Russ: Good morning. This is the BusinessMakers Show, heard here and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com. And this is that show about those that most positively affect our lives, the innovators, and entrepreneurs.
John: That's right, Russ. We're here in the crack of dawn, 0 dark 30, talking about what we like to talk about the most, and that's the people who drive the economy, people who take the risks and create so many great things for us.
Russ: You bet. And here's our lineup for this morning. First up, we have Walter Ulrich, president and CEO of HTC. He's gonna be followed by Paul Preson, founder of HTC. And they're gonna be coming to us from HTC's 2010 Gulf Coast Innovation Conference and Showcase. That's gonna be followed by Mark Scimemi of PFK, talking about this year's tax situation and the tax conference. And then our featured guest, BJ Farmer, founder and CEO of CITOC. But first... That's right. It's time for the BusinessMakers School of Business. This is that part of the show where we have specially selected curriculum to help our listeners out.
John: Right.
Russ: And, man, do we ever have a partner here, because we are powered by Champion Energy Services.
John: I know. And they really put electricity into this broadcast.
Russ: You better believe it.
John: It's electric out there.
Russ: You bet. And you people can hear us because of Champion Energy Service.
John: That's right.
Russ: But Champion Energy Services is the one that is totally focused on showing you exactly what you're paying for.
John: That's right. Just think of that. A bill you can understand. Wow.
Russ: And it works very well on a comparative basis with others. So Champion Energy Services. All right. And we kick off the School of Business each Saturday morning with a quote of the day.
John: Quote of the day.
Russ: Today's quote comes from Jay Leno from The Tonight Show. And here it is. "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. Teach a man to create an artificial shortage of fish and he will eat steak."
John: That's right.
Russ: Now, normally, our quote doesn't promote unethical behavior. But he's a comedian, so what the heck.
John: It's a joke. That's right. It's a joke.
Russ: It's a joke.
John: Lighten up out there. Okay?
Russ: That's right. All right. And that brings us to that very popular section of the School of Business, this week in business history, what happened in this October week in business history, John?
John: This week in business history, a little known entrepreneur named Christopher Columbus sailed across the ocean blue and hit land. He thought he was hitting China or Japan or something, but, of course, he was hitting an entire chain of continents.
Russ: Right.
John: Ferdinand and Isabella, the king and queen of Spain, gave him some venture capital to do the trip, and - although he died penniless, people remember Columbus for his courage and his skill in finding a new world.
Russ: Absolutely. And let me - so that was like 518 years ago.
John: Wow. Cool.
John: Yeah, right. Okay. This week in business history, Keynesian is born. Of course, Keynes was an economist who said if the government pumps money into the economy during a downturn, it'll bring the economy back. This person's name, of course, is John Kenneth Galbraith was born this week in business history. He got a lot of accolades, two-time presidential Medal of Freedom winner, wrote a lotta books, made a lotta money. But I read somewhere - I think it was the Wall Street Journal, the headline was that he was a brilliant man who was always wrong.
Russ: That happens. That happens.
John: Well, he espoused this Keynesian theory. If anything, I mean, this is a perfect example of what we're going through.
Russ: We're living it.
John: Hey, we're living it, right. And it's not working. Right?
Russ: Right.
John: It's not working. Okay. Moving right along, this week in business history in 1911, Henry Ford is granted Patent No. 1,005,186 for the automatic transmission.
Russ: Wow. Well -
John: Back in 1911. How 'bout that?
Russ: Thank you, Henry Ford. An automatic - it's fun to shift a manual transmission.
John: Yeah, when you're out on the open road and - but if you're Downtown Houston and you're stuck in traffic -
Russ: Day-to-day driving -
John: Yeah, right.
Russ: - we all need automatic transmission.
John: And you burn out that clutch in -
Russ: There you go.
John: - nothing flat. Okay. This week in business history in 1935 on October 11th, to be exact, is the birth date of two renowned soul men, Sam Moore of Sam and Dave is born. And then Luciano Pavarotti was born. They never had a chance to sing together.
Russ: No, they did not.
John: 'Cause Pavarotti did some duets with Frank Sinatra.
Russ: Did he, really?
John: Yeah.
Russ: Wow.
John: This week in business history in 1941, Paul Simon is born, the famous songwriter, balladeer, best known for his partnership with Art Garfunkel. Together, they had a lotta big hits, including "Here's to You Mrs. Robinson," did the soundtrack for the movie The Graduate.
Russ: Oh, yeah. Now did either of them ever sing with Luciano Pavarotti?
John: No. They did sing with John Kenneth Galbraith. All right. Also, this week in business history in 1941, the first traffic jam in Russian history.
Russ: Okay.
John: It was one of those one-of-a-kind traffic jams.
Russ: Yeah. 'Cause I guess there weren't a whole lotta cars there, were there?
John: No. But the German Army has invaded Russia and they were right on the doorstep of Moscow.
Russ: So everybody that had a car -
John: - car, got the hell outta there. Now the only people that had cars were people who ran the country. So you know they were running - they were driving for their lives. Okay. This week in business history in 1947, a famous West Virginian, Chuck Yeager, breaks the sound barrier. And he actually became the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound, which means, breaking the sound barrier. Everybody thought at one time once you hit that 662 mile-an-hour speed, the whole plane would break apart. And for the longest time, those planes did fly apart. If you saw that movie The Right Stuff, right at the beginning when they're out there in California test flight - these test flight.
Russ: Yeah.
John: But the Bell X-1A, which was the plane that he flew, managed to hold itself together.
Russ: But there was lots of speculation, wasn't there, on what would happen if you broke the sound barrier. Some people thought you'd just have bad luck.
John: Or you'd break out into song.
Russ: Right.
John: This week in business history in 1950 - this is an interesting story - the first use of a commercially available pager. Now the creator the first commercial pager was Sherman Amsden, born in 1889, and a native of Michigan. And he had a family emergency. He couldn't locate his doctor. What happened was he started one of the first telephone answering company, called Tell and Answer Phone. And what that was is people would call in to see if they had any messages and people would call that - somehow that company would capture any messages. So they would call in to see if they got any messages. Then later on, it was changed to where you would call in and your pager number would be read off to you, and then that way you knew you had a call, too.
Russ: Wow.
John: This week in business history in 1975, I would say not only first Saturday Night Live aired, but that was the year, and the year following where it was the funniest.
Russ: What a crew that was.
John: Yeah. Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, and Gilda Radner.
Russ: Oh, they were incredible.
John: They were incredible.
Russ: So Saturday Night Live started 35 years ago this week.
John: I know. Yeah, 35 years ago this week.
Russ: Interesting, cool.
John: Okay. Well, actually, this week in business history, in 1976, the "Disco Duck," a song which was a satire, a sendoff of all the disco music that was going on, tops the charts. All right.
Russ: So that wraps up the history lesson?
John: I guess. That's all I got.
Russ: Yeah.
John: All right. From Columbus to "Disco Duck."
Russ: All right. All right. Great lesson. Good lesson. All right. And that brings us to the jargon challenge round.
John: All right.
Russ: Also known as our vocabulary lesson.
John: I think I lost last week.
Russ: I think you did.
John: Yeah.
Russ: Yeah.
John: It was a mystical -
Russ: But -
John: What a debacle that was. 'Cause I don't know the word before you say it.
Russ: That's right. We do this in a contest format.
John: That's right.
Russ: I get to choose a word, or as John always likes to point out, I get to make up a word.
John: Yeah, or someone else make up the word.
Russ: Right. And I say the word and then John guesses the meeting. No wagering, please.
John: Yes.
Russ: And you've been doing so well, that I've gone back to the Oxford English Dictionary. But these are words that were - that people nominated that were turned down.
John: Oh, I may know these 'cause I read the same article.
Russ: All right. All right. So -
John: Go ahead.
Russ: - you've got an advantage, but this one is tough.
John: All right. _____.
Russ: You ready?
John: Yeah.
Russ: Dunandunate.
John: Dyanandinate.
Russ: Dunandunate.
John: Doneandinate.
Russ: Done. Let me spell it for you. D-U-N-A-N-D-U-N-A-T-E. Dunandunate.
John: Dunandunate. That means you're done andonating. I got it.
Russ: No.
John: "Hey, what are you doing over there?" "Oh, I'm almost done andonating over here. Leave me alone." I have no idea.
Russ: It's pretty cool.
John: I'm not even gonna venture a -
Russ: It's the overuse of a word or phrase that has recently been added to your own vocabulary. You've seen people that do that. Suddenly, they figure out how to use a particular word and then you hear it in every other sentence.
John: Yeah. Oh, I see.
Russ: They're dunandunating.
John: Yeah. I gotcha.
Russ: All right?
John: 'Cause they're trying to impress you -
Russ: Absolutely.
John: - with a fancy word. All right.
Russ: Yeah. People are always trying to impress you. You should have known that. All right. And that brings us to dumb moments in business. Have you found one for us or are there just not any more of 'em?
John: No. No. There's no shortage. I'll tell you, every day there' s something stupid going on in business. And it's overshadowed, of course, by all the great things that the free enterprise system brings to us.
Russ: Right. But we're showing that we're level programming guys.
John: That's right. We're - it's a balance thing and nobody has a monopoly on idiocy.
Russ: Right.
John: Right?. So, okay. Here's one for ya. We all know CNN has had its problems of -
Russ: I'd say so.
John: - of dumb moments.
Russ: I think our listenership is higher than theirs right now.
John: I think it is. Well, I know the Cartoon Channel -
Russ: Is beating 'em?
John: - I read somewhere has higher ratings than CNN.
Russ: Than CNN?
John: And here's why. They premiered a show recently featuring Elliot Spitzer. Now Elliot Spitzer was the sheriff of Wall Street, they call it, which is the dumbest thing you can - I mean, 'cause he never really convicted anybody. He would just destroy their reputations thinking they had done something.
Russ: Right. And he did that as attorney general up there, right, and later became governor.
John: Yeah. And then -
Russ: And then he lost everything.
John: He lost everything 'cause he Client 9.
Russ: Right.
John: That's what his call girl service that - he put the girl on a train and brought her down to Washington DC and thought he wouldn't get caught. Of course, he did.
Russ: And there was kind of a call girl service, exactly the kinda thing he was going around busting people -
John: That's right. He was very prudish about this kinda thing unless it was his own -
Russ: Right. And then it was okay.
John: It was okay, yeah. So anyway he had a TV show. It was recently debuted, and -
Russ: On CNN.
John: On CCN. And wouldn't you know that the ratings were lower than the show that he replaced. The show he replaced The Rick Sanchez Show.
Russ: Well, he's been thrown out.
John: He got trouble for mouthing off and accusing -
Russ: John Stewart, wasn't it?
John: - and claiming that the Jews ran the media or something like that. So that killed him off. So CNN, what they do is they think, "Well, we'll get Elliot Spitzer and have him do a show." And he partnered with another person. But so that show reached about 454,000 viewers nationwide. Now this is a national TV show. And for some reason, CNN did not allow Spitzer to do any publicity for his show, so that was another dumb thing.
Russ: Why is that?
John: Well, I don't know. _____.
Russ: They want to keep it a secret. Maybe it's that best kept secret method of marketing.
John: Yeah. Or they call it a soft launch or the fact that they didn't want anybody asking 'em any Client 9 questions while he was out there promoting the show. So anyway -
Russ: All right.
John: - CNN.
Russ: That qualifies. Okay. 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 Mr. Greg Price.
[PKF Entrepreneur's Playbook]
Russ: All right. That wraps up this morning's School of Business. Stay tuned in for our interviews with Walter Ulrich, president and CEO of HTC, and Paul Preson, founder of HTC, followed by Mark Scimemi of PKF, focusing on the upcoming tax conference, and then our featured guest, BJ Farmer, founder and CEO of CITOC. You're listening to the BusinessMakers Show, heard here and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com.
