Episode 243: How to Dream, Drive and Deliver with Mike Maddock
11 Mar 2019 · 43 min
In this episode of the Entrepreneurship Elevator podcast, host Mike Michalowicz, joined by co‑hosts Kelsey Ayers and Jay Bone, interviews entrepreneur and author Mike Matic about his new book Plan D: How to Dream, Drive and Deliver. The conversation explores the concept of the “disruptor” – a person who tears down existing systems to rebuild them better – and outlines the “superhero powers” that disruptors tend to share, such as an abundant mindset, rapid decision‑making frameworks, opposite‑thinking, and the ability to thrive on hate rather than love. Practical tools are shared, including the “What Would X Do?” mental model, the SCAMPER creativity technique, and the importance of finding a complementary partner (the yin‑yang partnership) to balance visionary ideas with operational execution. Real‑world examples (Barrett Ercek’s lawn‑care innovation, the Montessori school founder, etc.) illustrate these principles. The episode also contains sponsor messages (Abby Connect, Nextiva, Receipt Bank), a light‑hearted “fake product” game, listener mail, and closing calls‑to‑action for the book and the hosts’ platforms. The overall tone is conversational, humorous, and enthusiastic, aiming to give entrepreneurs actionable insights for becoming or working with disruptors.
Chapters
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Hello, friend.
How you doing today, Kelsey? Great.
How are you doing?
I'm doing well. And also in studio is Jay Bone.
Hello, Jay.
Welcome. As always. I love the lighting setup you have here today. It's powerful.
Looks good.
Good. We're doing this on video. We bought new gear. But you know what I love about J. Bone? He found this gear at bh is that we bought it. Yeah.
B niche.
Hundred dollar cameras that are refurbished. They would have been normally like 300.
But there was a sale. Plus they were refurbished. So it was like. Yeah, like, yeah.
All of a sudden on Friday night, I'm leaving. I'm the last person to leave on Friday by chance. All these boxes piled up downstairs right at the entrance, which is left unlocked until midnight. There's no one.
They're crazy fast. I ordered it on Thursday afternoon. Ish.
Yeah, but dude, people could steal this stuff. So I lugged up all your boxes.
Thank you. Thank you. Well, they were still in your stuff.
So, Kelse, what can people do?
They can find us on itunes, Stitcher, Tunein radio, Spotify, or any podcast or anywhere. Or entrepreneurshipelevatedpodcast.com.
That'S awesome. And we have new microphone caps. I guess you call these things, like, if you ever see a newscaster from like Channel 5 or whatever it says Channel 5 Sports News or Channel 5 Weather. We now have our own, like, little advertisement on our microphones.
Yeah.
Who do we get? Could you speak into microphone?
I forget his name. Don't ask me that.
Oh, was it from grow?
My accounting practice, not entrepreneurship.
Oh, wait. Oh, so it wasn't fans of this show.
No. Right.
Fans of the good show.
Yes.
All right, Kels, jbone, I have a question for you also. Mike Matic, our guest. Pretend you are not so engaged right now. Okay, here's the question, Mike and everyone, I want to know what's in your trunk of your car right now. The most embarrassing or funny or unique thing.
I know exactly what's in the trunk of my car.
You're up, Kelsey. What is it?
I have a hand drawn picture by yours truly. And when I say yours truly, I mean Mike Michalowicz.
In your trunk?
Yeah. Of what it is of a person bending over with.
Oh, no.
Yeah, yeah.
Tell Jayvon how this came about.
Yeah. So Mike does this fun little exercise where he, like, draws a picture. He describes a story. Right. And the picture in the end is inappropriate. A butthole.
Oh, come on. Shh. This is this guy's broadcast, you know?
Yeah. It's horrible.
It's horrible. So here's how it goes. I. We ended our retreat and I said, who wants to hear? Like, it's a horrible dirty joke. So all the hands. Kelsey's like, hands skyrockets. It's like. Yes. So I draw. It's a scene of a house with a sun. There's snow melting on the house. But the last part, it's a. It's a building story. The last part of the drawing makes it this person bent over exposing them. Them to sell their. Yeah.
Nice.
So that's in your trunk still?
Yes.
So you kept it. So you liked it that much?
I'm waiting to frame it to give it to you.
Oh, it's awesome.
Yeah.
Mike, what's in your trunk?
My trunk, unfortunately has a towel for my workout spread out across the whole trunk because I didn't want to put it back in the bag wet, so.
Well, that's far as disgusting. How soil does it.
I'll give you that.
Yeah, you drew a butthole on it. What? But I don't get it. Is that the same towel you use workout to work out or do you rotate that thing?
You know, every other week or so? I rotate it out.
Oh, filthy.
After the shower. I use it to be clear.
Of course. Of course. J Bone.
I actually don't have anything. I cleaned my car out over the weekend.
Empty.
Yeah, well, and plus, I figured because if I was, you know, hauling gear, you know, so I needed. Need a clean trunk.
Yeah.
What's in your trunk?
Yeah, so I don't have a car. Oh, so this is ridiculous. I over. I currently quote, unquote, own three cars. My wife has a car. I bought a car for myself that subsequently my daughter took to college with her. She needed a car, so we had another car. It was my wife's old car that we were going to sell because we bought it when she got her new car. But I'm like, oh, I'll use your car. So I have her old car that my youngest son now takes to school. So I literally have no cars. And I'm like, no way are we having a fourth car in this house. As a bull. So I get. I think it rides to work. I asked Kelsey like a few times, hey, can you give me a ride home? Like, I, I hitchhike to work.
How much would. Or how far you could ride your bike?
I could, I could. They're dangerous roads, so.
Too windy.
Yeah, it's a 30 minute bike ride. I would totally do it. I used to ride my bike to work, but they're windy. Blind turns.
Yeah.
Yeah. So I hitchhike.
An Uber would be like five bucks.
I do Uber sometimes. Yeah, like my wife, I get home, she how'd you get home? I'm like, I ubered. Thanks for the ride. So do we have any listener shout outs?
Sure we do. This comes from. It's an itunes review. Comes from Business Rookie. How do you like that name?
That's a good name.
Yeah.
And you didn't laugh and snort at it?
Yeah. They write Mike and Kelsey are a joy to listen to and make it easy to understand how a business should be run. They do this by bringing on easy to understand and interesting guests into their podcast. Until today, I truly believe all business owners and those thinking of starting a business should be listening to the entrepreneurship elevated podcast.
All right, thank you, business Rookie.
Your mom loves sh. That is so sweet.
Do you like how I got a little slam on you, brother?
I loved it. I also like the way your mother writes.
Oh. All right. Back in your hole. So I want to thank our corporate sponsors, nextiva and Receipt bank. Nextiva is coming out with some new technology. We'll talk about a little bit. And Receipt bank, always focusing on our health. And we'll talk about how they prevent as welts in their technology. All right. His name is Mike Matic. He's a dear friend of mine. That's why I rib him so much. Mike Matic considers himself an entrepreneurial anthropologist whose purpose is to inspire and empower curiosity. He gives leaders the confidence to take action by providing the inspiration, tools and connections they need. He's an entrepreneur, a keynote speaker and writer, and the author of Idea Monkey. Now he's here today to talk about disruption. Plan D. With no further ado. Mike, welcome to our show.
Welcome, Mike.
Thanks, Mike. Thanks, Kelsey. It's an honor to be here. Really?
That was said with such inauthenticity. Dude, what is a disruptor?
A disruptor is someone that comes into a situation and blows shit up for the good of the whole. So you. We know these people. They. They're. They live in large organizations and small ones. They come in, they see something that doesn't make sense to them and they break it and. And then they put it back together and it is better. And they seem to be able to do it again and again and again. They do it in relationships, they do it in business. Many of them are entrepreneurs and some are intrapreneurs. So they're my favorite people. And they usually start their lives by being told they are disruptive in class. They're disruptive at school, they're disruptive in relationships. These are the same people that grow up to be, you know, famous entrepreneurs.
Well, who are some of the famous disruptors?
Branson's a disruptor. Ted Turner is a disruptor. Oprah's a disruptor. You are a disruptor. You're getting famous. Admit it.
I don't know if that's true. And you know what? We. So Mike and I met Kels through a thing called Gathering of Titans, which, Mike, you quickly called gathering of egos.
That's correct.
Right. And it was a gathering of all these different entrepreneurs. I remember this guy, Barrett Ercek, who no one may recognize his name, but here's a guy who was in lawn care services, J. Bone. And he went in front of the group one day, had this epiphany and changed his whole business. Do you remember that, Mike?
I do. And in fact, Barrett's a good friend of both of ours. And his story is amazing. I mean, he. This is a, this is a guy that dropped out of college because he had a lawn care business. Business that he was making really good money at, like a million dollar lawn care business. And he went in and listened to professors drone on about how to run businesses. And he, you know, then he'd run home and run his business. And at one point he went to his parents and said, hey, I can't do this anymore. And his parents were horrified. They're like, you got to go to college. He's like, no, I gotta. I've got a business to run. So, yeah, it was the second year of us gathering. It's a three year program. He jumped up, said, I got to go in the morning and ran out of the room. And then he. Basically, the end of the story is he figured out a way to use Google Maps before there were Google Maps to do, estimating in lawn. And he took 70% of the the challenges out of his business, quadrupled or 5x his profit, and got bought by Scott's Lawn Care about three years later for kajillions of dollars. The thing about Barrett is he's done it again and again and again. And his superhero power is an abundant mindset. Barrett has the ability to, when he gets punched in the face, be grateful for it. He sees something good. He sees possibility where other people see problems. And that's one of the things that the book noticed about disruptors, that they have an abundant mindset.
Yeah. So you wrote this book. It's called Plan how to Dream, Drive and Deliver. I know you Were doing research years back and we were talking about it. You featured a lot of disruptors and you said they all have this superhero power. You just mentioned Barrett's what is a superhero power and is it all the same or is it different for disruptors?
So, you know, I started to read all these books about grit, you know, resilience and grit. And I'll admit that as a kid I saw people that we grew up in a, you know, a middle class family and. But there were a couple entrepreneurs that lived in the neighborhood and they have these big boats in their driveway. And I started to think, God, that guy's lucky. He's lucky, he's lucky. And then I noticed that he and she were lucky again and again and again. So I got curious about what it was that these people had in common. And I started to interview relatively famous disruptors and then noticed 10 things that they had in common that surprised me. Some of them, and usually they didn't even know about it. And I call them superhero powers. They're disruptor superhero powers. And each chapter in the book focuses on the superhero power, how they came to have it, and then how you can practice and have it too. I guess that's the good news, is that most of these things can be learned. And not every disruptor has all of them. They usually have two or three of them at work.
Can you lay a few of them on us?
Sure, yeah. So one is that the one I mentioned. They have this grateful ability to have an abundant mindset. They use frameworks. Probably the most practical thing that I, that I found in the book is that they have these go to formulas that they use again and again and again to make decisions faster and be right quicker. That was one of them. And that like for process junkies, that chapter is the one. They're like, oh my God, you know, this formula is awesome. They have the ability to, under pressure, think in the opposite way. They would think naturally. So I say they think like children. But there are, you know, speaking broadly, you're a critical thinker or a lateral thinker. Critical thinkers draw straight lines between a problem and the best solution. Lateral thinkers just come up with lots and lots of ideas. And yeah, so I was in a meeting once and I worked with this guy named Joe Kim. And the meeting ends and I turn to him, I go, dude, you are like a total idea monkey. You are so good at coming with ideas. Those ideas are brilliant. He said, no, I'm not at all. And I go, what do you mean? He goes, I really have A hard time thinking of ideas. So I've taught myself two or three ways to come up with ideas. And what I literally do is when I'm trying to come up with an idea, I run through these processes in my brain, and then everyone thinks I'm good at ideas.
So. Which sounds like he has good ideas. Can you share? Is there a simple hack that our listeners and I can.
Yeah. So here's one. Have you seen those license plates that, you know, what would Jesus do?
Yeah, yeah.
So that, you know, I work with a guy named Brett Miller. He goes, yeah, what would Jesus do? Well, you can WW blank D. You can fill that in with, like, what would Steve Jobs do? What would Einstein do? What would Oprah do? What would you know? And you can literally force your to objectify a challenge and answer it the way a famous disruptor would. And what it does is it kind of gives you some distance from the problem, and it helps you to generate ideas in a way that you normally wouldn't because you suspend. You know, what would Warren Buffett do? He's got a billion dollars to throw at any problem. What would I do if I had a billion dollars? So that's one way. There's another technique called scamper, which is an acronym for substitute, combine, adapt, modify, Put to other use, eliminate, rearrange. You can each one of those words that alone.
My ideas have all been squashed. I give up.
No, seriously. I think if you look at.
If you look.
If you own a cab company. Yeah, scampering a cab company would give you Uber. If you really did the exercise because you, like, what could I eliminate? What if I eliminated the need to have a fleet of cars? What if I just use someone else's car? So those are the types of techniques. So that's a superhero power to think like children, to force themselves to think differently under pressure. Disruptors start with hate, not love. They what? Yeah. So most people in organizations, they focus on why folks love them. You know, like, they love us. We're really good at this. Disruptors tend to go to where the hate is. They embrace the hate to innovate. They like, what do people hate about us? I hate this. So if you think about. I tell the story in the book of my friends Rob and Liz repking, and Rob is a disruptor, and so is his wife, actually. They're both entrepreneurial. So we had moved to this new town and, you know, we were new parents, completely screwing up our kids. We had this. Our youngest son, Gunner, he's like three and we're like, oh, we got to get them into a nursery school, you know. And so it turns out that there's a competition to get into schools in this town. And we weren't in the line because we just moved in. And so one of my friends said, hey, you know, I can get you into the school. And it turned out to be this Montessori school. We get in and it was. It was Ron. He goes, I'll help you get in the school. It's a great school. Well, fast forward three weeks. He comes up to me. He's like, mike, I'm so sorry. What are you talking about? Oh, my God. It's a, it's a, it's a disaster. That school's a disaster. They're doing this wrong and this wrong and this right. I'm like, my kid's like 4 or 5 years old. You know, he's fine. He's like, no, it's a disaster. Well, he went to the, the people that ran the school and he started complaining and they're like, you know, Ron, sorry, you hate all this stuff, but you don't know what you're doing. We've been doing this for a long time and it's not easy. This is the way it's done. Yada, yada, yada. Well, fast forward about a year later, Ron calls me and says, well, I've started a school and I've taken their two best teachers. And I know I've never had a school before, but I want to do it differently. So he focused on hate, something that he hated. And he moved very quickly from this sucks to I'm going to create a better outcome. And that's what disruptors do. And most companies make the mistake of spending too much time on what people love about their, their. The experience they're delivering, where the real disruption happens. On the fringes, people attack with, you know, the things that are really bad about their experience. That's.
I think people. I think people also go after their personal loves. There was a restaurant down the street that opened up and they're sadly going out business. I met with the owner and they said, oh, we did this because this was always our dream. We loved cooking. We thought we could do this. And it collapsed. They weren't. They never even considered what the customers wanted. It was all about their own personal love.
That's right.
That's about that, Mike.
The Michael Gerber thing where, you know, you, you do something because it's your hobby and it's. Running a business is not your hobby. So, yeah. Anyway, there's. The book is full of things like that. The yin for your yang. Finding a soulmate. Great Disruptors are. Aw. They have a partner that completes them. You know, if they're big dreamers and visionaries, they. Right next to them, they have an operator that keeps them out of trouble and helps them focus on the things that matter the most.
But how do you find a person? Because they don't get you. Like, you know, disruptors are weirdos. And we just, you know.
Yeah, shut up, jerk.
Everyone jumps in. Absolutely.
Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. J Bone is just sitting there just shaking his head because I call him J Bone. He hates it.
No, I was actually thinking. So I was looking for somebody to help me with Hunter's recipe for a long time.
Yeah.
And I went to Craigslist because I didn't have any friends who could do it or wanted to help me. And I didn't think they operate it to help me operate it. I didn't think they had the skill set. So. Yeah. And I met with people on Craigslist, and it was the most horrifying experience.
Yeah. Mike, how do you find. That's a great point, J Bone. How do you find that yin to your yang?
Well, it starts with awareness, you know, understanding what you're really good at and what makes you feel strong. Because the challenge is that when you're starting a business, you have to do everything right. You're the accountant, you're the head of marketing, you're head of sales, et cetera. But some of it you love, and some of it sucks the life out of you. So, you know, if you have a mirror in your house and you can look at yourself in the mirror and say, you know, I'm really good at execution, but I'm not so good at coming up with new ideas. So that's, you know, that's the first thing. So you have to understand what you're looking for. And then there are tools like, I love the Colby Index to understand, you know, what you're good at. Because it doesn't change after you're four years old. It's a great parenting tool as well. I talk about it in the book. So, Mike, you're a quick start. I know that because you've had how many you've. You've started. And you've had five or six successful businesses, right?
I've started, yeah. Many companies. I think five or six companies.
Yeah, that's right. And. And three or four of them have been really successful. You're a quick start. That's, That's. That's unbelievable. You know, I started the conversation, you know, saying I'm really. It's an honor to be here. I mean it. I think you're. I think you're one to be admired. You've done some amazing things and you're not good at other stuff. And so I would argue that.
What's that supposed to mean? First of all, this loving, caring comments, and you gave me a slap across.
The face because I'm sort of projecting a little bit. Forgive me, but I too have started five or six businesses. And you know what? I shouldn't have. I should have started three or four. I had an operator that would say, hey, dude, before you start the next business, how about we execute this one? So really. And what you see in really mature organizations is the exact opposite challenge. They grow up to be run only by operators, like, for example, General Electric. I sat on the innovation advisory board of General Electric, and they were so good at execution. I mean, Jack Welch came in there and Six Sigma ed the whole organization. And so guess what happened? They became so good at execution that once they'd squeezed the profit out of all the things they had, they. They forgot how to come up with a new idea. And this is Thomas Edison's company, by the way. This is a company started by one of the most destructive. That's right.
But it's inconceivable. But dude, disruptors like you, maybe myself, become very persuasive. Right. So persuasive, we persuade ourselves into believing our own junk.
That's right.
It's a real problem. How do we save ourselves from ourselves?
Yeah. So having. It's a big question, but what I've seen is when you have a yin for your yang that's working, it's almost like a love affair. It's almost like you respect that person's ability to do things that you don't like to do, or you can't do so much that you cede that to them. The other thing is that thankfully, there are all kinds of really great processes. I talk about these in the book as well. That through as you're creating new ideas or as you're evaluating or choosing the thing to do next, there are these processes that make innovators feel strong, disruptors feel strong, and operators feel strong. So here's an example. If you are an operator and you have a partner that is an idea monkey or a visionary or a highly strategic dreamer, and they come to you with a new idea, what I coach operators to do Is instead of saying, dude, that's illegal. We'll go to jail, or, that's the stupidest idea I've ever heard. Take a step back, admit to yourself that you don't know the answer, which takes humility. The reason you think it's a stupid idea is because you don't know how to execute it. And then make a wish or how to so say something like, hey, I wish we could find a way to make that idea legal and step back and let that visionary say, oh, dude, that's a good question. Let me think about it. Now you've. Now you haven't killed the idea. You've played into the strength. And there are techniques in the book that go both ways. For the visionary to cede to the operator how to focus on the ideas that matter most. It's a big question. But when you see organizations that are highly functioning, I'm telling you, they have found yins for their yang across the whole organization.
Oh, groovy, baby. I love it. Mike. Mike, we gotta start wrapping up. Believe it or not, but I wanna learn a little more how we can get Plan D. So everyone listening. Plan D is a brand new book, just hit the market by Mike Matic. It's Plan D. How to dream, drive and Deliver. Where can people go, Mike, to check out the book and check out what you're doing.
So it's on Amazon. The actual book's on Amazon. The audio or the ebook will be up later this week. I know that Borders likes it because I googled Amazon plan because I'm a narcissist and wanted to see how it was doing this morning and Border's site came up, so they're on it. Yeah, and it's full of stories about people like the ones listening, the ones that change the world. So my hat's off to disruptors. I believe the future belongs to disruptors. We're getting punched in the face by the future. So either need to be a disruptor, know how to work with them, or know how to manage them. And that's what the book's about.
And Definitely check out mikematic.com that's mike-matic.com. we'll have that and other links in the show notes for you all to check out. Mike, thank you so much for joining us today.
It's an honor and a pleasure. Thank you, guys.
All right, so just hang tight though, because we might pull you back, Mike. So don't like totally leave icals. We got a lot of things to do, right? I got some new Games. J Bone.
Nice.
Are you excited?
I am.
All right. So you guys will pick the game. We're going to do a tip for myself. We'll do a recap of what we learned. And listener mail. Right. We got tons of stuff to do. But first I hit that. Right. First. I do want to thank our corporate partners. Do you hear about the new technology from nextiva?
I haven't heard. I'm excited.
You haven't heard about this?
I have not heard.
So you ever. You ever go on a corded phone and you get the phone wire wrapped around your neck and almost die and it just. It's dangerous. Those long phones. You ever see a murder movie? That's how they kill most people.
Yeah.
Nextiva has made a cordless phone.
No way.
Why do you think I don't answer my next diva when anyone calls? Because I don't want to strangle myself.
Right. But now you don't have to worry about that. We have the you need. You don't you have next to you.
I don't. Okay, you still haven't got me on.
We got to get you one. Kelsey. Let's get him one. And how long can that pick?
I don't know. Like this is like six months now.
Let's get him a phone. But let's get him on the cordless phones. A new innovation and yeah. Just changing the world. Voiceover IP we nothing but the best. It's nothing but the best for you, J Bone. Nextivo. We seriously love that company. For cpank. Do you ever hear about this thing called as Wells?
I have heard. It's horrible.
What is it?
It's when you develop ass. I mean this. Well.
Most people.
From your pocket area.
Most people develop an ass the day they're born. Right? You develop this welt and. But the funny thing is it's not balanced. So think of someone that's famous for showing off their butts like it wasn't they jlo. Jlo.
Yeah.
She has a balanced as well. Is really what's going on. That's the new technology that Receipt Banks developed. What they do is that when you put a wallet in your back pocket and it starts rubbing and you get. You know, you need it on both sides. If you have one side, you look like you're Igor your ass. But now you have on both sides new technology from Receipt Bank.
Wow.
Yeah.
Very innovative.
And they also scan in your receipts. All right, now I want to know what you learned, Kels, from. From Mike Magic. What'd you learn today? Yeah.
Bite on Me, first of all, I really like the difference between critical thinker and lateral thinker. I never heard that before.
I've heard it either. I think he made it up, quite frankly.
But second of all, and even better, I think I love the idea of, like, seating to your soulmate, your operator, or ID monkey in this situation by just asking the question as opposed to just knocking it down because you can't comprehend how that will work. I love that. I feel like that's super effective.
Yeah, I like that. Jbone, do you have any thoughts that come to mind?
Yeah, that was my favorite. So not to sound, like, boastful, I think one of my good skill sets is, like, being creative. And I think that's, like, why I got into food and I like designing things, is because I like taking that creative and putting it out there. So, like, I have a book where I write down all these ideas.
Yeah.
And I'll talk to my family about it. And. And they're really good ideas. Some of them are really good. And they're like, that's stupid. And they always say that, like, now that's dumb. And I like that he's saying, like, no, it's not dumb. It's just you're. You guys are too stupid to figure out how to make it work.
Yeah. I think that was his exact words. Yeah. Yeah. Mike, was that your exact words?
Basically, yeah. I think that there's a. It takes a certain kind of person to have the humility to admit to themselves they don't know the answer. And then the technique is to seed that, like, well, how can we do this? How to. Or make a wish. I wish that there was a way to do this better. And then let the creative person figure it out. It's a much more generous way to.
Come by people to think their family are idiots, too. So for me.
I'm an idiot, too, because I can't figure out how to do it. I don't know how to execute it.
Screw the family. They'll never get it. Just do it. I loved Mike's tip of what would. And I'm filling the blank. Right. What a way to remove yourself from a consideration and put in other vantage points.
That's so smart.
Yeah. We want to know, listeners, what your favorite takeaways was, too. So when you rate and review us, and you totally should put what you learned from Mike Matic on this episode. All right, now, should we do the game, or you guys want to do. Listen to mail.
Let's do listener mail and then the game.
Okay. Okay. Okay, so what's. What's our mail?
This comes from Jenna Steckler.
Hey, Jenna.
She writes, I have an interior design business. I do a lot of resale. What is the best way to determine real revenue? I use QuickBooks online for the first allocation. I ran the profit numbers for the month of January and use that number for real revenue and then made the allocations. Is this correct, or do I have to sit down? Add up what incoming checks are before and then check them against cogs for those items I'm getting paid on.
Okay, Jen, so you're confusing me. It's way too much. So all we have to do is look at how much money you made last year. Then if. Because you're an interior decorator, do you buy materials that are in excess of 25% of what you made? So, for round numbers, let's say you made $100,000 last year in revenue. Did you buy $25,000 or more of furniture or other materials? If so, subtract that out to get your real revenue, which would be. If you bought $30,000 of stuff, would be $70,000. Most businesses do not need to make an adjustment unless you're buying materials or have a large amount of subcontractors. And subcontractors are people that own different types of businesses that work for you. So maybe you have a. I wouldn't know why, but maybe an electrician that comes in and does all the electrical work for the redesigns you do, and they represent more than 25% of your annual income. Make an adjustment. The rule of thumb, everyone listen. Don't make any adjustment if you don't know your revenue is your revenue. It's simply a way to determine allocation percentages. But it doesn't matter too much, because wherever we start is where we're going to start with your history and build from there. It really just builds art. It creates our target by doing these adjustments. So if you're confused, just go for your top line. It's that simple. Okay. All right, Mike Matic, we still have you.
Do you want to ask me any accounting questions? Mike, you know that's my strong suit.
I know it's your strong thing. Yeah. Two plus two. I don't know. Potato. So, Mike, we have some games we play. So I want you to determine the game you want to play today. We have which ones. It's called Discover the Fake Product. I will list off three products. One of these is a fake. Two of them are real, and you have to guess, and so does a J. Bone. And Kelsey, or we can do a new. A new game called Pure Cheese Quotes. And I'll share how that came about when we get to it. But these are cheesy, real quotes. Except for one. One is my own quote. I mean, it's real, but you got to guess which one was my own cheesy quote. Okay, which one do you want to do, Mike?
You know, since I started a product development company years ago, I'm going to go with products for 20.
All right, all right, here we go. So, all right, I'm gonna rattle off three products now. I want you just to individually vote, okay? So make mental note of this. Now, Mike, just so you understand, this process is these two of these are real products. I did the description for each one, so there's some continuity in the voice.
Got it.
I don't want you to, you know, fall for something. So I got two sections here. Let's go with section two is what I'm feeling today, and I don't actually. Oh, no. Okay, no. All right, here it is. Proc. Number one.
I knew he was gonna laugh. You always laugh at your own copy, like, every single time.
You're just.
It's called the Eyeball Massager. The health benefits of massage are endless. Better blood flow, relaxation and muscle recovery. With the patented eyeballer technology, you can now get the most health benefits. Beneficial massage of all your eyeballs. Relax deeply, eradicate headaches and improve your vision. Device fits comfortably over your head. Warning, do not open your eyes during a massage. May result in scratches, blindness, or even death. The Brio iC360 eye massager. Now available for $160. Okay, you ready?
Yeah.
Number two, blown away hair Messer. Not only is messy hair the in look, it can save you from embarrassing moments. The next time you pretend that a friend calls and just woke you up, you can send a Snapchat with your messy hair seconds later to your friend. Utilize the. Utilizing the patented cyclonic or cyclonic tornado blower brush technology, your hair within 60 seconds will be messy as it was when you Woke up. Includes 4oz blown away mess hair gel for permanent hold. Available at Bed Bath and beyond for $29.99. And the last product is the Latte Art Maker. Latte art has been the subject of many Instagram photos. But who wants to see another palm tree or heart? Now with the Latte Art Maker, you can print your favorite designs or even photos right on top of your coffee beverages. But you don't even have to learn to make your own Beverage your own beverage designs anymore. Now it's done on automatic. Made In China, the L800 comes with six print colors and edible ink, capable of printing six lattes at a time. Available for $1800. Okay, so to be clear, so the.
Actual product might be real, but your description is totally not real?
No, no, no, no. My descriptions are consistent with what the. The company says. The one thing I may have done is add in the. A little element that is an expansion of what they said. But it's. It's a. It speaks to what they said.
It took creative license.
But two of these are. Are real. And I would say 80 of the copy is verbatim to their intent. I mean, it's all my copy, but it's verbatim to what they intended.
Quick, Mike, Clarifying question.
Mike. Yes, of course.
Weren't Eyeballer and Blown away your band's names in college?
He knows me too well. It was. It was.
I thought so. Okay, just checking.
Here's one here, let me pull out one of our hit songs. This was an eyeballer used to do this. Can't touch this Eyeballer. Okay, so does anyone need a recap of any of these products?
I actually feel like they're all.
You got be on the microphone.
Are we going to vote?
Yeah. No, no, you pick your own.
No, we have to individually pick this time.
Okay.
Okay. Does anyone need a redescription?
No.
Okay, so eyeball massager, blown away hair messer, or the latte art maker? Who wants to go first?
I'm gonna say the eyeball massager.
Kelsey says the eyeball massager is a fake.
Can I just say in your description of the blown away hair messer?
Yeah.
Why would somebody pretend to just wake up on a phone call? Like, who does that?
Well, have you ever dated Mike?
If you dated me, I'm like, hey, Kelsey, I was just sleeping.
Yeah, I can't make it.
It's two in the afternoon and I'm looking out the window. I can see you walking around. I just woke up. Jay. Boner. What would you say?
Eyeball. I can't imagine if that's around.
Sounds dangerous. Could cause blindness.
Yeah, I mean.
Even with your, like the brie, are your eyes open or closed?
It says closed.
You're not supposed to open. Otherwise scratching or death might happen.
Warning, do not open your eyes during a massage. May result in scratches, blindness, or even death.
Yeah, okay, I'm sticking with that one.
Okay. The Brio IC36.360. All right, Mike, what do you think.
Yeah, I'm the same. I think that people actually do want their hair to look funky, and I think it's a creative license. I think the Latte Art Maker. I think I've seen that that's an actual product. So I will go with eyeball massager for 20.
Dude, I sunk your all battle shit.
It's the Latte Art Maker.
No, it's the Blown Away Hair Master. I made that up. Dude, just get a hair gel.
That's the most believable one.
It's like pour water on your hands, splash your hair and get hair gel, like, done.
What do we have to do?
Tornado blower brush.
Yeah, but, like, if you watch the infomercials with, like, the. The hair. The hairdo. What was the flowy. No, not the flo. The do up or something. Like, they had these, like, crazy things for women for hair all the time.
But no one's made the blown away hair message. The Eyeball Massager is a real Product and the Breo B R E O I C spelled S E E360 is the actual model. It's available for 160 bucks right now. You can get your eyeballs massage, includes heating pads.
No.
Swear to God. Go Google it. And then the Latte Art Maker. It's available on Alibaba for 1800 bucks. Popular with local places, you can actually do prints of your favorite pictures.
That's cool.
Yeah, that is cool.
I could do that little.
Is this, like, butthole picture? Do we have to do something?
That's what I want on my latte.
Would you like the butthole latte, madam? Mike, what were you saying before? I was.
I am just so stunned with the butthole latte. My mom's gonna call. What did you do today, dear? Well, nothing exactly.
Could you imagine telling your parents you're on a podcast? Oh, I'd love to listen in, dear. Just listen to the last, you know, the last 10 minutes we talk about lattes. Mom. All right, I think Kelsey. Oh, wait.
Elevation point.
Elevation point. All right, Mike, this is the only part of the show that's serious. Everything else you listened up up to this point, my friends, was junk. Now it's the good stuff.
Oh, good.
Let me just find it. Where's my elevation point? Okay. Do I have music for this, Kelsey? Yeah, here it is. There's the music. Okay. The elevation point is where I share something that I think is a value to you. And here's what I want to share. I think the worst people to get support for your new business ideas from Are your friends and how many of us. J Bone, you did this with Hunter recipe. I'm sure you did it with your jewelry company. You go to your best friends and say, hey, I have this new idea. I'm going to make this. This dry rub for different, you know, barbecues and stuff. What do you think? That's so good. And you're like, you would buy this? Like, oh, my God, I buy, like, thousands of dollars of worth. Like, they. They. They stroke your ego. Like, you're making this jewelry. Say, oh, my God, these jewelry parties are insane. I love them. I want more of these. Kelsey, is that what you did?
Is that.
Why do all of Jbone's friends have LISPs? That's what I want to know.
Because all friends has lisps. That's what. That's not. This is the only voice intonation I can do. So, like, yeah, Kelsey, you're like, oh, I'm gonna throw a party for jewelry. And your friend's like, oh, my God, I would totally get this. This is amazing. And you're like, I'll probably charge, like, $500. Like, oh, my God, that's so fair. I think that's wonderful. Right? And then. Then when it comes to running your business, to starting this business, your friend's like, oh, you know, I love the idea, but I have a soccer game I'm going to. Or, you know, like, oh, Jaybone. I love this Hunter's recipe, but I actually just bought stock in McCormick's, and I don't.
They're like, I just woke up and you Snapchat a picture of your hair.
That's even better. I'm sleeping.
I'm blind from my eyeball massage yesterday.
I need to get my eyes repaired while I drink my butthole latte. So the advice here is don't ask friends. Like, the friends are the worst. Cause they have good intentions. That's why they're the worst. You go to a friend with an idea, it might.
They protect you. They're loyal to you.
Yeah. Like, Mike, if you came to me and said, what do you think about my book plan D? Am I gonna say, oh, my God, this is so bad? No. Yeah.
So now don't trust anything he says.
I'm like, mike, this is amazing. I've never read a book, so I don't know.
Except it'll sound more like, this is fantastic.
This book's amazing. Yeah. So your friends lie to you because they want to comfort you. The key is to go to strangers, because strangers who give two shiItakes about you. You. And so you go to a stranger and say, hey, I made this thing called Hunter's recipe. Do you want to buy it? You're like, is that even safe? Like, who are you? And like, you're like, oh, just, you know, you're for jewelry. Like, hey, you know, can we have a party at your house for $500? And like, no, that's the reality. And so if you get a stranger, say, $500 for a party, my house. Yes, I'm in. You have something that's going to be successful. Don't trust friends. Trust strangers. Unlike what Mike's mom used to say.
That's correct.
Good point. Right? All right, Kelsey, we ready for the outro? Is there anything else ready? All right.
I don't think so.
Lay it on me then.
Yeah, again, you can find us on itunes, stitcher, tune, and radio. But please leave us a review.
Yeah, because this was your favorite show ever, right? Was this the best one? Ebba. I mean, entertaining, fun, educational. We ripped apart our guest. I mean, how many shows do that? There's one more thing you can.
I feel complete.
Mike feels complete. You, my dear friends, can take one final action. It's go to my website. It's mikemicalitz.com or mikemotorbike.com if you don't know how to spell polish long, horrific names, go to mikemotorbike.com and get a free copy of my newest book or one of my newer books, surge. All right, let's get the hell out of here. That was horrible.
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