Feb 9, 2022
Clint Powell is the voice behind two amazing podcasts, the During the Break Podcast and Day Fire Podcasts. In his shows, Clint shares some important tips and strategies about the day-to-day of a business, as well as other people’s experiences in going outdoors.
He joins us in this episode to talk about the difference between momentum and success, the danger that success poses to people whether in business or in life and the ways for newbie business owners to be successful in the long run.
[00:01 - 02:50] Opening Segment
- I introduce Clint Powell
- Listen to Clint in his podcasts!
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- Links below
[02:51 - 12:23] Momentum vs. Success
- The one thing that can help you build momentum
- Why the first 30-45 minutes of your day is crucial in a business
- Clint talks about the reason success can be dangerous for people
- 4 things business owners can control in terms of advertising and marketing
[12:24 - 19:23] Starting a Business The Right Way
- The power of continuously building your network as a sales rep
- The basics of running a billboard business
- Why you should identify your target market’s problems first before doing anything
[19:24 - 20:50] Closing Segment
- Your way to make the world a better place
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- Helping organizations that align with your personal goals
- Reach out to Clint
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- See links below
- Final words
Tweetable Quotes
“This thing of success is not a destination. It's a place where we're supposed to keep going.” - Clint Powell
“Your business starts in your head before you ever start doing business every morning. So I'm a big believer in controlling the first 30 to 45 minutes of your day.” - Clint Powell
“Understand there's only four things you can control when it comes to your advertising and marketing: Who you talk to, what you say, how often you say it, and then setting expectations.” - Clint Powell
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Email theclintpowell@gmail.com or call 423-505-1014 to reach out to Clint. Follow him on LinkedIn.
- Hear from experts and thought leaders in various industries in During the Break Podcast
- Listen to stories from the outdoor life with the Day Fire Podcast
Connect with me:
I love helping others place money outside of traditional investments that both diversify a strategy and provide solid predictable returns.
Like, subscribe, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or whatever platform you listen on. Thank you for tuning in!
Email me → sam@brickeninvestmentgroup.com
Want to read the full show notes of this episode? Check it out below:
Clint Powell 00:00
The reason success can be so dangerous, whether you're growing too fast, or you've plateaued, and then you don't see that you've plateaued and you start gradually declining, it's because one, you stopped working on yourself, right? You've kicked yourself down the road. But the other one is that feeling that I've arrived, I figured it out. And you know, this thing of success is not a destination. It's a place where we're supposed to keep going.
Intro 00:26
Welcome to the How to Scale Commercial Real Estate Show. Whether you are an active or passive investor, we will teach you how to scale your real estate investing business into something big.
Sam Wilson 00:37
Clint Powell, welcome to the show.
Clint Powell 00:39
Hey, thank you for the invite, man. I appreciate it.
Sam Wilson 00:41
Hey, man, the pleasure is mine. Here’s a list of three questions I asked every guest who comes on the show. Can you in 90 seconds or less tell us where you started, where you are now, and how you got there?
Clint Powell 00:50
I try to help my clients do this. If I can't do it, I'm in trouble. Yeah, I've been a small business owner. I've been a radio and advertising sales rep, and I've been a radio sales manager. So I've owned a commercial cleaning company when I was in my mid-20s, sold it to my partner when I got married. Several years later, I started a billboard company and me and my partner built it and sold it to a company called Lamar Outdoor. And then just recently, I shut it down a couple of years ago, I owned an advertising and marketing company for about 10 years. And we did the full-service: advertising marketing, PR sales training. We weren't a big company, we placed about 700, $100,000 with a media a year. And so that range of skills and experience now, I do small business owner and sales rep coaching and a podcast host I love doing podcast like you do.
Sam Wilson 01:44
Man, that's fantastic. I love that. Just briefly so we can get it on here and I don't forget to mention it. What are the podcast shows that you host
Clint Powell 01:51
Yeah, During the Break Podcast is my personal podcast. I have people from all backgrounds, interesting people, business adventure entertainment. I just got through interviewing a couple of big business owners that, had Diamond Dallas Page on my podcast, which was good. And then I have one geared towards the outdoors with some just unbelievable people around the world dayfirepodcast.com
Sam Wilson 02:14
That's really cool. So an outdoors like an outdoor adventure or outdoor hunting or…
Clint Powell 02:18
No, it's outdoor adventure, canoeing, you know climbing, biking, camping, all that good stuff,
Sam Wilson 02:23
Right. And you're right there in the mecca for that in Chattanooga, Tennessee. So what a fun topic to get to host and talk about. I love that, let’s jump here in to, you know, the kind of thrust of today's show, which I think momentum versus success. And I think that's one of the things that you're known for is talking about, one how to generate momentum, but then also the dangers of success. So the floor is yours. If you can kind of break both of those topics down for us. I think this will make for a really interesting topic today.
Clint Powell 02:51
Yeah, they're intertwined. But momentum is such a, you know, sometimes in life, we call, we had these things called hard skills and soft skills, right? Hard skills, we can train. Soft skills are the human relational things. And I've always said the soft skills are way harder to try. The soft skills, how me and you get along, it's something that's hard to pinpoint right down, something you feel. So momentum, to me is really the key. Because if you're starting off in business, or if you're a business owner, momentum is a real thing. And I found that habits are the one thing that can help you build momentum, it's not immediate. But if you develop good habits, you can build momentum, it's like when your car breaks down in the middle of the road, those first few steps are difficult, then it becomes a little easier. And so that's what, you've got to do is take those hard steps every day, how to spend time with yourself, spend time with your clients knowing when to say yes, and when to say no. The success part I've said before is the most dangerous place for a salesperson or business owner to get, as a matter of fact, in any part, if you're married and you got a relationship, and you feel its success, and you quit working on it, it'll stop being a success pretty quickly. So as a business owners, sales rep, man, I think sometimes we get to a place we feel like we figured it out. And then we stop doing what we did to get there.
Sam Wilson 04:09
Hmm, yeah, like working out. I mean, it only take you to a certain point. And then you stop and then suddenly you're like, oh, wait, I'm putting on fat and you know, yeah, shape. It's those things wear off.
Clint Powell 04:20
There's an old story I learned, you know, 27 years ago, and I'm sure it's not true, but it makes for a really good story. So I'll share it. The misinformation. There's the old story of you know, the CEO of American Airlines and the CEO of Wrigley's gums and candies was on the plane and they were flying and the guy from Wrigleys asked the CEO of the airline, American Airlines you know, or Wrigley's, he asked Wrigley's the airline guy to Wrigleys. “Why do you keep advertising? You have like 80% of the gum and candy market.” And the guy from Wrigley says, “Well, you know, how high we are flying?” and he goes $40,000. He goes, “Why don't you just shut the engines off? You got to keep doing what got you here. You don't stop it. You know?”
Sam Wilson 05:00
That's a great point. Yeah, absolutely 40,000 feet, man, it's like that sweet, you don't cut them off because you're there. Talk to us about, you know, ways that you find are really helpful to build momentum, what are some things that people can practically be doing?
Clint Powell 05:11
First of all, you got to understand that everything in our lives, even in business starts from an invisible place, it starts in your brain, every idea that the chair I'm sitting in, started in somebody's head to design it, right. So your business starts in your head before you ever start doing business every morning. So I'm a big believer in controlling the first 30 to 45 minutes of your day. And those little things, a lot of people dismiss, drinking my water, getting some movement, having some quiet time, staying off social media, or my phone. We dismiss all that because it's not going to help us today. But again, go back to that some steps are hard, right? takes time. To me, that is where success in life starts at that first 30 to 45 minutes of every day. And the other thing I'll say to small business owners, and if you're an independent commission-only sales rep, your small business owner, is keep the appointments you set with yourself every week, the first person we cancel appointments with every week is with us. Right? I'll keep an appointment with you, but I'll kick me down the road.
Sam Wilson 06:13
Hmm. That's tough, because it's it feels like you always want to meet the obligations that you set. But how, I mean, what are some strategies, I guess, for making sure that I take care of me when I need to take care of me? I mean, it just You're right, I'm the easiest person to say no to.
Clint Powell 06:28
Because you're always with you. I'll make it up later. And it's really weird in relationships, we tell our colleagues, I tell my kids, what you permit, you promote. In relationships, right, what you allow to continue will keep continuing. It's odd, we don't take that same mindset with ourselves. We don't say if I permit myself to continually cancel work on my business time or my quiet time, it's mad, I'm gonna have a better life. No, it's not magic, it, you have to use your calendar, use accountability partner, I believe in accountability partners, or coaching, but you have to put it all around you to remind you that you are as important to you as everyone else is important to you.
Sam Wilson 07:03
Right, man, that's great. And like you said, everything starts in your head. It really is the basis of you know, it's probably something I didn't give a lot of credence to maybe a decade ago, but mindset, like what you think is what you become. So that's really fascinating. Anything else? Any other thoughts on that idea behind, you know, establishing momentum or figuring out, you know, where you're going, you know, I guess, thoughts on that particular topic?
Clint Powell 07:24
Well, other than the consistency, you know, keeping that appointment with yourself, I'm a big believer on surrounding yourself with the right folks, consistency and momentum, you know, motivation will get you started do quote, motivation gets you started habits keep you going. I can't remember who to give credit to for this. But I'm a big believer in your unofficial board of directors. One of the ways to keep yourself having momentum and energize is intentionally, that's the keyword, surrounding yourself with people who have different skillsets than you, an unintentional Board of Directors, I sucked at money. I need to have somebody in my life that's good with money. If you're not very creative, you need to have somebody that's creative, and then intentionally spend time with those people monthly. That will keep you energized.
Sam Wilson 08:08
Right. That's like the idea of masterminds and things like that. Yeah, absolutely. That's absolutely intriguing.
Clint Powell 08:15
But very few of us sit down and evaluate the relationships, what am I getting from this relationship? And in return, who am I adding value to? I'm also helping other people.
Sam Wilson 08:24
Right, man, that's great. Success! Let's talk about that for a minute. You mentioned that there's great danger in success, not just in the sense that hey, you know, we're flying at 40,000 feet. But if we stop, then obviously, we start descending. But what are some other things? You know, is there a grow too fast success problem? Is there a, I mean, just talk to us about that a little bit and what dangers we can find in the success world?
Clint Powell 08:46
Yeah, I think it comes in a different format. I'd say to ourselves, we always have this trojan horse in our own brain, we all have our favorite excuses. I'm too busy. You know, I've got too much on my plate. It's not who I am. Like, if somebody says, “Have you tried to have that's,” well, that's just I'm not a morning person, or I'm not a night person. So we all have these Trojan horses, we roll up to our gates. And whenever something challenges us to evaluate ourselves and change and grow, we always pull that Trojan horse in and excuse jumps out, and we go, “Oh, I'm just too busy.” Of course, I give myself a pass. So on the success side, I think it's important not to silo yourself, small business owners and sales reps, really find, it’s really easy for them to get silo. They sit in their own room by themselves, and their own echo chamber, right. And so I'm a big believer, again, going back to surrounding yourself with the right people. But the reason success can be so dangerous, whether you're growing too fast, or you've plateaued, and then you don't see that you've plateaued and you start gradually declining, it's because one you stopped working on yourself, right? You've kicked yourself down the road, but the other one is that feeling that I've arrived, I figured it out and you, you know, this thing of success is not a destination, it's a place where we're supposed to keep going. The danger comes, we stopped pushing the car when it's broke down the middle the road. That's the place that we get to get dangerous. I've got a client right now, very new in real estate. They've been in it about five months, they're starting to have some success. And so every time I'm talking to him, I said, “How are your basics going, blocking and tackling? How's your lead? Gen? How's your follow-up,” and they've said it to me two weeks in a row. It's just been crazy busy trying to keep these clients happy. And I'm like, “I can tell you what your next two months gonna look like, which is slow.” Here's why. If you stop doing the basics, you're gonna slow down, man, you know that you've done this. If you quit inviting people on your podcast, are people going to just knock on your door all the time? No, you got to keep doing what you do.
Sam Wilson 10:48
Yeah, absolutely. You know, one of the things I think that you told me off-air that I thought was fascinating was that you said, “Man, I've made every mistake that can be made.” What are some things as you go back to your varied business career, Imean, right, from running a small business cleaning company, or a small cleaning company to a billboard company to advertising and marketing company, what are some mistakes that you really feel like are ones that you could help our listeners avoid, that you've had in small business?
Clint Powell 11:14
Well, there's a couple of quick ones. And I know we're on a, you know, you keep your podcasts fairly short. So I will try not to run too far with the line on this one. Good. Reel me back in anytime. First, if you're a business owner, a lot of people fall into the “I don't have a marketing advertising budget,” they don't sit down and they're not intentional with it. So I have done a lot of onboarding with clients. And it's amazing when you sit down and start asking them that they spend this much on a soft, you know, sponsoring a little league baseball team, they've got a website and business cards, and you put it all together, and you're spending a couple 1,000 a month, you just don't know what you're doing with it. So I think first before you start telling yourself as a small business owner, “I don't know what to do. All these ideas look great,” because if you don't know where you're going, every idea will look wonderful. It'll look like the best idea. Slow down and figure out where you're spending your money at as a business owner. And understand there's only four things you can control when it comes to your advertising and marketing, who you talk to what you say how often you say it, and then setting expectations. That's it. And advertising will not fix a bad business with bad processes and attitudes. It can only create nibbles on the line. Right? That's the first thing on the business side. On the sales side, if you're an independent sales rep, one of the biggest mistakes that I made was, I stopped growing my network. It sounds really crazy but I got really comfortable. I'm not talking about getting rid of relationships. I just stopped intentionally doing those things to make new relationships if that makes sense. Yeah, I just got too busy air quote, my favorite, you know, Trojan horse excuse, I just got too busy. I looked up five years down the road, and I'm calling on the same people. And I've got the same people in my little room. And I always need to be adding people to my room.
Sam Wilson 12:59
Right. What are some effective ways to do that you feel like outside of even maybe going to conferences and things like that? What are some ways that you say, “Hey, here's a quick way to get out of your bubble.”
Clint Powell 13:07
Well, first of all, you may not have to, but a lot of us have to change our approach to networking. It's not handing out business cards. It's just not, as a matter of fact, that used to be the old way, drop your business card into the, you know, the fishbowl. And that's great. But that's not networking, that's wasting, you know, 10 cents on a business card. So your approach to networking has got to be different. I really took if I were going to get business cards, I only took three business cards to any networking meeting. And I was, I acted like they were a lot my last pieces of gum in church. I did not want to hand them out unless I had to. So I would be intentional. And then I always told myself when I gave you a business card, I'm like, Hey, man, here's my business card. Sam. By the way, can we get lunch next week? It wasn't a business card. Let's talk sometime. I'm trying to set an appointment right then. That's the first thing. It's a mindset shift. The second thing is, use LinkedIn. Use social media. I know it sounds crazy. You don't have to spend hours and hours. Just set aside 30 minutes a week. Have you found success in that? Is that something you do?
Sam Wilson 14:09
Absolutely on, I mean, yeah, LinkedIn is probably my biggest platform just because it's the one that, one it's professional mostly, there's not a lot of there's a little bit of nonsense, but not too much of it, not to put up with a lot of you know, political opinion.
Clint Powell 14:22
I think nonsense is following us everywhere now, man. Yeah, we just get used to a lot of nonsense everywhere we go.
Sam Wilson 14:28
Little non, yeah, little nonsense. I can get it out. But yeah, by and large, LinkedIn is fantastic. I mean, because you have professional conversations. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's I've tried to spend 30 minutes a day on LinkedIn just because there's enough useful conversations that I can contribute to. And that can contribute back to me that are helpful in establishing and building that network. So yes, there are people I've not yet met in person, but yet I feel like I know very well, just because we communicate so often over such a wide variety of topics. So yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Clint, this is fascinating. You know, I love the idea of the billboard business. I just want to circle back and talk about that for a quick second because it's entertaining, simply because I used to be in the parking lot business and we bought a parking lot with a billboard in it. And the only reason we got the billboard company to sell was because we gave them you know, perpetual rights to the billboard said, guys, we're not in the billboard business, we're in the parking business, we'll let you keep the billboard you sell us the parking lot. Yeah, it worked out beautifully, because they got to keep the revenue stream that cost them you know, actually, they made millions of dollars on it. It was great. Talk to us a little bit about that business, where that's gone and kind of what people should be doing to create their own billboard and business now.
Clint Powell 15:37
So I'll answer the first question, then I'll ask you to clarify on the, ask you to build their own billboard now. I want to make sure I understand the question pretty good on that. But as far as the billboard business, when I was in it, it was 2005 to 2008. Somewhere around there. It's been a while I'm in my mid-50s. My memories, not what it used to be. We were on the, we were in the transition from the traditional billboards, then you had to try visions, which turned three times then it was slowly becoming digital. There was not that many digital. Now digital's are everywhere, everywhere. Here's the thing about billboards, and my daughter who's almost 18, I feel like I've trained her well, when she listens to radio ads, she will be in the car and she'll go, “That wasn't a good radio ad.” And she'll tell me why. Because I was in the radio business for 15 years. Now when we drive by billboards, she'll go, what a terrible billboard, dad. So if you're in if you're wanting to do billboards, keep it to about six words, eight words or less. I like, you don't have to add your phone number, your address, and your cell phone. People will find you, right. What problem do you solve? Are you cold? We make you warm? Are you hot? We make you cold? You know? Keep it simple. People will Google you just like they used to use the yellow pages.
Sam Wilson 16:46
Yeah, man. It's funny. I do that same thing. I'm not in the marketing or the marketing advertising business. But yeah, that's something I still ride down the highway. I'm like, “That's a terrible billboard.” I don't even know what you do. That's it rolled by you at 70 miles an hour, I still have no idea what you do.
Clint Powell 17:01
Well, you know what, this is a, it's a good point for your small business owners and even your sales reps. One of the dangers again, if you're in a silo is you build campaigns advertising to you, right? What do I like? So I'm gonna build it around what I like and then wonder why it doesn't work. You're supposed to build it around the problem you solve or the emotion you evoke, not what you just like. So that's a great example. Those billboards were approved by somebody that went, I love that.
Sam Wilson 17:27
Right? Absolutely. It means nothing to your customer. And I guess the last question before we wrap up was, you know, what should we document how I phrased it? But you know, what are some things we should be doing and building our billboards around our companies today? Like what mediums should small, this is, be in what should we, I mean, because the billboard business has changed? Yeah, it's no, yes, there's highway billboards, those work. But you know, what are you seeing people do right now marketing-wise, that really you say, these are some strategies you really should be employing in small business?
Clint Powell 17:54
Well, so the strategies I think, are always consistent, basic, the basics don't change just because the mediums do so it doesn't matter if it's digital, billboards, radio, whatever. So before you even start, and I hate to always back you up and are back this conversation up to the rich, you know, the origins, but I go back to do you even know who your audience is. I've seen people spend 3,000 5,000 $10,000 a month on one billboard, they can't tell me why they go there's a lot of traffic there. I'm like, is it your traffic? I've seen people spend money on the radio, and then spend it on a radio station, the demographic is 45 to 64. But they're selling the 20-year-olds, but it's their favorite radio station. So if you back up to those four things you can't control before you invest a dime, I would figure out is who I’m fishing for because that's going to determine what bait you use. And so that, to me, is the most important thing. So it doesn't matter if it's digital, or not. The one thing I will say about digital, I love the ability to track. But you also have to understand that a lot of times people go find you on the digital platforms after they have done what they've always done, which is seen your billboard, listened to your radio, heard you on a podcast, just like they do with yellow pages, right, you know, back in the 70s because 70s and 80s, we would look at stuff in the yellow pages because we saw or heard them somewhere else. Right. So those basic principles kind of stayed the same, if that makes sense.
Sam Wilson 19:14
Absolutely. Clint, this has been a blast. Thanks for taking the time to come on today and kind of share some of the secrets that you've learned over your business career in history. This has been tons of fun. Final few questions for you here. Yeah, when it comes to investing in the world. What's one thing you're doing right now to make the world a better place?
Clint Powell 19:29
I'm glad you asked that. There's an organization here in the Chattanooga area called Whitecap. The YMCA Wildcap Program and it uses tutoring, boxing, life experiences. It takes kids from different backgrounds who don't have the family structure and it exposes them to different opportunities. There is not bringing that up is, those types of programs or everybody else's city. So I encourage you to find a way to give your money and most of the time these companies will take your time more than your money they need somebody to come clean or tutor or just pray for him. So I'm a big believer and finding little organizations like that.
Sam Wilson 20:02
That's fantastic. I love that and lastly, Clint, if listeners want to get in touch with you or learn more about you what is the best way to do that,
Clint Powell 20:07
You can email me at “the,” which is T-H-E, theclintpowell@gmail.com. My phone number is 423-505-1014. You just look up During The Break Podcast or Day Fire Podcast, any of those platforms will get you out to me.
Sam Wilson 20:22
Fantastic. Clint, thank you for your time today. I do appreciate it.
Clint Powell 20:25
Much appreciate it. Thank you, sir.
Sam Wilson 20:26
Hey, thanks for listening to the How to Scale Commercial Real Estate Podcast. If you can do me a favor and subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, whatever platform it is you use to listen, if you can do that for us, that would be a fantastic help to the show. It helps us both attract new listeners, as well as rank higher on those directories. So I appreciate you listening. Thanks so much and hope to catch you on the next episode.