Russ: Good morning. This is the BusinessMakers Show heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com and this is that show that celebrates the private sector – those people that go out there and make it happen and actually improve our lives with their products and services.
John: That's right. We're starting the New Year, as well.
Russ: You bet, 2010.
John: And 2010 and I have an idea. I think in order to protect our way of life, we should go to the Environmental Protection Agency and list entrepreneur as an endangered species.
Russ: Boy, that's a great idea.
John: Isn't that a great idea?
Russ: All right. All right and here's our lineup for this morning. First up for the AFLAC BusinessMakers Flashback. We're gonna roll back to this summer when the man behind the Lean, Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine –
John: All right.
Russ: - was the guest on the show.
John: Yeah. Yeah, what a guy.
Russ: We're talking about former Olympic Gold Medalist and two-time World Heavyweight Champion, George Foreman. It's a fun interview. And then for our featured guest segment, our own Esther Steinfeld headed up to Dallas, Texas, to Nieman Marcus, to interview Tom Patterson, former drug company salesman who set out to make the ultimate undershirt for himself and became the Founder and CEO of Tommy John's Clothing Company. The company defining the body and redefining the undershirt.
John: All right.
Russ: Now there you go. That's real innovation.
John: I know. I mean who would think we need a new type of undershirt out there.
Russ: Y- that's right.
John: I know.
Russ: That's right. Here we go.
John: All right.
Russ: But first – That's right, it's time for The BusinessMakers School of Business and this is not your business as usual school.
John: We have really re-defined what a business school should be.
Russ: Boy have we ever.
John: And not only have we re-defined it, we have actually put it into practice. We've been in business for what, four, five years now?
Russ: Right, educating people all over the planet.
John: Okay.
Russ: Alright and we kick off the School of Business each Saturday morning first with a quote of the day.
John: Quote of the day.
Russ: And this morning's quote comes from the computer game called "Civilizations."
John: Civilization.
Russ: Yeah.
John: The computer game.
Russ: Yeah. Wait 'til you hear this quote, man.
John: Okay. All right.
Russ: You might wanna go play this game.
John: All right.
Russ: "The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy."
John: There you go.
Russ: That's just what we're experiencing today.
John: There's Parkinson's Law that –
Russ: Yeah.
John: - that says time expands and contracts with the time –
Russ: Right.
John: - necessary to do the job.
Russ: And bureaucracy does the same thing.
John: And bureaucracy does the same thing, right.
Russ: Absolutely, man.
John: But it never contracts.
Russ: Never contracts.
John: That's the problem but it just keeps expanding. Like our ever-expanding universe or something.
Russ: Absolutely. Absolutely.
John: Okay.
Russ: All right and that brings us to this morning's history lesson. So tell us what happened in the first week of the year in business history.
John: Okay, we're gonna go back to 1496.
Russ: Okay.
John: Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine.
Russ: Wow.
John: Yeah for much of his life, he was fascinated by the phenomenon of flight. I don't think he was the only one.
Russ: Right.
John: He just was the one that had the brains –
Russ: Right.
John: - brain power to actually, you know, see if he could conquer flight.
Russ: Right.
John: And he wasn't able to do it. His flying machine didn't work but he did have a hang glider design which –
Russ: Wow.
John: - later proved to be successful.
Russ: Wow.
John: Okay, this week in business history, in 1836, Davy Crockett arrives in Texas, just in time to get killed at the Alamo, which is about three months later.
Russ: Boy I see – right. Wow. So he didn't – he wasn't a Texan for very long before that.
John: No, no. He emigrated, as did a lot of people.
Russ: Right.
John: They looked at Texas as a way of starting their lives over again.
Russ: Right.
John: There's a very good book called Three Road to the Alamo, which –
Russ: Okay.
John: - profiles Davy Crockett, William Barret Travis, and Jim Bowie.
Russ: Wow.
John: And you see what failures these guys were, you know, in their lives.
Russ: Right.
John: And they looked at Texas as a way of –
Russ: Wow.
John: - you know, starting back –
Russ: The New World.
John: And Dave Crockett was like that because he – he was a Congressman –
Russ: That's right, he was from Tennessee.
John: One of his famous quotes is, "You can all go to hell and I'm going to Texas."
Russ: Yeah, that's right.
John: Okay.
Russ: All right.
John: This week in business history, in 1838, Samuel Morris made the first public demonstration of the telegraph.
Russ: Wow.
John: Yeah.
Russ: So for a while he was doing it in private, I guess.
John: I guess so. Well –
Russ: Yeah.
John: - he had to experiment.
Russ: Yeah.
John: Yeah, experiment and failure.
Russ: Yeah, you don't wanna step out there in front of an audience not knowing if it's gonna work, right?
John: I know. I know.
Russ: Yeah. Okay, cool.
John: And a lot of scientists/inventors developed their products this way.
Russ: Right, cool.
John: Okay, this week in business history, in 1863, a four-wheeled roller skate was patented by James Plimpton of New York.
Russ: Wow. Whoa.
John: And he was an American inventor. He changed the skating world with his patented roller skates –
Russ: Yeah.
John: - and he also took it one step further when he opened up a roller skating rink – actually some of the earliest rinks – in New York City and Newport, Rhode Island.
Russ: All right.
John: Okay. This week in business history, in 1888 the wax drinking straw was patented by Marvin Stone –
Russ: Man!
John: - who resided in Washington, D.C.
Russ: Man, big day in the Patent Office.
John: Where would be without the drinking straw?
Russ: Big week in the Patent Office.
John: Yeah.
Russ: No kidding.
John: This week in business history in 1920 the New York Yankees purchased Babe Ruth from the Red Sox for an ungodly sum of $125,000.00.
Russ: Wow. Well that might've been big money back then, man!
John: Well they – they did it for two reasons. They realized what a great athlete Babe Ruth was.
Russ: Yeah, yeah.
John: And they also did it because Babe Ruth had the highest won/loss percentage as a pitcher.
Russ: Oh, wow. Yeah.
John: And they – in the major leagues against the New York Yankees.
Russ: Okay.
John: So that took 20 wins.
Russ: Oh wow, took him, took him out of the game for that, yeah.
John: And then the other reason why and we've mentioned this, the owner of the Boston Red Sox was in deep financial trouble and had to raise some cash.
Russ: Okay. Wow. Interesting. All right.
John: And then the curse began.
Russ: That's right.
John: You know, the curse. Okay, this week in business history, 1927 the Harlem Globetrotters play their first game in Hinckley, Illinois.
Russ: Whoa. And now, boy that's a successful business that's still in operation today.
John: Still in operation. Yeah.
Russ: Yeah.
John: Yeah and –
Russ: It's kinda artificial basketball, right?
John: Well, it always was.
Russ: Yeah, right.
John: It's just to see these very talented athletes.
Russ: Yeah.
John: Some of them went into the NBA, you know –
Russ: Yeah.
John: - Wilt Chamberlain was a Harlem Globetrotter.
Russ: Yeah. Right. Right.
John: So.
Russ: Course, some people thought the NBA was kinda artificial when the recent referee kinda turned himself in for fixing and betting on games.
John: Yeah, and then he's blowing the whistle on some other guys.
Russ: Right.
John: So he's allegedly saying or doing some nefarious things in the referee department.
Russ: Interesting. There you go.
John: 1956, this week in business history, Elvis Presley records "Heartbreak Hotel."
[Music: "Heartbreak Hotel"]
Russ: Cool song.
John: Yeah, a lotta guys can, I guess identify with that song from time to time.
Russ: You bet. You bet. You bet.
John: This week in business history in 1956, another big hit, "Don't Be Cruel" and "Hound Dog" single goes Number 1 and stays number one for 11 weeks.
[Music: "Hound Dog"]
Russ: Okay.
John: So he has two big hits in a row, there.
Russ: Wow. So it's like this week in business history, man how many – that was 53, 54 years ago –
John: Yeah.
Russ: - Elvis was happening.
John: That's right. He'd be 75 about this time.
Russ: Wow. Cool. All right.
John: So, yeah. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declares a war on poverty.
Russ: Yeah.
John: And everybody thought that wasn't gonna work but it actually did.
Russ: It did, yeah.
John: 'Cause we all know, if you read the Census Bureau –
Russ: Yeah.
John: - reports and the Heritage Foundation does a very good job of keeping track of things like this.
Russ: Right.
John: But a lot of people who are at or below the poverty line are actually doing all right.
Russ: Yeah.
John: And they have homes. They own their own homes. They – some of them have swimming pools.
Russ: That's right. DVDs. Yeah, air conditioning.
John: Some of them have cable TV and air conditioning.
Russ: Multiple cars.
John: Multiple cars.
Russ: It's a good time to be below the poverty –
John: And some of them even have satellite reception.
Russ: Yeah, that's right.
John: So there's a – you know, I think we should declare a victory.
Russ: Yeah, there's never been a better time to be in poverty than – in the United States –
John: Oh the United States, yeah. Poverty in the United States is a lot better than middle class in some, you know, other countries.
Russ: That's right.
John: So – okay, this week in business history, 1966, another rock group, The Beatles, "We Can Work It Out" single goes Number 1 and stays there for 3 weeks.
[Music: "We Can Work It Out"]
Russ: Another great song.
John: Amazing. Yeah.
Russ: You bet.
John: Okay, this week in business history in 1971, the Globetrotters, how ironic, they lose their first game –
Russ: Whoa. So –
John: - I think this was their first game.
Russ: Yeah.
John: It probably was.
Russ: Yeah.
John: Nobody wants to see the Globetrotters lose.
Russ: Right, to –
John: They lost 100 to 99 to the New Jersey Reds, ending a 2,400 – almost a 2,500 game winning streak.
Russ: Yeah, so quite – you said they were – started in '27, 1927. This is 1971 –
John: Yeah.
Russ: - so this is what, 44, they went 44 years without losing a game.
John: I tell ya the worst job in pro sports is the general manager of the Washington Generals.
Russ: Yeah. It's hard to hang on to that job, probably.
John: Boy, what a gloomy locker room that's gotta be all the time. All right, this week in business history, in 1977, Apple Computers is incorporated and the rest is history.
Russ: Boy, no kidding. Woo.
John: Oh, man.
Russ: All right, cool.
John: Okay, this week in business history, in 1979, K-Mart pulls Steve Martin's "Let's Get Small" for being in bad taste. I think that was a comedy album.
Russ: Oh it was. And I, I guess they said bad taste 'cause that was in the era let's get stoned and he was just kinda making fun of getting stoned by saying, "Let's get small" and I guess the stores back then had a much higher moral compass to live by.
John: Very well put.
Russ: All right.
John: This week in business history in 1980, President Carter announces a U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics.
Russ: What'd you think of that?
John: Um, you know, it's probably the right thing to do.
Russ: Yeah.
John: You know?
Russ: Okay.
John: I mean, it's – those idiots invaded Afghanistan –
Russ: Oh yeah.
John: - and you know to see how far they could push us.
Russ: Right.
John: And he had to do something.
Russ: That's right. Okay.
John: You know, Carter didn't have the nerve to –
Russ: To fight.
John: - to fight, so –
Russ: Or protect Afghanistan. So –
John: - protect Afghanistan.
Russ: - just keep our athletes home.
John: He kept our athletes away and it did negatively affect the Olympics.
Russ: Oh yeah. Big time.
John: Yeah. This week in business history in 1982, the Justice Department withdraws the antitrust suit against IBM, which all started back in 1950.
Russ: And man and was it ever a battle. I – there – I was with IBM from –
John: Sure.
Russ: - in that era. And man it affected everything we did.
John: But you know all those antitrust laws and all that stuff –
Russ: Yeah.
John: Labor laws and everything – that was back in the turn of the century –
Russ: Oh yeah.
John: - when you, you know, steel and coal and all this stuff and now they got the high tech world that a lot of these rules really aren't designed to treat these various industries.
Russ: You're absolutely right.
John: And plus the end of this – a lot of time in these tech suits, like Microsoft, nobody asks has the customer been harmed –
Russ: Right.
John: - by whatever these companies do.
Russ: That's true.
John: It's always again – it's an ant- it's usually an unfavorable competitive situation –
Russ: That's exactly right.
John: - which launches these suits. So –
Russ: That's exactly right.
John: - so who's to say whether these things are good or not, if the customer doesn't get harmed, you know?
Russ: That's right.
John: Okay, this week in business history in 1987, the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame inducts the first female artist, Aretha Franklin.
Russ: Man and she deserved that.
John: Yeah. This week in business history in 1998, Sonny Bono dies skiing at age 62.
Russ: Yeah. I think those skiing deaths happen a little bit more often than we know.
John: I know. I know and I think – that happened about the same time that one of the Kennedy kids –
Russ: That's right.
John: - died 'cause they were playing – they were playing foot- throwing a football down the ski slope.
Russ: That's exactly right.
John: Okay, last but not least, in 1999, this week in business history, former professional wrestler and sometime actor, Jesse Ventura, is sworn in as Governor of Minnesota.
Russ: (Laughter) And that's today's history lesson.
John: That's a – you know, we start off with a bang –
Russ: Yeah.
John: - you know Leonardo da Vinci, and we end up with Jesse Ventura. But, hey we don't make the news here. We just report it.
Russ: That's right. Great history lesson.
John: Thank you, sir.
Russ: You bet. Great job.
John: Okay.
Russ: All right and that brings us to navigating business jargon. It's our vocabulary lesson and –
John: Yeah.
Russ: - where we take the new techno speak, the acronyms and today's case, phrases, and challenge John to guess the meaning.
John: I don't know the word. I don't know what kind of word it is. I just use my mental acuity to try to come up with an answer and sometimes I do it and sometimes I don't.
Russ: And if he does it, he's a winner.
John: Yeah.
Russ: And if he doesn't, he's a loser.
John: I know. So, all you losers out there, I know how ya feel.
Russ: That's right.
John: A lot.
Russ: All right.
John: Okay.
Russ: And I choose the word or phrase.
John: Yeah.
Russ: And I say the word.
John: Yeah.
Russ: And john guesses the meaning.
John: I get, yeah I, yeah, I guess the meaning.
Russ: Yeah, yeah.
John: Sometimes correctly.
Russ: I think – yeah and this morning's word –
John: Yeah.
Russ: - is actually a phrase.
John: A phrase.
Russ: Yeah. You ready?
John: I'm ready, willing and able.
Russ: Going John Galt.
John: Oh, we know what that is.
Russ: Okay.
John: Okay, John Galt is the main character, although you don't see him a whole lot –
Russ: Right.
John: - or he doesn't make himself known –
Russ: Yeah, at all, I think, yeah.
John: - until the end but in the novel Atlas Shrugged.
Russ: You're right, you're right.
John: And what he's been doing all the time in the novel, he visits these entrepreneurs that are being beset upon by, you know, government run amok –
Russ: Yeah.
John: - and he convinces these guys to destroy their businesses. Physically destroy their businesses and then he's got a little hideout where they all go.
Russ: Yeah.
John: And so when you go John Galt, that means you are getting off the grid, killing your business off, and going underground.
Russ: Right and they're doing it sort of to prove a point, too, that "Hey, man you guys have gone nuts with all this government regulation."
John: Well once a government takes – yeah, once the government takes more than 50 percent of your income –
Russ: Yeah.
John: - that's a combination of everything.
Russ: Yeah.
John: I mean, what's the use of working?
Russ: That's right.
John: You know?
Russ: And here's the technical definition. But I'm not – you're a winner for sure.
John: Yeah.
Russ: Here's the tech- going John Galt is the natural consequence of rational business people adjusting to higher taxes.
John: Yeah.
Russ: There you go. And that brings us to dumbest moments. Do you have a dumb moment for us to share this morning?
John: I've got several dumb quotes.
Russ: All right.
John: This comes from a writer, Gordon Crovitz. He writes for The Wall Street Journal, he has an article – the title of the story is "Technology Predictions That are Mostly Bunk" –
Russ: Okay, okay.
John: and he's got some things that prove it.
Russ: Yeah.
John: Here's the first quote. "Inventions have long since reached their limit and I see no hope for further developments."
Russ: Okay.
John: You know who said that?
Russ: No.
John: A Roman engineer, Julius Sextus Frontinus in 10 A.D.
Russ: 10 A.D.
John: 10 A.D.
Russ: Thought, thought we were through. There's nothing new to invent. Okay.
John: That's right, that's right. Here's another one. "The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys," and that was Sir William Preece, chief engineer at the British Post Office, 1878.
Russ: They had messenger boys. What the hell do they need a telephone system for?
John: That's right. Here's a quote from H.M. Warner, of Warner Bros. in 1927. He's famous with the phrase, "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"
Russ: Well now, I think he had something there.
John: Yeah, he has a point, yeah.
Russ: Yeah, right.
John: Okay. Here's one in 1943, Tom Watson, Chairman of IBM, said, "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Russ: Wow.
John: Okay.
Russ: Wow, Tom Watson.
John: And let's see. I got one more here. "The world potential market for copying machines is 5,000 at most," and that's in 1959. IBM executives were saying this to the eventual founders of Xerox.
Russ: Whoa!
John: IBM had a chance to buy that stuff and you –
Russ: And blew it off because they thought the market wasn't big.
John: - yeah, 5,000.
Russ: Boy, IBM sorta took it on the chin here at the end.
John: Yeah.
Russ: 'Course in the beginning, back in the history lesson, they got freed from the shackles of the government antitrust case, so I guess they broke even today.
John: (Laughter) Okay.
Russ: On The BusinessMakers Show.
John: Yeah, they still run a pretty good outfit.
Russ: There ya go.
John: Yeah.
Russ: All right, before we wrap up this morning's School of Business, it's time for the very popular PKF Texas Entrepreneur's Playbook.
John: Ah, there's Greg Price.
Russ: You bet.
John: Okay, here we go.
Russ and John: A one and a two and a –
Greg: This is Greg Price with PKF Texas' Entrepreneur's Playbook. Software as a Service or SAAS as it's commonly referred to is here to stay. The question is whether many software and infrastructure providers can properly take advantage of such a strategy for their businesses.
Recent studies have indicated that SAAS made up about 1% of the $18 billion IT management software market during 2008 and projections are increasing to 10% by 2013, by which time many SAAS brands will be well established. The most successful SAAS product offering known to date is salesforce.com, which experts are predicting will top $1 billion in revenue in the near future.
And recently these same studies indicated that many Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) are also becoming more aware of, and accepting of these environments.
Here at PKF Texas we have recently joined the SAAS world through a combination of our ERP application Dynamics NAV and our SAAS business partner SAAS Plaza. We can now offer our customers and prospects a choice between owning their own application and infrastructure, or, providing an alternative SAAS solution. We will have more on the topic of SAAS and NAV in the future, but if you are interested in such a solution for your business, contact us.
To read and comment on the PKF Texas' Entrepreneur's Playbook, visit my blog, fromgregshead.com. PKF Texas – The Fit That's Right!
Russ: All right and that wraps up this morning's School of Business. Stay tuned in for the AFLAC BusinessMakers Flashback with George Foreman, the man behind the Lean, Mean, Fat Reducing Grilling Machine and then our featured guest segment as Esther Steinfeld headed up to Dallas and interviewed Tom Patterson, the Founder of Tommy Johns Clothing Company. You're listening to The BusinessMakers Show, heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com.
