you can save money. And the big goal, 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 Profit deal No. 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 and 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! Well, let me tell you a good story here, real quick. I actually, years ago, compared rates with this company here. It’s called IPS. It’s Integrated Payment Services. And I scheduled a consultation. I don’t know if I 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 case, 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 bucks. 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 gonna 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 Ridgway, it’s from Ridgway. 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 three thousand dollars a year Off of your credit card processing you were hoping what I would know you money Oh, you don’t owe us money because at the end of the day at the end of the day The goal of the business is to create time freedom and financial freedom in order to do and in order to do that, you need to create additional profits. The number of new customers that we’ve had is up 411 percent 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 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 or can 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 nonexistent 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, asking our customers for reviews, and now we’re the highest rated and most reviewed Pest and Lawn 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 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 followed with Thrive 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, more new customers last year than we did the first five months, or I’m sorry, 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 is it the diligence and Consistency and doing those and 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 right we were basically stuck Really no new growth with our 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. 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’re 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 going to take in order to really succeed. So we just want to 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 pediatrician. 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. Overall, our average is running about 40 to 42% 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’s 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’s just amazing. This kind of guy has worked in every single industry. He’s written books with Lee Crocker, the 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, and graphic designers, and web developers, and they run 160 companies every single week. So think of this guy with a team of business coaches running 160 companies. So in the weekly, he’s running 160 companies. Every six to eight weeks, he’s doing Reawaken America tours. Every six to eight weeks, he’s also doing business conferences where 200 people show up, and 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, organizing everything in their head to building it into a franchisable, scalable business. One of his businesses has like 500 franchises. That’s just one of the companies or brands that he works with. 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 like 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 and that’s what I like the 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 you and Clay has been an amazing business coach. Through the course of that, we became friends. My 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. And when we walked out, I knew that he could make millions on the deal and they were super excited about working with him. And he told me, he’s like, I’m not gonna touch it, I’m gonna turn it down. Because he knew it was gonna harm the common good of people in the long run. 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 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 been 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 4 to 14 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 10 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 Thrive Time 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 systems 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 gonna teach you how to fix your conversion rate. We’re gonna 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 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 going to leave energized, motivated, but you’re also going to 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 love it. We built this facility for you and we’re excited to see it. We 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 our call. Well, Clay, I would go up and down from about $10,000 a month up to about $40,000. It was up and down roller coaster. Now we’ve got it to where we’re in excess of 100 clients. That’s awesome. And so I would have anywhere from five 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 we’ve been good friends 7, 8 years and I’ve got doubled 5 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 Bless 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. And 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 you do them regardless of what’s happening. You lean into them and it will give you X number of leads. You follow up with those leads, it turns into sales. Well I tell you, 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. 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 100 calls. We make 200-300 calls a day per rep. And she’s been nailing down 5 and 8 appointments a day. Somebody out there is having a hard time. Call them script! So she’s making how many calls a day? She’s making between 200 and 300 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. It’s kind of how I would describe our relationship. Tim, I want to ask you this. 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 it 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 as 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. And 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 almost everything about business in terms of the different categories. I haven’t learned 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 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. So I’d say people that are driven, people that want to make something of their lives, people that are goal-oriented, they’re focused, and they’re committed to overcoming any adversity that may come their way. Clay’s passion for helping business owners grow their businesses is unique in that I don’t know if there’s anyone else that can be as passionate. Whenever a business starts working with Clay, 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 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 challenging yourself. Be open to learning and adjusting parts about you that need to be adjusted.