Entrepreneur | Part 1 – Raising Capital In A Challenging Economy With Sean Kouplen

Audio Transcription

Get ready to enter the Thrivetime Show! We started from the bottom, now we’re here. We started from the bottom and we’ll show you how to get here. We started from the bottom, now we’re here. We started from the bottom, now we’re here. We started from the bottom, now we’re on the top. Teaching you the systems to hear what we got. Cullen Dixon’s on the hooks, I’ve written the books. He’s bringing some wisdom and the good looks. As a father of five, that’s where I’mma dive. So if you see my wife and kids, please tell them hi. It’s C and Z up on your radio. And now three, two, one, here we go! We started from the bottom, now we’re here. Started from the bottom, and that’s what we’re about to do. Hello, my friend. How are you? Hi, Clay. I’m good. How are you? I am doing great. And I am seriously, sincerely super excited to talk to you about this topic, because you are the chairman, the president, and the CEO of Regent Bank. All three. The trifecta. The triumvirate. And so we’re talking about raising capital and a challenging economy, seven capital concepts you need to know. But before you unleash kind of this fire hose of knowledge that you just don’t get in college, I want to read you this notable quotable and I want to see what your thoughts are. Napoleon Hill, the best-selling author, actually the top self-help author of all time, said, there’s always plenty of capital for those who can create practical plans for using it. Sean, you’re a self-made success story. You obviously own a bank. You’re a successful investor. Do you agree with that statement? I do. In fact, when we purchased Regent Bank back in 2008, I visited with an investor of ours named Tom, and I was real nervous about could I raise the capital or not. We literally started with zero, made a personal investment and needed to raise $15.5 million. And my friend Tom told me, he’s a 50-year business person, and he told me at the time, he said, the easiest thing you’ll ever do is raise the capital. The operating and fulfilling your business plan will be much harder than raising the capital. Really? And I thought that made no sense to me, but based upon my track record, the banking industry and those types of things, we raised $15.5 million in less than a month. Now, I don’t want to hype you up too much, because I know you’re a humble guy, but I want to share this with the Thrivers, because 2008, economically speaking, that was sort of a window of American history where we had some challenges. Right. Don’t look at the big picture. So when you talk about raising money in a challenging economy, you’ve done it. I mean, 2014, things are kind of rebounding. A lot of people think all things are systems go. But I mean, you did it in a challenging time. So I’m excited to talk to you about doing this here. Thank you. So the seven concepts we need to know. One is five reasons to raise capital. Two, the investor wish list. Three, the recipient wish list. Four, the 12 common sources of capital. Five, the five C’s of credit. Six, 11 keys to putting your best foot forward. And seven, eight mistakes to avoid when raising capital. And so at this point, what I’m going to do is I’m going to kind of get into each one of these points and I’ll let you sort of give us some clarity on it. So concept number one, five reasons to raise capital. Reason one is business acquisition. Sean, when you say business acquisition, can you walk me through what you’re talking about? Sure. So we’re going to go through five different reasons that a business or an individual would want to raise capital. Okay. And the first one that we list is the most common, which is to acquire a business or to buy a business. And the reason we’re going to talk about this, we’re going to talk about various ways to raise capital. So you can raise it through a bank or you can raise it through private sources. The ideal situation is to raise it through a bank, but many times you see an excellent business opportunity that you cannot bank. There may not be enough collateral. There may not be enough proven history. You may not have the experience in that industry. And so first and foremost is raising that capital to go buy a business. Or it can be, frankly, it can be buying an asset. It can be buying a piece of property. But we’re going to focus more today on business acquisition. And this isn’t weird. This is common, business acquisition. This is common. It is. And raising capital for business acquisition is common. A lot of times, people think that, man, I found a good deal. I think I could be very successful at this, but I don’t have the money, so I’m not going to do it. There are millions of people in this world whose biggest concern is how to get a return on their cash. They are either managing money for someone else or they are setting on a lot of liquid assets and they’re trying to get a return. So the practice of going into the market to pitch your idea, to raise capital, it’s very normal. Just because you don’t have the money doesn’t mean you can’t get a deal done. And I want to give the Thrivers just one really third grade example that I know of, just to kind of give a better example there. Magic Johnson recently was famous. The headlines were, Magic Johnson buys the Dodgers. Well, it wasn’t like he personally had $2 billion or $1 billion sitting around. He and a team of people bought the team. And this happens all the time with pro sports, where one guy is kind of like the figurehead, but everybody puts the money together. So this is very, very common. That’s just one example to share with you. Now moving on to reason number two, purchase real estate or equipment. How often do you see people needing to raise capital for this reason, to purchase real estate or to buy equipment? Most of the time when you’re buying real estate or equipment, you can get bank financing because you have a hard asset that the bank can use as collateral. However, many times an individual may need some down payment money. So maybe they need to put down 20%, and they only have 10%. So they go find an investor for the other 10. Or perhaps they don’t have proven cash flow to make the payment, and so they find somebody to guarantee a note. So it’s fairly common. It’s less common than business acquisition, but it’s fairly common. We see it quite a bit. And you use this magic word collateral here, which just to clarify, can you kind of clarify for maybe some watching this is maybe new to that term or maybe thinks they know what collateral means? You bet. What will typically happen is whether a bank makes a loan to you or an individual invest money in you, they will typically take the asset that you’re buying as collateral. And all that means is if you are unable to make the payment or service the debt, then they have a security interest in that collateral and can basically take ownership of it, sell it to pay off the debt. Alright, we’re moving on to reason number three here. Business expansion opportunity. Talk to me about what kinds of things you’re talking about here with business expansion opportunities. This one’s also very common and frankly is the most, probably the best reason to raise capital. You’ve started up a business, we’ve both been there, Clay. You’ve started up a business, it is successful, and you have opportunities to grow it. You see opportunities within the market, you have the opportunity to hire people, you think that there are marketing strategies that you can use, but you don’t have the capital on hand to do that. So oftentimes, and again, I was just involved in this very situation with the software company here in Tulsa recently, where they had been successful, but they just wanted to take it to another level. So I came in as really kind of a second stage investor, investing in them to allow them to grow. OK. Again, this is probably one of the best reasons to raise capital. So now moving on to reason number four, the partner buyout. Sean, this sounds kind of hostile. Could you walk me through some situations where this might come up from time to time or has come up from time to time? Sure. It’s not typically hostile. OK. Normally what happens, partnerships are very difficult. There’s no question about it. The partners, it’s much like a marriage in that the partners are different. A lot of times they look at the world differently and so I will admit on occasion you have philosophical differences where one partner just needs to buy another partner out. They just aren’t agreeing on the direction of a company. That doesn’t mean one is right or wrong. They just need to agree. What is more typical however is that if you and I are partners in a deal and let’s say that you are just ready to retire. It’s not I’m younger than you are and so we’re partners and you’re just at a different stage of life so you’re ready to sell out your interest. That happens more often than not or maybe you’re going in a different direction and you need that capital that you have in our business to go do something else. So there’s lots of reasons you would buy out a partner. They’re not always because you got into a fight. But again, if the business is proven and is cash flowing and doing well, that’s a that’s a fairly easy thing to raise capital for as well. And I just want to I want to make sure if you’re watching this, I know as an entrepreneur, you can feel alone sometimes because you know, you have your own business and you have a bunch of employees who work with you. And so you’re kind of alone sometimes at the top of the mountain. If this is a situation where you’re finding yourself right now, need to do a partner buyout, you’re not weird. This is normal stuff. This is things that people do often. So moving on to reason number five, cash flow issues. Sean, for any thrivers out there who aren’t super familiar with this concept of cash flow or the lack thereof, what does that mean? Reason five is the most challenging time to raise capital. But again, it is possible. This is a scenario in which you have a business that is the expenses are outweighing the income and so you are you have depleted your reserves and frankly you need cash to stay alive. Now you go well why would an investor invest in something like this if it’s losing money? And the answer is if they believe they can turn it around. Some of the best investments we have made personally have been in this space where you see an individual struggling, but you see why. And many times it’s because of a lack of capital. A lot of times it is self-fulfilling. You’re trying to run a business, you don’t have the cash to run it, you can’t take advantage of marketing opportunities. You can’t hire people. And so you’re just, you’re flailing. And if somebody comes along with capital, not only can they turn it around, they can have tremendous success. And as an investor or buyer, you obviously have tremendous leverage in a situation like this. So you can get a very large percentage of the company for a fairly small investment. And you’re pretty good at tightening down the operational systems. So I mean, when you say that’s a good opportunity for you, you know how to build business systems and workflows and all that kind of stuff. I really like both. I do. I like the operational side and the process side of business. But honestly, what I think I have been more successful in is going, OK, this business is in this situation right now. If we injected x number of dollars of capital, what opportunities would that create? And I really like, I’m like you, I like the strategy side of business, where I see an opportunity to really grow the top line of the business, too. All right, now we’re talking about capital concept number two, the investor wish list. This is the stuff that investors are kind of wanting before they decide to invest in something. So we’re going to go through these here. So here we go. A high return on investment. Sean, when you say high return on investment, what types of return are you talking about? Are you talking about some astronomical returns? What are we talking about? That’s a good question. So the concept of the investor wish list. Here’s the magic of raising capital. The magic is as an investor I have certain things that I am looking for, but then as the business owner or the recipient of the capital, which we’re going to go over in just a moment, I have certain things I’m looking for. As we’re going to see, those two things are different and the ability to bridge those is where the magic happens. So the first one is high return on investment. All investors want to get the most they can for their money. So if I put $100,000 into your company, I want that thing to multiply two, three, five-fold. That is my ultimate objective. However, each investor is different. Some investors want cash flow for their investment. They’ve invested with you and they want a consistent, I put in $100,000, I want to get $1,000 back every month, then I’m happy if I can just get that return. Some people will put their money in and leave it for the long haul. They don’t need the cash. They are just looking for capital appreciation. So they leave it setting and as long as you can give them a multiple return on their funds within 5, 10, 15 years, they’re very happy. So, it all depends upon the investor. But I would say a typical investor is going to want to see at least a 7 or 8 percent return on their investment, even in the safest of investments, even if it is a, I’ve sold a building and I’m leasing it to a Fortune 500 company and it is a certain payback, I’m going to want it to at least see 7 or 8 percent. If I get into something that is a little bit more risky, I’m going to want to see 15, 20, 25 percent because I’m taking excessive risk on my investment. One thing that you’ve helped me understand over the years and things also that I’ve learned just from reading and being around it is I know as an entrepreneur, let’s just pretend that I’m making cupcakes. And I’m just super passionate about cupcakes and making them and selling them and the flavor of them. I can’t be frustrated with an investor who says, yeah, yeah, yeah. But how much of a return can I make here? And I see a lot of entrepreneurs, and I was one of them, who would just be infinitely frustrated. Like, how could you not see the magic of these cupcakes or whatever that? And where the investors typically are more logical. They’re more analytical and so and then I think as an entrepreneur Sometimes we’ll label them as well. They’re just being greedy. But really that’s what they’re that’s how they make their money is investing So you’re saying if it’s not at least a seven or eight percent return It’s probably not gonna make sense for anybody and then you’re saying there’s really two options There’s kind of a cash flow somebody wants to make a monthly return right and the other one you said was the capital appreciation capital appreciation Capital appreciation where you just want that dollar amount to go up over time. You’re not looking for it back in the short run. You just want to see it grow. Okay. Okay. Great. Now we’re talking about low risk. Sean, are you talking about these business owners that wear helmets and have a ton of life insurance? Or what exactly do you mean by that? Well, from an investor perspective, what you’re doing is you typically have a broad array of potential investments you can make. And you want the one that you can make the most money on with the lowest risk. And it’s a blend. So low risk really means these things. It means, one, the company is typically proven. And you are comfortable with the fact that they’re going to continue being profitable and creating value the way that they have. Two, there aren’t excessive market risks. So technological risks, competitive risks would be examples of market risk, economic risk. You look at it and go, hey, I think this thing can continue to be good through just about anything happening. And then the third major risk is being too dependent upon one person. So, and this is a big one, whenever you’re building a business, if you want to get maximum value for that business, you have to build the business to a point to where it can survive and thrive without you. So, that is, and that’s difficult for all of us because we’re so, you know, vested in our business and so involved. We want to be involved, but there’s too much risk. If I am Regent Bank or you are Thrive, you know, and we go away in the business tanks, that’s too much risk for an investor. So they want, if you think about it, an investor is just saying, okay, what I’m trying to do is handicap the probability that this company is going to perform at the same or better results than it has in the past. I’m going to throw out maybe four ideas that came to my mind as you’re speaking about low risk, just to see if maybe I’m on the right track here. You’re saying that, one, make sure it’s not dependent upon a single person. So if I’m trying to raise capital, I want to show I have a team. And then avoiding excessive market risks, I guess I want to just be able to show that I have an awareness of the market and Maybe who my competitors might be and be very realistic about that. Yep And then the third is it’s kind of if we know just dependent when you say just dependent upon me Would that be a deal where I’d want to have a combined resume of a bunch of people that are successful on my team Not just me Another way to combat that, it’s not necessarily that you have to have a whole bunch of people, you just have to show that the business would continue without you. So it may be one person that is learning the business and could take over if something happened to you. Life insurance is actually important in that situation because you say, okay, I understand I’m key to the business, but I’ve got this person up and coming and in the interim until they’re ready, I’m going to keep five years of revenue in a life insurance policy. So if something happened to me, you would get five years of net income for the business. So that is another way to… Is another way to show it’s a low risk is for the owner to have some skin in the game? No doubt. Does that help? No doubt. Yes. Yes. Okay. So if you’re actually the entrepreneur, you put your own capital in that maybe helps lower the perceived risk, maybe. Now we’re talking about high liquidity. Now Sean, I once went on a juice fast. Is this what we’re talking about? Or when you say high liquidity, what are we talking about? Different type of liquidity. When I put my money into an investment, I want to know that in a worst case scenario, I can get it back. And let me just give you an example and I’ll just use my bank. We have approximately 80 investors in Regent Bank, roughly $16 million now invested. And so we have a market for that stock. We have people that want to buy that stock. So when people invest with me, I can say, hey, if something happens and either you don’t like the investment or your circumstances change and you want to get the money back, I have people, including me, that will buy your stock. That’s comforting to people as opposed to putting it in. There’s no way you can ever get it out until 20 or 30 years down the road and you’re just stuck with it. So again, all of these things can be managed. Low liquidity in an investment where you can’t get your money back, that can be managed if we can show them it’s low risk and there’s a high return on the investment. All of these things are relative. I think it’s just important as you’re trying to raise capital that you’re aware of all these things, and so you’re not blindsided when the investor asks for these things. Or maybe he doesn’t ask, but decides not to invest with you because you’re not addressing these things. Now, high level of control. Sean, when you say high level of control, what are you referring to? You know, an investor wants to feel like they are, that they have some control in the business. So, and this is a challenge, because when we get to the business owner or recipient, they don’t want the investor to have any control. So the question is, again, how do you bridge that gap? And the best way to bridge that gap is information. So what I do as an operator is I tell the investor, if you invest with me, I will provide you with regular financial statements, regular updates. Anytime you have a question about what’s going on, let me know. You’re very good about this and the partnerships we have had. You do a great job of keeping investors in the loop and so I think that’s that’s very important. They just don’t want to nobody, I’m in an oil and gas investment right now where the operator is not very good about keeping the investors in the loop. We have some oil. Exactly, we’re working on it is kind of the update and so the investors get frustrated because they’re going, man, we’ve put a lot of money with you. We want to know what’s going on. Yeah. And I will say this. This is some things right here that are a little more emotional than logical. But I want to tattle on myself for a second and maybe pick on some thrivers watching this, too, because I think it’s important that we’re aware of this. High level of control. We, as entrepreneurs, have to be coachable. And I know that a lot of people seeking capital and I as a young entrepreneur I know I was that way, you know I want someone to invest ten thousand dollars in my brand new business But I am totally unwilling to take any feedback from somebody who has significantly more money than I have That was not a good thing So I know I want to have a control but now I’ve kind of learned that hey if you know If somebody has built up millions of dollars of net worth, it’s probably because they have some wisdom there And so it probably makes sense to you know, say I would like to make the final decision, but I will definitely consult you. I think that’s huge. I know something I didn’t do early on in my career. And I also know this other thing about the control and staying transparent. An investor just wants to know what’s going on. And I think that when they bring to light a subject, they just want an answer. And I think if you don’t answer, then it begs the question of, well, why aren’t you sharing? And then it gets really chippy and weird. And so I would just encourage anybody watching this, if you already have investors, just be transparent, good or bad, just be real, be authentic. I mean, would you agree with that? I would. You have to be able to trust each other. And in a scenario where you’re the entrepreneur and you don’t feel like you can trust your investor, then you shouldn’t allow them to invest. And if you can’t trust anybody, then you better just wait until you’ve raised enough personal funds to do a deal. Because when you’re in a partnership, again, I have 80 investors in Regent Bank, and so I have a lot of input. 80 partners. 80 partners. And so I have, and it’s great because they help us grow and bring in business, but they also have a lot of feedback that they share. So you have to become comfortable with that, not take it personal, don’t get defensive. Okay. Okay. These are all just, I mean, this is from a guy who owns a bank. This is the kind of feedback, I mean, you could imagine having 80 partners what that would be like. So if you’re watching this and you’re going, yeah, well, my situation is different. I’ll tell you, when you have 80 people that you’re kind of reporting to or staying in touch with, it can be a lot to handle. So that’s good wisdom there. So we’re moving on now to capital concept number three, the recipient wish list. This is the stuff that if I’m receiving capital from investors, this is the stuff that I want. So here we go. A stable source of capital. Sean, when you say stable source of capital, are you referring to owning a profitable horse meat operation? What are you talking about? That again is not the type of stable that we are talking about is I want an investment partner. So you’re going to see that these these two oftentimes do not match. OK. The the recipient getting the capital and the person giving the capital many times will have different perspectives, except here they really don’t. The recipient wants to know that they can get capital when they need it. Whether it’s through a bank, they want to feel confident in that relationship or they can go get the capital that they need, or whether it is an investment partner, they want to make sure that that person has the financial wherewithal to invest, that they will invest. And so what you’re looking for in an ideal world, you have sources of capital that as you can grow, as you grow, you can get the money needed. I know I invested a few years ago in a men’s grooming lounge and I was with my brother-in-law and I told him, I said, hey, it’s not that I don’t trust you or I don’t like you or anything, I said, but just for every dollar you put in, when you put in the dollar, I will match it. And so the stability there was you have to put in a dollar and so we had that relationship from the very beginning. And it was very helpful because as he ran low on capital, he always knew, well, if he needed to get another dollar for me, he had to put his own dollar in. Or find another dollar. There you go. And we just had that great rapport going into it, and it was great. I mean, it was really a good thing for both parties. But I know a lot of times people, they get a partner who says, well, I’ll put money in when you need it. And then when they need the money, the partner kind of says, well, I don’t really, I didn’t really, I don’t have it now, maybe next month. And that becomes tough when you’re managing payroll and all that. So the stability thing is super huge. The high level of control. Shawn, what exactly do you mean by that as far as a recipient? Well, all entrepreneurs want control. That’s probably the reason that we, one of the reasons we got into business on our own anyway is because we’re unemployable, right? So this is a tough one. You want to get the money but call all the shots. The investor wants to give the money and call all the shots. And so again, how do you bridge this? And as we’ve already talked about, having a good communication and information back and forth. If you’re the majority owner, at the end of the day, if you are the majority owner of the company, you make the call regardless. So whoever owns majority really makes the call, but helping that investor to feel like they’re on the inside and know what’s going on, I think is very important. I love that you said, we are unemployable. That’s almost like a rallying cry for entrepreneurs around the world. I think some of us, for better or worse, are just meant to own our own companies, run our own companies, and I just think it’s in your DNA. Now we’re talking about limited dilution. Limited dilution, giving up less. Shawn, how would you describe limited dilution, what that means? Not delusion, but dilution. This is not delusion, this is dilution, and this is a very important concept. I as the entrepreneur want to own the business, I want you to give me money and I still want to own all the business. That is an ideal world for me. You as the investor want to invest the capital and own all the business and I as the entrepreneur just work for you. So what we’re trying to figure out is a good balance here. So the ideal scenario for the recipient is to go out into the market, raise capital for my company, and give up the the least amount of ownership that I have to give up. Okay, so again, equity is big, and so if you’re watching this, you want to make sure you maintain control if you’re going to raise capital. Otherwise, why are you raising capital? Why wouldn’t you just go work for that other person or whatever? So you have to be thinking about that and that balance. And one of the things I love, and it’s a little bit off topic, but I wanna hammer this. Your disposition is one of, you’re probably the most agreeable human I’ve ever been around, outside of Joel Osteen, who I’ve never been around in person. I’ve just read his stuff and listened to him online. But you have this agreeable personality to you. Have you honed this over time? Because you’re like the ultimate dealmaker. Have you honed this where you don’t ever look like you’re in an argumentative mindset? Even if I’m sure you 100% disagree with what’s being said, you always just seem to have this demeanor. Have you worked at this? I think a lot of it is just the way that I am wired. But I think it also comes from doing a lot of transactions. And you’ve learned over time that it really is not personal. We’ve worked through some deals recently where we’re brainstorming and strategizing on a potential partnership and we all come to the table with different ideas. And I think it’s just important not to become emotional. You just have to understand everybody’s looking out for the best interest of the company, they just have a different way of going about it. And so, you know, my kind of MO is just to is just to present ideas and facts, and why I believe the way that I do, and if you don’t agree with that, we try to work through a way to get there, not get upset with each other. JT, do you know what time it is? 410. It’s Tebow time in Tulsa, Roseland, baby! Tim Tebow is coming to Tulsa, Oklahoma, June 27th and 28th. We’ve been doing business conferences here since 2005. I’ve been hosting business conferences since 2005. What year were you born? 1995. Dude, I’ve been hosting business conferences since you were 10 years old, but I’ve never had the two-time Heisman Award winning Tim Tebow come present. And a lot of people, you know, have followed Tim Tebow’s football career on the field and off the field. And off the field, the guy’s been just as successful as he has been on the field. Now, the big question is, JT, how does he do it? Well, they’re going to have to come and find out, because I don’t know. Well, I’m just saying, Tim Tebow’s going to teach us how he organizes his day, how he organizes his life, how he’s proactive with his faith, his family, his finances. He’s going to walk us through his mindset that he brings into the gym, into business. It is going to be a blasty blast in Tulsa, Russia. Also, this is the first Thrive Time Show event that we’ve had where we’re going to have a man who has built a $100 million net worth. Wow. Who will be presenting. Now, we’ve had a couple of presenters that have had a billion dollar net worth in some real estate sort of things. But this is the first time we’ve had a guy who’s built a service business, and he’s built over $100 million net worth in the service business. It’s the yacht driving, multi-state living guru of franchising. Peter Taunton will be in the house. This is the founder of Snap Fitness, the guy behind Nine Round Boxing. He’s going to be here in Tulsa, Russel Oklahoma June 27th and 28th. JT why should everybody want to hear what Peter Taunton has to say? Oh because he’s incredible he’s just a fountain of knowledge he is awesome he’s inspired me listening to him talk and not only that he also has he practices what he teaches so he’s a real teacher he’s not a fake teacher like business school teachers so you got to come learn from him. Also let me tell you this folks I don’t get this wrong because if I get it wrong, someone’s going to say, you screwed that up, buddy. So Michael Levine, this is Michael Levine, he’s going to be coming, and you say, who’s Michael Levine? I don’t want to get this wrong. This is the PR consultant of choice for Michael Jackson, for Prince, for Nike, for Charlton Heston, for Nancy Kerrigan, 34 Grammy Award winners, 43 New York Times best-selling authors he’s represented, including pretty much everybody you know who’s been a super celebrity. This is Michael Levine, a good friend of mine. He’s going to come and talk to you about personal branding and the mindset needed to be super successful. The lineup will continue to grow. We have hit Christian reporting artist Colton Dixon in the house. Now, people say, Colton Dixon’s in the house? Yes, Colton Dixon’s in the house. So if you like top 40 Christian music, Colton Dixon’s going to be in the house performing. The lineup will continue to grow each and every day. We’re going to add more and more speakers to this all-star lineup, but I encourage everybody out there today, get those tickets today. Go to Thrivetimeshow.com. Again, that’s Thrivetimeshow.com. And some people might be saying, well, how do I do it? What do I do? How does it work? You just go to Thrivetimeshow.com. Let’s go there now. We’re feeling the flow. We’re going to Thrivetimeshow.com. Thrivetimeshow.com. Again, you just go to Thrivetimeshow.com. You click on the Business Conferences button, and you click on the request tickets button right there. The way I do our conferences is we tell people it’s $250 to get a ticket or whatever price that you can afford. And the reason why I do that is I grew up without money. JT, you’re in the process of building a super successful company. Did you start out with a million dollars in the bank account? No, I did not. Nope, did not get any loans, nothing like that. Did not get an inheritance from parents or anything like that. I had to work for it and I’m super grateful I came to a business conference. That’s actually how I met you, met Peter Taunton, I met all these people. So if you’re out there today and you want to come to our workshop, again, you just got to go to thrivetimeshow.com. You might say, well, when’s it going to be? June 27th and 28th. You might say, well, who’s speaking? We already covered that. You might say, where’s it going to be? It’s going to be in Tulsa, Russia, Oklahoma. It’s Tulsa, Russia. I’m really trying to rebrand Tulsa as Tulsa Ruslim, sort of like the Jerusalem of America. But if you type in Thrive Time Show and Jinx, you can get a sneak peek or a look at our office facility. This is what it looks like. This is where you’re headed. It’s going to be a blasty blast. You can look inside, see the facility. We’re going to have hundreds of entrepreneurs here. It is going to be packed. Now, for this particular event, folks, the seating is always limited because my facility isn’t a limitless convention center. You’re coming to my actual home office, and so it’s going to be packed. So when? June 27th to 28th. Who? You! You’re going to come. I’m talking to you. You can get your tickets right now at Thrivetimeshow.com, and again, you can name your price. We tell people it’s $250 or whatever price you can afford, and we do have some select VIP tickets, which gives you an access to meet some of the speakers and those sorts of things. And those tickets are $500. It’s a two-day interactive business workshop, over 20 hours of business training. We’re going to give you a copy of my newest book, The Millionaire’s Guide to Becoming Sustainably Rich. You’re going to leave with a workbook. You’re going to leave with everything you need to know to start and grow a super successful company. It’s practical. It’s actionable. And it’s TiVo time right here in Tulsa, Russia. Get those tickets today at thrivetimeshow.com. Again, that’s thrivetimeshow.com. Hello, I’m Michael Levine and I’m talking to you right now from the center of Hollywood, California where I have represented over the last 35 years 58 Academy Award winners, 34 Grammy Award winners, 43 New York Times bestsellers. I’ve represented a lot of major stars and I’ve worked with a lot of major companies and I think I’ve learned a few things about what makes them work and what makes them not work. Now, why would a man living in Hollywood, California in the beautiful sunny weather of LA come to Tulsa? Because last year I did it and it was damn exciting. has put together an exceptional presentation. Really life changing. And I’m looking forward to seeing you then. I’m Michael Levine, I’ll see you in Tulsa. James, did I tell you my good friend John Lee Dumas is also joining us at the in-person, two-day interactive Thrive Time Show business workshop. That Tim Tebow and that Michael Levine will be at, have I told you this? You have not told me that. Oh, he’s coming all the way from Puerto Rico. This is John Lee Dumas, the host of the chart-topping EOFire.com podcast. He’s absolutely a living legend. This guy started a podcast after wrapping up his service in the United States military, and he started recording this podcast daily in his home to the point where he started interviewing big-time folks like Gary Vaynerchuk, like Tony Robbins, and he just kept interviewing bigger and bigger names, putting out shows day after day, and now he is the legendary host of the EO Fire podcast, and he’s traveled all the way from Puerto Rico to Tulsa, Oklahoma to attend the in-person June 27th and 28th live time show, two-day interactive business workshop. If you’re out there today, folks, you’ve ever wanted to grow a podcast, a broadcast, you want to get in, you want to improve your marketing, if you’ve ever wanted to improve your marketing, your branding, if you’ve ever wanted to increase your sales, you want to come to the two-day interactive June 27th and 28th Thrive Time Show Business Workshop featuring Tim Tebow, Michael Levine, Jodly Dumas, and countless big-time super successful entrepreneurs. It’s going to be life-changing. Get your tickets right now at thrivetimeshow.com. James, what website is that? ThriveTimeshow.com James, one more time before you leave. ThriveTimeshow.com See these people I ride with this moment Thrive time show two-day interactive business workshops are the world’s highest rated and most reviewed business Workshops because we teach you what you need to know to grow You can learn the proven 13-point business systems that dr. Zellner about I have used over and over to start and grow successful companies. We get into the specifics, the specific steps on what you need to do to optimize your website. We’re going to teach you how to fix your conversion rate. We’re going to teach you how to do a social media marketing campaign that works. How do you raise capital? How do you get a small business loan? We teach you everything you need to know here during a two-day, 15-hour workshop. It’s all here for you. You work every day in your business, but for two days you can escape and work on your business and build these proven systems so now you can have a successful company that will produce both the time freedom and the financial freedom that you deserve. You’re going to leave energized, motivated, but you’re also going to leave empowered. The reason why I built these workshops is because as an entrepreneur, I always wish that I had this. And because there wasn’t anything like this, I would go to these motivational seminars, no money down, real estate, Ponzi scheme, get motivated seminars, and they would never teach me anything. It was like you went there and you paid for the big chocolate Easter bunny, but inside of it, it was a hollow nothingness. And I wanted the knowledge, and they’re like, oh, but we’ll teach you the knowledge after our next workshop. And the great thing is we have nothing to upsell. At every workshop, we teach you what you need to know. There’s no one in the back of the room trying to sell you some next big get-rich-quick, walk-on hot coals product. It’s literally, we teach you the brass tacks, the specific stuff that you need to know to learn how to start and grow a business. I encourage you to not believe what I’m saying, and I want you to Google the Z66 auto auction. I want you to Google elephant in the room. Look at Robert Zellner and Associates. Look them up and say, are they successful because they’re geniuses? Or are they successful because they have a proven system? When you do that research, you will discover that the same systems that we use in our own business can be used in your business. Come to Tulsa, book a ticket, and I guarantee you it’s going to be the best business workshop ever. And we’re going to give you your money back if you don’t love it. We built this facility for you, and we’re excited to see you. And now you may be thinking, what does it actually cost to attend an in-person two-day interactive Thrive Time Show business workshop? Well, good news, the tickets are $250 or whatever price that you can afford. What? Yes, they’re $250 or whatever price you can afford. I grew up without money and I know what it’s like to live without money, so if you’re out there today and you want to attend our in-person two-day interactive business workshop. All you gotta do is go to Thrivetimeshow.com to request those tickets. And if you can’t afford $250, we have scholarship pricing available to make it affordable for you. I learned at the Academy in Kings Point, New York, acta non verba. Watch what a person does, not what they say. Good morning, good morning, good morning. Harvard Kiyosaki, The Rich Dad Radio Show. Today I’m broadcasting from Phoenix, Arizona, not Scottsdale, Arizona. They’re close, but they’re completely different worlds. And I have a special guest today. Definition of intelligence is if you agree with me, you’re intelligent. And so this gentleman is very intelligent. I’ve done this show before also, but very seldom do you find somebody who lines up on all counts. And so Mr. Clay Clark is a friend of a good friend, Eric Trump, but we’re also talking about money, bricks, and how screwed up the world can get in a few and a half hour. So Clay Clark is a very intelligent man, and there’s so many ways we could take this thing. But I thought, since you and Eric are close, Trump, what were you saying about what Trump can’t, what Donald, who is my age, and I can say or cannot say? Well, first of all, I have to honor you, sir. I want to show you what I did to one of your books here. There’s a guy named Jeremy Thorn, who was my boss at the time. I was 19 years old, working at Faith Highway. I had a job at Applebee’s, Target, and DirecTV. And he said, have you read this book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad? And I said, no. And my father, may he rest in peace, he didn’t know these financial principles. So I started reading all of your books and really devouring your books. And I went from being an employee to self-employed to the business owner to the investor. And I owe a lot of that to you. And I just want to take a moment to tell you thank you so much for allowing me to achieve success. And I’ll tell you all about Eric Trump. I just want to tell you, thank you sir, for changing my life. But not only that Clay, thank you, but you’ve become an influencer. You know, more than anything else, you’ve evolved into an influencer where your word has more and more power. So that’s why I congratulate you on becoming. Because as you know, there’s a lot of fake influencers out there too, or bad influencers. Yeah. Anyway, I’m glad you and I agree so much, and thanks for reading my books. Yeah. That’s the greatest thrill for me today. Not a thrill, but recognition is when people, young men especially, come up and say, I read your book, changed my life, I’m doing this, I’m doing this, I’m doing this. I learned at the Academy, Kings Point in New York, acta non verba. Watch what a person does, not what they say. Whoa. Hey, I’m Ryan Wimpey. I’m originally from Tulsa, born and raised here. I went to a small private liberal arts college and got a degree in business, and I didn’t learn anything like they’re teaching here. I didn’t learn linear workflows. I learned stuff that I’m not using and I haven’t been using for the last nine years. So what they’re teaching here is actually way better than what I got at business school. And I went what was actually ranked as a very good business school. The linear workflow, the linear workflow for us and getting everything out on paper and documented is really important. We have workflows that are kind of all over the place. So having linear workflow and seeing that mapped out on multiple different boards is pretty awesome. That’s really helpful for me. The atmosphere here is awesome. I definitely just stared at the walls figuring out how to make my facility look like this place. This place rocks. It’s invigorating. The walls are super, it’s just very cool. The atmosphere is cool, the people are nice. It’s a pretty cool place to be. Very good learning atmosphere. I literally want to model it and steal everything that’s here at the conference. This is probably the best conference or seminar I’ve ever been to in over 30 years of business. You’re not bored. You’re awake and alive the whole time. It’s not pushy. It’ll try to sell you a bunch of things. I was looking to learn how to just get control of my life, my schedule, and just get control of the business. Planning your time, breaking it all down, making time for the F6 in your life, and just really implementing it and sticking with the program. It’s really lively, they’re pretty friendly, helpful, and very welcoming. I attended a conference a couple months back, and it was really the best business conference I’ve ever attended. At the workshop I learned a lot about time management, really prioritizing what’s the most important. The biggest takeaways are you want to take a step-by-step approach to your business. Whether it’s marketing, what are those three marketing tools that you want to use, to human resources. Some of the most successful people and successful businesses in this town, their owners were here today because they wanted to know more from Clay and I found that to be kind of fascinating. The most valuable thing that I’ve learned is diligence. That businesses don’t change overnight. It takes time and effort and you’ve got to go through the ups and downs of getting it to where you want to go. He actually gives you the road map out. I was stuck, didn’t know what to do and he gave me the road map out step by step. He’s set up systems in the business that make my life much easier, allow me some time freedom. Here you can ask any question you want, they guarantee it’ll be answered. This conference motivates me and also give me a lot of knowledge and tools. It’s up to you to do it. Everybody can do these things. There’s stuff that everybody knows, but if you don’t do it, nobody else can do it for you. I can see the marketing working. It’s just an approach that makes sense. Probably the most notable thing is just the income increase that we’ve had. It’s super fun, it’s super motivating. I’ve been here before, but I’m back again because it motivates me. Your competition’s going to come eventually or try to pick up these tactics. So you better, if you don’t, somebody else will. I’m Rachel with Tip Top K9 and we just want to give a huge thank you to Clay and Vanessa Clark. Hey guys, I’m Ryan with Tip Top K9. Just want to say a big thank you to Thrive 15. Thank you to Make Your Life Epic. We love you guys. We appreciate you and really just appreciate how far you’ve taken us. This is our old house. Right, this is where we used to live a few years ago. This is our old neighborhood. See, this is life, right? So this is my old van and our old school marketing. And this is our old team and by team I mean it’s me and another guy. This is our new house with our new neighborhood. This is our new van with our new marketing and this is our new team. We went from four to fourteen and I took this beautiful photo. We worked with several different business coaches in the past and they were all about helping Ryan sell better and just teaching sales, which is awesome, but Ryan is a really great salesman. So we didn’t need that. We needed somebody to help us get everything that was in his head out into systems, into manuals and scripts and actually build a team. So now that we have systems in place, we’ve gone from one to ten locations in only a year. In October 2016, we grossed 13 grand for the whole month. Right now it’s 2018, the month of October. It’s only the 22nd, we’ve already grossed a little over 50 grand for the whole month, and we still have time to go. We’re just thankful for you, thankful for Thrive and your mentorship, and we’re really thankful that you guys have helped us to grow a business that we run now instead of the business running us. Just thank you, thank you, thank you, tens of thousands. So we really just want to thank you, Clay, and thank you, Vanessa, for everything you’ve done, everything you’ve helped us with. We love you guys. If you decide to not attend the Thrive Time workshop, you’re missing out on a great opportunity. The atmosphere of Clay’s office is very lively. You can feel the energy as soon as you walk through the door. And it really got me and my team very excited. If you decide not to come, you’re missing out on an opportunity to grow your business, bottom line. I love the environment. I love the way that Clay presents and teaches. It’s a way that not only allows me to comprehend what’s going on, but he explains it in a way to where it just makes sense. The SEO optimization, branding, marketing, I’ve learned more in the last two days than I have the entire four years of college. The most valuable thing that I’ve learned. Marketing is key. Marketing is everything. Making sure that you’re branded accurately and clearly. How to grow our business using Google reviews and then just how to optimize our name through our website also. Helpful with a lot of marketing, search engine optimization, helping us really rank high in Google. The biggest thing I needed to learn was how to build my foundation, how to systemize everything and optimize everything, build my SEO. How to become more organized, more efficient. How to make sure the business is really there to serve me, as opposed to me constantly being there for the business. New ways of advertising my business, as well as recruiting new employees. Group interviews, number one. Before, we felt like we were held hostage by our employees. Group interviews has completely eliminated that, because you’re able to really find the people that would really be the best fit. Hands-on how to hire people, how to deal with human resources, a lot about marketing and overall just how to structure the business, how it works for me and also then how that can translate into working better for my clients. The most valuable thing I’ve learned here is time management. I like the one hour of doing your business is real critical if I’m going to grow and change. Play really teaches you how to navigate through those things and not only find freedom, but find your purpose in your business and find the purposes for all those other people that directly affect your business as well. Everybody. Everybody. Everybody. Everyone. Everyone needs to attend the conference because you get an opportunity to see that it’s real. Everyone needs to attend the conference because you get an opportunity to see that it’s real. you