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Speaker 1: heart or text I Heeart to five hundred, five hundred.

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Speaker 1: My guests is already a studio. I love it when

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Speaker 1: I have live guests in studio. My next guest began

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Speaker 1: his leadership journey as a chicken farmer, which I love

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Speaker 1: that you went from more chicken farmer so not owning

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Speaker 1: a Chick fil A. Attended the U. S Military Academy

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Speaker 1: at West Point, served as an Army ranger instructor, and

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Speaker 1: a college pastor, but none of this adequately prepared him

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Speaker 1: for the challenge of leading a team of one hundred

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Speaker 1: young adults when he became a Chick fil A franchise

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Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight. Please welcome to Money Making Conversation.

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Speaker 1: The author of Leader Farming, Zach Thomas, it's great to

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Speaker 1: be here, great to be back, absolutely well, really excited

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Speaker 1: your local you know, I broadcast the show out of Atlanta,

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Speaker 1: and I always like to bring the talented entrepreneurs and

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Speaker 1: your brand of success. I think it's really important because

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Speaker 1: of the fact that you're dealing with a working generation.

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Speaker 1: I think that gets uh gets a bad rap, the

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Speaker 1: emendial generation. And I think it's important that we talked

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Speaker 1: about that. We talked about it last time because that's

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Speaker 1: the basis of your book, Leader Farm, which is a

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Speaker 1: really good book if you if you're confused of how

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Speaker 1: to uh get to motivate engage that generational group of

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Speaker 1: people that are dominating the workforce, and some of them

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Speaker 1: I read the article of the Days saying that that

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Speaker 1: whole workforce is hard to find. You you tended to

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Speaker 1: hire adults that in that work field of fast food

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Speaker 1: and I called chick fil as in the genre of

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Speaker 1: fast foods, and so more adults are being hired in

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Speaker 1: that world. What used to be a world that was

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Speaker 1: strictly in that you know, young teenager to mid twenty

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Speaker 1: age range. So why is that, Zack, You know, I think,

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Speaker 1: um just to mention though, that if you do focus

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Speaker 1: on hiring adults, that's that's really kind of an unsustainable plan.

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Speaker 1: Like if you're looking at that and saying I'm just

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Speaker 1: gonna hire adults, I'm gonna forget about this generation. You know,

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Speaker 1: you're the future of your hiring needs. Are are are

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Speaker 1: at at risk there? And so you know, why is that?

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Speaker 1: Why is that rich? Well, you know, you've gotta you've

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Speaker 1: got to look at the millennial generation and and even

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Speaker 1: now we're looking at centennials, which is the next generation,

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Speaker 1: and they think a little bit differently as well. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so you know, millennials are very very idealistic in nature,

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Speaker 1: and I think what we're seeing with centennials is that

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Speaker 1: they're a little bit more pragmatic in nature, and so

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Speaker 1: I think we'll see a little bit more stability with them.

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Speaker 1: But you know, I started looking at my overall hiring

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Speaker 1: strategy and I said, well, you know, I've got to

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Speaker 1: I don't want to guilt and manipulate people and try

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Speaker 1: to try to coerce people into staying. And so that

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Speaker 1: really started my journey of trying to figure out, Okay, well,

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Speaker 1: how do I help them grow and become the best

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Speaker 1: version of themselves. And so I started thinking about, you know,

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Speaker 1: my background as a farmer and growing up on a farm.

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Speaker 1: You know, that's what I did every day, is to

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Speaker 1: to grow things. And so I thought, you know, I'm

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Speaker 1: just gonna help them grow. And when they believe that

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Speaker 1: your goal is to help them become the best version

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Speaker 1: of themselves and get them to where they want to be,

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Speaker 1: they're going to stick around a little bit longer. Well,

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Speaker 1: I've always had that philosophy. If anybody who's ever worked

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Speaker 1: for me, I always tell them, my goal is to

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Speaker 1: make you better for your next opportunity. And that's a

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Speaker 1: that's a real honest philosophy I've always had. And it's

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Speaker 1: really cool because everybody who's ever worked for me has

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Speaker 1: always felt that was too hard on them. I always

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Speaker 1: felt I expected too much of them, that I was

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Speaker 1: always driving them. But when they always called me back

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Speaker 1: and go thank you, I see it. Now, I understand

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Speaker 1: exactly what you were talking about. And that's basically But

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Speaker 1: now when I look at your background, you're a military guy,

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Speaker 1: you're a pastor, So that's a real conservative, I can

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Speaker 1: say conservative relationship that you have with the world. Now

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Speaker 1: you have these young people very independent minded. Why well,

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Speaker 1: how do you how how did this guy who's a minister,

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Speaker 1: who is a military guy, army ranger change because you

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Speaker 1: had to make the adjustment. I did have to make

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Speaker 1: a change, absolutely, and I talked about it in my book.

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Speaker 1: I talk about the pendulum of leadership. And you know,

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Speaker 1: if you think about the the far you know one

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Speaker 1: one side of the other leadership style, so far left

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Speaker 1: leadership style was the airborne ranger, hard charging, like make

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Speaker 1: people cry for their mother kind of kind of leadership. Right.

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Speaker 1: And then when I became a college pastor, swung the

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Speaker 1: pendulum all the way over to the far right. And

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Speaker 1: I just developed this philosophy, if you just love everybody enough,

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Speaker 1: they'll do the right thing. And I got taken advantage

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Speaker 1: of pretty significantly. And so I had to find this

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Speaker 1: middle of the road approach, this middle ground approach, and

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Speaker 1: the way that I compare it it's a parenting Honestly,

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Speaker 1: I have six children, and so I think about, you know,

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Speaker 1: as a parent, my role is to help my children

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Speaker 1: grow up and be you know, ductive citizens of society. Right.

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Speaker 1: But I've got to I've got to hold them accountable

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Speaker 1: and I've got to do things to show them I

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Speaker 1: love them, and and so that's really I started thinking

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Speaker 1: about it along those roads, and and really the leadership

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Speaker 1: style that I've developed is kind of the middle of

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Speaker 1: the road approach. And you think about driving down stil

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Speaker 1: the road, you gotta ditch on both sides. Right, If

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Speaker 1: you become that hard charging, you know, ranger instructor kind

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Speaker 1: of guy, you're gonna drive people away. But if you're

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Speaker 1: in the in the right side ditch, then you know

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Speaker 1: you're gonna you're gonna become just too lenient and people

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Speaker 1: are gonna run all over you. And so really the

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Speaker 1: parenting style is what I really I started looking back

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Speaker 1: and saying, Okay, well, how am I gonna How am

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Speaker 1: I gonna parent my children? And then I started looking

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Speaker 1: at well, I've got to develop this this disciplined approach,

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Speaker 1: taking from this side, you know, taking from the ranger

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Speaker 1: instructor side, taking from my military background. But I've also

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Speaker 1: got to love people, and so finding that middle ground

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Speaker 1: of holding people accountable but yet helping them know you

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Speaker 1: love them and you care about it. You don't have

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Speaker 1: tooth philosophies with my company I have. My company's model

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Speaker 1: is live to motivate, and I always tell people stop

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Speaker 1: reading a book and start writing your own book. And

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Speaker 1: that's important because I'm hearing that's what you're doing with

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Speaker 1: your life. Because when you're writing your own book, there's changed.

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Speaker 1: And what the thing that annoys me the most about

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Speaker 1: millennial generation that gets criticized a lot because they've taken

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Speaker 1: upon themselves that they want to be entrepreneurs. How it's

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Speaker 1: almost how dare you? You have worked for anybody? How

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Speaker 1: could you so you want to be entrepreneurs? Why? Why? Why?

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Speaker 1: Why is there so much I'm talking about older hate.

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Speaker 1: I would say, you know, the word hater is it

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Speaker 1: always referred to to the younger generation, but this older

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Speaker 1: generation is really hating on the millennial generation, which is

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Speaker 1: ages eighteen to thirty four because technology. I always tell

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Speaker 1: people technology has changed the game. It's allowed you to

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Speaker 1: get so much information immediately, so it means that they're

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Speaker 1: they're not so much your attention span, but they're available information.

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Speaker 1: I always tell people this. Personally, I've taken upon myself

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Speaker 1: to leave my cell phone at home now because somehow

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Speaker 1: we have a system in our mind that we have

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Speaker 1: to take that cell phone with us if we don't

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Speaker 1: something bad it's gonna happen. And so when you said

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Speaker 1: you're making these changes, what was the number one thing

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Speaker 1: that that that that occurred in your philosophy that win

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Speaker 1: Now I'm hit it in the right direction and dealing

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Speaker 1: with this organization or this group of people are just

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Speaker 1: demover this eighteen and thirty or four? What? What? What? What?

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Speaker 1: What was that game changing for you? Well, my big

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Speaker 1: wake up moment was when I got hit by a

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Speaker 1: car in October of two thousand eleven. So I don't

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Speaker 1: suggest that for anyone. Um. I was literally pedestrian walking

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Speaker 1: across the street and got hit by a car. Um.

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Speaker 1: But I spent a lot of time sitting on the couch,

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Speaker 1: you know, thinking about That's how you developed a book,

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Speaker 1: right the form That's where it started, yes, sir, And

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Speaker 1: just started spend a lot of time just contemplating thinking

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Speaker 1: about life, what really matters and and what kind of

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Speaker 1: legacy do I want to leave? And uh, And that's

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Speaker 1: really what started my you know, me down this road

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Speaker 1: of of thinking about and embracing millennials and centennials and saying,

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Speaker 1: you know what I'm wanna I'm gonna pour into their lives.

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Speaker 1: I want to help them become the best version of themselves.

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Speaker 1: If they want to be entrepreneurs, then I want them

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Speaker 1: to to come work in my organization, and I want

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Speaker 1: them to launch out of my organization and become an

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Speaker 1: even better entrepreneur. And because of that, one of your

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Speaker 1: former employees is a Chick fil A franchise. Correctually, I

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Speaker 1: have three former employees that are Chick fil A franchise's.

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Speaker 1: One is in Houston, Texas, my hometown Asterroids World Champion.

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Speaker 1: That's where Atlanta Braves is trying to go this year.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to stay there. We want to just the

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Speaker 1: next break. I really want to get into being a

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Speaker 1: Chick fil A franchise, but I wanted to dedicate we

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Speaker 1: still going to talk about because that's all the process.

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Speaker 1: Because if you become a Chick fil A franchise, you're

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Speaker 1: gonna be working with these millennials. So I wanted at

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Speaker 1: the stage and a lot of people get into this

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Speaker 1: business and this lane. But more importantly, very popular book

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Speaker 1: Zach Thomas has written called Leader Farming. Please go to

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Speaker 1: Amazon and get it. I've read it. I've shared it

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Speaker 1: with my staff so they can read it. As he showed,

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Speaker 1: as he's told you three of his former employees are

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Speaker 1: now franchise owners. And I shouldn't say owners involved with

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Speaker 1: the Chick fil A because we want to break down

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Speaker 1: exactly what is ownership in check our break. Coming back

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Speaker 1: with more money Making Conversation. I'm having a good time.

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Speaker 1: I'm glad you came back, Zack, thank you very much.

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Speaker 1: Money Making Conversation, be right back. I'm back with Sean McDonald.

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Speaker 1: Was Sean mcgonald, the host of Money Making Conversation, And

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Speaker 1: I'm back with my guest, Zach Thomas, the author of

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Speaker 1: Leader Farming. Also he's a Chick fil A franchis franchise

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Speaker 1: now here's last time he was on the show. We

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Speaker 1: just talked about your book, which was really well received,

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Speaker 1: but I didn't talk about you being a Chick fil

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Speaker 1: A franchise e. And so this weekend a friend of

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Speaker 1: mine from Michigan, Flint, Michigan say, hey, man, look I

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Speaker 1: got turned down. He even see me the letter that

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Speaker 1: he got turned down trying to as he tried to

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Speaker 1: apply because he said, in Flint, Michigan, there are no

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Speaker 1: Chick fil A's. So obviously he's a fan of the

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Speaker 1: of the food because it's taken off everywhere, but he

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Speaker 1: got turned out. Read the letter. The letter was a

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Speaker 1: nice letter, says we do. We do not tell you

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Speaker 1: why we turn you down. We're just telling you that

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Speaker 1: in this particular market, that other people who are interests

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Speaker 1: and we've either chosen to go in their direction or

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Speaker 1: we are considering them. But he was still fired up.

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Speaker 1: So I said, well, I said, it's perfect. Obviously you

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Speaker 1: looked on LinkedIn and my social media, so you know

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Speaker 1: I have Zack Thomas coming on my show. So Zach,

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Speaker 1: please tell the world. In fact, it's past weekend. I

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Speaker 1: was at Chick fil A, got my salad. So I'm

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Speaker 1: a fan of the food. I'm a fan of the lemonade,

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Speaker 1: and I'm a fan of the pickle. I always get

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Speaker 1: the Deluxe, which is the cheese and the lettuce intomato

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Speaker 1: and the so I get the Deluxe when I go there,

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Speaker 1: and the wedge fry so and I have sometimes I

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Speaker 1: get the strawberries shake. So obviously I know the menu.

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Speaker 1: Why is it so popular? Well, the food is really good.

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Speaker 1: With me knowing the menu, it has to be continue,

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Speaker 1: you know. True, it set a legacy of of just

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Speaker 1: great food but great service. And you know we as

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Speaker 1: a franchise e. You know, I want to I want

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Speaker 1: to continue that legacy of investing in my people. Kind

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Speaker 1: of goes back to leader farming, but you know, just

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Speaker 1: investing in my people and helping them, you know, serve

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Speaker 1: our guests all day, every day, um and and just

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Speaker 1: great quality food and good service. And that's that's what

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Speaker 1: it's all about. Well, okay, that sounds that's real simple. Okay,

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Speaker 1: great food. Okay. You know, obviously there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: paces out there, but don't help cars parked in the street,

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Speaker 1: got double drive through lines that are packed doing launch.

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Speaker 1: So I go in there. I will admit I always

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Speaker 1: feel welcome. I'm this is nothing negative to other people

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Speaker 1: in the fast food business. I'm just talking about Chick Fright.

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Speaker 1: When I go into Chick Filate, I've never wint in

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Speaker 1: a Chick fil Late and I'm a minority, and I

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Speaker 1: got to I've never felt i haven't been welcome. I've

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Speaker 1: never felt that that I've been slighted. I've always felt

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Speaker 1: that I've gotten on the best available service. And I've

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Speaker 1: been in New York, I've been in Chicago, l A, Dallas,

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Speaker 1: I traveled a lot. I've enjoyed Chick fil in small towns. Uh,

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Speaker 1: Chick fil A's off of freeways. So if I've I've

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Speaker 1: had this experience everywhere, that's a mentality that's that I

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Speaker 1: have to say that is uh preached within the company.

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Speaker 1: Why well, you know, it kind of goes back to

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Speaker 1: what we were talking about earlier. You know, when we're

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Speaker 1: looking for talent, and I can teach to anybody how

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Speaker 1: to make a chicken sandwich, But what I'm looking for

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Speaker 1: is what's going on inside of here, you know, in

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Speaker 1: the heart. And I think that's what you know, that's

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Speaker 1: what Chick fil A's looking for to when they're when

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Speaker 1: they're interviewing the franchise e's potential owner operators. You know,

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Speaker 1: there's quite a bit of folks that apply every year.

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Speaker 1: I think the year that I applied the twenty five

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Speaker 1: thousand at you hit that flip Michigan, you hit that

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Speaker 1: flip Michigan five thousand applicants and at the time they

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Speaker 1: were only they only accepted. The year that I got

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Speaker 1: in at two thousand and eight, there were twenty two

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Speaker 1: zero um external candidates that came in as Chick fil

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Speaker 1: A franchise ease and owner operators. Okay, a lot of prayer. Absolutely,

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Speaker 1: you know. Well, so here here's what you know. This

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Speaker 1: is the easy answer, right, easy answer is if God

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Speaker 1: wants you to be a Chick fil A operator, you'll

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Speaker 1: be a chickil operator. That covered from a pastor. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so he has a heads up, all y'all. Okay, Now

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Speaker 1: now what is the process? Let's tell everybody what's the

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Speaker 1: process to be a Chick fil A? Do you own

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Speaker 1: the building? Do you own the land? Like traditional franchise

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Speaker 1: owners and operators, it's quite a bit different than traditional

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Speaker 1: franchise opportunities where we don't make the initial investment in

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Speaker 1: the land or the building. You know, Chick fil A

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Speaker 1: owns the property, they owned the building, and we are

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Speaker 1: granted the right to operate the franchise in that in

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Speaker 1: that building and on that land. And so you know, really,

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Speaker 1: when you think about it, it's not so much an

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Speaker 1: asset because I can't I can't sell my Chick fil

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Speaker 1: A franchise when I get ready to retire, I can't

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Speaker 1: leave it to my children. But it's a cash flow opportunity.

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Speaker 1: And so from a money making conversation, um, so you know,

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Speaker 1: you got to think about your your your money making opportunities.

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Speaker 1: Is an investment, is it an asset opportunity or is

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Speaker 1: it more of a cash flow opportunity? And in Chick

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Speaker 1: fil A franchise e s, it's very much a cash

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Speaker 1: flow opportunity. With that being said, like a lot of

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Speaker 1: a lot of people get the the other McDonald's, the

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Speaker 1: Burger Kings, you have them say they own a hundred

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Speaker 1: or they may own two hundred. Can that be accomplished

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Speaker 1: under the under the business model of Chick Filo. Can

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Speaker 1: you be a part of multiple uh Chick fil A franchises?

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Speaker 1: You can, um, but not in that number. And so

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Speaker 1: right now, I think the most that anyone owns is

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Speaker 1: three and UM and those are out in Texas. Is

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Speaker 1: actually most of those guys that have three UM. But

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Speaker 1: that is that is how um. You know, Truett established

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Speaker 1: a model to where he wanted local ownership. You know,

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Speaker 1: with McDonald's franchise e S, I could live in Florida

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Speaker 1: and on thirty McDonald's and Toledo, right, but but not

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Speaker 1: in the case of Chick fil A. He wants we

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Speaker 1: want local ownership so that we're fully invested in the business.

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Speaker 1: And and that's where you know I was previously at

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Speaker 1: Macklin Crossing in Marietta, Georgia, which is that's where I

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Speaker 1: started popular, That's where I started, and I applied for

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Speaker 1: the opportunity to open the new rock Mart location and

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Speaker 1: your county correct, And that's my home, that's where I'm from,

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Speaker 1: and so I really I had to relocate. I had

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Speaker 1: to give up my franchise in Marietta because it was

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Speaker 1: too far from the new franchise, and so, you know,

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Speaker 1: long term, I want to be a multi unit operator.

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Speaker 1: That was another reason why I relocated out the Atlanta

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Speaker 1: market because Atlanta is very, very saturated. But moving outside

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Speaker 1: the Atlanta market, there's potential opportunity for multi unit a

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Speaker 1: little bit more. Okay, cool with that being said, Okay,

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Speaker 1: you back to Leader Farm in your book. Okay, you

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Speaker 1: have employed people you would marry Attam. That's a certain

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Speaker 1: core people, I think, more densely populated. Then you're going

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Speaker 1: out to this new location. What was the difference in

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Speaker 1: the type of employees that you were able to bring

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Speaker 1: on board? And that motivation? You know, I think that

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Speaker 1: I'm in a smaller community, I am in a rural

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Speaker 1: community versus a more urban community, and I think that

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Speaker 1: what I'm seeing here is that I've got quite a

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Speaker 1: bit more full time folks that are, you know, wanting

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Speaker 1: to um be a part of an organization. They see

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Speaker 1: the the impact that Chick fil A is making in

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Speaker 1: the community and they're like, hey, I want to be

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Speaker 1: a part of that. And uh and so, but you know,

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Speaker 1: we still have turnover. And that's what one of the

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Speaker 1: things I talked about in the book is is just

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Speaker 1: to embrace turnover. Because you know, so many people we

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Speaker 1: spend so much time fighting turnover. But if we actually

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Speaker 1: embrace it, and we developed systems and processes in our

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Speaker 1: business that fully embraced turnover, I think we can we

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Speaker 1: can operate our businesses without guilt and manipulation and trying

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Speaker 1: to control people. And that's the whole goal. So, you know,

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Speaker 1: like I said earlier that my voice is dominant in

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Speaker 1: the in the on the college campuses, is dominant in

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Speaker 1: the eighteen and three or four age group. What would

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Speaker 1: you have to say to to that group that gets uh,

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Speaker 1: I think hated on because they want to be entrepreneurs.

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Speaker 1: They see an opportunity, like you said earlier off air

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Speaker 1: about they see the Zuckerberg. They see these young people

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Speaker 1: who are suddenly billionaires and millionaires overnight. You know, based

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Speaker 1: on I P O S. What do you say that

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Speaker 1: them is the frame of hourly employment away to start

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Speaker 1: and then elevate yourself. How do you how do you

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Speaker 1: get them to come come to the outside the only

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Speaker 1: wage that right, I would encourage them to see, whether

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Speaker 1: it's working at Chick fil A or really any other

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Speaker 1: UM franchise opportunity to go in and see that as

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Speaker 1: an opportunity to learn business skills, to learn things that

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Speaker 1: work ethic. You know, that's that's important, right, And so

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Speaker 1: to learn work ethic, to to to establish some grit

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Speaker 1: in their daily routine and uh and that will set

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Speaker 1: them up for success for their future entrepreneurship and uh

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Speaker 1: anything they want to do on their own in the future.

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Speaker 1: So you know, if they can they just stick in

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Speaker 1: there for a little while and uh and try to

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Speaker 1: try to uh learn from from a franchise e or

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Speaker 1: from someone that's been in business for themselves for quite

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Speaker 1: some time, they can actually learn a good bed and

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Speaker 1: so see it as a learning opportunity. That's my encouragement

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Speaker 1: to them. And again and that's good because I think

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Speaker 1: that you you're learning from a top level a small corporation.

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Speaker 1: I would look at every franchise as every every as

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Speaker 1: a stand alone because that experience into that that that

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Speaker 1: the sales are tied to that particular location. So I

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Speaker 1: always look at as a little many businesses. So when

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Speaker 1: you go in there, you gotta market. Even though it's

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Speaker 1: nationally market, you still gotta market. You still gotta have

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Speaker 1: that same customer service, you still gotta have the ability

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Speaker 1: to win. But more importantly, developing that mindset that you're

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Speaker 1: preaching on a regular basis in uh, leader farming, that

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Speaker 1: that's being a Chick fil a franchise after being hit

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Speaker 1: by a car level made you realize that there was

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Speaker 1: change and you have to you know, you have to

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Speaker 1: meet in the middle. Absolutely. You know, the ability to

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Speaker 1: say this is where I would have done doesn't always

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Speaker 1: motivate the people that you're trying to hire, and more importantly,

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Speaker 1: keeping them on board long term is the goal. So

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Speaker 1: in any departing statements, in any hype you want to

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Speaker 1: put out for your brain before you leave, Zack Well,

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Speaker 1: I just encourage folks to develop a philosophy of leader

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Speaker 1: what do you want to call leader farming or whatever

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Speaker 1: you want to call it, but it's just it's really

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Speaker 1: just pouring into young people and seeing the fruit of

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Speaker 1: your labor through what they're doing, and just helping them

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Speaker 1: grow and develop, and in turn that will actually lead

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Speaker 1: to great rewards for yourself as well. Well. You know,

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Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of you brought it back on

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Speaker 1: this show and and I like to believe it in

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Speaker 1: the fall, you come back on the show a game

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Speaker 1: because I want to you know, your a brand guy.

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Speaker 1: You I want people to understand that this shows about

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00:21:17,480 --> 00:21:21,320
Speaker 1: creating consistent relationships and I want to Bill, you want

417
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Speaker 1: to let everybody know that what you do is important

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Speaker 1: for everybody in America to grab hole get it at Amazon,

419
00:21:27,800 --> 00:21:29,800
Speaker 1: and we keep winning. You need to check out the

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