Entrepreneur | Sell Yourself First With Mickey Michalec + SBA Loans

Audio Transcription

Get ready to enter the Thrivetime Show! 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 on the top. Teaching you the systems to get what we got. Cullen Dixon’s on the hooks, I’ve written the books. He’s bringing some wisdom and the good looks. As the father of five, that’s what I’m about. So if you see my wife and kids, please tell them how it’s C and Z up on your radio. And now three, two, one. Here we go. We’re here with Mickey Mahalik. Mickey, you are a sales guru. You are in it. You actually do sales. You took time out from your sales. I guess you didn’t take time out technically, it’s after the workday, but you are here to teach us how to do sales. And you are one of the top pharmaceutical sales reps in the region and maybe in the country. And I just appreciate you being here. So I want to say thank you so much. Hey, appreciate it. Thanks for having me. So here we go. I’m going to dive into it and just give you a bunch of rapid fire questions here. So here we go. One, about the only thing ordinary salespeople agree upon is the idea that you must sell yourself first. So we’re talking about this idea of selling yourself first. We agree that that’s about the only thing that people can agree on, salespeople. In your mind, what does it mean to sell yourself first? Well, I think before you can talk about your product, people are going to see you first. So the person selling the product has the first perception that someone’s going to think about that product. So does this person look like he can be valuable? Does he look like he can study the material? Does he look smart? Does he look like he’s going to do the due diligence but learn the product well enough for my valuable time to listen? One example of this is today, I think I’m wearing a Bryant Reeves jersey, fellow seven footer. Here. No, this is a Utah Jazz. This is Karl Malone. I’m wearing Karl Malone today. But like, if we started off, you want some Carmelon? I’ll give you some Carmelon. But anyway, but if you were meeting me on the mean streets, and I’m out there in my Carmelon jersey trying to convince you that you should come out to this website to learn about online education, your perception of me would be different. Yeah, correct. The perception of you would be different if you weren’t dressed the way you are today. We really do have to make sure that our packaging is correct, right? The appearance, on the outside first, the book by its cover. I never really agreed with don’t judge a book by its cover, because I think the cover is the first thing you see. You’re not going to pick that book up unless you agree with how that cover looks first. There’s a phrase that a lot of entrepreneurs say, a lot of these millionaires I keep interviewing, they say, you need to dress the way you want to be addressed. That’s exactly right. Can you talk to me a little bit about some specific action steps that every entrepreneur can take right now to maybe step up their game in terms of the dressing? The first thing is if you don’t know how to get from point A to point B, find somebody that’s a professional in that realm. What if I don’t have access to talk to somebody that’s a clothier, that knows about clothes and addressing your wardrobe? Some guy named Flaude who’s really down with the tailored suits. Exactly. Simply turn on the television and look at somebody. Flip the channels until you say, you know what, that guy looks like he’s got it. And then when you see that guy, pause the TV or stay on and keep watching it again until you find out and you say, what does he have that I don’t have in my dress code? And when you stop and look, don’t reinvent the wheel. My favorite way, don’t tell my wife, my favorite way to shop is to go look at the mannequins at Christmas. If it’s good enough to be on the mannequin, it’s good enough to look good on my wife. Really? That’s your move? Yeah, just walk in, hey, that shirt matches those pants with that purse. I’ll take it. I’ve never done that before. That’s a great way to do it. This is, you know, I never reverse engineered a mannequin for Christmas here. This is, that’s beautiful. I am doing that this year. Man secrets. Man secrets. secret man secrets we if you guys can just keep this between you and everybody who might subscribe and you might share a complimentary subscription shirt that will be a little secret that we will check that so so once again you don’t have to go to somebody go through this this whole off that stuff like that football magazine and the next time you’re at an office and you see a g q sitting there flip through and say hey uh… i really like a lot of guys right there. What does he wear? I’m just going to write down this here. This is my Christmas tip. I’m not going to let this fall out of my mind here. I’m going to write it with my mystery marker, my Christmas tip. That’s something I’m going to hold on to. I’m not going to forget that. That’s beautiful. That’s beautiful. Okay, now the next question I have here for you is how important is the overall attitude when you start a career in sales? I’ve seen people who their attitude is terrible. And just the other day we had a guy who applied for a job, super mega talented. And dude if you’re watching I think you’re a beautiful man, I’m sure you’re a great person, I’m sure you’re just going through something weird for the last five or six years of your life. But this guy has been really, he was like, you guys have this skill, this amazing portfolio, and his attitude was adversarial. I’m like, so what have you been doing the last couple of years with your career. And he says, I’ve been doing this for 20 years. And I’m like, okay, well I know you’ve been doing video for 20 years. Look, I’m not here to beg for a job. And it’s just the whole attitude was like antagonistic. Or some people without even saying it, that nonverbal stuff. What are some things you can do if you want to have the right attitude? And just your first impression there. If you want to make sure that you sell yourself first and look attitudinally correct, what are some things you can do that kind of let people know that you’re a person we want to do business with? Well, I think before you go into that place where you have a customer before you have that job interview Offload your thoughts of the day take out a piece of paper and write down. Hey, this hasn’t went good today This is what well today and get those all out of the way and then talk about how successful This opportunity is gonna go. So give yourself the right mentality before you go in, because attitude is infectious. So you’re saying step one here is we want to kind of clear our thoughts of any negative before we get out there. Absolutely, because the thoughts that you have will then show through your expressions. Now one thing I’ve heard, I don’t know if you agree with this, but I’ve heard people that they say before they even go in for an appointment or an interview, they will speak over themselves, positive affirmations. They’ll do some self-talk, saying, you can get this deal, you’re going to get this job, you were born for this job, you’ve got what it takes. Do you do that at all, the positive affirmations? I do, and I’ll do it in the car, or if I forget, when I’m walking into an office building, I’ll stop and I’ll run in the bathroom real quick. And side nugget right here, the power of the re-tuck. Go in there, re-tuck your shirt in, look proper, straighten your belt up, make sure your pants look good, pull your socks up, and if you feel good about yourself and you look in the mirror and your image looks good, you will then go in with confidence. Yeah. Another thing I’ve noticed that I do a lot is I like to do, again, from an attitude perspective, I like to do things that show just physically that I’m interested. So I like to make sure that I sit on the edge of my seat. So literally, when I’m talking to you, I try to like, if I’m working with a client, I’ll sit here like I really have an extreme interest in what you’re saying. Not enough for it to freak you out, but I mean, I like to sit here where it looks like I am hanging on every word. Do you do that at all? Yeah, I do. Body language is big. I don’t go into conversations with arms crossed. I don’t go into conversations with my hands in my pockets. I don’t go into conversations with my hands on my face. I go into conversations looking someone in the eye, taking notes when I need to, always having that available. Eye contact. Absolutely. Now here’s something that’s tough. Eye contact is hard because, I don’t know what’s going on. I’m not a psychologist. I don’t get it. But I know that anybody who’s come from a place of poverty, that’s kind of a place of shame. And you kind of look down. I know I grew up without money. And sometimes kids mock you if you wear the same clothes multiple times. And so you look down. Or maybe you don’t know how to speak properly. And then you look down. And maybe you don’t know what to say. And you look down. But you have to make eye contact, right? You do. I mean, that’s like a… I think that what that means is that I’m willing to show you that what I have today is real and I’m not telling you a lie. I’m looking you in the eye and I’m saying, hey, I have value in my product today and I think you need to hear this. So eye contact is big. Now some other things I’ve noticed is from an attitude perspective, zero, zero yawning correct do you see this the right now i do i see all time and there’s nothing worse than you telling the story and if you’re willing to say it you think it has value so if my customer is willing to tell me a story than they believe it’s worthwhile for my time to hear it if i stopped in the middle of their story i go but people have a good thing about it people who have your suicide i’m putting no value on their story and they’re less likely to ever tell me something personal now i’ll tell you this uh… i have seen some yoners out there earlier today i i i did that out will sell that a yoners nearly hours at a large big box retail store there was a girl who was in the checkout line, and I’m walking in there with my kids. I have five kids, so it’s like there’s a big trail of ducklings almost. I said, excuse me, do you know where the day timers are? I’m getting some new day timers. She says, what was that? I said, yeah, I’m looking for some day timers. Over there. Just kind of over there. I go over there Nothing come back. Excuse me. Do you know where the day timers are and I? Mean maybe they’re over there and just the whole attitude of like she didn’t want to be there now that lady’s not gonna get promoted She’s not gonna get hired. She’s not going to get opportunities now I can tell you I was a cashier at Target And I had landed an internship with a multi-million dollar company from a recruiter who’s buying a video camera and that interaction at Target, he said, what do you do? I told him I’m a DJ trying to grow a business and I work here to help pay the bills and he was like, well we’d like you to come work at tax and accounting software. So opportunities will pass you by if you’re yawning, if you’re not making eye contact, if you’re not, you know, what about just the grooming? That whole, like, you know, hey, that whole I haven’t taken a shower in three months. Look, you know, what’s going on with that? Is that a problem, grooming? If you’re not willing to care about yourself, how much will you care about the need that they provide? So, you as a customer are going to provide a need for me, an opportunity for me to fulfill that need. If I can’t even care about myself, how am I supposed to care about you? And a great quote that I love, I was listening on YouTube to a motivational speaker and he said, how do you ever expect to be the CEO of a company if you can’t do the dishes in your apartment today? Oh, that was offensive. Yeah. And the reality is, if you can’t do the little things today, and you’re that person that says, well, once I make more money, then I’ll start edging my yard, because right now it’s expected it’s okay. Once I get to this level, then I’ll start wearing a tie. Once I get to this level, then I’ll get my haircut more regularly. If you can’t do it now, I’m going to tell you, you’re never going to get to that level. Right now, if I’m watching this and I’m stuck in a rut, if I am just for whatever reason unable to conjure up a positive attitude and I’m ready to just take that step, I’m ready to say, tell me what to do, sir. What would you recommend I do, Mickey? Well, for the positive attitude, I think that you need to surround yourself or eliminate the friends that you have that are not willing to create a positive environment. Change your environment. Become a thermostat instead of a thermometer. Be the guy that changes the temperature instead of the guy that is affected by the temperature of the room. You’re going to surround yourself, you’re saying surround yourself with who? With other positive influences. Okay, with other positive influences. And eliminate, so draw an arrow out of the circle going out, eliminate the negative ones. So if you’re a negative, you’re getting out of here. Negative is gonzo, right? That’s correct. OK. Now, one thing I’ve noticed that’s hard is once you begin to surround yourself with positive people, they think at a higher level. And it’s hard to be weak in that circle or you get punted into the negative zone. I mean, really. Yeah. I had a member, I went to church. This is about a couple of years back. And Clifton Talbert’s there. And Clifton’s a Thrive mentor. He wouldn’t mind me sharing this story. I tend to pull, I used to pull nighters all the time with the DJ business. And we had about 3,000, 4,000 events we’re doing a year. I would load in all the DJs. I’d come home and sleep for four or five hours and go to church. Well, I did not look good. But it was because I just woke up about 30 minutes before church, and I just took a brief shower and headed in. I didn’t dress up nice. I just didn’t look bad. And I could have, if I would have just got up earlier, shaven, put on a decent outfit, I would have been fine. But I didn’t do that. So I had a beat up sweatshirt. And he pulls me aside and he’s like, hey, people are going to remember how you look right now. And I remember just being like, I felt like such a small boy. And I felt like such a weak person because I was about ready to get punted out of that circle. Sure. But it’s an iron sharpens iron sort of mentality. Yeah. I love that. So if you’re in a tough spot right now to get out of that negative attitude, you’re saying just surround yourself with those other positive… Yeah. It starts with some housecleaning first. Look at the people that are directly in your environment every day from the time you wake up, from the time you go to bed. Now let me ask you this here. If you surround yourself with these positive people and you now are to a point where you’re making sure you have this great attitude and you’re selling yourself first because you’ve been able to project this great attitude, you look sharp, you’re feeling good, you still have to have this thing called the 60-second commercial. A lot of people, there’s a lot of books written about this, but basically this is your 60 second commercial where you’re basically, if you, let’s say you’re in the elevator with somebody, you need to be able to tell somebody who you are, what you’re about, and where you’re going, right? What makes you different? Because if you can’t, then they can’t help you. So when I was at Target, I remember this guy’s like, well, what do you do? I’m a DJ. I didn’t say I’m a Target employee. I’m a DJ. I’m working here to help pay the bills, starting my business, and I’m looking to go from here to there. And he was like, well, let me help you. If you’re hitchhiking through life and you have your thumb up and somebody pulls over and says, hey, if a cabbie pulls over, where are you headed? And you’re like, I don’t know. But I want to be successful. Where’s that? Couldn’t tell you. I mean, it’s hard to get there. So I want to get into the 60 Second commercial here. If you had a 60 Second Super Bowl commercial, if you can just imagine, if you had 60 seconds of airtime, what would you say? And this is about me. Yeah. OK, great. So I’d love to do this. Let’s roll with it right now. Yeah, let’s do it. All right, 60 Seconds. Hey, I’m Mickey Mihalik. I just want to let you know that I’m a local guy first. I was born and raised right down the road here. This is a place that I care about. It’s where I send my kids to school right here. I don’t want to let you know that I started out first as a college basketball player, but that wasn’t good enough. I wanted to be more than just an athlete. So many athletes struggle to say, well, he was just an athlete. He was just a jock. I was more than a jock, all right? I got my education. I got my degree, okay? I want to be someone known other than just an athlete. So I got into the business world and I got into pharmaceutical sales. Now what’s most important about that is I try to balance family and life. Because it’s so important to me that I be a husband and I be a father as well as be successful in business. So I’m not willing to sacrifice not being for my family just to get a sale. I’m going to let you know that right now. So if you try to come at me and say, hey, I need this guy to be the end all be all, always there, there, there. There’s more to life than just that. I care about my family, but the second thing is when you have me, I’m going to run through brick walls better than anyone else out there. And you’ve thought about it too. I mean, obviously this is an exercise where I can get caught up in the semantics of it. 77 seconds or 60 seconds. But the idea is you know what you’re about. Absolutely. And you know what you’re for. Yeah. And you know where you’re going. Yeah. It seems to me as though most people don’t know the answer to that stuff correct They don’t know they are you just said you’re not willing to sacrifice family for business success You also said that this is where you came from you played college basketball And that wasn’t good enough you wanted to do something else I mean you you know that yeah, and I would just challenge anybody watching this right now You want to come up with your 60-second commercial? Who are you? Where are you from? Where are you going? What are you about? If you can tell people that, you’re ahead of the game. The other day I interviewed a lady for one of our businesses. She wants to work at the hair salon. They were short staffed so I’m interviewing the girl. I said, what are your goals? I don’t know. I’m almost done with the interview at that point. I don’t even know her name at that point. What are your goals? I don’t know. If you don’t know your goals, it’s going to be hard to keep you motivated because you don’t know where you’re going. It just becomes a very frustrating cycle. This is huge. Mickey, if we’re going to write this one-minute television commercial to tell the world what we do, how do you know what you’re about? How did you figure that out? Because you grew up, your mother attempted suicide, you had a rough background. How did you decide what you’re about? I stopped and I re-evaluated my life and where it was going. I had a moment. I had a crossroad where I recognized that if I continued this lifestyle that I was living, I was going this way. And that’s not where I wanted to go. I wanted to be here, and I didn’t know how I was going to get there, but I had an end result that I wanted to be, and I was willing to do what it takes to get there. So you at some point decided this is what I am about. Yes. And I’m going to, why is it that most people don’t know what they’re about? What is that all about? I don’t think they know who they are first. They always have been defined by somebody else or something. Oh, you’re a small town guy, Clay. Oh, you’re just a DJ. Oh, you don’t know how to do math really well. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but if someone speaks that into your life and you accept it, you’re being defined by somebody else and you’re allowing them to drive your path. Now, as we do these commercials, one thing we want to think about is we want to come up with three differentiators that make our business unique or make us as people unique. So if you’re a person right there, you don’t have a business, you want to know what makes you unique. If you’re a business owner, you want to think of the things that make your business unique. So you said, former college basketball player, you said you’re a family guy, and you said you’re willing to do whatever it takes, she’ll run through a wall if need be. Why do we have to know what makes our product or service unique or makes us unique as people? Why do we have to know that? I think because the market’s saturated in any product right now. Everybody thinks, oh, if I just open the doors, they will come. I’m here to tell you today, if they have five options, and all those five options are melancholy, vanilla, they’re the same, how are you expecting for yours to be successful over the other four? And I think when we want to be different, we worry that we’re going to irritate some people. And Seth Godin, best-selling author, the author of The Purple Cow, he says, if your product or service is not remarkable, it’s invisible. And I see it all the time in the medical industry. You do too. I see it all the time in every other industry as well, where people are so worried about being remarked about in a bad way that they refuse to be remarkable at all. They’re just vanilla. So what would you say would be, what would be a way for you to, if you’re somebody right now and you’re watching this and you’re kind of stuck and they don’t know how to come up with three ways to make themselves different. How would you recommend someone get started if they’re kind of stumped? Find out who you don’t want to be first. You’ve got to find out who you don’t want to be before you can find out who you want to be. Oh, that makes sense. That’s very easy to look and say, well, I really don’t want to be annoying. I don’t want to be a guy that looks like this. I don’t want to be a guy that constantly looks desperate. Okay, so let’s take those and let’s put those aside. Who are people that I see currently that I want to be like and what do they do? I see in businesses to people like to use safe words. So it seems like they’re being different, but they’re not there’s an example They’ll say well that it our company. We’re professional. We have great customer service. We’re high integrity We you can count on us That doesn’t make you different. No, cuz there’s not too many companies out there being like, you know, in our business we’re not really professional and you couldn’t really count on our customer service, but we have a low level of integrity so it’s okay. I mean, there’s very few people that say that. So it’s important that we don’t use those kinds of words. Do you see that a lot in the businesses you work with where they say, such and such dentistry, we’re professional, we have high integrity. Do you see it a lot? I see it a lot, and the example I give is that if you have your day off, and I’m going to take it back to the salesman’s level. If you have your day off at Home Clay and that doorbell rings and it’s a little kid and he’s selling a candy bar for an event. And you say, you know what, great, I used to do this. I’ll buy a candy bar. Here’s a dollar and you buy that. And you go back and you sit down. Now it’s your day off. All of a sudden that doorbell rings again and it’s a little girl. And you say, well, hey, I bought one from a little boy. I’m going to buy one from a little girl. And then the next one comes by and rings the doorbell again, and it’s a little athlete, and you want to support athletics. By the time the doorbell rings for the tenth time on your day off, what are you going to say to them? You’re going to be so annoyed because this is your day off. Let me tell you, your customer, their job is not to talk to you. Their job is to run their business, and they’ve got the doorbell ringing 10 times, what’s going to make them stop and talk to you compared to the other nine people that have came in that day? I love that. I think, and I’ve heard it called the clutter of commerce, but there’s so many people trying to get your attention that it’s a clutter. I love what you just said there. That’s powerful. What are, can you give us an example, maybe three benefits that your company can uniquely do that solves the problem? So here’s your explaining to me, and I’m a potential buyer. What are three benefits that your company can provide? How do you uniquely solve them, just so I can maybe hear how you do it? Well, for the first thing, I’m going to let you know that we’ve been around for 25 years. For a business to be around for 25 years, they’re obviously doing something right. We see businesses come and go every day. We were the first. We were the ones that everyone tries to be like. So that’s important to know that you’ve stood the test of time, right? We were around when America was still made by steel, all right? We weren’t cheap plastic, all right? So we’ve stood the test right there. The second thing is, when you come to us, you’re going to get a person and you’re going to get an answer. No is not acceptable. When you come to me, I’m not going to say, no. Or an example you gave earlier at a box store, I think it’s over there. Well, listen, thinking is not good enough. You can say, I don’t have the answer right now, but in a time frame, I’m going to give you a defined time frame, within the hour, you are going to hear back from me with an answer or the right direction. And the last one is, I’m going to follow up with you. Most people just accept the business, leave it alone. I’m going to take the time to go back and reinvest to make sure there’s nothing else I can help you with as well. I want to use some other examples if you’re watching this and you’re kind of stumped and you’re going well what are three things that makes me unique with the DJ company I started we said we looked at all our competition and we found out what we didn’t want to be like and all the other and all the other entertainers charged per hour. Now that’s ridiculous for you to have a wedding and to be worried about how many hours you have to you know you have left. I thought it’s crazy that the bride should have to think about, well what time is it? And I better hurry up so that I don’t run out of time. And so we said, well we do unlimited time. From the time your first guest gets there until the last one goes home. We’re going to be the last people to leave. We’re unlimited time, no stress. The second is every DJ company always has these weird rules about how, this is how we DJ. We say, well we’re customized though. Whatever you want us to DJ. If you want us to be interactive or laid back, we totally are customizable. And the third thing that we did is we said, when we sit down with you, we’re going to help you plan out your whole wedding. From start to finish, we’re an event planning service first, and then we DJ second. Well, that didn’t cost me a lot of money. Those were words. With your case and my case, they’re words. They’re promises. They’re commitments, but they’re not… We didn’t have to buy a bunch of stuff. I think this is the critical flaw though. I see a lot of businesses that say, well it’s you know, it’s our business, we have the best refrigerators, and so they invest in a ton of refrigerators. And they say our business, we have the best business cards, and they buy more business cards. And our business, we have the best, and they keep adding stuff like tangible things. We have the best parking lot, the best sign, the best… but they’re not… but the words, the verbal description of what makes you different is really more powerful, right? Yeah. That promise that you’re standing on is probably more powerful than the stuff you could buy, right? That’s exactly right. There’s one business in Tulsa I think of, it’s called Elote Cafe. It’s downtown Tulsa, and they have from, what do they call it, from farm to table food, where it’s locally grown products. And their stuff is delicious. And they stand on this organic promise, the free-range chickens, the organic food. It tastes great. And that’s what makes them unique. And the building they moved into was an older building. They did very, very limited budget for the build-out. But people come back because that promise, the differentiator. So that’s really a neat deal. The final thing here is as you sell yourself first, we talked about these three in review and I just want to hit on them here. One, we have to be able to really get out there and sell ourselves first. We have to get out there and sell ourselves first in terms of our physical presentation, in terms of how we look. The second is we have to have that 30 second commercial. We really have to be able to nail that 60 second commercial. I mean, the 60 seconds where we can describe what makes us unique there. And the third is you really have to have those three descriptive benefits there. I know a lot of people have never done that before. Do you think it’s possible to be successful in sales if we don’t look sharp, if we don’t know our 60 second commercial, and if we don’t have our three or four benefits? Do you think it’s possible? To invest in yourself, it doesn’t take money. What it does is it takes an attitude to be real with yourself and sit down and say, who am I? I challenge everyone at home, take out a piece of paper and write at the top, who am I? If you were to leave this earth and somebody was to write down, who is Clay? Who is Mickey? Write down what you want them to say about you. And then write down next to that, what is different from what you have on that paper? If you can’t start within, and it costs no money to do this, if you can’t start within, how do you expect someone else to invest in you? That’s huge. Mickey, I appreciate you being here and teaching us a little bit how to sell ourselves first, teaching us how to do this stuff, because you’ve done it, and I appreciate you taking the time to come teach us a few lessons and some tricks as to how you get from here to there. So thank you so much. My pleasure. Thrivers, we are demystifying something. We’re not demystifying unicorns. We’re not demystifying black holes. We’re not demystifying the life and times of Yoda. We are talking about SBA loans. SBA loans. Everybody say it now. SBA loans. So we’re talking about SBA loans. And you, Mr. Augustine, are our Thriver of the Month, and you had submitted this question, and I want to make sure I answer it for you. You had said, is it advisable to take the time to pursue an SBA loan, and how much, and how worth my time might it be to spend money on a loan packager? Who might be more knowledgeable of the rules and requirements? So I wanted to start off by just giving you kind of the definition of the SBA loan. I know you know what it means, but I just want to help, probably not even you, just other people. But here we go. Terms from a bank or commercial lending institution that the Small Business Administration guarantees as much as 80% of the loan principal for. The Small Business Administration financing programs vary depending upon a borrower’s needs. SBA guaranteed loans are made by a private lender and guaranteed up to 80% by the SBA which helps reduce the lenders risk. What am I saying? The point is, here’s how it goes. If I’m a bank, this is my bank, and I’m going to call my bank First Bank of Awesome. Your bank over here is called First Bank of Humble. Cool? So we are competitor banks. The two of us, we compete every day for customers. I’ve got my door. You’ve got your door. I’ve got my windows. You’ve got your windows. I’ve got my entrance. We’re the same bank. Here’s the only deal. Your bank does not write bad loans. The people who you write loans for, who you give money to, they pay you back. So your bank is in a high standard. People revere your bank. The small business administration says, we appoint your bank as a good bank. We believe in your bank. What happens is you are now an SBA bank. Over simplifying a little bit, but now you’re a bank that has small business administration approval. You are qualified. So it means now, if customer A walks into your bank, okay, so we’re gonna, so now we have these two banks. This over here is the SBA bank, and this over here is the non-SBA bank, okay? If customer one, if my name is Clay, and I go, hmm, I’m trying to get a loan to open my business. If I go to the non-SBA bank, how much of the loan is the bank on the hook for? Like if I borrow $100,000 and I decide not to pay it back, how much of that loan is that bank responsible for? I assume the entire amount. Yes, right. Okay, so they’re gonna go. Hey, homie. You didn’t pay us back So they’re gonna come and take my house They’re gonna come take my cars Which looks like a beetle with wheels, but they’re gonna come take my cars my house. They’re gonna do it Yeah, so this guy are there are a hundred percent on the hook for that money. Now over here the SBA approved bank, they’re only on the hook for 20 percent of the money. So meaning if you don’t pay them back, who pays them back? The government. The government does. And so the government pays them back, that hurts the bank because the bank, if they do that too many times, they can’t do SBA loans anymore. But can’t they do more loans if someone else is guaranteeing them? Don’t they have less risk exposure if the government is guaranteeing 80% of that loan? Absolutely. So this is what an SBA bank loan is all about. So the SBA has all these strict guidelines that they say, here’s this funnel of all these people who want money. These are, we’ll call these seekers. They’re seekers and they are seeking capital. These guys want capital. They’re going to say, cool, you have to all go through this funnel called the SBA compliance or SBA qualifying or the SBA, this paperwork. Out of that, let’s say 10% of people qualify. So these packagers help you, these loan packagers, they help you make sure that your paperwork, because a lot of people have little paperwork over here, little paperwork over here, little paperwork over here, little over here, and they’re trying to send it in. And the SBA just says, nope, we reject it just because it’s so disorganized. The packagers take all those documents, they put it in a nice little binder and they submit it for you and they say, hey, this is what works. They submit it and it goes through a lot easier. Okay, and they make a commission usually for doing so. Okay. So you’re paying money for someone to organize for you. And the commission on that typically comes off of the the loan principle, doesn’t it? Yeah, and that is a deal where because of those are different regulatory changes all the time. Since 2008, 2007, there’s been a ton of changes. Previous to that, there had been a ton of changes in the mid-80s. Regulations are always changing. I can just say that this person is certainly not packaging your loan just out of the goodness of their heart. This is their job, and you are paying a fee for that. However, if it’s your first time through, I might recommend you do the paperwork yourself. If it proves to be overwhelming, then I’d reach out to one of these packagers. But I would advise you really would want to just go ahead and do it yourself. Now once your company grows, and this will happen, and I know some people watching this, you might go, this would be a good problem to have. But eventually, you’re going to find that you’re going to have a I’m talking a lot. You’re going to have a lot more money than you have time. You’re going to have almost no time. But you’re going to have a ton of money. Well, at that point, in my mind, the time savings of paying a packager, it makes sense. Because if you’re busy, you’re running your companies, things are taking off, it’d make more sense just to pay a packager. Does that make sense? So that’s how that system works there. Now, specifically, I want to make sure we hit on all this. The applications, we talked about packagers, we talked about SBA loans, what an SBA loan is. Does that all make sense or is there something I’m missing? Yeah, it all makes sense. Is there a good place to go for advice and assistance with putting together the application for the SBA loan and everything like that? Because that’s one of the pieces that I had found out about that in terms of one of the businesses that I’ve assisted in a similar area as what I want to go into is that it’s really a complex process, especially pulling together some of the paperwork and things like that. Is there any assistance somewhere to find? I would say one is I would go to your local banker and I’d ask the bank, hey, are you SBA approved? Do you guys do SBA loans? A lot of banks don’t. Some banks do. If they say yes, go, can you give me the application paperwork? I would get that and I would begin to work through that. Depending on the complexity of the kind of loan you need, like if I need a loan for manufacturing or if I need a loan for a restaurant or I need a loan for a franchise, they all might be a little different. Then I would make sure you reach out one to the Thrive 15 team, see if we can help you on that. But I would, if you work for the government and you’re subtly offended by this comment, that’s OK. But Ronald Reagan had said, President Reagan, he had said one of the scariest phrases in English language is, I’m from the government, and I’m here to help. I have found that a lot of times, bureaucrats have an ability to make things very difficult that really aren’t that difficult. So I would say, just go to the bank. They get paid if you get a loan. So I’d go there first and say, hey, do you have a packet? And ask, hey, do you have somebody who can help me with this? And that’s what I would do first. And if it proved to be too complex, I’d reach out to us. I wouldn’t invest in paying a bunch of money to do it. But when you get going, you’re trying to open up. I have a friend of mine who literally, with his company right now, he’s trying to open up on an annual basis, like 20 locations. Well, he’d spend all his time just doing loan packets if he didn’t have someone else to it. That’s why he pays packagers and people like that to do it for him. Does that make sense? Yeah, that makes sense. Awesome. All right. Boom. JT, do you know what time it is? 410. It’s TiVo time in Tulsa, Rheaslam, baby. Tim TiVo is coming to Tulsa, Oklahoma, June 27 and 28. We’ve been doing business conferences here since 2005. I’ve been hosting business conferences since 2005. What year were you born? 1995. Dude, I’ve been hosting business conferences since you were 10 years old, but I’ve never had the two-time Heisman Award winning Tim Thiebaud come present. And a lot of people, you know, have followed Tim Thiebaud’s football career on the field and off the field. And off the field, the guy’s been just as successful as he has been on the field. Now, the big question is, JT, how does he do it? Well, they’re going to have to come and find out because I don’t know. Well, I’m just saying, Tim Tebow is going to teach us how he organizes his day, how he organizes his life, how he’s proactive with his faith, his family, his finances. He’s going to walk us through his mindset that he brings into the gym, into business. It is going to be a blasty blast in Tulsa, Russia. Also, this is the first Thrive Time Show event that we’ve had where we’re going to have a man who has built a $100 million net worth. Wow. Who’ll be presenting. Now, we’ve had a couple of presenters that have had a billion dollar net worth in some real estate sort of things. But this is the first time we’ve had a guy who’s built a service business, and he’s built over $100 million net worth in the service business it’s the yacht driving uh… multi-state living guru of franchising peter taunton will be in the house this is the founder of snap fitness the guy behind nine round boxing he’s going to be here in tulsa russell of tulsa russell of oklahoma june twenty seventh and twenty eight jt why should everybody want to hear what peter taunton has to say because he’s incredible he’s just a fountain of knowledge. He is awesome. He has inspired me listening to him talk. And not only that, he also has, he practices what he teaches. So he’s a real teacher. He’s not a fake teacher like business school teachers. So you got to come learn from him. Also, let me tell you this, folks. I don’t want to get this wrong, because if I get it wrong, someone’s going to say, you screwed that up, buddy. So Michael Levine, this is Michael Levine. He’s going to be coming. He’s going to say, who’s Michael Levine? I don’t want to get this wrong. This is the PR consultant of choice for Michael Jackson, for Prince, for Nike, for Charlton Heston, for Nancy Kerrigan. 34 Grammy Award winners, 43 New York Times bestselling authors he’s represented, including pretty much everybody you know who’s been a super celebrity. This is Michael Levine, a good friend of mine. He’s going to come and talk to you about personal branding and the mindset needed to be super successful. The lineup will continue to grow. We have hit Christian reporting artist, Colton Dixon in the house. Now people say, Colton Dixon’s in the house? Yes, Colton Dixon’s in the house. So if you like top 40 Christian music, Colton Dixon’s gonna be in the house performing. The lineup will continue to grow each and every day. We’re gonna add more and more speakers to this all-star lineup, but I encourage everybody out there today, get those tickets today. Go to thrivetimeshow.com. Again, that’s thrivetimeshow.com and some people might be saying well how do I do it? I don’t know how to do it. How does it work? You just go to Thrivetimeshow.com let’s go there now we’re feeling the flow. We’re going to Thrivetimeshow.com Again you just go to Thrivetimeshow.com you click on the business conferences button and you click on the request tickets button right there. The way I do our conferences is we tell people it’s $250 to get a ticket or whatever price that you can afford and the reason why I do that is I grew up without money. JT, you’re in the process of building a super successful company. Did you start out with a million dollars in a bank account? No, I did not. Nope, did not get any loans, nothing like that. Did not get an inheritance from parents, anything like that. I had to work for it, and I am super grateful. I came to a business conference. That’s actually how I met you, met Peter Taunton. I met all these people. So if you’re out there today and you want to come to our workshop, again you just got to go to thrivetimeshow.com. You might say, well when’s it going to be? June 27th and 28th. You might say, well who’s speaking? We already covered that. You might say, where is it going to be? It’s going to be in Tulsa, Russell Oklahoma. Tulsa, Russell? I’m really trying to rebrand Tulsa as Tulsa, Russell. Sort of like the Jerusalem of America. But if you go to, if you type in Thrive Time Show and Jinx, you can get a sneak peek or a look at our office facility. This is what it looks like. This is where you’re headed. It’s going to be a blasty blast. You can look inside, see the facility. We’re going to have hundreds of entrepreneurs here. It is going to be packed. Now for this particular event, folks, the seating is always limited because my facility isn’t a limitless convention center. You’re coming to my actual home office and so it’s going to be packed. So when? June 27th and 28th. Who? You! You’re going to come. I’m talking to you. You can just get your tickets right now at ThriveTimeShow.com. And again, you can name your price. We tell people it’s $250 or whatever price you can afford. And we do have some select VIP tickets, which gives you an access to meet some of the speakers and those sorts of things. And those tickets are $500. It’s a two-day interactive business workshop, over 20 hours of business training. We’re going to give you a copy of my newest book, The Millionaire’s Guide to Becoming Sustainably Rich. You’re going to leave with a workbook. You’re going to leave with everything you need to know to start and grow a super successful company. It’s practical. It’s actionable. And it’s TiVo time right here in Tulsa, Russia. Get those tickets today at Thrivetimeshow.com. Again, that’s Thrivetimeshow.com. Hello, I’m Michael Levine, and I’m talking to you right now from the center of Hollywood, California where I have represented over the last 35 years 58 Academy Award winners, 34 Grammy Award winners, 43 New York Times bestsellers. I’ve represented a lot of major stars and I’ve worked with a lot of major companies and I think I’ve learned a few things about what makes them work and what makes them not work. Now, why would a man living in Hollywood, California, in the beautiful, sunny weather of LA, come to Tulsa? Because last year I did it, and it was damn exciting. Clay Clark has put together an exceptional presentation, really life-changing, and I’m looking forward to seeing you then. I’m Michael Levine. I’ll see you in Tulsa. James, did I tell you my good friend John Lee Dumas is also joining us at the in-person two-day interactive Thrive Time Show Business Workshop. That Tim Tebow and that Michael Levine will be at the… Have I told you this? You have not told me that. He’s coming all the way from Puerto Rico. This is John Lee Dumas, the host of the chart-topping EOFire.com podcast. He’s absolutely a living legend. This guy started a podcast after wrapping up his service in the United States military, and he started recording this podcast daily in his home, to the point where he started interviewing big-time folks like Gary Vaynerchuk, like Tony Robbins, and he just kept interviewing bigger and bigger names, putting out shows day after day. And now he is the legendary host of the EO Fire podcast, and he’s traveled all the way from Pluto, Rico, to Tulsa, Oklahoma to attend the in-person June 27th and 28th Thrive Time Show two-day interactive business workshop. If you’re out there today, folks, you’ve ever wanted to grow a podcast, a broadcast, you want to get in, you want to improve your marketing, if you’ve ever wanted to improve your marketing, your branding, if you’ve ever wanted to increase your sales, you want to come to the two-day interactive June 27th and 28th Thrive Time Show Business Workshop featuring Tim Tebow, Michael Levine, John Lee Dumas and countless big-time, super successful entrepreneurs. It’s going to be life-changing. Get your tickets right now at thrivetimeshow.com. James, what website is that? ThriveTimeshow.com. James, one more time for the four enthusiasts. ThriveTimeshow.com. I’m not to be played with because it could get dangerous. See these people I ride with this moment. Thrive Time Show two-day interactive business workshops are the world’s highest rated and most reviewed business workshops because we teach you what you need to know to grow. You can learn the proven 13-point business system 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 going to teach you how to fix your conversion rate. We’re going to teach you how to do a social media marketing campaign that works. How do you raise capital? How do you get a small business loan? We teach you everything you need to know here during a two day, 15 hour workshop. It’s all here for you. You work every day in your business, but for two days you can escape and work on your 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, but I want you to Google the Z66 auto auction. I want you to Google elephant in the room. Look at Robert Zellner and Associates. Look them up and say, are they successful because they’re geniuses or are they successful because they have a proven system? When you do that research, you will discover that the same systems that we use in our own business can be used in your business. Come to Tulsa, book a ticket, and I guarantee you it’s going to be the best business workshop ever, and we’ll even give you your money back if you don’t love it. We’ve built this facility for you, and we’re excited to see it. And now you may be thinking, what does it actually cost to attend an in-person, two-day interactive Thrive Time Show Business Workshop. Well, good news, the tickets are $250 or whatever price that you can afford. What? Yes, they’re $250 or whatever price you can afford. I grew up without money and I know what it’s like to live without money, so if you’re out there today and you want to attend our in-person two-day interactive business workshop, all you got to do is go to thrivetimeshow.com to request those tickets. And if you can’t afford $250, we have scholarship pricing available to make it affordable for you. I learned at the Academy in Kings Point, New York, octa non verba. Watch what a person does, not what they say. Good morning, good morning, good morning. Harvard Keel Socket, Rich Dad Radio Show. Today I’m broadcasting from Phoenix, Arizona, not Scottsdale, Arizona. They’re close, but they’re completely different worlds. And I have a special guest today. Definition of intelligence is if you agree with me, you’re intelligent. And so this gentleman is very intelligent. I’ve done his show before also, but very seldom do you find somebody who lines up on all counts. And so Mr. Clay Clark is a friend of a good friend, Eric, Eric Trump. But we’re also talking about money bricks and how screwed up the world can get in a few and a half hour so clay Clark is a very Intelligent man, and there’s so many ways we could take this thing But I thought since you and Eric are close Trump What were you saying about what Trump can’t what Donald who’s my age and I can say or cannot say. Well, first of all, I have to honor you, sir. I want to show you what I did to one of your books here. There’s a guy named Jeremy Thorn, who was my boss at the time. I was 19 years old working at Faith Highway. I had a job at Applebee’s, Target, and DirecTV. And he said, have you read this book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad? And I said, no. And my father, may he rest in peace, he didn’t know these financial principles. So I started reading all of your books and really devouring your books, and I went from being an employee to self-employed to the business owner to the investor, and I owe a lot of that to you, and I just wanted to take a moment to tell you thank you so much for allowing me to achieve success. And I’ll tell you all about Eric Trump, but I just want to tell you, thank you, sir, for changing my life. Well, not only that, Clay, thank you, but you’ve become an influencer. More than anything else, you’ve evolved into an influencer where your word has more and more power. So that’s why I congratulate you on becoming. Because as you know, there’s a lot of fake influencers out there too, or bad influencers. Yeah. Anyway, I’m glad you and I agree so much and thanks for reading my books. Yeah. That’s the greatest thrill for me today. Not a thrill, but recognition is when people, young men especially, come up and say, I read your book, changed my life, I’m doing this, I’m doing this, I’m doing this. I learned at the academy at Kings Point in New York, acta non verba, watch what a person does, not what they say. Whoa! Hey, I’m Ryan Wimpey, I’m originally from Tulsa, born and raised here. I went to a small private liberal arts college and got a degree in business, and I didn’t learn anything like they’re teaching here. I didn’t learn linear workflows. I learned stuff that I’m not using and I haven’t been using for the last nine years. So what they’re teaching here is actually way better than what I got at business school and I went what was actually ranked as a very good business school. The linear workflow, the linear workflow for us and getting everything out on paper and documented is really important. We have workflows that are kind of all over the place. Having linear workflow and seeing that mapped out on multiple different boards is pretty awesome. That’s really helpful for me. The atmosphere here is awesome. I definitely just stared at the walls figuring out how to make my facility look like this place. This place rocks. It’s invigorating. The walls are super, it’s just very cool. The atmosphere is cool, the people are nice, it’s a pretty cool place to be. Very good learning atmosphere. I literally want to model it and steal everything that’s here at this facility and basically create it just on our business side. Once I saw what they were doing, I knew I had to get here at the conference. This is probably the best conference or seminar I’ve ever been to in over 30 years of business. You’re not bored. You’re awake and alive the whole time. It’s not pushy. It’ll try to sell you a bunch of things. I was looking to learn how to just get control of my life, my schedule, and just get control of business. Planning your time, breaking it all down, making time for the F6 in your life, and just really implementing it and sticking with the program. It’s really lively, they’re pretty friendly, helpful, and very welcoming. I attended a conference a couple months back, and it was really the best business conference I’ve ever attended. At the workshop I learned a lot about time management, really prioritizing what’s the most important. The biggest takeaways are, you know, you want to take a step-by-step approach to your business. Whether it’s marketing, you know, what are those three marketing tools that you want to use, to human resources. Some of the most successful people and successful businesses in this town, their owners were here today because they wanted to know more from Clay, and I found that to be kind of fascinating. The most valuable thing that I’ve learned is diligence. That businesses don’t change overnight. It takes time and effort, and you’ve got to go through the ups and downs of getting it to where you want to go. He actually gives you the road map out. I was stuck, didn’t know what to do, and he gave me the road map out step by step. He’s set up systems in the business that make my life much easier, allowing me some time freedom. Here you can ask any question you want, they guarantee it’ll be answered. This conference motivates me and also gives me a lot of knowledge and tools. It’s up to you to do it. Everybody can do these things. There’s stuff that everybody knows, but if you don’t do it, nobody else is going to do it for you. I can see the marketing working. It’s just an approach that makes sense. Probably the most notable thing is just the income increase that we’ve had. Everyone’s super fun and super motivating. I’ve been here before, but I’m back again because it motivates me. Your competition’s going to come eventually or try to pick up the stack that you’re doing. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. before but I’m back again because it motivated me. Your competition is going to come eventually or try to pick up these tactics. So you better, if you don’t, somebody else will. 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. 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 me and 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 four 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 ten 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, tens of thousands. So we really just wanna thank you, Clay, and thank you, Vanessa, for everything you’ve done, everything you’ve helped us with. We love you guys. If you decide to not attend the Thrive Time Workshop, you’re missing out on a great opportunity. The Atmosphere Place office is very lively. You can feel the energy as soon as you walk through the door. And it really got me and my team very excited. If you decide not to come, you’re missing out on an opportunity to grow your business, bottom line. Love the environment. I love the way that Clay presents and teaches. It’s a way that not only allows me to comprehend what’s going on, but he explains it in a way to where it just makes sense. The SEO optimization, branding, marketing. I’ve learned more in the last two days than I have the entire four years of college. The most valuable thing that I’ve learned, marketing is key. Marketing is everything. Making sure that you’re branded accurately and clearly. How to grow a business using Google reviews and just how to optimize our name through our website also. Helpful with a lot of marketing, search engine optimization, helping us really rank high in Google. The biggest thing I needed to learn was how to build my foundation, how to systemize everything and optimize everything, build my SEO. How to become more organized, more efficient. How to make sure the business is really there to serve me, as opposed to me constantly being there for the business. New ways of advertising my business, as well as recruiting new employees. Group interviews, number one. Before, we felt like we were held hostage by our employees. Group interviews has completely eliminated that, because you’re able to really find the people that would really be the best fit. Hands-on, how to hire people, how to deal with human resources, a lot about marketing and overall just how to structure the business, how it works for me and also then how that can translate into working better for my clients. The most valuable thing I’ve learned here is time management. I like the one hour of doing your business is real critical if I’m going to grow and change. Play really teaches you how to navigate through those things and not only find freedom but find your purpose in your business and find the purposes for all those other people that directly affect your business as well. Everybody. Everybody. Everybody. Everyone. Everyone. Everyone needs to attend the conference because you get an opportunity to see that it’s real.