Russ: This is the Businessmakers Show heard on the radio and seen online at thebusinessmakers.com. This is that show about make it happen entrepreneurs and I am blessed again today because substituting for John Beddow is one of those make it happen entrepreneurs. Once again I'm with Leisa Holland-Nelson, the co-founder and COO of Content Active and the author and voice of Women Mean Business. Leisa, it's great to have you back again.

Leisa: Russ, I'm really glad to be here and I want you to know I've really been entrepreneuring lately.

Russ: Well that's good. I tell you what, I'm impressed with the pace that you keep in all aspects of your business life and your social media life and your social life and it all gets interconnected. In fact, quite frankly, that part of entrepreneurship we've sort of learned from the younger group, man, that they teach us how to do this, right?

Leisa: It's easy to do well while doing good.

Russ: Okay.

Leisa: That's what we've learned from the younger group --

Russ: That's right.

Leisa: And that's what we've always practiced at Content Active. So it's really a pleasure for me to be out there in the community trying to support people that support Houston.

Russ: Really cool. Real cool. Okay.

Leisa: Yeah.

Russ: Our featured guest today on the Businessmakers Show is a married couple, Steve and Allison Lewis, the founders of Tithe Wines. And who do we have on Women Mean Business today?

Leisa: I'm really excited to have Loretta Cross back for her second interview. Loretta's with Charles River and Associates and she's just doing a bang up job launching their new office here in Houston. Actually it's a relaunch --

Russ: Right. They came back to town, right? They finally said, "Wait a minute. There's a lot going on in Houston, Texas, particularly in the oil world." Came back and she's the leader of the office, right?

Leisa: It's very exciting to have a woman lead that business.

Russ: Cool. Alright. But first. That's right. It's time for the Businessmakers School of Business. As we always like to point out here, this is not your business as usual school and we kick it off each week with the quote of the day and that's always my honor. I get to go out and choose one. Today I chose one from Herbert Bayard Swope and it goes like this. "I can't give you a sure fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure. Try to please everybody all the time."

Leisa: Totally agree with that one.

Russ: That doesn't work. Now have you experienced that before where you try to please everybody all the time?

Leisa: Oh, I think I've been known as a pleaser since the day I was born, but it's interesting. I've sort of adopted a new philosophy in the last couple of years and it's really about doing my best work all the time. Hopefully it's gonna work for me and for everyone else rather than trying to do what I think you think my best work is 'cause your thought may not really be accurate now hat I need to be doing.

Russ: That's right. That's good. Congratulations.

Leisa: It's a big deal. Thank you.

Russ: Alright. That brings us to This Week in Business History. So Leisa, this is your part of the School of Business. What happened during this first week in September in business history?

Leisa: This is really unbelievable. I mean, September 1st to September 7th, 1777. It's a few years ago. On September 3rd the Stars and Stripes flies. The first American flag was flown in battle for the first time during a revolutionary war skirmish at Cooch's Bridge, Maryland.

Russ: Wow.

Leisa: How about that?

Russ: Wonder if they knew at the time. Wow, this is just the beginning. I mean, in the beginning of the flag you might think, well hm, I don't know if this one is gonna stick. Somebody else might come along --

Leisa: I think there were several designs anyway --

Russ: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Cool --

Leisa: I'm sure Betsy Ross just was thrilled that hers got chosen --

Russ: Right. Absolutely.

Leisa: But you're absolutely right. Here's a big one. September 7, 1813 the United States nicknamed Uncle Sam.

Russ: Okay.

Leisa: That's cool, huh. United States gets its nickname Uncle Sam. The name is linked to Samuel Wilson, a meat packer from Troy, New York who supplied barrels of beef to the U.S. Army during the War of 1812.

Russ: Wow.

Leisa: How about that?

Russ: But how did he do it from there?

Leisa: Well, he stamped the barrel with U.S. for United States. The soldiers began referring to the grub as Uncle Sam's because it came from him. So the local newspaper picked up on the story and Uncle Sam eventually gained widespread acceptance as the nickname for the U.S. federal government.

Russ: Okay. Well, these days I guess if there were a Samuel Wilson doing the same thing, he might trademark it or something. Who knows.

Leisa: That's probably true.

Russ: But it's pretty cool.

Leisa: I don't think this is news to everyone because I think we talk about it every year, but on September 5, 1882 the first Labor Day is celebrated. It was born in New York, intended to be a tribute to the toil and achievement of the nation's workers. The holiday was also a testament to the strength of the burgeoning labor movement which helped push the event onto the national stage. How about that?

Russ: Yeah. Well I wonder sometimes. Young people in school and stuff, I think they see Labor Day as, "Cool. I don't have to go to school." Sometimes just like they see Memorial Day at the end of the year. I hope, I just hope that our schools are doing a good job of teaching them why we have these holidays 'cause they're pretty important.

Leisa: I'm not sure they are, but I think civics is unfortunately a course of the past.

Russ: Boy, I think economics is, too, unfortunately.

Leisa: Well that's true. Anyway. 1886, September 4th. I know this is one of Russ' favorites. Let the music roll. Apache Chief Geronimo surrenders to the U.S. government troops. For 30 years the mighty Native American warrior had battled to protect his tribe's homeland. However, by 1886 the Apaches were exhausted and hopelessly outnumbered. General Nelson Miles accepted Geronimo's surrender making him the last Indian warrior to formally give in to U.S. forces and signaling the end of the Indian wars in the southwest.

Russ: He's the Indian that I know most about.

Leisa: Me, too.

Russ: Course he covered the southwest, but he clearly covered the part of the southwest that I lived in for a long time. I lived there for a long time. Not that he was there a long time. My mom even lived on the Geronimo Creek. So there was all of that connection and then, of course, Michael Murphy came out with that cool song, which there's a story, a true story about Geronimo's Cadillac.

Leisa: Well, I'm just reading this right here. It says, "Geronimo, last free leader of the Apache nation agreed to a peace treaty and was sent to live on a reservation. As a peace offering the U.S. government made a gift to Geronimo of what was at that time one of the most advanced items of technology they had, a new Cadillac motor car." Unbelievable.

Russ: Yeah, and it was --

Leisa: Course there was no oil, no mechanics, no anything --

Russ: Right. No roads, yeah.

Leisa: -- _________ the reservation, no road. Not much to do with it, but hey. It looks like the car was used as a chicken coop.

Russ: Well I think ultimately that's what Michael Murphy's song was about. How ridiculous it was to give this guy a Cadillac --

Leisa: Amazing. Okay. 1900, this is kinda' cute and funny. The new electric car speed record was set. So they had electric cars even in 1900 --

Russ: 1900.

Leisa: And we think it's new.

Russ: Well I think back then, transportation was still mostly horse and buggy and it was probably debatable about how automated transportation was gonna go. Was the internal combustion engine gonna catch on or electric cars. Course the battery technology I don't think was very good, but it is amazing that in 1900 they even kept a land speed record for electric cars.

Leisa: Unbelievable. Moving right along here, 1936, Buddy Holly was born. Rock pioneer Buddy Holly born on this day in Lubbock, Texas. Can you believe that? That feels like --

Russ: Wow.

Leisa: I can't believe Buddy Holly was -- he's so old --

Russ: So he would be 76 now. Yeah. What an inspiration he was to a lot of musicians.

Leisa: He died so young. He died in 1959 so he was 23 years old when that plane crashed with Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper.

Russ: That's right. That was the day the music died.

Leisa: It did. It did. If you were alive, which sounds like I know not a lot of our listeners were alive --

Russ: I was.

Leisa: But for those of you who were, we were alive --

Russ: That's right.

Leisa: It was really a moment that we'll never forget.

Russ: That's right.

Leisa: And there really was an incredible number one hit, American Pie, that was written about --

Russ: The whole story about it.

Leisa: The day the music died.

Russ: That's right.

Leisa: Unbelievable. 1938, here's a good one. Air conditioning apparatus patented by Reuben H. Andrag. Thank you, Rubin.

Russ: Thank you, Reuben. Absolutely --

Leisa: And thank you for doing it before my birth. I really appreciate that.

Russ: And we know how to appreciate it here. We live in the most air-conditioned city probably on the planet. They do air conditioning very well here in Houston, Texas.

Leisa: Yes, they do. Another big one, 1944. This is the birthday of Archie Bell from Archie Bell and the Drells. Let's Tighten Up everybody.

Russ: That's right.

Leisa: I don't know anyone who doesn't wanna tighten up these days --

Russ: '56. So he's 68. What was so cool for us about that song is that he kicked it off by saying, "I'm Archie Bell and the Drells from Houston, Texas."

Leisa: He sure did. He sure did. This week in Business History in 1989. This one's gonna surprise some people. Toyota launches the Lexus.

Russ: Well yeah.

Leisa: I mean, it seems like it's much newer than that, but I guess it isn't, but I remember many people leased it and it was like a three-year lease or a four-year lease and I remember all the three-year old Lexus's that were available. You couldn't get one. You couldn't get one. You couldn't get one and suddenly everybody was turning them in for new ones and you could get a used Lexus 'cause it was exciting to get one.

Russ: Oh yeah. And they've done quite well throughout their history. Twenty-three years now I guess, but do you also recall that at the exact same time, what was Datsun at the time, now it's Nissan, launched the Infinity. The Infinity line of cars, their TV ads might not have stuck in your memory 'cause they had nothing to do with cars. They would show beach scenes and ocean scenes and talk about tranquility and quietness in transportation, but would never show the car --

Leisa: 'Cause it was ugly --

Russ: -- simultaneously. Well, it was. Simultaneously --

Leisa: My mother has one. I know that.

Russ: Simultaneously Lexus was taking it to town showing all the new luxury involved and it just kinda' won the race for sure.

Leisa: Speaking of my mother, I'm gonna ad lib a little bit here and slip in a big thing that happened this week in history in 1924 on September 7th my mother was born. She's gonna be 88 this year.

Russ: Oh wow. Wow.

Leisa: Happy birthday mom.

Russ: That's interesting. Your mom is about probably two months older than my mom.

Leisa: Wow.

Russ: My mom will be 88 on October 31st, Halloween Day.

Leisa: Happy birthday to her as well.

Russ: Yeah. Cool. We'll have to remember that that week for This Week in Business History.

Leisa: I know. Last but not least, this week in business history, I think this is huge. In 1995 on September 3rd eBay was founded.

Russ: Oh yeah.

Leisa: The online auction website was founded in San Jose, California by French-born Iranian computer programmer, Pierre Omidyar. Right? I think that's how you say it actually. As Auction Web. Remember Auction Web?

Russ: Oh yeah.

Leisa: That's amazing. In 1997 the company received approximately 5 million in funding from the venture capital firm Benchmark Capital. The first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer for $14.83. Astonished, Omidyar contacted the winning bidder to ask if he understood that the laser pointed was broken. In his responding e-mail the buyer explained, "I'm a collector of broken laser pointers." The frequently repeated story that eBay was founded to help Omidyar's fiancé trade Pez candy dispensers was fabricated by a public relations manager in 1997 to interest the media. This was revealed in Adam Cohen's 2002 book, The Perfect Store, and confirmed by eBay.

Russ: Well that's so interesting because I visited eBay's headquarters in probably, oh, around year 2000 sometimes. In the lobby they had little Pez dispensers everywhere so they were still playing out the rouge there.

Leisa: I'm sure and I doubt they ever -- well they probably do. Pez dispensers are worth a lot now.

Russ: Well yeah.

Leisa: Now they're making them again.

Russ: There were like 200 or 300 in there and everybody would tell the story, "Well that's how it got founded." The story that was not true. What's also kind of interesting about eBay, I heard some of the original discussions with the venture capital firm. It was like when Pierre told them, "We might be selling broken laser printers" and they always focused on broken things. I think it was an investor that said something like, "Will people really want to buy this many broken things?" I think the answer is yes, absolutely. Alright. So that wraps up today's history lesson.

Leisa: Alright. Thank you for having for me.

Russ: Good job.

Leisa: Love it.

Russ: You bet. Okay. There's one more part of the School of Business where I get to put you --

Leisa: The scary part.

Russ: -- on the spot. Yeah. This is our navigating business jargon. This is where I go out and find a new word, a new techno-speak and I get to keep it private all week --

Leisa: For those of you who can't see me I'm trying to read upside down, but I can't see that far.

Russ: I just say the new word and we teach it to you by first listening to see if Leisa can guess the meaning. Here it is. Today's word's a noun and it's duocracy.

Leisa: I would think a duocracy is the opposite of a bureaucracy, which would mean it was not a layered organization. In other words, a duocracy could be one person doing something.

Russ: Boy, you're so close I think I'm gonna give you a win. Congratulations.

Leisa: Yay. Oh, yay.

Russ: But it's a little bit different. Here it is. An organization or movement -- so it is an organization. Not an individual. Or movement where power and respect go to people who get things done.

Leisa: Excellent.

Russ: Duocracy. It's a good thing --

Leisa: I like that word. I'm gonna use that. I wanna have a duocracy in my company.

Russ: There ya' go.

Leisa: I love it.

Russ: Alright. Before we wrap up today's School of Business, it's time for the very popular PKF Texas Entrepreneur's Playbook. So let's welcome Mr. Greg Price. That wraps up today's School of Business. Stay tuned in for our interview with Steve and Allison Lewis, the founders of Tithe Wines. This is the Businessmakers Show heard on the radio and seen online at thebusinessmakers.com.