How to Double Your Profits Without Doubling Your Working Hours with Clay Clark

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. Brought to you by the HubSpot. podcast network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like inclusion and marketing. Today, we'll be breaking down how to double your profits without doubling your work hours. To drop these value bombs, I am brought to Clay Clark and the EO Fire Studios. Clay is a father of five kids, a former US SBA Entrepreneur of the Year, the founder of several multi-million dollar companies, and the host of the Thrive Time Show podcast. Today, we will be talking about how to generate more leads.

0:37We'll talk about the power of implementing scalable turnkey sales systems and consistency, why it's important and how to get it and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Clay and our sponsors. Success Story, hosted by Scott D. Clary, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Success Story features Q &A sessions with successful business leaders, keynote presentations, and conversations on sales, marketing, business, startups, and entrepreneurship. A recent episode discussing the billion-dollar health secret with the founder and CEO of Whoop is a must-listen.

1:14Listen to Success Story wherever you get your podcasts. Fire Nation, you have a book inside you, and it's time to share your message with the world. That's why I created Author 100, a 100-day program where I will personally guide you one-on-one to create, write, publish, and market your book. If you want daily guidance and mentorship from me, JLD, then head over to author100.com to sign up for a free call with me to chat about the details. All right, Fire Nation, I know that you are fired up today to talk about doubling your profits without doubling your working hours. And we'll be learning the systems, bunkylife.com, used to scale and thrive.

1:56But I wanna start with the man, the myth, the legend, Clay Clark, because he's going to share as entrepreneurs how we must exponentially generate more leads to succeed. Clay, why is this the case? Well, I'll tell you this, John Lee Dumas, and to the Fire Nation, you know, when you look at a brand like BunkyLife.com, today's featured guest and case study, he has an incredible product. So before meeting me, his product at BunkyLife.com, it is a great product. And I'm asking you rhetorically, folks, Do you have a great product? I mean, this guy has a great product. It's like a bolt-on bedroom or a custom cabin.

2:33But without leads, you cannot succeed. So if you're listening to today's show, like so many great entrepreneurs, and you have a great product or a great service, and you woke up today discovering that very few of your ideal and likely buyers or your potential customers are waking up with a burning desire to pay you by default, a.k.a. you need more leads, Today's show is the show you need to listen to. And Fire Nation, that's why we're going to be diving into a little deeper behind the life and the business of Bunky Life. And I want to bring you in, David, because I really want to know a little bit more about you, what you have going on, your path to Clay, and what's really working for you right now.

3:15So start there. I found Clay initially from his podcast, ironically. So I was basically a struggling business owner at the time. We were in Canada. We were trying to grow into the USA, how are we going to do this? We don't have enough leads coming from outside of our little doorstep here. And I discovered his, his, maybe it was through your podcast. I'm not sure, but I discovered Clay's podcast. We're just going to say it was through entrepreneurs on fire for the record. So keep going. So, so essentially I had a problem exactly like Clay said, I didn't have enough leads to generate enough sales.

3:46And so discovered Clay's whole thing. I mean, I realized I needed coaching. I needed advice. I had been there myself. And how was I expected to do it unless I had someone else that had been there? So Clay offers this thing with a three 13 point assessment that I believe, and went through that, went through the 13 points of the business that needed to change in order to get the result I needed to get. And so we went through that and I said, you know what, Clay, I'd like to pay you to help me do this. And this was about two years ago. And that's kind of how I found Clay and how I started working with him.

4:15So Clay, obviously, you know this business inside and out because you've been helping David for quite some time now. So just take a second, share with Fire Nation, what exactly does David do? Why was it a problem that you knew that you could help him with? And how did you help? Well, as an entrepreneur, there's four steps to becoming a super successful entrepreneur. And I encourage everybody to write these down. Jim Rohn, the bestselling author, Brian Tracy, the bestselling author, Tony Robbins, they'll all tell you that note takers are the game changers, The people that take the notes are the game changers.

4:48So don't just listen, folks. Take notes. I'm telling you, there's four steps. Step one, you have to find a problem. Step two, you have to solve the problem. Step three, you have to sell the solution. And step four, you have to nail it and scale it. And when I first heard about BunkyLife.com and David said, what we do is we offer cottage bunkies, kind of like a bolt-on bedroom. It's almost like you're adding on a building that looks about the size of a sauna. you're adding that on for an entrepreneur for somebody who wants to add on an extra bedroom for a family maybe they have a vacation home they want to add on extra footage extra square footage or maybe the entrepreneurs they want to add on an extra office space to their home without needing to pull a permit i thought to myself that solves a problem so step one he solves a problem step two it's a solution he had moved beyond a prototype he was making these and they were already being made in a first class manner.

5:44What am I saying? He was already holding himself accountable to a high level of quality and excellence. And he was already beginning to, to gain traction. Meaning step three, he was already selling something. So again, review step one, he had a problem. He found step two, he was solving it. Step three, he was already selling it. And if you can't, if your, if your product doesn't sell your business dreams will go to hell. I always tell people if you, if your, if your product won't sell, your dreams will go to hell and he was already selling. And so what David needed help with was nailing it and scaling it and reaching more people, exponentially more people.

6:19And I knew right away that he was coachable, he was approachable, and his product was first class. And so that's how I knew JLD that he would be a great fit for our business incubator or business coaching program. So Fire Nation, there's so much important things you need to be taking away from this. Number one, what Clay is saying is essentially one of my favorite sentences in the world. creates the number one solution to a real problem. And if you're not doing that, then guess what? Niche down until you are. And I'm actually looking at Bunky Life's website right now. And I just love this phrase, David.

6:52I hope you keep it there because it actually speaks to me, you know, who has, you know, a son and a wife. And now I have in-laws living with me. And it says, we help families create extra space for meaningful connection. I read that line and i'm just like man that connects with me that is meaningful to me because I can see How that can be a really positive impact in my life And so that's how you can connect with people fire nation in the right way. You need to understand What is it that they're really looking for? What is the real problem? That you are going to solve now clay, you know that I love organization.

7:29You're such an organized person as well I mean i've been to your events. They are just run like the military, which of course I love as an officer Now, I want to talk about building a thriving organization because you have to be organized to do that. So talk about the power of actually implementing these scalable, easy to implement in turnkey sales systems. And of course, how you did this with David. Okay, well, step one, if you're going to build an organization, you have to be organized. And I see so many wonderful people that I meet at our in-person workshops. You know, we'll have people like yourself, JLD, attend these workshops.

8:02We're going to have, you know, Robert Kiyosaki, bestselling author. He'll attend these workshops. Eric Trump, obviously the son of Donald J. Trump, attends our workshops. You get the idea. We have a great group of people that are there, world class speakers. And as you meet the super successful people, as you meet the Michael Gerbers, as you meet the I'm throwing out names of real people I've interacted with, as you meet the Robert Kiyosaki's, as you meet these people, you find that the best organizations are organized. and there's this world of, I call it jackassery, where a lot of entrepreneurs say, you know, I'm more of an idea guy.

8:37I'm not the organized guy. And I'm telling you, your podcast, eofire.com, it would not be successful if you weren't fastidious about how you named the files, how you saved the files, how you archive the files, how you transcribe the files, how you upload the files, how you record the audio, the intro, everything you do. And so by default or by entropy, but by default, you're not going to have success. By default, you're going to drift into jackassery. But it is only through intentional focus that you're able to scale a company. You have to be organized to build an organization. And I always tell people, if you don't have a checklist, you're going to get pissed.

9:19So in the event that David was selling all these bunkylife.com products, but imagine how crazy his life would be if he wasn't organized, if he didn't have a checklist, his clients would be pissed, he would be pissed, but he's very organized. And I encourage everybody out there today, make a checklist and ask yourself, what are those core, repeatable, actionable processes? I call that crap in my office, the core, repeatable, actionable processes. What are the core, repeatable, actionable processes that you need to implement on a daily basis? And we need to document those things because once we become organized, we can build an organization.

9:58Now listen, David, you were already doing a lot of things right. I mean, number one, you were listening to Entrepreneurs on Fire. Brilliant. That led you to Clay. Brilliant. You took action. Brilliant. You already had a great product and a great service and you were delivering on that. you were generating revenue from that. What is one of the first things that Clay did to improve your organization? Now, I know that it was already good, but how did he make it better? He basically, what we did was we isolated things that were already working. It's going to sound so obvious, but we isolated what was already working.

10:33How are you getting leads right now? How are you getting clients right now? And we did more of that. And in a way that was more consistent. For example, instead of just randomly having conversations with the people that would call us or that we would connect with. We had a script. We developed a script that we would say every single time. And then I listened to the calls and made sure that even the week after, they continued to use the actual script. And so we did more of what was already working was kind of the first step. Fire Nation, that's one of the biggest things I always scratch my head about when entrepreneurs are having some success.

11:05And then all of a sudden they're like, okay, I'm having some success. I need to try seven other things now because this is all working. And guess what? That one thing that was actually working kind of fades and decays because they're not focused on making it better and pouring all their energy and focus into it. I mean, when I had my first great webinar back in 2013 for Podcasters Paradise and we crushed it and we did all these sales, I didn't say, okay, that worked. Now let me go do 10 other things. No, I did a live webinar every single week for the next five years. I didn't miss a week. Because that was what was working for us for Podcasters Paradise.

11:41And I improved the systems and the email follow-ups and the offers and everything around it. I just made that one thing better. And it kept making money. It was continuously generating leads. And we have a lot to talk about, Fire Nation, around this topic when we get back from thanking our sponsors. If you're a marketer, then you know what it's like to feel like you're moving in a hundred different directions at any given time. Like you're spread too thin. Between creating content, launching campaigns, generating and nurturing leads, and more, you barely have a moment to breathe, let alone do your best marketing.

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12:50Visit hubspot.com slash marketers to learn more. We've managed a lot of projects here at EO Fire, and one of the most impressive pieces of software we've seen to help you keep your workflow tight is Notion. We first discovered Notion thanks to one of our sponsors, and it made it so easy to track talking points, due dates, deliverables, and more. Every time we had a question about the sponsorship, all we had to do was check Notion and all the details were laid out for us. It made the entire process simple and straightforward. That's because Notion combines your notes, docs, and projects into one space that's simple and beautifully designed.

13:24And now it has the power of AI built right inside of it, which means you don't have to jump between your work and a separate AI power tool to make magic happen. Notion AI helps you work faster, write better, and think bigger, doing tasks that normally take you hours and just seconds. Try Notion for free when you go to notion.com slash johnleadumas. That's all lowercase letters, notion.com slash johnleadumas to try the powerful, easy-to-use Notion AI today. And when you use our link, you're supporting our show, notion.com slash johnleadumas. Clay, we're back. I want to talk about KPIs. I want to talk about the power of knowing those key performance indicators and holding our team accountable.

14:05I mean, obviously David already shared that you really came in and helped out in a lot of areas with this. So talk about the importance of this factor in every business. Yeah. So what we're going to do and just kind of recapping what we've already covered to make sure we're really taking profound notes that are life-changing notes here. Step one with David, we had to create a turnkey process for the things that were already working. And we had to discard the things that weren't working. And again, this is working off the assumption he already had a great product and service, which he did. But we had to create this three-legged marketing stool.

14:37So in David's case, a stool that has three legs is more stable, obviously, than a stool with two legs. So we had to create a stable process for marketing. And so And for David, the three legs we really focused on was one was search engine optimization. And there's a process. There's a checklist. There's a process for that. Second, we had to focus on gathering objective video testimonials and Google reviews from real clients. Third, we had to create a Dream 100 system, a process or a system where David would consistently reach out to his ideal and likely buyers. We had to document that, build the systems.

15:12But are we doing it enough? Are we doing the systems enough? Well, that's where the key performance indicators come into play. You have to document, just like if you're going to the gym and you say, I'm going to do chest and triceps today. Okay, well, how many reps are you going to do? Okay, I'm going to do three sets of 12 for bench press, three sets of 12 for my incline bench press, three sets of, and you're tracking how many reps, how many sets, and you go in there and you diligently implement those systems. And if you don't have a documented plan, by default, people tend to drift. And so with David, we had to document those systems in a way that it was very accountable.

15:55It was very specific and it was very detailed. And that way, all these systems we were implementing could be measured. And I will tell everybody out there, if you're listening, you must measure what you treasure. You must measure what you treasure because you're going to find that you're going to slack where you don't track, right? So you're going to slack where you don't track, and you have to measure what you treasure. And so with David, everything now is a key performance indicator. We know how many reviews he's getting a week, how many objective Google reviews he's getting a week, how many video testimonials a week, how many inbound leads a week he's generating, how many bunky life custom cabins are needing to be built.

16:33and it really is now all about the metrics. And if you're out there today and you feel overwhelmed by this conversation, I'm just telling you, you got to document what works and then you've got to make key performance indicators. You have to track the numbers that matter to your business. David, Clay shared a lot of what you're doing right now that you weren't doing prior. And you mentioned a couple of things as well, like with your script and just staying true to that and tracking that and all these great things. Of all the things that you've been doing that's been improving your business, What's one interesting thing that really jumps out when Clay was just sharing the process he was taking you through that you think was really meaningful that you may not have ever got to yourself just because, hey, you're nose to the grindstone.

17:14You're in the business. You need somebody like Clay, who's a marketing genius to help you out there. What was one of those things? Tracking. After having done it now for two years, what it's added that might not be as apparent from the surface is the amount of kind of regularity and emotional stability it's given me. because when you are in the weeds, as you said, John Lee, you have this emotional rollercoaster you're on where you have a great week and you feel like you're on top of the world. And then you have a terrible week and you feel like you're about to lose your house. And that's just an emotional journey that you go through as an entrepreneur.

17:48However, when you can track and I can say, what happened this week last year? What happened this week two years ago? And you realize for whatever reason, the third week of August just kind of blows and that's okay that we only sold 10 bunkeys or whatever. Yeah, people are getting ready for school. And maybe you don't think about that, but you have three years now of back data. That's interesting. And I can measure, okay, like this quarter versus the same quarter last year. Wow, we're crushing it. Even though it might not feel amazing because it's our off season or whatever it is. And that's, above all else, allowed us to kind of go on that emotional rollercoaster with just a little bit more knowledge, a little bit more foresight and hindsight to go, oh, you know what?

18:26We're not on top of the world here, but also the house isn't about to burn down. and actually we're steady, putting one foot in front of the other and we're growing every year. And that has been for myself emotionally, just a real game changer. Fire Nation, that emotional stability cannot be understated as to the importance it is to an entrepreneur's journey because man, it's a roller coaster. You're going to be on cloud nine, then at the bottom of the weeds and then back up again and everywhere in the middle. I mean, it's just part of it. That's why you need these accountability partners. You need a coach, you need a mentor, you need a mastermind.

18:57You need to be doing the right things and tracking is part of that process. And Clay, it is a sad fact, but 96 % of businesses fail. Why is this true? And what the heck can we do about it? Okay, well, we go back through our four steps again. Step one, most people, most entrepreneurs are out there. They have found a problem. They go, you know what? I could mow the lawn better than my competition. You know what? I could help a woman lose weight better than the competition. I could help a man get in shape better than the competition. I could build a bolt-on bedroom better than anybody else. I could open up a haircut chain better than anybody else.

19:33I could cut hair better than anybody else. I could build houses better than anybody else. I could be the world's best dentist, et cetera, et cetera. They find a problem. Step two, they have a solution. Step three, they just can't sell anything. For whatever reason, they're not selling anything. And that's where a lot of people call themselves an entrepreneur. And I would say, and I'm not trying to attack anybody out there listening, I would describe anybody out there that has something that's not selling as a wantrepreneur. We want to be an entrepreneur. We are a wantrepreneur. But until something is selling, our business is just in the process of going to helling, right?

20:10And so until we sell something, so we have a problem, a solution, we have to sell something, and then we have to nail it and scale it. And so in David's case, we now have pre-written scripts, pre-written emails, documented workflows. Everything is moving. And now it's very, very exciting. And if you go to Thrivetimeshow.com, folks, and you click on testimonials, I want people to see this. I want you to be filled with hope and encouragement. If you go to Thrivetimeshow.com and you click on testimonials, there is a listener out there today who needs to hear this. But there's a company called Peak Business Valuation.

20:43Peak Business Valuation. He was and is a listener to the EO Fire show. It's PeakBusinessEvaluation.com. PeakBusinessEvaluation.com. Do you know this guy's grown his business by over 15 times, JLD, since he went to Thrivetimeshow.com forward slash EO Fire and scheduled his first consultation? Folks, there's a company called ShawHomes.com. Everyone should go there right now. Shaw Homes. This company, we helped them grow from$15 million a year. This is a podcast listener, okay, a podcast listener. We helped him grow his business from$15 million to$160 million in sales in under five years. A podcast listener, he took action.

21:26He took action, and that company just sold. So shahomes.com just sold. And I could sit there and give you so many examples. oxifresh.com, oxifresh.com. This is a guy who consumes podcasts. He listens to great broadcasts like this. Do you know we've helped him grow from a handful of locations to 550 locations? David, I'm not sure how much you've grown since we started working with you, but what kind of a growth, a percentage, or how much growth have you seen over the past two years? Our goal was U.S. domination, and I think we're not there yet, but we've definitely went from, I think, maybe selling 20 bunkies in the USA to we'll do three or four million this year in the USA.

22:08Our Canadian business as well has continued to grow. So I think we're upwards of 60 % up, top line. But the more important part is our profits have doubled. And Fire Nation, that can't be understated because so many people have growing pains where they grow and they become less profitable. And then some of them look up after a year or two and they're like, wait a second, I'm actually not making any money. This is actually costing me money to absolutely get up and grind my face off every single day. So David, I want you to kind of take it home before I give it back to Clay to really take it home.

22:39But David, I want you to take it home on your side of things by saying, you know, what to you has been the most meaningful impact of finding somebody who actually can help you in the areas that you need help in? I mean, of course, Clay's not going to be able to help you with your area of expertise within building bunks out and doing all the different fittings. Like you have that area of expertise. Clay has his area of expertise. Like what was the most meaningful result of you taking that step? just having that kind of stability in the emotional journey that was the last two or three years. It's been life-changing for me.

23:14We have, as I said, doubled our profit. And we're already a profitable company. It wasn't like we were unprofitable, but we doubled our profits and we have a game plan now that we just need to execute on. So every week I'll talk to my coach. We'll have an accountability call every single week. And it's always, what can we do? And I say, I just need to execute on this plan. And so that complete clarity of what do I need to do next? What is that next step on the journey? Just having that next step has been so huge because otherwise that like before that was just floundering around, trying something for a month or two and then giving up and trying something else and just shiny object chasing all over the place.

23:54And so just having that, what is the next step to do and what do I need to execute on next has been, I think the reason we've been able to double our profits and grow into a completely different nation. and continue to grow at home. Floundering is the word, Fire Nation. So many entrepreneurs are floundering. They're trying this, they're flopping over, they're trying this, they're flapping over, they're trying that, and they never have that consistency, which you know is king, Fire Nation. That's why I've been doing a daily show for 12 plus years now. Consistency is king. You have to find what works and you keep doing it over and over again with improvements, by the way, all along the way.