¶ Podcast Videos Business and Branding"
Hey everybody , this is Mark Swig and I'm back here with my buddy , eric Howardton . What's up One more time in the new and fabulous , unbelievable podcast video studio . It's pretty sick , I have to admit it is . It's pretty sick dude . How many stage sets do we have in here ?
We got three large format like this one , this one we consider large . The next one is like a V desk like a , like you know , a CNN or Fox News top show type thing . And the third one is like a lounge chair , kind of like your Ellen DeGeneres , you know , in general , ellen , ellen , ellen DeGeneres , oh , degeneres , okay .
And then we got five solo pods which is basically like a smaller table like this , where you kind of come in and cut your own social clip , which would be fan , like they were getting into that . A lot like folks are really like even the young ins , or like they can come in , they just use the phone , yeah , and they just use the audio on their phone .
But it gives them a cool environment , just a nice audio controlled environment . I say you know some of these little colors we see in here .
Yeah , I can have my daughter come in here and like sing , yeah , and you could do it in these rooms . Oh , it's all this .
Yeah , I mean it's not going to be like you know you're super pro , sure , but I mean , no , we can capture excellent audio , you know , to these things . But anyway , like there's a lot of uses for this space , so we have different sets for your clients , right ?
And you guys do everything from letting them use the space and record to editing them down , turnkey .
Yeah , and then you can send it back to just a full , edited down , ready to go , ready to go video . You can do whatever you want to .
We have what we call our diamond package , which we can it's more of your white love services right To where we can do everything from establishing a brand for your podcasts to owning the YouTube channel so that we can or keep that organized for you yeah , providing social posts and then data tracking yeah , we do analytics against that .
Yeah , and we distribute it for you across all the podcasts networks Right , and we bring all those analytics back and kind of say , hey , man , this is what's going on and we'll even do like ad sales , I mean , we'll like receive any . I mean we could take care of all the contractual stuff and then billing with all that .
That is really a turnkey service . I don't think anybody else does that .
That's my knowledge no , I'm sure that there will be , though like this here's the reality . I've always said well , at least my vision on it is , today we might have , like you know , a hundred media outlets with millions of audiences per Right .
It's going to change to where we have millions of media outlets with hundreds of audience per so the whole dynamic shift .
It's really people consume . If centralizing , I guess in a way , yeah , yeah , it's just .
Everything will become more niche .
Yes , Niche Well podcast videos really is the first sponsor of big talk about small business . Sure the hell is . You know that it's the de facto for sponsor .
It is . I'm going to get my commission there . Yeah , I think it's great .
Well , I wish you the most success . I love your branding .
Thanks , yeah , it done a great job . We got the we kind of . You know , I guess it's all kind of relatively small business , but you know , you take , this isn't our main logo , right , Our main logo's got color and stuff that we kind of stripped out and made this really simple so we could get on the black .
You love , black love I do , and black and chrome baby I do . Man , you just love it , you always have Classic man .
I mean , it's simple , timeless and like you can't help , but just as a human being , to see that and it means it does . It gets into your soul , all right .
I like soul marketing . I love that . Well , you've always been very good at branding , and it is important to small businesses Totally . Most don't do a very good job with it , let's be honest . No , they don't . I mean , they cut those corners and then they wonder why they don't do that well , but hey , they got word of mouth marketing though , right ?
Yeah , well , word of mouth marketing starts in really good branding .
Yeah , I know , but that's what they always say . Well , the thing is is like , if you go get counsel from a marketing professional , like marketing professionals are really , like marketing is a big , like yourself , yeah , but I mean , you can get bloated and complicated super quick , but the reality is is like this , is like this is what you got to do .
You just got to strip out , yep , you know , make it simple , like here's another thing , mark , here's what I didn't do and I'm . This is a very small business , right , this , this icon , this logo , icon from our logo is not , like , known throughout the entire world .
Right , but here , here we are just now starting , right , but all I have on here is this little little deal . It doesn't say podcastvideoscom , your full service tour , key podcast studio , with all this and this , and that . It's just .
I'm impressing you with this , and so you see this , you see the sign , you see the car , you see the website , you see all this and it just , and in your brain , you know , like for visual creatures , we see colors first , then we see imagery , then we see design , right , and that's kind of the way our brains operate , just as human beings , and that's what it
does . I'm trying to surround your headspace .
Well , it does . Yeah , it does two things . It like connotes professionalism , total and attention to detail , and that's that . It's a real business , not like just an absurd hobby for somebody . And then the other thing I think it does is who else are you going to think of if you need a podcast video ?
Exactly , I'm just glad you called the business what it's actually does . I'm so damn tired of canoes and names that mean nothing related to what the business does . It's just refreshing . Thanks , man .
It's straight up podcastvideoscom Like . It's actually even worse because I called it by the domain name . I called the business the domain name , but I mean that's exactly what it is .
That's what you should do , because then nobody ever gets confused about it . You're not trying to sell two different things . You're selling one name , period . That's it Done .
And the domain is beautiful . But I mean , the final touch to the branding thing for the small business person is keep it simple and then guess what ? Hood it everywhere . Yeah , and buy it and invest in shirts and caps and coasters and flyers .
We did that for Mark Swaggank in the building business . Nobody did that in Fayetteville 20 years ago . They just never . You know , you had a great written and yours was white on black . It was Absolutely . I looked slit . Every single construction companies driving white trucks with black lettering or blue lettering . We had the only black trucks .
It looks as slate dude yeah .
You don't have to do too much with the black and white , it just looked . And the same with the signs , the signs with white letters . It's just , it's easy . Yeah , now there's a bunch of you know copycats out there in that business , but anyway , well , listen , you know what I wanted to talk about today .
I had a call this morning with somebody who is a very , very successful business person . You know his whole career has been one of building . He's bought a lot of businesses . He's a billionaire .
Okay , so did you say a billion .
Billionaire , great guy . But in any case , we started talking about one of the things he's interested in is finding some really motivated young people to join his businesses . He's got , you know , he's got a bunch of them , yeah , I mean . And he's always looking for talent , yeah . So we started talking about , like , what kind of talent he wants .
You know , I'm a professor there at the U of A and and even though we send everybody to the career center when they have needs for to hire people and they do a great job with all of it I mean they we have our own career center separate from the University of Arkansas . Oh , okay , and they do .
You know the internships and and recruit job fears and all this . They do a great job . But still , I also have people contact me and say , hey , if you see anybody with this kind of back , sure , send them my way . So that's what we were talking about today and you know , I think it's entrepreneurs don't necessarily want the same kinds of employees .
And then big companies no , no , what do you like ? You're a real entrepreneur , okay , you've had a lot of different things , you're doing a lot of different businesses . You've built up , you've sold out , you started up .
¶ Entrepreneurial Hiring and Organizational Flexibility
What do you look for Dude ? You're going to look for people that you know that are going to work particularly , I mean work in your organizations , but maybe even more closely with you personally . What are , what are kinds of people , do you ?
look for ? I was actually just thinking about a new role that I want to hire , like . So , number one , as an entrepreneur , when I think of not a person that has qualifications first , I think of a need that I have , plus other needs that I have that I can mash together into a possible human being that can handle all those things together , right ?
So , number one , I'm not looking for somebody that studied something finitely and in detailed . I'm not kind of .
I'm not looking for a niche type of expert or knowledge base person yes , you want like more personality attributes yes , Right , I think of like okay , are you good at numbers ?
Well , that tells me this circle of things that you could be able to handle , which could be encompassing , I mean , a lot of things today and there and a lot different tomorrow , but they're going to be related to some sort of engineering , top mindset or numbers , yep .
And then I think of a creative person , somebody that has vision , that can see things that make things look cool . That , right , with that person , just like Parker here , he can do video photography , but then he can write a little bit .
Even though he's not a writer , I'm still going to push him to write and I'm like , hey , you know , write bullet points , build cell cards , you know , and then he designed the studio and so , because he can see things Right , and he gets it and he loves it and he's passed .
So I think about that , A transferable skill there that you're talking about , but it's not like a narrow defined Right right .
Yeah , and so so I start kind of there because I think that's important , because I don't really it's hard for me when I say , hey , I need this specific role , and then here's a job description . Right , oh , hey , writing job descriptions .
Dude , I hate job descriptions . They're terrible . I absolutely hate them . And they're not good for entrepreneurs , because as soon as you try to define what somebody's got to do , something else is going to come up that you want them to do . Right yeah ?
And then you set an expectation to the second unless they have . You know , what I was going to tell you is my next thing unless they have some sort of vision to it , they're going to be . They're going to hold that against you . Yes , and you're in a company like that .
Yeah , and you're in a company and I've been held against on that , like you're in a company . That makes me crazy . As an entrepreneur , I don't have any idea as to what this company might be doing . Really , in 30 days , sure , I try to go for it , or a year or two years , or yeah , but I could be as fast as 30 days .
But if I walk in , here's my thing . If I walk in the doors 30 days from now , I'm like guys , look cows , we're doing this . I want everybody to be like hell , yeah .
Right . It's like a boss mind said to me what's really entrepreneurial guy back in Memphis 20 or 40 years ago . Okay , he says , if I get up and I tell you we're going to run East today , then I want you to run East . If I get up tomorrow and I say we're going to go West , I want you to go West . Yeah , okay , yeah , and it could change .
It could change , I mean it's the way it is .
Look , here's the deal . That's not because I think I'm right , it's because that's fun to me . Well , you know what I'm saying Like , and I want to you've got to respond to what's going on .
Okay , it's not like you just cast your plan and then you put your blinders on and just like a robot . Regardless of what happens , we must stay on this . No , it's not the way it works .
Yes , and then when they , when the market surpasses them , they all spend the next three months analyzing the post mortem of it and then strategizing their next move . And it's like , dude , by the time you've done it , I have slapped you five times Right as an entrepreneur .
So , but anyway , like you know , and to that point though , like I don't want to walk in , and I know , when it comes across as a statement of I know what's right and I'm coming in and I want people to follow my direction , actually I want it to be able to walk in and we move the ship because the storm is happening .
We can see it , right , everybody can see it , and I want to work with the crew that I feel like I'm part of a team that's listening to conquer things . Yes , Because , I can't do it alone , no way in hell .
The problem , though and you're right , it's not all . You and other people have lots of ways to contribute to that and help guide that , make that a reality , but the problem is when you got somebody there on the ship that's like , now , wait a minute . You told me 30 days ago to keep this course and that's the course I'm going to keep .
Yeah , right , oh , that's a problem it is . I mean , we're dealing with that right now in a business where you can set your revenue forecast for the year , but okay , now we're six weeks into the year and our revenue forecast is going to change , all right .
And this person absolutely cannot understand why , as a small entrepreneurial company , that we don't just stay the course because it's not going to happen , all right , yes , it's not going to . Now we need to make new decisions . Yes , are we just going to like all jump off a cliff if our course is headed that way and we didn't see it before ?
No , but some people want that .
Totally . That's why I mean they should be at the post office . Yeah , I hear you . You know , like that always used to . I mean I use it a little too much for my team and you know you go to the post office back in the day and there was inevitably somebody there at the door with their hand on the lock ready to turn it and it's $459 .
Yeah , I'm kidding , and it's soon , dude , as soon as that thing hit my , if you're there , it doesn't matter . It's like sorry , the way that ship , maybe I don't know , just ignore you .
So we always run and joke five o'clock . Gotta go . Yeah , you know , it's just like this . So I think that . But to kind of get back to your original question what do I look for ? I look for people like I when I interview , or I look at stuff and I go search social media . I look at the people Sure , they're , they're class yeah . What their activity ?
Engagement , what are they talking about ? What's their attitude ? I'm looking for attitude is all I'm looking for . I'm looking to see is this person going to be able to fit with us emotionally into this business ? Yeah , and have passion on it . That's all I care about .
That's the most important they can . You can teach them skills . They can learn skills Right .
Yeah .
I mean it .
I'm looking for your attitude and that's a hard thing to see . It is and you can't really interview it . I'm sure that there's some people that feel like that they can , but I think the best indication of the future is the past .
I mean , I always say that . I hate to say it , but if somebody has never done anything that shows any real initiative or balance spinning 27 plates in the air at the same time you know those are they haven't had that kind of experience . They're going to have a hard time .
Yeah , yeah , working for somebody like you or me or this guy that I told you is more successful than either of us . Okay , yeah , he's a billionaire out there . They want flexibility , they want the ability to multitask . They want the ability to shift gears quickly .
Yeah , they want the ability to be part of a team and not fight , because this is the way we've always done it .
It just makes me a bloke boil and even think about when you hear that .
I'm sure I probably told you this story , but I talk about this in my class where we talk about buying a business and turning it around and one of the problems that you . You know there's a lot of pluses about buying a company versus a cold start Tons , and we can talk about that someday .
But one of the negatives is you inherit a workforce that may have a lot of inertia and they're used to doing things a certain way . You know it's like you'll hear , that's the way we've always done it . Now they're not as successful as they want to be , Maybe they're on the decline , but that's the way we've always done it . I'll never forget this .
One time I had this guy that was building fences for me and it was a project over on Lafayette . I bought three houses in a row you might even remember them over there that were together on one side of the street . But anyway , I go over there and the guys put in the gate hardware on and he's got the gate hardware on .
The fence is done and I go , look at it . I go , you know it's all good , except the gate hardware is on upside down . He goes no , it's not , the lock would go on top , yeah , Instead of on the bottom through the hole , yeah , Because that's the way I've done it for 20 years .
¶ Challenges of Entrepreneurial Work Culture
I said then you've been doing it wrong for 20 years . What can I say you ?
know , just doesn't matter what you've been doing .
Right , it's not right , it's not right and so that is a problem , and that attitude , I think , really can hold you back .
If you're , you know it's not easy working for entrepreneurs , because they do change their mind , they do change direction and you've got to be sort of fleek on your feet to realize in a small company that's growing , the priorities aren't all just laid out for the year in advance with our capital expenditure program that has been designed by finance and we just boom
, boom , boom .
Yeah , it doesn't work that way and I think it's also , you know , on the hiring process , like if I , if I , was looking for somebody , it's also different at what stage of the business I'm at , absolutely so right now and even when , you know , in my previous companies , at the beginning stages .
But then there was this point , you know , and we met with JS , my previous partner . Yes , yes , like there's a time that I need to let somebody like him or somebody else that's got a more . I mean , when you get into larger companies , you know , to larger companies , there's a different mentality to it .
Right , you have to start structuring and things in boxes and yes , all that stuff and then I get put in a cage and I stay in the cage for a long time . But as long as keep the wild animal happy , keep them fed , they kind of need them . He's our circus clown kind of thing , you know .
The only thing that's frustrating to me , having gone through that , is when those managers that you've hired don't want you to communicate directly with the people below them . Yeah , okay , I don't like that . Yeah , I agree , and I think those people like to communicate . Oh , they loved it , the founder , or the yeah , the top person .
You know , absolutely , they love it , man , and and and , but they don't want you to do that . A lot of times , yes , that structure . Well , you know , you're , you're , you're violating the structure now .
Now , well , they're afraid that you're going to misalign them and put them on some sort of like and like level journey . I can't tell you amount of times like I've had , like as we were growing , like I wouldn't .
Js was always part of the interview process in the beginning , but then there'd be some of these folks that would come in and they would reach out to me , you know to have 30 minutes .
They're trying to bypass the JS or whoever . It's the hiring person . Well , yeah .
And Johnny , you understand the history of the company , Sure , and , but I when , every time and and every time they'd be , they'd leave the meeting and I would go on some sort of rampage I only know what I was saying , but every time they're like thank you so much .
That really helped me understand the importance of the importance of what this company does for the , for the industry , Right , Not how we help the client , not all of us but how are we making a difference in the industry to make a difference in the , in the , in the world , in the community , Right ? I think that's .
You really believe that and and that's important to you Absolutely .
Absolutely Still do .
Same thing you live at .
Yeah , 100% , you live at . It's the only way that I can operate . And so if we hire somebody and they can't understand that or get behind that like I can't , I'm going to have a hard time with them , you know , because they start thinking too small , they start thinking too selfishly .
You know selfishness , that's a good quality I don't admire .
Yeah .
In people . Oh yeah , totally that I want to hire . Yeah , that's a bad one . Not being responsive , that's another way . Yeah , I used to make baddie .
Yeah , that does drive you crazy . You're one of the most engaged people I've ever met Like freaking . I don't think I've ever waited more . I've ever had to wait more than two minutes to hear it get a response from you .
Well , how you know , how can people ? Just if you're working in an entrepreneurial company , how can you check out ? And now you know everybody's got their emails hitting their phone right . Sure , you check out at 530 and you don't respond until Monday morning On a Friday , yeah , yeah .
I don't know how somebody does that .
How do you ? I don't even know how you could do that . How could I let that go ?
So , but you , you're on a different level , I'm you're on a different level , like if you , but I want that .
I want people like that . I know .
That's why I'm . Whenever I interviewed with you and you started throwing text message to me like immediately when I was driving away from our interview a long time ago , I pulled over and I was like this dude's testing me , I'm about to show him what's up I got . But that's what you're you're looking for .
I'm looking for another person to kind of understand what's important to you as an entrepreneur to keep the business going . But like , but you don't .
you want somebody you can volley with that . You can bounce ideas off of that Totally . It give you an immediate response Like for sure you have an idea . I don't want to wait three days to then talk about it . I mean I just like you said . I mean I think the environment today that we're in is so much more competitive . Everything is changing so rapidly .
I just don't see how one can choose to slow down their response to things .
Yeah , and that's not going to be an easy thing for some people to handle at all .
It's not . They don't come out of an environment where people function like that and then they land in your organization .
Now the good news is for , like I think that if it would be hard to be in a professional corporate structure and then come work for an entrepreneur like yourself , I mean that would be really , really difficult , although I can say there are some who reject that , they don't want that , they don't want that . That's . I think that's the majority of people .
But I have found some that are like , specifically , that work at Walmart , that are really really intense , like they're on that game more than anybody's ever met .
Hey listen , walmart , if you're going to succeed in that culture , you ain't going to fool around . You're going to work a lot of hours , you're going to be super responsive . Those are the people who get ahead over there . Oh yeah , oh , dude , they're animals . It's a person's culture . They're animals . Yeah , those buyers I mean they really drive the business .
Yeah , those buyers are the ones that are sort of out there with each one's got their own business and they're competing .
I'm seeing it a lot with almost about all the words , all the departments , I mean they're just , it's a progression of continuous communication , like I don't know how some of them do it , like it's almost humanly impossible in my perspective .
I mean like , but I can't really attach to it because I don't know how to engage in something that I don't kind of like it to that level that , where I don't , I'm not the one activating the change and making it Ultimate decisions .
Broadly speaking , you know what I'm saying , like it'd be hard to , but anyway , I think that you , you know , majority of people , though would have a hard time coming out of a corporate setting .
Yes , I agree with you To have that kind of comms with you Now the thing .
The good news , though , is when I think about my daughters and how much they are active on those phones and a lot of these youngins Right Like they could probably handle that type of communication .
If they do , yeah even though you I mean , do you ever text your daughters and they don't respond ? No , totally Okay , I go through that all the time . So they are on their phone and they choose not to respond .
That's the problem is like it's work related , responsibility related , it's activation on the phone .
Absolutely maddening , but anyway
¶ Entrepreneurial Mentality and Work Relationships
. So this guy was talking to me today . He was telling me about one of his top guys . He's 33 years old . He grew up .
His parents were lower middle class , his dad was a diesel mechanic , mom had some kind of a job you know rural community , and how he's taken a business that this guy acquired for $7 million revenue business to 130 million revenue right now because he's such a hustler . He's so hungry , he's not entitled , he didn't think anybody's gonna give him anything .
He's just gonna make it happen . He's competitive . He gets up every day and he says I want to win , I am when the dammit .
This is all true , don't you love that ? I totally love being around winners , 100% , 100% . It's a contagious thing , it really is , you know , and there's , but there's people that don't want to win . I think that that's one thing , like when you talk about qualifications , the way I work with you .
Like you want to hire a winner is all you really want to do Somebody that will engage , somebody that shows up , somebody that's thinking , that's driving , that's changing and adapting all those things that are required , cause that's the way if you can be in a business and run a business without any winner mentality , cause losing is not an option and those people
are gonna be your partners at some point .
Okay , you're not gonna hold them back . You don't want to throw them into this HR created pay structure . Oh man , let's see you're a manager too . Your pay is $78,412 to $90,308 . And you're at $90,308 now .
We've got nowhere else we can go yeah , unless you skip this pay band and this next band . You have to have X , y and it's just like geez man , you gotta have to freaking doctor it to earn more money .
Yeah , I don't care about that location , I care about their performance .
Yeah Cell .
Okay , hey .
I tell you what . You come work for me and you sell a million dollars worth of something on a real quick . I'm gonna hook you up . Amen , you're on it . Amen , period , I'm with you . Make some digits happen .
That's the great thing about working as an employee in a entrepreneurial organization . Really , if you're working for somebody who's a decent entrepreneur , your opportunities are still unlimited . I mean , they really are . You're not gonna be capped out .
I just think you're like so on that , like , how do we help ? Like somebody ? Because I think there's a lot about opportunity for people starting their career to work with entrepreneurs yes , gain so much from that and actually become wealthy Right , a lot sooner than you could ever do it somewhere else .
Because but I think it's the mentality of walking in the doors , like you can't . I think one number one problem that I've experienced with people that have come and worked with me is that they number one , they felt like I had a lot more money than I did , right , oh , yeah , I've been there .
Number two , they thought that I was always gaining from their work Yep . And number three , I'm fairly gaining . I'm fairly gaining , yes . And then , number three , they thought that I should have been doing it a lot faster Yep , and if they should have gotten richer faster , yep . I mean we could say it doesn't , you can't . Like .
Building wealth is not something that happens in six months of a year , like it's a continuous process . Yeah , you're down an overnight success .
You're an overnight success after 20 years of work , is that right ?
That's the exact thing everybody says and it's the same thing with business too Like I mean , you know , starting this one up , I have no , there's no , yeah , I don't know . You know , the magical thing about this is going to take time to build this up . Yeah , now I want to move as fast as I can .
Yeah , and there's ways I can move faster than they've ever before , right , but like the folks , you've learned some things . Yeah , but the folks that are with me , like I mean , if that person number one , these folks that are with me today helping to create this thing , if we build this puppy up and do well , they're going to do well . I believe that .
Like , I believe that my heart .
Well , if you're a smart entrepreneur , you know that you've got to have a create opportunities for people to stay . Yeah and yeah , you're not going to hold them back or cause you're so greedy , yeah , and short-sighted .
What's going to hold everything back is when they get inside themselves . They go home , they start talking to the negative , the other negative forces .
They watch a negative thing , they hear a negative story and they hear the negative professor and they hear a negative parent and a negative friend and a negative friend , negative spouse , and everybody starts feeding their heads Aw , he ain't going to hook you up . You've been working too hard , why are you up there working ?
so hard . Quiet quitting that's when they do that . If you heard that turn no , that's where they don't quit . Wait , they do less . This is real popular during COVID that is . That is . That is Post-COVID is quiet quitting that's robbery , man .
You haven't been reading your , your social media business bullshit posts as much as I have I don't keep up with it , but that I call that .
You're smart , stealing , robbery and bezel mint . What all would you call something like that Quiet quitting ? Is it Cause you are stealing money from some , from a lot of ?
people actually . Well , you're asking to be fired . I mean , what can I say ? It's , it's . You're doing a bad job for your client . You're self employed , you got one client , you're doing a bad job for them . So when do you think that's gonna go Right ? You'll be out of business soon . Yeah , you will . It's , it's inevitable .
But and I'm looking for that person Like can some , if you walked into , if I came and worked for you , it is my job to keep vision and stay positive and come alongside you and help run drive that business If stuff gets twisted up .
Wait a minute . Wait , if you don't have enough work to do , isn't it my job to assign more things to you ? No , no , it's not . It's not . Is it your job to find stuff that has value ? It increases our productivity and performance . It's also my honor .
It's your job , it's my freaking honor . Okay , to do that for you and for us , and for the community and for the industry .
And for your teammates .
Yeah , and it's my honor , right and your honor and your honor .
Yes , it's not something to be avoided , it's something to be embraced .
Okay , it's at the end of the day .
I'm sorry , I said that that's right , but what about the beginning of the next day ? I'm sorry .
I said that I remember immediately when I but like , where is your honor gonna be ? Uh-huh , and I think that you're gonna be able to say you have a lot of honor in what you did in your life and its majority is gonna be about work related to work .
And it's related to effort . I hate to say it it's so much of . It is just freaking effort .
It , it , it , it it . It's just like we . So you and I have a relationship , right , we're friends now , but it's been based upon work , sure , and we have a professional relationship in that regard . But , like , I mean , that's pretty honorable to me . Of course , relationships is what we always remember , but we , we , we categorize it Right Incorrectly .
We think the only relationships that matter to us are are love relationships and our kids and our family , and we've put it in this little bubble , and then work is somewhere that just supports those relationships .
Well , that's the work-life balance problem I have . Exactly , yeah , it should be work-life integration , right .
And so what I think about my life and my accomplishments and my , my enjoyment , and what I've been able to achieve on my time here . I'm thinking about , yes , I'm gonna work , my wife and my family and my kids but I'm all and my dogs . But I'm also thinking about all my work relationships that I've had over the years .
Of course , some of the brightest things , like some of the greatest laughs Right , the biggest triumphs , some of the scariest moments are been with the with the pin .
what work with well , and not only that . I mean I'm . I said to you the other day after the cancer challenge lunch that you organized and sponsored . I Was so proud of you , I'm proud to be associated with you , because shit that I mean , I can see that you really do want to give back .
Yeah , you are willing to put your time and money into something that helps people , with no benefit to you whatsoever . Yeah , yeah , other than Maybe you get some positive feedback or you meet some people that are inspirational . Mm-hmm , you know , like the speaker we had the other day , yeah , it's gonna be on the show freaking amazing Trent Dude .
What a freaking awesome story , man .
It's an awesome story , but those other relationships are critical to Maintaining your inspiration , morale and motivation .
Yeah , I agree , thanks . I appreciate that because I was actually just think hearing it this morning From Napoleon Hill and listening they grow rich , yeah , but he says like there's no satisfaction and money . No one's ever satisfied . No , the only time you get Satisfactions when you help other people .
Right , that's like it and it's been based on his interviews of every . You talk about billionaires earlier , right , like multi billionaires that he interviewed back in the day the richest people of all time .
It's always one of the satisfaction . It's again , I'll go back to my teaching and my students . It's always one of the great Satisfactions of business ownership is creating good jobs for people . Dude , absolutely , and that's seeing them thrive , even in families that you know . It's not about just enriching yourself at all , that's not that rewarding , not at all .
What the other stuff ?
is rewarding . What I'll think is one of those rewarding things and the satisfaction you're getting for that . I've kind of nailed it . Drill that down even further . It's watching someone else self-confidence grow .
Yes .
And no one that they're going to continue to grow as that person and they're gonna can be able to , because you can't contribute unless you have some self-confidence .
I , I'm sure I told you this , so forgive me if I if I told you this story before , but it's right in line with that , yeah , you know . And and sometimes when we talk about raising our kids and the parallels between that and management , sometimes that bothers me .
I'm like , wait a minute , I don't want to treat my Employees like children , but there are some parallels there . Because I don't treat my worker , I don't treat my children necessarily like children , hmm , as some people would , mm-hmm . But you know , my , my stepdaughter is 21, .
You know now I had told her about Somebody that I met who was very inspirational , had a lot of businesses and a nonprofit . She says I want to meet that guy . I'm , I was really like to meet him . So I set him up . They texted back and forth . They get together for coffee a couple times .
The next thing I know she's doing a proposal for the guy to do marketing consulting and she's mapped this whole program out and she's gonna sell them 30 hours a week of her time . Okay , at a good rate . As a psychology student , not business major , and my wife's like you should go take a look at that . You know .
Go see what she's doing before she hits , send on it . And so I kind of went down there and you know , hey , you know , look , let me take a look at what you're doing , you know . So let's me see it .
And I thought , you know , first thing , I'm not all this , I don't know about the way this was phrase I could change this graphic way out , make this look , you know .
And then I said to myself , you know what , let her fail , I'm not gonna touch this thing , but I'm , mistakes happen , but if she succeeds , she'll know she did it all on her own and she did , and you know what ? I think it's been tremendous for her development . She is more confident , totally , by far totally , and she still works for the guy .
So freaking awesome dude . That's a way it all works .
Yeah , it really is seeing that confidence that she knows she can do that initiate and create something out of nothing . That's right , fantastic .
I love . It's funny because I'm glad you told that story , because there's been so many times , like in business , you know , even here recently we've been trying to get this thing opened up . Sure , this new studio , this new studio , yeah right , studio , so many things . I'm like you know they're doing that wrong or somebody's doing this wrong .
You want a micro manager , one of my manager , do it myself , right , you know ? Or give feedback and fix it for them , or whatever . But it's funny , like you like , when those things happen in your mind you think how is the best way to approach this ? But to watch , and they're my , they might take five steps to do something where I could do it one .
But to allow those five steps to happen , because I know if they do that themselves next time , next time they're gonna do just only two steps , yeah the five . Yeah , and that's called scaling right , yeah , that's exactly .
And yeah , that's so pivotal . I mean , honestly , if you look back on my construction , really is you so long ? So did you say pivot ? No , I didn't say pivot . Ah , he said pivotal . Oh , pivotal . Okay , well , that's not pivot . Give me a break . Okay , I'm gonna lean into that one . I Let me lean into that .
Let's hope it doesn't fall over when I lean into it . That's what I always wanna say . But anyway , now you lost my train of thought . You're saying pivotal . Yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , ah , lord .
I'm sorry .
I should have done that . Look , I'm an old guy , okay , I don't care who you look , I'm sorry , but anyway . No , I think it really is
¶ Entrepreneurial Challenges and Strategies
to develop people . But in the construction business , which we never had any tremendous success really , I mean we had success . We got on the ink list , we got , we were doing five or 10 million a year . We created a great brand . We did have the highest prices of anybody in our area at the time . We kind of started the whole trend .
You did , I agree , but financially it was never a great success . I mean , it was great when we had a lot of rental properties and depreciation and sheltering . Yeah , a bunch of income not paying taxes .
But you were like getting . I mean , there wasn't a lot of cash and profit there really wasn't .
It was nice having , like , if you wanted to move , you had a crew of people . If you wanted to do anything on your house , you could make one call or text and it was done immediately . I love that . Yeah , that sounds great . But I never was able to get away from micro management of certain aspects of it where I would try to develop the people .
But the people I guess you know you could say I had the wrong people , but it's still to this day . You know we're doing this project , this renovation of our next house that we bought , and I'm telling you , eric , if I don't go over there four times a day and look at down to , why is that piece of trim like that ?
Okay , why did you put this here but not do it there ? I mean , you know it's like the doors have three types of hinges . I've got to tell them three times over do not try to put the hinge on the door , as I replace all the door hinges throughout the house and the renovation . If it doesn't fit on precisely , don't use that hinge .
I've got the right part . Do not install it wrong , the wrong one . But I mean it's like if I don't do that , I'll come back and there'll be a guy whittling on the door putting the wrong hinges on it . Well , but it just worked right . It's like I told you 10 freaking times . Okay , I got the hinges out . I pointed where they were .
I told your boss this . It's extremely frustrating , and I do . I will say it is the difference in certain businesses or industries . The quality of the people that you deal with really does make a difference .
You know , as far as the scalability and your management style and some of the stuff that we could sort of take as universal truths that work with intelligent white collar workers versus people who might've dropped out of school in the seventh grade okay , I mean , I'm just well if they take pride in what they do though they may take pride in it , but they just
don't . They take a much , much more intense level of management on a day-to-day basis than I want to do , would you say , and it hurts the scalability of those , oh , totally .
Do you think , like there's been a lot of people that don't like having meetings , like I get that a lot I hate meetings .
I'm one of them . I hate you . I despise meetings . Unless there's really good doughnut or pastries , then you're in , then I'm in . I go to New York , I go to this company's board , I'm on . They have the best French pastries you've ever had in your life . You're excited to go to the meeting . Oh God , does it make me excited ? Really , that's all it takes .
I love those pastries .
So you're , if I have a meeting and I'd like , hey , mark , we're having a meeting , would like for you to join us , at first you're gonna be like I don't wanna do this as bullshit , right . And my next line's like hey , by the way , we're having some fantastic pastries .
These almond croissants and stuff . Oh my God .
You would immediately return and be like I'm in .
I could last like a couple hours maybe , but longer than that .
no , then they'll lose their but when I think of meetings , I feel like and I don't know , having got become good at expressing this , but like our new director of operations has what he calls his touch basis every day yeah , I think daily touch basis , Sure , with the team when you corral .
So I'm just thinking , like you're saying , don't put these hinges on this door , right , but what you really need is you need everybody to huddle up and we have a quick discussion about some of the most important things of the day and you could communicate . Then everybody understands it at once . Right , does that ? But you don't do that probably .
No , no , I like that . I think that's great . Do you think that would help us If you have this discipline to do it ? I think it's absolutely great . It takes a certain discipline that's hard for me to like consistently say I'm gonna , we're gonna , have a huddle at eight o'clock every morning or whatever Cause I'm not always there at eight o'clock .
No , I'm with you . Like you know , I said war . I mean I'm just gonna be . You just wanna fly in the door , don't you ? Yeah , between phone calls , yeah , I may not want to be doing that at that time , but I mean again , this is part of the problem with entrepreneurs .
That's a good point . Yeah , because we're not consistent . Right , we're the opposite of consistency . Right , you have to be able if you're gonna work for an entrepreneur , you have to be able to be very , very flexible and dynamic and actually enjoy that ride .
I mean , hill , I don't mind you laughing at it , I don't mind you poking fun at it , right , as long as you participate in it . Yeah , like , I love it . Like , if you like , if you know I'm a little crazy , I'm good with that , as long as you think it's funny . It's always been part of our step . It has , man .
But if you think I'm crazy and it pisses you off and then you wanna start changing me Right and changing the situation and arguing and trying to get it to fit and put a square peg in a round hole , that's when it doesn't work out .
That's why we're unemployable . Basically , okay , we have to do our own thing because we do not want to be forced into that mold . But see , I like that . I look for people like that too . I wanna hire other entrepreneurs . I wanna hire other future entrepreneurs .
What if we okay , can we start a business and get 10 entrepreneurs and we all just together hire people ? No , we're all . Just . There's my beautiful wife poking her head through the window . It's ma'am , we're almost done . There's a real boss right there . I have to kinda answer her .
Now , anyway , what are we gonna do with these 10 entrepreneurs ?
We'll just all get together and start a business and we are the employees . Yeah , together . Ooh , that could be fun , dude , I wonder that'd be a fun experiment , wouldn't it , where we all own the same amount and we only all put in a hundred bucks , but we all believe in the same cause and just go get it .
It could be exciting . I mean , it really would be a good experiment . Well , it wouldn't it ?
Yeah , maybe we should think about that . So maybe we should tell our listeners if you are an entrepreneur and you're interested in joining the club .
But you gotta be a real entrepreneur . It doesn't mean you've had to have tremendous success , but better than just you always work for somebody else and you talk about it in coffee shops . Okay , let's . I mean you have to have .
You gotta have lived off what you killed , and that's your freaking job description . Don't ask for anything more detailed than that . Shit right . The only other thing we'll send you is an operating agreement right , and it's your job to read that .
All right . Well , this conversation is degenerated . Eric's wife is outside the studio . She's ready to go to your next engagement .
She's yeah , she's wanting to go check out a new restaurant in Bentonville .
Oh cool .
Apparently Prelude and Scotch and Soda joined forces up there Prelude's down in Fayetteville . Right yeah , they are they still there . They're still there , I think . But they all , they partner up with Scotch and Soda to have a second Prelude .
Well , that sounds good . I'll be dining at steak and shake today , to the drive-up window . Did that food still bath ?
I'm sorry . I'm sorry , but look at me .
I know it's tasty . I mean I'm almost 66 , I'm weeks away , okay , so From 66 , I'm still going , all right . I mean I feel pretty good .
Are you okay ? Yeah , All right . So we won't change your diet yet .
All right , not yet . You're doing good . I'm sure at some point I'll live to regret my behavior .
Maybe you'll be the happiest person and I'm the one over here eating freaking carrots and garlic Maybe Dip .
Well , I'm glad that you are . I am trying to eat salads at least once a day with my steak or ribs or Is that really your- ? I am eating salads every day . Do you drink water ? Yes , some , I mean , isn't there water and tea and coffee ?
That was . That's a terrible , terrible diet . All right , All right .
Well , listen , it's been great talking with you today and I look forward to our next episode . And meanwhile , this has been another episode of Big Talk About Small Business . If you're interested in our prior shows , check out our website at wwwbigtalkaboutsmallbusinesscom .
If you'd like to sponsor our show and our audience is continuing to grow okay , we're glad to take your money , yes , and talk up your business yeah , as long as it's one we think is good , I tell you that's a good challenge . That's a good challenge .
Our souls to the corporate debater ? No , no . But I tell you what , if you were a cool company and you paid us some money , it'd be kind of neat to see how we would talk up somebody else's business .
Yeah , there's a lot of businesses I admire out there , yeah , so maybe yours is one of them . If so , give us a call . Yeah , give us some monies .
And product All right .
Well , sorry about that to degenerate into that self-centered pitch there . But anyway , we'll see you next time around and thanks a lot .
Thanks for tuning into this episode of Big Talk about small business . Over to our website to read articles , browse episodes and ask questions about upcoming shows .