Russ: This is the BusinessMakers Show heard here and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com. This is that show that champions those that make it happen. We're talking about the entrepreneurs.

John: That's right. These are the ones that really make the economy go and grow and despite the best efforts of some people in Washington to prevent that from happening, these people kind of overcome those odds. Not unlike the same odds they've had to overcome to get their business started in the first place -

Russ: You got that right -

John: They have an indomitable spirit that is hard to hold back.

Russ: Very well said.

John: Yeah.

Russ: And here's our lineup for today. Our featured guest is Matt Biespiel, senior director of global brand development at McDonald's Corporation. Man, global brand development -

John: Yeah; ________ --

Russ: -- for McDonald's is a pretty big thing.

John: Yeah, a lot of missionary work all over the globe -

Russ: Absolutely.

John: -- keeping McDonald's fresh and in the mind's eye of potential customers everywhere.

Russ: Alright. But first. That's right. It's time for the BusinessMakers School of Business and this is our specially selected curriculum.

John: That's right. Specially selected.

Russ: Specially selected.

John: We just don't go somewhere in a filing cabinet and just pull out a bunch of papers and say this is it.

Russ: That's right.

John: We spend a lot of time and our staff -

Russ: That's right.

John: -- that really puts in most of the time.

Russ: That's right.

John: To make sure that this is a curriculum that'll make you grow up big and strong.

Russ: That's right.

John: Yes.

Russ: And sometimes what they pull out spurs on all kinda' new stuff that just came right out of your head. Sometimes out of my head, too -

John: That's right. Well yeah, that's the best stuff.

Russ: Yeah, it is.

John: The best stuff is just the stuff that matriculates out of our noggins.

Russ: Yeah, that's right. Right. We kickoff the School of Business each day with a quote of the day. I know you'll agree with this one. It comes from Phelps Adams.

John: Who?

Russ: Phelps Adams.

John: Is he any relation to Grizzly Adams?

Russ: I don't know. He might be. He really might be -

John: The pioneer.

Russ: But listen to this. Capitalism and communism stand at opposite polls. Their essential difference is this: the communist seeing the rich man in his fine home says, "No man should have so much." The capitalist seeing this same thing says, "All men should have as much."

John: That's right. Yeah, how can I get some of that stuff?

Russ: That's the difference. That's right.

John: That's right. Hell with everybody else.

Russ: That's right.

John: Just kiddin'.

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

John: Well we started out with one of the most famous murders and assassinations in the history of world history.

Russ: Okay.

John: And this week in 44 B.C. That's 44 years before the birth of Christ.

Russ: Right. That's way back.

John: Yeah, that's a long time ago.

Russ: Isn't it?

John: Julius Caesar, he was dictator of the Roman Republic. He made a couple of bad moves. Number one, he started believing that he was a god.

Russ: Yeah.

John: And number two, he made himself dictator of the Roman Empire for life.

Russ: Yeah.

John: Which means his life was gonna be cut short because there was a big fight going on within the Roman Empire about whether they should have a dictator or whether they should have a republic and there was this going back and forth and the republicans, not to be confused with the Republican Party today -

Russ: Not the GOP.

John: Not the GOP, but the republicans decided we do not need another dictator in this place so they assassinated the poor guy.

Russ: Took care of him.

John: Stabbed him 24 times and as irony would have it, he fell dead in front of the statue of Pompey who was one of his rivals.

Russ: Oh my God.

John: Because the Roman Empire was governed by a triumvirate at one time and Pompey was one of the people, Julius Caesar was another and nobody can remember who the other guy was. _________ that's a little Roman history there for ya'.

Russ: And then he got a real warning, too, right? Beware the ides of March __________ -

John: Well according to Shakespeare. Nobody really knows. Shakespeare wasn't there.

Russ: You don't think he was there?

John: He could have been warned. And another thing. Caesar is quoted as saying and it's in the Shakespearean play, Julius Caesar. They're all having dinner and Caesar says -

Russ: Please pass the biscuits.

John: Pass the biscuits. No. He says, "The fate lies not in our stars but in ourselves."

Russ: Ah.

John: That's another famous quote.

Russ: And that's probably Shakespeare and not Caesar -

John: Well you don't know 'cause nobody was there. They didn't have tape recorders.

Russ: That's right.

John: Okay. This week in 1493 Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his first New World voyage.

Russ: Wow.

John: I don't know whether he came back in the Pinto, the Maria, Santa Maria or whatever the other boat was called, but -

Russ: The QE II.

John: The QE II or the Starship Enterprise or whatever, but they had a very successful first voyage. He wanted to be an entrepreneur. He wanted to have the rights to develop whatever was developing over there, but that didn't last very long.

Russ: Well it was probably a real joyous occasion and a surprise for the people in Spain. They didn't know until then what had happened or what he had seen.

John: Right, right, yeah.

Russ: And they probably didn't believe what he said for awhile.

John: Well I think they probably did 'cause he probably brought back evidence. He probably brought back some indigenous people. He thought they were Indians 'cause he thought he was in India. He didn't know where he was.

Russ: I wonder what they thought of Spain.

John: Who? The Indians?

Russ: Yeah.

John: They probably thought it was a pretty cool place.

Russ: They might have, yeah.

John: That's probably a lot of sensory overload, but who knows who he brought back or what he brought back. We're just reporting a fact that he returned to Spain this week in business history.

Russ: And then we're extrapolating from there.

John: We are hypothesizing and extrapolating.

Russ: Right.

John: Okay. This week in business history in 1794, this actually kinda' marked the beginning of the industrial revolution is when Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin.

Russ: Yeah, that was huge.

John: And before this machine came along, ginning cotton, removing the seeds from the cotton ball was a very time consuming, laborious process.

Russ: Right.

John: And even with slavery it was - and that's how the - the crop barely paid for itself and they had to use labor they weren't even paying. So if it hadn't have been for the cotton gin they say slavery would have been abolished a long time before 1863.

Russ: And the gin really increased productivity.

John: Right, yeah. You make gin out of a lot of things. I didn't know cotton - I don't know how good that tastes. I'm assuming you'd have a pretty dry mouth after drinking a pint.

Russ: That's right. Well do you think that cotton candy was a derivative, too, from the gin?

John: Ya' know come to think of it I think the cotton candy gin 'cause you've seen how you go to the fair and the stuff's just blowin' out and the seeds are in the bottom down there.

Russ: That's right.

John: Okay. This week in business history in 1830 the New York Stock Exchange slowest day ever. Only 31 shares traded.

Russ: That's pretty slow.

John: I wonder how many companies that represented.

Russ: Well, I betcha' there were quite a few, but still it's amazing.

John: Alright. This week in business history in 1881 Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth opens and pretty good show back in those days -

Russ: Well for that, talk about sensory overload. If you went to the circus and saw that compared to everything else you saw, it was huge.

John: Yeah. What else would there be to -

Russ: Nothing.

John: Nothing. No TV, no movies.

Russ: No You Tube.

John: No You Tube.

Russ: No iPod.

John: No Charlie Sheen on the internet melting down. I mean there were people that melted down, but nobody ever _________ --

Russ: Nobody knew it

John: Nobody knew it, right. Okay. Alright. This week in business history, 1892 the first escalator was patented by Janet Reno.

Russ: Janet Reno.

John: Excuse me. Jesse Reno.

Russ: Her grandfather.

John: Yeah, her grandfather -

Russ: Janet's grandfather.

John: He was an entrepreneur. He didn't want any part of the law or becoming an attorney general or anything so he got in the escalator business.

Russ: And he didn't like the elevator. Ya' get in there and he had claustrophobia.

John: Yeah, right. He shunned the elevator 'cause he was an outdoors type. He didn't wanna be - plus he had a much better escalator pitch than his elevator pitch. So he was able to get funding a lot easier for that, yeah. This week in business history in 1971. This is interesting. Here's a Rolling Stone, they leave England from France so they don't have to pay taxes -

Russ: Well 'cause England was taking all of it though once you got up into their earnings. I mean like 98 percent wasn't it?

John: I know. That's pretty high. So they go to France. So I guess -

Russ: I think the Stones were always capitalistic.

John: They might have been.

Russ: Because Mick went to the London School of Economics. That's where he got his degree.

John: That's true. This week in business history in 1985 the first internet domain name is registered; Symbolics.com.

Russ: 1985. How would somebody have known? We oughta' start picking these up all over the place and sellin' 'em.

John: Well that's like what's his name, Ostrosky. We had him on the first year, remember?

Russ: Oh yeah, yeah.

John: What a way to make your money. He just guesses right on what names to accumulate.

Russ: Well he also guessed early.

John: Guessed early and right.

Russ: Yeah. Then after they were all taken he would get into the business of buying them.

John: Yeah, right.

Russ: Thinkin' well this is a good deal. I can sell that ten years from now for 10X.

John: That's right and that's what he did.

Russ: Yep.

John: Okay. This week in business history in 1991 Apple Computer head Steve Jobs weds Laurene Powell.

Russ: Well it's kinda' turned out pretty good for her, but boy they're dealing with some challenges of his -

John: Some health issues, yeah.

Russ: Boy.

John: She's gonna be a rich widow here I think ________ --

Russ: Well that could be where it leads unfortunately 'cause he's got pancreatic cancer. You don't know too many people that can carry that one around -

John: My father had that and lasted about three months.

Russ: Well that's what usually happens.

John: Yeah, I know. It's a death sentence. Hopefully he'll pull through 'cause he is one of the most creative entrepreneurs out there.

Russ: Absolutely.

John: When I say entrepreneurs are the artists of the free enterprise system, he personifies that.

Russ: Yeah, he's the king artist. You bet.

John: And finally this week in business history, client number nine, Elliott Spitzer, former New York State governor - course he was the governor at this time - resigns after scandal involving it says here high end prostitute. I think that's a contradiction in terms _________.

Russ: It's an oxymoron.

John: Oxymoron. Actually he was violating the Mann Act almost because he was transporting women across state lines 'cause she was getting on the train coming down to D.C. As a result he had to resign. Actually it was because of his resignation that the TV show, The Good Wife, came on.

Russ: Is that what spurred that on?

John: That's what spurred that show on.

Russ: Wow.

John: It's one of the top shows on TV right now.

Russ: Is it? I've not watched it -

John: Yeah, I watch it. It's pretty good. But anyway, David Patterson becomes acting New York State governor. He was performing on Broadway so he had good experience becoming an actor and a thespian. So he became the acting New York State governor.

Russ: Have you seen them play him on Saturday Night Live?

John: Yes, I have.

Russ: And then he showed up live -

John: He showed up on Saturday Night Live -

Russ: That's the best thing to do when ________ in front of you -

John: Well he was in acting. He was acting you see. Line please, line. He's there in front of the New York State Assembly. He goes, "Line, line."

Russ: That wraps up this morning's history lesson.

John: I'd say that's a pretty good lesson there -

Russ: Yeah, it is.

John: Julius Caesar -

Russ: From 44 B.C. -

John: Talked about the Roman Republic and a lot of people didn't know that - and the triumvirate. There were two cases of triumvirate in the Roman Empire. That was the one. The other one is after Julius Caesar is assassinated, then Augustus Caesar and - split the empire up with Mark Anthony.

Russ: So that wouldn't be a triumvirate -

John: Well it's almost a triumvirate -

Russ: Dualumvirate.

John: Dualumvirate.

Russ: Alright. That brings us to the jargon challenge round. Also known as our vocabulary lesson.

John: Uh-huh, right.

Russ: Where I get to go out and find a new word and I get to challenge -

John: Wow.

Russ: Mr. Beddow and see if he can come up with the meaning.

John: Now see the thing is, see, you act like a big shot.

Russ: Well I am, I am.

John: Because you know you looked up the word and know the meaning.

Russ: Right.

John: I have the really hard part 'cause I don't know what the word is. So not only do I know - since I don't even know what the word is, I don't even know what the definition is.

Russ: That's right.

John: So I do an amazing herculean effort here to come up with the meaning of some stupid word that you found somewhere.

Russ: That's right. And you don't seem to shy away from it at all.

John: Well why should I? I get paid a healthy stipend for doing this -

Russ: That's right. You ready?

John: Have to earn my keep.

Russ: You ready?

John: Yeah, go ahead.

Russ: Ratchet principle.

John: Ratchet principle. Okay. The Peter principle is when someone rises to their level of incompetence and the ratchet principle is before you get to the Peter principle you get to keep ratcheting your career up there and it involves a lot of hard work and a lot of strenuous energy. So you have to kind of ratchet your way up the ladder.

Russ: Ya' know you did pretty good, but I just can't give it to you because instead of it being about a person, it's more about a bureaucracy, a government, an organization. It's the tendency for bureaucracies and organizations to accumulate new powers, rules and similar elements of control while also resisting the removal of existing elements of control.

John: Perfect example: our federal government.

Russ: Perfect.

John: I mean the Register, the U.S. Register has every law ever passed and still in force. It's like 90,000 pages.

Russ: Yeah, it's a joke. Alright. That brings us - speaking of jokes - to dumb moments in business. Do you have a story for us this morning, John?

John: Yeah, I do. Ya' know you read this stuff, you come across these things and you think what are they thinking.

Russ: Right.

John: Alright. This is a Michigan dentist. This is a guy, he's in Florida because his son has a baseball tournament like in Winter haven, Florida. So he's walking around and he finds a lost credit card. It was on the sidewalk or something and actually it was in a Publix. There's a supermarket chain in Florida called Publix. It's in the parking lot and a college student, former military veteran, loses a card. Well this Michigan dentist picks the card up. Instead of turning it in or throwing it away or something, he goes and buys a pizza with it. This dentist has a net worth of about $1.5 million they find out later. So he gets arrested. He was charged with impersonating and attempting to use the ID of another person without consent.

Russ: Well that's what he did.

John: Yeah, right. The bill was like $40.00. The bill for the pizza, get this, was $40.64 and he had $250.00 worth of cash in his wallet. They asked him if he was having money problems and he said, "Absolutely not." So, I mean, you can't do that --

Russ: It's one thing to find cash.

John: Yeah, if you have cash, even that you should -

Russ: Yeah, you oughta' look -

John: 'Cause there's a law of possession of lost property. It's not finders keepers, losers weepers ya' know. It's not the law of the land.

Russ: Come on, people, straighten up -

John: Yeah, so if you find a credit card you better just keep walking I guess is the best _________ --

Russ: That's right. Or turn it in.

John: Turn it in, yes.

Russ: Alright. Before we wrap up this morning's School of Business, it's time for the very popular PKF Texas entrepreneur's playbook. Alright. That wraps up this morning's School of Business. Stay tuned in for our own Esther Steinfeld interviewing Matt Biespiel, the senior director of global brand development with McDonald's Corporation. You're listening to the BusinessMakers Show heard here and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com.