Russ: Good morning. This is the BusinessMakers Show heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com. This is that show about those that enrich our lives with their innovation and entrepreneurship.

John: Not only do they enrich our lives. I think they protect our society because if it weren't for these people the government would take over everything. These are the creators. These are the athletes. I call them the gallant knights.

Russ: I agree. All right, and here's our lineup for this morning. First up for the Aflac BusinessMakers flashback, we're gonna roll back to the beginning of the summer when I went out to Los Angeles and interviewed Brian Liu, co-founder and former CEO of LegalZoom. Brian's a great storyteller and the visit to their headquarters revealed how much the BusinessMakers has in common with LegalZoom, which has led to us forming a pretty cool partnership. So if you're doing everything you can to make your money go as far as possible in launching your new company, definitely consider LegalZoom. In fact, go to thebusinessmakers.com/legalzoom and check out how to save even more and promote your company. Next for our featured guest segment this morning I have the privilege to sit down with two-time world heavyweight boxing champion of the world and the guy that champions the lean, mean, fat reducing grilling machine, and author of Knockout Entrepreneur, none other than George Foreman, but first... that's right, it's time for the BusinessMakers school of business. This is not your business as usual school.

John: This is better. The reason why I know it is ‘cause I've learned more by the research we do than I ever would've learned and I'm sure you would agree more than you ever learned by sitting in a classroom hearing some guy who's probably never run a business.

Russ: You bet. This is real world stuff here. We kick it off each Saturday morning with a quote of the day, and this one's kind of dated, but by the same token it's not dated. It's by Newt Gingrich, but he's talking about Dan Rather and he's really talking about the mainstream media news anyway and how negative they are about everything. Here it goes. "If Thomas Edison invented the electric light today, Dan Rather would report on the CBS news as ‘candle making industry threatened."

John: That's right, and "Poor hardest hit."

Russ: That's right. The poor are hardest hit because of electricity. They're gonna be stuck in the –

John: It's not gonna be affordable to everybody right away. Only rich people can afford it, but the rich paying for electricity, that trickles down and makes it more affordable for everybody later on.

Russ: That's right, but he probably thinks we should outlaw it. All right. That brings us to this week in business history. What happened during this September week in business history?

John: Okay. We're starting out in 1814. We all know about the War of 1812 and I guess one of the key parts of that, no pun intended, was when the British attacked Ft. McHenry up in Baltimore. Francis Scott Key penned the poem, which later set the music. Actually the music was a bar song sung in bars, but it was the beginning of the "Star Spangled Banner."

Russ: I'll drink to that.

John: I've been to Ft. McHenry. You ever been there.

Russ: No I haven't.

John: It's a beautiful site and you can see that these British ships must've been pretty close, but the flag was still there after the bombardment and Francis Scott Key was right in his poem.

Russ: Okay. In 1814.

John: This week in business history in 1851 the first issue of the New York Times appeared and a couple of reporters from another paper decide to start their own newspaper, which is very nice.

Russ: So that would be 148 years ago.

John: 148 years ago and that first day the paper came out, this week in business history. The second day had all the corrections in it, which is how you've got to read the New York Times. No matter what day you're reading the paper make sure you read the next day ‘cause that's when all the corrections. Remember when Walter Cronkite died?

Russ: Yeah.

John: They had a 10-inch correction the next day. They had 20 factual errors about Walter Cronkite. I'm not kidding. It could've been 10. It could've been 20. I didn't keep count. I was too busy laughing to keep track of it.

Russ: This is a good history lesson. I mean this is good business school stuff. Our listeners might not know that you need to look at all the corrections the next day.

John: We're doing this as a public service. This week in business history in 1901 Peter Cooper Hewitt receives a patent for his vapor lamp, which is a forerunner of the fluorescent lights, which the government is trying to get us all to buy.

Russ: Yeah, forerunner to the compact fluorescents, which are now kind of mandatory lights.

John: And since they've got gas in there they're probably more dangerous than the incandescent lights they're trying to get us not to buy.

Russ: They don't use as much electricity, but the danger goes up about tenfold.

John: Yeah when you destroy them. If you're anywhere near one of those things when they're broken you'll die.

Russ: You have to haul ‘em far away to throw them away.

John: This week in business history in 1908 car manufacturer General Motors is founded, GM.

Russ: Also known as Government Motors.

John: That's right. Boy, how the times have changed. This week in business history in 1923 Hank Williams is born, Hank Williams Sr. that is. You talk about an icon of country music. He had a lot of great hits, but he died at 29 years old. That's amazing. Some of his famous hits were, "Your Cheating Heart", which is my favorite, "Jambalaya", and this one.

[Music: "Hey Good Looking"]

John: This week in business history in 1925 Riley King, also known as BB King, was born. Blues guitarist, songwriter, and won a Grammy award for this song.

[Music: "The Thrill is Gone"]

John: This week in business history, you've seen the movie The 7 Year Itch, right?

Russ: Oh yeah.

John: Okay. You know that one scene where she's standing on a subway grate and the skirt blows up? It's iconic. I tell you, it's iconic. Well that happened this week in business history. Unfortunately for her, Joe DiMaggio her husband was watching the film being seen and he divorced her a couple months after that happened.

Russ: That happened this week in 1954.

John: In 1954.

Russ: So that was 55 years ago that her skirt blew up.

John: That's right. This week in business history in 1955 a TV show called The Toast of The Town becomes The Ed Sullivan Show. Ed Sullivan was a columnist. He was not a TV guy.

Russ: He didn't look like a TV guy.

John: Right. He was a hunched over, skinny, scary looking guy, but he was able to book all these great acts. He had a knack for knowing what was hot with the public and he always got ‘em on the show, The Beatles –

Russ: It was a variety thing too when he'd bring in some gymnastic people and some plates spinning.

John: He had a guy with the pie plates and the marquis chimps and the Topo Gigio, The Beatles.

Russ: The Doors, The Rolling Stones.

John: That's right, and Jackie Mason who almost ended his career ‘cause he came out and it was either after Elvis Presley or after The Beatles and he was so torked off ‘cause people were still screaming, I forget what group it was, but to try to get that rock group back on and he walked off the show and almost killed his career.

Russ: Well and it was a live show too, wasn't it?

John: I bet they did delay it like 5 seconds or something.

Russ: I don't know. Back then I don't think they did. This is good news for our millennials. They need to learn this stuff, man. They didn't see the Ed Sullivan show.

John: I don't think our millenials want to know this stuff.

Russ: That's probably true. [Laughing]

John: All right. This week in business history in 1960 OPEC is founded, a cartel of oil producing countries banded together thinking they could fix price and supply and all that.

Russ: They did for a while.

John: In 1973 they were very successful in doing it. We had gas rationing and all this.

Russ: We had long lines at gas stations.

John: Since then the individual countries that make up OPEC have more than their national interest at stake and they are trying to look out for each other and they've been rather ineffectual. This week in business history in 1962 the Four Seasons have their first number one hit, "Sherry."

[Music: "Sherry"]

John: Have you seen the show Jersey Boys?

Russ: No, but I know you did and you said it was incredible, right?

John: Very biographical, great music. You gotta go see it.

Russ: They have guys that actually sing like the Four Seasons?

John: Yeah. They found these guys that sing like the Four Seasons including Frankie Valli, that high falsetto voice. This week in business history in 1966 the minimum wage goes $1.40 an hour.

Russ: If they'd have just left it there we'd probably be okay. [Laughing] Or why didn't they shoot it way up?

John: Why didn't they do like $1,000.00 an hour?

Russ: They should have. Everybody would be much better off now. Everybody.

John: This week in business history in 1969 Santana's first album enters the U.S. charts. It contains these songs, "Evil Ways", "Jingo", and "Soul Sacrifice."

[Music: "Evil Ways"]

John: I never was a big Santana fan until he resurrected his career. Then it sounded pretty good.

Russ: They really are. I saw him in 1969. We didn't even know who he was.

John: Okay. This week in business history in 1985 one of the best video games if not the best video game of all time, Super Mario was released by the Nintendo corporation.

Russ: Now you were a Super Mario fan.

John: I love Super Mario and that was back in the days when it was easy to play the games. Now there's so many buttons on the console I can't come near...

Russ: Do you still play Super Mario?

John: No.

Russ: Well that's a shame.

John: I know. It's a dirty shame. Okay. This week in Business History in 1996, the Gillette Company announce that they merge with the battery giant Duracel.

Russ: Yea. And immediately you needed batteries for your razor.

John: I know. It's funny how that works out.

Russ: Yea. You had to have...

John: A battery operated razor, I had one of those.

Russ: I did too. You have a vibrating razor now.

John: I know and your whole head shakes.

Russ: I know.

John: All right. This week in business history in 1997 Apple Computers finally admits they screwed up and they bring back former CEO Steve Jobs to run the company during a search for a permanent leader.

Russ: But remember when they brought him back in '97 it was just temporary and he's still there and he's completely changed and jettisoned the company forward and I think –

John: When I say artisan athletes I kind of think of him. This week in business history in 1997 Ted Turner does it again. He gives $1 billion to the United Nations, one of the largest single charitable gifts in history and he didn't really announce he was gonna do it before he did it. Kofi Annan was completely surprised by the whole thing, which is probably good for Ted and the UN because Kofi has been known to dip his beak in the fund I think. So he didn't have time to organize his graft, but $1 billion, I can't think of many more organizations that are more inefficient than the U.S. government, but I think the UN is probably –

Russ: The UN qualifies. They take the cake.

John: Yeah. Well they take about 10 percent of the cake.

Russ: All right. [Laughing] Does that wrap up this morning's history lesson?

John: Hey, that's enough isn't it? You want some more? I can make some stuff up.

Russ: No. No. That was great. Good lesson. Thank you very much. That brings us to our vocabulary lesson also known as navigating business jargon because we try to do our best at keeping our audience up to date on the new words.

John: That's right, and I got to caution the audience. We haven't done this in a while. please practice the use of these words before you use them in public because if you don't get the timing right or you don't quite get the definition right or the application of the word to the situation you're talking about you could really get in a lot of trouble.

Russ: Well I've been thinking about that too. You haven't given that warning in a long time. I hope nobody's been getting in trouble out there.

John: Well if they have been that's not our fault anyway.

Russ: Well okay, all right, but boy, they really need that warning today. It's a tough word. The way that this works is that John just sort of has to come in here without any knowledge.

John: I do not know the word or the phrase or the acronym or whatever the heck it is.

Russ: Today's actually gonna be a hyphenated word, which can really cause problems. The way it works is I selected, obviously I've already selected it ‘cause I know it's got a hyphen in it, and then I say the word, Say the Word and then John tries to guess the meaning of the word.

John: I attempt to correctly guess the meaning. Sometimes I don't know the meaning. I mean I don't know the meaning ever, but sometimes I don't get it right.

Russ: Sometimes you don't even agree with it when you do know it. Please no wagering.

John: Void where prohibited by law.

Russ: Okay. Are you ready?

John: You bet your booties.

Russ: Twitdissed.

John: Twitdisk.

Russ: Twit-dissed.

John: Okay. A twit is kind of an idiotic person, so when you diss an idiotic person, you've twit-dissed a guy.

Russ: No. let me give you a little hint ‘cause this one is tough. First hint is I picked this up a few nights ago on Twitter and it was tweeted by a former guest on the show, Steve Laethem of Spur Interactive. Now does that help you?

John: He didn't like someone's tweet, so he sent back another tweet that dissed a guy that just tweeted.

Russ: I think I'll give you a winner, but in Steve's defense he didn't twit diss anybody. He on Twitter told everybody, "Here's a new jargon, twit-dissed that means being dissed on twitter via insult or even un-followed." I follow you expecting you to follow me and you don't.

John: Isn't that awful?

Russ: Or you follow me and you un-follow me. That brings us to dumbest moments. Do you have a dumb moment to share?

John: Yeah. This goes to show what can happen if we turn the healthcare over to the government. I mean I'm sure that some things will be covered that are legitimate like a ruptured spleen or the willies might get covered.

Russ: Oh, what about the heebie jeebies?

John: The heebie jeebies I'm not sure that will be covered, but one thing in Scotland is covered, they have a very similar system, which our current administration I think aspires to ‘cause Scotland is part of Great Britain in some ways. They spent about $2.5 million or in their currency it's pounds, about 1.5 million pounds, they spend about $2.5 million on sex change operations up there.

Russ: Socialized medicine paying for sex change operations?

John: Yeah right. They have waiting lines of course for other things, but if you want your sex change –

Russ: You can get it right away.

John: Yeah. They have 5,000 transsexuals in the United Kingdom up there, which is a lot. 5,000 of anything is a lot. If people in Scotland wanna complain about this, if they don't think it's fair then they ought to quit wearing those kilts ‘cause people who –

Russ: You think that has something to do with it? [Laughing]

John: Well yeah. You start wearing those dresses and hey, this isn't bad. This feels pretty good. No wonder women are smiling all the time when they're wearing their dresses. Maybe I can be a smiler too. Anyway, that just goes to show what's gonna happen here.

Russ: Absolutely. Some guys are waiting for a kidney transplant and can't do it ‘cause somebody is doing a sex change. Well I hate to end up on that downer note, but –

John: We didn't say we'd be Pollyanna-ish with the school of business. We're here to tell it like it is.

Russ: You're right. All right. Before we shut down school for the day it's time for that very popular PKF Texas entrepreneurs playbook, so let's welcome Mr. Greg Price on the piano.

Greg: This is Greg Price with PKF Texas' Entrepreneur's Playbook.

As we enter the fourth quarter of the year, many businesses have begun their budget process for next year. Take this opportunity to look at where your money is going. Many companies tightened their belts in 2009 and aren't sure if and where to cut for 2010.

Now is the perfect time to start negotiating with your vendors. Often businesses sign contracts and don't look at them for years. Or, they ignore incremental increases and don't check for competitive pricing.

Can you negotiate a lower advertising rate? What insurance plans are available for your size company? Is there a way to decrease your printing costs by bidding out a job? Can your vendor offer a bundled deal if you use multiple products? Ask about new products that might be a better fit for your company.

By negotiating with your vendors now, hopefully you can free up some cash flow for next year.

To read and comment on the PKF Texas' Entrepreneur's Playbook, visit my blog, fromgregshead.com. PKF Texas - The Fit That's Right!

Russ: That wraps up this morning's school of business. Stay tuned in for the Aflac BusinessMakers flashback when we re-visit our interview with Brian Lu, co-founder and former CEO of Legal Zoom, and then our featured guest segment with two-time world heavyweight boxing champ, George Foreman. You're listening to the Businessmakers Show heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com.