013 Mastering the CEO Mindset: Harnessing Kent Clothier’s Secrets to Success

In this captivating episode of the Paid to Create Podcast, we invited Kent Clothier, an entrepreneur who achieved a staggering $1.8 billion in annual sales before turning 30, and also experienced the humbling downfall of losing it all. Known nationally as a highly effective performance coach and speaker, Kent candidly shares the lessons he learned as he climbed back from his personal and professional rock bottom to reclaim success and fulfillment.

Discover the crucial mindset shift Kent had to make as he transitioned from a relentless hustler to a visionary CEO. With searing honesty, he discusses the profound impact of failure and how hitting rock bottom acted as a catalyst for his extraordinary personal transformation.

Kent delves into the significant aspects of building a successful team - the importance of hiring individuals who align seamlessly with the company's core values and vision. He also shares invaluable insights into making tough decisions, including recognizing when a hire isn't the right fit and implementing necessary changes for the organization's overall growth and success.

Above all, this episode is a testament to the power of time management and intentional life design. Kent emphasizes the finite nature of time, urging listeners to seize control of their lives and make intentional choices to design a life worth living.

Join us for this deeply insightful and inspiring episode. Immerse yourself in Kent Clothier's journey and arm yourself with the wisdom to navigate your own path towards personal and professional fulfillment. Remember, "You can do anything. You may choose not to, but don't say this. Can't or cannot. That is not true."

Don't miss this chance to gain exceptional insights and strategies that can help transform your approach to leadership and life. Click to listen now!

Transcript

Kent Clothier (00:00):
I started a business at a very young age, as you mentioned, and it blew up and took off, and before I knew it, it was doing billions of dollars in sales. On the way up it was doing hundreds of millions of dollars. I was the guy who took a lot of pride in being the first one three and the last one to leave and pounding on my chest and telling myself that I was doing all that for my family. It was great, but I also lost it all and it was extremely humbling.
Sarah Jenkins (00:24):
Welcome to The Paid To Create Podcast, where we dig into the secret strategies of successful creators making a lucrative living, so sit it back, relax, and enjoy the show.
AJ Roberts (00:33):
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(01:20):
Welcome everyone to The Paid To Create Podcast. I'm AJ Roberts, and alongside me as always is Sarah Jenkins, and our guest today is Kent Clothier. He is a nationally recognized entrepreneur, performance coach, and speaker. He started his first business at 17, so he is a young buck, and he's gone on to do incredible things, generating over $1.8 billion in annual sales by the age of 30, which is fucking phenomenal. He's in real estate, he's in coaching, consulting, he's got a killer Mastermind that I was a part of for a little bit. He's just... Out of all the people I know, he has such depth in his wisdom and it's like you get labeled, "Oh, real estate guy," or that, but it's like truly someone that kind of has impact and input on any topic. I'm so glad you joined us today.
Kent Clothier (02:10):
Thanks for having me, man.
AJ Roberts (02:11):
Yeah-
Kent Clothier (02:11):
Yeah, glad to be here.
AJ Roberts (02:12):
... it's a pleasure. What's been going on, man?
Kent Clothier (02:14):
Same old, same old. Just keep on moving, right?
AJ Roberts (02:16):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (02:16):
Keep on... Lots of cool opportunities, certainly in the real estate space, but as you said, lots of stuff going on from a coaching perspective and Mastermind perspective, and kind of just as the saying goes, there's only one way to coast and that's downhill, so just keep on pedaling, so that's what I do.
AJ Roberts (02:33):
Yeah. Now, we know about seasons as an entrepreneur and you go through different seasons. You've gone through a lot from absolute heartbreak to massive success. We were talking a little bit before the show, you're kind of in a new season right now. Maybe talk about that a little bit, about what's currently going on for you and the shifts that's happening.
Kent Clothier (02:52):
Well, you know, you mentioned it earlier, I've been doing this for a long time and I just turned 53, so I'm like 35 years in business at this point. I can tell you that with all that experience comes wisdom and a lot of insight, and so yeah, this season in my life, I've really started focusing a lot of attention on helping other entrepreneurs, really helping them unlock some of the things that's going on. There's a lot of people out there, in my opinion, that they've solved the income challenge and they think they're business owners, but they're not.
(03:29):
Helping them bridge that gap from hustler to CEO, what that looks like, how do you make that transition? How do you really turn this high income, this job, if you will, that's taking care of your family, but how do you actually turn it into a business? How do you actually bridge that gap and make that next leap? It's something I've found a lot of passion in and I think I've got a lot of wisdom to impart on people and kind of help them maybe avoid some of the pitfalls of it if I can. Yeah, it's really exciting to kind of help people do that.
AJ Roberts (03:59):
Yeah. Maybe for those that like when you say hustle because there's all that talk, "Work hard, sleep when you die," all that talk, and it gets beat into your head as an entrepreneur, right?
Kent Clothier (04:10):
No doubt.
AJ Roberts (04:10):
Like, "If you're not working, you're wasting time," and it's like you'll be with your kids and it's really hard not to be present because you're mind's on something else. Define kind of the difference between a hustler and a CEO because I think that most people, to them, the harder you work, that makes you a better entrepreneur, right?
Kent Clothier (04:29):
Yeah, and you know what? Multiple things can be true at the exact same time. That's absolutely true. In my 20s, I would be... There's not a chance that I, out of authenticity, I couldn't say that I was absolutely a hustler. I mean, I was the guy that was... I started a business at a very young age, as you mentioned, and it blew up and took off, and before I knew it, it was doing billions of dollars in sales. On the way up it was doing hundreds of millions of dollars, and I was the guy that took a lot of pride in being the first one there and the last one to leave and pounding on my chest and telling myself that I was doing all that for my family. As you get a little older, you look back on that and you're like, "Yeah, none of that was true." Right?
Sarah Jenkins (05:09):
Okay, but you can't go from like a household as a young buck and then made billions and just leave that gap there. That's unfair.
Kent Clothier (05:16):
Well, no. I mean, I got all the accolades, I made all the money and it was great, but I also lost it all. Right after my 30th birthday, I got into a run-in with my partners and got into a pissing match, and I'm like, "I'm out of here, you guys take it." They paid me my due and I walked out the door, and then we proceeded to sue each other for the next two years. Over two years, I lost every single dollar I had ever made. It was extremely humbling because I was that guy, thank God social media wasn't around back then, but if it had been, I would have been the douchebag that we all make fun of.
Sarah Jenkins (05:51):
I think we all think that, actually. My 20s are not online.
Kent Clothier (05:57):
Yeah, thank God, right? I was that guy. I mean, all you had to do was ask me. All the success I was having was because of me. I was the arrogant, cocky guy, and then-
Sarah Jenkins (06:04):
You did say billions, though, so it's hard to get around in my own head for even anyone listening to this podcast. It's like from startup to billions, "But it was all because of me and it's in my head." Is it?
Kent Clothier (06:14):
No, I'll tell you what, it was because of the industry. What people don't... The grocery industry, and this was in the grocery field, it's a $700 billion-a-year business. The average truck, the semi you see driving down the road filled with whatever it is-
Sarah Jenkins (06:30):
Bananas.
Kent Clothier (06:30):
... is worth $80,000-
AJ Roberts (06:32):
Hmm.
Kent Clothier (06:32):
... so if you sell hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of truckloads a year at $80,000 a clip, it starts adding up-
AJ Roberts (06:38):
I'm just thinking about-
Kent Clothier (06:38):
... really quickly.
AJ Roberts (06:38):
... all the Prime-
Sarah Jenkins (06:39):
Geez-
AJ Roberts (06:39):
... vehicles [inaudible 00:06:40]-
Sarah Jenkins (06:40):
... like-
Kent Clothier (06:40):
Right.
Sarah Jenkins (06:40):
... because it's one of the-
Kent Clothier (06:41):
Oh, and it-
Sarah Jenkins (06:42):
... warehouses out by me, and I just see those vehicles.
Kent Clothier (06:44):
... and a truck filled with health and beauty care or pharmaceuticals, I mean, it's literally a million dollars that are sitting on that truck at any given time.
Sarah Jenkins (06:52):
It's like the cargo ship industry, what's coming and going, but trucking-
Kent Clothier (06:56):
Well, what we were doing is we would go-
Sarah Jenkins (06:57):
... specific.
Kent Clothier (06:57):
... we would go into... Every single item, there's about 50,000 items in a grocery store, and every single one of those items, the manufacturer is selling it for a price geographically in one market.
Sarah Jenkins (07:11):
Yep.
Kent Clothier (07:12):
It is literally the same. This Aquafina is exactly the same bottle of Aquafina, whether you buy it in San Diego or you buy it in New York City, but the difference is is that the manufacturer sells it for a different price.
Sarah Jenkins (07:24):
Yep.
Kent Clothier (07:25):
Here a case of this might cost $40, New York City, same grocery store, they may pay $120, so what we did was I would walk in and buy it out the back door-
Sarah Jenkins (07:36):
Oh, interesting.
Kent Clothier (07:36):
... by the truckload and I'd pay them $50 a case. I would put it on a truck, ship it to New York, and I would sell for a hundred dollars a case.
Sarah Jenkins (07:48):
Oh my word.
AJ Roberts (07:48):
Early [inaudible 00:07:48]-
Sarah Jenkins (07:48):
Holy crap.
Kent Clothier (07:48):
It was pure-
AJ Roberts (07:48):
[inaudible 00:07:48]-
Kent Clothier (07:48):
... purely [inaudible 00:07:48]-
AJ Roberts (07:48):
... yeah, yeah.
Kent Clothier (07:48):
... right, so I never manufactured anything. We would wire the money, and you have to realize that a grocery store makes... their net, net, net margin is 2%.
Sarah Jenkins (07:56):
Right.
Kent Clothier (07:57):
You have a guy like me that walks in the door and offers to pay them 20%-
Sarah Jenkins (08:00):
They're going to give it to you.
Kent Clothier (08:00):
... upfront. You don't have to put it on your shelf, you don't have to do anything. I'll prepay you, you don't have to wait on the money, and then I'm going to take... It was a no-brainer for them-
Sarah Jenkins (08:08):
Huh.
Kent Clothier (08:08):
... and so, yeah, we started that business when I was 17. By the time I was 23, we were doing roughly 50 million a year. 26, it was up to about a hundred million. 28, it was 800 million. 30, it was 1.8 billion.
AJ Roberts (08:22):
When you're in your 20s, you're not going to believe... You're a genius. Everything supports that ego. Everything supports that-
Kent Clothier (08:29):
You have no-
AJ Roberts (08:30):
... it's-
Kent Clothier (08:30):
... reference for failure.
AJ Roberts (08:31):
... yeah, because you've knocked it out of the ballpark and it was your idea and, of course, it's like-
Kent Clothier (08:36):
Well-
AJ Roberts (08:36):
... you don't-
Sarah Jenkins (08:37):
I wouldn't say it's not genius sort of level. I'm-
AJ Roberts (08:38):
I'm-
Sarah Jenkins (08:38):
... not a genius expert-
AJ Roberts (08:39):
... [inaudible 00:08:40].
Sarah Jenkins (08:39):
... or anything like that-
Kent Clothier (08:40):
[inaudible 00:08:41]-
Sarah Jenkins (08:40):
... but geez.
Kent Clothier (08:41):
... it really is is that I can literally remember I was 29 and I was signing a bonus check for one of my managers that worked for me. It was at the end of the year and I could see his year-to-date earnings on the check, and this is December. I could see that he had made $250,000 a year. Now, mind you, this is 1999.
AJ Roberts (09:01):
That's a lot.
Kent Clothier (09:03):
He made 250 grand that year, and I could actually remember thinking to myself, "How does anybody survive on $250,000 a year?"
Sarah Jenkins (09:09):
Survive like they can't live on that much?
Kent Clothier (09:12):
Yeah-
Sarah Jenkins (09:12):
What?
Kent Clothier (09:12):
... because I was so jaded. I had never-
Sarah Jenkins (09:14):
How much do you shop?
Kent Clothier (09:15):
... well, this was my monthly American Express bill-
AJ Roberts (09:18):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (09:19):
... so in
Sarah Jenkins (09:19):
Oh my.
Kent Clothier (09:19):
... my mind, because I-
Sarah Jenkins (09:21):
Well, they hate me.
Kent Clothier (09:22):
... the success had been just a part of my entire journey, I had no point of... It was my four walls were that entire business, like-
AJ Roberts (09:29):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (09:30):
... there was nothing else.
AJ Roberts (09:31):
Like you said, there's no social media. You had nothing to even compare it against.
Kent Clothier (09:34):
I had no point of reference-
Sarah Jenkins (09:35):
Your perspective is awesome.
Kent Clothier (09:36):
... to understand that it was wildly, wildly out of control. I just didn't know. Luckily, like I said, walking out of there and losing everything gave me the perspective, right?
AJ Roberts (09:48):
I'm curious because I feel like the universe somehow always gives us little clues along the way, but we tend to ignore them. Leading up to that exit, had there been things that kind of like... You know, it's like a little bit, but nah, nah, and you just kept going and this was the catastrophic like, "You need to change, and I'm going to," it's like, you know [inaudible 00:10:09]-
Sarah Jenkins (10:09):
I'm in your head.
AJ Roberts (10:09):
... yeah.
Kent Clothier (10:09):
Looking back, I mean, look, as you look back on it, as I got into my 40s and my 50s, I look back on and think there's nothing that really stands out to me per se, but I will tell you that when I did lose everything, it took me basically 22 months to wipe myself out down to basically zero. When I was going through that, I have no problem admitting it was the single worst experience of my entire life, going through a divorce. Because I had been so sheltered and enclosed that my entire world was inside of that business there was no... All my friends were inside the business. All my relationships were inside-
Sarah Jenkins (10:53):
Lost [inaudible 00:10:53].
Kent Clothier (10:53):
... it was lost at every level.
Sarah Jenkins (10:53):
Right.
Kent Clothier (10:54):
That was devastating and, I mean, I was depressed, I was suicidal. It was really, really bad-
AJ Roberts (10:59):
Hmm.
Kent Clothier (11:00):
... but if you had told me then that I would ever look back on that and say, "That's the best thing that ever happened to me," I would've told you you're crazy, bust as I got further away from it, I look back and I could not be any more grateful.
AJ Roberts (11:13):
It prepared you, but you've never been there again, so nothing has-
Kent Clothier (11:17):
It was exactly-
AJ Roberts (11:18):
... happened that is that bad.
Kent Clothier (11:18):
... what I needed at the exact moment that I needed it because I did not understand the arrogance. I did not understand the cockiness. I did not understand any vulnerability at all that I had. Getting kicked in the teeth and getting really kicked in the teeth put me in a place to where there's only one way to go, and that was up, and ind of prepared me for the rest of my life that any time I got hit, it was never as bad as that.
AJ Roberts (11:46):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (11:46):
I know I can do anything, and that is... When you really weaponize that, especially in business... You know, I say this a lot, but imagine if I called you and I said, "AJ, I'm going to become an MMA fighter-
Sarah Jenkins (12:04):
Totally.
Kent Clothier (12:05):
... "and I want to be the greatest MMA fighter in the world. I don't want to just do it at some small scale. Listen, brother, I have watched every YouTube video, I've read every social media post, I've read every book. I've listened to... I think I'm ready." You would have been like," You've lost your mind, Kent." Right?
AJ Roberts (12:23):
Yeah.
Sarah Jenkins (12:24):
Those books are pretty good.
Kent Clothier (12:24):
Because I clearly have to get in the ring at some point-
Sarah Jenkins (12:29):
What?
Kent Clothier (12:30):
... and-
Sarah Jenkins (12:31):
Well, there's my career.
Kent Clothier (12:33):
... if I got in the ring, then I would... one thing's for sure, I would expect to get hit and I'd expect to get knocked out. I'd expect to get choked out. All those things I would just expect to happen because it's part of the journey. I think what happens to people is that they come into business and they just don't expect to get hit. The best thing that ever happened to me was getting hit so hard that anything I go into now it's like I just expect to get hit and it's okay. I'll be just fine. This is how a championship... This is how you win it. This is [inaudible 00:13:02]-
AJ Roberts (13:02):
Yeah, because I've interviews with the UFC fight... I'm a big UFC fan, but they'll say someone who has an undefeated record in the ring is not undefeated. They've been choked out.
Kent Clothier (13:13):
That's exactly right.
AJ Roberts (13:14):
They've tapped. They've been knocked out normally. Some people, they've never been knocked out, but they have lost in training lots-
Sarah Jenkins (13:20):
In training.
Kent Clothier (13:21):
So many times.
AJ Roberts (13:22):
... because they might be best on-
Sarah Jenkins (13:22):
It's not in the ring.
AJ Roberts (13:22):
... their feet, but they're not best on the ground. Or they might be best on the ground, but they not best on their feet, but MMA is an all around sport, but like you said, business is very similar. It's an all-around sport. You are always going to be bad at something-
Kent Clothier (13:34):
Well-
AJ Roberts (13:34):
... and so-
Kent Clothier (13:34):
... I mean, again, imagine knowing what you know now, you just know the hits are coming.
AJ Roberts (13:39):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (13:40):
It's not a matter of if, it's just a matter of when and you know you've got the resolve to handle it. What I think a lot of new business owners especially come in is they just don't expect to get hit, and when they do get hit, it's pretty humbling pretty quickly, right? And-
AJ Roberts (13:54):
Or they expect-
Sarah Jenkins (13:54):
Thank God.
AJ Roberts (13:54):
... results faster-
Kent Clothier (13:55):
Yeah-
AJ Roberts (13:55):
... like [inaudible 00:13:56]-
Kent Clothier (13:55):
... I mean, they're just buying into the nonsense that's online instead of what this really takes.
Sarah Jenkins (13:59):
I think that's good. I think that's normal for growth-
Kent Clothier (14:02):
Yeah, a hundred-
Sarah Jenkins (14:03):
... and even family members and other little or younger versions of me that have come in and tried to market and tried to grow business and just it fails and they've lost everything and I'm like, "Well, yeah, that's how it goes," and that is how-
Kent Clothier (14:14):
That is how it goes. Yeah.
Sarah Jenkins (14:16):
I'm like, "Yeah, that's how it goes."
AJ Roberts (14:17):
I believe that the-
Sarah Jenkins (14:18):
Get back up.
AJ Roberts (14:18):
... depth of your pain will be the depth of your happiness or the depth of your... You know? It's like without the opposite, you just cruise along, so you'll have success, but how great of success you can have and what... They call it levels. There's levels to the game. There's levels to the game of relationship, life, business, and the reason for that is it really comes to how much stress can you handle, and stress is caused by those hits.
Kent Clothier (14:41):
That's right.
AJ Roberts (14:41):
If you've never been hit before, like if someone just comes out of nowhere and just blindsides you, you go in a panic. You go... Those emotions don't go away, but if you've gone through them before, you have coping strategies, and I imagine like-
Kent Clothier (14:52):
That's exactly right.
AJ Roberts (14:53):
... from that point on, once you had nothing, you've got hard work and you're not afraid. Fear is almost gone because, what are you going to take from me?
Kent Clothier (15:01):
You nailed it. That's right and [inaudible 00:15:02]-
AJ Roberts (15:02):
... or you just win.
Kent Clothier (15:03):
... that's it. There is no more fear. I know it didn't kill me. It came close, but it didn't kill me, and-
Sarah Jenkins (15:08):
What level are you? Maybe I'm a level of three, maybe. Play three at least, right? Mm-hmm.
Kent Clothier (15:13):
Yeah, I... Look, and so that to your point really... That was a game changer for me. It really helped me. I had no idea what the path was and ahead of me look so that, I think to your point really, that was a game changer for me. It really helped me. I had no idea what the path was ahead of me. I just knew that whatever it was, I'd figure it out and I never wanted to go backwards, but I wasn't afraid of it. The fear part of it just goes away. I'm not afraid of it. To this day, I'm not afraid of going backwards. I'll figure it out, but when that kind of comes off you, then it's amazing what you can actually accomplish.
AJ Roberts (15:42):
Yeah.
Sarah Jenkins (15:43):
It's super cool how you related the business growth and failing to the very bottom to even fighting when you've been knocked out and blacked out. There's so much correlation there. It's so-
Kent Clothier (15:51):
Oh yeah.
Sarah Jenkins (15:52):
... cool. I'm [inaudible 00:15:53]-
Kent Clothier (15:53):
Well, I just think the expectation is just different. There's no way you could ever expect to become great at fighting without expecting-
Sarah Jenkins (16:00):
Without being knocked out?
Kent Clothier (16:01):
... getting knocked out.
AJ Roberts (16:02):
Well, and also, you probably... When you feel comfortable, you know it's not going to last, so you have more gratitude-
Kent Clothier (16:11):
That's actually right.
AJ Roberts (16:12):
... you have more appreciation. You know like, "Oh, things are good right now. Okay, let's prepare-
Sarah Jenkins (16:18):
That will change.
AJ Roberts (16:19):
... let's not get comfortable, Let's not do stupid, so you don't make rash decision because times are good. You are probably a lot more calculated and that-
Kent Clothier (16:27):
No doubt.
AJ Roberts (16:27):
... sells.
Kent Clothier (16:28):
No doubt. Well, and with the years and the wisdom, you learn to prepare for those situations. You understand that they're probably in all likely coming. You don't panic, and you know, I don't know about you guys, but I certainly... I'm a better CEO today than I've ever been, and part of that comes that I understand the nature of business and I understand the seasonality of business, not just on a yearly basis like. Things happen, whether it's a recession, whether like the ups, the downs, it's never as good as you think it is and it's never as bad as you think it is.
AJ Roberts (17:05):
Yeah. Yeah, that's beautifully said. Kind of continuing that, obviously, there's a lot of clues in what we said, what makes someone a good CEO, but as you've learned, there's a difference between being a hustler and somebody who can make money. Just because you own a company doesn't mean you're a real CEO, so what would you say are the qualities of a real CEO?
Kent Clothier (17:23):
Well, I think the very first thing to do is to kind of have a wake-up call with yourself. Look, if you "own a business," it's real simple to figure that out. Just leave.
AJ Roberts (17:35):
Hmm.
Kent Clothier (17:36):
Leave for two months and don't tell anybody, and if you come back and there is more money in your bank account than when you left, you probably own a business. Anything short of that, your ass owns a job because it is in direct correlation with your effort. Your effort determined part of that outcome, which means there's work to do. It means there's an opportunity to become a better CEO or an opportunity to... What makes a great CEO is, one, having that wake-up call and owning it. Then, two, realizing that in order for the CEO, the true killer CEO and leader to come out, like that hustler side of your brain has got to die, meaning as hustlers we definitely recognize that this is how we got here. All the accolades, all the money, everything put us in this place. We have solved the income challenge.
(18:30):
You have to calm that voice because that voice naturally is always going to try to creep up and fight for a seat at the table When it comes to hiring, just using it as an example, you'll start feeding your mind, "Well, nobody's going to do as good as I do it." Or, "I can't slow down to train anybody," or, "Nobody's going to care." Whatever it is, that is the hustler-
AJ Roberts (18:50):
Mm-hmm.
Kent Clothier (18:51):
... that's basically trying to give you all the objections to why you don't want to do this.
AJ Roberts (18:54):
I've got to do it myself because no one-
Kent Clothier (18:56):
Yeah, nobody can do it-
AJ Roberts (18:56):
... can do it as good as [inaudible 00:18:57]-
Kent Clothier (18:56):
... this way. That's [inaudible 00:18:57]-
Sarah Jenkins (18:57):
[inaudible 00:18:57] very long. I guess I have a lot of follow-up questions.
Kent Clothier (19:00):
That's just not true. The reality as we know it is absolutely not... that is not true. There are plenty of people, quality people, that can do the job every bit as good as you can, whatever it is. Now, you may need-
Sarah Jenkins (19:10):
Well, then aren't you hiring the hustlers that you would have been for each department in your company?
Kent Clothier (19:14):
Well, potentially, but-
Sarah Jenkins (19:16):
Another question, then. How many people under you as CEO, then, did you make that transition?
Kent Clothier (19:20):
I take a lot of pride in the fact that I'm in my organizations in all likelihood training entrepreneurs.
AJ Roberts (19:27):
Hmm. Right.
Sarah Jenkins (19:28):
This is selfishly asked because I'm a CEO-
Kent Clothier (19:29):
No, no, and-
Sarah Jenkins (19:29):
... and I'm always, always learning.
Kent Clothier (19:30):
... it's a Catch-22-
Sarah Jenkins (19:30):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (19:32):
... so here's the way I look at it. If I train somebody or bring somebody on and they are so good at their job that they could potentially leave me and go do it on their own-
Sarah Jenkins (19:45):
Oh, I love those hours.
Kent Clothier (19:46):
... which is a really fair objection, "Why would I ever do that, Kent? Why would I train somebody to compete with me?" Well, my answer would be-
Sarah Jenkins (19:54):
Those are the ones you want to keep.
Kent Clothier (19:56):
... my... Well, what's the alternative?
AJ Roberts (19:58):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (19:58):
How are you ever going to be free? How are you ever going to have time freedom? If you want to build a quality organization, it requires quality people, and it's your job to train them and pour everything into them, but it's also your job to create the culture and compensate them and create the environment where they don't want to leave.
AJ Roberts (20:15):
Now, they choose to stay-
Kent Clothier (20:16):
They're choosing, they-
AJ Roberts (20:17):
... because they do-
Kent Clothier (20:17):
... could-
AJ Roberts (20:17):
... have another choice.
Kent Clothier (20:18):
... right. They have a choice, and they've been well-trained, but they are choosing you.
AJ Roberts (20:22):
Yeah.
Sarah Jenkins (20:22):
Is it true that some people are not entrepreneurs? They could have that hustler mentality, that growth that you're looking for, but not entrepreneurial?
Kent Clothier (20:30):
A hundred percent.
Sarah Jenkins (20:30):
Is that what you look for?
Kent Clothier (20:32):
What I look for is aspirational people, quality people. We hire very... We're kind of savages when it comes to hiring people. We put them through the ringer. It's a privilege to work for me in my organizations, and the people that are there-
Sarah Jenkins (20:49):
See.
Kent Clothier (20:49):
... they want to be there and they bought into our culture, they bought into our philosophy, they bought into our vision. They're really good at their jobs. They understand how to do it and how to do it well. When we put those people in place, we pour everything that we possibly can and to make them the best version of themself. I think that, at least in my humble opinion, that the vast majority of people as long as they have an amazing culture, they have a great... there's great leadership, they're being well-thought-of, well taken care of, well-compensated, recognized, et cetera. The vast majority of people have no interest in taking the risk of going out on their own.
Sarah Jenkins (21:30):
It's a risk.
Kent Clothier (21:31):
When they actually fully... That doesn't... That's not-
Sarah Jenkins (21:34):
Sure.
Kent Clothier (21:34):
... a hundred percent, and there are people that still will go, but the people that do go, you know, good for them, right?
Sarah Jenkins (21:41):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (21:41):
The people that stay, there is a choice. They're staying there because this is home.
AJ Roberts (21:45):
Yeah. I see a different mindset from you on that. Most people when they would talk about it, a lot of people as business owners, they see it as a failure. Like, "Oh, they left me." You see it as like they graduated-
Sarah Jenkins (21:58):
They grew.
AJ Roberts (21:59):
... like-
Kent Clothier (21:59):
Yeah.
AJ Roberts (21:59):
... "They're confident enough because of me," that's awesome. Like you say, you're prepared for anything, so when they leave it's not like, "Oh my gosh." It's like, "Yeah, okay, let's go find the next person who's at that caliber to come in-
Kent Clothier (22:13):
Well-
AJ Roberts (22:13):
... and grow then.
Kent Clothier (22:14):
... and here's the reason why it's like that is because to me it would be the height of hypocrisy. How dare I go out there and try to inspire people to do everything? I mean, this is literally my life. This is what I do every single day. Naturally, the people around me are going to gravitate to that message. How dare I then when they're ready to spread their wings, stand in their way. Now, does that create impact inside of my organization?
Sarah Jenkins (22:40):
Sure.
Kent Clothier (22:40):
Of course.
Sarah Jenkins (22:40):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (22:40):
Of course, but I would never have any kind of ill will. I want them to go out there, and it wouldn't be the... It's happened a few times before where people have done that and then they quickly figured out, "Wait a minute-
Sarah Jenkins (22:50):
Business is more than just-
Kent Clothier (22:51):
Oh man, this is a lot-
Sarah Jenkins (22:52):
... this skill set, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Kent Clothier (22:52):
... there's a lot more to this and they-
Sarah Jenkins (22:54):
Sometimes they come back-
Kent Clothier (22:54):
... come running back, and I welcome this open arms.
Sarah Jenkins (22:56):
... and that's great.
Kent Clothier (22:56):
Let's do this.
AJ Roberts (22:57):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (22:57):
... but look, I would be the ultimate hypocrite if I wasn't their biggest cheerleader. Like, "If you think you can do this, let's go do it."
AJ Roberts (23:04):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (23:05):
"Let's figure it out." In many cases, I've actually invested or tried to help them do it. It's just I-
Sarah Jenkins (23:12):
You see that drive in them that you've even grown, so you could do it. Now, let me help you. Then when you invest in that, then that's working for both of you.
Kent Clothier (23:19):
Absolutely, absolutely.
AJ Roberts (23:21):
Yeah, and I almost feel as if, well, I'm sure there's anomalies, but I almost feel like when those people do leave, it's not like a, "Fuck you, I'm out." Most people-
Kent Clothier (23:29):
Yeah, like they're-
AJ Roberts (23:29):
... when they leave, it's a very negative thing. I feel like it more like, "Hey, Kent, I've been thinking about this. You would take pride in it and it's almost like this... it's like almost a celebration.
Kent Clothier (23:38):
One of the coolest things-
Sarah Jenkins (23:38):
How you lead.
Kent Clothier (23:39):
... that ever happened, a guy that worked for me for many, many years, young guy, and he wanted to go and start his own organization. He was very, very passionate about meditation and self-help and personal development. He really wanted to go start his own thing doing that. He had found his own path, and prior to leaving, he showed up in my office with a gift and it was basically 12 key things that he had learned from me over the decade we had spent together. It still hangs in my office today. He's like-
Sarah Jenkins (24:08):
Awesome.
Kent Clothier (24:08):
... "I just want to let you know, this is the impact you," and-
Sarah Jenkins (24:10):
Wow.
Kent Clothier (24:11):
... to me, that was probably one of the coolest gifts I've ever been given and, again, like I said, how dare I stand in the way of his dreams. It would be [inaudible 00:24:19].
Sarah Jenkins (24:19):
Well, not just did you make money with this guy, you also allowed him to make money, and look at the value that you put into that individual, like-
Kent Clothier (24:25):
Well, and that's-
Sarah Jenkins (24:26):
... the quality you've given his life.
Kent Clothier (24:26):
... the ripple effect.
AJ Roberts (24:27):
Yeah.
Sarah Jenkins (24:28):
That's why you got into business in the first place, right?
Kent Clothier (24:29):
Yeah. I mean, look-
Sarah Jenkins (24:30):
... the benefit.
Kent Clothier (24:31):
... at some point, you solved the income challenge and we've all accomplished that. I don't know about you guys, but I know for me personally, my why that why I do what I do, I identify with very closely. I keep it really close to me, and that is a I have a nine-year-old daughter and I have an 18-year old daughter, and
Sarah Jenkins (24:52):
Oh, Kent. Whoo.
Kent Clothier (24:52):
... I can't think of anything more impactful if I died today that I know there are hundreds if not thousands of people that would get on an airplane and fly out here to make a point of the walking up to my two little girls and saying, "Your Dad mattered." That is a big, big deal to me and it's really hard to have that so front and center and also not be rooting for the people that you're pushing along the way, right?
AJ Roberts (25:19):
I think it's so key for people listening to clue in on that because how many times does someone have a business that does motivate, inspire in whatever capacity, but yet when it comes to their own culture, it's toxic? They're yelling at their salespeople like, "Why haven't we made any sales? It's lunchtime." Right?
Kent Clothier (25:38):
Yeah.
AJ Roberts (25:38):
"You want me to die? You want this? Let's go out of business," versus like-
Kent Clothier (25:42):
Well, it goes back-
AJ Roberts (25:44):
... taking that time to be like, "Okay, how do we get better as a group? How do we improve?" Then, being their coach just as much as you are-
Kent Clothier (25:49):
You just nailed it.
AJ Roberts (25:49):
... someone else's."
Kent Clothier (25:49):
That... You know, you asked me what is a great or what does it take to be a great CEO? I think that you have to make that switch mentally and understand that part of being a great CEO is you are the coach. Again, other sports analogies, it's your job to put the other coaches in place. It's your job to put the right players on the field. It's your job to take this NFL playbook at the beginning of the season, it's a thousand pages in probably 10 three-ring binders. When it comes down to the actual game, it is all condensed down to, "These are our plays for this game." We've all seen it on the sidelines of the NFL where the coach has got the laminated 8 x 12 and he's calling the plays and holding... That's not the playbook. That's the playbook for this game.
AJ Roberts (26:35):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (26:37):
When you realize that's what it looks like it. You have to put the people, the systems, the leverage, all of it, and then you have to know what are the right plays to call at the right time, but first and foremost, you're the coach.
AJ Roberts (26:46):
Yeah. I love you use football because I think that's a great way to look at it because you're the head coach, but there's always an offensive coordinator, there's always a defensive-
Sarah Jenkins (26:55):
There's six other coaches.
AJ Roberts (26:56):
... specialty, and they're in charge of that and you're just overseeing it all. Now, yes, you step in when you need to step in-
Kent Clothier (27:00):
That's right.
AJ Roberts (27:01):
... because you can do their job. That's the power is like you could do their job-
Kent Clothier (27:05):
That's right.
AJ Roberts (27:06):
... but you know because they're focused 100%, they're probably going to do a better job than you-
Kent Clothier (27:10):
That's right.
AJ Roberts (27:10):
... and you're only stepping in in crisis mode.
Kent Clothier (27:12):
It doesn't matter what it is. Every organization's probably got a sales function, marketing function, whatever it is, customer acquisition, finance side of it. When you hire great people, assistant coaches, to overlook and they live it and breathe it every day, that's how you scale. That's how you get to where time freedom, not money freedom, kind of... They definitely go hand in hand, but if everybody's really honest with themselves, the money freedom is one thing. What you're really buying with that money is time.
AJ Roberts (27:41):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (27:42):
If you want to have time freedom, you got to start figuring out what your actual role is, and back to the point, the hustler side of your brain will constantly tell you, "No, no, no, no. We can't slow down the train. We can't put people in place. We can't afford to do this. We can't afford-
Sarah Jenkins (27:57):
I love [inaudible 00:27:57].
Kent Clothier (27:57):
... to do that, and we start doing that to ourselves, one thing you're robbing yourself of is that time freedom. It's just that simple.
AJ Roberts (28:04):
Let's talk about hiring those people. You mentioned a few things, but like you said, you put them through a vigorous process. I think a lot of people hire too fast. They go, "I have a problem," and they hire the first buddy or-
Kent Clothier (28:14):
[inaudible 00:28:15].
AJ Roberts (28:16):
... or they do an interview, it's not quite the right person, but it's like, "We need to fill this role." Obviously, I know you probably go real slow, but maybe share a little bit about, how do you attract these A players? How do you make sure they're the right fit? Just because you're an A player doesn't necessarily mean you're then the right fit for the team, right?
Kent Clothier (28:30):
No doubt, and so I can tell you that all I can speak to is my experience, and I tell you-
Sarah Jenkins (28:35):
Sure.
Kent Clothier (28:36):
... that our... What you see is what you get, so when you see me online or you see me on videos or if you're in my office, I'm the same guy. I attract a very specific type of person. I'm very upfront and out there with what our core values are, who... what makes us tick. I think being dialed in on what makes you tick and what makes the organization tick and the culture that you've created and the core values and being very out there and upfront about it is a key element into attracting talent. Then, we have a company we use, it's called Team Architects, and they do this cognitive as well as personality tests, so we design-
Sarah Jenkins (29:20):
Great.
Kent Clothier (29:21):
... we basically design whatever the position is. They have identified what all the key traits are and attributes on the way that person thinks, what are the skills they need to have, et cetera. When we are trying to attract talent to us, and I'll give you... I'm going to answer in two different ways. One, when we are trying to bring talent in, we're attracting it, we send them through that assessment before we'll ever even talk to them.
AJ Roberts (29:44):
Hmm. Mm-hmm.
Sarah Jenkins (29:44):
I'm not going to make notes. I'm just going to [inaudible 00:29:46]-
Kent Clothier (29:45):
Then, they do not-
Sarah Jenkins (29:46):
... study real quick.
Kent Clothier (29:46):
... score somewhere in the 80s or 90s, they're not even talking to us.
AJ Roberts (29:51):
Hmm.
Kent Clothier (29:52):
We don't even... period. It's not even worth our time. Then, we send them through an interview process that's multi-parts, several different people they need to talk to to bring in, but we already know they have the skills, they have the resume, they have the personality. They're a good culture fit. They cognitively, they process the information the way we need them and visualize the information the way we want them in that particular role. Then, ultimately, we'll make a decision out of several candidates down the way. Now, if we're going for ridiculously talented people, same process on the back end, but rather than just try to attract them, which is most people, they throw up a job ad and expect people are always looking. The reality of it is people aren't always looking. Sometimes people-
Sarah Jenkins (30:36):
Do you do recruiters? Or do you-
Kent Clothier (30:38):
No, we actually do it a little more even elementary than that.
Sarah Jenkins (30:41):
Interesting.
Kent Clothier (30:42):
Depending on the organization that we're hiring for, we will go find who all of our competitors there are nationally in the side of that role, and we will use LinkedIn and we will go directly... I'll give you an example. We were hiring a chief marketing officer for one of our companies and-
Sarah Jenkins (30:59):
Big role.
Kent Clothier (31:00):
... yep, and we went right after a guy who had been the former chief marketing officer at Yahoo and went-
Sarah Jenkins (31:05):
Shut up.
Kent Clothier (31:06):
... directly at him and sent him through this entire process and hired him. One of the most expensive hires I've ever made-
Sarah Jenkins (31:11):
And?
Kent Clothier (31:12):
... but it was amazing, and if you want talented people, they're rarely looking.
AJ Roberts (31:18):
They're probably either doing their own thing or they have a position already.
Kent Clothier (31:22):
Right.
Sarah Jenkins (31:24):
Sitting pretty.
AJ Roberts (31:24):
Yeah, because they're not sitting around waiting-
Kent Clothier (31:24):
Right-
AJ Roberts (31:25):
... for an opportunity, but-
Kent Clothier (31:26):
... so an opportunity must come to them-
Sarah Jenkins (31:27):
Right.
Kent Clothier (31:28):
... and a lot of times-
Sarah Jenkins (31:30):
My best hires have that. They come to me and they're like, "I got an offer, I wasn't looking," and I'm like, "Whatever, man. What was the offer? What are you looking at? Why are you looking at it?"
Kent Clothier (31:41):
It's just something, and it might be, and a lot of times the comp... I'll tell you what, something else is fascinating to me about this is in many of those cases, our comp package is actually less than they were making, and so we were... What got them was the recognition-
AJ Roberts (31:56):
Hmm.
Kent Clothier (31:56):
... the opportunity-
Sarah Jenkins (31:57):
Oh.
Kent Clothier (31:57):
... the title, the opportunity to earn-
Sarah Jenkins (31:59):
Some pride.
Kent Clothier (31:59):
... potential equity in our organization, just being recognized for the value they bring because in some organization they've been passed up or whatever the case may be. Or they're just don't want to be in this corporate environment. They want to be in a more entrepreneurial environment, whatever it is.
AJ Roberts (32:12):
They want to see the growth potential.
Kent Clothier (32:13):
That's right.
AJ Roberts (32:14):
Like a lot of... That's super interesting-
Sarah Jenkins (32:17):
We have a lot of that.
AJ Roberts (32:17):
... but it is super interesting because I think as humans, that's the key, right? This completely different.
Sarah Jenkins (32:21):
To be part of something.
AJ Roberts (32:22):
Different, but same, but we were talking the other day about like women a lot of time will date potential-
Sarah Jenkins (32:26):
Women.
AJ Roberts (32:28):
... but they'll only put up with it for a certain amount of time-
Sarah Jenkins (32:30):
Yeah.
AJ Roberts (32:31):
... so if you're a confident guy, they can't tell much difference between confidence and competence. In the beginning, they trust the confidence-
Kent Clothier (32:38):
Right.
AJ Roberts (32:38):
... but after three years, they're starting to wonder-
Kent Clothier (32:40):
Right.
AJ Roberts (32:40):
... "Is this dude every going to step up?" Eventually, and because... What they want is they want to see that like, "Our life is going somewhere." They want to be lead, but they want it to go somewhere. Obviously, I'm talking generalities here-
Kent Clothier (32:52):
Yeah, yeah.
AJ Roberts (32:53):
... there's a lot of variance to that, but it just reminds me of that. I think in general, even myself, you always want to be in any relationship, business relationship, personal relationship, like even in the gym-
Sarah Jenkins (33:03):
Where it's going somewhere.
AJ Roberts (33:04):
... but I don't go to the gym to be the same for the next 10 years. I have a goal, and even if it's just getting a little bit better, it's I don't want to do the same thing over and over-
Sarah Jenkins (33:13):
Yeah, and I don't-
AJ Roberts (33:13):
... again.
Sarah Jenkins (33:13):
... the same goals. It's fine. Whatever.
Kent Clothier (33:16):
I think that they get stuck in some... They look up and they've been at some corporate job for 15 years and it's just, to your point, it's not where they want to be. They're making plenty of money, but it's not checking the boxes.
AJ Roberts (33:28):
Yeah-
Sarah Jenkins (33:28):
Right.
AJ Roberts (33:28):
... but they might have been making that money for two or three years, but there's no potential to go higher, and they thinking to themselves, "All right, I got 60 years left at this," or 40 years normally, "40 years left. Am I just going to do the same for 40 years?"
Kent Clothier (33:39):
And I-
AJ Roberts (33:39):
Like you said, they've already been passed on.
Kent Clothier (33:39):
... it suddenly looks exciting to be a part of something that's a little more entrepreneurial and a leader that I believe in, the culture-
Sarah Jenkins (33:46):
Why do you-
Kent Clothier (33:46):
... I believe in-
Sarah Jenkins (33:46):
... think-
Kent Clothier (33:48):
... and they move.
Sarah Jenkins (33:48):
... people cheat? They go, "That one's better for me. That one's more exciting. That one's more opportunity. That one's more-
Kent Clothier (33:53):
Yeah.
Sarah Jenkins (33:54):
... "sex, money, recognition," whatever. That's why people move on to that next relationship, but I think the same as in business. Is it that more money? Is it more recognition? Is it higher director level for manager level, whatever?
Kent Clothier (34:05):
No doubt.
Sarah Jenkins (34:05):
So it's all-
Kent Clothier (34:05):
I just found it fascinating-
Sarah Jenkins (34:05):
... [inaudible 00:34:06].
Kent Clothier (34:05):
... that-
Sarah Jenkins (34:07):
I love when you do men and women stuff because then like-
Kent Clothier (34:09):
I just think it fascinating that-
Sarah Jenkins (34:12):
... "All right, go for it."
Kent Clothier (34:12):
... [inaudible 00:34:12] most of those-
AJ Roberts (34:12):
Most get canceled.
Kent Clothier (34:12):
... hires we've made, we've literally paid them less than they were currently making. I would say 90%.
AJ Roberts (34:18):
It's probably something, too, like also they can see the vision.
Kent Clothier (34:22):
You got it.
AJ Roberts (34:23):
... and it's the vision they're buying into, and because-
Sarah Jenkins (34:26):
Well, and their value as part of that vision.
AJ Roberts (34:29):
... mm-hmm. Yes.
Kent Clothier (34:29):
Well, and again, it comes back to as a CEO, as a leader, making sure that those core values and all that stuff, that's what they're buying into. They're buying into really belonging to something that is checking a box for them that they're just don't feel that in their current situation.
Sarah Jenkins (34:48):
I have a weird question for you. When they say sometimes that the first five people that got you to your first million is not the five people that will get you to your next 10 million or whatever, what do you think of that?
Kent Clothier (34:57):
I agree.
Sarah Jenkins (34:58):
Do you?
Kent Clothier (34:58):
Yeah. I think we all outgrow relationships, whether that's personally or professionally. The same guy that was your CPA when you were making a hundred thousand dollars a year cannot be the same CPA when you're making 10 million. They just don't have the skill sets anymore, and the same is true of your friends, and the same is true inside of your own organization. There are... Now, do I have some core people that are still-
Sarah Jenkins (35:19):
Sure, that's different, though.
Kent Clothier (35:20):
... yeah, absolutely-
Sarah Jenkins (35:20):
You grew, they grew.
Kent Clothier (35:21):
... but one of the most profound things that I did certainly inside the last 10 years is that I started hiring up instead of hiring down. I think most entrepreneurs when they come in they have a tendency you were kind of touching on, they hire down. They put... They hire somebody that ultimately they're going to manage, and then one of the key things that happened to me is I started hiring people that were a lot better than me for very specific roles, again, some of the C-level stuff and watched our businesses explode. That was a really profound thing for me to learn.
Sarah Jenkins (35:58):
Follow-up question, do you ever hire too high? Then, they're not really at the level where you're trying to grow to. They're even higher than that, so they can't... like they're trying to manage a team of 25 people and you've given them five, so they can't really hit the goals given for them.
Kent Clothier (36:13):
Look, I've made bad hires in just about every area of business, period, so yeah.
Sarah Jenkins (36:16):
I am only asking you questions based on my own experience as well.
Kent Clothier (36:19):
Yeah. No, I can tell you in 35 years of business, I have for sure made bad hires-
Sarah Jenkins (36:21):
Okay.
Kent Clothier (36:22):
... and in every-
Sarah Jenkins (36:23):
Well, I feel better.
Kent Clothier (36:24):
... area, right?
Sarah Jenkins (36:25):
This podcast is worth it.
Kent Clothier (36:26):
Hired too high, hired too low, you name it, I've done it, but I will tell you that-
Sarah Jenkins (36:29):
I've also done it, but am I still figuring it out?
Kent Clothier (36:32):
I will tell you the process we send them through now is about as... It's definitely not foolproof, but-
Sarah Jenkins (36:37):
Well [inaudible 00:36:38]-
Kent Clothier (36:37):
... it's about as close to bulletproof as I've been able to find-
Sarah Jenkins (36:40):
Interesting.
Kent Clothier (36:40):
... meaning we definitely don't hire out of convenience and we definitely do not hire just because somebody knows somebody or because somebody... We do not put warm bodies. The-
Sarah Jenkins (36:52):
Never hire because someone knows somebody, but if someone knows somebody that has a skill set, fine. I don't overlook that person-
Kent Clothier (36:58):
Yeah, and I-
Sarah Jenkins (36:58):
... for sure.
Kent Clothier (36:58):
... think that probably the... I said it earlier, but I think it's probably worth saying again is that when you view your business as it is a privilege to work for you, it kind of puts you in a box to where you're forced to make better hires-
Sarah Jenkins (37:12):
Geez.
Kent Clothier (37:13):
... and like-
Sarah Jenkins (37:14):
This is the best or worst podcast we've ever done-
Kent Clothier (37:16):
... I [inaudible 00:37:17].
Sarah Jenkins (37:16):
... because I feel very on the spot right now.
Kent Clothier (37:19):
I don't have to do anything. I get to do this. I don't have to hire you. I get to hire you. If I want you, then this is an opportunity for us to do, but I don't need to do this. That kind of reframe mentally puts me in a position to where in all of our organization to where we expect to hire good, talented people, but equally people that we want to do life with.
AJ Roberts (37:43):
Let's shift gears. I think I know your answer based on kind of what happened when you were 30 and-
Sarah Jenkins (37:47):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (37:47):
Yeah.
AJ Roberts (37:48):
... all of that, but on the flip side of that, a lot of people do hire people they think are going to do good. Pretty quickly realize maybe it's not the right hire, but they hang on. It might be because of ego because-
Sarah Jenkins (37:59):
[inaudible 00:38:00].
AJ Roberts (37:59):
... I hired them, so I can't be wrong. It might be because they want to give them a chance, but I'm assuming you probably let people go a lot faster than most, but has that been difficult, too?
Kent Clothier (38:12):
I definitely used to do that, but I'll tell you what I do now is that we send them back through the process of that team architect's understanding because what it's allowed us to do as an organization is it's allowed us to understand the way that person thinks. It may not be that they're wrong for the... It doesn't make them a bad employee. We may have them in the wrong seat and it may mean that we need to improve our processes to communicate with them.
AJ Roberts (38:43):
Hmm.
Kent Clothier (38:44):
I'll give you a really good example of this. Hiring a sales rep, we had a guy that, and this was before we ever actually put teach architects in place, but we hired a guy and he came from medical sales and was one of the top guys in his organization. This guy was making a ton of money, and so we thought he'd do great over it. Came into our organization, he couldn't even... He couldn't sell anything, and-
Sarah Jenkins (39:09):
Do you do medical?
Kent Clothier (39:10):
No, no, no-
Sarah Jenkins (39:10):
Right.
Kent Clothier (39:11):
... and so once we ran him through that process, we understood his brain literally works different than... He's not... He had been trained in medical sales. It's a slow, arduous, technical process. It is not-
Sarah Jenkins (39:23):
It's different.
Kent Clothier (39:24):
... thinking on your feet. It is not visualization. It is not social. It is not quick. Like in our sales, it's very on the phone. Hey, we're making... especially in real estate, we're making decisions in real time.
Sarah Jenkins (39:33):
Yep.
Kent Clothier (39:33):
This deal's being done right here-
Sarah Jenkins (39:35):
[inaudible 00:39:35]-
Kent Clothier (39:35):
... belly to belly.
Sarah Jenkins (39:35):
... that's done [inaudible 00:39:36]-
AJ Roberts (39:36):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (39:36):
There is no-
Sarah Jenkins (39:36):
... the end of the day.
AJ Roberts (39:37):
Or if it's not, someone else is doing [inaudible 00:39:39]-
Kent Clothier (39:38):
Yeah, it's not-
AJ Roberts (39:39):
... yeah.
Kent Clothier (39:39):
... there's no like, "Hey, I need to think about it for two weeks." It's like, "Hey, we got to figure out how to come to an agreement." Once we actually understood that about him, then it was great because it was the impetus to us going back and changing our meeting cadence with, our training with him, taking him through the SOPs, actually slowing down and helping scripting him. Now, he's amazing.
Sarah Jenkins (39:57):
You took him back through your original hiring-
Kent Clothier (39:59):
Yeah, right.
Sarah Jenkins (39:59):
... and put him in a different role.
AJ Roberts (40:00):
You trust, say, "Okay, he must be good because he was doing this." It's like-
Kent Clothier (40:03):
We took it as a-
AJ Roberts (40:03):
... as he's done that. Yeah.
Kent Clothier (40:05):
... personal hit that it wasn't on him. We did-
Sarah Jenkins (40:09):
Oh, absolutely.
Kent Clothier (40:10):
... we did not know how to lead him correctly, and that was really beneficial to us.
Sarah Jenkins (40:13):
I think the same way, and sometimes I'm wrong. I'm usually right.
AJ Roberts (40:16):
You see that in college a lot with athletes. They play a role in high school and then they go to college, it's a different game. Even when they go to pros, pros is like it's faster, it's bigger. People are more skilled and the coaches will move people around and you'll have someone who maybe was quarterback in college that ends up being a receiver because they just-
Kent Clothier (40:32):
It's about being the coach-
AJ Roberts (40:33):
... yeah.
Kent Clothier (40:33):
... recognizing that, and not making it about the player, but making it about, "I know he's talented."
Sarah Jenkins (40:39):
The strategy moves.
Kent Clothier (40:39):
What do I have to do to figure out how to extract that value out of him?
Sarah Jenkins (40:43):
The best out of him.
Kent Clothier (40:44):
Yeah-
AJ Roberts (40:44):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (40:44):
... and that's-
Sarah Jenkins (40:45):
It's been a real [inaudible 00:40:46].
Kent Clothier (40:46):
... so in the past, yeah, I would just be like, "Cut him."
AJ Roberts (40:48):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (40:48):
I was just a cutthroat, ruthless SOB. Gone, see you. Now, I take a lot of pride in that we're trying to solve the problem, and it doesn't mean we're going to find a solution, but at least we're making the attempt.
Sarah Jenkins (41:01):
I was going to say sometimes, are people unteachable, though?
Kent Clothier (41:03):
Yeah, a hundred percent.
Sarah Jenkins (41:04):
Okay, then [inaudible 00:41:05].
Kent Clothier (41:04):
It doesn't matter.
AJ Roberts (41:05):
At least you've known you've done-
Sarah Jenkins (41:05):
I'm not the only one that thought that-
AJ Roberts (41:07):
... we did everything we could.
Sarah Jenkins (41:07):
... once in a while.
Kent Clothier (41:08):
Yeah, it's no longer... It is definitely-
AJ Roberts (41:09):
[inaudible 00:41:10]-
Kent Clothier (41:10):
... not foolproof at this point. It's definitely not foolproof. We absolutely still let people go, but in the end, we are looking at it. Is there an opportunity for us where we were not communicating correctly? Can we do better as a coach to get the most out of this player?
AJ Roberts (41:23):
What I love about that is just like the depth of humanity to take that on as a business owner and say, "Look, this is a good human, but we've just given them the wrong thing. Let's try to figure out what they can do so they can win."
Kent Clothier (41:38):
Well, and-
AJ Roberts (41:39):
That's a big investment as a CEO into an employee.
Kent Clothier (41:41):
... and let me just say something, that I get the privilege of doing that because I have a very mature organization. When you're a new business owner, you may not have that opportunity.
Sarah Jenkins (41:51):
And you don't have the owners.
Kent Clothier (41:51):
You may not have that privilege. Time is money and you may have to cut quick and you do all those things. You try to head as much of that off with the process I was telling you, but I get it. Not everybody can do that. Our business has been around for 20 years. We [inaudible 00:42:06]-
AJ Roberts (42:06):
Most people could do a little personality. There's personality tests-
Kent Clothier (42:09):
A hundred percent.
AJ Roberts (42:09):
... they could do, and one of the ones that we've used before is Talent Dynamics-
Sarah Jenkins (42:12):
That was a good one.
AJ Roberts (42:12):
... which is real good. It shows if someone like what they're-
Sarah Jenkins (42:14):
Leader-
AJ Roberts (42:14):
... going to be-
Sarah Jenkins (42:14):
... follower [inaudible 00:42:16]-
AJ Roberts (42:15):
... best on a day-to-day basis.
Sarah Jenkins (42:17):
Yeah.
AJ Roberts (42:17):
There is stuff out there that you can like... I think it's like it's more than an interview. I think that's the big key takeaway is it's more than just an interview. You can't just sit with someone-
Kent Clothier (42:25):
And learning how to interview.
AJ Roberts (42:26):
Yeah, you-
Sarah Jenkins (42:27):
And more than a resume.
AJ Roberts (42:27):
Yeah.
Sarah Jenkins (42:28):
Resume doesn't mean a lot sometimes.
Kent Clothier (42:31):
Yeah. I mean, it's really understanding the way somebody ticks and, is this person right or wrong for that role? You've clearly defined the role and
Sarah Jenkins (42:39):
Oh, that's funny you say that.
Kent Clothier (42:40):
... and if they're not, then [inaudible 00:42:42].
Sarah Jenkins (42:42):
I think most CEOs don't clearly define the roles they're looking for because as your business grows, you fill many hats as you go-
Kent Clothier (42:47):
There's doubt.
Sarah Jenkins (42:47):
... and then you have to-
Kent Clothier (42:48):
Absolutely.
Sarah Jenkins (42:48):
... that's why probably the five people that you start are not the five people that you're finished with.
Kent Clothier (42:52):
Yeah. Well, when you start, you're typically looking for utility players. You're just hiring, "Hey, I need somebody-
Sarah Jenkins (42:59):
We all get the job done.
Kent Clothier (42:59):
... "to be my executive assistant. I need somebody to be my office manager. I need somebody to do [inaudible 00:43:03] like-
Sarah Jenkins (43:02):
You're the account as well and you're going to ship boxes.
Kent Clothier (43:05):
Then, as a leader, what we end up doing is pouring, you know-
AJ Roberts (43:07):
Well, I mean, you're a hustler. You make up for the inefficiencies.
Kent Clothier (43:08):
That's right.
Sarah Jenkins (43:08):
Not as a CEO. You can't be a hustler. We've already-
Kent Clothier (43:12):
That's part of it-
Sarah Jenkins (43:12):
... said no.
Kent Clothier (43:13):
... but that's back to my point, that's a season. That's a season of the business. We all go through that-
Sarah Jenkins (43:16):
[inaudible 00:43:17] questions.
Kent Clothier (43:17):
... and so basically you go from a hustler to mid-level manager to CEO, and then eventually you get to where you're chairman of the board, and then you ultimately become the investor sitting on top of all of it.
Sarah Jenkins (43:26):
What about partners? When you're a CEO, you have partners?
Kent Clothier (43:29):
Do I have partners?
Sarah Jenkins (43:30):
What if you're a CEO and you have partners?
Kent Clothier (43:33):
I have it today.
AJ Roberts (43:34):
Well, you said it before the partner, the ones that work are the ones that you're a hundred percent in charge of, the ones that haven't worked so good.
Kent Clothier (43:40):
That's exactly right, so my situation, if I'm in the organization-
Sarah Jenkins (43:44):
There's someone else that I know.
Kent Clothier (43:45):
... I'm running the organization, right? You can be my-
Sarah Jenkins (43:47):
Mm-hmm.
Kent Clothier (43:48):
... if you want to be my business partner on strategy or an investment or whatever the case may be, there's only one dude in charge. This is not a democracy, all right?
Sarah Jenkins (43:57):
Not a three-headed dragon.
Kent Clothier (43:58):
No, this is absolutely a dictatorship and-
Sarah Jenkins (44:01):
I say a Sarahtatorship.
Kent Clothier (44:02):
.. yeah, and that is the way it is. If that doesn't work for you, then we can't be partners.
Sarah Jenkins (44:07):
Interesting.
Kent Clothier (44:08):
Either you trust me and I've earned that trust, or you don't, but this is definitely not a democracy.
AJ Roberts (44:13):
That's come from knowing yourself, though, right? You've done the opposite of that and you've learned over time that that is the quickest way to crush your soul is [inaudible 00:44:22]-
Kent Clothier (44:22):
Oh, I've had dynamic failures. I'll give you one. I mean, we started a company... One of... This was just a few years ago. This was pre-COVID, so this was probably 2018. I thought this was going to be my unicorn. I thought this was going to be my next billion-dollar thing, and it should have been. On paper, I had myself, and then we had a money partner, and then we had a technical partner. We were building a platform to buy and sell houses effectively online.
Sarah Jenkins (44:51):
That's awesome.
Kent Clothier (44:52):
A seller could put their property on there and then we would have multiple buyers, including these iBuyers like Opendoor to come on there and basically bid on the player. It would display to the homeowner kind of like a kayak. Like if you're.. Here's all of your airline tickets. Here's an offer for 150,000. Here's an... It would tell them.
AJ Roberts (45:08):
Yeah, I can see it. I [inaudible 00:45:09].
Kent Clothier (45:09):
You pick one and it was done. All built, all done.
Sarah Jenkins (45:12):
I was going to say like hotels.com or Carvana.
Kent Clothier (45:14):
Yeah. It was beautiful and-
Sarah Jenkins (45:14):
It's a great model.
Kent Clothier (45:15):
... right as we went to market, the financial partner decided he wanted a say at the table and-
Sarah Jenkins (45:24):
Well-
Kent Clothier (45:25):
... kind of jumped in the middle of it and started trying to dictate what was going to go down or what wasn't going to go down or he wasn't going to put more money in and all of this. All the rules of the game changed and it ultimately took the entire thing down. Ironically, it took it down three months before COVID hit, and so COVID hit and this platform would have been the single greatest thing for COVID because nobody wanted anybody coming in their house-
AJ Roberts (45:49):
Right, people were buying sight-
Kent Clothier (45:52):
... but they still wanted to buy and sell.
AJ Roberts (45:52):
... unseen, overpriced everywhere.
Sarah Jenkins (45:54):
If you were the investor per person, if you were uncomfortable with the way that the person was running it, wouldn't you have stepped in as well?
Kent Clothier (45:58):
It wasn't that he was uncomfortable. He believed that where his role as he come in was strictly financial, right?
Sarah Jenkins (46:06):
Right.
Kent Clothier (46:06):
He had absolutely no real estate experience and, in fact, had no real business experience.
Sarah Jenkins (46:11):
Sure.
Kent Clothier (46:12):
He had been-
Sarah Jenkins (46:12):
That's a problem-
Kent Clothier (46:13):
... he had been very-
Sarah Jenkins (46:14):
... for both of those things.
Kent Clothier (46:14):
... well, he had been very fortunate in a previous business, right place, right time, not taken anything away from him, but he had-
Sarah Jenkins (46:20):
Sure.
Kent Clothier (46:20):
... he had hit it and had paid him hundreds of millions of dollars. He somehow thought that because of that, he was this great business guy. Again, not taking anything away from him.
Sarah Jenkins (46:30):
But if you don't fail or you just have [inaudible 00:46:32]-
Kent Clothier (46:32):
Ultimately, what happened five years before he had hit it big, he was a personal trainer. He went from being personal trainer to making several hundred million by an idea-
Sarah Jenkins (46:42):
Ooh, I wanted that.
Kent Clothier (46:43):
... and it crushed-
Sarah Jenkins (46:44):
I can go train again? I'm just kidding.
Kent Clothier (46:45):
... and so, again-
AJ Roberts (46:47):
But-
Kent Clothier (46:47):
... it's still was his money.
AJ Roberts (46:48):
... [inaudible 00:46:48] last one you experienced.
Sarah Jenkins (46:49):
Sure.
Kent Clothier (46:49):
I had the wisdom to experience-
Sarah Jenkins (46:50):
IT's still his money.
Kent Clothier (46:50):
... and all the resources. He had the money-
Sarah Jenkins (46:52):
Yep.
Kent Clothier (46:52):
... and then we had a technical guy. I brought the whole thing down, and the reason it brought it all down is because there wasn't one dude in charge. Everybody didn't understand their role, and so this amazing thing with millions of dollars on the line ultimately failed. It was heartbreaking. I had no problem admitting that we were right there, right place, right time. Could have absolutely crushed and it just-
AJ Roberts (47:18):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (47:19):
... fell apart. Ultimately, even when I've tried to go against the grain against my better judgment, it just hasn't worked. My partners need to trust me to do what I'm there to do.
Sarah Jenkins (47:30):
There has to be one guy in charge.
Kent Clothier (47:31):
Yeah.
AJ Roberts (47:32):
Well, ultimately, someone has to make a decision, and when you start to have it where other people want... Now, you can't get to decisions because you can always voice... I mean, think about it. We always get in arguments, but I always say at the end of the day-
Sarah Jenkins (47:43):
We don't always get in arguments.
AJ Roberts (47:44):
... but we... disagreements or debates, or whatever-
Sarah Jenkins (47:46):
Every time we're together, we get in this sort of [inaudible 00:47:47]-
AJ Roberts (47:48):
... but I always say to you, if that's the direction you want to go in-
Sarah Jenkins (47:51):
I support you.
AJ Roberts (47:52):
... I will support a hundred percent and no one will know that I've disagreed with you because at the end of the day, like you're the CEO-
Kent Clothier (47:57):
[inaudible 00:47:58] yeah.
AJ Roberts (47:58):
... and it's a united front and were going to make this happen. I can disagree with you, but still no winter-like let it go.
Kent Clothier (48:05):
Right.
AJ Roberts (48:05):
You know, like that's how your partnership is successful.
Sarah Jenkins (48:08):
I said V-neck t-shirt, AJ. You said round neck. I'm like, "Oh God." I'm putting my foot down. I'm putting my foot down. The girls were brave.
AJ Roberts (48:18):
With the like letting go and that kind of thing. It is a very difficult thing for a lot of people-
Kent Clothier (48:24):
Very difficult.
AJ Roberts (48:25):
... thing for a lot of people because their identify, who they are, what they do, everything is often tied into that. Is there anything-
Sarah Jenkins (48:32):
I'm talking about me [inaudible 00:48:33].
AJ Roberts (48:33):
... is there anything that you have gone through that you feel would someone who's maybe on that brink or it's like... You really do in a way lost your identify when you're not that guy anymore. When you're graduating, but a lot of people don't see it like that. They kind of lose themselves. Well, who am I know? If I'm not the guy making the sales or I'm not the... You know, it's like you're essentially giving up components of yourself to someone who's better at it than you. That's the other hard thing is like to be good, you got to hire someone better than you-
Kent Clothier (49:02):
Well, I think it was like-
AJ Roberts (49:02):
... and it was like-
Kent Clothier (49:02):
... I think that you just have to realize how much of it is just BS. Like-
AJ Roberts (49:10):
Hmm.
Kent Clothier (49:11):
... I mean, it's just nonsense. This business is not you and this way you identify yourself is not you. Look, last time I checked, in the history of the world, nobody's ever gotten out alive.
AJ Roberts (49:24):
Yeah.
Sarah Jenkins (49:25):
Uh, the Bible suggests one.
Kent Clothier (49:28):
We all have a very-
Sarah Jenkins (49:31):
Okay, died first, but still.
Kent Clothier (49:32):
... finite amount of time on this place, and you have to decide what is more important to you that, is it important to you that however many days, years, months, that you have that you get a say in the way those look? Or is it more important to you to hold onto some self-identity that has wrapped up in a and is merely a label on you? Who gives a shit? I mean, for me personally, what matters most to me is that whatever I've got left, and I think that most CEOs and leaders would tell you the same thing. At some level they've made this. They may not have verbalized it, but their brain is ticking like this where the clock is ticking on me. I don't know how many days I've got left, but I know it's not infinite, and so I want to design and control as much of that time as much as I possibly can.
(50:23):
If I am trapped because I wasn't mature enough and if I wasn't strong enough and I wasn't intentional enough to take the steps to put the people, the processes, the leverage, the systems in place and learn the skills that require to where this can actually be a business that pays me, whether I show up or not, which then allows me to spend every day the way I want to spend it, then what right do I have to bitch about it? You can have one or you can have the other. YOu can sit around and act like you're a victim, which you're not, or you can take control. There are real victims in the world. Most people listening to this podcast are not those, you know?
Sarah Jenkins (50:59):
They have the luxury to listen to this podcast.
Kent Clothier (51:01):
That's exactly right-
AJ Roberts (51:01):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (51:02):
... right?
AJ Roberts (51:02):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (51:02):
If you're listening to this podcast or you're watching it on YouTube-
Sarah Jenkins (51:05):
You're probably not a victim.
Kent Clothier (51:06):
... you're probably not a victim.
AJ Roberts (51:06):
Right.
Kent Clothier (51:07):
Right? If you can make a decision, then you can make a decision to acquire the skills and do what is necessary to actually turn your hustle into a real business. Now, whether you make that decision or not is purely up to you, but when you value time and what you have much more than you value a label or you value a title or you value a bank account and you're like, "Look, this is what it costs me to own my time," it might be 300,000, $500,000, a million dollars. I don't care what it is, and then you start working backwards. A million dollars a year, how do I go and create $83,000 a month on autopilot? Doesn't... Autopilot means different things. Autopilot means I get to do things in my organization, but I don't have to do them.
AJ Roberts (51:55):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (51:55):
Right?
Sarah Jenkins (51:56):
It ends up in your bank either way.
Kent Clothier (51:57):
Yeah, I still get to do marketing, I still get to write copy, I still get to do all the things, but I don't have to do it. The money's going to show up either way, and to me, that's when life gets pretty good.
AJ Roberts (52:08):
I think that one of the things that I hear when you say that is it's like you have to make a decision and you can't delay the decision, and a lot of people do this. They think, "Okay, well, I'm not quite ready yet. I need to get to this point before I start operating like a CEO." The problem with that is tomorrow might be the last day.
Kent Clothier (52:30):
That's right.
AJ Roberts (52:30):
If you are like saying, "Well, I don't have enough time to like... I get home at 8:00, my kids are already in bed, but I know when I get here that I'll be able to change that." The problem is you might not get there. We think we have these luxuries, but we're very naïve to the fact that right now is that if you're listening, you're like, "Oh, I'm a hustler, but I got to do it for five more years." You always hear that like it's okay to do that, but at the end of the day it's not.
Kent Clothier (52:52):
Well, I'll go one step further. If you really want to become a savage on this, I'll tell you, the listeners, exactly what to do is if you're a man, start with the number 78. If you're a woman, start with the number 82, and subtract your current age.
Sarah Jenkins (53:07):
Sorry, what?
Kent Clothier (53:09):
If you're a female, start with 82, if you're a man, start with 78. The average American male lives to 78, average American female lives to 82.
Sarah Jenkins (53:15):
Not the way I drive.
Kent Clothier (53:15):
Go subtract your current age. Go multiply that times 365.
Sarah Jenkins (53:21):
Hmm.
Kent Clothier (53:21):
Statistically speaking, that's how many days you have left on this planet.
AJ Roberts (53:24):
Wow.
Kent Clothier (53:25):
Okay. Then-
Sarah Jenkins (53:27):
I don't know if that's depressing or exciting.
Kent Clothier (53:28):
... that's exciting because you get a say in every one of them. Now, you can take that number and go multiply it, take a third of it away because eight hours a day, you're probably going to be asleep, so-
Sarah Jenkins (53:38):
Oh yeah.
Kent Clothier (53:39):
... now, you get down to how many waking days.
AJ Roberts (53:41):
Hmm.
Kent Clothier (53:42):
Okay, and I don't care whether you're 20, 40, 50, 60-
Sarah Jenkins (53:46):
The math is the same.
Kent Clothier (53:47):
... that number is too small.
Sarah Jenkins (53:48):
Interesting.
AJ Roberts (53:48):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (53:48):
Go take-
Sarah Jenkins (53:48):
Well, it's always too small.
Kent Clothier (53:51):
... go take that number and go put it on your mirror in your bathroom-
AJ Roberts (53:55):
And every day, mark it down.
Kent Clothier (53:56):
... every day mark it down.
Sarah Jenkins (53:58):
I would suggest you go even lower.
Kent Clothier (54:00):
Well, the point being is that-
Sarah Jenkins (54:01):
Just because you'll make the more money-
Kent Clothier (54:01):
Whether-
Sarah Jenkins (54:01):
... [inaudible 00:54:02].
Kent Clothier (54:01):
... you do it or not does not it any less true.
AJ Roberts (54:07):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (54:07):
In other words, before anybody just heard me say that or whether or after, the number was still the number. The only thing that's different is that you now know, so not doing something right now is a choice.
AJ Roberts (54:18):
It's the awareness, yeah.
Kent Clothier (54:20):
You're making a choice that, "Today's not my day, I just don't," and that's okay, but at least now it's a choice. You're not a victim. You are in control.
Sarah Jenkins (54:27):
No.
AJ Roberts (54:28):
Yeah, yeah, and there's power in that.
Sarah Jenkins (54:29):
True.
Kent Clothier (54:31):
Like every morning, I go mark it off my mirror and get the privilege.
Sarah Jenkins (54:34):
Did you just calculate your days? Asshole, calculate mine.
Kent Clothier (54:36):
I get the privilege of counting that number down. It's an honor.
AJ Roberts (54:39):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (54:40):
There's... Think about today. Today, there's 900,000 people sitting in a hospital bed in the United States, right?
AJ Roberts (54:46):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (54:47):
10,000 people died today.
Sarah Jenkins (54:49):
I lost my husband three years ago. I understand days left.
Kent Clothier (54:51):
I get it. I know it, so-
Sarah Jenkins (54:53):
Now, that I haven't done the math yet, and you're doing it for me, obviously.
Kent Clothier (54:54):
... but when you [inaudible 00:54:55] your vantage point, your appreciation for life is so-
Sarah Jenkins (54:59):
Is way-
Kent Clothier (55:00):
... much more-
AJ Roberts (55:00):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (55:01):
... because you've got such... but most people don't even have that. Most people walk around, to your point, walk around just ignorant and that think tomorrow will just come-
Sarah Jenkins (55:09):
See, now I don't-
Kent Clothier (55:10):
... and that's just not true.
Sarah Jenkins (55:11):
... now I don't understand that. At this point, I'm like... I don't understand how you go from your nine-to-five job and you've got your retirement, your pension, you're just counting on that to later spend time with your family. I'm like now that I've lost my husband early, I was like, "I don't understand that mentality."
Kent Clothier (55:25):
That's my point.
Sarah Jenkins (55:25):
I'm sure before I did.
Kent Clothier (55:27):
Of course-
Sarah Jenkins (55:27):
Now, I don't.
Kent Clothier (55:28):
... and most people, I got the privilege of holding... One of my mentors was my uncle, and he spent his entire life building a massive travel business in the cruise industry. He's a very well-known CEO in the cruise industry-
Sarah Jenkins (55:43):
Hopefully before COVID.
Kent Clothier (55:44):
... and he passed away when he was 60 years old, so he retired at 59, literally got-
Sarah Jenkins (55:50):
Geez.
Kent Clothier (55:50):
... diagnosed with cancer, and then died-
AJ Roberts (55:53):
Dang.
Kent Clothier (55:53):
... within a year, so his entire life was delayed gratification.
Sarah Jenkins (55:56):
Unfucking fair.
Kent Clothier (55:57):
Right? He just-
Sarah Jenkins (55:57):
Right.
Kent Clothier (55:57):
... put it all off-
AJ Roberts (55:58):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (55:58):
... and then they gave him a $30 million package when he left, so he had literally-
AJ Roberts (56:03):
He's saying, "I got 30 years to just enjoy life."
Kent Clothier (56:05):
... 30 million or more in the bank.
AJ Roberts (56:08):
He made one year.
Kent Clothier (56:10):
I got a phone call from my mother by his bedside in Daytona Beach, Florida. I as in Delray, and she asked me to come to Daytona as fast as humanly possible. He had just checked in with pneumonia.
Sarah Jenkins (56:22):
Not good.
Kent Clothier (56:23):
"Get here as fast as you can. He's going to die." By the way, I'm 53. 60 is not old.
Sarah Jenkins (56:27):
It is not old.
Kent Clothier (56:30):
I got up there, he's all hooked up to respirators and everything, had lost all this weight, and I'm holding his hand, and then he takes a whiteboard and he writes on there, "Celebrate my life," because he can't speak. Then, he's like, "I just wish I had more time," and passed away holding my hand. I'll never forget that moment because this is a guy I admired my whole life. Tens of millions of dollars in the bank and it literally could not buy him the only thing he wanted, which was one more minute, one more day, and when you... To your point, when you just have this whole new appreciation for, man, how fragile this really is, why in the hell would you ever act like tomorrow I promised? Get to it. Why would you not want every one of those days you have left to be on your terms? That's not going to happen if you're trading hours for dollars-
Sarah Jenkins (57:18):
Absolutely.
Kent Clothier (57:19):
... constantly. Build something. Put the people in place. I don't care what the risk looks like. I don't care what label you've got or what is going on, what block you've got. "I can't do this," or... No, you can do anything.
(57:30):
You may choose not to, but you don't say this can't or cannot. That is not true. This is a choice. Choose to put something in place, build a business, build a legacy, build wealth, build passive income to where you get to spend the days the way you want. It's that... By the way, it's simple, but it ain't easy.
AJ Roberts (57:49):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (57:49):
There's nothing easy about this, but it is definitely a simply concept that it is a choice, and then once you own that, then you start making different decisions.
AJ Roberts (57:57):
Yeah, that self-ownership is huge-
Kent Clothier (57:59):
Absolutely.
AJ Roberts (57:59):
... because so many people don't do that. They're always looking to blame somebody else for whatever situation-
Kent Clothier (58:04):
It's easy.
AJ Roberts (58:04):
... you know?
Kent Clothier (58:06):
It's that victim mentality, and when you realize there are real victims and you're not one of them-
Sarah Jenkins (58:09):
You're not one of them.
Kent Clothier (58:11):
... you are a product of your choices.
AJ Roberts (58:14):
Yeah.
Kent Clothier (58:14):
Just make better choices,
Sarah Jenkins (58:15):
Nature and nurture.
Kent Clothier (58:17):
Yeah.
Sarah Jenkins (58:18):
I came from nothing. You came from nothing.
Kent Clothier (58:20):
Yeah, we all did. Yeah.
AJ Roberts (58:21):
Yeah. I mean-
Sarah Jenkins (58:21):
I assume you came from nothing.
AJ Roberts (58:22):
Yeah. It's probably the place to wrap this time.
Sarah Jenkins (58:24):
[inaudible 00:58:25] successful.
AJ Roberts (58:25):
I don't think we can go any [inaudible 00:58:27].
Sarah Jenkins (58:26):
Oh yeah. I don't think-
AJ Roberts (58:27):
[inaudible 00:58:27]-
Sarah Jenkins (58:27):
... I can handle it.
AJ Roberts (58:30):
Kent, where can people go to follow you, learn more about it, all the things you got going on?
Kent Clothier (58:32):
Yeah, I mean, easiest place to find me is probably on Instagram at @kentclothier. You can always go to kentclothier.com, or on Facebook, find me there. I do a lot of interacting with people on the social channels, for sure.
AJ Roberts (58:44):
Yeah. Guys, follow this man. Check out what he's doing. He is truly one of the most awesome people I know, but the depth of wisdom, as you heard in the podcast, he's gone through it all, and hopefully you got as many golden nuggets as I did. We see you guys on the next episode. Thank you.
(59:00):
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