EntreLeadership - #114: Scott Harrison—Building a Culture of Innovation

Episode Date: September 28, 2015

Want to change the world or simply make your business better? Don’t miss this conversation with Scott Harrison, CEO and founder of Charity: Water. Scott understands what it takes to start, sustain and keep growing a foundation through innovation and passion.  entreleadership.com/podcast Super Selling Cheat Sheet Another great episode sponsored by our friends at Infusionsoft.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

helping business leaders grow themselves, their team, and their profits. This is the Entree Leadership Podcast. Now here is your host, Ken Coleman. Coming to you from the Music City, this is the podcast of leaders, by leaders, and for leaders. Thank you so much for downloading us. Our feature conversation this episode is with Scott Harrison. Scott's the founder and CEO of Charity Water. If you've never heard of Scott, you're going to thank me for this conversation.

That's coming up. And then we actually go into the Dave Ramsey show. One of my favorite things to bring to you are calls, real-life calls from men and women business leaders to the Dave Ramsey show. Every month or so, Dave will have a entree leadership business-themed hour. The phone calls all about leading and winning in business. And so we have a couple of calls that are going to help you. So that's what's coming up to you this episode. You know, folks, it is amazingly the last week of September. As this is downloaded, for those of you that are catching up, obviously this is a different time on your calendar. But for those of you are current downloaders, here we are at the end of September. It's hard to believe. Summer is like gone. Can't even see it in the rearview mirror. It's unbelievable. But one of the good things about summer being gone is that the fall is here.

It's a great season here in the southeast. And it means football for most of the country. In fact, if you're not excited about football, well, you're just peculiar, and that's fine. There's a lot of us out there. Some of you just don't like football. But my goodness, I love football. And had a thought on the weekend watching football. My wife was at an event.

So I'm at home with the three kids watching football. And we had our various sporting programs for the kids in the morning. So it's early afternoon. Kids have had lunch. And I'm settled in to watch my favorite football team, the Michigan Wolverines play. Their first home game under Jim Harbaugh. I'm watching the game. And because I've got three kids,

nine, seven, and six. They're in and out of the house all the time with needs. And there were multiple times during the game that I had to press pause and deal with things. I got to thinking about the movie Click with Adam Sandler. The concept was he had this magic remote control and at any point in his life he could just hit pause. And I started thinking about this during the game because I'm a little irritated that I can't sit there and watch my game. But I got to thinking it's the way my brain works. And I got to think, you know, how many times in the last?

life do we need to just pause? Because what I was doing was as I was pausing the game to handle more important things. The things that the kids needed for me were more important than the game. Fortunately, I had recorded it and I could hit pause. In the Adam Saler movie, he could pause it any time in his life. We can't do that, but what we can do is realize that the game of life sometimes gets so fast and furious and we get so focused on the game, right? The career. the achievements, the stuff. And we forget that there are more important things like our health, our relationships, personal growth. And so where do you need to hit pause?

Just a fun little analogy. And I think a necessary thought. So where do you need to press pause in your life right now? And make sure that you're pressing pause on purpose. That's the takeaway. press pause get out of the game of life if you will and focus on what really matters it's a good thought and it ties into scott harrison our feature conversation i've known scott for a decade scott's one of the most impressive entrepreneurs i know now he's in the social entrepreneur space

and i think it's important from time to time that we give you that perspective and scott is a guy who you're going to hear in his story had to press pause his life was spinning out of control he pressed pause and in doing so found his purpose. Charity Water is one of the fastest growing charities in America. They've raised $180 million from one million generous donors. Now, those are impressive pieces of data. They funded 17,000 water projects for 5.5 million people in 24 countries. Scott was named to Fortune's 40 under 40 list,

the Forbes Impact 30, and was a fast company 10 most creative people in business. business. This is a guy who understands what it takes to start, sustain, keep on growing. You're going to love this conversation. Here it is my talk with Scott Harrison. Well, Scott, it's been a pleasure to be a friend of yours for several years and watch what is happening with Charity Water. But to our audience, it's your first time on our show. I'd love for you to just describe what is Charity Water and how it works. Sure. So we're a nonprofit based here in New York. City that is bringing clean and safe drinking water to people around the world. And at the same time,

we're really trying to reinvent charity, reinvent the way people think about giving and their experience of giving. And here's what I love, and I want folks to hear this very clearly. You have a 100% model, essentially that you say, and guarantee, and by the way, he is audited regularly on this. they really do live what they believe. But you say 100% of public donations go to funding the clean water, which means you fund the business side of your team through other ways. Describe how that works. Yeah, when I started this org, I was 30 years old,

and as I was talking to my friends, I realized that there was this huge disenchantment with giving to charity. And the most common objection I would hear is, I just don't know where my money goes. You know, charities are black holes. So few of the dollars actually reach the people. at the end of the line. And I thought that this was a huge opportunity

to reach a disenchanted group of people through a new business model. It would be incredibly difficult, but if we could promise that every single penny, 100% of the money, would always go to directly fund water projects, they wouldn't be able to use that excuse. So, you know, I opened up two bank accounts

with $100 each almost nine years ago and made that promise that we'd never touch the public's money. So it's been incredibly difficult actually, and I almost don't recommend the model for others. We've had to grow this group of people who actually get excited about funding the overhead costs. So the way it currently looks is there are 104 visionary families and people, business leaders, entrepreneurs, even faith leaders, that pay for the staff, the overhead costs, the flights to the field, you know, the paper clips

and phone bills, so that about a million donors have been able to give in a completely pure way. I think there's a bigger story here, Scott, that this commitment to integrity or just a commitment to this is how we're going to do it so we don't have to answer all those other questions. And you mentioned it's very, very difficult and it has been. Yet, how would you say it has affected the growth of your organization knowing that you had that particular commitment? Do you think it has allowed you to grow quicker? I think so. You know, we now have some data science magazine just published a study about three. four or five months ago where they actually used charity water in a study about 4,500 people,

and they gave them a chance to donate with no overhead or donate to another charity that would actually match their gifts, but just didn't talk about the percentage of money that would go, either good or bad. Eighty-eight percent chose the no-match charity water 100 percent model. 88 percent of those 4,500 people. So we have found it to be resonant and unique for the problem we were trying to solve. There's lots of people who don't distrust charity, who have no problem, you know, even with unknown overheads. But the group that we were trying to reach, we thought that would be a really powerful and resonant message. And it's been difficult, you know, about a year and a half into it, we were at this crossroads. We'd raised a couple million

dollars for the water projects. You know, the 100% model was working, but I wasn't able to grow the funding on the other side fast enough. And I think we had nine employees at the time. And we were about to miss payroll. And we had $882,000 in the bank on the way out for water projects. And I remember getting advice at the time to go and borrow from the $880,000 to make payroll. You know, Charity Water's too good of an idea to go bankrupt, you know, only a year and a half in. And clearly it seemed to be working. And money is fungible and all the kind of excuses that you can imagine. And I remember being so almost offended by that idea because our very integrity was at stake our promise that we'd made. And I was actually going to shut the organization down,

send that money out to the field, and I guess do a reboot with the typical business model. And at that moment, I remember praying fervently, but with very little faith and really kind of thinking about shutting this org down. At that moment, I met a complete stranger, an entrepreneur who was in the social networking space, and I spent two hours with him, thought he didn't even like me throughout the meeting, and he left the meeting and wired a million dollars into the overhead account, which gave us over a year's worth of funding. And with that year, really all I needed was time. With that year, we were able to find over a hundred other people who would also get excited about powering the people and coming alongside the actual staff and those necessary

organizational costs. You know this guy. So that hasn't always been easy. Yeah, no, it has not. It has not, but I love the commitment and you've stayed with it. And it has been really, obviously, becomes something you hang your hat on. And what you guys are doing is so unique, as well as a fishing around the world. I want to get to some of that. But, you know, Scott, we have such a heart for the entrepreneur here. And that doesn't always mean for profit. And you certainly represent the not-for-profit model so well. But I do want to go back, before we even get into the details of your story of starting, this idea of taking passion and somehow molding it into a purpose. That really is what sets the entrepreneur apart. What do you think is the key to taking that passion

and molding it into that purpose that begins to live itself out? Well, you know, I guess a little bit of that is perhaps in my story. You know, I had, I think I was always a passionate person. You know, I'd grown up as an only child taking care of a mom who was an invalid after a terrible accident happened in our family when I was four. And then for 10 years from the age of 18 to 28, you know, I lived a very decadent, passionate life as a nightclub promoter. And I was telling a story that if you got past the velvet rope, if you, you know, made it into the club where Jay-Z was at table one and Puffy was at table three, you know, then your life had meaning. You know, if you were sitting at a table with $500 bottles of champagne and pretty girls, you had arrived. And, you know, that story that I was telling and also living took me to a very, very, very dark place after a decade. You know, a snapshot of my life at 28.

I had a cocaine problem. I smoked two packs a day. I had a drinking problem. I had a gambling problem. I had a pornography problem. I had a strip club problem. Pretty much every vice short of heroin that you can imagine I'd picked up. And while life looked glamorous and on the outside, it was really dark.

And fortunately for me, I was able to kind of realize the absolute disaster and mess I'd made of my life and that my legacy, if I continued down this path, was just going to be getting millions and millions of people wasted over the course of a lifetime. And then after this revelation, I just sold on my possessions and decided to try to find the 180 of my life and try and find my way back to God and to faith and serving others. And I was lucky enough to get this opportunity to live in war-torn Liberia, West Africa, right after Charles Taylor's 14-year civil war ended and volunteer on an inspiring humanitarian mission. And during the two years that I spent on that

mission, I saw kind of the opposite of my life. I saw people living without access to clean water. I saw kids drinking from swamps. ponds and rivers, you know, from water I wouldn't let my dog drink and dying of diarrhea. And, you know, I was able to kind of take the passion, I think, for storytelling and for rallying people to get together and really focus that on helping at the time the billion people without access to their most basic need for living and for health in clean water. This is why I like talking to people like you, because as we begin to listen into this story, there is an overwhelming feeling that comes over us when we try to tackle these big, passionate ideas that pop up in our life.

And so here you are this young guy, restarting your life, if you will. You see unbelievable heartbreak and disaster, and this water thing pops up in front of you. You go, wow, there's a story to be told here, yet it had to be overwhelming. And so I want to zero in on this idea for the people that are listening in right now, and they have a great passion, but it's overwhelming. As you look back on when you first got started, what were those first couple steps that just allowed you to keep moving forward until Charity Water began to develop and become the great organization it is? Well, if I paint a picture of day one, I returned from my two years of humanitarian service completely broke to about $30,000 in club debt. And I have no place to live. Nightclub promoters are great at making money terrible at saving it.

And I'd really, the beauty of mercy ships is you actually have to pay them $500 a month to volunteer. So I truly had found the opposite of my life. And, you know, I'm living on a friend's couch, basically. At one point, I was sleeping on the closet floor. And I'm running around showing pictures on my laptop giving maybe 10 presentations a day saying, this is what I saw. This isn't right. I mean, I was selling $10 bottles of Pellegrino in clubs,

and people are dying because they were just simply born in situations where they don't have clean water. And, you know, a lot of people would laugh at me. A lot of people were moved. I remember giving a presentation for a nightclub promoter once and just tears started streaming down his face. And he said, how can I help? How can I get involved?

And would send me to the next couple of people that I could go and give this presentation to. So it was really just, telling the story and, you know, then there was the first intern and the second intern. None of us had a salary. You know, we were really existing on the kindness of strangers to, you know, even eat. Yeah. And then, you know, someone said, well, we'll help pay for the first employee's salary.

And someone said, well, we could help pay for the second one. And, you know, we were out there doing events and trying to sell a $20 bottle of water at the time to help. to help people get access to clean water. And all these kind of crazy ideas, outdoor exhibitions, PSAs that we were able to get, you know, Oscar-nominated directors and entire crews to donate all of their time, Oscar-winning actors to be a part of,

on budgets of a couple thousand dollars, even getting stuff like the catering donated. So it was this really scrappy existence of not having enough money, but this ambitious goal of trying to imagine a world where every single person, regardless of where they're born, drinks clean water, has their most basic health need met, and realizing that the Delta was a billion people and would require mass resources and mass awareness that just wasn't there. So nine years in, Scott, give us a snapshot of what charity water operations, wells on the ground, around the world.

What does it look like? What's happening right now? Yeah, so we now have about 17,000 water projects. from the first few that were funded, 17,000 water projects in 24 different countries, serving about 5.5 million people when they're all completed. We raised almost $200 million from a million, very, very generous supporters all around the world. And really, you know, how we keep score is really the people that were able to help. You know, last year was our first million-person year in a single year,

which works out to about 2,700 people every single day of the year. And I was trying to talk to my staff and, you know, encourage them at the end of last year. And I said, you know, you guys went to bed. You slept for eight hours. And just when you woke up, 900 people got clean water while we were all sleeping, you know, because you've given your talent and your passion, you know, to this cause and the service of others. So, you know, that's what really focused on is seeing a day. where everyone drinks clean water.

And, you know, what's been great about this issue is seeing it cut across cultural lines, across political lines, across religious lines, people that may disagree with each other on just about every other issue can all kind of come together and say, people need clean water. And the reality is that so many people don't. And it's been a great way to really unify people. When we hear this story,

just like so many other needs around the world, we certainly connect. Yet we live in a day and age, you know this Scott as well as anybody, 24-7 news, social media, so something tragic happens. And within two days, it's virtually gone from the news cycle. It's no longer a billboard in front of us. Really curious to know how your organization continues to keep this message alive, keep it engaging new people, because it is vitally important. In fact, if you look at the global issues out there, this is probably top one, two,

three because of its mass, you know, it's just a mass not a peel, but it just touches everybody, which is clean water. It affects everything. How do you keep it relevant and keep an audience engaged, plus go get new people to join this movement? I think, Ken, it's really just building a culture of innovation. I mean, we try to constantly push ourselves farther through storytelling, through our actual programmatic work on the ground.

A couple examples. You know, we've launched a September campaign for the last bunch of years. And we do this thing where we ask people to donate their birthday. And Charity Water started, actually, at my birthday party. It was my 31st birthday. And the only thing I knew how to do to get people together was to throw a party in a nightclub. And I gave my friends open bar, and they all threw in 20 bucks at the door. And we took every single penny, the 15,000, raised, to do our first few projects in northern Uganda.

And then we proved all of them with photos and GPS in a video. so people could see where their money went and the people helped. A year later, we launched our first September campaign, and every year we've tried to, we used to live drill from a different country. The first year, it was hospitals in Kenya without access to clean water. The next year, it was a campaign to bring 33 villages in Ethiopia clean water. We moved to the jungles of the Central African Republic, where the Biaca pygmies have struggled as the forests have been cut down,

by these huge timber companies. And we did a campaign to give 100% of the Biaka clean water. Next year, we focused on a country where we had more ambition and more funding, but we didn't have enough drilling rigs. And we started to crowdsource drilling rigs and actually mounted GPS units to our drilling rigs and gave them Twitter accounts. So all of the tens, more than 10,000 people that funded the rigs could track them in real time as they went around.

So we've constantly tried to just keep it new and exciting. This year, we're actually focusing the September campaign, which we launched yesterday, on our fundraisers. And we have this army of people now who are giving up birthdays. I mean, we had a 78-year-old give up his 78th birthday, ask everyone he knew for $78 and danced 78 times on his 78th birthday. He did the waltz if he hit his goal. We've had 89-year-olds.

We've had birth campaigns. We've had seven-year-olds raised 22 grand. We have a six-year-old in Vancouver that just ran 12 lemonade stands. One of them in the pouring rain. She was undeterred by rain. And at her 12 lemonade stand, six-year-old Maddie gets a local band to perform on the sidewalk to attract lemonade buyers.

And she sells $5,300 of lemonade for charity water. So this year is a celebration of that community of over 50,000 people who have come together, who have started campaigns, who brought the best of themselves, their birthdays, their craft, their passion for doing wheelies or mountain climbing or swimming or marathons.

We've had scrapbookers in Paris. We have a guy in the armed services in Afghanistan that's written haikus for charity water. Really, just a celebration of the community. So I think it's really led internally and culturally at all levels of the department. So not just in the storytelling, in the marketing or the fundraising.

But, you know, with 17,000 water projects out there, a couple years ago, we said, look, we know that they're all built. We have made photos and GPS transparent to the public on Google Earth and Google Maps, but we want to know now that they're working and they're continuing to serve people over time. And we went to Google and said, hey, we have this crazy idea. What if we could build a remote sensor and we could drop it in these remote villages and we'd know back in New York how much water is actually flowing? And Google awarded us a $5 million grant, which was the largest check they'd ever cut to a charity, to go and work on this.

And for the last three years, we worked with 22 different labs around the world, trying to develop this $100 remote sensor that could protect a $10,000 well and make sure that water is continuing to flow and serve communities. And we just press play this week on the production of our first 4,000 sensors, which will be installed over the next nine months. So I think it's just a core value of the organization is to remain excited about our work for to look for new ways to tell the story, to look for new ways to use technology to make our programs better and to serve more people as effectively as we can. All right, folks, this is brilliant. If you remember our Donald Miller interview, which Scott and I are both friends with Don, if you remember he talked about the story brand and your brand is the guide, the trusted guide,

your customer is a hero. well, this is what Scott and Charity Water are doing here. They're making all these people who are doing great work by giving their birthdays for clean water. Well, they're the hero. This is straight off their website. Scott, I just want to underscore what you said because this is really extraordinary when we talk about this September campaign. There are 19 million birthday celebrated around the world every day. The average amount raised by a person's birthday campaign, this is for Charity Water, is $770.

Now, if you... Yeah, it's extraordinary. It is. It's actually closer to $1,000. Oh, it is. So imagine that. You know, 19 million birthdays would be $19 billion every single day. Yeah.

The exciting thing about the birthday is that it's this mini word of mouth movement. So, you know, when you Ken Coleman give up your birthday, and I know you have, you bring in, if you were just average, you'd bring in an average of 15 people who would then learn about the organization, people that we can't reach. We don't have a relationship with. and it's kind of a beautiful message. You know, we don't need more stuff. You don't need a gift card from Amazon. You don't need a tie or a wallet or a pair of socks. You know, people don't even have,

600 million people don't even have access to clean water. So if we can give up our birthdays so people can actually have more birthdays and live healthier and happier lives, it's definitely an idea we've been trying to spread. And I know a lot of your guests, Seth Godin gave up his 50th birthday, raised $50,000 on his 55th.

He asked everyone in his blog, whether they would help spread this idea. So it's an idea for everyone, whether you're a five-year-old kid or an 89-year-old that would love for other people to be able to reach the age of 89 years old. Yeah, it really is extraordinary. Scott, on that $7.70 or $1,000 average, how many people are being helped immediately with that money? Yes, it's about $30 to give one person access to clean water. So an average birthday campaign could help 33 people, which is really,

extraordinary as an impact. And, you know, I'll just tell you one recent story. I was last year, I lived in this village in Ethiopia without water because I think it's so hard for people to understand what that would even look like. And I've been to Ethiopia 25 times now since started in the org. It's a country I love deeply. I love the people there. And I was, I'd heard about this story that I just didn't even believe of a woman who was walking eight hours for water with a clay pot on back, heavy water, 50 pounds of water full. And one day she slips and falls and drops her water. And instead of going back and getting more water, after she watches the water spill out into the dust and the sand, in despair, she hangs herself from a tree in the middle of this village.

And I just needed to reconnect with our work. And it needed to become real to me again. And I went and lived in that girl's village last year for a week. And I found out that she was 13 years. years old, a 13-year-old named Lettikiros Hailu, and she had hopes and dreams in a family, and I met her friend that walked with her that day. And I asked her friend, I said, why didn't she go back and get more water? You know, why would she take her own life? And her friend was telling me that she was a different girl. She had this dream of a better life for her village, a better life for her family, and that she would have been overcome with shame. The shame in letting her mom down. Her mom was waiting on that water to cook dinner,

the family. And because of her carelessness, she had let the family down. And that would have been too much for her to face them. And it's stories like that, that, you know, it's worth it for one person. If you could do a birthday and give one person clean water, you know, giving or raising $30, it really keeps us going and left such a deep imprint on me and my life and the work here. Well, folks, just know that Scott Harrison is a friend of Dave Ramsey and our entire organization, and it takes it less than 30 seconds to actually get a birthday campaign set up and going. Just go to charitywater.org. Charitywater.org literally do all of the work for you. And this really is a wonderful, wonderful way to exercise giving back to those who need something from us.

And we have so much. We're so blessed. Scott, before I let you go, you really are a tremendous leader. You really are an entree leader. You really get it. And I want you, if you would, to speak from your head, your heart or from both. And would you encourage the men and women entrepreneurs that are listening into this podcast from something that you just feel like, hey, I want you to know this as you are doing work that matters. What would you say to them? Oh, man, I guess I would just say embrace the challenge. I mean, it's, you know, I was telling my wife the other day that it really feels like

for the last nine years we have been pushing this boulder up a hill. I think people from the outside look at Charity Water and say, oh, they've grown. 90% a year for five years or, you know, it seems like they're so, you know, they're just getting it all right. It is so hard. It is so, so, so hard. And, you know, finding ways to kind of take care of yourself, you know, finding time to rest and recharge the batteries or even, you swap out the batteries entirely.

I mean, it is a tough road, you know, especially as a social entrepreneur and nothing has been easy. Not losing sight of that vision that, you know, in our case, we're really doing it for others. I'm not doing this to get rich. I live in a one-bedroom apartment, and my one-year-old son is in a closet at the moment, you know? But we've helped five and a half million people get access to clean water, and, you know, it's fighting for 13-year-old girls named Lettokiros, simply because of where they're born, you know, who are living lives of despair, and I know that we can help. So I think keep sight of the vision and then just, you know, embrace yourself that it's it's not easy. It is a challenge moving people towards generosity and

empathy and compassion. And if you don't lose sight of the vision and who you're actually doing it for, you know, you can keep getting up and taking the hits every day. Well, Scott, from the day I first met you, you've inspired me. I know our audience is inspired. We appreciate what you're doing. And again, folks, we'd love for you to just check it out. Is this something that you could do, maybe as a family or maybe as a business team, whatever. Just check it out, Charitywater.org. And Scott, again, we're better for hearing from you today. We appreciate you hanging out with us.

Ken, thanks so much, man. It's always great to see you. Well, I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Scott Harrison. One big takeaway in listening to Scott, and I know his story so well, but a fresh takeaway was the simple idea that he did something very, very unique from the get-go, and that was the idea that he was going to find a way to pay for the, cost of the organization in other ways, that 100% of the donations would go to the mission and purpose. That is a difficult thing to do. And it is not required. If you're a nonprofit, that's not

required, but it was a unique, bold stake in the ground about how they were going to be unique and different. And I think that has led to their explosive growth. And I think it makes them an attractive organization. That's what stood out to me. How can you be unique? A lot of noise out there in the world and in the space that you're in. Let's face it, you're always competing for eyeballs, ears, heartstrings, and on and on the list goes. So how can you be unique? That's the huge takeaway from Scott Harrison. Well, folks, September at Entree Leadership has been about sales, Entreeleadership.com and all the resources, the communities that we have with all access, the amazing club that folks are a part of, that growing club of community of leaders that are winning and

learning on a daily, weekly, monthly basis, as well as everything we do at Entreeleadership.com, focus around how do you sell better? And so we've given you a tool on each podcast. I want to remind you last chance to get it. This is our super sales cheat sheet. It's absolutely free, no strings attached. It's a PDF that is just chalk full of goodness. It'll help you close better. There's actual samples, all kinds of goodness there. All you got to do is text the word Super Sales, that's one word, super sales to 33444. Text Super Sales to 33444. And of course, for those of you listeners that are out there around the world or just

simply cannot text, if you just go to Entreeleadership.com slash podcast, go to this Scott Harrison episode. And the link for the Super Sales Cheat Sheet is there for you. Also on the bulletin board, we want to make sure you know about Summit 2016. This is our second event. First time we did it was this last spring in La Costa, California. It was an unbelievable lineup, and we've done it again. Daniel Tarty, John Falcons, the entire Entree Leadership team,

working hard to bring you an event like no other. All the details are at entreleadership.com slash summit. I'll just tell you, here's the speaker lineup. Dave Ramsey on stage, and then he is joined by none other than Jim Collins, Seth Godin, Dr. Henry Cloud, and more. Pat Linceioni joining us again. And then, of course, we have that secret speaker. It's fun.

Some of you are actually paying attention of what I'm saying, and you're going on Twitter and going, Ken, you were right. That is a big name. Well, by contract, I can't tell you who the big name speaker is, but you can go to entreleadership.com slash summit and see who it is. And by the way, you can tell the whole world. I just can't over the airwaves.

Contracts. Oh, well. Hey, it's going to be a great time. Eric, the producer and I will be there. It's going to be a wonderful, wonderful experience. Dallas, Texas, May 22 through 25. So there it is. That's the bulletin board for this episode, but important stuff, so make sure you take advantage. Speaking of the Entry Leadership Summit, on the phone this week with InfusionSoft and their top

team, as we're planning all kinds of fun stuff, they're going to be at the event. In fact, Chad on their team is going to be speaking. It's going to be really fun. Talk about practical stuff that you can take away and win right away. That's going to be happening. So we're loving the content. Infusion Soft is just like us and that they want to help small business men and women, and companies win. And they want to give away the goods because they know how it works. So here it is another episode of one question

with Jeff Mask from InfusionSoft. I've long thought that the entrepreneur's mind is kind of like that ticker that runs across the 24-hour news network. It's just since 9-11, that ticker's been there. And it's just there. And it's constantly moving. And if there's one word that dominates the ticker of the entrepreneur's mind, it's marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing, marketing. It just doesn't stop.

Truly. You, at InfusionSoft, I love this. First time I heard you and Clayte say this, it really jumped out at me. You guys say that the most neglected marketing principle of all marketing principles is follow-up. Support that statement. Truth, hashtag. It is so true. So true. Here's what we mean by that. We have seen over and over and over. If you don't have a follow-up system in place, you are literally leaving thousands and thousands on the table. You know it.

That's what keeps you up in that, knowing that person said they wanted more information, I just didn't follow up. That customer said they wanted to purchase an additional up-sale product. I didn't follow up. Why? Because we have 14 other hats on. It's just too hard to do that when we know that. And so figuring out the follow-up system is,

the secret to small business success. And it's so simple. It seems like we're looking for that silver bullet that is this new, brand new, amazing. It's not. It's a simple principle of getting a follow-up system in place because here's why. People buy when they're ready to buy,

not when you're ready to sell. And so if you don't have a follow-up system in place, how do you know when that time is? You just go and sell when it's time for you because you need to make the payroll. You need to keep the lights on. You need to feed your family. whatever that is.

And you just kind of cross your fingers hoping that whoever you're talking to is ready. Get a follow-up system in place. Then you can sell and market in a way that attracts them to you because you're serving and giving them value so that when they're ready, you're in the right place at the right time. But you can't do that if you don't have a follow-up system in place. All right, folks, we're planning, exciting new stuff. A lot of free resources that will help you practically, and they're absolutely free. They're coming to you soon from Infusion Software.

scheming. Eric, the producer and I are always scheming with the folks in Infusion Soft, and we're really, really excited. That's all I can say, because Eric will turn my mic off if I say any more. But that's coming. We'll tell you more about that soon. But right now, you can go get absolutely free the Infusion Soft business playbook. These are case studies, real techniques and strategies that have been used in conjunction with Infusion Soft by their actual clients, which includes entree leadership. So we want you to get that. Go to infusionsoft.com slash entree. Thousands and thousands have downloaded this. We just got the report from the Fusufussoff the other day. So go get the small business playbook, infusionsoft.com

slash entree. All right. So we have brought to you before some of Dave's answers to questions from business men and women from our business themed hours. We do this multiple different ways. Sometimes just a regular show once a month. We'll have an entree leadership themed hour. And then, of course, when we have our Entree Master's series, Deontre Leadership Summit. Dave will actually broadcast live in the conference room where we're hosting that event. So what you're about to hear is a phone call and then a call from the room. And these, again, are business questions.

And we think it's so important to you. Specifically, one question on how do you train your customer so that you're running the business, not them, and then building a culture so your team has ownership. This is what Dave covers with these questions. So enjoy actual calls on business questions to the Dave Ramshund Show. From the Financial Peace Conference Center, it's an entree leadership theme hour. Those folks clapping in the background, you can tell there's about 200 folks with us here that have been with us all week as we have been teaching about business, about entrepreneurship, about leadership, and we have had a blast together. Thank you for joining us this hour.

As we talk about one of my favorite topics, which is business and how powerful a force it is in America today, how it gives you any of you any of us. of you that are listening a shot. You can do whatever you want to do in this country. You can just decide today I'm in business. How amazing is that? And you can just decide, there I am. I'm in business. That's me. That's us. And it's an amazing thing. So this is the best economy in the history of the world for you to have a chance to get ahead. You've got so many tools at your fingertips that allow you to win out there to get to people that you didn't even, couldn't even think about five years ago, 10 years ago, or 20 years ago. But this is just a wonderful time in human history to serve other people and to be paid for

doing so. And there is nothing immoral, nothing wrong about that. And we're glad to have spent time this week with people who care about other people, care about their teams, are here to learn how to lead better, how to run a business better, top to bottom. Ed is with us in Oklahoma City. Hi, Ed. Welcome to the Dave Ramsey show. Dave. Hey, how are you? What's up? Better than I deserve, man. How can I help? I'm a carpenter by trade. I've been doing it for about 18 years. And a couple of months ago, I took a nosedive and just quit my job at an Air Force base out here. And what I did is what you suggested to do, and I went to

real estate offices. I took them donuts, breakfast, you know, and actually got my way into. And, to speak to the entire real estate offices at the, you know, when they're all doing their meetings. Wow. And the problem that I'm having is that I'm a one-man show, and I'm trying to wear a bunch of different hats to do this business, and this thing has, like I said, I've only been doing it for a couple months, and this thing has blown up in my face so much that I don't really know what to do. I mean, it's so overwhelming. And the real estate people are, most of them are not very cordial to, you.

your time as far as like when they call you to get the repairs done. You mean residential real estate people are drama queens? You're kidding. No, well, I didn't know, drama queens, but, you know, they call and say I need it done in two days, and I'm already on two or three other jobs at the same time. And I don't know what to do as far as finding help if I need to do that or if I just need to tell them I can't get to it. Yeah.

Well, I think what you've got to do is two things. One is you've got three things. One is you need to train your customers and you're just getting started and you were just happy to have a customer. And that's a good thing. Now you've got a bunch of customers and they're starting to run your business instead of you running it. And so you've got to reset your expectations with them and just, you know, and it sounds like this. Listen, I really want your business. That's why I came over there and worked so hard for it. But I stay pretty backed up. So you've got to be willing to give me a little bit of notice. Now, I can get you in next Friday, but I can't get there tomorrow.

I've just got, I've got other stuff, I've got other people I promised, and I can't break my promise to them. And if you need to use someone else, then use someone else. But if, you know, they get in their head then that they need to give you a little bit of notice, then they won't live from emergency to emergency. And, you know, and you can plan out a little bit better. Now, you can't be the guy that delays the closing because you can't get over there. So you can't push them out six weeks, right? Well, no, but that's been my problem is it's not on me.

it's that they're calling and they're saying closing is Friday. I know. And it is on you because you didn't train them to call you sooner. Okay. That's what I'm saying. You've got to be able to, number one, you've got to say, your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part. Now, you're not going to say it exactly that way,

but you're going to connect with them and start to train them, and you're going to lose a few of the jobs here or there. You probably won't lose a customer if you handle the conversation correctly. And that's the best route to. go. Now, that's thing one. Thing two is raise your prices. That'll solve some problem too. Okay. You'll lose some customers that way, and that's a really good way to lose them. And then thing three is you start to train some people and bring some people on and staff up. But you've done a great job of marketing. You know how to deliver the service, and you've

created more demand with your hand-to-hand combat marketing than you have the ability to perform. And so those three things, retraining them on their expectations as to your timeline, number one, number two, you're going to lose a few of them based on price, and then number three, you're going to start staffing up. And then staffing up is going to be the biggest challenge of those three things, because you've got to find people that you can count on that don't turn around then and go destroy your business by misbehaving with a customer of yours that works for you. So it can be done, but it is a process. All right, Joe Levitt with us to connect us up with our entree leadership members here in the audience. So Joe, who have we got next? Dave, we have Daphne from Austin. Hey, Dave.

It's great to be here this week. Thank you. I have a, it's been so wonderful to see all of the things that you and your team have put together. I think the most impressive thing for me was to watch your team and the ownership that they take and the work and the pride that they do. Thank you. How can we create that same culture as we grow our businesses to hopefully 300 one day, how can we get our team to take that same pride and ownership?

Well, I appreciate that question, of course. It is a hiring process. It is partly compensation, meaning you're hiring thoroughbreds. You're compensating them well. And it's also just the way you treat people, a sense of dignity, that you treat them like you expect them to act like a partner in the business, to have emotional ownership and care deeply about the outcome. It's actually an unstated requirement to work here.

The way we state it, we stated a little differently. We just say we don't want anybody working here that has a J.O.B. They're just here to collect money and see how fast they can go home. And I want to come late, leave early and steal while I'm there. That's what an employee does. We don't want employees. We want team members. and honestly if people get where they hate their job here or they get where they're unplugged

they stand out like a sore thumb then because everybody around them is plugged in and does care about the outcome and does treat it with a sense of ownership so when someone doesn't then the rest of the team starts to feel uncomfortable around them and you know it's it's a hard place to work if you don't care and that's a cultural thing and so it becomes a kind of a positive peer pressure if you will, mentality. And how did we form that? Well, I mean, we work at it. We work out at a lot.

And occasionally we find someone who has started out maybe with that crusade mentality, but then they drifted away and, you know, they kind of, their heart disconnected. And they really quit, but they just didn't take their body with them. And so we just help them take their body then. And we just send them on off to do something else. God's got something else for them to do then. And so, in other words, we fire people. if they unplug.

And we're not mean about it, but we want you to go find something you're enthused about. God's got a plan for your life, and you ought to be jacked up about it. You ought to be excited about it. And that's what we want you to be for you, if you work here.

And so it's this constant weeding out, this constant pruning, this constant looking for the right people, compensating them right, communicating clearly with them, building this entire culture with great intentionality. So, hey, good to have you here.

Well, we hope you enjoyed that. We're going to continue to bring you those questions. And by the way, this is a great opportunity to say, look, if you have a question for our Entree leadership team, we want to answer those. Not just are we looking for feedback on the podcast itself, which we want. So if you've got questions, remember, ask the coach with John Falcons. It's designed specifically for your questions. Then if you have suggestions, questions about the show that we're bringing to you, we want to hear from you as well. It's for you, so we want to hear from you.

Here's how you do it. Email podcast at entreleadership.com. Email us podcast at ontraeleadership.com. Always reach out to us, excuse me, reach out to us rather, on Twitter at Entree Leadership at Ken Coleman. I do reply. I do read them. And of course, our Entree Leadership Twitter staff does as well.

So there you go. You can reach out to us and we do want to hear from you. Well, sadly, that's going to do it for this edition of the Entree Leadership podcast. But remember, we're coming to you weekly. So subscribe. spread the word. On behalf of our producer, Eric Anthony and the entire Entree leadership team, thank you for listening. We'll talk with you again very soon.