Mattress Store Business Success Story | “I’ve been in business 53 years I learn more these two days then I did my whole career I think.” + Founder of $300 Million Per Yr. Tree Removal Service + 4 Clay Clark Client Success Stories

Audio Transcription

Transcribed with Cockatoo

(Speaker 5)
I am here with somebody who’s actually been on stage for the majority of this conference, giving us a lot of incredible golden nuggets because he has a business that is thriving. So this is Randy. Randy, tell us kind of a little bit about your business, Perfect My Home.

(Speaker 8)
Yeah, so we started in 2005 in Oklahoma, and we just kind of expanded to the whole state. We have three showrooms. We do outdoor living. Pools is our main product, but everything in the backyard is essentially what we do. We also are involved in retail as well. That’s what our stores are for.

(Speaker 8)
Yeah, and we’ve just been doing that for about 21 years now.

(Speaker 11)
And I know that you’ve been working with clay. So how much has that helped your business, working hand in hand with Clay Clark?

(Speaker 8)
Yeah, it’s worked out really good. When I started with Clay about eight years ago, we were doing about $4 .2 million, and we’re up to about $15 million a year now. Yeah, it’s been great.

(Speaker 5)
That is incredible. I know just from listening today and yesterday that he has so many great ideas for businesses, and that he also works really hard.

(Speaker 11)
Just working beside him, it would be hard not to work hard.

(Speaker 8)
Have you felt that’s the case? Oh yeah, he’s super inspiring. Just lead by example. I think the most powerful thing is to watch what someone’s doing. And that’s what I’ve really learned more from Clay than anything. It’s just like, hey, this guy’s been where he’s way past where I want to be.

(Speaker 5)
And that’s the people I want to follow.

(Speaker 8)
And he even says, and watch the people who are doing bad and don’t do what they’re doing. Yeah.

(Speaker 40)
And the Bible says, you know, a tree is recognized, recognized by its fruit in Matthew.

(Speaker 5)
And so, um, you see clay, you see success and that’s the people I want to be associated with.

(Speaker 8)
Absolutely. And that’s one thing I love about this is that the Bible is intertwined in the whole thing, that God is the true leader of these companies. So absolutely.

(Speaker 36)
Yeah, no, it’s been great.

(Speaker 11)
And I would recommend clay to really anybody. Absolutely.

(Speaker 5)
We’ll check it out.

(Speaker 4)
You guys thrive time show.

(Speaker 5)
We’re going to go check out some more of the business conference.

(Speaker 10)
We’ll be right back. Has it been helpful for you just speaking with Clay and learning some of these nuggets? Oh absolutely. Clay’s great and we just love working with him. We’ve done this.

(Speaker 5)
We did a reawaken tour here. It was a third one, I believe, and so we’ve been engaged for quite a while. Yeah, and I love that you guys have been standing up for truth. You know, I really truly believe that God is very clear, that love is truth and truth is love.

(Speaker 10)
And I feel like sometimes we err on one side or the other and we need to come together and fight him. And then I have this beautiful tall man, Mr. Patrick, are you enjoying this event so far? I’m loving it.

(Speaker 5)
It’s my second time to be at one of these events with Clay.

(Speaker 7)
I was just telling Phil, the longer I sit in, the more I learn and the more engaged I get, so I’m picking up a lot of good nuggets. Yeah, I do feel like we have to go back and probably watch what we learned today just to remember all the great nuggets that we find.

(Speaker 39)
I think so.

(Speaker 10)
I’m trying to take notes and record certain parts of it, but yeah, so it’s great.

(Speaker 11)
Absolutely.

(Speaker 38)
I love it, and I go to church here, so I’m a big fan of Philips.

(Speaker 5)
You get to see this beautiful blonde man all the time.

(Speaker 11)
I love it.

(Speaker 5)
Well, I promised them that they can go get some coffee now, so we appreciate you guys. His glory will be right back. What are you learning here at the business conference?

(Speaker 14)
Is that why you’re here? It’s kind of to get some nuggets for… Yeah, this is my sixth Clay Clark Business Conference, and it is life -changing.

(Speaker 5)
No matter what you do, No matter what business you’re in, just attending this event will change your life.

(Speaker 14)
But I have hired Clay Clark as my coach, and he’s awesome.

(Speaker 5)
Wow, it sounds like you’re going to do amazing then. Yeah, absolutely. Because you’re amazing, but also because Clay and God is incredible. Well, great testimony. Also, how cool that God has been able to use you in so many people’s lives now. He’s going to be doing a lot of good work in your new business venture.

(Speaker 37)
And I love this testimony of how You were like literally got to see physically how God saved you just by doing that prayer walk with the old man.

(Speaker 14)
and the steaks.

(Speaker 11)
That’s incredible. Absolutely.

(Speaker 36)
Yeah.

(Speaker 5)
So God is good. Don’t you forget it. And he wins. And come and check out the Clay Clark Thrivetimeshow . com.

(Speaker 35)
You’re going to be able to come to some more.

(Speaker 34)
I know there’s another one in Tulsa, Oklahoma soon.

(Speaker 5)
You’re going to want to check it out. Just like Darren, you’re going to be successful. We’ll be right back. See you there. His Glory Nation, we have such a treat right now. We have Pastor Dave speaking behind us, and we have our very own Julie Green, who just got off the stage and gave an incredible, incredible message.

(Speaker 5)
One that I think something like this, a business conference where you can incorporate Jesus Christ into everything that you do, every facet of your life. You talked about politics. You talked about how it’s so important what you do with your finances. So tell us a little bit about kind of what encourages you to be involved in these types of conferences. And I mean, so many things, political business. Sure.

(Speaker 5)
I just want to let everybody know that God should be involved in every part of our life. He should be involved in politics. He should be involved in business. He should be involved in our marriages, our families. We shouldn’t be letting God out of anything. And I think with our nation politically and with our nation financially, it has gone away from all the things that God wants us to have and the knowledge of his word, because there’s so many people that don’t teach that God truly is our provider.

(Speaker 5)
And he truly makes a way when there is no other way. And he really wants us to be successful. The enemies have really gotten to the point that they are trying to crush us in every way with lies and twisting God’s word. So I just, I get encouraged helping people not to be suppressed by the enemy. Well, and I think it’s so important that when you do grow your business and you are successful, That Jesus is the center of it, right? I mean, every day, get in your Bible.

(Speaker 5)
Be learning about who Jesus is in your life. Use your finances for good, you know? Use it to love all people and to do good for God.

(Speaker 11)
But it was an incredible message, and I hope everybody goes and checks it out at ThriveTime .

(Speaker 5)
com. You guys are going to see the whole business conference.

(Speaker 13)
I think it’s on a rumble.

(Speaker 11)
He always talks about how he can’t have it anywhere else. He gets shut down.

(Speaker 33)
Um, but Julie is so good to see you.

(Speaker 32)
Thank you for having me on.

(Speaker 11)
I love being here. California has been awesome. Yeah.

(Speaker 5)
And it was somebody’s birthday yesterday.

(Speaker 13)
So happy birthday. Thank you. Oh my gosh.

(Speaker 31)
She doesn’t look a day over

(Speaker 24)
21. So

(Speaker 5)
22. Um, but anyway, so, but so excited to have you.

(Speaker 12)
We love you so much in his glory and just appreciate all that you’re doing. Thank you. God bless you.

(Speaker 2)
I love his glory as well. Yeah. Okay. Well, we’re going to get back to Dave and we’ll see you guys soon without a vision. Discipline feels like punishment. But with a vision, discipline feels like alignment.

(Speaker 2)
The hard things start to feel like the right things, because they are building something. I know many of you have had a challenging year. Many of you watching this have a successful company.

(Speaker 1)
Many of you have a business that has struggled.

(Speaker 2)
Maybe you’ve had a business that you’ve just for whatever reason, have never been able to get over the hump.

(Speaker 1)
Maybe you’ve always been just kind of stuck in a rut, and that’s become your normal.

(Speaker 2)
Maybe you went from the goal you used to have a goal to thrive, and now your goal is just to survive.

(Speaker 1)
Well, to build your faith and to build your encouragement that you have the mental capacity and the tenacity needed to succeed, I thought I would get one of our younger success stories on The Thrive Time Show, so you can talk to an entrepreneur who I don’t believe is yet 30 years old, but yet is still achieving massive success. Stephanie, welcome on to The Thrive Time Show.

(Speaker 2)
How are you?

(Speaker 1)
Good, Clay, thank you.

(Speaker 2)
So Stephanie, where’s home for you?

(Speaker 1)
I live in rural Western Wisconsin, so Sparta, Wisconsin.

(Speaker 19)
And how did you originally hear about the Thrive Time Show business consulting program?

(Speaker 2)
I heard about you guys actually through Entrepreneurs on Fire. You did an interview with JD over there. And do you remember where you were when you first heard that show?

(Speaker 23)
I was cleaning a house, actually.

(Speaker 1)
Well, you’re cleaning a house in Wisconsin. And from the time that I remember the exact house. Yep. From the time that you decided to get up the courage needed to schedule a call until now, how much have you grown?

(Speaker 30)
Um, since then, let’s see, uh, 1 ,462%, 1 ,462%.

(Speaker 2)
And what kind of a timeframe has that been in the time that you reached out to now? Yep. I reached out. We started working together in March of 2020. It is October end of October 2021. So you know year and a half.

(Speaker 2)
Wow. OK. So we’ve done a lot together and many things you’ve done very very well. And so I thought I’d do on today’s show is I’m going to bring up the things that you’ve been able to implement that we’ve taught you.

(Speaker 1)
And I’d love to get your take on how you’ve been able to implement these. I’m going to go through 10 core systems that I believe you’ve been able to implement well. And I’d like to get your take on it. First off, you were not resistant to the idea of upgrading your branding. You were not resistant to the idea of upgrading your website print pieces.

(Speaker 2)
You actually leaned in, and you wanted to get it done and get it done quickly. Talk to the listeners out there about how having an upgraded website has helped you. Yeah, the just overwhelming professionalism that people get from visiting our website just really blows them away to make them like realize that we are professional and that we stand apart from everybody else in the area. So the website was key. I also think one thing that a lot of clients probably get stuck on is being like too nitpicky about things and just like wanting it perfect as opposed to wanting it done. So I think the biggest thing is get it done.

(Speaker 2)
We can always change things later. But it’s better to have an awesome website than a perfect website like right now, you know now step two we optimize your website.

(Speaker 29)
A lot of people have great websites that look wonderful, but they’re not canonically compliant.

(Speaker 1)
They’re not indexable. They’re not searchable. So therefore, humans on the planet Earth who are using search engines can’t find them. Again, you didn’t push back. You leaned into it.

(Speaker 2)
Talk to the listeners out there about how optimizing your website has helped increase your leads. Oh, definitely. So Google leads are like huge for us and people finding our website are huge. So writing the content articles, making sure those keywords are showing up, we’re showing up when people search, you know, house cleaning.

(Speaker 1)
or whatever they’re searching, whatever search terms we’re trying to show up for. So that’s huge. And of course, the review side of things is huge, too, for pointing people towards our website. OK, you jumped ahead on my little cheat sheet here. But step three, gathering objective reviews. You guys have done a great job of gathering objective reviews from your happy clients.

(Speaker 1)
Talk to the listeners out there about the importance of gathering objective Google reviews from your happy clients. Oh, it’s so important.

(Speaker 2)
When I started working with Thrive, I definitely didn’t think I needed to focus on that. I think I had 12 Google reviews when we started working together. And now, between the two locations, we have, I think, like 210 or something like that, like five -star reviews, all real. And when people find us, I mean, it’s not even how much do you cost.

(Speaker 1)
It’s when can you come. I don’t care how much you cost. So people are ready to close like that. Now, step four is building a transparent and easy -to -understand sales system, a pricing structure where somebody who maybe is not the most complicated individual, somebody who’s very simple like me could understand your pricing real quickly. Again, you’ve leaned in on that.

(Speaker 2)
You’ve been great to work with. Talk to listeners about the importance of having a simple -to -understand pricing structure that your ideal and likely buyer can understand immediately. You just want them to not be confused. They’re like, why is this like this, or whatever. And also, from the, like, inside perspective of the managers or whoever is answering your phone, they need to be able to quickly, you know, answer questions and stuff without having a lot of training.

(Speaker 2)
So it needs to be able to be, you know, in like the sales script when they’re doing a call that they can just very quickly know what the numbers are and not have to be complex about it. Now, step five is implementing sales scripting. You have done a great job of implementing sales scripting. And so many entrepreneurs, I’m telling you, oh, they say, I don’t want to do a script because I don’t want to sound like I’m reading a script. I don’t want my staff to be sounding like they’re reading. I want my team to have their own personality.

(Speaker 2)
I want them to embrace their true selves.

(Speaker 1)
And therefore, when their phone rings at their local business, Every time their phone rings, it’s just like a minefield. You never know if the phone’s going to be answered professionally, if it’ll be answered at all. You never know what people are going to say. Nothing’s written down. It becomes a verbal tribal tradition.

(Speaker 2)
It becomes a celebration of jackassery. Tell the listeners out there, why have you embraced sales scripting and how has it helped your company? Sales scripts are amazing as well as of course the call recording so that we can hold people accountable to the sales script. But it just takes all the guesswork and then all of the variables of what people say are removed so that if you know something’s not working we’re able to pinpoint what that is and tweak one thing as opposed to like whatever the people are deciding to say. So and it also like It’s just, it flows really nicely and it doesn’t sound robotic at all. Once you get used to it, it’s like, I could, I could say it off the top of my head, the exact scripts we use and we know they close.

(Speaker 1)
And that way we know it works instead of just people doing whatever they feel like. Now, you also implemented a quality control checklist system where basically it’s not in people’s minds. They don’t have to remember your technicians don’t have to remember what they’re supposed to do. There’s a checklist for everything. I mean, everything, when you go into clean a home or a commercial business, there’s a checklist for everything. Talk to the listeners out there about the mind freedom that you’ve experienced since, you know, taking it out.

(Speaker 1)
your head and putting it on a checklist.

(Speaker 2)
Yeah, it just makes it so simple because it’s like, here’s the standard the cleaning tech is responsible for and is going to be held accountable to. And if that’s not hit, then we know that there’s a problem. They don’t get to say like, well, I didn’t know. They don’t get to say, I didn’t know. And then on the client side, they have expectations set. Instead of them setting the expectation, we are setting the expectation as opposed to them being like, well, I thought you guys were going to clean my gutters.

(Speaker 2)
It’s like, well, it ain’t on the checklist, so we’re not going to clean your gutters, you know? Now, knowing and optimizing your numbers in terms of the financial aspects of the company, again, you’ve leaned into that. A lot of people who are into fitness, I find, lean into that. They want to know how much they weigh, what their body fat percentage is, how many calories they’re eating. don’t want to lean into fitness, don’t want to know how many calories are eating, don’t want to know their body fat percentage. People that are into artwork and doing well at art, musicians.

(Speaker 2)
I’ve worked with a lot of musicians. The musicians that are good want to know how they sound. They want to hear themselves.

(Speaker 1)
People that are not good don’t want to hear themselves. Great ballet dancers and performers want to see themselves in a mirror. They want to analyze. Great builders want to see checklists and processes and blueprints. People, the accountants who are good at their job, they want to know the numbers. Entrepreneurs who are not good at entrepreneurship never want to know their numbers.

(Speaker 1)
Talk to the listeners out there about the importance of knowing and optimizing your numbers, actually knowing how much profit you’re going to make per job. Yeah, I would say number one most important thing in my opinion is the tracking sheet that we implement together and that, you know, every single day I’m in the tracking sheet and knowing like exactly where my business is, especially now I’m very removed from the day -to -day kind of operation to a point I’m not answering the phones, I’m not doing this, I’m not like seeing the complaints or any quality issues. or whatever.

(Speaker 2)
But I have, you know, my finger on the pulse of my business and every single aspect of the, you know, revenue, expenses, leads, closing rates, number of appointments, number of reviews, number of photos that are getting uploaded, like just everything you could possibly know about the business, I know. So I’m never questioning, like, or going off of emotion, because that’s not what we want to do. We want to go off of facts and numbers. And so I know that, you know, we’re growing or whatever, we’re closing, etc, etc, because the numbers don’t lie. So I love the tracking sheet. And I think it’s the number one thing that people should implement.

(Speaker 2)
If they don’t do nothing else, they need to know their numbers. Now, you’ve attended a multiple in -person two -day interactive business workshops. And the reason why we include that is a quasi -free service. What do I mean by that?

(Speaker 1)
I mean, it’s not a revenue generator for me. If you’re a client of mine, I say, hey, you can come to these events. We make it very, very affordable. If you’re not a client, you can pay $250 to attend the workshop. And if you’re in a tight spot, we have scholarship tickets available.

(Speaker 2)
But the point is, everybody can afford to attend. Can you explain how the interactive business workshops have actually helped you to maybe further understand the path or to get a whole picture view of the actual business plan?

(Speaker 1)
Yeah, I love the conferences because I always walk away with action items, even though I go over these things with my coach every week. I always walk away with something like, wow, I get a fresh perspective on things because you’re interacting with a lot of other business owners and bouncing ideas off of each other and hearing what worked for them or what people are struggling with.

(Speaker 2)
And of course, then having you explain it in the way that you do, it just makes it very actionable. I always go away with like, this is what I need to do on Monday to make these things happen.

(Speaker 1)
It’s not just like this motivational thing.

(Speaker 2)
Do you laugh a little bit? Do you have a little bit of fun? I do. I have a lot of fun at the conferences. Okay.

(Speaker 1)
And what kind of people attend the conferences? Not liberals. It seems like all, we start at 7am and it seems like, you know, the entrepreneurs are like, this is awesome.

(Speaker 28)
We start at 7am.

(Speaker 1)
I can be done by three. I can still make some calls. Uh, again, you’re sitting next to people that have had massive success, people that have been in the program for years. Um, is that helpful to sit next to other people that have actually, I can’t even like the people I’ve met there have been life. They’ve changed my life.

(Speaker 2)
Like, obviously you guys have all changed my life.

(Speaker 1)
Literally. I’m not just, you know, blowing smoke here.

(Speaker 2)
Um, but meeting the people, you know, the Josh Wilson’s of the world who I literally texted him today. Like, you know, we’re on a friend basis. We have calls all the time. Like, Just the people that I’ve met is just, it’s life changing. What is your website if people right now want to go online and they want to look up your website and kind of, you know, see who you are and what you’re all about? Yeah, it is www .

(Speaker 2)
serene -clean . com. And OK, so you came to the workshop. You’ve implemented the tracking sheet, the group interview. People say, it’s so hard to find people. I’ve never had a hard time finding people.

(Speaker 2)
Even right now, I don’t have a hard time finding people. But I can tell you, it’s a system that I’ve applied. It’s a proven system, a proven process that I’ve done.

(Speaker 1)
I’ve been doing this process of hiring people. This marks, I know it’s crazy, 22 years. of doing the same system every week, interviewing people 22 years. I’ve been doing this. I’m a 40 year old person.

(Speaker 2)
I’ve been doing the group interview for 22 years. Can you talk about the importance of doing the group interview and how it’s changed your business? Oh, it’s so important. Like, um, that has been, I would say that’s a big game changer too, because I always have candidates like ready to go when something happens. And, you know, in the past two months, we’ve taken on a huge contract and I have hired probably 40 people and, um, somebody quit today. Somebody quit tomorrow.

(Speaker 2)
yesterday, I fired somebody three days ago, it doesn’t matter. Next, next, next, you know, so it’s amazing. Just a little context. If you just so you know, things that will get you fired. If you’re out there, you don’t know about serene dash clean . com.

(Speaker 2)
If you’re not on time, if you don’t honor your commitments to the client, you’re going to get fired. And there are certain people on the planet Earth that don’t want to honor their commitments to their client, and they don’t want to show up on time. And therefore, you’re not a good fit for Serene Colleen. So she’s not running around just randomly firing people.

(Speaker 1)
She’s just saying, if you have a certain standard and expectation, and on behalf of the customer, because you’re a customer advocate, you’re saying, this is the standard we have to deliver at. Now, next thing, step number 11 here. You pay yourself well, and you don’t apologize for it. Now, it is going to be said that you actually make more money now per month than many people make per year. And I repeat that.

(Speaker 2)
You make now more money per month than many people now make per year, and you’ve learned to pay yourself well and not apologize for it. But I knew you going back to when you first called us to where you were really grinding to make it work, and now you’re doing really well. Now that you’re paying yourself well and not apologizing for it, are you able to enjoy more time freedom to work out, to read, to spend time with family, friends, to think more meta on your business? Or how has that impacted you? Oh, yeah, definitely not having to worry about income is is really empowering. And also, of course, that just allows you to do a lot of good in the world.

(Speaker 2)
Because number one, we’re here to make money, but money is just a tool. And so that allows us to, you know, help the community help our families, you know, buy cool stuff, of course, but the time freedom is really that’s the whole point of this for me is like, I don’t want to have to be anywhere I don’t want to be at any given time. So and now I can do that. Now, final thing is you’ve been able to sustain diligence and accountability. What does that mean? Diligence is where it’s the steady application of effort over time.

(Speaker 2)
It’s like long after the motivation, the big idea wears off. There’s always the excitement of a new idea. Ooh, new idea. Yes, new idea. Love the new idea. Just had a new idea.

(Speaker 2)
I should buy a boat. I should buy, I should start a company. It should be called serene clean.

(Speaker 1)
Well, long after that idea has worn off, then diligence kicks in. And diligence is a steady application of effort. If you’re out there and you’ve ever played sports at a high level, you’ve ever been a top -notch speaker, you’ve ever been a top musician, anybody out there who’s done anything at a high level, you know the level of preparation is what prepares you for the ovations. Again, the preparation is what prepares you for the ovations. And then, but everybody out there, if you have a sound mind and you’re being honest, you need a little bit accountability. We all need accountability.

(Speaker 1)
Somebody that can hold us accountable to push through goals, push through obstacles that made that time seem insurmountable. You know, sometimes it’s like, it seems overwhelming. How has the weekly meeting and the accountability helped you to stay diligent and consistent over time? Yeah. Um, I love that. Um, my coach definitely like holds me because everybody needs to be held accountable no matter how high achieving you think you are.

(Speaker 1)
And obviously like, you know, the, the pigheaded discipline is, is awesome to have that, but you still need somebody to hold you accountable.

(Speaker 2)
And like, for me, you know, there’s certain things like, there’s always some place that you can do better and improve on. And so what my coach Bloomer, he always, uh, you know, it’s like, okay, it’s been two weeks now. You haven’t gotten a video review. What’s going on? And it’s like, I don’t like getting video reviews. Like he’s calling me out on it.

(Speaker 2)
I love that because like, I hate it, but I love it. And because that’s, we need to be told where we’re failing. I mean, they’re telling us where we’re good, but we need to be told where we’re failing. Oh, that’s amazing. Now, again, you are a diligent woman who’s reached out. We only take on 160 clients.

(Speaker 2)
I think you certainly occupy one of those spaces as well. And what’s interesting is, you know, last year, our average client grew by 104 % and we didn’t have any client that grew over 500%.

(Speaker 1)
So 1 ,462 % is certainly going to impact that average. What advice would you have for anybody out there listening who’s contemplating going to thrive timeshow . com forward slash EO fire to schedule a consultation because again, if people want to schedule a free consultation with me, I don’t charge for that we do have call screeners, they’re going to make sure I’m not wasting your time and you’re not wasting my time to see if you’re a good fit. But there’s people out there contemplating going to Thrivetimeshow . com forward slash EOfire . com.

(Speaker 1)
That’s Thrivetimeshow . com forward slash EOfire .

(Speaker 2)
com. What advice would you have or feedback would you have for somebody thinking about attending one of our in -person workshops or scheduling a one -on -one consultation?

(Speaker 1)
I think that most people should definitely go to the conference. But when it comes to the one -on -one coaching, I think you really need to look at yourself and say, am I ready to maybe be told to do things that I’m not comfortable with? And am I ready to do it? Because you can always heim and hau and go back and forth.

(Speaker 27)
But if you’re not ready to implement anything, it’s probably not a good fit because your coaches are going to push you.

(Speaker 26)
And that’s the whole point.

(Speaker 2)
You’re paying them to push you. So if you’re not ready and willing to make changes, then don’t bother.

(Speaker 25)
I tell you what, I really do appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to join us.

(Speaker 2)
I’m so excited about your growth there, and hopefully we’ll see you in December.

(Speaker 24)
Are you coming in December to the conference? Not with this big job.

(Speaker 1)
I’m on a military base. I’m on a military base right now. I’m rejected. OK, that’s fine. But maybe we’ll see you at the next one, OK? Thank you for being here.

(Speaker 1)
I appreciate you. Thank you, Clay. Take care. Bye bye. Okay. Hey guys, my name is Stephanie Pipkin.

(Speaker 23)
I own Serene Clean and this is my grandma, Sue.

(Speaker 1)
And we are going to briefly just go over the Dream 100 drop -offs that she does for Serene Clean and how it has really helped grow our business and spread the word of our business in our area. So just a little background on Serene Clean and working with Thrive Coaching, Serene

(Speaker 6)
used Thrive out of Oklahoma for two years this month.

(Speaker 1)
And when we started working with Thrive, we were at about $200 ,000 in revenue a year. And this year we’re projected to do 1 .4 million in revenue a year. So it’s grown very, very drastically since we’ve implemented all the systems. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today is some of the, or one of the systems that they have encouraged and harassed us to use, and it works really good. And that’s Dream 100 Dropoffs. And that’s something that my grandma Sue does for me, and she is absolutely killing it.

(Speaker 1)
Grandma, basically, if you can just describe what it is that you do at these drop -offs. What do you do? When I get there, of course I introduce… myself and the business and I just tell them that I am a business -to -business call. I’m not there to sell them anything. I’m just there to introduce them to a new business in our area. And what do you bring and leave with them?

(Speaker 1)
I actually have a little gift for them and then a sweet treat and I have the paperwork that explains all about Serene Clean and as I’m talking to them I try to like give a little bit of thing talk about things that would encourage them makes it a little more relaxed and casual and then I do sign my name on all the things so I tell them that they can’t forget me and put a little smiley face with it and leave them as I go then I say and here’s a sweet treat to get you through the day.

(Speaker 22)
So basically, she just goes, gets a box of donuts, hits all our stops for the day.

(Speaker 6)
And what she’s leaving behind is basically a sales sheet that explains what makes Serene Clean different. And on the back of it is commercial references of companies that we already cleaned for. So the whole purpose of this is to get us more janitorial accounts, because those are excellent accounts for us. us. And what the thing she’s also asking is, you know, who do they, how do they clean now? And, you know, are they using a service now?

(Speaker 6)
How happy are they with it? Like, is there any issues? And who are you usually talking to?

(Speaker 1)
Are you talking to the receptionist?

(Speaker 6)
Who are you talking to? It’s kind of split.

(Speaker 1)
A lot of the businesses I’ve been to recently, I’ve actually talked to the owners. If it’s a large, large business, I’ll be talking to the lady or person, it’s usually a girl, at the front desk and I ask her. Sometimes they don’t know or they don’t tell me and sometimes they do know, so it just works out really well to find out from them. do they have a cleaner? And like a lot of them that I talk to the owners, they actually are doing a lot of the cleaning themselves. So it just gives me a little heads up too of what they’re doing.

(Speaker 1)
And then I pass it on to Steph. Yes, so then at the end of her stop she types up a little synopsis of who she talked to, what was the reaction, things like that and you know is there room because really the goal of her doing this is to get the foot in the door for me to do a walkthrough and bid an account. That is the whole purpose of this and overall how would you say the reaction is? It’s been really well.

(Speaker 6)
You don’t know but I always I get excited when it’s a great day and the sun is shining and sometimes it’s snowing, but whenever, when I have a great day and everybody’s just happy to see me, it just makes it a fun thing to know them.

(Speaker 1)
And I’ve been from the area for a long time, so a lot of times I see old friends also while I’m out. Yeah, this has worked really well for grandma in particular because it’s just coming from a very not salesy place at all. It’s not, you know, they’re not trying to sell. She’s just trying to introduce them and it’s very, you know a lot of people are just so like turned off by you know like very hard selling and so it’s just like one getting them with the doughnuts like nobody will turn that down and then really it’s just yeah a very friendly thing and this is like a long game thing almost never is it the first stop that they’re gonna you know have us do a walkthrough a lot of times that sheet will sit on a desk for a long time and then when they’re ready to go um and you know they they’re either pissed off about their current service or they’re just overwhelmed doing it themselves Who is that lady who dropped off the donuts? Where is that?

(Speaker 1)
She, ah, serene clean. And then it’s top of mind. And it’s just really impressive. And so kind of like the highlight of her doing this, she’s done this, how long have you been doing this, did you say? Eight months. Eight months.

(Speaker 1)
She got me a walkthrough at a very large manufacturing facility who is like a dream client. It’s daytime commercial, Monday through Friday, like an amazing account, like who I would wildly want. And she got me a walkthrough and we ended up winning the bid. have been cleaning for them for two weeks now, and that’s like a $5 ,000 a month account.

(Speaker 4)
So it’s significantly impactful. And again, this is long game thinking of, you know, she’s making these introductions and, you know, we’ve gotten plenty of smaller accounts as well from her doing these things. And, you know, just being consistent, you know, that’s the biggest thing is, you know, you do this every week, right? right every single week unless we have a significant snowstorm every week and it’s it’s fairly you know inexpensive from like for us we always did the donuts i’ve tried other things but the donuts just seem to be a hit um and yeah i just know a lot of people are are hesitant to do this but if we can do this in a small town and to have that kind of success rate and um it really we just want to be top of mind and it’s it’s working and it’s growing uh the business really really well and it’s just fun to work with grandma so uh yeah so that is how we do great dream 100 and uh, it’s working great. And we just say, go do it.

(Speaker 4)
Don’t be scared. Um, just make yourself do it basically. And for me, I don’t like to do it, but I knew grandma would be great at it. And so this is one of those things of delegating and outsourcing if you don’t want to do it, but if you don’t have somebody to do it, you need to do it because if you don’t, uh, your business will just not grow the way you want. Um, so yeah, that is, uh, how we handle this stuff. My name is Elizabeth Walker.

(Speaker 4)
I own a business, Nook and Cranny Homekeeping, LLC. I was looking to learn pretty much anything there is to learn about business. I’m a new business owner, less than a year. So I really needed to know everything about everything. I have learned how to implement systems from hiring to the actual day -to -day systems in the company. I like that the workshop gave tangible systems, but it was very entertaining and interactive.

(Speaker 4)
Clay’s presentation style was energetic, it was exciting, and it gave me hope that there’s actually a lot of success still to be done in my business. The atmosphere was energizing, invigorating, nothing boring about it. It was absolutely exciting. Maybe that’s the biggest thing I’ve learned is that this can be simple and I think that’s what they’re missing out on. My name is Elizabeth Walker. I’m the owner of Nook and Cranny Homekeeping.

(Speaker 4)
I first heard about Clay on the radio on 1170 KFAQ. I was just switching through the radio stations and I heard them talking and they were kind of funny so I hung around a little bit. Clay’s team has impacted my amount of internet leads through Google, and we just have people calling us almost every single day saying they found us on Google. So it’s definitely broadened our horizons and our clientele. But we also have people that find us in other avenues, and I always direct them to our Google reviews. The typical interaction during our weekly meetings is fun.

(Speaker 4)
It is accountability. It’s an hour of hard discussions and a lot of learning. We try to laugh. I always share concerns I had during the week. The team always asks me what I need help with, and then they help put me back on track where I need to be. Every business owner needs Clay Clark and his team because they put a path out in front of you, a proven system of success, and then they coach you along the way.

(Speaker 4)
They don’t do it for you. They don’t hold your hand. They just stand right beside you. They cheer you on. They share with you what you need to hear, whether it’s good or it’s bad or it’s what you want to hear or it’s what you don’t want to hear. Every business owner needs that accountability next to them, that proven person next to them that can keep them going.

(Speaker 4)
Most people think that they don’t need a business or marketing consultant because human nature tends to say we can do it all.

(Speaker 1)
And sometimes we believe that. Or maybe people are prideful and they don’t want to ask for help. Or I’m not really sure. I believe that one of the smartest things I’ve ever done in my whole life, definitely in my business, is hiring Clay Clark and his team. Somebody is missing out on years and years and years of experience if they don’t hire them. You can either make mistakes in your business because you don’t have the experience, so you just go out there and you make mistakes.

(Speaker 1)
Or you can have somebody next to you that has been there, they’ve done that, and they can give you a heads up. You’re going in the wrong direction. Or they can give you just that wise advice that says, maybe you should go in this direction. That’s what they’re missing out on. They’re missing out on years of experience that they have not gleaned themselves. I there my name is Stephanie Pipkin I am 24 years old and I own black or false cleaning services.

(Speaker 1)
We opened in April of 2019 and it is now mid June of 2020. So I wanted to talk today about the success and growth I have achieved by implementing the Proven Path with Clay Clark’s team and my business coach, Luke, from Thrive Time. It has been insane, to say the least. I started working with them in mid -February of this year, so we’re about four months in of working together, and it has completely transformed my business in pretty much every facet. So I’m going to check my notes here. So in four months, my leads have tripled.

(Speaker 1)
I was getting probably like two leads a week. Now I’m getting more in the like 10 to 15 leads a week. I have doubled my number of employees. I’m now hitting the highest revenue weeks in the history of the company, week to week it seems like. We went from about six appointments today as our highest in February to now 14 to 15 appointments a day. hiring quality employees has become much simpler and less stressful by using their systems for hiring.

(Speaker 1)
I typically only get maybe two complaints a month, if that, and everybody shows up to work. I just have really high quality employees now, especially in something people typically consider a high turnover type of work, you know, cleaning houses, cleaning businesses. I have amazing employees now and I get rid of the ones who are not so amazing and bring on new ones because of, you know, group interviews, and interviewing every single week. It’s just been great and I don’t waste as much time on low quality candidates anymore. I have successfully gained our second largest commercial client and this was during COVID. So again, I started working with Luke and Clay in February and then COVID hit in March.

(Speaker 1)
was mid -March or so. So for the entire month of April, we were shut down residential, April and May, I believe. And so despite that, and again, being a new business and all this stuff, I mean, we came out of COVID like Stronger than ever and now hitting our highest numbers in the history of the company It just leads just piling in and the beauty is when people call us They’re already sold because of our Google reviews our online presence the no -brainer offer that we now give to our clients which is You know if they book their second appointment within a month of the first they get 50 % off and again They’re just ready to book. I hardly have to do any work. It feels like sometimes to actually book people so that’s amazing So… Every week I meet with Luke and it’s awesome.

(Speaker 1)
Obviously, I’m in Wisconsin, he’s in Oklahoma, but we have a great time. I know I can text him at any time, call him at any time with any issues I’m having, especially when COVID did hit. They were so helpful in helping me get the PPP grants and everything settled away there and really pushed me to make sure I was on the ball and getting all of the grants that I was possibly able to, which was amazing. So they’ve just been such a wealth of information. when I’m freaking out because you know a burning fire is happening Luke’s there to calm me down and you know back me off the cliff edge and it’s just awesome to have him you know as a resource there so every week we meet and we have a big tracking sheet so we track all my leads we track my numbers where the leads are coming from any complaints I love my tracking sheet I know it’s a a little extra, but I love it because I can see everything that’s actually happening in my business.

(Speaker 1)
And this is so important because it’s not like I’m just saying, well, I feel like it’s busier. I know if it’s busier and I know, are we making a profit every week? Why or why not?

(Speaker 21)
It’s just amazing.

(Speaker 1)
And then I’m tracking my Google reviews, tracking my competitors, Google reviews. And Luke is always pushing me to get more reviews, though you know I was not very comfortable with that at first it felt just pushy but now I’m seeing the effects of having a lot of Google reviews you know a lot to me at least not very high compared to others but People are finding us on Google and they’re already ready to book because of our reviews. So, you know, going for those reviews has been so integral in having basically easy sell leads. So tracking has been just so vital and I really enjoy it actually. Anybody who is skeptical about working with clay or Luke, you know the whole team at thrive time I was definitely skeptical and to me again new business It seemed like a lot of money but in comparison to other business coaches especially like specific to the cleaning industry like I’m in I mean you’re talking like $10 ,000 a month and honestly, I feel like I get like that much value out of Luke just my meeting with him once a week. It’s amazing.

(Speaker 1)
Um, and it has just transformed my business and in every single aspect. I mean, I, as I always, you know, aspired to be a successful business owner. And now, I mean, it’s not even a question that this business is going to be successful, even if a pandemic happens and you have to shut down. I mean, if I can make it through that and be directly because of them, it is absolutely because of them. Obviously, you know I’m a hard worker blah blah blah all that and you know I was made to be an entrepreneur however having them as like the guiding light of this is what you need to do and it’s very straightforward doesn’t mean it’s easy but it is very straightforward of what needs to be done and I like that I like having that step -by -step process and I love having the accountability because there’s a lot of stuff that they have me do that I don’t want to do.

(Speaker 1)
It’s not fun, but it works. And that, you know, having that discipline to just do the things week after week, regardless if it’s dull or boring or you don’t want to do it. Luke really pushes me to do those things, which I love. I mean, I hate it at the time, but I love it because I can see how it’s affecting my business in a positive way. And, you know, I don’t want to be just good. I want to be the best.

(Speaker 1)
And I see them as an integral part of that. And I will not be the best if I don’t have them with me. So I just I love having them on my team. And it just feels like the best decision I ever made in my business. And I know I’m still really small and things like like that, but there’s a reason I reached out to them when I was small because I want to be big and I want to not grow and then collapse because I grew too quickly without the correct systems in place. So it’s just, it’s been amazing and I would suggest anybody who’s willing to put in the work and do things that make you uncomfortable, reach out to them.

(Speaker 1)
But if you are not willing to change the way you are doing things, if you’re not willing to implement a no -brainer, if you’re not willing to ask for Google reviews, if you’re not willing to write content, really, really boring content for your website so the Google bots find you, then don’t reach out. You need to be willing to put in the work as well. And your coach will hold you accountable. I mean, which I love. Again, the tough love is really great. You know, Luke’s like a stern father figure, but he’s also nice, but also stern when he needs to be.

(Speaker 1)
When I’m being lazy and not doing the things that I know I need, do because I don’t want to do them so that’s just great worth every penny I mean I’d pay him a million dollars a month if I can and maybe someday I’ll be able to but I would just say go for it if it seems like a good fit just go for it Do what they say, even if you think it’s stupid or ridiculous, just do what they say because it’ll work. You know, people, when they look at my business, you know, people in my town, they think I’m lucky. They think I’m just, you know, things just happen for me. And you know, maybe I am lucky, but it has a lot to do with hard work and, you know, perseverance and, you know, working till you cry sometimes. That’s just being an entrepreneur, which if you’re a business owner, you understand that.

(Speaker 3)
But it’s having these systems in place of, you know, of course I’m going to be successful.

(Speaker 2)
It’s an absolute because I have all this stuff in the background happening.

(Speaker 9)
And I have Luke and Clay and everybody on their team working really hard to make sure that I’m a success. And I can tell that they are just so excited every single week when I’m having all these wins and things like that. They’re so excited for me. So it just, it’s the best thing ever. And I would suggest to anybody to work with them.

(Speaker 14)
So sorry for the long -winded reply, but I just had so much to say.

(Speaker 15)
And I could go on for hours probably about how amazing they are.

(Speaker 1)
But thank you to Clay and Luke and the entire team there, everything you guys have done for me.

(Speaker 9)
And I am so excited to continue to work with you for years to come.

(Speaker 3)
Clay Clark is here somewhere. Where’s my buddy Clay? Clay’s the greatest. I met his goats today. I met his dogs. I met his chickens.

(Speaker 3)
I saw his compound. He’s like the greatest guy. I ran from his goats, his chickens, his dogs. So this guy’s like the greatest marketer you’ve ever seen, right? His entire life, Clay Clark, his entire life is marketing. My name is Kevin Thomas and the name of our company is MultiClean.

(Speaker 3)
We are a commercial janitorial service and we serve the entire state of Oklahoma and Kansas and soon to be Arkansas. We have probably grown probably five times. We’ve added, I think when we first started with you, we had 60 to 65 employees and now we have a little over 300 employees. Before we got involved with Thrive Time, we didn’t really have any systems or processes in place. I’ve probably been to, oh, in six, seven years, I’ve probably been to 12 to 13 business conferences. And amazingly, each time I go, I learn something new and I’m so excited to bring it back and, and show the team about marketing and how to implement.

(Speaker 3)
My name is Kevin Thomas and the name of our company is MultiClean. We are a commercial. janitorial service and we serve the entire state of Oklahoma and Kansas and soon to be Arkansas. We have probably grown probably five times. We’ve added, I think when we first started with you, we had 60 to 65 employees and now we have a little over 300 employees. Before we got involved with Thrive Time, we didn’t really have any systems or processes in place.

(Speaker 3)
I’ve probably been to Oh, in six, seven years, I’ve probably been to 12 to 13 business conferences.

(Speaker 2)
And amazingly, each time I go, I learn something new. And I’m so excited to bring it back and, and show the team about marketing and how to implement how to help you guys implement the SEO. And the coaching is just great because there’s accountability. And it’s just a fantastic way to grow your company. Having a relationship with Thrive Time, it’s just been amazing for multi -claim. Oh my goodness, it frees me up because then I don’t have to take a class on search engine optimization or learn marketing or shoot video.

(Speaker 2)
That’s not what we do. What we do is commercial janitorial service.

(Speaker 3)
And you guys were the experts on marketing.

(Speaker 2)
And you teach me and hold my hand and show me how to do it right.

(Speaker 3)
And therefore, now my company is much, much larger. Folks, on today’s show, we’re joined by a real client.

(Speaker 2)
He may look like a male model.

(Speaker 3)
He may look like a hologram, but he’s a real person.

(Speaker 2)
He’s a longtime client. He’s a man that we consider to be a friend of The Thrive Time Show and a friend of mine. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the show, Kevin. Welcome on to The Thrive Time Show. How are you, sir? Clay, I’m doing great, had a great Christmas holiday, and I’m glad to be here.

(Speaker 2)
OK, so first question, can you tell us what is your name, first and last name, and what’s the name of your company, sir? My name is Kevin Thomas, and the name of our company is MultiClean. We are a commercial janitorial service, and we serve the entire state of Oklahoma and Kansas, and soon to be Arkansas. And how long have we worked with you approximately at this point, sir? It’s been about six, seven years. And so many people reach out to me. I mean, literally every day.

(Speaker 2)
I just talked to a woman this morning. We get 10 to 20 people a day that reach out wanting to see if we can help them grow their companies. And we only work with 160 clients. And I do that because I want to only work with people that are super coachable. And so this woman on the call today was asking me, she said, well, what’s the most important thing that you do, that you have to do to grow your company?

(Speaker 3)
And I was telling her, I said, that’s kind of like asking a skilled chef, what’s the most important ingredient to make great cookies? Is it flour? Is it eggs? Is it butter? It’s like asking a home builder, what’s the most important component to building a house? Is it the footings?

(Speaker 3)
Is it the frame?

(Speaker 2)
Is it the concrete? You know, that’s like asking, you know, Maybe it’s a great question, but really, it’s all of it.

(Speaker 3)
And so I really wanted to talk to you today about all of it, implementing all of it, growing MultiClean, how we’ve been able to do it. So first off, could you share what it’s like to have a coach that works with you every week who’s committed to helping you improve your business by 1 % or 2 % every week? Well, Andrew is my coach.

(Speaker 2)
And the great thing about having him as the coach is he keeps me accountable. Because sometimes when you’re the owner, there’s no one to be accountable to. And he keeps me on track.

(Speaker 3)
He keeps me tracking sales, tracking wins.

(Speaker 2)
If we have a loss, he helps me figure out what happened. He just keeps to me being consistent with our processes, with our systems, which before we got involved with Thrive Time, we didn’t really have any systems or processes in place. And in terms of growth over these past six or seven years, I’m not looking for you to share the actual sales totals because you’re a larger company at this point. But could you share how much growth have you had over the past six or seven years?

(Speaker 3)
We have probably grown probably five times.

(Speaker 2)
I think when we first started with you, we had 60 to 65 employees. And now we have a little over 300 employees. So just to be clear, I’m making sure I’m taking notes here.

(Speaker 20)
You’ve grown five times.

(Speaker 2)
And you’ve grown from how many employees to how many employees? About 60, 65 to well over 300 in that time frame. So let’s unpack all the specific aspects of business growth. And I’m going to pull up a document so our listeners can see. What’s your website we can go to right now to look at while I’m pulling up this source document? What’s your web address, sir?

(Speaker 2)
The website is multiclean, just like it sounds, multicleanok . com. Multicleanok . com. Pull this up. And as I pulled up this source document, many people say, Clay, why do you pull up these documents?

(Speaker 2)
Well, contrary to popular belief, most successful people that I know use workflows, they use documents, they use checklists. We don’t typically memorize things. And a lot of times people say, what? I say, yeah, as a business owner, I’m not going to try to impress you with my memory. But I am going to teach you proven systems. And so when somebody goes to implement these business systems as a coach, we’re going to guide you through all of these processes.

(Speaker 2)
But there’s a lot there to it. There’s a lot of steps.

(Speaker 3)
It’s step one. It’s step two. It’s step three. It’s step 807. It’s a lot of steps here. And so as we’re going through this, I don’t want anyone to feel overwhelmed.

(Speaker 2)
But I just want people to understand, it’s implementing all of these systems simultaneously that produces the success. So first off, establishing your goals. I’m not trying to have you hop on today’s show and share what your goals are necessarily. But let’s start with step one. Why is it important for everybody out there figure out clearly what your goals are. Well, Clay, it’s important to have goals.

(Speaker 2)
Otherwise, you wouldn’t really know. You wouldn’t know where you’re going. You wouldn’t know if you reached a certain level of success, unless you have a goal that you’re going for. And plus those goals for me anyway, they keep me motivated to grow my company, to grow my employees, to better my employees, and also to make my family stronger and better as well. So we have those goals.

(Speaker 2)
That’s step one. We’ve got to have those goals. Goals for our faith, our family, our finances, our fitness, our friendship, our fun. And some of us are better in certain areas. Some of us need help in other areas. But we’ve got to have our goals.

(Speaker 3)
Second, we’ve got to determine our break -even point. And I think that’s something that a lot of business owners don’t know. So I’m just going to be very clear with our listeners and kind of bare my soul. But when we work with a client like you, we charge you $1 ,700 a month, and we make a 20 % margin. So we make a 20 % margin. $340 a month per client.

(Speaker 2)
I know what my costs are. Kevin, you know what you pay me. It’s very clear, my profit margin. Most business owners, though, when we start working with them, they don’t know their breakeven point. Could you share why it’s important for you, as an owner of a company now with 300 employees, to know your breakeven point? Well, it’s really important because you don’t know if you’re making money.

(Speaker 2)
And you need to know what your margins are going to be. You need to know what your cost is so that way you can take your profit. and then turn that around and pay your overhead, pay your employees.

(Speaker 3)
And most of all, most importantly, is to pay yourself. And because if you’re not paying yourself and if you’re not making an income, then the business is pretty much dead. And again, I’m taking notes here. If it sounds like I’m typing a novel, I’m not. I’m just taking notes so everyone can really dial into this.

(Speaker 2)
Now, box three, you have to know how many hours a week you’re willing to work. Now, one thing about you bragging on you is you’re willing to do whatever you need to do, but you’re also super committed to your family. So again, I repeat, you’re very willing to do whatever you need to do, but you’re also committed to your family. So we’re recording this testimonial today on a Saturday, and virtually every entrepreneur ever met in my life, I don’t say virtually, every entrepreneur I’ve ever interviewed in my life on this show, we’ve interviewed billionaires, multimillionaires, all of them are no stranger to working on Saturdays. Can you talk about that, about just being realistic with yourself and your family, about how many hours per week you’re actually willing to work?

(Speaker 2)
Well, as the owner, you have to be willing to work whatever it takes, whether it’s eight hours or 15 hours a day, Since we’ve been in business for 31 years, we have a fantastic team right now. And so my hours have cut down, so I’m actually able to spend more time with my family because I have such a fantastic team and we have fantastic processes. But as a new owner, you just have to do whatever you have to do to get it done. And eventually, it will get easier. Not much easier, but it will get easier. Now we move on to this next box, you have to know your unique value proposition.

(Speaker 2)
Now, as a coaching platform, what we try to do is work with wonderful clients like you to help you stand out in the clutter of commerce. And one of the things that I found out about your business very quickly, is you had a long history of running your business.

(Speaker 3)
I mean, you weren’t a startup. You had had a long history of success. And so I was telling Andrew, hey, we need to document all of Kevin’s testimonials. We need to gather them in one place. We need to start getting Google reviews, objective Google reviews from real clients. We need to do that because, and I’m not, this is not a backhanded compliment.

(Speaker 3)
You had a very good business, but you guys had not documented your client successes over the years. You didn’t have video proof that you guys did a good job. You didn’t have documented testimonials. You did not have objective Google reviews that matched the quality you provided. Can you talk about the importance of documenting your actual client testimonials and gathering those objective reviews?

(Speaker 2)
Absolutely. That’s really huge in our growth. The fact that we are the highest and most reviewed commercial cleaning service in the entire state of Oklahoma is a very important thing. And it just shows proof of who we are when we get Google reviews. Also, when we do video testimonials, it’s real people giving real testimonials. It’s not super, super professional.

(Speaker 2)
It’s just a real person giving a real review about how they feel about MultiClean. And it’s just been a huge help to our business when people that get online, they look for a commercial cleaning service, and usually they go to the maps page. We’re right there all the time. And usually we get picked to give someone a quote. And that’s been really instrumental in the growth of MultiClean. And again, this is not an event.

(Speaker 2)
This is an ongoing process. And every week, we’re gathering objective Google reviews, objective video reviews. And again, that’s one of the ways you stand out in the clutter of commerce. The next is the branding. A lot of times we meet a business owner, Kevin, and their website is in disrepair. Their website needs help.

(Speaker 2)
So I think about clients that we’ve had tremendous success with.

(Speaker 15)
Brands like Shaw Homes, when we started working with Shaw Homes, by the way, Shaw Homes was just sold, but we started working with Shaw Homes.

(Speaker 3)
They were around $14 million a year of sales, and we helped them to grow over $150 million in sales. So just to be clear, we helped Shaw Homes grow from $14 million in sales to over $150 million in sales. We work with wonderful brands like Oxifresh, where Oxifresh today now has over 550 locations. And branding really is just the perception that people have when they see see your company for the first time. Branding is your website, your print pieces, your logos, your business cards, your one sheets. Branding is the perception people have when they see your business for the first time.

(Speaker 3)
And I would encourage everybody out there to self -assess yourself on a scale of 1 to 10. 10 being the highest, 1 being the worst.

(Speaker 2)
How highly would you rank your branding? Kevin, can you talk about the impact that’s made having professional branding working for you? Absolutely. Branding is pretty key in the commercial janitorial service because there are a lot of startups that will that are very cheap and don’t really offer much service. When we show up, everything that we do is professional. Our card looks good.

(Speaker 2)
Our proposal looks good. We have a team here that continually communicates with a customer or potential customer. And so having that brand that, uh, this is a professional company. We have a lot of respect out there amongst our competitors and amongst our clients as well, because we have that. The quality name goes with multi -clean and that’s very important in this industry. Now, again, there’s somebody out there who needs to hear this.

(Speaker 3)
We’ve been working together for years and every week, you know, you’re growing by. Every week, we’re improving the company, in my opinion, by 1 % or 2%. So at the end of the year, you say, what did we do?

(Speaker 2)
Well, we made the company 50 % better. Every week, we’re improving the company by 1 % or 2%. Well, what are we talking about? At the end of the year, you’ve grown the company. At the end of the five years, you’ve grown the company. At the end of the six years, you look back and go, wow, we’re five times larger.

(Speaker 2)
What do you say to somebody out there that’s looking to get rich quick, somebody who’s looking for the one thing that will turn their business around and make them rich tomorrow? What would you say? give it up on that idea because there’s no such thing as, it’s more like get rich slowly. That’s the only way to be successful is take your time, do it right, be patient, be a man or a woman of integrity and make good decisions for your company. and just do it right. Now, step four, I’m going through this methodically, folks.

(Speaker 2)
Step number four, again, you define your unique value proposition. Got it. OK. Step five, you improve your branding. Step six, you have to come up with a three -legged marketing stool. And with your business, we have clearly defined a three -legged marketing stool.

(Speaker 2)
What does that mean? A stool with three legs is stable.

(Speaker 3)
A stool with one leg is going to fall over. It’s probably not even a stool. At that point, it’s sort of a monopod. But you have to have a three -legged marketing stool. So for your company, we have three things that we do. we do too, but one is we really, really focus on search engine optimization by gathering the most objective reviews, writing original content, gathering video testimonials.

(Speaker 3)
Second, Dream 100. That’s where you reach out to your ideal and likely buyers consistently. You reach out to your ideal and likely buyers. And third, you’re wowing your customers to the point that you’re generating word of mouth. The word of mouth is becoming, you’re intentional about wowing your customers, thus it creates word of mouth.

(Speaker 2)
Could you talk about the importance of having a three -legged marketing stool for anybody out there that has a one -legged marketing stool or no intentional approach to marketing at all? Well, Clay, the nice thing about the three -legged marketing is that we learned that from you at ThriveTime. We didn’t really know what we were doing. And so when we joined up with ThriveTime, we started doing the SEO. We got our website in order, got it all cleaned up so that when people search for commercial janitorial services, they find us. Also, when they do find us, we’re top in Google reviews.

(Speaker 2)
And then also with the Dream 100, we have a database in our Excel and HubSpot that we’re continually going to and making cold calls. And the important thing about all that is that you can’t just rely on one. Maybe one day one’s doing well, the next day, next month, another one is doing well. So it’s circular. At one point, one of them is always going to be doing well to help your company grow.

(Speaker 2)
Now, once leads come in, you have to actually sell something. And this just in, if we don’t sell, our business will go to hell. You know that. Most of our listeners know that, too. But I think there’s a lot of entrepreneurs out there that have a bias. They think, you know, if I have a great idea, it’ll sell itself.

(Speaker 2)
If I build it, they will come. And they think that because they’ve watched Field of Dreams.

(Speaker 3)
They think that because they’ve watched too many Tai Lopez videos. They think that because they’ve watched Get Rich Quick videos about ClickFunnels and various other online, I call it scammockery, but it’s where someone’s trying to get rich quick. And I would just tell you that if you build it, they won’t come. And a product is so good, it still won’t sell itself. You have to get out there and work it. And so to do that, you have sales scripts.

(Speaker 3)
You have recorded calls for quality control. You have one sheets. You have pre -written emails. You have lead trackers.

(Speaker 2)
You have all of those things in place. Could you talk about the importance of having intentionally scripted calls and intentionally recorded calls and intentional, just being intentional about every aspect of your sales process? Absolutely. We’re intentional with all that with our sales scripts. We have two ladies that are inside sales and they’re continually calling. They have a fantastic script that they use.

(Speaker 2)
The one sheet that we use, we give it and it compares us to other services. Actually, that was designed by you guys at Thrivetime, which has been very helpful. Then our lead tracker, which Andrew and I go over each week, we look because I don’t see all of the leads that come in, but we go over the lead tracker and I’m able to see from beginning to end when the lead came in, where it is, is it in the bid process right now, and did we get it or did we not get it? And if we didn’t get it, that goes into another file for a follow -up call in three to five months. And if you don’t have all those in some kind of a process, you’re just going to lose all those potential leads.

(Speaker 2)
I hope that this podcast, this broadcast, can change somebody’s life.

(Speaker 19)
Now, in part two of today’s show, I am going to do a show specifically about how, if you have a great idea, it won’t sell itself.

(Speaker 2)
And part two of the show is going to start off with Steve Jobs. There’s old video footage of Steve Jobs telling you, the viewer, telling me, the viewer, that, hey, a great product will not sell itself. And it’s powerful when you hear from other people who are actually achieving success, who did achieve success. I encourage everybody to pay attention and take notes because we’re trying to help you achieve massive success. Step number eight, you have to know how much money it costs you to acquire a new customer. You have to determine your sustainable acquisition costs.

(Speaker 2)
So just today, I mean, I talked to a wonderful lady today. I’m going to talk to a wonderful young man. I say a young man, a guy in his late 30s. I’m going to talk to a man in his late 30s today. I talked to a woman this morning who’s super successful. And I know that whether they buy a ticket to a conference or not, or whether they become a client or not, Kevin, I know that our marketing costs to promote our conferences hover around $12 ,000 a month. What?

(Speaker 2)
Yeah. So I spend about $12 ,000 every month to market our business conferences. Why am I telling you that? Well, folks, do the math. If we have a conference. every two months, so every 60 days, right?

(Speaker 2)
And we’re spending $24 ,000 to promote a conference. And we’re doing a conference every 60 days approximately. How much money does it cost me for every person who’s in attendance? So let’s just kind of do some math for a second.

(Speaker 3)
I want to give people some real examples. So if I’m spending $24 ,000 this month, or over the next two months, on promoting a conference, and we sell a total of 300 tickets, That means it’s $80. It cost me $80 per customer. her conference attendee, and I’m not talking about the food we serve, Kevin, I’m not talking about the Eric Trumps, the Robert Kiyosaki’s, the Tim Tebow’s that come in to speak. I’m not talking about any of the workbooks we give the attendees.

(Speaker 3)
I’m just talking about the cost to get in front of our ideal and likely buyers. It comes out to about $80 per person. ticket buyer.

(Speaker 2)
And I think if you ask the average entrepreneur, I know this because I’ve been doing business coaching for 20 years. The average client I talked to, the average potential client I talked to, they do not know what it costs them to get a new customer. Can you talk about that for a second? Why is it important to know how much money it costs you at Multi Clean to get a new customer? Well, Clay, it’s really important because you have a sales team, you have an outside sales team, inside sales team, and you have overhead costs along with startup costs for us. We have to start up with new equipment.

(Speaker 2)
and all kinds of equipment to do the building, the bigger the building, the bigger the startup. So it’s very important to nail that down on what it costs. Sometimes I have to rein in the team and say, okay, we can’t buy all this brand new, this equipment, that equipment for this account. Thankfully, most of our startup costs are recouped within the first three to five months of starting a contract with a customer. But it’s very important to know that. Otherwise, at the end of the month, you’re like, where’d all my money go?

(Speaker 2)
So it’s very important to know what that cost is. Folks, I’m telling you, this is the kind of stuff they don’t teach at business school, but they should. OK, so here we go. The next is you got it. This is stuff we have to do. We have to box number nine, step number nine.

(Speaker 2)
We have to create repeatable systems, processes, and file organization. Now, so many people, what’s interesting to me, Kevin, is so many of our listeners they know about Dr. Z in the auto auction, or they know about me in the dog training business, or they know about me in the haircut chain. And they go, Clay, did you grow up, like, was your dad like the Zolhan? Was your dad really into hair? Is that how you got going?

(Speaker 2)
Or they’ll go, Clay, Or are you and Dr. Z really into cars?

(Speaker 18)
Do you have like an automotive background?

(Speaker 2)
Or they’ll say, it’s z66aa . com. And Dr. Z, full disclosure, just did sell that business. So it’s now switching the branding over here to America’s Auto Auction, OK?

(Speaker 3)
And by the way, the company that bought his auto auction bought it because it was successful. People look up Make Your Dog Epic. They go, did you have a dog training background? People look up Dr. Zellner and Associates. They go, is that because you guys are in love with these dogs? human eyeball.

(Speaker 3)
And then what happens is people are left to think, are you successful because of luck? Or have you, Clay, have you and Dr. Z been able to combine to build, what, 14 multi -million dollar companies because you’re lucky? because of your vast knowledge of the human eyeball and hair? Dogs?

(Speaker 2)
Or is it because you’re following a proven process? And that’s what I want to hammer home into everybody’s cranium right now. Everybody can do this, Kevin, but you’ve got to follow a system. What do you say to somebody who says, I just don’t know if I can do it? What would you say? Well, I would say that before we had a relationship with Thrive Time, I don’t even think I knew what a process meant or what a process was.

(Speaker 2)
The coaches there have helped me put in some great processes in place to track sales to learn about. We have a software called HubSpot that you’re familiar with, Excel, and we have another software called HiRise that we use and it tracks all of our customers day by day. And without that, we would be lost and floundering so poorly. But because of these processes in place, we’re doing so well. It’s all out of my brain because that’s where it was before. And now it’s not.

(Speaker 2)
Now it’s in paper, it’s on our server so that we can draw to it each week. And that really helps in our growth and the flow of the whole company. And I want to greatly respect your time. So the final five minutes we have here, we’re going to crank up the speed a little bit here. But box number nine, we’ve created repeatable systems and processes. We’ve documented these things so we can improve them over time.

(Speaker 3)
Box number 10, we’ve created management systems. Management systems. I mean, what people on your team will do what jobs? What? Think about it, folks.

(Speaker 2)
If you have a company, what are you expecting your employees to do every day? What people on your team will not do their jobs? And what jobs are people doing well? Think about the people on your team. What are they supposed to be doing on a daily basis? And what are they not doing on a daily basis?

(Speaker 2)
What are they being held accountable for? And at the end of the day, Kevin, if you don’t have checklists and documented expectations and some sort of merit -based pay, nothing’s going to happen. Why do you have to take the time to make the checklists, and the processes, and the description of what you want employees to do, and have some sort of merit -based pay system in place? Well, if it’s not documented, then they won’t know what to do. And also, if it’s not documented, it’s really difficult to rely on all the employees to just think on their own. They need some help.

(Speaker 2)
They need time to focus. And to get things done, that goes all the way from the lady that welcomes everyone in all the way up to our general manager, even to me, we have to have documented expectations. This is so powerful, folks. I’m hoping you’re learning something. This is I’m telling you, folks, this

(Speaker 3)
is the boring stuff that will make you rich. You see, when the average person gets bored, the great clients, they bored down. What am I saying? When the average person gets bored, the great, the most successful people, they bored down. You see a skilled athlete, you see a successful entrepreneur.

(Speaker 2)
They have focused on mastering these systems. They have focused on mastering their craft. People like Larry Bird, the great NBA player, people like LeBron James, people like Michael Jordan, they practiced to the point that they couldn’t get it wrong. You don’t practice until you can get it right. You practice until you can’t get it wrong. And that’s why you have to document these systems.

(Speaker 2)
Box number 11, you have to create a sustainable schedule. You have to have a schedule. Kevin, if you’re not doing the group interview, let’s say, every week, if you’re not interviewing potential employees every week, if you’re not interviewing potential employees every week, and you’re not having your weekly accountability meetings with your team, what’s going to happen if you don’t have a predictable, repeatable schedule in place? Well, nothing’s going to happen. That’s the key. Having the group interview has been great.

(Speaker 2)
We just hired a salesman in our Oklahoma City office to the group interview, which was fantastic, and also in Tulsa as well. But just having those meetings Having those sustainable schedules in place is just great for the growth of the company. Now, Kevin, I’ve got a wonderful client. I’ll be very vague. They’re based in Florida. And they were telling me, they said, Clay, I have a vacation coming up in California.

(Speaker 2)
And I said, that’s great.

(Speaker 3)
They said, no, it’s terrible. I said, why is it terrible? They said, I haven’t been doing the group interview consistently. And I’ve kind of delegated that to somebody in my office that’s I don’t really know what they’re saying. I just know that the group interview, I’m not involved in the process. And I’m just looking at my calendar.

(Speaker 3)
And if we go on this trip to California, we’re going to have some problems. What do you say to somebody out there who’s abdicating their hiring process or abdicating their sales calls? I say abdicate. They’re not delegating. Delegate means to assign and then to follow up to make sure it’s done correctly.

(Speaker 3)
Abdicate means to just say, well, someone else is handling it.

(Speaker 2)
What do you say to somebody out there specifically that is abdicating their hiring process, the group interview process, the process for recruiting employees? Well, I love to be involved in all the group interviews. And usually whenever there’s a group interview, there’s anywhere from four to 12 people. And the great thing about it is that within the first five minutes, you know, the two or three that you want to keep. And so that saves me so much time because interviewing 12 people takes 12 hours. Interviewing 12 people in a group interview takes about an hour.

(Speaker 2)
And I love that. I love saving time. I love saving money like that. where I’m not having to spend all day interviewing people that may or may not even show up. And it’s just great. And I highly encourage owners to get involved in the hiring process.

(Speaker 2)
Group interviews are very successful. I’m encouraged to do that. And now, again, so many people can hear this stuff, and they go, this is so overwhelming. There’s so much to do. Box number 12, you want to create human resources and recruitment systems. And we have systems for that.

(Speaker 2)
Box number 13, you want to look at your numbers. You have to measure what you treasure. You have to measure what you treasure. And by default, you will slack where you don’t track. By default, you will slack where you don’t track. And you have to measure what you treasure.

(Speaker 2)
I hope this is sinking in for somebody. Casualness causes casualties. I want people to think about these words. Casualness causes casualties. You have to measure what you treasure. You will slack where you do not track.

(Speaker 2)
These are all things we’re going to teach you. Kevin, we’ve got to have accountability, though. And so anybody out there, you know, I have a law firm I’ve used for years, wintersking . com. The reason why I pay them on a monthly basis is I want to make sure that all my filings are correct, everything’s being done properly. I have an accountant, an accounting firm called CCK.

(Speaker 2)
CCK, I’ve used them for years. over 10 years, actually. And I’ve used them. And the reason why I pay them on a monthly basis is I want to make sure that I’m paying my taxes on time properly, that sort of thing. Any area of our life where we want to have improvement, I would argue you need to have a coach, whether it’s an accountant, whether it’s a lawyer. They have different names.

(Speaker 3)
Sometimes they’re called a lawyer. Sometimes they’re called an accountant. Sometimes in fitness, so many people I know, a lot of my, this is true, some of my friends are former pro athletes. And they tell me, they say, Clay, as soon as I retired from my sport, I quit working out. And I go, OK, that’s fine. And they go, you know what I did this year?

(Speaker 3)
I said, what’d you do? They said, I hired a personal trainer. And I said, what happened? They said, now I’m back in the flow. And I think we all just need to know three things. We need to know what to do.

(Speaker 2)
Two, we need someone to hold us accountable. And then we need to have someone who has the tools. Could you talk to somebody out there that’s thinking about scheduling a 13 -point assessment to talk to myself and our team about becoming a business coaching client? Well, I remember when I had my first meeting with you, I thought, I have nothing to lose, absolutely nothing to lose except growth. And after that 20 to 30 minute meeting with you, I thought this is going to change the trajectory of MultiClean. And it has.

(Speaker 3)
And because the coaching is they keep you accountable. And like I said earlier, sometimes it’s hard to keep owners accountable because they think they know everything and we don’t. And so I’ve loved it. I’ve loved the coaching. I’ve loved having Andrew keep me accountable. And when sometimes I can’t make the meeting, we have phone calls.

(Speaker 2)
And it’s just been great. It’s been good accountability. Even my wife says, no matter what, you’re never leaving Thrive Time. Now, let’s say this. We live in a soundbite world. I won’t paint you too much into a corner here, but if you have 30 seconds and somebody said, Kevin, how has the Thrive Time Show business coaching program impacted your business?

(Speaker 2)
Or how could it impact somebody’s business? Kind of a 30 -second overview or summary. How would you describe the business coaching and how it’s impacted your business? Well, it’s given me my why. And it’s taught me the importance of systems. It’s taught me the importance of family time and the F7 goals that you impress upon me all the time, because, you know, you can be the owner of a company and work 100 hours a week and then you have no family.

(Speaker 2)
And so the Thrive Time relationship I’ve had now for six, seven years has done everything to not only improve my business, but improve my life, improve my relationship with my son and my wife. And it’s just been fantastic. And I highly encourage, if you’re thinking about growing your business and getting out of a rut, to meet up with Clay and all the people at Thrive Time. Final question I have here for you. I don’t know that people know this because I try to keep it secret. I don’t try to talk about it a lot, but this is just real.

(Speaker 2)
We charge people $1 ,700 a month. That’s what we charge people. 1 ,700 a month. And people say, why do you charge that? Well, it’s a 20 % margin. And that’s what we do.

(Speaker 2)
Now, we have some clients that we partner up with. We make a percentage of the growth. And frankly, I make a lot of my wealth by teaming up with clients and these sorts of things. But when I was building my company, DJConnection . com, I remember when I met with the Yellow Page guy. He told me it was going to be $2 ,500 a month to buy a Yellow Page ad.

(Speaker 2)
I mean, this is over 20 years ago, 25 years ago. And that amount was wild. So I got a job at Applebee’s, Target, and DirecTV. That was my get rich system. That was my life hack.

(Speaker 3)
I got a job at Applebee’s, Target, and DirecTV. But I think everybody needs a little bit of a hand up, maybe not a hand out, but a hand up. And that’s how we make the packages affordable. It’s $1 ,700 a month, 1 -7 -0 -0. It’s less money than it costs to hire a minimum wage employee. Also, it is month to month, although most of our clients are with us for basically until they sell the company.

(Speaker 2)
Our average client is with us for over six years. But we do have scholarships. We work with a couple of clients a month where if they need help financially, we work with them at a discount. What do you say to somebody who’s thinking about coming to our next workshop?

(Speaker 3)
with Eric Trump or Robert Kiyosaki or Tim Tebow or whatever workshop we have coming up. What do you say to somebody who’s on the fence right now? They’re going, I’m thinking about scheduling a 13 -point assessment. I’m thinking about buying a ticket for an in -person workshop. Kevin, what do you say to them? I would say do both.

(Speaker 3)
I’ve probably been to, in six, seven years, I’ve probably been to 12 to 13 business conferences.

(Speaker 2)
Amazingly, each time I go, I learn something new and I’m so excited to bring it back and show the team about marketing and how to help you guys implement the SEO. The coaching is just great because there’s accountability. It’s just a fantastic way to grow your company. Having a relationship with Thrivetimes, it’s just been amazing for MultiClean.

(Speaker 3)
I don’t know that we talked about it, but we do the photography,

(Speaker 2)
video, web, search engine, online ads. From a peace of mind perspective, what does that do for you as an owner knowing that, hey, it’s a flat rate I’m paying, and I have a team that handles all of that for me, the graphic design, the photography, the search engine, the web development, the strategy? What does that do for you? Oh, my goodness. It frees me up because then I don’t have to take a class on search engine optimization or learn marketing or shoot video. That’s not what we do.

(Speaker 2)
What we do is commercial janitorial service. And you guys were the experts on marketing.

(Speaker 17)
And you teach me and hold my hand and show me how to do it right.

(Speaker 7)
And therefore, now my company is much, much larger. Kevin, I really do appreciate your time. For anybody in the Oklahoma area, anybody in Kansas, I believe you said. You said Kansas, Oklahoma. What other states are you in now, Kevin? We’re in Oklahoma and Southern Kansas, and this in 2025, we are looking to open an office in Northwest Arkansas.

(Speaker 16)
I encourage everybody out there to check out the website right now.

(Speaker 2)
I’ll pull it up one more time, folks.

(Speaker 9)
That website is multicleanok . com. That’s multicleanok . com. If you’re looking for a commercial cleaning service that you can trust, go to multicleanok .

(Speaker 14)
com.

(Speaker 15)
Kevin, thank you so much for your time, sir.

(Speaker 2)
I hope you have a great rest of your day. Thank you, Clay.

(Speaker 9)
Bye -bye. One of the things that really hurt Apple was after I left, John Scully got a very serious disease. And that disease, I’ve seen other people get it too. It’s the disease of thinking that a really great idea is 90 % of the work. And that if you just tell all these other people, here’s this great idea, then of course they can go off and make it happen. And the problem with that is that there’s just a tremendous amount of craftsmanship in between

great idea and a great product. Clay Clark is here somewhere. Where’s my buddy Clay? Clay’s the greatest. I met his goats today. I met his dogs.

I met his chickens. I saw his compound. He’s like the greatest guy. I ran from his goats, his chickens, his dogs. So this guy’s like the greatest marketer you’ve ever seen, right? His entire life, Clay Clark, his entire life is marketing.

Transcribed with Cockatoo