Russ: Good morning. This is The BusinessMakers Show, heard here and online at TheBusinessMakers.com. This is that show about the people that create economic value for the world. We're talking about the innovators and the entrepreneurs.

John: Yes. I would say the innovators and entrepreneurs are the ones that we're really counting on during this uncertain economic time. I will also add that election. What do you think about the outcome?

Russ: Well, I think it's time for ch-ch-changes.

John: Yes, I agree, but we don't know what we're changing to.

Russ: Well that's right.

John: Barack Obama had a lot of policies he wanted to put in effect, but that was what he was saying during the campaign. A lot of that has to do with taxes on the most successful people in our society so he can give the money to other people. There's also some other things involving labor unions and the card check they call it, which prohibits secret ballots when they're organizing for a particular company or organization. Yes, for unions. But it's going to be difficult to see whether that stuff ever comes into fruition or not, but we have to be looking at that.

Russ: Right. But it is pretty cool that we have the second black President in our history now.

John: The second, that's right, Bill Clinton was the first.

Russ: That's right, and this is the second one.

John: Yes. I wonder if there's going to be a food fight or whatever and the White House mess when they get together.

Russ: I'm sure there will be. All right, and here's our line up for this morning. As we've mentioned in the last couple of weeks, the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine recently announced that their choice for this year's Best College and University Entrepreneurship Program went to the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Houston. So, for our featured guest with this morning, I'm going to share with you a discussion I had earlier this week at the University of Houston with Dan Steppe, the Director of the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship. But before that, for this morning's Aflac BusinessMakers' Flashback, we're going to share excerpts from interviews with other leaders of university-based entrepreneurship programs. First, Professor Thomas J. O'Malia, the Director of the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurship at USC; Dr. Leonard Schlesinger, the newly inaugurated President of Babson College in Massachusetts; and then finally, with Bill Sherrill, the founder of what is now the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Houston. But first... That's right, it's time for The BusinessMakers School of Business, and this is definitely be the...

John: Right, those other schools.

Russ: Well, it's different, we may want to name it after the successful entrepreneur. What do you think it's worth?

John: Maybe a hundred dollars a week.

Russ: That's right.

John: You go naming rights here, and you also get a luxury suite here at the studio.

Russ: That's correct. Good. Creative working there. All right, and we kick off The BusinessMakers School of Business every Saturday morning with the Quote of the Day. It's good, it fits the time. Here's this morning's - "Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity, not a threat." I think it's kind of advised that entrepreneurs and this time.

John: I like it whenever you have a quote that's really not that inspiring that you immediately come to its defense after you say it. That's just one of hundreds of thousands of quotes about change and opportunity, and I'm tired of this change stuff. I can tell you, if I hear that word one more time, I'm going to leave the studio and throw up, and I'm not coming back.

Russ: Right. I just think...

John: Don't use that word.

Russ: I'm not going to use it in this sentence. I just think it's time for our innovators to learn to play the hand they've been dealt and play it well, because that's all you can do.

John: That's actually a better statement that your official...

Russ: Love the hand that you've been dealt. I'd consider that a nice compliment.

John: It was. It was meant to be a compliment.

Russ: All right. Good. And that brings us to This Week in Business History. What happened in the second week in November in business history?

John: We are chockfull of stuff here, this is great. This week in business history in November 8th, 1895, a German scientist named Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen discovers x-rays. Now, think about that type of invention.

Russ: Yes, but think what it was like before when they had no way if you had a broken bone, they had no way of determining where the break was.

John: Where they'd cut you open.

Russ: They would cut you open. Right.

John: Just think how many lives have been saved, just by early detection of things, too. Forget about the broken bones, just x-raying the lungs and other vital organs. It's huge. He received numerous accolades for his work. Actually, he got the Nobel Prize, the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901. They never try to patent the discovery, he was kind of universal [xx] in that regard.

Russ: He didn't care.

John: This week in business history in 1904, in November 8th, Harvey Hubbell II - this is equally as important invention here - actually patented the electrical plug. Before he came along, the only things that were using the electricity were light fixtures. So he'd developed this plug where you can put in the light fixture will have a place where you can also plug in something else. Before that came around, whatever you had that you wanted to run off electricity, you had to integrate into the wiring of the house.

Russ: You had to be an electrician, but the plug, cool. Big deal, man.

John: It was a big, big deal.

Russ: Okay, all right.

John: Okay. This week in business history - this is also a big deal here, - November 11th, this week in business history in 1918, Word War I ends at 5 a.m. in the morning.

Russ: I would say it's a huge deal.

John: Germany ran out of soldiers and supplies and money and the Allies were ready to invade, they thought, "Well, we better..."

Russ: It would be a good time to throw in the towel. Ninety years ago this week. Wow!

John: 1961, Brian Epstein sees the Beatles perform for the very fist time. It's a long shower of show. The guy goes and has lunch and boom.

Russ: Sees the Beatles.

John: Epstein arrived in his pin stripe suits, announced by house DJ Bob Wooler, as someone rather famous.

Russ: Well, that's right. Cool.

John: Now, we go from the beginning of the Beatles until the damn near the end of the Beatles. This week in business history, November 9th, 1966, John Lennon meets Yoko Ono. We all know what happened after that, she destroyed the Beatles.

Russ: Yes, she did.

John: She's on her way of destroying the Beatles. If John hadn't met Yoko, the Beatles fly would have been flying at least another two or three years.

Russ: They might be on tour today.

John: They might have a reunion tour or something.

Russ: They would have but John Lennon is dead.

John: John Lennon is dead.

Russ: Yes, but if he hadn't met Yoko, he might not be dead.

John: That's right because he might been living somewhere else. November 12th, let's move on to an American singer, 1966. This is one of my favorite singers, I got to tell you, Johnny Rivers was at number one in the US for only one week, "The Poor Side of Town." That's a great song.

Russ: Okay, good sounds there.

John: Speaking of good sounds, we move on to 1975, also in November, the actual wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Russ: The ship, this is when it went down.

John: That's when it went down in Lake Erie. We all know about Gordon Lightfoot. Moving on to another weirdo here, in November 14th, 1996, this week in business history, Michael Jackson - I really used to like that guy, and he's great.

Russ: I bet you still do.

John: I don't know what happened to that nose of his, but it's not doing too good.

Russ: So what happened?

John: He actually got married, marries his second wife, Deborah Rowe.

Russ: I bet it's such a romantic marriage.

John: Yes, they had two kids, and then they divorced three years later, then they married somebody else. I don't know, the guy, it's hard to explain what he is.

Russ: Does that wrap up our history?

John: I'm afraid that's it.

Russ: Wow!

John: I told you it's jampacked.

Russ: Yes. We went from x-rays and wars to Michael Jackson.

John: To Michael Jackson.

Russ: That brings us to navigating business jargon and this is our vocabulary lesson.

John: Pay attention out there.

Russ: We don't recommend using these words but we like you to know what they mean.

John: What the heck you mean?

Russ: There you go. As always, I say the word and John tries to guess it.

John: I don't know it, and please practice this word before you use it. I use this a lot.

Russ: This one is interesting. Are you ready? It's a noun.

John: Not a person, place, or thing. It's something you made up on the way in.

Russ: It could be. I wish I could claim it, but I can't. Okay, here it is. It's "wardrobing."

John: Okay. It's obviously by your standards, it doesn't really mean by how it sounds.

Russ: No, it does.

John: That is a process of taking your clothing and putting in a special place with other clothing, and meanwhile, you're in the process of wardrobing.

Russ: No, we got loser. It's the practice of purchasing an item such as a piece or clothing or device, using it briefly and then returning it to the store for a refund.

John: I've a very close person to me who does that.

Russ: Does it all the time.

John: He's ... to do it. I didn't know there's a word for that.

Russ: It's sort of a fraudulent way.

John: Yes, it's dishonest. It's just like shoplifting.

Russ: If you like it.

John: These aren't clothing rental stores.

Russ: But in shoplifting, you don't bring it back. In wardrobing, you actually bring it back. So it's not as bad as shoplifting.

John: I'd say it's worse.

Russ: Well, so be it. All right, that brings us to dumbest moments in business history. Did anything happen?

John: This happened in Houston, Texas, "Yours is a very, very bad hotel." Early morning hours, back in November, two gentlemen from Seattle, Washington arrived at the Doubletree Club Hotel.

Russ: I know the story.

John: It's a Hilton. They had guaranteed reservations.

Russ: Which is only about a quarter of a mile from the studio that we're in.

John: That's right. They were not only got ticked off that the rooms weren't available that they had gotten, but there were no rooms. To make it worse, the desk clerk was not very warm about it, he's an idiot. This is what happens with bad customer service. So they got together and made this PowerPoint presentation that eventually went all over the Internet. I've got one of the slides here, I'm going to hold it up to the microphone so you can see it there.

Russ: Yes, the bottomline is the Internet allowed these dissatisfied customers to broadcast to the world their terrible experience, and it killed the hotel. They changed their name.

John: They have quotations from night clerk Mike and then finally, the revenue loss at the Doubletree Club Houston. Watch who you tick off these days with bad customer service.

Russ: It's about four or five years ago, I think, when it happened. It's a classic. Great story. Thank you very much. Before we wrap up The BusinessMakers School of Business, it's time to bring in Greg Price and his orchestra to do what he does, The PKF Texas' Entrepreneur's Playbook.

Greg: This is Greg Price with PKF Texas' Entrepreneur's Playbook. If you're like most entrepreneurs, you started your company because you saw an opportunity in the market. You developed a plan to capitalize on that market and put a team together to implement your plan. As your business grew, perhaps, distance started to grow between you and the people that make things happen in your business. Communications started to break down, and before long, your business became the job you left to start your company. How do you get your business back on track?

Keep it simple. What separates you from your competition and makes your clients keep coming back? What is your sustainable, competitive advantage or SCA? Gather your management team and list the things that make your company great. Is it service, technical know-how, unique product? Whatever it is, expand on it and work to make it even better. Use that SCA to drive your marketing efforts. Take a hard look at your operations and analyze what could or should be done to improve. Ask yourselves, what are the latest innovations in your industry? What procedural changes should be in place to make your product or service flow better from order to delivery? Do you have access to timely and accurate information from your financial system allowing you to make good decisions.

To read and comment on the PKF Texas' Entrepreneur's Playbook, visit my blog FromGregSaid.com. PKF Texas, the fit that's right.

Russ: That wraps up the School of Business this morning. You're listening to The BusinessMakers Show, heard here and online at TheBusinessMakers.com.