Russ: This is the BusinessMakers Show heard on the radio and seen online at TheBusinessMakers.com and this is Episode Number 369 of that show that features those that most positively affect our lives.
John: That's right, Russ, and I know I'm gonna sound like I've been repeating myself but these entrepreneurs are the artists and the athletes of the free enterprise system.
Russ: I love that.
John: Artists because they're so creative.
Russ: Yeah.
John: Or, at least most of them are.
Russ: Yeah.
John: And then the athleticism comes in with their stamina.
Russ: Yeah.
John: And the amount of work they put in and the amount of enthusiasm that they have to portray, even if they're not enthusiastic. I mean they really have to be on the mark, every minute of the day.
Russ: You bet.
John: Yeah.
Russ: You ought to trademark that statement. I copy you a lot of times when I'm not with you and people think it's mine.
John: Do you give me - giving me attribution?
Russ: No, no because you didn't trademark it.
John: I'll trademark it. Okay.
Russ: So you must do that.
John: All right, I think I will. Maybe I'll be a Quote of the Day, sometime.
Russ: Maybe you will.
John: Long after I'm sleeping in the wooden Waldorf, whoever succeeds me at this microphone, will -
Russ: There you go.
John: - bring that up as a famous business quote.
Russ: All right and speaking of entrepreneurs, here's our weekly shout out to the EO Houston Group.
John: EO Houston. A whole gaggle of athletes and artists.
Russ: That's right.
John: Yes, a whole gaggle.
Russ: That's right.
John: A gaggle of them, I tell ya.
Russ: Cool, cool group over there.
John: Yeah right.
Russ: All right and here's our lineup for today. First up, we feature Esther Freedman.
John: Woo!
Russ: Finally unveiling the start-up she's been working on for months.
John: Geeze.
Russ: This is the same Esther Freedman who often does interviews on the show -
John: Yes.
Russ: - but in the background has been launching, building, getting ready to launch, her new company, CuteHeads.com.
John: CuteHeads.com.
Russ: You got it, you know and there's some e-commerce DNA that runs in that family over there.
John: Yes there are. There are.
Russ: Her dad.
John: I know.
Russ: And so we're gonna get to see Chapter Two now, of that.
John: She probably has a secret goal where she'll have more revenue than her father.
Russ: Yeah, maybe buy Blinds.com.
John: Maybe she'll buy Blinds.com. Yes.
Russ: And then that's gonna be followed by my interview with Mark Montgomery -
John: Yes.
Russ: BBVA Compass Houston President.
John: That's right.
Russ: The bank and the topic is how much of an impact the European financial crisis has had on BBVA local here, since it's based, the headquarters in Spain.
John: That's right. It's gonna be very interesting to see what he says and this is probably kind of an ongoing saga -
Russ: Well, it seems like.
John: - that's gonna keep going so it's gonna be very difficult to see, you know, where this ends up for them.
Russ: You bet. Well, and in the meantime -
John: Yeah.
Russ: - BBVA Compass here in Houston's been sponsoring sports stadiums and building new buildings and -
John: I know.
Russ: - and really doing quite well, so it's gonna be interesting.
John: Yeah, right.
Russ: For sure. 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, no. This is - actually, we have two versions of this school.
Russ: Yeah, what's your -
John: We3 have the radio version -
Russ: Right.
John: - which is kind of an abridged look at what's going on -
Russ: Right.
John: - as far as the course load is concerned.
Russ: Right.
John: And then we have the full curriculum on The BusinessMakers.com website.
Russ: That's right.
John: If you like what you're hearing now on the radio, I think what is it, about an hour or two after we get finished recording, we're on the Web?
Russ: Oh yeah, yeah.
John: So just go on the Web and you get the full Monty.
Russ: Yeah.
John: Not only of this School of Business but the hundreds of others that we've done.
Russ: Right, well three hundreds or others, you know.
John: Well, I said hundreds.
Russ: Yeah, okay. That qualifies.
John: Yeah, right.
Russ: And that's almost like only for advanced people, though, the -
John: Yeah, the advanced.
Russ: - but you have to be smart.
John: Yeah, advanced species. So if you're an amoeba, you probably just wanna be concerned with what's on the radio.
Russ: That's right.
John: But if you're a homo sapien, I mean you probably want - if you're an advanced life form -
Russ: You bet.
John: - then you probably would appreciate what's on the website.
Russ: Absolutely. All right and we kick off the School of Business each week with the Quote of the Day.
John: The Quote of the Day.
Russ: Today's quote comes from Franklin P. Jones.
John: Oh, yeah, that robust entrepreneurial mind.
Russ: Yes, that's right and it goes like this: "Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again."
John: That's right, that's right. It's also the definition of insanity, which everybody's heard.
Russ: That's right.
John: You know, you do the same thing over and over again thinking, expecting a different result.
Russ: Yeah.
John: And I would say that's a pretty good quote.
Russ: Yeah.
John: I would give that a B-minus.
Russ: All right. Thank you.
John: Okay.
Russ: That's a good grade from you.
John: Yeah, all right.
Russ: All right, and that brings us This Week in Business History. So what happened in business history right at the very end of June, beginning of July?
John: Well, we have a very interesting item, here. Interesting in that it's somewhat related to our Dumb Moment -
Russ: Okay.
John: - in Business History.
Russ: Okay.
John: This week in business history King Henry, II of France is mortally wounded in a jousting match against Gabriel de Montgomery.
Russ: Now what year would this have happened?
John: This would've been in 1559.
Russ: Wow.
John: You know, I -
Russ: Jousting, what a sport that was.
John: I know, you're - you know the NFL talks about their injuries but, you know, it's nothing compared to this.
Russ: Right.
John: I don't know any NFL player got like a 12-foot lance passed through his abdomen, you know?
Russ: Right.
John: My God, can you imagine that? I mean there was no medical technology back then, so I mean you got that thing in ya, I mean, there was no antiseptics -
Russ: Right.
John: - there's no hydrogen peroxide.
Russ: Right.
John: There was no - they didn't even -
Russ: No controlled comas they can put you in.
John: That's right. There weren't even any tweezers back then -
Russ: Right.
John: - because you'd have all those wooden splinters in ya because of the - I mean it was, you know, those horses weigh about a ton each -
Russ: Right.
John: - and they're going head-to-head.
Russ: Right.
John: And with the riders and all the armor, you figure that's about ten tons -
Russ: Right.
John: - of like a head-on collision or something, so -
Russ: Right, I wonder how much regulation there was in that sport, too, because it seems like if there wasn't much, that the wise jouster would just make sure he had the longest lance.
John: The longest lance, right, right. Yeah.
Russ: 'Cause then it would get to the other guy before his lance got to you -
John: That's right.
Russ: - giving you a competitive advantage.
John: It would. The longer lance would definitely give you an advantage.
Russ: Yeah.
John: There's no question about that and if - I'm sure they had some commissioner of the sport.
Russ: You think?
John: I think there was a commissioner, yeah.
Russ: Well probably. I, you know -
John: Because someone had to divvy up the town hall rights.
Russ: Well, that's probably right.
John: You know 'cause - the town square, because they had no radio or TV coverage. They would just have - they would have to have someone announce the results of the jousting match -
Russ: Yeah.
John: - at the town square.
Russ: Yeah, that's right, too.
John: So -
Russ: But if you could have the longer one, I mean -
John: Yeah.
Russ: - there might be some lance envy going on.
John: Well there could be a lot of lance envy going on.
Russ: Still -
John: To this very day.
Russ: - carries on to this - right.
John: But the thing is, a long lance would not guarantee -
Russ: No, if you didn't aim it right.
John: - the kind of performance that these guys were expected to have -
Russ: Right.
John: - in that because the lance would, you know, the lance is heavy.
Russ: Yeah.
John: And the longer, there's -
Russ: So the heavier it is -
John: - the gravity to - yeah, it would droop.
Russ: And then you wouldn't hit the target.
John: Then you wouldn't hit the market.
Russ: The market?
John: No, you wouldn't hit the mark.
Russ: Okay, well we started off this history lesson, so continue on.
John: Well. That's a pretty lengthy discussion about some little jousting match.
Russ: Yes, it was.
John: Anyway. This week in business history in 1776, July 4th, the Declaration of Independence - the US told Great Britain we do not wanna be part of your empire anymore.
Russ: Right.
John: Yeah.
Russ: When in the course of human events -
John: Right, yeah.
Russ: - That's right.
John: Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Russ: That's right.
John: Okay.
Russ: All right.
John: This week in business history in 1796, the first Independence Day celebration is held.
Russ: That means it took about 20 years for them to realize.
John: Well, you know, they formed a government, all these bureaucrats, so it took them 30 years to pass a law to say, "Hey, let's celebrate this day."
Russ: Okay.
John: You know?
Russ: All right.
John: Okay, this week in business history in 1816, the birthdate of Hiram Walker, an American grocer and distiller and he probably had more to do with the attendance of AA meetings, probably, than any single person. Maybe the Busch family.
Russ: Because that's -
John: Not the president but the -
Russ: Yeah.
John: - you know, Anheuser-Busch.
Russ: Anheuser-Busch, 'cause we're talking about the - he founded the Hiram Walker's Club Whisky - that's who this guy was.
John: That's who I'm talking about, right.
Russ: Okay.
John: So I just wanna, I mean he -
Russ: I'll drink to that.
John: I'll drink to that, yeah.
Russ: I'll celebrate his birthday.
John: Right, okay. This week in business history in 1884, the Statue of Liberty is presented to the US in Paris -
Russ: So we had to pay for delivery or something?
John: - and this was - yeah, well, I think we had to assemble it. The batteries were not included.
Russ: Oh, right.
John: And it was, you know, and the directions were hard to read.
Russ: Oh, they were in French.
John: Although the first guy they got to do it, you know, he's one of those kinda guys who never looks at the directions.
Russ: Anyway.
John: Thinks he could put it together himself but it turns out, it was, you know, it was a beautiful gesture by the French.
Russ: Yeah, it was.
John: Yeah, it really was.
Russ: Still is.
John: Yeah, it's still there. It's still there in New York Harbor, although New Jersey claims it.
Russ: Yeah, well that's okay.
John: That's okay.
Russ: Yeah.
John: Jersey's gotta have something.
Russ: That's right.
John: That's right. This week in business history in 1908 the SOS is adopted as the international soap pad. I mean distress signal.
Russ: Distress signal.
John: Yeah, right.
Russ: So wow, so if you had a problem -
John: I wonder why the - I'm sure they had to, if it hadn't been for SOS, they would've called the soap pad something else.
Russ: They probably would've.
John: Yeah.
Russ: Seems like that might've been a trademark infringement, too.
John: Well, I don't know. It could very well have been but that signal transcends all languages -
Russ: Yes it does.
John: - that's why they had that, you know, three dots, three dashes -
Russ: Yep.
John: - three more dots.
Russ: Okay.
John: This week in business history starts out with American freedom and democracy -
Russ: Right, right.
John: - but wouldn't you know it, the communist would have to horn in there to get their -
Russ: Yeah.
John: So grab some of their glory.
Russ: So this week in business history, yeah.
John: There you go. This week in business history in 1921, the Communist Party of China is founded.
Russ: Wow, wow.
John: So they have to have their, you know, they could've picked any other week.
Russ: Yeah.
John: A- I mean there's 51 other weeks.
Russ: But they picked this one.
John: Fifty-three on a leap year, sometimes, you know.
Russ: But they picked this one.
John: But no, they gotta pick our week.
Russ: Okay.
John: All right.
Russ: All right.
John: Okay. Okay here we go. This week in business history in 1923, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic's formed.
Russ: Also -
John: Come on, give me a break.
Russ: - in the same week. Yeah.
John: Find your own week.
Russ: Absolutely.
John: All right. This week in business history in 1937, Spam, the luncheon meat, was introduced into the market by the Hormel Foods Company, back in 1937 and now that word has become kind of even more denigrated because it's that stuff you don't - all those e-mails you don't wanna get on your e-mail.
Russ: That's right, that's right.
John: Yeah.
Russ: But I think they still make the food and some people still eat it.
John: Well somebody must be eating it.
Russ: Yeah, if they make it.
John: They're selling it, right?
Russ: Yeah, there you go.
John: Okay, this week in business history in 1953, the first Chevy Corvette rolls off the assembly line in Flint, Michigan.
Russ: Wow. That would mean it's 59 years old.
John: I know and the design and the style, the body style, still holds up.
Russ: Oh, absolutely.
John: You know, sometimes it's hard to tell what year these things were built in.
Russ: Yeah, yeah, but the '53 was pretty distinctive, I've got -
John: Oh yeah. Did you ever - did you buy one?
Russ: No.
John: Did you wanna buy one?
Russ: No, I bought one - not a 1953.
John: Like a little Tinker Toy, like a little Matchbox version?
Russ: Yeah, I had lots of those but I did have a real one, the 1978 version.
John: You did?
Russ: Yeah, it looked cool -
John: Did all the gals kinda flock around when they saw you drive up to the -
Russ: No. That's why I bought it -
John: - to the hotdog stand.
Russ: - I needed all the help I could get.
John: That's right.
Russ: But it was a good car for about the first two months. That was in one of their down years.
John: Then what happened?
Russ: Well it would start falling apart.
John: Oh yeah.
Russ: 'Cause they rode so rough -
John: Oh yeah, they are rough, yeah.
Russ: - and that was in an era of American automobile craftsmanship wasn't at its best.
John: No, right.
Russ: But I still love Corvettes.
John: I know, they're great. Okay, this week in business history, we3 got some great rock and roll milestones here. The first one in 1964, Beach Boys, "I Get Around," reaches number one.
Russ: Great Beach Boys song, too.
John: And then one year later in 1965, Rolling Stones' item number one, "I Can't Get No Satisfaction".
Russ: Wow, they're still around.
John: And then two years later in 1967, the Doors "Light My Fire" hits number one.
Russ: Geeze.
John: Man oh man.
Russ: Yeah.
John: It just keeps going.
Russ: This week.
John: We've got freedom lovers -
Russ: Yeah.
John: - communists -
Russ: Yeah.
John: - and rock and rollers.
Russ: All in this week.
John: All this week, right.
Russ: All right.
John: With a little booze thrown in.
Russ: That's right.
John: Okay, here we go. This week in business history in 1976, the Raid on Entebbe, the Israeli commandos rescue 229 Air France passengers.
Russ: Wow, what a rescue that was.
John: I know.
Russ: I think there was only one Israeli killed -
John: Right.
Russ: It was the leader.
John: Yeah, nobody expected it.
Russ: It happens to be Netanyahu's brother.
John: Yeah, right.
Russ: His brother, yeah.
John: Yeah, Uganda, right? Was he in Uganda?
Russ: Yeah, it was in Uganda. Idi Amin.
John: Idi Amin.
Russ: Yeah.
John: You ever see that movie the King of Scotland?
Russ: Yes, I did.
John: Oh, wow.
Russ: It was a good movie.
John: What a nutjob.
Russ: Yes.
John: Okay, all right. This week in business history in 1990, East Germany and West Germany merge their economies.
Russ: Which wasn't real easy.
John: No. It was kind of a hostile takeover.
Russ: Yeah, it was but I think the group being taken over was glad they were being taken over.
John: Oh they were, yeah. Right. Yeah, so maybe it was a friendly takeover.
Russ: Yeah, okay.
John: This week in business history in 1996, Dolly, the cloned sheep, was born.
Russ: Well, that's interesting, too. Cloning is still rather prevalent in the domestic pet business.
John: I know. I know it's a slippery slope and I think it's - there's some moral issues involved here because when humans get involved into these scientific breakthroughs -
Russ: Yeah, yeah.
John: -and as the object of the scientific breakthrough, then you've got -
Russ: Oh yeah. No question.
John: - people trying to design their own offspring.
Russ: Right.
John: Which -
Russ: Obviously you and I weren't designed.
John: No.
Russ: We -
John: Well we were designed but not by -
Russ: Not by cloning.
John: Not by cloning, right.
Russ: Yeah.
John: This week in business history in 1997, the United Kingdom transfers sovereignty over Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China. Now up till that point, Hong Kong was one of the freest economies.
Russ: Yeah, it was.
John: And innovative form of capitalism out there.
Russ: Yeah but it's kind of gone okay. I mean from what I know, people that have gone back there, you know, the changes weren't as dramatic as we all feared.
John: Yeah.
Russ: And - but we'll see. Does that wrap it up, though?
John: I think that's it.
Russ: Okay.
John: So we started off with a sports injury, and end up with several hundred thousand freedom lovers living under communism.
Russ: Right, that's right.
John: All right.
Russ: All right, and that brings us to Navigating Business Jargon. This is the part of the show that -
John: Ah, yes. Hey I got it right last week, baby. I'm on a roll.
Russ: This is the part of the show also referred to as our vocabulary lesson where I get to go out and pick up a new jargon word -
John: That's right.
Russ: - a techno phrase, a acronym and keep it from John and present it to John and see if he can guess it.
John: Yeah, this is on the fly. I have no idea what the word is until I hear it when you hear it yourself.
Russ: And now we're kinda staying with a theme that we used last time.
John: Theme.
Russ: But this week's is a two-word noun.
John: A two-word noun.
Russ: Apple Year.
John: Apple Year. Wow, Apple Year. Apple has something to do with the Apple Computer Company, probably. Year, is you know that the Orientals, the Chinese, the Asians have like the year of the dragon -
Russ: Yeah.
John: - the year of the rat, the year of the wrap. This is the year of the apple. This is the Apple Year.
Russ: Ah, it's a good guess but it's wrong.
John: Okay, all right.
Russ: What it really refers to -
John: Hey, it was a good try, though.
Russ: Yeah, it was, no it was. What it really refers to is the amount of time it takes an Apple product to get old from the day it is purchased.
John: Oh right, yeah.
Russ: An Apple Year is usually less than one month.
John: Oh, that's like dog years and human years.
Russ: Yeah, although it depends, based on the product language.
John: Yeah.
Russ: And what they're so good at is coming out with a great product like an iPad and like six months later, an iPad2 that's so far superior to the iPad -
John: Right.
Russ: - you want that.
John: I know.
Russ: And then the iPad3. I mean it just happens like instantaneously, almost.
John: I know.
Russ: But that's a compliment to Apple.
John: Yeah.
Russ: You seem to really be entranced by it.
John: Well, you know, I had a problem with it to some regard.
Russ: Okay.
John: Because you can't tell me they didn't know this technology when they did the first iPad.
Russ: So they could've gone ahead and started with the Apple3.
John: Yeah they could, I think they could've.
Russ: They probably could have.
John: You know and saved a lot. And everybody talks about their stock rising -
Russ: Yeah.
John: - and I've got nothing against the, one of the most innovative, if not the most innovative company in the history of anything -
Russ: Yeah.
John: - but they are a little - their strategy is a little circumspect.
Russ: Yep.
John: You know, why sell one iPad per person if you can sell two.
Russ: Right, or three.
John: You know, that's their marketing - or three.
Russ: All right.
John: Okay.
Russ: All right. That brings us to Dumb Moments in Business. Do we have one from this week?
John: Right, this refers somewhat to the first item in This Week in Business History, where that king, that French King -
Russ: Yeah.
John: - got killed jousting.
Russ: Jousting, yeah.
John: Right, okay, and sports can kill ya.
Russ: Okay.
John: Right but this is rather an unusual sports-related death and I guess the headline would be "Death by Soccer" and what happened was there's a Chinese soccer fan who died at his home after going 11 nights without sleep as he watched every single Euro 2012 game, and he's watching the Poland versus the Ukraine. Now here's a guy that died from exhaustion after repeatedly staying up every night to watch these games with his friends.
Russ: I couldn't do it. I would fall asleep even if I tried.
John: I know and sources claim it's the combined effects of, here you go, alcohol -
Russ: Oh yeah.
John: - tobacco and sleep deprivation were to blame for his untimely death.
Russ: Oh.
John: So, he just went to sleep and never woke up.
Russ: Well that's not that bad.
John: Which isn't that - it's not a bad way to go.
Russ: Yeah.
John: I mean there's a scale. I've called it the death scale.
Russ: Yeah.
John: Okay, of the most pain-
Russ: Ways, yeah.
John: - the worst way you could possibly die.
Russ: Yeah.
John: To the best way you could possibly die. Okay, on the worst possible way, I can't think of anything worse than being fed into a wood chipper while you're still alive.
Russ: That would be bad.
John: Okay? Maybe burned alive would be about the same thing.
Russ: Yeah.
John: But the wood chipper, yeah.
Russ: A wood chipper would hurt.
John: It would hurt, especially if you got fed into it just a little -
Russ: Incredible pain.
John: - just a little bit at a time, okay?
Russ: Yeah, right.
John: On the other end of the scale -
Russ: Is this guy?
John: - is watching a sport you like.
Russ: Yeah.
John: Going to sleep and never waking up again.
Russ: Yeah, so it's not that bad.
John: It's not that bad, you know, it coulda been worse.
Russ: All right.
John: But I'm just saying, you know, as a fan you need to put things in its proper perspective.
Russ: Absolutely.
John: Yeah, right okay.
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, Greg Price on time.
Russ: And on the piano.
John: And lookin' good, too.
Russ: All right and that wraps up today's School of Business. Stay tuned in for our interview with Esther Freedman, the founder and CEO of the brand-new start-up, CuteHeads.com. Followed by an interview with Mark Montgomery, BBVA Compass Houston President, talking about the impact of the European financial crisis on their Houston bank. All of that after this. This is the BusinessMakers Show heard on the radio and seen online at TheBusinessMakers.com.
