Russ: Good morning. This is the BusinessMakers Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com, and this is that show about those that make our lives better. We're talking about the make it happen entrepreneurs.

Esther: That's right Russ. It's really exciting to see all the incredible things that are going on in the economy right now. Businesses are popping up all over the place.

Russ: You bet; and for those of you who don't recognize, that's Esther Steinfeld.

Esther: Not John Beddow this week.

Russ: Not John Beddow, host of the BusinessMakers Overtime; and she's sitting in today and I thank you for being here.

Esther: Of course.

Russ: You bet; and here's our lineup for this morning. First up for the Aflac BusinessMakers Flashback, earlier this week we were at one of Microsoft's offices and I got to sit down with Senior Developer Evangelist, Zain Naboulsi. And we talked about the importance of online reputation. And then for our featured guest segment I am going to visit with Scott Fordham, experienced businessman, consolidator, entrepreneur and now president and CEO of Champion Energy Services. But first... That's right. It's time for the BusinessMakers School of Business, and since you've been a substitute professor before Esther, I don't think you'll have any problem at all with this, will you?

Esther: Mmm, I don't know.

Russ: (Laughter) Alright, we'll see. We kick it off each Saturday morning first with the quote of the day. And this morning's quote is from someone that I don't really think a lot of, but I like this quote. It's from Donald Trump. And the quote's about investing, but I think it applies quite well to the world of entrepreneurship. His quote is, "Sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make."

Esther: Mmm.

Russ: Now I've had that same experience before in startups and startups that I didn't start up. After it was over, I was glad that I didn't.

Esther: That makes a lot of sense.

Russ: You bet; alright. That brings us to this week in business history and that's your part of the curriculum Esther. So what happened during this business week in history?

Esther: I'm gonna learn you people.

Russ: There you go.

Esther: Here we go. This week in business history in 1854, George Eastman was born on the 7/12 in 1854 in Waterville, New York. He did more than anyone else to popularize photography. Eastman's family was poor, his formal education was cut short when he did have to start working at the age of 14. So a decade later, Eastman planned a vacation to the Dominican Republic and a friend suggested to bring along the camera. Suddenly fascinated, Eastman began to work on simplifying photography so that ordinary people could swiftly take pictures which ultimately resulted in many improvements to the quality and speed of photography.

Russ: Okay George Eastman created that company that has done a magnificent job of turning to the digital world, which you know very well because you sat down recently with Mr. Jeffrey Hayzlett.

Esther: Sure did.

Russ: He's fun isn't he.

Esther: He's great. I had a lot of fun at that interview. It was a good one.

Russ: Alright, continue on.

Esther: This week in business history in 1907, Orville Redenbacher, popcorn king, he was born in Brazil, Indiana - eww, that's a weird name -

Russ: Yep.

Esther: - and grew up on his family's farm where he sometimes sold popcorn from a roadside stand. In childhood, he joined 4H and developed an obsession with developing the perfect popcorn.

Russ: Well from what I hear, he spend a lot of time trying to find that perfect popcorn.

Esther: And he did a good job.

Russ: Yeah, I mean it's good, but there's a lot of good popcorn these days too.

Esther: Mmm, well how about this. This week in business history in 1934, Continental Airlines commences operations.

Russ: Cool, and we've had that top guy here, Gordon Bethune, the guy that took them from a worst to first and he is my favorite entrepreneur that we've had here on the show.

Esther: Interesting.

Russ: Great guy. You bet.

Esther: This week in business history in 1939, Frank Sinatra made his recording debut. How about that?

Russ: Well, and he seemed to do quite well in that category, right?

Esther: Yeah, he did okay. This week in business history in 1951, J.D. Salinger 's only novel The Catcher in the Rye is published by Little Brown this week in 1951.

Russ: No kidding.

Esther: The book about a confused teenager, disillusioned by the adult world, is an instant hit and will be taught in high schools for half a century, although I do know some schools ban it.

Russ: Yeah.

Esther: The 31-year-old Salinger had worked on the novel for a decade. His stories had already started appearing in the 1940s, many in The New Yorker. The book took the country by storm, selling out and becoming a "Book of the Month Club" selection. Fame did not agree with Salinger who retreated to a hilltop cabin in Cornish, New York, but he continued to publish stories in The New Yorker periodically. Salinger stopped publishing work in 1965 and died at his home New Hampshire on January 27, 2010. He was 91.

Russ: Yeah, now, did you in your generation, were you required to read Catcher in the Rye?

Esther: Not required, but I read it.

Russ: Okay. It was required reading when I was there. I just loved it. I mean it was kind of the - I read it in middle school. It was like the first real kind of novel I read that, "Hey, this is fun reading about this guy Holden Caulfield, wasn't that his name?

Esther: Holden Caulfield, that's right.

Russ: You bet; cool.

Esther: This week in business history in 1969, Rolling Stones releases "Honky Tonk Woman".

[Music: "Honky Tonk Woman"]

Russ: What a song, gee, man.

Esther: That's right. That one's lived on forever.

Russ: (Laughter) Yes, well now quite a few of theirs have, but that one definitely has, man, woo!

Esther: This week in business history in 1979, disco is dealt a death blow. Woo, I don't like the sound of that. As the 1970s came to an end, the age of disco was also nearing its finale. But for all of its decadence and over-exposure, disco didn't quite die a natural death by collapsing over its own weight.

Russ: Not at all. (Laughter)

Esther: Instead it was killed by a public backlash that reached its peak this week in 1979 with the infamous Disco Demolition Night at Chicago's Comiskey Park. Oh my gosh, that incident which led to at least nine injuries, 39 arrests and the cancellation and forfeit of a major league baseball team is widely credited or, depending on your perspective, blamed with dealing disco its deathblow.

Russ: Oh, it was unbelievable! It was a rock radio disc jockey team that had the idea, took it to the owners of the White Sox, they thought, "Hey this is good. We'll bring in a few more people.

Esther: Just kill disco off.

Russ: But it brought in like an extra 25,000 fans who all brought disco records to the game and they were gonna blow them up between a double-hitter. Now I think as the story goes, they started throwing them out in the field and it was a mess. So much chaos developed between the two games that the White Sox had to forfeit the second game -

Esther: Oh my gosh.

Russ: - and disco was dead. Yeah, right. (Laughter)

Esther: Oh, sad about that. This week in business history in 1984, Walter Mondale, the leading democratic presidential candidate announces that he has chosen a running mate and she is Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York.

Russ: Right, the first female running for a high office like that, wow.

Esther: That's right. She's the daughter of two Italian immigrants and she gained notoriety as a vocal advocate of women's rights in Congress.

Russ: Right, right. Kind of an interesting time. They didn't fair very well in the general election -

Esther: No they didn't

Russ: - but it was interesting times, that's for sure.

Esther: This week in business history in 1985, at Wembley Stadium in London, Prince Charles and Diana officially open Live Aid, a worldwide rock concert organized to raise money for the relieve of famine stricken Africans.

Russ: Oh yeah, now were you able to watch rock concerts in 1985?

Esther: Um, I was two, so no. But I did watch the reincarnation of Live Aid which happened last year I believe. Worldwide concerts everywhere. It was very cool.

Russ: But this one was pretty incredible because it was on television all day because it was launched in London, and I know it was Phil Collins was the only musician that played both in London then got on the Concord and flew to - I think Philadelphia was the US thing - and then appeared in Philadelphia as the drummer for Led Zeppelin.

Esther: That's pretty awesome.

Russ: And it on and on and raised tons of money, you know, for the starving people in Africa. It was a major success and quite an interesting day in rock history.

Esther: This week in business history in 2003, this is a sad day - well it depends on who you talk to.

Russ: Right.

Esther: AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape Communications Corporation. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day and they have proven to have a very successful product which you probably use called Firefox.

Russ: Absolutely. Well the whole Netscape thing is such an interesting story. I mean they were a very successful IPO and kind of exploded in the world. But then all of a sudden this little company out of Redmond, Washington started taking customers away. What a story. So 2003, so that means that's the last item for this week in business history, is that right?

Esther: That's it.

Russ: Okay.

Esther: It's all I got.

Russ: Thank you very much.

Esther: Hope you learned something.

Russ: No, it was a good, good history lesson. Thank you very much.

Esther: Mm-hmm.

Russ: And that brings us to our Jargon Challenge Round and this is that part of the show, it's more like a vocabulary lesson.

Esther: I'm gun-shy from the last time I did this.

Russ: Well it's tough to be in your position on this because by contract, the person in Esther's position is always charged with trying to guess the meaning of these new words that I get to go out and find. And the way it works is that I say the word and then Esther has to guess a meaning. Are you ready?

Esther: I think so.

Russ: This is not gonna be easy either.

Esther: Oh great.

Russ: The last one you did was easier.

Esther: Well I'll let you know I'm really scared because the last one you told me I was definitely gonna get.

Russ: Right, because wasn't it something like bingmaster or something or bing it was about?

Esther: Yeah, bingster.

Russ: Yeah bingster, that's what it was. So if you didn't get bingster I doubt if you're gonna get this. But it's permalancer.

Esther: Someone who permanently freelances?

Russ: You got it! We've got a winner!

Esther: Is that right?

Russ: You bet! It's a combination of permanent and freelancer, so Esther is a winner.

Esther: Ooo, ooo, ooo!

Russ: (Laughter) Way to go, I'm impressed.

Esther: You know what, I actually thought to myself, "Answer this question like don't read too much into it."

Russ: Well you did great.

Esther: Just - simple answer.

Russ: Permalancer. Woo, I am impressed. Alright, and before we wrap up this morning's School of Business, it's time for the very popular PKF Texas' Entrepreneur's Playbook. So let's welcome Greg Price on the piano.

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

I was attending a CEO roundtable discussion the other day and a question was asked of me, "What is the biggest challenge facing owner/entrepreneurs these days?" That's a pretty broad question because as an owner/entrepreneur myself I see many of you facing a wide variety of challenges from cash management, to inventory control, to human capital decisions, income tax issues, governmental regulation and beyond. Each day is a battle, and it's a battle for survival. Most likely as an owner/entrepreneur such as yourself impacts the lives of several people each day by the decisions you make.

However, I do see one item more often than not, which I would put in my Top 3 issues for an owner/entrepreneur. That issue is simply known as Business Intelligence, or an effective Business Reporting Tool.

In reviewing my client's existing processes something comes to my attention and I ask, "Why Do We Do That?" Usually after much dialog the answer usually is "...well that's the way we have always done it..." And sometimes that way, was designed 20 years ago, when systems and processes were limited and not functionally complete.

If you are doing things at your company because that's the way you always did it, I would suggest you take the time to determine if it's still the best way to address the task. Or, are your processes limited by your knowledge, business applications and infrastructure support. Now is the time for maximum investment potential.

Getting Business Intelligence requires a commitment to understanding your business, people, processes and your technologies.

To read and comment on the PKF Texas' Entrepreneur's Playbook, visit my blog, fromgregshead.com. And be sure to check out the new mobile ready website at PKF Texas.com - PKF Texas, The Fit That's Right!

Russ: Okay and that wraps up this mornings School of Business. Stay tuned in for the Aflac BusinessMakers Flashback, where we will review our visit earlier this week at Microsoft offices, where I got to sit down with Senior Developer Evangelist, Zain Naboulsi and talk about the importance of online reputation. And then for our featured where I sit down with Scott Fordham, experienced businessman, consolidator, entrepreneur and now president and CEO of Champion Energy Services. You're listening to the BusinessMakers Show heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com.