Russ: This is the BusinessMakers Show heard on the radio and seen online at TheBusinessMakers.com. This is that show about the innovators and the entrepreneurs; the ones that really did build their companies.
John: That's right, Russ. These people built the companies and I'm not saying, you don't have help from the roads and the police departments and all that kinda stuff -
Russ: Yeah.
John: - but who do you think pays for all that?
Russ: Yeah.
John: Okay, the government doesn't generate anything.
Russ: The companies -
John: It's the companies, the people, the taxpayers.
Russ: Yeah, that's right.
John: The people that raise it, the people that pay all those taxes; they're the ones that make all that happen.
Russ: That's right.
John: So I mean, come one.
Russ: And this is that show, though, about those people, about the private sector.
John: Okay.
Russ: All right and here's what we've got lined up today. Our featured guest is Beth Williams, the founder -
John: Ah, yes.
Russ: - of TransTech, International.
John: Yeah, she gets around. She's been on the show before.
Russ: Well, she has on Women Mean Business, absolutely.
John: Yeah, right.
Russ: Leisa had her as a guest and -
John: How many times are we gonna interview this person?
Russ: Well, this is the first -
John: She must have a lotta things to say.
Russ: She does.
John: All right.
Russ: She has a fascination story and -
John: That's right.
Russ: - this is the first full interview.
John: The full interview.
Russ: That's right.
John: All right. Okay.
Russ: But first -
Russ: That's right, it's time for The BusinessMakers' School of Business.
John: That's right.
Russ: You bet and this is not business as usual school. This is -
John: No, it's better.
Russ: This is specially selected curriculum.
John: Mixed with special ingredients to help you grow up big and strong.
Russ: That's right.
John: That's right, intellectually, that is.
Russ: There you go.
John: Okay.
Russ: And we kick it off each week with the Quote of the Day.
John: Quote of the Day.
Russ: And today's quote comes to us from Aldus Huxley.
John: Ah, yes, famous author.
Russ: I believe Bright New World, we were thinking?
John: Brave New World, yeah. I think that's -
Russ: You bet.
John: - yeah, I think he wrote that.
Russ: All right, it's a cool quote. Here it is. "Facts do not cease to exist just because they are ignored."
John: That's right, yeah.
Russ: Yeah.
John: That's right.
Russ: Yeah.
John: 'Cause you could ignore the rain.
Russ: That's right.
John: And pretend it's not there.
Russ: It's still there.
John: But the rain's still raining.
Russ: Well and then, you know, and in the business world -
John: And that's - I mean this is in the physical sense of the world.
Russ: Yeah.
John: Of earth, that could be something that could prove that quote to be absolutely true.
Russ: That's right.
John: Yeah.
Russ: Well, and you could ignore that, you know, that free enterprise by itself creates jobs.
John: That's right.
Russ: But just because you ignore it -
John: Doesn't mean it's still true. I mean, I used to tell my father - we'd get in these big intellectual arguments.
Russ: Yeah.
John: I said, "Just because you know more than I do doesn't mean you're right."
Russ: That's a good one.
John: That's a good - that's kind of an offshoot of this.
Russ: Yeah, it is.
John: All right, okay.
Russ: Good job, all right. That brings us to This Week in Business History. So what happened in early August in business history?
John: This week in business history in 1173 -
Russ: Okay.
John: It surprised me. I didn't know this thing was that old? Construction of the Tower of Pisa begins.
Russ: Wow.
John: And it takes two centuries to complete it.
Russ: Wow, wow. So the guys in the beginning -
John: Kinda like, kinda like the West Loop construction that could be two centuries before it's ever finished.
Russ: So the guys that started the construction, it was probably their great-grandchildren who got to see it in the end.
John: Yeah, yeah 'cause that's like saying something got started in - this is what, 2012?
Russ: Yeah.
John: So -
Russ: 1812.
John: Oh, 1812, that's right.
Russ: Yeah.
John: My goodness.
Russ: That's right and so but it was the first guys in the beginning right here in 1173 that were responsible for helping it get that distinguishable lean to it, right?
John: No, the lean happened afterwards.
Russ: Oh but I -
John: They didn't build it on, you know, very good soil -
Russ: Well, that's what I mean -
John: - and a good foundation.
Russ: - I think they knew what they were doing.
John: Oh, you think they did this intentionally, like this'll make a great tourist attraction.
Russ: Yeah, well it's so much more famous because of this.
John: That's right. It really is. If it weren't for that, it'd just be another piece of, you know, Italian renaissance -
Russ: Right, right.
John: - architecture.
Russ: Right.
John: Okay. This week in business history in 1693 is the date traditionally ascribed to Dom Peringon's invention of champagne.
Russ: Cool.
John: Although he didn't really have anything to do with it.
Russ: He didn't?
John: No. He was a French Benedictine monk -
Russ: Yeah.
John: - who made contributions to the quality of champagne -
Russ: Yeah.
John: - but he did not, you know, this is not -
Russ: He didn't invent it, no.
John: He didn't invent it.
Russ: Wow.
John: He improved it.
Russ: Wouldn't that be cool, you know, some -
John: New and improved.
Russ: Yeah and sometimes people invent things and they don't get credit for it.
John: That's right.
Russ: And this is the converse.
John: Yeah.
Russ: He didn't invent it but he - I would -
John: Yeah.
Russ: - wouldn't that be cool if that happened to you or me?
John: It would be unbelievable.
Russ: Yeah, it would be.
John: Yeah. Like we invented radio -
Russ: That's right.
John: Just 'cause we have this show.
Russ: And they might be talking about us some day like that.
John: Some, some day.
Russ: Yeah.
John: You know those airwaves are out there forever.
Russ: That's right.
John: Okay. This week in business history in 1821, Atkinson and Alexander published the "Saturday Evening Post" for the first time as a weekly newspaper.
Russ: Oh.
John: Waxed into a very popular magazine. Featured all those Norman Rockwell paintings.
Russ: Yeah, they did well for quite a few years.
John: Yeah.
Russ: They've been gone quite a few years, now.
John: Yes, they have. Nothing lasts forever.
Russ: That's right.
John: You know and it's one of those examples of things that don't last forever.
Russ: Yeah, you, you publish a weekly, right?
John: Yeah, we're still around.
Russ: Yeah.
John: Actually, we're more of a 24/7 business news channel because the way we make the Web work with the print and all of that thing.
Russ: Ah. Cool, cool.
John: Yeah. This week in business history in 1861, the American Civil War - okay, this is about the American Civil War - in order to help pay for the war effort, the US government levies the first income tax. Three percent of all incomes over $800.00. The tax was rescinded, however, in 1872.
Russ: Yeah, but then it was reenacted.
John: Which never happens anymore. I mean they -
Russ: They don't rescind it anymore.
John: - all these laws are passed and they have a certain duration and then they last forever.
Russ: That's right.
John: Okay, this week in business history in 1876, Thomas Edison receives a patent for the mimeograph.
Russ: Wow.
John: Wow, man 1876.
Russ: Well, I'm sure there's a lot of people in our audience that don't even know what a mimeograph is.
John: I know. Well, that's their fault.
Russ: Yes it is.
John: They should look it up.
Russ: They should. Okay.
John: Okay. All right. This week in business history in 1888, Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back for the first long-distance auto trip, commemorated as the Bertha Benz Memorial Route since 2008. Wow.
Russ: Well, and we've talked about this before -
John: Yeah.
Russ: - with a guest, Dr. John Leinhard, says that actually credit should go to Bertha for launching the automobile.
John: She should get a lot of credit.
Russ: Yeah.
John: Yeah.
Russ: Because her husband built it but he never thought it was ready and wouldn't take it out.
John: I know.
Russ: And, and on this week in business history in 1888 -
John: She took it out.
Russ: - she took it out.
John: She took it out.
Russ: And it became a real success.
John: There you go. That's the problem with some, you know, analysis by paralysis -
Russ: That's right.
John: - a lot of inventors of things. They invent things that people never see because they're so insecure.
Russ: That's right. That's right.
John: Okay, this week in business history in 1914 in Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric traffic light is installed.
Russ: Wow.
John: I wonder how many people ran the light.
Russ: Well, I wonder how shortly thereafter they came up with the red light cameras.
John: The red light cameras -
Russ: Yeah.
John: - or the traffic ticket for running -
Russ: Yeah, running a red light.
John: - or the first fatality.
Russ: Yeah.
John: Someone getting run over.
Russ: Probably shortly thereafter.
John: Probably shortly, yeah 'cause people probably just thought, "What the heck is this?
Russ: Right.
John: It's slowing me down, man."
Russ: Right.
John: Okay, this week in business history in 1930 Betty Boop debuts in Max Fleischer's animated cartoon, "Dizzy Dishes".
Russ: Whoa.
John: Betty Boop.
Russ: Are you a Betty Boop fan?
John: No, I never was but I did like her in the "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".
Russ: Yeah, she played a good - she did ____ in that.
John: Did you see that movie?
Russ: Yeah.
John: That's a pretty good movie.
Russ: She did well in that movie.
John: She did, she did well.
Russ: Yeah.
John: Okay. This week in business history in 1957 American Bandstand, a show dedicated to teenaged baby boomers, 'cause they, you know, played all these songs and people danced at them, danced, danced on with songs on -
Russ: Yeah.
John: - on the TV. It debuted on ABC Television Network.
Russ: Yeah. Well I watched it with my sister many times back in the - yeah.
John: That's right, Dick Clark. The world's oldest living teenager.
Russ: Who's no longer living.
John: No longer with us and passed away recently.
Russ: Yeah, yeah.
John: And still -
Russ: But while he was alive, he was the oldest living teenager.
John: That's right, yeah. This week in business history in 1960, the Cuban revolution. Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.
Russ: Well, this is when they, they succeeded and celebrated and -
John: Yeah, that's right.
Russ: - they've been in charge ever since.
John: That's right and the place has gone to hell in a hand basket.
Russ: That's right and it's just -
John: Except if, unless you're a, you know, if you're a movie star, then I guess to visit Fidel and I guess to look deeply into his eyes and comes away impressed.
Russ: Yeah.
John: You know, just remember what he's done to that country.
Russ: Yeah.
John: And what he's done to the assets that were held by Americans in that country.
Russ: No kidding.
John: Okay, this week in business history in 1977, US President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating that great - what a wonderful idea to create the United States Department of Energy.
Russ: Well -
John: They've done so much to improve our lot in life in this country.
Russ: There are many critics who believe that the Department of Energy should not only exist but should come up with a strategy.
John: A strategy, yes.
Russ: But they haven't. They never have.
John: Yeah, the strategy is hey, we got all this energy in the ground, let's go get it.
Russ: Right.
John: I mean how - you need a whole department to tell you to do that?
Russ: Instead of a strategy that just tries to hold you back.
John: Hold you back, yeah.
Russ: And you'll bounce back.
John: It's the anti-Department of Energy.
Russ: That's right.
John: Okay. This week in business history in 1981, Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 air traffic controllers who were on strike and they ignored his order for them to return to work because even though you're unionized in the federal government, you're not permitted to go on strike.
Russ: Right.
John: They paid the price.
Russ: Yes they did.
John: This week in business history in 1981, the IBM personal computer is released. They introduced the PC and PC-DOS Version 1.0.
Russ: Well, it was a big day. It's actually a big day in the history of microcomputers.
John: Big day for you, too.
Russ: Well, it was sort of.
John: It helped propel your career, didn't it?
Russ: Well, eventually it did.
John: Eventually, yeah.
Russ: In '81, I looked at it - at that time, I looked at it as like a home toy computer.
John: That's right. Like a -
Russ: But by early next, the following year, I was running the IBM Product Center and I looked at it a little differently then.
John: That's right. There you go.
Russ: And it changed the world, for sure.
John: Changed the world. This week in business history in 1987, the Federal Communication Commission rescinds the fairness doctrine, which require radio TV stations to present controversial issues fairly.
Russ: Yeah, they don't have to anymore, right?
John: Giving equal time, right?
Russ: Yeah.
John: It's a bad idea.
Russ: Yeah.
John: When I said bad idea, it was the fairness doctrine was a bad idea.
Russ: Okay, they shouldn'tve ever done it?
John: They shouldn't, yeah.
Russ: It was right to rescind it?
John: Yeah, right.
Russ: Okay.
John: Absolutely right.
Russ: All right.
John: This week in business history in 1991, Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web. Ah ha! He was not a government employee, I take it.
Russ: No, he was actually a Brit and this idea really spurred it on. I mean this is what turned on browsers -
John: Yeah, right.
Russ: - and that whole technology.
John: Yeah.
Russ: They were transmitting digital files before the World Wide Web but this is what changed things, significantly.
John: Yeah. WWW debuts -
Russ: Right.
John: - as publicly-available service on the Internet.
Russ: Right.
John: Some people call it the World Wide Wait.
Russ: Right.
John: Because initially, it was really time consuming.
Russ: Yeah, but if you got 4G, you know, you got it everywhere.
John: Yeah, right. Yeah, right, yeah. This week in business history in 2010, the Copiapo mining accident occurs, trapping 33 Chilean miners approximately 2,300 feet below the ground.
Russ: And what a story that was.
John: That was a story. They all came, lived to tell the story.
Russ: That, that, that - I just, you know, all of us that try to put ourself in their shoes just - oh, my God. And that wraps up today's history lesson?
John: Right.
Russ: Not a bad one.
John: Yeah, mm-hm.
Russ: I must say. You know, if you got the PC in there, Betty Boop in there.
John: What could you want, the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Russ: I know. Bertha Benz. Okay. Good deal.
John: That, hey.
Russ: All right.
John: Yeah.
Russ: And that brings us to Navigating Business Jargon, our vocabulary lesson.
John: Yeah.
Russ: Where I get to go out and find some new jargon, techno speak, acronyms are all legal. John does not know the word -
John: Nope.
Russ: - and chooses to demonstrate his cognitive skills right here -
John: Wow.
Russ: - on live radio.
John: Cognitive.
Russ: To guess the name of the word.
John: The high-falutin' word.
Russ: Yes it is.
John: High-falutin', yes.
Russ: Here's today's phrase. It's a phrase. It's actually a three-word phrase but two of the words are hyphenated so I guess officially -
John: Hyphenated.
Russ: - it's only a two-word noun.
John: All right.
Russ: Warm-chair attrition.
John: Warm-chair attrition. Oh man, that's a tough one.
Russ: Yes it is.
John: Warm-chair. The way a chair gets warm is when people sit in it too long.
Russ: Yeah.
John: So if people sit in the chairs too long, their health goes bad and they die early and there's a lot attrition.
Russ: Yes.
John: So -
Russ: You were doing real well. You got close.
John: Close, yeah.
Russ: But no cigar.
John: All right.
Russ: It's the loss of workplace productivity due to employees who dislike their jobs. They're just sitting in their chair, keeping it warm and are just waiting for the right time to quit and move on to something better.
John: Oh, okay.
Russ: Or are waiting to be laid off because they know there's a severance package.
John: I see.
Russ: Warm-chair attrition.
John: Before you get fired.
Russ: Or get fired, yeah.
John: Yeah, right.
Russ: Warm-chair attrition. Kind of a controversial word, wouldn't you say?
John: Yeah, well yeah. Yeah.
Russ: All right.
John: All you, us, you know, would, CEO would-bes out there just beware -
Russ: Of warm - there's people in your -
John: And you never know when someone's gonna shift from being a very productive employee to a warm-chair, you know, devotee.
Russ: Attritioner.
John: Yeah.
Russ: Yeah, devotee. Yeah.
John: Devotee. Like that warm chair.
Russ: So you should go out there and check the chairs every once in a while.
John: Check the chairs. Yeah, check the temperatures.
Russ: That's right.
John: The temperatures of the chairs and -
Russ: That's right.
John: - better yet, check the productivity of the person sitting in the chair.
Russ: There you go.
John: All right.
Russ: All right and that brings us to Dumb Moments. Do you have a story for us this week?
John: Well the, you know, the Obamacare, I mean the Supreme Court, of course, upheld most of it.
Russ: Right.
John: And all that so it could be a - the chances of it becoming a reality are becoming very, you know -
Russ: Pretty big.
John: - pretty big.
Russ: Yeah.
John: So as a result, there's this, you know, you can't have a healthcare system without doctors.
Russ: That's right.
John: And you can't have a healthcare system without patients.
Russ: That's right. I think we got plenty of patients.
John: Now - well we're gonna have more patients, now.
Russ: Yeah, that's right, that's right.
John: And a doctor shortage is, you know, something that could happen.
Russ: Okay.
John: You have too many patients and not enough doctors to take care - and there's been several articles written in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, which thinks, which predicts that in the year 2025, we could have a shortfall of about 100,000 doctors.
Russ: Gah!
John: Because these doctors, people get in, one reason why people get into medicine and become doctors is for pure self-interest.
Russ: Yeah.
John: They can make a lot of money.
Russ: Yeah.
John: I mean you gotta be talented first -
Russ: Yeah.
John: - but you can make a lot of money and there's not gonna be a lot of money out there.
Russ: So it's not gonna attract 'em as much, right?
John: Yeah and the primary care physicians are the ones that are really gonna - that whole field could be hurt -
Russ: Yeah.
John: -because they make the least amount of money -
Russ: Yeah.
John: - and among the brethren, the fraternity and sorority of doctors, a primary care physician is looked down upon.
Russ: Yeah.
John: As though they're less talented -
Russ: Than the specialists.
John: - that the, it's a specialist. So it's the old classic, you know, when the government gets involved in the free enterprise system, there's that law of unintended consequences.
Russ: Yep, and this is it playing out in from of our eyes, yeah.
John: And this could be it. Right, and it could be a very severe detriment.
Russ: Yeah.
John: And a offshoot of what could happen.
Russ: You know, but you might be underestimating what they're planning out there, too. You've heard rumors, haven't you, about United States Postal Office cutbacks?
John: That's right, well maybe postal workers -
Russ: So they're just gonna move those people over to start practicing surgery.
John: Yeah, they could - they could start with a at-home medical course, you know?
Russ: Right, well there's even gonna be -
John: Online, online.
Russ: Yeah, there's also gonna be a lot of post office facilities that are gonna be suitable.
John: That's right.
Russ: Probably.
John: That's right, yeah, those big counters in the front of -
Russ: You got a waiting area that there's all -
John: And there's scales already there.
Russ: Yeah.
John: They can weigh in.
Russ: I think it's all gonna work out just fine, don't you?
John: That's right, that's right and they got huge areas in the back where they can put infirmaries and hospital beds.
Russ: Right.
John: And things - I mean, there's no doubt that we have the brick and mortar support.
Russ: Yeah, yeah, we got that.
John: But the, you know, the product actually of the healthcare business is, you know, people like you and me, the patients.
Russ: Yeah, yeah.
John: You know, it's not like we're selling cornflakes, here, you know?
Russ: All right.
John: All right.
Russ: And before we wrap up -
John: I'm just saying it's just a - that's just one of these unintended things that can happen when the government -
Russ: That's right.
John: - meddles where, in places where it really shouldn't be meddling.
Russ: That's absolutely right.
John: Yeah, right.
Russ: All right and before we wrap up today's School of Business, it's time for the very popular PKF Texas Entrepreneur's Playbook.
John: Ah yes, and here he is, none other than Greg Price.
Russ: On the pianos. Okay and that wraps up today's School of Business. Stay tuned in for our interview with Beth Williams, founder and CEO of TechTrans International. This is the BusinessMakers Show heard on the radio and seen online at TheBusinessMakers.com.
