Russ: Good morning. This is the BusinessMakers Show heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com, and I love to emphasize the makers.

John: That's right, Russ. Not to say that some good doesn't come out of the public sector every now and then, but it's the private sector, the go-getters, the athletes, the artists, the gallant knights of the free enterprise system - these are the entrepreneurs, the business class -

Russ: They're the ones making it happen.

John: They're the ones that actually come up with the idea, assemble the capital, assemble the people, assemble the wherewithal and then build products and services that people like and want.

Russ: You bet, and here's our lineup for this morning. First up for the Aflac BusinessMakers Flashback we are going to revisit one of our most popular informational interviews when we had business lawyer Chris Colvert on the show telling us the pros and cons to incorporating as a S Corporation as apposed to a C Corp. And then for our featured guest segment our own Esther Steinfeld and Katie Laird will be interviewing Laura Capper, founder and CEO of Cap Resources, the consulting company that specializes in launching new ventures. But first... That's right. It's time for the BusinessMakers School of Business, and this is not your business as usual school.

John: No, it's a little unusual, as a matter of fact.

Russ: And we kick off the School of Business each Saturday morning with a quote of the day.

John: Quote of the day.

Russ: And today's quote comes from Will Rogers.

John: Will Rogers, yes.

Russ: I think you'll like this one, John.

John: I hope so.

Russ: Alexander Hamilton started the U.S. Treasury with nothing, and that was the closest our country has ever been to being even.

John: That's right.

Russ: [Laughter] In the very beginning, man.

John: Yeah, there are a couple of times in the history of the government that - where it did operate at a surplus.

Russ: Yeah, but I think we weren't ever catching up anyway.

John: Right, right. The one big time was Andrew Jackson when he sold a bunch of land.

Russ: That's right.

John: Okay.

Russ: And that brings us to this week in business history. What happened during this first week in February in business history?

John: This week in business history: In 1863, Samuel Clemens becomes Mark Twain for the first time. Now he wasn't schizophrenic. He just wanted a good nom de plume that he could pen his articles and have a catchy name and, of course, he worked on the riverboats for a long time and Mark Twain is a riverboat term used to determine the water depth.

Russ: Yeah, cool.

John: Okay. This week in business history: In 1865, Congress passes the 13th amendment abolishing slavery in America. This week in business history: In 1876, Albert Spalding with $800.00 starts a sporting goods company manufacturing the first official baseball, tennis ball, basketball, golf ball and football.

Russ: Wow. He must have known something then... [Laughter]

John: I know. I don't think he manufactured them all at one time, but he could have.

Russ: But he could have, but he started manufacturing sporting goods at that time. Cool.

John: That's right. This week in business history: In 1884, the Oxford Dictionary debuts. Now this isn't some happening where a bunch of guys sit around and say, "Hey, let's make a dictionary a year from now," you know. This was a 40-, 50-, 60-year process we're talking about.

Russ: Okay. Wow. Wow.

John: And it also involved a man named W. C. Minor who was a significant contributor to the process of putting together this dictionary. He was an inmate at the Broadmoor Asylum for the Criminally Insane.

Russ: You're kidding.

John: Yes, he was involved in this whole process and there was a book written about that called Murder, Mayhem and the Oxford Dictionary.

Russ: In an asylum for the criminally insane.

John: That's right. He murdered somebody and he was a civil war surgeon prior to all this and -

Russ: All right, cool.

John: Okay. This week in business history: In 1901, the loop-the-loop centrifugal roller coaster was patented by Ed Prescot. It was perfected on a roller coaster because he knew he had to change the perfect circle into an ellipse because a perfect circle would create too many G forces on the hapless riders.

Russ: Right.

John: And so who knows what would happen - nose bleeds. Who knows what side effects would happen. So he put it into an ellipse making the ride a little more comfortable yet still terrifying for the first person to ever ride the thing.

Russ: Okay. Well, yeah, I know some ellipses that seem like they're -

John: 'Cause they're taller.

Russ: God, yeah.

John: They're taller, but I've ridden the ones that are a little - you know, perfect circle.

Russ: Yeah. Wow.

John: Moving on, in 1928, this week in business history, scotch tape is first marketed by the 3M company.

Russ: My goodness.

John: This week in business history: In 1940, Glenn Miller and his orchestra record "Tuxedo Junction."

[Music: "Tuxedo Junction"]

John: Yeah, he died during World War II in a plane crash. Never found the plane; never found the body.

Russ: You bet. Good.

John: This week in business history: In 1958, the United States launches its first satellite, Explorer I.

Russ: And that was our answer to Sputnik, right?

John: That's right. Yeah. This week in business history: In 1959 is the week the day the music died when the American rock stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson are killed when their Beechcraft Bonanza plane crashes in Iowa a few minutes after takeoff. What a day that was.

Russ: Yeah. I mean then there was like interesting kinda developments that day. It wasn't even - Waylon Jennings was supposed to be on it -

John: He was supposed to be on.

Russ: - and he gave up his - yeah.

John: He gave up his seat. Of course, that whole day, that whole incident, is immortalized in the Don McLean version of what happened and how it happened in the song, "American Pie."

[Music: "American Pie"]

John: This week in business history: In 1961, Houston voters approved the bonds to finance the Luxury Dome Stadium, later to be known as the Houston Astrodome.

Russ: And it lasted a long, long time.

John: It did; it did. It's pretty bad right now. Yeah.

Russ: Well, what's the status of those bonds now?

John: Well, some of them have probably been paid off because there have been improvements to the - every year.

Russ: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

John: This week in business history: In 1964, Indiana Governor Matthew Walsh has too much time on his hands and tries to ban "Louie, Louie" for obscene lyrics.

[Music: "Louie, Louie"]

Russ: Yeah, the old Kingsmen hit, man.

John: Louie, Louie, oh, baby, we gotta go.

Russ: And, boy, that controversy really, really helped their sales and -

John: Oh, yeah. All it did was help them sell more records and, you know, I've listened to that song so many times. I don't really - I don't know what he's talking about.

Russ: Yeah.

John: All right. This week in business history: In 1965, the Righteous Brothers' song, "You've Lost That Loving Feeling," hits number one.

[Music: "You've Lost That Loving Feeling"]

John: That was a duo that could belt out a tune.

Russ: Boy, they could.

John: Man, they were good.

Russ: They were. They were kind of - all right.

John: This week in business history: In 1974, Barbra Streisand's first number one hit, "The Way We Were."

[Music: "The Way We Were"]

Russ: Nineteen seventy-four, so that was 36 years ago. Wow. Sheesh.

John: I know. That was a pretty good movie, actually, with Robert Redford, although it was kind of a goofy ending, but anyway. This week in business history: In 1977, Radio Shack officially begins creating the TRS-80 computer.

Russ: And it surprised a lotta people that, boom, they were getting into the home computer business.

John: This week in business history: In 1977, Fleetwood Mac "Rumours" was released.

[Music: "The Chain"]

Russ: And what a big seller that was, man. Now, Malcolm Gladwell likes to talk about that, too, in one of his presentations.

John: Why is that?

Russ: About how so many people thought, "Wow, there's this cool new bad, Fleetwood Mac, released this neat, neat album called "Rumours." And in reality, it was like their 24th album release, you know. They'd been trying to hit the big time for about 20-plus years and they finally did, you know, and in fact, Malcolm Gladwell's point is is that he doesn't know if society is patient enough anymore to let a band play for that long and try for that long. The instant gratification that is so popular these days doesn't allow that.

John: This week in business history: In 1990, the first McDonald's in Russia opens in Moscow.

Russ: I wonder if that store is still open.

John: This week in business history: In 2004, I would say one of the most disappointing halftime shows ever in any football game was when Janet Jackson's breast is exposed during the halftime show resulting in U.S. broadcasters adopting stronger adherence to FCC censorship guidelines. I'd say that'd be a good reason to re-look at those censorship guidelines, but it was no big deal really.

Russ: Yeah, I know.

John: I know.

Russ: But it was the first ever televised wardrobe malfunction, right?

John: Yeah, they called it a wardrobe malfunction, and I was just hoping it could have been maybe another singer, you know, that could really show off -

Russ: A better-looking breast.

John: If someone's breast is gonna be shown, you know, make it, you know, something more interesting.

Russ: Well, I understand what you mean by that, but I never understood why they called it a malfunction because Justin Timberlake went over there and pulled it off, right?

John: Pulled it off, right. Yeah.

Russ: So if it had not malfunctioned, would that mean he wouldn't have been able to pull it off?

John: But haven't you ever been caught up in the moment doing something and you regret it later?

Russ: [Laughter] Yeah. You think that's all it was?

John: I don't think we can blame Justin Timberlake, but then again maybe we could.

Russ: So that wraps up this morning's history lesson?

John: Well, it unwraps because of the wardrobe malfunction.

Russ: All right. [Laughter] Good job, as usual.

John: All right. Okay.

Russ: And that brings us to navigating business jargon, our vocabulary lesson. The way that this works is that it's a contest, and I get to choose the word, and I say the word and John does his best to guess it.

John: 'Cause I don't really know the word.

Russ: That's right.

John: I mean this is not an act, ladies and gentlemen. It's the way it is.

Russ: And this morning's word is a noun. Here's the word.

John: All right.

Russ: Warmist.

John: Warmist.

Russ: Warmist. Warmist.

John: And how do you spell it?

Russ: W-A-R-M-I-S-T.

John: Warmist. Okay, mist is a cloudy, amorphous, highly humid cloud that you can barely see through and warm is a - something that is also amorphous in a way because when something's warm -

Russ: All right, I'm gonna help you.

John: Okay.

Russ: You divided it in the wrong place. Warmist, ist, warmist.

John: Oh, I get it. Okay, okay. Well, a warmist is somebody who's warm and has a lisp.

Russ: [Laughter] No, no. I thought for sure you would get this one.

John: No.

Russ: It's a person who believes that the current global warming trend is the result of manmade factors.

John: Oh, okay. All right.

Russ: And you're definitely not a warmist.

John: No.

Russ: Nor am I.

John: Nor are you, yeah.

Russ: Nor am I. Right. Sorry, you got that one wrong so you're a loser today. All right. And before we wrap up this morning's School of Business, it's time for the very popular PKF Texas Entrepreneur's Playbook.

John: And here he is. I'll tell you, the guy is always on time and always in a good mood.

Russ: That's right.

John: Here he is.

Russ: Greg Price on the piano.

Greg: This is Greg Price with PKF Texas' Entrepreneur's Playbook. Recently the business conversation has shifted. While process improvement is imperative and waste reductions should be a routine part of your business activity, you can only cut costs so much. The top line of your business eventually must carry the next wave of improvement.

New business will be harder to come by over the next few years. Now is the time to decide what type of customers you want going forward. Not all business is good business. Think about your best customers. This is an opportunity for you and your management team to develop a list of critical factors characterizing a good customer for your organization.

Client selection criteria is important, and will guide your sales team to ask the right questions to make sure future prospects are "good customers." With that information, you can contact referral sources to help identify and approach prospective "good customers."

Identify from your existing client base your "A", "B", "C" and "D" customers. What can you do to move the "B" and "C" customers to "A" customers? Do you have too many "D" companies in your client mix? Can you move your unprofitable "D" customers to your competitors? Have this discussion at your annual workshop. Your sales and business development teams should be familiar with what makes a good, profitable customer.

As we start to find our way out of the recession abyss, think about ways to build your business with the right kind of customers. Hopefully, you will begin to "guard the front door" and build a solid business based on an "A" client portfolio.

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

Russ: And that wraps up this mornings School of Business. Stay tuned in for the Aflac BusinessMakers Flashback where business lawyer Chris Colvert shres the pros and cons to incorporating as a S Corporation as apposed to a C Corp. And then for our featured guest segment our own Esther Steinfeld and Katie Laird will be interviewing Laura Capper, founder and CEO of Cap Resources, the consulting company that specializes in launching new ventures. You're listening to the BusinessMakers Show heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com.