Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together + The Art of Scaling a Successful Business + How to: Find Quality Employees, Market Your Business to Your Ideal & Likely Buyers, Manage Your Finances + 9 Clay Clark Client Success Stories

Audio Transcription

Transcribed with Cockatoo

We love it here. We come every weekend.

We never want to go home.

Hi, I’m Bob. This is Annemarie. We moved into this house in October of this past year. It’s our second home. We love Eagle’s Nest. We love the summers here because they’re cooler than where we’re from.

We bought this lot because we love the view. We wanted to build a house here. Driving around Eagle’s Nest, we saw the Sky House sign on one of the new construction houses. So I looked him up online. They had a form to fill out if you were interested to talk to them. And I filled it out.

They called me right away. We set up a meeting with Jeff Pell. The chemistry was terrific. We hit it off. The budget seemed realistic. Our plan seemed realistic.

So we hired him.

You know, and, uh, but then my clients don’t have a hard time finding people. Yeah. My customers do not. My clients do not have a hard time finding my home, the 160 brands we work with. They don’t have a hard time finding people because they’re always implementing the group. Interview process.

And now you have a highly skilled workforce.

You have to hire high skilled people to do what you do.

Can you tell the business owners out there the importance of constantly never stopping that ongoing hiring process? It’s another one of those core implementations into the company that maybe I fought it even for a year. At least a year, maybe two. Maybe COVID came and I put my foot down and I was like, let’s get going. I ended up having to move a group interview to the homeowner association because there was like 26 people coming. I felt like I was public speaking.

And actually, there was one person out of that group, and she still works here today, and she’s killing it. It’s so it’s absolutely, you know, what it does, it gives you your first of all, your you get into the hang of it. I do them Wednesdays, at five o ‘clock, or Thursdays at five o ‘clock for two different positions. They don’t show up, they don’t show up, go about my day. um in their group interviews and you’re i’m not in the need to hire but i’m always in the need i’m always going to hire if it’s an a player the right fit you know a players have jobs they probably may be having a crappy week and and hate their boss and they’re going to go look for other stuff so i want to get in front of those people um and i also don’t want to be put in a position where I feel like I’m forced to hire somebody that my gut doesn’t tell me will be a great fit that will help become a pillar of my company. So it’s, it’s great for you to be able to stay true to your culture and your cores while growing the business.

Um, it’s not the funnest thing to do every single week, every year, you know, all year round, but it’s not that big of a deal either. Um, and if you create a system in place, you can hire somebody, you can have a checklist in place that they do it all. And all you do is show up at five o ‘clock for the interview and they let you know if they canceled or not. So that’s what I do now.

And it’s all tracked.

We’re Dwight and Moira, and we’ve lived in Eagle’s Nest for about nine months.

It took us a while to find the lot that we wanted, and we wanted to take full advantage of a good lot, and we built the house with the view as the centerpiece. Well, clearly, our favorite part of the home is the outdoor space.

We live out there when we’re here.

when the weather permits.

And of course, those fires outside at seven o ‘clock, the sun’s going down, can’t beat it. I really love the kitchen.

Those were our two, those were the top two things on our list.

The outdoor spaces and the kitchen, and Jeff really achieved both of those. When we were thinking about building a second home in the mountains, we were definitely thinking about our family.

Moira and I, as well as our adult children and our grandchildren, we wanted them to enjoy this with us and after us. Sean, a lot of people say, well, what’s the most important part of business coaching?

Is it the marketing?

I go, did you say man?

Is it the accounting?

Hiring? And they go, I just need accounting. I just need a checklist. I need human resources. I don’t want your feedback on hiring, buddy. I just want to do marketing.

I don’t want to do something. And they view growth as one particular thing. So it’s like, what’s the most important ingredient that goes into the cookie? Is it the milk? Is it the eggs? Is it the sugar?

What’s the most important ingredient? What’s the most important part of the car? Is it the wheels? Is it the transmission? Is it the steering wheel? Is it the gas?

The idea is that it’s all of it. It’s implementing all of it. It’s working on the business, not in the business. What would you say to anybody watching this video right now? They’re thinking about paying our monthly flat coaching fee. But to do that, they have to schedule a 13 -point assessment first.

It’s free.

What do you say to somebody out there that’s watching right now, maybe in the same shoes that you were in years ago, what do you say to someone thinking about scheduling that 13 -point assessment? First, I would have them ask themselves this question. Do they really want to be a business owner?

Or do they just not want to work for a company?

else? Do they want to have the lifestyle of an employee with the label of a business owner?

Because I think there’s a mistake there sometimes.

I’m Bill and this is Kathy. We’ve been in this home for about a year and a half since it was completed. It’s a special place. We like Sky House because he’s a local builder and he wasn’t a builder that just built a ton of homes on the mountain.

I felt like I’d rather have somebody who’s a little bit smaller, easier to get in touch with and get a hold of, and I could deal directly with the builder. I thought he was genuine and sincere. He seemed to really care about what our needs and wants were, and I could tell he had a lot of attention to detail, and also creative. I could tell he was a little bit of an artisan.

Some of the things he came up with was impressive and unique. I think the best thing about working with Sky House was, first of all, quality.

Jeff is a quality guy, not a quantity guy.

He’s very meticulous. Just every little thing. I love the living room area. I just love the fireplace and the way he designed and built that. The floating stairwell was one of his ideas. The bunk room downstairs.

We had a fitness roommate and enjoyed working out there.

We love our bedroom and our master bath.

And then I love the kitchen. look every really every part of the house but most of our rooms that we go into have great views that’s what we want or we want a home with views hey this is a million dollar view here i was hoping for a nice little mountain house to come up to and then at the end of the day it was it’s just a beautiful home if somebody really wants to um create a brand and has a has a long -term vision and see something out in the far future that’s just not there yet um sign up because it is total encompassing it’s not marketing it’s not you know different businesses that you guys coach probably have weaknesses and strengths, and one might be accounting, one might be marketing, but it’s the totality of it. It’s the org chart, it’s understanding every nut and bolt that works into your business, that makes your business thrive or operate. So I don’t know if somebody thinks that they just need marketing. Maybe, maybe they need to feel a little bit more pain on out on their own trying to start something out.

And then maybe they’ll call you guys back later. But I’d say pick up the phone, give you guys a call and just get fully committed to doing something without questioning it too much, because it’s proven systems, you know, and it’s still tailored to any business. You know, you guys coach, you just mentioned accountants, pool guys, I’m a builder.

Um, you guys do all kind of business is business. Well, ladies and gentlemen, uh, this story here today, I want to share the story. This gentleman on today’s show, a longtime client, great person.

He has grown his business.

We’re at 578 .34 % growth from 2019 to 2023. Let me repeat that. Let me try again.

So today’s guest is a beautiful man. I believe he’s grown his business by what percentage, Sean?

578 .34%. It is impressive. And I don’t know if it’s more impressive it’s him or it’s the products he built. He builds these incredible houses and This guy is really decided to take his love of building high end, beautiful homes. I mean, it’s like art meets construction, and he’s decided to do it. passion into a career, into a business, and we’re super excited to have him on today’s show.

Again, this is the founder of SkyHouseCompany . com, the founder of SkyHouseCompany .

com.

Jeff Bell, welcome to the Thriving Time Show. How are you, sir? Good, thanks for having me. So tell us right now, we’re business, I’m gonna pull up your website just so our listeners can know you’re not a hologram here.

What kind of things do you build at SkyHouseCompany .

com? Can you hear us, Jeff? Don’t want to lose you. Oh, sure.

What kind of things for the listeners out there that maybe don’t know who you are or what you do?

What kind of, uh, products do you build? We build, uh, one of a kind houses that typically involve architects and interior designers, um, for, for clients that really want to, um, be intentional with pretty much every nook and cranny of their house. And we typically build that type of house on the side of mountains with, uh, long range views. Wow.

And so this house here, you just built this house, uh, on the side of a mountain. Uh, let me pull this up real quick here. Can you tell our listeners as we, as we get prepared to play this clip here, um, tell us about this house once the clip comes up and tell us kind of the, the work that went into it and, and, and just kind of walk us through this project. Yeah, this was, this was a, a pretty neat project. It had an existing house on the lot and, and it basically you’ll see here in a second, it drops off to a sheer cliff, um, that overlooks the, Yeah, the Blue Ridge Mountains and the gorge that’s hundreds of miles away. You can see Charlotte on clear nights.

So it was a challenging, fun job site to fit everything in on such tight quarters with getting building materials. and all that around the house, but a really cool house to try to work with the existing setbacks with the town, try to create and maximize the view, as well as they were interested in what we would call a generational home. with the building materials, the building science behind it, the performance of the exterior materials to where you have real low maintenance and durability that this house could be handed down to the family for generations and everybody can enjoy it, the quality of it versus it’s a house getting handed down to the kids and there’s so much money involved in repairs and updates to it that they end up getting rid of it. Wow, this is a gorgeous project. Let’s look at another one, because this is what you do. I mean, we talk here at The Thrive Time Show a lot of times about helping clients and helping them grow their business.

But I like to showcase the work you do, because you do incredible work here. Let’s pull up this one here. This is more of a 3D thing, where I have to do kind of a 3D look there. So let me go in here, and I’m in here exploring.

I’m going to go to the kitchen.

We’ll just start there. Uh, tell us about this house here. What’s this house and where was this house originally constructed?

This house is up in a development in Eagle’s Nest where we do, um, it’s kind of a booming development in the area, lots of construction going on.

Um, and this is for a local architect that, uh, it’s, it’s, that I have a special relationship with that is actually retiring in a month or two. So this will be one of his last projects. Um. that he will have done.

So teamed up with that architect and the interior designer, and we’re able to give these guys really a full package. feel of a mountain retreat where kind of that rustic mountain design clashes with some contemporary modern elements. It still feels warm and just has an overall great relaxing vibe. Wow, this is just incredible, incredible work you do there.

And again, Jeff, for people who haven’t been to your website, the website we’ve got here is skyhousecompany . com. Now, Sean, you’ve had the pleasure of working with Jeff here for quite a while.

So Jeff, how did you initially hear about us there, sir?

How did I hear about you guys?

I believe John gave me a call.

It might not have been Sean.

I think it was Kendall, actually.

Kendall.

Kendall Pope, yeah. Really? Shout out to Kendall Pope.

Thank you.

Yeah, that’s great.

That’s great. So, and then we’ve had an opportunity to work with you for, for how many years now, sir? Five years, six years, five in April. Yeah. So let’s go through it. Um, you know, again, because people say, I want to grow a business.

We have a linear path. We coach all of our clients through the first thing, you know, Jeff was, we really have to make sure that the brand is as good as the product that you deliver. Now, some companies reach out to us, I’d say about half and they need help on the quality of the product. and they need help on the brand. But ideally, you want to have a great product and a great brand.

When you came to us, you already had a great product. You just needed to improve that brand. Tell us about the importance of having that new website and making sure that we have objective reviews from customers that actually, you know, the sample videos, the sample walkthrough tours. How has having those sample videos and that enhanced website brand helped you? Well, I think it’s key to You know, it’s a crucial leg in the foundation of growth and scaling to the market. side of it, when I was first starting out, it was just word of mouth referrals and one happy customer to another.

And the website, it’s a marathon. And the sooner you get into that marathon race and start, the better. And we’ve now seen it as a machine. And that’s, that’s where the real payoff is.

And now we’re, we’re kind of just adding to it consistently. It’s, it’s, it helps with the brand and the reputation of verifying your, you know, to just the public audience that’s searching for you, that trust factor, and then showcasing your work. and setting it up in a manner to where it’s easily accessible for somebody to get an accurate insight into your company. It’s been a game changer. Now, Sean, I want to ask your comments on this real quick here. Years ago, I worked with an accountant.

I’ve helped him grow his business by nearly tenfold. And when I first met him, he had no website, but he had a pretty decent -sized business. It was already a $2 million portfolio, but he had no website. And even when I was first onboarding him, I ran into a handful of people that said, Clay, do you recommend a good accountant? Do you have one you recommend? And I said, well, I use a company called CCK.

However, just so you have options to compare, this is another brand we just started working with. So check out CCK and this other brand. And almost everyone that I referred to the quote, unquote, other brand, called me back and said, they don’t even have a website that makes sense. Why is that, Sean, that people won’t even do business anymore if it’s word of mouth, oftentimes, unless there’s a great website? Well, people just, they want to verify. I think there was a, there was a Forbes article you introduced me to that was, it was actually written years ago that says that like 64 %

of people are they are they’re trusting the online reviews more Then the personal recommendation. So if my mom tells me use this plumber and I go and Google and I don’t find that plumber, I’m probably going to go with whoever had the most reviews over mom’s recommendation.

And that’s 64 % of people think that was an article was like from 2014 or something. So it’s been a while. That’s still the case. And especially with Jeff distinguishing clients is how he, uh, he’s the discerning and distinguishing clients.

He says we create. Exclusive homes. The type of person that’s going to spend a million to $3 million on a home is going to do their research, and they’re going to be looking at your competitors. And you’ve just got to make that first impression online with these people. Now, Jeff, as we’re walking you down the path, the first box is we want to establish the revenue goals for every client. You’ve clearly done that.

Two, we want to know how much revenue you have to do to break even.

You’ve clearly done that.

Uh, box three, you got to figure out how many hours a week you’re willing to work. Now, this might sound crazy if you’re somebody out there that doesn’t have a lot of leads, but in your case, you are now generating a lot of leads. Tell us about the importance of blocking out time for family and for business. Talk about that. Oh, it’s, uh, it’s absolutely important, especially when you get married. You know, I think when, since we even got, uh, linked together, uh, with the coaching.

Um, I’ve gotten married during that time. I just, I have a five and a half month old.

My first baby is five and a half months old now. Um, and it is crucial for that work life balance. Um, more now than ever, but I think, you know, I tend to work, um, I’m more of the working side of the things of my work week, but that’s early on with the systems that we kind of create and work through over these years. it’s giving more freedom back because the machine, the systems and stuff are working a little bit more for me instead of me having to work it. Now, this is big. There’s somebody out there watching today’s show and you say, I thought the book of Genesis told us to work six days a week.

Someone else is going, no, no. My college professor said, life balance, buddy. Buddy, work 40 hours a week, buddy. Someone else says, no, I work six days a week. And there’s people out there right now watching. They’re debating this.

I like to work. I’m not saying this to divide the room. I’m just saying it because this is how I view the world. I like to work six days a week. Years ago, I became friends with a lot of business guys, and I found out that most of us work six days a week. Some people want to work five days a week.

Some people want to work four days a week. I know adults who are very successful that now work three or four hours a day. One of the most successful people I’ve ever met, literally, no exaggeration, he works four hours a day, but he blocks out time. So if you look at my schedule, folks, I’m just going to show you my schedule. Everybody out there, this is my schedule. This is what I’m doing.

I’m not, this is what I’m doing. This is where I write and how we’re interviewing Jeff Pell. I’m not doing something else. Every hour of my day is blocked off. That’s what I’m doing. You say, what are you doing when you’re with your gaps then buddy?

Well, somebody canceled today, said it created a gap where I can follow up on things, but I block out time every week. for what I’m doing. That’s what I do. And so it’s so important to learn that concept of blocking out time. Now, Jeff, as we move through the system here, the next thing is you’ve got to create a unique value proposition and a brand. I know you and Sean have worked together to develop sales materials and a one sheet.

A one sheet. I’m not going to show your one sheet. I want to show some different examples. But I’m going to pull up the one sheet for a pool company we work with. This is a pool company in Tulsa. We worked with them since they were a startup.

Now they’re very successful. But this is their one sheet. And the one sheet is a clear comparison. And for this business, their model of making a one sheet is comparing what they do, Sierra Pools, versus their competition. That’s how they do it. So their conversation is, hey, we do 0 % long -term financing.

We’re family -owned and operated. We do a free 3D design.

We’re the highest quality.

And here’s how we stack up to the competition. Other people want to have a different one -sheet style. But Jeff, why does everybody need to have a one -sheet? Just create that quick, clear distinction between you and the others when somebody is in the market to make a decision to go with one company or the other. It’s so big. It’s so big.

Now the online ads, um, this is something Sean. And again, as we go through this path together, I find a lot of business owners, they get stuck on here, box six marketing, because you go, look, I’m a, I’m a home builder, man. I’m a doctor, man. I’m a dentist. I’m a lawyer. I don’t have time to sit there and figure out the newest AdWords update. I don’t have enough time to sit around and figure out the new retargeting pixel.

I don’t have time behind the scenes to update my website to meet the new requirements of the newest iPhone.

I do not have time for that. I’m building houses. I’m seeing patients. I’d love to get your thoughts on this, Jeff, of the importance or the value of having a dedicated team led by Sean to make sure that those things are just sort of happening in the background for you. Oh, I mean, it’s paramount. You can’t, it is, it’s absolutely necessity part of a necessity.

necessary part of our whole system and our marketing and everything. It’s built into our into our core. It is something that happens like clockwork on the calendar. And it’s just it’s a necessity. So somebody saying, I don’t have time for that. Or, you know, you can make time to meet with you can make an hour out of the day to meet with your coach and come up with a game plan and the strategies for all of that marketing.

targeting, all that stuff. And then you guys take it from there. But you do have to put in initial work. Sean’s always bragging on you, and he’s saying, hey, when I work with Jeff, what’s great is that we have our weekly meeting, and we knock stuff out. And so Sean’s always saying that in the background. Sean, as we look here at this next step, again, as we’re going through the system, folks, everybody can follow along.

You just go to thrivetimeshow . com forward slash millionaire, and you can download the systems for free. You can look at the systems. But it’s about implementing, Sean. It’s not about just knowing the knowledge.

I mean, you’ve got to implement. With Jeff, you guys have created a lead tracking, you’ve created business tracking, you’ve created implemented workflows, you’ve created sales scripts, call recording. Sean, what makes Jeff a good client to work with? Because what we do is very analogous to being a personal trainer, and ultimately the client has to show up. Well, one thing is he does a good job keeping those things up to date. Jeff and I, we look at the scoreboard on a regular basis in our meeting, which would be our business tracking sheet.

We’re constantly using the lead tracking sheet. I mean, you’re talking about people who are building a home over the course of two years, some of these people. So we’ve got a long lead time on some of these and we’ve got to keep up with all those people. He does a great job when it comes to tracking. He’s also pretty good at leveraging his team to be able to get things done. Many times I’ll be working with a business owner and I’ll tell him, Hey, we need to get this done.

They’ll delegate it to somebody, but then they never follow up. Jeff follows up and he makes sure the stuff gets done, which is great.

So we’re able to keep progressing, even if he’s not necessarily the person doing everything on his team, he’s able to leverage his team well. And he’s doing that using to -do list systems and checklists. That’s kind of where we’re at now in the processes. We’re a little bit later on where we’re building all those systems and management. Jeff, I don’t know why I feel like it’s going to, I’m going to describe it this way, but I run into a lot of people that say, you know, I don’t need sales scripts. I don’t know why I feel like they

say it that way, but it’s like, I don’t need sales scripts. I don’t need a one sheet.

I’m too busy to build.

Listen, buddy, I’m too busy building my business to take the time needed to block out an hour of power every week to meet with a coach and to build a linear workflow. I’m too busy. You say, why are you too busy? So what would you say to somebody out there that is just feels like they’re too busy working in the business to work on the business? Well, I think first you gotta, there’s gotta be some kind of nugget of an aha moment to realize that if they want something to change and they want to create that time first, they may just have to force it into place, whether they need to be more disciplined with their time management, tracking their time. I mean, that’s what we did right out the gate.

I didn’t. even to create my own schedule, me and Clay Clark, it’s like, write down everything you do for three weeks, you know, and then we bucket that in the high level, lower level, worker level management in the org chart of my business, which was me and, you know, a handful of people. And so it’s, I think you have to have an aha moment to see, okay, I can structure my time, I can get an hour here to see, and then once you see the value, of putting all this together, you’re going to, that time is going to be, is going to hold its place and you’re not going to miss it because it’s going to be, you’re going to see the value in it as you build it. And these people that may not understand it, I was even guilty of doing that in the front end on some of the systems or why do we have to have a script? I’m the salesman. You know, why do we have to have any system?

Cause I was doing it. Well, that’s the whole reason we have to do it. If it’s coming out of me and I’m recreating it every time, let’s recreate it on paper, you know, and then I’m easily now able to have something. else take lead calls. There’s a lead report sheet. It’s qualifying the lead.

I don’t even see half the leads.

It all gets tracked. And then the qualified leads get set and put into my calendar on specific days for an initial consultation. So I think somebody has to see that value in order to get it. But if you get a little bit of it, I mean, it’s a no -brainer. Now you said once you see the value in it, it’s a no brainer. That’s why I’m kind of paraphrasing.

Could you explain the value in it? Because I look at your business and I go, wow, this guy, Jeff, he’s grown his business by 578%, 78 .3%, 578 .34%. I just talked to a guy on Saturday, Sean, who I’ve worked with for five years. I’m not trying to be competitive, but I am kind of competitive. This guy has grown his business by like 18 times.

Now the reality is he started at a smaller number than where you’re at today, Jeff, but he’s grown by 18 times. You look at Shaw Homes and other home builder, they’ve grown by 10 X. I mean, I can go on and on. I see the value in it all day. But how would you describe the value of having a coach helping you down the path? Well, it’s, it’s, um, It’s incredibly valuable because, first of all, it’s a long, linear process. You’ve got the marketing side of it.

You have the administrative side of it. You have the organizational understanding of what a company is, delegating tasks. And so it’s a consistently growing process to revise and refine and scale a company. And I enjoy that.

So it’s very valuable to me. I also value the accountability of that from Sean is that we are on a trajectory and we’re moving forward, whether it be the marketing, whatever we’re targeting to try to get done. Right now, it happens to be kind of highlighting

checklists and systems that were built into our construction schedule, down to the nitty gritty of, you know, checks and balances and KPIs and all that good stuff.

So I mean, it can go very detailed. I want to tell you a story about a home builder. I feel pretty good about this. The home builder, Jeff, he actually built my house and we were talking offline one day and I said, Hey, you’re like In a not, not a gross way, like a Bob Ross kind of way. Okay. You are loving on my house.

No, I mean, you are into it.

I mean, I’m watching you bevel that stone. I mean, we’re, we could clearly move in a week ago, but no, no, no, no. You, Mr. Wiggs, you want to make my house. Perfect. I mean, you want to, I almost have to pull you off the job. You’ve already been paid, bro.

And you’re still wanting to keep going. I mean, this is like a Kaizen. Folks, look that up. Kaizen. This is a big idea. It’s continual improvement.

It’s an Asian concept. For many people that don’t understand that philosophy, it’s called Kaizen. Everyone should look it up right now. It’s this philosophy of continual improvement.

I said, bro, you are Kaizen -ing on my lawn.

Like I want to move in my house and I’m, but you are high zoning on my lawn.

It’s the Japanese concept of continual improvement. I mean, you are polishing it to the point of, I am, I am getting worried about what you’re doing right now. It is incredible. I mean, he’s walking around my lawn, like looking around, like, I’ve got to cut that. I’ve got to move. I mean, it’s incredible.

And so I said, you should probably number the houses moving forward. Like every time you do a house, put the number. of the house go ahead and engrave that somewhere like as a stone he goes i like that idea and he’s been doing that and people feel like they’re buying like a signature house and i am so fired up to help you grow your business because i know you actually care about the house and you a pride in your work. You go into like target some, I’m not being disparaging, but you’re going to target though. You go to target, come and go USPS.

You say, Hey, do you know where the bathrooms are? They go, I don’t know. Might as work here. I’m on break. You know that whole thing, but you go into, you go to sky house and Jeff, you have a passion for your customers.

Talk to us about the passion for your customers. Cause you really get into it, which make Sean get into it. I almost explode every time I get a chance to see one of your updated videos. They’re so good. What’s your passion? Well, I mean, you hit the nail on the head when he doesn’t want you to move in yet because he wants to bevel some of the stone and get it just tidied, tidied up.

And right. I mean, that’s I look at our houses and look for any problems. And, you know, I think that they’re cool houses, but I’m always like, OK, we can we can do better on the next one this way, whether it’s the finished product or the efficiency of the finished product or the way we communicate. on the finished product with the customer. Um, I’m passionate about getting, you know, growing and getting better and more refined.

I mean, we have hit numbers where we were doubling our revenue for a couple of years. And we came to the point last year, it was like, look, we’re at this point where we’re probably at the size, we’re not going to, you know, that’d be dangerous to just try to double to 16 million, you know, so let’s take this same workload, refine it. Um, and that, that’s where I’m passionate about doing. putting forth my effort and gifts into, into projects with awesome homeowners and architects and designers that feel the same way. Um, and, and really can appreciate that level of creativity meets durability and functionality.

You know, uh, the final five minutes we have, I want to respect your time, but I have three more things I want to ask you.

So I’m gonna go rapid fire.

So many people say, I can’t find good people and people. And Sean, I don’t know why I want to say it this way, but it’s like, I can’t find good people.

And I just, it’s that man. I don’t know if they say it as much as I just feel this momentum of defeatism.

Yeah. I just can’t find good people. And I’m going, dude, I don’t know where you’re getting that sound. Am I hearing that? Are you hearing that? I mean, it’s almost like a dog whistle, but I can hear it.

You know, and, uh, but then my clients don’t have a hard time finding people.

My customers do not, my clients do not have a hard time finding my home.

The 160 brands we work with, they don’t have a hard time finding people because they’re always implementing the group. Interview process. And now you have a highly skilled workforce. You have to hire high skilled people to do what you do. Can you tell the business owners out there the importance of constantly never stopping that ongoing hiring process? Uh, it’s another one of those, uh, core implementations into the company that maybe I fought it even for a year.

Um, and, uh, at least a year, maybe two, maybe, maybe COVID came and I put my foot down and I was like, let’s, let’s get going. I ended up having to move a group interview to the homeowner association. Cause there was like 26 people coming. I felt like I was public speaking. Um, and actually, um, there was one person out of that group and she’s still. works here today and she’s killing it.

So it’s absolutely, you know what it does, it gives you, first of all, you get into the hang of it. I do them Wednesdays at five o ‘clock or Thursdays at five o ‘clock for two different positions. They don’t show up, they don’t show up. I go about my day. And they’re group interviews and you’re I’m not in the need to hire, but I’m always in the need. I’m always going to hire if it’s an A player, the right fit.

You know, A players have jobs. They probably may be having a crappy week and hate their boss and they’re going to go look for other stuff. So I want to get in front of those people. Um, and I also don’t want to be put in a position where I feel like I’m forced to hire somebody that my gut doesn’t tell me will be a great fit that will help become a pillar of my company.

So it’s, it’s great for you to be able to. Stay true to your culture and your cores while growing the business. It’s not the funnest thing to do every single week, every year, all year round, but it’s not that big of a deal either.

And if you create a system in place, you can hire somebody, you can have a checklist in place that they do it all, and all you do is show up at five o ‘clock for the interview, and they let you know if they canceled or not.

So that’s what I do now, and it’s all tracked.

Now, the final question I have for you that we have for you here, and again, it’s a little bit of a long form windup, but this is Sean.

A lot of people say, well, what’s the most important part of business coaching? Is it the marketing? I go, did you say man? Is it the accounting? Hiring? And they go, I just need accounting.

I just need a checklist. I need human resources. I don’t want your feedback on hiring, buddy. I just want to do marketing. I don’t want to do something. And they view like growth.

as one particular thing. So it’s like, what’s the most important ingredient that goes into the cookie? Is it the milk? Is it the eggs? Is it the sugar? What’s the most important ingredient?

What’s the most important part of the car? Is it the wheels? Is it the transmission? Is it the steering wheel? Is it the gas?

The idea is that it’s all of it.

It’s implementing all of it. It’s working on the business, not in the business.

What would you say to anybody watching this video right now? They’re thinking about paying our monthly flat coaching fee, but to do that, they have to schedule a 13 -point assessment first. It’s free. What do you say to somebody? out there that’s watching right now, maybe in the same shoes that you were in years ago, what do you say to someone thinking about scheduling that 13 -point assessment? First, I would have them ask themselves this question.

Do they really want to be a business owner, or do they just not want to work for somebody else? Do they want to have the lifestyle of an employee with the label of a business owner? because I think there’s a mistake there sometimes. But if somebody really wants to create a brand and has a has a long term vision and see something out in the far future, that’s just not there yet, sign up, because it is total encompassing. It’s not marketing, it’s not, you know, different businesses that you guys coach probably have weaks and strengths, weaknesses and strengths.

And one might be accounting, one might be marketing, but it’s the totality of it, it’s the org chart, it’s understanding every nut and bolt that works into your business, that makes your business thrive or operate. And so I don’t know if somebody thinks that they just need marketing, maybe they need to feel a little bit more pain out on their own trying to start something out. And then maybe they’ll call you guys back later.

But I’d say pick up the phone, give you guys a call and just get fully committed to doing something without questioning it too much, because it’s proven systems, you know, and it’s still tailored to any business.

You know, you guys coach, you just mentioned accountants, pool guys, I’m a builder, you guys do all kinds of business is business. Well, brother, I can’t wait to see you again in person. Maybe we’ll see an in -person workshop coming up here soon.

Have you ever asked this guy about the TiVo conference?

I think I’ve asked him like… maybe 12 times now. It’s not about asking. We’re going to send a small team to abduct you. There we go.

And they’re going to bring you over to the conference featuring Tim Tebow, but I really do appreciate your time, sir.

It’s great connecting with you again.

Sean speaks nothing but very highly about you and he’s really excited about your growth.

I am too. And again, thank you for carving out time for us.

Absolutely. You guys have a great one. Take care. Thank you, Jeff.

Talk to you later.

I think I just experienced the promised land.

I went to a neighborhood that I wasn’t needed for anything. There were no fires. Everything was running smoothly. And it was the most activity we’ve ever had in that neighborhood. Like, that felt good. And it was like, aha!

Hi, my name is Mike Granacy. I’m the owner of Haven Homes, and I build homes in Northwest Indiana. I was a custom, semi -custom home builder, doing things what now I know is the hard way. When we were starting the process with clients and we’d meet a client, Just from the day we met them to the time we actually would break ground would sometimes take anywhere from six to 12 months. And in that journey of that six to 12 months, we would be developing the plans that could take anywhere from minimum three months to six months alone. And a lot of handholding the client, a lot of revisions, and then a lot of jobs that actually never got built, which is the sad thing.

Like, I think in the year 2021, we might’ve designed. potentially 10 homes, 10 custom homes that never got built. We spent that six months of designing, putting a budget together, and then the budget was way over what the client wanted to spend. So those just got thrown in the garbage. And then I would say two thirds of those people kind of just lost interest and never built with us. I’m sure they found other builders.

It was really defeating. It would burn out.

I feel like internally the employees in the company, which was for me kind of disheartening because I truly care about all the people in my company and I want people to be with me for the long term and I hate seeing the turnover. So it was stressful. It was just a letdown. And then I think another big game changer for me was once I had my first kid, my vision and what I realized what was important to me changed drastically. And I wanted to buy time and I wanted to stop selling, giving my time for free. Ladies and gentlemen, on today’s show, we’re interviewing a man. who builds houses that I would like to live in.

I mean, every time I talk to this guy, I find myself wanting to buy one of the houses that he built.

He built these beautiful houses, and he built houses in a part of the country where you typically build these houses on stilts, almost.

The houses appear to be on stilts. It blows my mind every time I look up his projects.

They’re really beautiful vacation properties, and I can’t wait for you to learn more about his business. It’s called thornhillconstruction . com.

Jason Thornhill, welcome on to the Throck Time Show. How are you, sir?

Doing good. Thanks, Clay. Great to be with you, man. So tell us real quick, how did you initially get in contact with us? Or how did you and I first connect? Back in late 21, my wife was listening.

She’s an avid podcast listener. And you were a guest on something she was listening to at the time. And she listened to the whole thing and immediately called me and said, hey, there’s a guy that’s got like almost the same story as you that kind of reminded me of you. Let’s call him. Okay, well, what are we calling him for?

So he coaches and teaches businesses how to do more of what we’re trying to do. We need to call him said, Okay, well, Let’s call him. So, so we, you know, went through the forms and sent the email out and said, Hey, we’d love to talk to you. And, you know, within a day or two, we had a phone conversation set up for, uh, first thing on Sunday morning.

And you and I met and we were thinking the same thing and talking the same thing.

We just didn’t quite know how to do what was next.

So you guys, uh, put me on path for, for helping to grow the business. And that was, that was back in 2021. So it’s been a good while now. Have you had any growth? Are you getting any online leads now or how’s it going? The leads are good.

We’ve had a pretty decent web presence even when we started, but we’ve definitely increased that, grown that, put some new life in the website. Leads are good. Leads are solid. I’m greedy, so I could take more, but it’s good. We’ve definitely experienced a lot of growth over these several years, for sure. I’ve got to ask you with your business, because I talked to a lady the other day.

She said, Clay, I’m coming to your conference, and I’m coming to the Reawaken reunion event. And I always ask people, where are you from? And she said, well, I’m from, and I’m going, where did you say you’re from?

And it reminded me of your keyword, which is kind of crazy, because that’s how I think about things.

So I go, you’re from where? She said, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. And I’m going, really? I said, we work with a wonderful builder in that area. Anyway, long story short, tell the listeners out there, where are the areas geographically that you typically build homes in? So we try to focus all of our efforts along the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast.

So that’s an area that spans about 25 miles along the Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi Sound. So that’s Bay St. Louis, certainly, which is our offices in Bay St. Louis. That’s our strong suit. We do a lot in the Bay. Waveland is an adjoining town. Then we have Pastor’s Jan, Long Beach, Gulfport, Biloxi, Ocean Springs.

So all the little towns that hover right along the coast is where our strongest presence is at. So it’s a big market. but it’s mostly along the actual coast. You know, waterfront homes, that first block off the beach, you know, the Mississippi Gulf Coast has the longest man -made beach in the world. So we got 26 miles of man -made beach, and we’ve taken advantage of every single inch of it, so. So let’s walk our listeners through this a little bit here.

So if I go to Google and I type in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi Home Builders, there we go. We find your website.

We find you up in those search results. And if I’m familiar with the area, I’m going to click on Maps just so I can get myself more familiar with the area. And maybe you could kind of make like a good weather guy and kind of point out what we’re looking at here. So tell us, where is this area that you’re building primarily? Where’s a lot of your building taking place for people who are not familiar with the area? Right, so that body of water, that pocket of water that you see right in the center of your screen, that’s the actual the Bay of St. Louis.

So Bay St. Louis is the town to the west of that, or on the left side of your screen, all along those coastal towns. So you’ve got Bay St. Louis right there where your cursor’s at, and then working to the east, you cross that bridge and you’ve got Pas Christiane, which is another great coastal town. And then if you continue to the east, you hit Long Beach and then Gulfport, which is the 2nd largest city in the state. It’s probably more recognizable to people outside of the area. Then you head over to Biloxi, probably another recognizable town. It’s a big casino town.

Yeah, so that’s our strong suit. But we’re only 45 minutes. east of New Orleans. So a large portion of our traffic is, you know, if you scroll over, if you head just west a little bit, you’re in New Orleans. So we’re the coastal towns that we’re all talking about, Bay St. Louis, Waveland, Past Christian.

We are the getaway for the New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Slidell, all of those markets. They drive just 45 minutes down the road. And they’re in our market. So we’ve got some things to offer over here that New Orleans just doesn’t have. And it’s a heavy, heavy weekend getaway. Now, for people out there that aren’t familiar with the process of working with you, my wife and I have had the pleasure of building a lot of things throughout our lifetime, homes and buildings and vacation properties and these sorts of things.

So I’m kind of familiar with the process of building. But a lot of people might not be. Somebody might go to thornhillconstruction .

com, thornhillconstruction .

com. They go there, they look around at the different gallery and the different homes, and then they might go, man, that just seems overwhelming. Walk us through kind of the step one, two, three, if somebody out there is saying, hey, I’m looking for a vacation property or maybe another home. What is the process like of working with you guys over there at thornhillconstruction . com? So first off, I would tell somebody the process is super simple.

It can be difficult, I guess, if you let it. But with us, it’s super simple. Number one, Uh, you contact us in whatever method you want, and we’re going to ask just a couple of simple questions. Uh, like number one, do you own property in the market already? Uh, and if not, we’re going to send you down a route that we help you secure the property, find out what your needs are, what you’re trying to do, and get that part solved.

Uh, number two, if we answer that question with, yes, I have a piece of property, but I don’t have any plans. We have a simple solution for that. We’ve got numerous plans, uh, that we’ve developed and built over the years that

may be of interest to you.

We share those with you and perhaps sit you down with our design team and maybe we’re altering those plans or making some slight modifications or maybe we got a plan that just hits all the needs that you’re looking for. Let’s say right now that I’m your potential buyer, and maybe we’re doing our first call right now via Zoom. How do you go about selecting the lot? And what kind of price range are we talking about for these beautiful homes that you guys are building? Really, I mean, within just a short walk of the water, what kind of price range and what does the process look like of selecting an actual lot with you guys? Yeah, so just looking at that picture that you’re looking at right now on the screen, if I were to show you something like that, I would say there are literally dozens and dozens of vacant lot properties that are not necessarily on the bay.

but right off of the bay. Price ranges on those things are anywhere from 20 ,000 to maybe 50 ,000. Most of those houses that you’re looking at are very near the water, but not on the water. Some of them could be a little more expensive as you get closer to the water, or maybe if they’re a little more desirable. But in an initial interview, I’m going to find out, do you want to be on the beachfront, or are you comfortable being two or three lots back, or maybe somewhere even in the first block?

And then from that, we’ll kind of determine a budget of what you’re targeting.

And then I can overload you with all the options that I’m aware of in every town along the coast. So that picture you’re pulling up right there, that’s a house.

We’re super proud of that one.

We just got word on Friday of this week that that house has been selected as the best in class in Mississippi. Wow.

New constructions by the Mississippi Home Builders Association. 5 ,000 to 6 ,000 square foot range. Wow. We’re officially an award -winning builder now. That house is taking the title for 2025 House of the Year, actually, so that was pretty cool. That’s awesome.

So are people even in the ballpark if they want to spend $600 ,000 or they need to have a million dollars or what kind of price range? Because again, I ask is because the Thrive Nation, you know, we have so many people that will hear an interview.

You know, maybe I’m on an interview with Robert Kiyosaki or something, and then they head on over to the website. And they start looking into different clients and they like to look you guys up. And I know a lot of people are looking right now to flee or to move away from some crazy states and to kind of relocate to a community that’s maybe a little more relaxing than downtown Chicago or New York City or Los Angeles. What kind of a price range, or do you even have a price range for what you do? I know what you do is very custom and you’re very flexible with people, but is there any kind of price range people need to be in to at least have the conversation?

Absolutely. So our absolute sweet spot that we build the overwhelming majority of the homes is that $600 ,000 to $700 ,000 range. Certainly, we get a great opportunity on occasion to build a million or a million and a half, whatever, massive houses.

But in this market, $600 ,000, $700 ,000 is building an exceptionally nice custom home on or near the water, depending on exactly where.

So that’s a sweet spot that I don’t know many places in the nation that can offer the type of homes that we’re showing pictures of on those galleries in the $700 ,000 range. Now, as far as the actual state that you’re located in and the communities that you’re located in, could you tell us about the state? And I’m not asking you to compare it to, let’s say, New York or Chicago. But frankly, we have a lot of listeners that listen to our show from New York and Illinois and all different, many in Minnesota, these kind of places. What’s the life like down there in Mississippi? So I tell clients all the time, we get a lot of move -in traffic, people coming here from other areas.

It’s just a large part of what we do. And jokingly, in the office, for probably 15 years, I’ve told this to everybody that I’ve ever met with, is that everyone wants to move to Mississippi. They just don’t always know it yet. And people laugh in the room. But from about 2019 forward, it became true. Like I would meet with people that were seeking out the areas like, man, we’ve been wanting to move to Mississippi for 10 years and it’s finally coming.

So, you know, I’ve spoken into existence with just jokingly like, oh, everybody wants to move to Mississippi. They don’t necessarily know it yet, but they do. Now it’s kind of most of the people, man, we’ve built houses for people moving from Texas, moving from Florida, certainly moving from, you know, northeastern states, the retirement community.

You know, we have one of the best retirement states in the nation is Mississippi.

Mississippi has skyrocketed up the education, you know, we’ve always been the laughingstock of the nation worst in every, in every category. Over the last four or five years we’ve went to like, in the top 10 education for primary education, amazingly. The governor’s just made some major moves to eliminate the state income tax. Mississippi’s on fire. Wow. So it really is alive and well.

Yeah.

Always been a great little great kept secret down here on the coast. But again, for six or seven hundred thousand, you can come retire here or have a second home or whatever. Very laid back, a little bit slower. I talk a little bit funny, but we’re doing good with it.

We can live anywhere we wanted to live and I would not live anywhere besides here. So. I’m going to pull this up here, because again, just your houses are so gorgeous to look at. I mean, this is a beautiful house. Why are the houses on stilts, for those that maybe are not familiar with the kind of construction that is very common in this area? of the United States.

Right. So unfortunately, Hurricane Katrina put a massive amount of flood surge in here, like what they call the 100 -year storm.

And with that, FEMA took the opportunity to rewrite the flood maps, and they really taxed us pretty heavy on the requirements of the elevation above sea level to be able to insure homes.

So unfortunately, we’re kind of stuck with that. We’ve always built elevated homes, but they really added a lot of extra footage to the height of them.

So like that home right there, it’s about 18 foot above the ground, but that puts it at like 24 foot above sea level.

Um, and unfortunately, you know, that’s just what has to be built here.

But like with that house, you can see we’ve learned to maximize that we built a whole nother deck in the middle of it.

Right.

Kind of cut it in half.

Yeah.

Really get a bonus living space.

Yeah.

in the middle that, you know, we learned how to make some lemonade out of that big pile of lemons. So now are you putting in a water slide here off the side? What is this?

Is this? Yeah, that’s a that’s a crane building a neighboring house in the back. That’s Oh, sure. To me, it looks like a water slide. I don’t know. I should probably put a water slide feature on some of these houses.

They’re high enough. The kids would love it. Now, let’s focus in on the brass tacks of the business because, for a second, I mean this. I’m not just saying this to just say this, folks. Whenever you work with someone in business, as we have the opportunity to work with you, you get a chance to see what someone’s all about. As an example, you guys have some really, really nice testimonials from some really great people.

And when you interview people and ask them about the experience of working with you, people have great things to say. because you really do try to treat people the way that you want to be treated. Let’s talk about the Thornhill construction philosophy on treating customers. Because again, I’m telling you, I’m not going to name names, but I have worked with some home builders over the years, and I say, hey, Mr. Home Builder, as a business coach, I need you to get at least five video testimonials. And they’ll go, ah, that’s not going to be possible.

And I say, how come you can’t get five? You’ve been in business for 25 years. And they go, well, I don’t know. We just don’t have a lot of people that are happy with us. I think you really do. I mean, in your business, you really do have an opportunity to wow people and make people lifetime referral sources, lifetime testimonials.

And you guys have really done that. And again, if you go to Google right now, folks, and you’re doing a search, for this particular region, you go onto Google, you say, what do you mean go onto Google? If you’re in Google right now, folks, and you’re just doing a search right now, because you’re saying, hey, I’m looking to buy a house in the Bay St. Louis, Mississippi area, you go to Google, you type it in, boom, you’re going to find your website right there. You’re going to find those reviews from happy customers. Can you talk to us real quick? What’s your philosophy about wowing your customers?

Or maybe a better way to ask is, how have you been able to wow customers for so many years? Because really, your customers have great things to say about you. Here’s our philosophy, and I’ve probably never summed it up as a philosophy, but this is how we see it. So my wife and I raised all four of our children in this town. We raised them in a Catholic education setting, and it’s a very small town, and everybody tends to know everyone, or at least know somebody that knows you or of you. So with raising a bunch of kids, my name is on the sign, my name is on the company name, And we’re all about town.

So every, you know, maybe not every street, but a lot of the streets you turn on, you see a Thornhill construction sign. So you can’t hide from that. You go to the old town area where everybody’s shopping or dining or buying groceries or whatever it might be. And me or any of my kids are now seven grandkids all wearing the Thornhill name. You know, you have to be able to do what you say. You have to be able to stand behind what you said you were going to do.

and now in 20 years building you know let’s say we built 10 houses a year for 20 years there’s a lot a lot of houses out there that have the Thornhill name behind them and we’re exceptionally proud of that but we also know in a small community The word of mouth marketing is drastically larger than I can do with anything with billboards or radio or television or, you know, there’s no substitute for, oh, you built my neighbor’s house or you built right there across the street. I know that guy and I go to church with that guy. Right. You know, my daughter went to school with your daughter and now we’re ready to build a house. So just the close knit community, the small area. There’s no hiding, so you shouldn’t even bother to try.

Just doing what you say you’re going to do and trying to do the best job.

Because we live in the same area and we’re neighbors and we’re friends and we’re not going anywhere. And we want to be comfortable when we go out, not like, you know, pulling our hat down low. Man, I hope that guy doesn’t see me owing something or I didn’t do what I said I was going to do. So we just don’t want that. You know, my wife doesn’t want that. I don’t want that.

I don’t want my kids to feel that way in any setting that they’re in.

So it’s been simple. We just do what we said we were going to do, and do it to the best of our ability. Now, I’ve got three final questions for you. Question number one, is for anybody out there looking in the area to buy, again, for anybody watching this show, I talk to so many people that say, Clay, my wife and I, we’ve contemplated moving from the Upper Northeast, from Minnesota, from Wisconsin. We’re thinking about moving somewhere in the South. Do you have a good home builder?

So I always tell people, look, I mean, yes, we do. But for anybody out there that doesn’t know about your business, what makes your business different from other home builders? Or maybe why should everybody at least check out your company? We specialize in the details, the hard stuff. There’s ways to make things just get skimmed over.

And then there’s the details that really make your house separate from other.

We’re not a mass production home builder that builds 300 of one hall, 300 of one house. Everything is unique. Most of what we get the opportunity to build are people’s dream homes. So they’ve thought a lot about this house and they really need to place it in somebody’s hands that is going to really care about the details of the small things. So we’ve kind of built our whole system around each project, having a project manager, a selections coordinator, myself to oversee it where we’re plugged into what your needs are and making those dreams come true instead of just a production builder that you get what we get.

You get what we give and I hope you like it.

And if you don’t, Okay, you still get what you still get what I give. We just don’t approach it like that. Every single one of them are unique and different and special for that person. Now, final two questions I have for you. You know, you and I work together in a business setting where my team meets with you, our team, we, you know, we had Brett work with you, Aaron works with you. And our goal is to help you grow your business.

And I know as a guy who’s grew up in the, you and I have similar backgrounds, starting out as an entrepreneur at a young age, There were so many consultants that would send me a bill every time I called them, every time I emailed them, every time I had a question. And I always wanted to have a service that I could work with to help me grow my business that would be a flat rate service. Could you explain from your perspective what it’s like to have people like Brett, people like Aaron, people like myself that are working with you every month to help you generate more leads, knowing that it is a flat rate service? I can so the 1st time you never you and I discuss this. You told me, hey, this is the rate. This is what I’m going to charge.

And that’s it. That’s what the rates going to be. And for that, I think you sent me a list and said, here’s a here’s a myriad of services that we feel like we can provide for that rate. You won’t need them all every month. Sometimes you’ll need more of them. Sometimes you’ll leave less of them.

And as a business owner, you know. I have a lot of ideas regularly. I’m in the shower, I think of something and, you know, I’ll get with Brad or get with Aaron. Aaron and Joe, his brother, mostly now, and I got different ideas every week. And some of them are good. Some of them are like, man, we’ve tried that.

You don’t want to do that. So, but when I have something, I don’t have the staff to implement. those ideas necessarily. Your staff and Aaron’s staff seems to be big enough that when I have an idea, we can flush it out really rapidly. And if it’s something that we feel like might have some legs, that’s part of what you guys do for us. You know, write some additional SEO for me.

I’ve never written a word of it. I don’t even know where to begin. But when I say, hey, we need to target this area and this keyword, let’s grow this market. These guys just do it. And the bill doesn’t change the bills, we already agreed on the bill.

This is the bill. You know, that’s, that’s what it’s going to be. So I’ll budget for that annually. And this is automated. I don’t think I’ve looked at it one time since we set it up years ago. You got the digits, make it run.

But here’s my ideas. And what are your ideas? And let’s fix them and go after it. And my final question I have here for you is, I know you raised your kids in Catholic school. I have a Christian background.

That’s my worldview. And in the Christian faith, there’s this word called shalom, which I’m obsessed with, which in Hebrew, it means a win -win. So it means that you, as the customer, should win. If you buy a home from Thornhill Construction, you should experience a win. And then his company should make a win, meaning his company makes a profit. You get a home that you love.

Could you talk about maybe the win -win relationship that you and I have had or that our companies have had working together? Because I know from my perspective, I proudly work behind the scenes for your business because I believe in what you do. Could you talk about the win -win or maybe a few of the wins you might have seen over the last couple of years? I can. Having somebody that I trust to keep me accountable has been a massive win for me. Because I tend to get busy and chasing the new idea.

And although there may be some new ideas that I’ve come up with along the way, it takes time to flush out some of this stuff and get it to become a system or become a practice that the whole team buys into. So probably the biggest win -win for me is having a scheduled, accountable session where, hey man, here’s your list of what you got to get done and we’re going to be meeting again Tuesday at one o ‘clock. Uh, get that done.

And I, and I trust that when I put something on y ‘all’s list, it’s also going to be done before we meet again at Tuesday at one o ‘clock when we’re going to plop down in front of a computer and you’re going over your notes and I’m going over my notes and I’ve got check marks by my things and I’ve never had to once, you know, wonder, I wonder if they’re working on that. I wonder if they’re going to have their part knocked out before we meet again. So it’s done. So the wind, you know, the wind for me is, you know, we have something steady. We’re growing the business together, not just when we can, maybe we’ll make time to do this because, you know, small business owners know you’re busy with running the business and whatever comes up every time the phone rings, it’s, you know, you’re getting torn in a different direction. But we know that, you know, I have to have certain things done each week to be able to do my side.

And I know that you guys are going to have your stuff done before we meet again. So with that, I can count on that and just having something you can count on in business is maybe on the more rare side than on the standard side. So we enjoy that. I’m glad to see that you’re growing. And I talked to somebody. I’m going, where do you live now?

Where are you from? And it’s just kind of fun knowing that there’s a high quality home builder down there that everybody can trust. And again, folks, I’ll put a link to thornhillconstruction . com on the show notes. But if you’re out there today and you’re thinking about migrating somewhere south for a beautiful home, look at the homes, folks. They have an incredible gallery of homes they’ve built over the years.

That’s thornhillconstruction . .com.

com.

And a little search engine tip, folks.

If you want to help Jason Thornhill rank higher in search results, and I know you do, just go to social media and post a link to thornhillconstruction .

com.

Just post a link to thornhillconstruction . com.

It’ll help Jason’s website rank a little bit higher.

And Jason Thornhill, thank you so much for carving out time for us. And it’s an honor to serve you. And I can’t wait to talk to you soon. Awesome, man. Take care. Appreciate it.

Take care. Bye. Bye. We chose Thornhill Construction because I have a number of friends in the area and we talked to other builders and he was the best guy with the best reputation for fine finishing work. We also got to take a look at several of his ongoing in -process jobs as well as a finished job over in Waveland and we’re so impressed with that floor plan that we went from that angle and made it larger. Generally, our first step with Jason and his staff were to have an initial office meeting in their building, in which they explained the process to us and how it would work, which we felt very, very helpful.

We questioned the time frame since we had to move in the summer, following summer, living in Denver, Colorado.

And he assured us that could be done, given that he didn’t have too many rain days.

He had an excellent staff, which we noticed right away. Libby Galloway was so helpful with the interior design.

as the project went on we realized that Rich Green was an incredibly valuable member of his team.

Always said what he was going to do and showed up. Libby actually walked me through in one of my three visits after that to a cabinet store and helped me pick up cabinets and tile and I don’t think I could have done it without her.

as quickly and as efficiently if it weren’t for her knowledge and she literally drove me and helped me make my decisions. Well for me some of the things that he really came through on were some Pinterest pictures that I had found and just fell in love with and I really wanted them incorporated in my house and that was the fireplace which he It’s absolutely made identical and the shiplap and the stairwell were exactly what I was looking for. It really impressed me that he could come through working with just a pitcher off an upheaval program, but he did it.

How about you? Well, I like the porches. We’ve got wraparound porches and we’ve got a very nice view of the gulf and that is a place I can go hang out and have some peace and quiet. We love the torches. We love the torches. Jason was really consistent about being on time and getting things done in a timely manner.

It wasn’t shrug out.

And he was working with us when we were living in Colorado. So he really reached out to us to

make this work.

We really would recommend Thornhill.

We have no problems. As a matter of fact, we’ve had people ask us if they can see our house, and we proudly show it off to them. And they say, yeah, I think I’m going to go with Thornhill.

So we know that he’s grown since the days he did ours. And he’s doing great, and we wish him all the luck in the world. We love our house.

I’ve been building a couple of houses on my own and they never came out like this. He really goes above and beyond to make the finishing work perfect, the cabinetry, and just the entire project was a joy. And he has the best staff you could ever want to work with. I’m Kim Henry. I’m Ruston Henry and we first met Jason in, was it January of 2023?

2024. Our real estate agent spoke highly of them and we did a lot of research of this area and everybody talked pretty favorable about them. We own lots of property but we never built on any of it. We bought it already, you know.

existing construction.

The thing about it is it was our first time building a home, and Jason made it easy.

Him and his people, Libby, they kind of talked you through everything to see exactly what you want. We had an idea of what we wanted, but we found a floor plan that kind of worked, and we brought it to Jason, and then we went back and forth with revisions here and there. And he was pretty much hands -on, like, hey, we can do this, we can do this, or we can’t do this within a certain code.

So he made the experience a lot more easy. My favorite thing about the process was just the peace of mind. Like, being in an industry where you do get permits and permits and all that paperwork and legal stuff generally is the source of a lot of delays. It was good knowing that somebody did it and we didn’t have to do it.

Really, for me, that was huge.

Just going and getting this, going and getting this, filing this for the city to get the gas, that part. And I think Thornhill does a good job doing that. My favorite part about the process was that. The workmanship was never in question. Jason has really good people, and like I say, we’ve owned rental property, we’ve done renovations in the past, and I can spot good work from bad, and the workmanship he does on his houses is really, really good, high grade. And even like even for us renovating after Katrina, you don’t really know what’s current, you know, like the current trends and home building and stuff.

And I think Jason and Libby and Justin, they all kept us like, well, people aren’t really doing that anymore. So that was helpful, too, because, I mean, you know, we haven’t built anything really substantive outside of business related residential stuff. for what, probably 20 years? Almost 20 years.

And another thing that’s good, he knew the landscape down there. So instead of having some builders come in who’s not familiar with everything, Jason knows the landscape of the bureaucracy, the permitting, what’s allowed, what’s not allowed, and that made the process a lot easier. They take you from start to finish. They’re very amenable. The thing I like about Jason, he’s reachable.

Him and his people, if you can’t reach up with him, you reach up with his supervisors and people in there.

And at every step of the way, they’re available for you.

So nobody’s a professional builder, so when you have questions, you explain this is why we’re doing this, this is why we’re doing that, and this is why we’re doing this.

So, you know, you’re not in the dark and he keeps you abreast the whole way.

Well, one thing about it, even after we got our certificate of occupancy, Thornhill Construction was there for available for any little small knickknack stuff you have and a lot of people wants to give you that certificate of occupancy say we’re finished with so Jason is not only just a Contractor we regard him as a friend, right?

Yeah, we were in a bar Remember the lady in the bar. We were in a bar and the lady goes. Oh my god, you built the house She said my contractor had me in tears every week. I was like She said it was just such a frustrating process, and I say for us, I don’t ever find that it was frustrating. It might have been, oh my God, I gotta go pick out a light fixture, and I didn’t really feel like doing that, but it wasn’t like, I mean, tears? Did we ever have tears?

I never cried. No.

One other thing.

That’s what she said. One other thing with going to construction, they give you an option, they give you a budget of items that you have to get, and if you can pick them out, Your own self? That’s fine. I mean, so that gives you the flexibility of saying, hey, we want this or we don’t want this.

And then you see where your dollar’s going.

So if you pick out the refrigerator that is 10 feet wide and 10 feet tall and it costs you much, you know where it’s going to.

And then his people, along the way, they’re going to say, hey, look, that’s going to put you over budget.

And as always, if you tell him I want to stay on budget, he’s going to try to do his best to make sure you stay on budget.

Thank you very much for a very pleasurable experience, and thank you for helping my wife’s dream house come true.

Awesome, man.

It was our pleasure. It was a joy working with you guys. You’ve got an awesome place. We love showing it off, and we hope you get to enjoy it for many years. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Absolutely.

But Clay Clark, man, he is one character. That’s a good word for him, character. Yeah, that is it.

Good, driven, smart. And I’ve never met a guy who was so hyper all the time.

He’s doing so much good.

And then I met his mother, and she just lets him be Clay Clark. I mean, he’s endorsed by his mother, and he’s doing magnificent work. So it was great meeting you out there and all the people that he surrounds himself with.

Clay Clark starts his days at 5 o ‘clock in the morning.

Oh, it’s incredible.

Yeah, he’s like, he’s a machine. He’s a machine. But his, you know, I have problems with my company starting at nine o ‘clock. He has hundreds of people showing up at 5 a . m. in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Man, he’s a leader of a leader. He’s a fantastic young man. No, he is. He is. Clay Clark has worked his butt off, I mean that, over the last three years, putting on Can’t tell you how hard this guy has worked. I really mean this.

This is the last reawaken event probably ever I don’t know. Maybe if one of us run one of these days clay will bring it back. Come here clay Come here. He is the hardest -working nicest guy who’s gone all across the country. He’s gone into the lion’s den in places that you wouldn’t believe.

And there’s other people up here. Everybody up on this stage has been at a lot of these events, General Flynn, everybody. But we’ve had some of the greatest experiences you could possibly imagine. We’ve gone to areas that Republicans have never, ever gone to before. We got attacked in Portland by Antifo. I mean, we have some crazy stories.

And he never, ever, ever wants back down. Clay, on behalf of everybody that believes in Make America Great Again, on behalf of our entire family, on behalf of an entire country of patriots, people who love red, white, and blue, people who believe in faith, people who believe in our Constitution, people who believe in free speech, we love you and we appreciate you and we appreciate your family and how much you’ve sacrificed and how much you’ve spent. And the greatest thing that’ll come out of all of it, aside from winning the presidency of the United States, we’ll get to that in a second, Was an everlasting friendship between clay and I because I’m telling you there’s not too many people in the world that have this man’s backbone and his Tenaciousness and his perseverance and so buddy. I love you and to general Flynn. Thank you. You guys are incredible You guys are incredible warriors.

You guys are incredible incredible warrior.

So thank you. Thank you, my friend.

Thank you Wait, Clark is here somewhere. Where’s my buddy play plays 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. Four thousand percent from February to February.

Now I can better that. Okay, Clay, I don’t think you know this. I don’t think you know this. I’m pinching myself, and if I cry, forgive me. In the last two and a half days, we have bettered our entire month of February in the last two and a half days. And the phone’s blowing up.

Everything’s just blowing up.

You’re right.

It is like a rocket ship.

We’re pinching ourselves, actually. Clay, my honor. My honor to be on your show. And thank you for all you do. I hear the ripple effects from you are good ripple effects. You know what I mean?

People rave about what they learn from you.

So congratulations. 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. He also has a wealth of knowledge.

He’s worked with so many different companies and different businesses. He could take a concept that he’s used before in the past with somebody in a totally different industry and see how it would work perfectly for you in whatever niche market you’re in or whatever type of service you’re providing. And so his brain is just a wealth of knowledge. And just to have that type of perspective as a part of your team and your own company is huge, super valuable. So I would definitely encourage people to use him. But one thing is you got to be coachable.

You got to be wanting to get feedback. You got to be wanting to really grow your company. You got to want to put that extra 10 hours a week to working on your business and not just in your business. And so, yes, I would recommend it to anybody who’s wanting to grow their company and provide great systems, checklists, workflows, great encouragement, and have accountability. Hi, I’m Aaron Antus. with Shaw Homes.

I first heard about Clay through a mortgage lender here in town who had told me what a great job he had been doing for them, and I actually noticed he was driving a Lamborghini all of a sudden, so I was willing to listen. In my career, I’ve sold a little over 800 million dollars in real estate. So honestly, I thought I kind of knew everything about marketing and homes. And then I met Clay, and my perception of what I knew and what I could do definitely changed. After doing $800 million in sales over a 15 -year career, I really thought I knew what I was doing. I’ve been managing a large team of salespeople for the last 10 years here with Shaw Homes.

And I mean, we’ve been a company that’s been in business for 35 years. We’ve become one of the largest builders in the Tulsa area, and that was without Clay. So when I came to know Clay, I really thought, man, there’s not much more I need to know, but I’m willing to listen. The interesting thing is our internet leads from our website has actually in a four month period of time has gone from somewhere around 10 to 15 leads in a month to 180 internet leads in a month. Just from the few things that he’s shown us how to implement that I honestly probably never would have come up with on my own. So I got a lot of good things to say about the system that Clay put in place with us.

And it’s just been an incredible experience. I am very glad that we met and had the opportunity to work with Clay. So the interaction with the team and with Clay on a weekly basis is honestly very enlightening. One of the things that I love about Clay’s perspective on things is that he doesn’t come from my industry. He’s not somebody who’s in the home building industry. I’ve listened to all the experts in my field.

Our company has paid for me to go to seminars, international builder shows, all kinds of places where I’ve had the opportunity to learn from the experts in my industry. But the thing that I found working with Clay is that he comes from such a broad spectrum of working with so many different types of businesses that he has a perspective that’s difficult for me to gain because I get so entrenched in what I do, I’m not paying attention to what other leading industry experts are doing. And Clay really brings that perspective for me. It is very valuable time every week when I get that hour with him. From my perspective, the reason that any business owner who’s thinking about hooking up with Thrive needs to definitely consider it is because the results that we’ve gotten in a very short period of time are honestly monumental. It has really exceeded my wildest expectation of what he might be able to do.

I came in skeptical because I’m very pragmatic, and as I’ve gone through the process over just a few months, I’ve realized it’s probably one of the best moves we’ve ever made. I think a lot of people probably feel like they don’t need a business or marketing consultant, because they maybe are a little bit prideful and like to think they know everything. I know that’s how I felt coming in. I mean, we’re a big company that’s definitely one of the largest in town. And so we kind of felt like we knew what we were doing. And I think for a lot of people, they let their ego get in the way of listening to somebody that might be

a better or different perspective than theirs. I would just really encourage you, if you’re thinking about working with Clay, I mean, the thing is, it’s month to month. Go give it a try and see what happens. I think in the 35 -year history of Shaw Homes, this is probably the best thing that’s happened to us. And I know if you give them a shot, I think you’ll feel the same way. I know for me the thing I would have missed out on if I didn’t work with clay is I would have missed out on literally an 1800 % increase in our Internet leads going from 10 a month to 180 a month.

That would have been a huge financial decision to just decide not to give it a shot. I would absolutely recommend Clay Clark to anybody who’s thinking about working with somebody in marketing. I would skip over anybody else you were thinking about, and I would go straight to Clay and his team. I guarantee you’re not going to regret it, because we sure haven’t. My name is Danielle Sprick, and I am the founder of D. Sprick Realty Group here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After being a stay -at -home mom for 12 years, and my three kids started school, and they were in school full -time, I was at a crossroads and trying to decide, what do I want to do?

My degree and my background is in education, but after being a mom and staying home and all of that, I just didn’t have a passion for it like I once did. My husband suggested real estate. He’s a home builder, so real estate and home building go hand in hand, and we just rolled with it. I love people. I love working with people. I love the building relationships, but one thing

that was really difficult for me was the business side of things. The processes and the advertising and marketing, I knew that I did not have what I needed to be successful. make that what it should be. So I reached out to Clay at that time and he and his team have been extremely instrumental in helping us build our brand, help market our business, our agents, the homes that we represent.

Everything that we do is a direct line from Clay and his team and all that they’ve done for us. We launched our brokerage our real estate brokerage eight months ago. And in that time we’ve gone from myself and one other agent to just this week we signed on our 16th agent. We have been blessed with the fact that we right now have just over 10 million in pending transactions. Three years ago, I never would have even imagined that I would be in this role that I’m in today, building a business, having 16 agents. But I have to give credit where credit’s due.

And Clay and his team and the business coaching that they’ve offered us has been huge. It’s been instrumental in what we’re doing. Don’t ever limit your vision.

When you dream big, big things happen.

I started a business because I couldn’t work for anyone else.

I do things my way.

I do what I think is in the best interest of the patient. I don’t answer to insurance companies. I don’t answer to large corporate organizations. I answer to my patient and that’s it. My thought when I opened my clinic was I can do this all myself. I don’t need additional outside help in many ways.

I mean, I went to medical school. I can figure this out. But it was a very, very simple process. curve.

Within the first six months of opening my clinic, I had a $63 ,000 investment. I lost multiple employees. Clay helped us weather the storm of some of the things that are just a lot of people experience, especially in the medical world.

He was instrumental in helping with the specific written business plan.

He’s been instrumental in hiring good quality employees, using the processes that he outlines for getting in good talent, which is extremely difficult.

He helped me in securing the business loans. He helped me with web development and search engine optimization.

We’ve been able to really keep a steady stream of clients coming in because they found us on the web. With everything that I encountered, everything that I experienced, I quickly learned it is worth every penny to have someone in your team that can walk you through and even avoid some of the pitfalls that are almost invariable in starting your own business. I’m Dr. Chad Edwards and I own Revolution Health and Wellness Clinic. Clay, my honor, my honor to be on your show and thank you for all you do. I hear the ripple effects from you are good ripple effects, you know what I mean? People rave about what they learn from you.

So congratulations. just listening to what they have to say their hiring process has just really been incredible as far as finding good quality help and the just the accountability of meeting up with them weekly and like such good insight the resources they have for specific business questions it’s all been really incredible it’s been a great experience so I’d recommend it to anybody. What I’ve seen from Clay and his group at Thrive is they’ll give you a simple system And it’s the simple systems are the ones that people can wrap their brain around. They’re the ones that people can work with on a day -to -day basis. Hi there, my name is Stephanie Pipkin. I am 24 years old and I own Black River Falls Cleaning Services.

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.

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. And hiring quality employees has become much simpler and less stressful by using their systems.

for hiring. 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 higher interviewing every single week it’s just been great and such a lot I don’t waste as much time on low -quality candidates anymore. And your coach will hold you accountable, which I love. Again, the tough love is really great.

Luke’s like a stern father figure, but he’s also nice, but also stern when he needs to be when I’m being lazy and not doing the things that I know I need to 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. But it’s having these systems in place of, you know, of course I’m going to be successful.

It’s an absolute, because I have all this stuff in the background happening. 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 just love it.

to anybody to work with them.

So sorry for the long -winded reply, but I just had so much to say and I could go on for hours probably about how amazing they are. But thank you to Clay and Luke and the entire team there, everything you guys have done for me, and I am so excited to continue to work with you for years to come. Thanks so much for watching. My saying is, if it’s important to you, hire a coach. And I think that’s one of the reasons people are not successful is they, you know, they eat a cheeseburger instead of hiring a coach, you know what I mean? And so my coach pushes me, they’re younger than me, they push harder, they’re trained.

And as my rich dad always said, you know, amateurs don’t have a coach, but professionals always have coaches. So I’ve always had coaches for whatever was important. My rich dad was one of those persons. I wanted to learn how to play Monopoly in real life, so I used my code. You can learn the proven 13 -point business systems that Dr. Zellner and I have used over and over to start and grow successful companies. I mean, 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. And I encourage you to not believe what I’m saying. And I want you to Google the Z66 auto auction. I want you to Google elephant in the room. Look at Robert Zellner and Associates.

Look them up and say, Are they successful because they’re geniuses, or are they successful because they have a proven system? When you do that research, you will discover that the same systems that we use in our own business can be used in your business. Come to Tulsa, book a ticket, and I guarantee you it’s going to be the best business workshop ever, and we’ll even give you your money back if you don’t loan. We’ve built this facility for you, and we’re excited to see it.

Transcribed with Cockatoo