Take A Chance with Larry Gaynor

0:02Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation? JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought Brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Talking Too Loud. Today, we'll be talking all about taking a chance. To drop these value bombs, I have brought Larry Gaynor into EO Fire Studios. Larry is the founder and CEO of TNG Worldwide. TNG is a Gallup-trained organization that focuses on its employees' strengths and is what helped to make TNG a leader in the beauty industry. He is also the author of Take a Chance. Today at Fire Nation, we'll be talking about spotting the right opportunity.

0:41We'll talk about changing your management mindset and that of your team. We'll talk about timing and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Larry and our sponsors. Marketing Made Simple, hosted by my friend, Dr. JJ Peterson, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Marketing Made Simple brings you practical tips to make your marketing easy and more importantly, make it work. A recent episode all about how Liquid IV is using marketing to shake up the beverage world, dives deep into the strategies that have propelled Liquid IV to remarkable success, a must listen.

1:14Listen to Marketing Makes Simple wherever you get your podcasts. The less your business spends, the more margin you keep. NestSuite by Oracle brings accounting, finance, inventory, and HR into one proven platform, helping you reduce costs everywhere. Now through April 15th, NestSuite is offering a one-of-a-kind flexible financing program. Head to NestSuite.com slash fire right now. Larry, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. One perspective that not everyone may agree with is the idea that success is primarily about luck or timing rather than solely the result of hard work and effort.

1:56So for me, I like to say it's a mix of curses, luck, and magic. So how did Stephen King become one of the best-selling authors? How did Harry Potter become one of the best book and movie franchises? I 100 % agree, John, with timing of curses, lucks, and magic. So how did Stephen King become one of the top guys? Because, you know, he's a local Mainer like myself. Bangor, Maine, baby. What did he do? You know what? He was an addict. He was an alcoholic. He was crazy. What he did was he had an imagination like none other and transcended into the aura of horror and figured out a way of humanizing it, unlike Vincent Price and others, and created a novel.

2:42People loved it so much, he just kept on going and going and going. And now he's like probably the top five bestselling author in the world. Unbelievable. I love his story. It's such a good one. And Fire Nation, that's why today we're talking with Larry all about Taking a Chance, which is going to be based around his fantastic book, Take a Chance. And sometimes, Larry, we just need the right opportunity. So how can we spot opportunities in the early days? It's pretty amazing. All my friends in high school were picking up girls and playing sports. I was working in my father's hardware store in Detroit.

3:22and this was in the 70s now I don't know, you're too young to remember the Mod Squad but the Mod Squad was like the coolest TV show in Miami Vice they were back to back on TV and one of the characters was Link and Link is Afro-American and he wore an afro and back in the 70s afros were the big thing and all our customers were black in the hardware store and they all wore afros And I said, you know, how do you maintain that afro? So you need shine spray. So I did my research and I brought in the three biggest companies in the U.S. that make the product for the afros. And they came into the hardware store and they said, are you crazy?

4:08Are you nuts? I said, no. I got all these customers. Look, plus we want to attract women that we don't attract. They all opened me up. And within a month or two, we became the largest single seller of black hair care products in Detroit. Another story I have to share with you, John, is right next door to us was a laundromat. And, you know, we're talking the 70s. And there was a laundry, the laundromat had a vending machine for detergent. And I was looking, I was walking back to the hardware store. I said, these guys are buying these little boxes of detergent. Why not sell big boxes? so I had a station wagon back then.

4:47Of course, everyone had a station wagon back then. And I found a wholesale distributor that sold Tide and other brands of detergent and bleach, lowered it up, made an end cap at the front of the hardware store, and all these people came in from the laundromat and saw it. And within the weekend, we sold out all the product. And over time, I had to bring in truckloads of laundry products. And from that, we had a huge selection of laundry products and health and beauty aids. And it became 25 % of the hardware business. So what's really fascinating that I was able to find out about you is that you saw an opportunity when you opened your retail store.

5:26So tell us about those early days and specifically how you knew you were on the right track. When I opened the second store, my father and I didn't come on terms with the hardware store. So we opened the second store in the suburbs in Farmington Hills, all women, all white, total change of mix of customer. And I focused on discount health and beauty aids. And we had an amazing selection of product. And the first thing I did was a planogram. And I researched other health and beauty aid stores. I came up with a planogram that I thought was magnificent. Within six months, it was the worst planogram I ever came up with.

6:09and totally reposition the planogram and half the products. Why? Because women were coming in the store with babies. I don't know what babies were. I mean, I came from the hardware store. There's no babies in the hardware store ever. So I put in a complete huge section of baby products. And this just tells you what you think is right is totally wrong. And you have to adapt and change on a minute's notice. And so they were bringing in their babies. They were bringing in their toddlers. And what do babies do? They cry. What do toddlers do? They scream. They whine. And what do you need to do? Pacify both.

6:46How do you pacify both? So I went to a bagel place and they saw these things called teething bagels. I put in a dispenser of teething bagels, complimentary for the babies. And then I put a dispenser of dumb, dumb suckers right next to the teething bagels for the toddlers. Every day they'd have to replenish two, three times. but the bottom line is it worked because we had no more screaming babies and screaming and yelling toddlers in the store and the women stayed longer and filled up their shopping baskets and spent more money. Now what's crazy is that a lot of people would have stopped right there.

7:16They would have said, you know what? I'm having success. I've got these two retail stores. Maybe I'll put up another one or another one, but I'm having success. I'm just going to stay on this track. But you actually made a massive pivot from just being a retailer to a wholesale distributor. Tell us why in the story behind that pivot. So the store was doing 5 million in business. So yeah, you're right. We were doing great. Everything was good. But how did I know to put baby products in the store? How do you know to add Trivial Pursuit? How do you know to add Cabbage Patch Kids to the... So at the end of each aisle, I had a clipboard with a pen.

7:54And I said, is there anything you want in the store, just write on the clipboard what we don't have that you want us to add. Manicurists added things like gallons of acetone polish remover, a honey tip brush, nail tips, five-second nail glue. So I couldn't add those products because you had to be a wholesale distributor to sell those products. So I called a couple of the manufacturers and said, I want to order these products, and they said, no, you have to be a wholesale distributor. So what does an entrepreneur do? I opened up a wholesale distributor, Nailco Manicure Centers, inside the retail store.

8:32That was my pivot. And it became the most amazing pivot up until the pandemic because I ended up closing the retail store and expanding Nailco Manicure Centers because of that. I mean, Fire Nation, I love this story and this journey that Larry's been on because at the end of the day, you need to understand opportunities are going to be there every single day. Some of them are going to be worth taking. Some of them are going to be very worth ignoring. You have to decide which ones make sense for you. So all of this kind of comes back to taking a chance. Why did you decide to use that phrase as the title of your book?

9:13Growing up as an entrepreneur, competition is my number one theme. I love to win. When I played with my kids when they were growing up, Candyland, Streets and Latter, I didn't let them win. I never let them win. I still don't let them win. And of course, they want to beat me. We play basketball. And I still beat them even though I'm 68 years old. But it's take a chance because when you're playing Monopoly, you can land on the chance card. And you pick up the chance card. You don't know if you're going to jail. You don't know if you're collecting$200. You have no idea what you are. It's just a chance.

9:46So I call it the book Take a Chance After the Monopoly card, the chance card, because entrepreneurs always have to take a chance. and it's the chances. Am I going to expand? Am I going to build a building? Am I going to open up a second store? Am I going to hire this employee? Am I going to recruit this one from the competitor? It always involves money. It always involves risk. And the only one that can make the decision is you. Now, your friends, your family, your closest confidence will say, don't do that, don't do that. And you have to say, well, I don't care what my friends say. I don't care what my family.

10:18You have to have your gut instinct and take a chance and move forward based on what you think is best. And that's why I came up with the name of the book, Take a Chance. Fire Nation, I hope you stick around for some incredible value bombs coming straight from Larry's mouth to your ears when we get back from thinking our sponsors. There are plenty of things to worry about when trying to grow your business. Don't let tech be one of them. If you're looking for the right tools and a platform that connects your team seamlessly, then look no further than HubSpot's customer platform. With HubSpot's customer platform, you can spend less time switching between systems and more time on growing your business.

10:54Sounds pretty great, right? HubSpot's customer platform is a single source of truth for organizing and tracking all of your marketing, sales, and service activities. That means no more misaligned teams, no more switching between tools, and no more wasting time. It's that simple. Have customer service top of mind. Get ready to lighten your service team's load and scale support to get your customers the info they're looking for fast. Plus, with its AI-powered tools, you'll always have the most important and up-to-date prospect and customer info to close more deals, elevate your brand, and serve customers better.

11:28Get ready to grow with HubSpot's customer platform. Visit HubSpot.com to learn how HubSpot's customer platform can help you grow your business. We love camping, but a lot of campsites require that you book your spot well in advance. Nothing like setting your phone alarm and continuously hitting refresh on your browser for spots to open up. Hey, when you want the best, you have to act quickly or someone else will get it instead. It's like if you're hiring for your business. You want to find the most talented people for your open roles before competition scoops them up. So what's the best way to do that?

11:59Zip Recruiter. Zip Recruiter finds qualified candidates fast. And right now you can try it for free at ziprecruiter.com slash fire. Zip Recruiter's powerful matching technology takes center stage to identify top talent for your roles. immediately after you post your job, ZipRecruiter's smart technology starts showing you qualified people for it. Amp up your hiring performance with ZipRecruiter and find the best fast. See why four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Just go to this exclusive web address right now to try ZipRecruiter for free.

12:33ZipRecruiter.com slash fire. Again, that's ZipRecruiter.com slash fire. ZipRecruiter, The smartest way to hire. Okay, quick math. The less your business spends on operations, running multiple systems, and on delivering your product or service, the more margin you have and the more money you keep. Obvious, right? But with higher expenses on materials, employees, distribution, and borrowing, everything costs more. So to reduce costs and headaches, smart businesses are graduating to NetSuite by Oracle. NetSuite is the number one cloud financial system, bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, HR into one platform and one source of truth.

13:06With NetSuite, you reduce IT costs because NetSuite lives in the cloud with no hardware required, accessed from everywhere. You cut the cost of maintaining multiple systems because you've got one unified business management suite and you're improving efficiency by bringing all your major business processes into one platform, slashing manual tasks and errors. Over 37 ,000 companies have already made the move, so do the math and see how you'll profit with NetSuite. Now through April 15th, NetSuite is offering a one-of-a-kind flexible financing program. Head to netsuite.com slash fire right now. So, nestwheat.com slash fire.

13:39nestwheat.com slash fire. Larry, we're back. And the Gallup organization changed your management mindset as well as that of your team. Tell us what the Gallup organization is and how it changed the management mindset of you and your team. Everyone that's listening probably thinks of Gallup as a Gallup poll. They've been around for so many years, 30, 40 years, a Gallup poll. But it's like 1 % of their business. What their main business is is engagement, customer engagement, employee engagement, and training companies. They have the Ritz-Carlton. They have so many major S &P 500 companies working for them.

14:16But I learned about the Gallup organization because my management style back in the day, entrepreneurs, we're not born to manage people. We take risk. We want to build business. We want to see the next outcome. But when it comes to managing people, when people made mistakes, and I call them critical mistakes, like a customer wants something next to air, they ship it by ground, it's my mistake. I just want to go in the warehouse and fire it right there. Now, that is not the best HR practice. And I was not the best HR person. So I learned about Gallup. And what Gallup does is focuses on your strengths, not your weaknesses.

14:51And you take an assessment test. The name of the book is Strength Finders 2.0. It's one of the top 10 business books all of all time, 30 million copies. So you take that and you learn your top five strengths. There's 34 strengths, 34 talents that Gallup identified. And for me, I cover my book. I list my top five copies, being number one and focus being number two. Focus being number two, I was able to write my book in two months, which is pretty unheard of. But the thing about Gallup is when you focus on your strengths and not your weaknesses, oh, my God. But your employees, you learn what they're good at, not what they're bad at.

15:28You can train them, motivate them, and push them in the right direction. They love that. It's like I think about the kid, the high school kid comes home with the report card, three A's and a C. What's the first thing the mother says? First thing the mother says, what's up with the C? Well, the C is not what the kid is good for, what his talents are. It's the A's. You should be focusing on the A's, not the C. So Gallup completely changed my mindset. I went there for a four-day university course, and then I sent my executive team for the same thing. And then I had all my employees read the book, take the test.

16:00And from that day forward, we came to get up train. It changed the entire mindset and the entire culture of the company. And it just transformed us overnight and made us what we are today. I want to talk about timing because I want to know how you knew the correct timing of when to take the biggest chance of your career? Because a lot of people get that wrong and they end up in a disastrous spiral and they never recover from it. You, on the other hand, timed it correctly. Tell us more. John, it has to do with what I said at the very, very beginning, curses, luck, and magic. And February 2020 came, we were already manufacturing PPE products before the pandemic hit.

16:44We were manufacturing nitro gloves, face masks, hand sanitizer, disinfectant, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. February, March came along and all of a sudden the world shut down. And we were then a distributor of over 200 different brands. We also manufactured many of our own products. About 30, 40 % of our business was our own brands. But when the pandemic came and business shut down, we were an essential company. We were allowed to stay open. All our competitors had us shut down. But suddenly, funeral homes, nursing homes, doctors, nurses, they started calling us for PPE. We'd never dealt with these people before.

17:25We were a salon and spa distributor. But funeral homes needed product. They needed gloves. They needed, you know, they were calling us up. You know, they're going to the hospital to get these bodies. They had no gloves and disinfectant to take care of it. They wanted us to source body bags. So the manufacturers I represented, the distributor, had no product. They were shut down. I had to make the decision to cut off more than 50 % of my business, more than$20 million back then, and be 100 % manufacturer and not be a distributor at all. So I made that decision. And once I made that decision, I focused 100 % on providing PPE for our customers, our new customers.

18:05And we started bringing in containers. I even hired a FedEx jet to bring in seven containers of gloves and masks because our customers demanded them. There was so much need. So it was curses and luck. I was working 24-7. I did not want to do this, but it changed the company. It changed everything that we did. And thank God, because we provided makeshift hospitals, PPE, countless – the top three funeral home chains in the country, we provided PPE. We provided the service. We lost our ass that year. So we only lost my two years in 38 years. We lost$1.6 million that year. And I worked 24-7. But it was well worth it because what happened afterwards.

18:47And Fire Nation, I think this is why we're going to go back to taking a chance. So bring this home for us, Larry. How do you want to finish the story of what happened afterwards? And that led to you writing this book, Take a Chance? I can't even imagine then what would happen then that happened now. But we were an Amazon reseller back in 2013. We were the first beauty distributors to sell on Amazon. Our products on Amazon during the pandemic obviously became amazing and in demand because you couldn't go to the stores and buy the product. And then after the – when America reopened in May of 2020 and the restaurants reopened in January of 2021, they still needed to buy these products and all the other products that we sold from foil sheets to massage sheets to the spa products.

19:40And they started buying more and more on Amazon. And now we are an Amazon top 200 beauty reseller. We have the number one selling nitro glove on Amazon. We sell upwards of 80 ,000 to 100 ,000 boxes a week. And our business in 2023 is up 44%. And this year, it looks like it's going to go up even more than 44%, all because of that decision I made in 2020 to turn into being a manufacturer. So it's forever changed our company. Larry, how do you want to bring this home? What is the one thing that you want to make sure Fire Nation gets from our conversation today? And what is your call to action for our listeners when it comes to take a chance?

20:26The call to action is this. just because you're doing what you're doing today doesn't mean that needs to be what you're going to be doing tomorrow. And as an entrepreneur, if you're an entrepreneur, a natural entrepreneur, you're going to take a chance. You're going to take the risk. You're going to put everything into motion. But you have to look at what you're doing today. Is this relevant tomorrow? We all know about AI. I don't need to talk about AI. We know that AI, you know, you think about the personal computer coming out, IBM, that first one coming out in the early 80s. and you think about the internet coming out in the early 90s, and you think about the Apple phone coming out in the 2000s, those three put together are not going to be as big as the next AI revolution.

21:08And if you're not thinking about how AI revolution is going to impact your business now, you're not going to be in business five to 10 years from now. You got to take a chance. You have to keep thinking ahead of the competition and you have to keep moving forward. Fire Nation, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You've been hanging out with LG and JLD today. So keep up that heat. For links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Just type Larry in the search bar and the show notes page will pop right up. And Larry, one more time, give us that direct call to action for Fire Nation to take a chance.

21:45Take a chance. It premieres August 9th. It's available on pre-release right now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble. Larry, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For that, brother, we salute you and we will catch you on the flip side. 100%. Fire Nation, let's go. Let's go. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Larry for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, successful entrepreneurs accomplish big goals. That's why I created the Freedom Journal to guide you in accomplishing your number one goal in 100 days. And we're talking step by step. Visit thefreedomjournal.com and I'll catch you there or on the flip side.

22:26Marketing Made Simple, hosted by my friend, Dr. JJ Peterson, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Marketing Made Simple brings you practical tips to make your marketing easy and more importantly, make it work. A recent episode all about how Liquid IV is using marketing to shake up the beverage world dives deep into the strategies that have propelled Liquid IV to remarkable success. A must listen. Listen to Marketing Made Simple wherever you get your podcasts. The less your business spends, the more margin you keep. NestSuite by Oracle brings accounting, finance, inventory, and HR into one proven platform, helping you reduce costs everywhere.

23:01Now through April 15th, NestSuite is offering a one-of-a-kind flexible financing program. Head to NestSuite.com slash fire right now.