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Russ: Good morning. This is the BusinessMakers Show, heard here and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com. This is episode number 273 of that show that features those that most positively affect our lives.
John: You got that right, Russ. These are the folks that really make it happen in our economy and make our country great.
Russ: You bet. And here's the entrepreneurs that we have lined up to feature this morning. Our theme is entrepreneurship DNA, as we feature the Pounds family and their startup track record. First up for the Business Makers flashback, we're gonna reach way back to the summer of 2006 when we had Fred Pounds, founder and CEO of Screen Tech Limited, the company that is a leader in the world of replacing laptop screens [Laughter]. And the company actually started by Fred's two sons. And then for our featured guest, I'm gonna visit with Fred's daughter. That's right [Laughter]. Lisa Pounds, the founder and CEO of Green Plate Kids, the company delivering healthy, pre-prepared meals for kids. But first, that's right, it's time for the Business Makers School of Business. And this is not your business as usual school.
John: That's right. You know, we don't have semesters.
Russ: That's right [Laughter].
John: We started this, what, four years ago?
Russ: Yeah, four or five. Yeah.
John: It's been one long semester.
Russ: That's right.
John: It's quite a remarkable concept.
Russ: Well, I think it is.
John: The school with - it only has one semester -
Russ: Right.
John: - that never -
Russ: That never [Laughter] -
John: - ends, unless we decide we want to give all this stuff up and get back to our real lives [Laughter].
Russ: Right [Laughter]. The never-ending school of business. And another reason it's not business-as-usual school is because it is powered by Champion Energy Services.
John: That's right. We've got an actual power company -
Russ: That's right. That powers this thing [Laughter].
John: - that powers this.
Russ: That's right.
John: Right. Well, I think at Champion Energy Services, electricity actually is better electricity. I think it's cleaner.
Russ: It's cleaner. Yeah.
John: I mean, it's purer.
Russ: Yeah.
John: There's no wasted like electrical sparks -
Russ: No, I think the -
John: - when you use their electricity.
Russ: - lights and the appliances that are powered by Champion Energy Services -
John: Yeah.
Russ: - are like happier lights.
John: 'Cause they have happy appliances.
Russ: Yeah. You want to have happy appliances.
John: Yeah.
Russ: Now, this is just our opinion.
John: Yeah.
Russ: I don't think that Champion's people would claim, but what -
John: I don't think their engineers could really verify this.
Russ: No.
John: Yeah.
Russ: But I think their businesspeople will say look. What we believe in is just open, transparent, authentic billing.
John: Right.
Russ: And so you could just sort of look at the price and compare it.
John: Yeah.
Russ: All right. We kick off the School of Business each Saturday morning with a quote of the day.
John: Quote of the day. Yes.
Russ: And this morning I have selected a quote by Mr. Will Rogers, which means this was many decades ago -
John: Yeah.
Russ: - but it kind of applies today too.
John: He died in a plane crash in Alaska back in the '30s.
Russ: That's right. Yeah.
John: Okay. So it had to be before the '30s.
Russ: Before the - before he died. Yeah.
John: Yeah.
Russ: This is it. "Everything is changing. People are taking the comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke." It kind of applies today.
John: That's right. With the Daily Show and the - who's that other guy? Colbert.
Russ: Steven Colbert.
John: Steven Colbert.
Russ: Yeah. Well, even the Letterman and Leno guys.
John: Even Letterman and Leno. Yeah.
Russ: Most people get their news from these guys -
John: That's right.
Russ: And their comedians.
John: - and their so biased. Most of 'em are extremely liberal.
Russ: Yeah. Yeah.
John: You know, they'll attack the conservatives and make fun and poke fun of them -
Russ: Right. Right.
John: - but very rarely do they ever, you know -
Russ: Yeah, but, you know -
John: - go to the other side.
Russ: - I've sensed that they're finally realizing these bozos on the other side are screwing up too.
John: Yeah. And every once in a while, they're making fun of -
Russ: Every -
John: - them now.
Russ: - yeah, every once in a while. Yeah.
John: It's kind of a shift. A paradigm shift -
Russ: A paradigm -
John: - might be happening.
Russ: - shift. Yes. Yes.
John: Yeah. Yeah.
Russ: We'll see. Watch the comedians. All right. That brings us [Laughter] to this week in business history. So what happened towards the end of August, beginning of September -
John: The end of August -
Russ: - in business history?
John: School starts. No [Laughter].
Russ: That's right.
John: This week in business history, in 1777 the first American stars and stripe flag - there were other flags that were flown before this -
Russ: Right.
John: - but this is the stars and stripes flag - is flown in battle for the first time. It was a skirmish. It was not a big, full blown-out engagement -
Russ: Right.
John: - but it was, you know, a skirmish. You know, it was a skirmish. But it was at Cooch's Bridge, Maryland.
Russ: Wow!
John: So, you know, everybody -
Russ: Okay. Cool.
John: - thinks a lot of stuff happened in Boston -
Russ: Right.
John: - and New York and all that where there's so many battles.
Russ: No. It was at Cooch's Bridge.
John: Cooch's Bridge, Maryland. Yeah. There you go.
Russ: Mm-hmm. Cool.
John: Okay. This week in business history, in 1869, the first death from a motor vehicle accident occurs.
Russ: Wow!
John: A woman named Mary Ward was a scientist from - an Irish scientist. Was killed when she fell under the wheels of an experimental steam car built by her cousins.
Russ: Wow!
John: Now, that's pretty hard - I mean, how do you do that [Laughter]? I don't know.
Russ: It seems to me there might have been some foul play.
John: There does. Well, like nowadays they would say that she would have been thrown under the bus.
Russ: Thrown under the bus. Yeah.
John: But back then I guess it was thrown under the steam -
Russ: Under the experimental steam car [Laughter].
John: Well, anyway, this week in business history in 1886, Apache Chief Geronimo surrenders to the US government.
Russ: Oh, yeah.
John: All Geronimo wanted was just to be left alone -
Russ: Right.
John: - pretty much -
Russ: Right.
John: - so they could - they did not appreciate the Western movement of pioneers. So I guess that's what prompted a lot of this stuff. But we did get a pretty decent song out of it [Laughter].
[Music: "Geronimo's Cadillac"]
Russ: Right [Laughter].
John: Okay. This week in business history in 1935 President Franklin Roosevelt's Revenue Act, which was designed and targeted for the wealthy was passed into law. Now, it was called the Wealth Tax Act.
Russ: Right.
John: At least they, you know, called it by what it should be called.
Russ: Right.
John: And increased taxes on rich people and big business and lowered taxes for small businesses.
Russ: Right.
John: Obviously, had no idea the wealthy people.
Russ: Right.
John: And as a result, they branded Roosevelt as a trader to his class, as well as a communist.
Russ: Yeah.
John: So -
Russ: Well, you know, it seems like it's a wholesome position to take. We're just gonna go get out the rich people, those darn rich people, you know, but boy, it just doesn't work out very well either.
John: I know.
Russ: It sort of takes all the fuel out of those that -
John: Yeah.
Russ: - can power -
John: Yeah.
Russ: - the economy.
John: That's right. Yeah.
Russ: Yeah.
John: And no one ever got hired by a poor person -
Russ: That's true.
John: - you know.
Russ: That's true [Laughter]. And so -
John: Those wealthy people - it's typical government policy.
Russ: Right.
John: They love employees, but they hate the employers.
Russ: Right. Right. Right.
John: Okay. There's a cognitive dissonance going on. There you go.
Russ: Okay.
John: All right. This week in business history in 1944 is the birthday of Archie Bell. He later became very famous for the song he recorded with the Drells. It was called "The Tighten Up".
[Music: "The Tighten Up"]
John: This week in business history in 1955 - this is kind of an amazing item here - a guy named William G. Cobb demonstrates the world's first solar-powered car. 1955 you would not think -
Russ: Wow!
John: - would be a year where people would be demonstrating this thing.
Russ: That's 55 years ago.
John: I know.
Russ: Jeez.
John: Okay. This week in business history in 1958 is the birth date of Michael Jackson.
Russ: My goodness.
John: This week in business history in 1963 the US Soviet Hotline goes into operation.
Russ: Now, that was an interesting development, I think.
John: That's right. It was prompted with the Cuban Missile Crisis because I guess they had to speak to each other, Khrushchev and Kennedy. I mean, it was more of an indirect way of communicating. So they - this was a 24-hour day between - 24-hour-a-day hotline between Moscow and Washington. And it had involved a 10,000-mile-long cable connection.
Russ: Yeah [Laughter].
John: And I guess satellites, you know, they -
Russ: They didn't have those.
John: They didn't have - well, yeah, they did, but they couldn't do this.
Russ: Right.
John: And the first message that was sent across - 'cause there wasn't a phone. You know, you'd think it was oh, the phone's ringing, you know.
Russ: I know.
John: But -
Russ: I saw it in the movies, John.
John: It was in the movies.
Russ: Yeah. Yeah.
John: Well, that's - see, that's the thing, that the - what this did prompt was a heavily fictionized use of the - of a fictionalized hotline.
Russ: Right.
John: But the cool thing about that hotline was it sort of was an acknowledgement, wow! These are pretty serious weapons that we're dealing with, these intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear missiles, and we could melt the earth just because of a misunderstanding.
Russ: Right.
John: This week in Business history in 1963 the song "My Boyfriend's Back" reaches number one.
[Music: "My Boyfriends Back"]
John: Okay. This week in business history in 1966 marks the final episode of "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet". Now, these were two - these people were actually married.
Russ: That's right. Real family.
John: I mean, this is a real family.
Russ: Yeah. Yeah.
John: And the show started as radio show and ran for ten years, and then they launched a TV show, and that ran from 1952 to 1966.
Russ: Yeah.
John: One thing about the Ozzie and Harriet Show, they did introduce a lot of technological advances now that produce TV shows.
Russ: It's hard to believe that's been gone now for 44 years.
John: Yeah. I like that show. It was a good show.
Russ: Yeah. All right.
John: Yeah. Okay. This week in business history in 1976 a judge rules that George Harrison is guilty of subconsciously plagiarizing the tune of "He's So Fine" in composing the single "My Sweet Lord".
[Music: "My Sweet Lord"]
Russ: Yeah.
John: This week in business history in 1989 Toyota launches Lexus.
Russ: Oh, yeah.
John: It was first given the code name F1, F for flagship and the numeral 1 recalling the high performance of Formula 1 racecars. It was quite a car and -
Russ: Yeah.
John: - you know, it's still going strong. And finally, this week in business history in 2005 the Business Makers Show had Sonya Velasco-Clayton, founder and CEO of Virtual Intelligence, as a guest on the show. I think what makes this whole thing noteworthy and why it should be this week in business history is that she is the only guest whose claim to fame of how she rose from a mere worker bee to a, you know, head of this company, the one thing that precipitated her and motivated her to do this was that she shot her boss.
Russ: Great history lesson.
John: Oh, man.
Russ: Good job.
John: Good. Thank you. Thank you.
Russ: All right. And that brings us to the jargon challenge round.
John: Oh, yes. Boy, I've been - I'm on a hot streak.
Russ: Well, you are.
John: I would say if you looked at all the jargon challenge rounds this year, I bet -
Russ: It's your best year. I know.
John: - I've done like - I bet I've done 70%. Now, you've given me a little wriggle room on some, but -
Russ: Well -
John: - for the most part, I've been pretty dead on.
Russ: - deserved wriggle room, but -
John: Yeah. Okay.
Russ: - which is ultimately what led me to the secret vault of words rejected by the Oxford English Dictionary. And that's what we're having a go with now. And these are words that when you hear the meaning, you go wow! That's a perfect word. They should have allowed it, but they haven't yet. Maybe they will in the future. And that's what I'm gonna use this morning. One of their words again.
John: Well, this is a rejected word.
Russ: A rejected word.
John: A rejected word.
Russ: Yeah. Yeah. Right.
John: This is like a discouraging word.
Russ: Right. Kind of [Laughter]. But this one's great.
John: All right.
Russ: This one might be right up there at the top after you hearing the meaning. You ready?
John: Yeah. Go ahead.
Russ: Polkadodge. One word. Polkadodge.
John: Dodge. Hmm.
Russ: I'll spell it even. P-O-L-K-A-D-O-D-G-E.
John: Mm-hmm. Wow! Polka. That's a dance, Polish dance. And polkadots are little dots, you know, you wear them on clothing. And so polkadodge would be dancing while you're dodging the polkadots.
Russ: Oh, no [Laughter]. Boy, you were headed down the right track for a while.
John: Yeah.
Russ: But this is cool. It's the dance that occurs when two people attempt to pass each other, but move in the same direction.
John: Oh, yeah.
Russ: That's the polkadodge.
John: Oh, okay. Yeah.
Russ: Now, they should have allowed that word. Do you think?
John: Yeah. That's a good one. That's a good one.
Russ: You know, and there's never been a word before that describes - it's that awkward feeling, you both kind of laugh and you keep going back and forth.
John: Yeah. Right.
Russ: And it's the polkadodge.
John: Yeah. Hmm.
Russ: All right. And that brings us to dumb moments in business. Do you have one to share with us?
John: Yeah. Right. You know, California is not doing very well, right? I mean, the whole country is not doing very well, but California -
Russ: That's correct.
John: - I would say this is a dumb moment in California business history. Next month they're gonna be opening up a new school, K-12, for $578,000,000.00.
Russ: One school?
John: One school.
Russ: Five hundred and seventy-eight million.
John: Five hundred and seventy-eight million dollars [Laughter]. That's $78,000,000.00 more than the Olympic Stadium, the Bird's Nest in China.
Russ: You're kidding?
John: No [Laughter]. That's more than that [Laughter]. It's comes to $138,000.00 per pupil.
Russ: My goodness. Yeah.
John: Yeah. It's one of those Taj Mahal schools.
Russ: Yeah.
John: The architects and the designers and the - you know, and the engineers love this stuff.
Russ: Yeah.
John: But apparently it's gonna really cause some problems down the road financially -
Russ: Sure.
John: - for the state, even though -
Russ: Everything they do out there -
John: - even as a funding -
Russ: - causes problems in the future.
John: - is they did some special bond thing for it, but it still puts somebody in debt.
Russ: Yeah. Took money out of the economy.
John: And here it is. Yeah. It's - the state of California is gonna be ultimately liable, I would say, for the debt, if not the city of Los Angeles or whatever. Now, they - what they did is they renovated, I guess, or tore down, partially tore down that hotel, the Ambassador Hotel where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Russ: Right. Right.
John: But anyway, it's just a mess.
Russ: No, I followed it, and I was just blown away. I, for one, John, have been - a long time have been an advocate of saying my God, the facilities we build now for public schools are just unbelievable.
John: Right.
Russ: And I don't know that that's making anybody any smarter.
John: No.
Russ: Do you think?
John: No, I don't think so.
Russ: Right.
John: It's the people, it's the teachers.
Russ: That's right.
John: You motivate the teachers.
Russ: All right. All right. All right. And before we wrap up this morning's School of Business, it's time for that very popular PKF Texas entrepreneur's playbook.
John: Yeah. Here's a guy I would say he's our $578,000,000.00 man -
Russ: There you go.
John: - from right here.
Russ: Mr. Greg Price.
John: Mr. Greg Price.
Greg: This is Greg Price with PKF Texas' Entrepreneur's Playbook.
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Russ: All right. And that wraps up this morning's School of Business. Stay tuned in for the BusinessMakers flashback, as we feature Fred Pounds in his interview from back in 2006 [Laughter]. Fred Pounds, co-founder and CEO of Screen Tech Limited. And then for our featured guest segment, Fred's daughter, Lisa Pounds, founder and CEO of Green Plate Kids. You're listening to the BusinessMakers Show heard here and see online at theBusinessMakers.com.