September 3, 2025 • 37 mins
From Sleep Apnea Clinics to Better Health Coverage — Lessons from Building Four Businesses
In this episode of Small Business Pivots, host Michael Morrison sits down with Ernest Diaz, founder of Better Coverage Consultants, to unpack the hard-earned lessons from a lifetime of entrepreneurship.
Ernest has built four successful companies — from launching sleep apnea clinics across multiple states to now helping small businesses and self-employed individuals access private health insurance plans that are 40–50% less expensive than marketplace options and fully tax-deductible. Licensed in 34 states, Ernest reveals why most entrepreneurs don’t know these plans exist, and how they can offer national PPO coverage through UnitedHealthcare.
But this conversation goes far beyond insurance. Ernest shares his personal journey — starting his first business at 23, enduring a hostile business partnership while taking a company public, weathering bankruptcy, and rebuilding stronger than before. Along the way, he delivers powerful insights on:
- Partnership pitfalls and how to protect yourself legally and financially.
- Why discipline — not motivation — is the real driver of success.
- How to avoid sacrificing your family for your business.
- The daily habits that keep him focused, grateful, and growth-oriented.
If you’re a small business owner, self-employed professional, or entrepreneur navigating the highs and lows of business ownership, this episode is packed with practical wisdom, faith-centered perspective, and real-world strategies you can apply today.
Listen now and discover how to protect your business, your health, and your future.
Ernest Diaz: Founder & CEO of Better Coverage Consultants
Website: https://bettercov.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bettercov/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bettercov
Email: ernest@bettercov.com
#ErnestDiaz #BetterCoverageConsultants #MichaelDMorrison #BOSS #SmallBusinessPivots #OklahomaCity #SmallBusinessSuccess #BusinessPodcast #Entrepreneurship #BusinessGrowth #PrivateHealthInsurance #NationalPPO #UnitedHealthcare #BusinessPartnerships #DisciplineOverMotivation #FaithBasedBusiness #SelfEmployedSuccess #HealthInsuranceForSmallBusiness #BusinessResilience #FaithInBusiness #God
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, welcome to another Small Business, pivots,
where we have special guestsfrom around the world.
This one isn't too far awayfrom me, here in Oklahoma City,
but, as you know, I let ourguests introduce themselves
because only they can do thatthemselves and their business.
So I'm going to let you havethe floor and tell us a little
bit about what you do.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
My name is Ernest Diaz.
I own Better CoverageConsultants and what we do is we
specialize in private plansthat are designed for small
businesses and self-employedindividuals.
They're not available throughthe marketplace and a lot of
people actually don't know theyexist.
They're 40 to 50 percent lessand the tax advantages are far
(00:42):
better and fully tax deductiblewith national PPO coverage
through UnitedHealthcare.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Well, fantastic.
So you've been an entrepreneurfor a majority of your life, I
believe, and so how do you thinkwe're going to help our
listeners today?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
So I mean I can share some of my experiences.
I've actually built fourseparate businesses and I have
been self-employed since I was23 years old, grew up in
California, actually in LosAngeles or a suburb of Los
Angeles and went to Loma LindaUniversity, became a respiratory
therapist and I'm a chemist bytrade as well, but through
(01:23):
respiratory therapy I becameintrigued with sleep and the
first business to spend off wasapnea monitors and got involved
with SIDS and some of theresearch with that.
So I started training parentswith the apnea monitors and
tried to help them understandhow.
(01:43):
I mean, we don't really knowwhat causes SIDS, but at least
some of the warning things thatthey want to look at.
In regards to babies havingdifficulty breathing, but most
SIDS cases occur between the ageof four to six months, so even
the little babies are not theones that are affected, but
obviously we don't know why thathappens.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, you've got a journey toshare and I'm sure you've got
lots of insights, so let'sintroduce the show real quick
and we'll be right back.
Welcome to Small BusinessPivots, a podcast produced for
small business owners.
I'm your host, Michael Morrison, founder and CEO of BOSS, where
we make business ownershipsimplified for success.
(02:27):
Our business is helping yoursgrow.
Boss offers business loans withbusiness coaching support.
Apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
as 24 to 48 hours atbusinessownershipsimplifiedcom.
All right, welcome back toSmall Business Pivots.
(02:50):
My friend, you started yourentrepreneur journey at 23 years
old.
A lot of people like to knowwhy.
You know, when we work withbusiness owners as business
coaches myself we find thatthey're either running from
something or running tosomething.
They usually have some kind ofsomething internally that drives
(03:11):
them to that, Because noteverybody's equipped to be an
entrepreneur.
So kind of, catch us up to whatgot you down that path.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
That's an interesting question If I were to do some
soul searching and share thatwith the audience.
I think for me it was the waythat I grew up.
My father was for lack of abetter word somewhat harsh, but
he was also an entrepreneurhimself, and I think I grew up
just trying to prove myself tohim to the point where, though,
(03:44):
didn't measure up, and so someof the um guides that that drove
me to.
At first, it was more aboutseeking his approval, seeking
his, you know, wanting him to beproud of me.
Later on, it that became moreof a I'm going to prove you
wrong, I can't do this.
(04:07):
And then, essentially, I mean myfather.
Never really he was not thetype of guy that told you hey,
I'm proud of you, and so youkind of emulate some of the
things that he did.
He was a self-made man in thatregards, and his standards were
very, very high.
So that was my, my initialdesire of doing that.
(04:29):
The other part of that isobviously I don't, I don't do
very well people telling me whatto do, and I can see a good
thing and a bad thing.
You know, I've been uh, I'vebeen divorced twice, and and
that affects some of thoserelationships as well, not
willing to listen.
You're very stubborn, butyou're also very focused and it
(04:49):
leads you to grow in certainways but also ignore parts of
your life that, as you mature,you begin to think, okay, you
need to try and rekindle andrebuild that as well.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah.
So all you entrepreneurs outthere listening, there was
nothing wrong with you, we'reall in the same boat.
Mine was trying to prove myself-worth to myself, no, no one
else.
So we're, you know.
I find it kind of interestingwhat led us down that path.
So how did you get into thefirst business?
What were your aha moments?
What was the wins, the uglies,the losses?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
So the motivation itself was to, I guess, emulate
what my father was doing, whichhe was an accountant, so he had
been self-employed since I was akid.
I actually grew up in Nicaraguaand my dad was very wealthy
back then and he had a lot ofhardware stores throughout the
(05:46):
country.
But when the company theSandinistas happened there so
I'm actually 60 years old, soyou guys know we actually got
out of there.
The whole economy imploded andmy father, my father's family,
was from here, from the US, sowe had already come here when we
were just kids and gotten greencards, residence, permanent
(06:10):
residency so it was pretty easyto come into the United States
and reside here thereafter.
So to answer your point in thatregards is I think I was also
programmed to be self-employed.
It was never something that Iever doubted myself and it was
just.
It's just a matter of figuringout how, what to do and, through
(06:34):
me, loving working with babies,because as a respiratory
therapist I was involved in theNICU and seeing babies and I saw
a lot of birth that haddifficulties from that
perspective.
That's what our startups do.
We only deal with the criticalside of things, then moving into
the SIDS and apnea monitors andthen eventually developing a
(06:55):
respiratory company.
It was kind of like it justkind of evolved itself, you know
, from that perspective, youstarted at such a young age.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
What were some of those things that you learned
you wish you would have donedifferently, and what are some
of the things that you learnedthat you still use today?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
So I at a young age, you don't know what you don't
know.
I think as you grow and there'sbeen four companies that I
built I think, thinking back,you're so focused on what you're
doing that you know.
Everybody talks about life-workbalance.
I don't believe that exists.
(07:37):
I think that if you are at home, you should be 100% engaged
there.
If you're at work, you shouldbe 100% engaged there.
If you're at work, you shouldbe 100% engaged there.
And it could be 80%, meaning80% business and 20% of family,
or 90-10.
And if you're buildingsomething that's substantial, it
could be 95-5.
So your family is alwaysinvolved when you're building
(07:59):
anything, because they'resacrificing even the time that
you have with you.
But we're so tunnel vision, youknow, as entrepreneurs, and you
know, going back to you don'tknow what you don't know.
My first company, which I soldoff.
It made a lot of money.
One of the things that I lackedwas the accounting part of it,
the financial part of it, whichended up costing me a lot, and
(08:21):
so I learned through thatexperience that you've got to
make sure that you have a solidCEO and I'm sorry, cfo that is
going to take care of thosethings, because I hate numbers.
I'm all about sales.
I'm business development thatis where I thrive and even
management of people.
I don't really, you know, enjoy.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Interesting how some of us follow in our parents'
footsteps and others of us don't.
You knew numbers were important, but you still didn't heed your
parents' advice.
And for me it was the same too,because my dad was in the
mechanic world auto mechanic.
To this day, I refuse to workon cars.
(09:00):
I hate it.
He was a great guy I loved,just I'm.
It just wasn't for me.
You know that profession, so sowhat?
You sold that company and youwent right back into another one
.
What happened there?
Speaker 2 (09:16):
so it appeared into sleep apnea and built a sleep
apnea company, uh, where we hadas well as uh the apnea, uh
diagnostics part of it and intoum supplies as well, ended up
establishing centers withphysicians doing partnerships
(09:37):
with them, and established about16 centers throughout eight
different states.
And then somebody came over tome and said, hey, let's take
this company public.
So we had enough of a top lineto even consider that In
retrospective one of the biggestmistakes I've ever made.
One of the things that you know.
I don't know how you feel aboutDonald Trump, but one of the
(09:59):
statements that he's always madeis you can't do good business
with bad partners, and that wasmy experience through that
company.
It took about nine years tobuild and as we were progressing
and finally got it into thestock market, which is really
it's just penny stocks at thispoint.
(10:19):
So I would not advise anybodyto even do anything with it.
But it was.
You know the movies that showyou an entrepreneur building a
business and taking it publicand then getting fired.
That was me.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
So that was you in the movie.
I know a movie star now yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And you know it always comes down to
communication, it always comesout communication.
But, um, I learned a big lessonabout that.
Um, it's.
It's not just about buildingsomething, it's about making
sure that you fit in with thepeople that you're doing
business with.
Um, and you know in retrospect,maybe I was the back partner in
(11:02):
that regards and so that cameabout, you know, from from there
, and I had to walk away fromthat, leave it alone and then
build something different herein Oklahoma.
So that transition there tookme to Colorado, from Colorado
now into here in Oklahoma now.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Well, let's talk about the partnership, because
there's a lot of partnershipsout there and they say that the
only ships that don't sell is apartnership.
So what are some things thatyou learned from that that could
have maybe gone differently hadyou done something.
Is there anything that you canhelp other partnerships with in
(11:40):
that regard?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Yeah, yeah, partnerships are delicate, you
know.
A lot of times we get involvedwith people that we love and
that gets sour.
Relationship ones woulddisagree on the direction that
we want to go.
So it's you know.
Then attorneys get involved andit can get pretty messy.
(12:05):
So if you are going to do apartnership, remember that as
you continue to grow, the moneycomes in, the conflicts are
coming to play to try anddetermine how things you got to
define who is going to deal withwhat.
I think that's the best adviceI can give you.
But also be prepared for thefact that you're not always
going to agree regardless, andso you have to define who is
(12:28):
going to make the final decision.
You know what's happening Now.
When it comes down to apartnership in business, having
a 50-50 split many times cancome back and bite you in the
butt and so somebody has to have51%, somebody has to have 49%.
But it's tough when you'redoing it from the very beginning
.
I never had to experience that.
(12:50):
I always had something and thensomebody came in to play.
But taking a company publicchanges the complete landscape
of that.
But if you have a private entityand you're trying to build it
on your own.
My advice to you is alwaysretain majority of that so that
if things don't go the way thatyou planned, you can definitely
either buy somebody out or saywell, you know, I'm the majority
(13:12):
owner, so I'm going to make thedecisions which may not
sometimes also be beneficial tothe business in the long run.
But you know, when you're anentrepreneur you have that
tunnel vision which is it'sactually can be detrimental to
you.
You know, make sure you're opento other people's advice and
(13:32):
try to figure out, obviously,your intentions.
But if somebody is really trulygiving you advice because they
want to help sit down, analyzeit, take the time to listen and
never think that you can't learn, regardless of how long you've
been in.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
You mentioned how delicate they are and I want to
share with our listeners aboutpartnerships, because we've all
heard the statistics thatmarriages end in divorce 50% of
the time.
Right, so that's a pretty highnumber.
Well, in the business world,partnerships divorce over 70% of
the time.
So when you say delicate, Iwanted to put that into
(14:10):
perspective for our listeners ofhow delicate it really is.
And in a marriage, what I foundbecause we coach on business
partnerships in a marriage Ifound it's emotional, right,
there's emotional things that goon In a business partnership.
It's money.
We're fighting about money here.
(14:31):
So you know and you're sayingcommunication is key, like
understanding your role andthings like that.
Anything else you would add tothat Because it is very delicate
.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
The other expression that I've heard is it's business
.
But you got to understandbusiness is personal.
There is no such thing asseparating one from the other,
and so the emotions come intoplay, because it's your baby,
it's your ownership.
In a relationship like that,you gotta be willing to put in
(15:05):
writing who's gonna make thefinal decision.
And then there has to be an outright, because if you totally
disagree with what's happening,then something has to be written
where you can walk away if youreally do not agree with that
individual.
And I've seen that over and overJust somebody just digs their
heels in, regardless of thebenefit as a whole, or they just
(15:28):
get in themselves becausesomebody's not doing what they
want them to do, that they'renot working with them.
So you got to prepare for theworst and hope for the best.
And, like you said, thestatistic is it's a little bit
dark, but when you're in themiddle of it, always check your
motivation.
Why are you doing what you'reabout to do?
(15:48):
And is a partnership really?
You know a good way to do it.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, you mentioned the key word and that's
communicate.
But I want to share also wherethe communication should start,
and that's before thepartnership evolves.
Because in the partnership wehave found through our research
and studies that people datelonger, you know, in a
(16:13):
relationship than they date in abusiness partnership.
Business partnership, let's go.
We got ideas, we're fresh, wegot money, let's go.
And they don't really talkabout those things that need to
be talked about the exits andwho's going to do what and who
makes that final decision.
So those are all key nuggetsfor our listeners.
(16:34):
So you moved to Oklahoma anddid what you just.
You're just like glutton forpunishment.
Right, like one goes down,let's go for another one.
You're like getting back in thering here.
What'd you do next?
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I built another sleep company here and we were doing
very, very well.
It was just me, no partnerships.
We had.
Lsd was set up from the centers, the sleep centers with the
doctors, but the core companywas just mine.
And the affordable care actcame into play and that actually
(17:12):
cut our reimbursement by 84.
A lot of people don't know thatthe other part of the
affordable care wasn't justabout health insurance, it was
also uh, you know, obamabelieved that doctors should not
have a business where theyserve as their own clients,
because it posed a conflict ofinterest.
But if you actually look at thestatistics, physician-owned
facilities do much better carethan something that's corporate
(17:35):
run.
So, besides the point, ourreimbursement was cut 86% and I
ended up shutting that down.
For about three years, I thought, because I ever thought that I
could fail and I figured I'mgoing to figure it out.
But, man, you just can'tovercome something like that,
(17:55):
and that was part of me also notbeing willing to listen, you
know, to some people that gaveme some advice about when to
shut that down or at least moveit on, move on from it, and that
was a very expensive lesson,because I ended up to file
bankruptcy on that particularcompany and went through some
(18:15):
times where I've trulyexperienced loss and went
through a divorce as well,through it as well.
So it cost me a lot, but at thesame time, it helped me
appreciate money.
Up until that moment, yeah, uh,money was there.
It's always.
You know, it was just somethingthat I I always saw myself as
(18:36):
creating it regardless, I'lljust make more.
And there was a lot of wastegoing on and, uh, it was a
period of about six or sevenmonths where it really sucked,
for lack of a better word.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah.
Yeah, it is not for the week,that is for sure.
And now you've moved on andyou're doing well, so we're
we're going to talk about whatare those things you've carried
with you the, the good and theand the ugly, what not to do,
what to do's in this newbusiness venture that you're in
(19:10):
now, and you shared what it wasearlier.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I think you know, in effect, that your life is
somewhat outlined.
As you get close to God and asyou start doing the things that
you do, I mean you can talkyourself into anything,
regardless of what's going onaround you.
My advice to you is just lookat the things that are going
(19:34):
around you.
You know what otherrelationships around you doing.
Are you sacrificing what'sgoing on around you because of
the sake of what you're tryingto achieve?
And sometimes giving up alittle bit can actually come
back to you tenfold, and what Imean by that.
If you're spending a lot oftime trying to build this
(19:55):
business and ignoring yourfamily, my advice is take a look
at that and see in the endresult.
You know, maybe you back off alittle bit and and spend more
time with your family trying tobuild that and make sure that
your kids are going to be therewhen things are flourishing and
doing well.
I know a lot of entrepreneursthink that they're going to pass
(20:17):
on their businesses to theirchildren, but if you mess this
up, your children are not goingto want anything to do with the
business.
Good point.
So if that is something thatyou focus on, make sure they're
involved, but don't be a boss,right, be a mentor, and if
they're not wanting to beinvolved, that's okay.
You shouldn't put that burdenon them, you know, based on what
(20:39):
you're trying to achieve,because that's very, very
selfish.
So, you know, always, alwaysstand.
I think the biggest advice Ican give you is you know, start
with the end in mind, and that'sFranklin Covey Write down what
is your goal for your business.
You know, wherever you are today, maybe you've been on it for 10
years, you're just gettingstarted, or is this something
that you're having an idea ofwhat you want to do?
(21:00):
Write down what is your goal,why are you doing what you're
about to do?
And why are you doing whatyou're about to do and are you
really loving it?
Because I've been there.
I worked 16-hour days for yearsand it sucks, because you wake
up one day and you're likewhere's all the relationships?
Where did everything go?
And, yeah, you may be lookingat a pile of money, or maybe not
, because you didn't havecontrol over that, and still it
(21:27):
was.
You know, was it all well worthit?
Make sure you do not ignoreyour spirituality.
Make sure you stay connected toyou know a church or you know
some spiritual friends and tomake sure that you stay
connected to your family andlisten to what they're saying.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
A few of our episodes recently have been on the topic
of mindset, and for someonelike you, it's evident that you
have a growth mindset.
You're listening to SmallBusiness Pivots.
This podcast is produced by mycompany, boss.
Our business is helping yoursgrow.
Boss offers business loans withbusiness coaching support.
(21:59):
Apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
as 24 to 48 hours atbusinessownershipsimplifiedcom.
If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the
subscribe button and share it aswell.
Now let's get back to ourspecial guest.
A few of our episodes recentlyhave been on the topic of
(22:21):
mindset, and for someone likeyou, it's evident that you have
a growth mindset, in other words, a mind of abundance, a mind of
keep going.
Can you help the rest of ourlisteners, because most people
over two-thirds of people don'thave that kind of mindset.
Can you help us with, like,what are some daily routines you
(22:43):
do through?
You know, obviously God isimportant, spirituality is
important, family is important,but what are some of those
things that keep you just goingafter it?
Speaker 2 (22:55):
What I have learned through my failures is that you
got to be God-centered, theabundance.
If you believe that it is Godwho's giving you this
opportunity, then competitionshould not come into your
mindset, you know, I mean it isGod who is in control of it.
So if he's giving you thisbusiness to grow, obviously you
(23:19):
know there's purpose to it, anda lot of times we think that God
is with us when we're beingsuccessful and when we're down
we think that god is not thereor he's punishing us, which is
not true, not at all.
Um, be, be careful with thatmindset.
Be careful and always remembergod did bring you this blessing,
did not allow that blessing tobecome a curse.
(23:41):
The other part of this, when itcomes to be careful, with a lot
of teachings out there thattell you that you can do
anything you want, that all youneed is yourself, all you need
is to do more, et cetera, etcetera, because and I don't know
if you guys know this, butthere's a Gnostic teaching that
(24:02):
that's what it's about.
You know even from the verybeginning, what they're teaching
you is that you are God, youare your own God, and it'll work
for a while, trust me, it'llwork for a while.
But when you look back and youlook in front of you and see
what you've done to your ownrelationships, you'll understand
why that's not the right way toapproach things, because if you
(24:25):
are God-centered, then yourfamily will also be important
and it'll be hard for you toignore that piece and in the end
result it'll save you a lot ofgrief because you're no longer
putting it all on yourself.
You're reaching out to a higherpower to make sure that that is
accomplished the way it needsto be.
God knows your needs from thevery beginning and so if you
(24:48):
recognize that and you do it forhim, then competition is not
going to be a big issue.
If somebody does you wrong,it's not going to be hard to
recover from that because you'regoing to have some grace.
Recover from that becauseyou're going to have some grace
for lack of a better word andguess what?
You know the forgiveness partof it will help you then focus,
(25:10):
to move forward and you knowthen you know God will bless
that.
So I don't know, you know,answers your question in that
regards.
But that's one thing that Ilearned even through my darkest
times understanding that myfocus was myself instead of
recognizing that it was Godwho's actually given me this and
I messed it up.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yeah, amen.
You mention often either quotesor books, things like that what
is a business book that everybusiness owner should read, and
why, and what has it done foryou?
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Okay.
So 10X is a great book, butremember 1-10X, grant Cardone
it's agnostic-based, meaning youcan do anything you can't you
want if you set your mind to itand then just give it more time,
more time.
So always keep that inperspective.
There are great things aboutwanting to create and be focused
(26:09):
on what you want to do, but donot be God out of it.
But 10X is one of the booksthat helped me remind myself
that I need to get off my buttand get it done.
Remind myself that I need toget off my butt and get it done.
And the other one that I wouldrecommend is StoryBrand 2.0, and
that's by Donald Miller, andStoryBrand addresses the issues
(26:33):
of how to properly marketyourself through social media.
I believe that you don't reallyneed to read any other book
except for StoryBrand if youwant to learn how to properly do
that, and once you startreading it, you'll understand
that.
And then the other one that Iwould highly recommend is Atomic
Habits.
Many times we focus on revenue,which is basically an end result
(26:57):
, and I understand.
You know you have bills to pay.
You have a minimum amount ofmoney that you got to make in
order to keep afloat.
However, many times you can'tcontrol outcome, but you can
control activity.
So focus on the things that aregoing to create that money and
the revenue itself, and controlthose things.
(27:19):
So let me give you an example.
So if you're doing calls, howmany calls can you do on a daily
basis to create the type ofrevenue as you build it back?
If you last year, it took youand I'm going to throw this
number a hundred calls to create$30,000 that week, well, if you
are going to do 60,000, or ifyou need 45,000, you can think
(27:41):
well, it's going to.
You know, you got to do doublethe amount of calls.
You can control the number ofcalls you make.
However, be careful with thatexpectation, but consistency
will overcome anything.
So maybe you do double thecalls this week and you're
discouraged because you didn'thit the goal that you needed.
That's okay.
(28:02):
Make sure that you don't giveup on that and keep doing that,
week after week after week, andeventually it'll catch up with
you.
But if you are focusedspecifically on the outcome, you
will become discouraged andyou'll think well, you know I
did all this for nothing.
No, no, stay consistent, stayconsistent.
Now, obviously, you know thedefinition of insanity right.
(28:23):
It's making a different resultwith the same income.
I mean the same input.
So make sure you assess whatyou're doing, make sure you're
always a student of your tasks.
So if it's the phones, if it'snetworking, if social media,
make sure you're always trainingyourself to be better.
And the old saying you don'tknow what you don't know.
(28:43):
Find a mentor that has donewhat you're trying to achieve
and latch onto that person youknow, serve them and, and, and
trust me, that will save youmore, more, um, I guess I can
say money, because time is money.
More time to be able to achieveyour goals by learning from
somebody that's willing to teach.
And that can be a little trickybecause, you know, a lot of
(29:08):
people have that competitivementality, but you'll find that,
you know, if you pray about it,you'll find somebody that's
going to be willing to.
And I find that a lot ofentrepreneurs are willing to
teach you what they know if theyhave the right mindset
themselves as well.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Absolutely so.
You're a great salesperson.
You have systems in place.
Most business owners don'tbelieve it or not.
Most business owners don't Mostof the ones that come to us.
They don't have a system at all.
They don't even have a CRM.
They wonder why sales aren'tgoing as well as they want.
Have a CRM and wonder why salesaren't going as well as they
(29:45):
want.
So what are the top threethings that you feel, being an
established salesperson, thatevery business owner should at
least be doing these things toincrease their revenue.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
So write your goals on a monthly I would say yearly,
quarterly, monthly, weekly anddaily, and so, whatever your
revenue goal is for the year,you break it down into four
specific goals that you have forthat and then break it down all
the way down to the day.
But remember what I just saidyou focus on activity.
(30:15):
The activity is what's gonnaget you to the revenue and those
are the things that you cancontrol.
That's where Atomic Habits toteach you uh as well and um, you
know.
So, developing the tasks is isgoing to be the the best thing
for you guys to to to achieve,because you can't control that.
You can't control your ownactivity.
(30:36):
Um, you know and I'm justtrying to think of anything else
that I can give you advice inthat regards but there's no such
thing as motivation, right?
The one word that I want you toreally, really, I guess, tattoo
in your mind as you're buildinga business is discipline.
Nothing is achieved withoutdiscipline.
(30:57):
You know you won't be motivatedall the time.
Discipline is what's going toget you and carry you over.
But that's where you know youhave to outline the task that
you need to achieve and then yougot to develop the discipline
to do it when you don't want todo it.
Because if you don't want to goto that networking meeting
because you want to talk topeople and you actually do it,
(31:17):
you'll find that you will beable to accomplish a lot more by
pushing yourself through, andthen you'll be glad that you did
it.
You know you get up at 6 am or 5am, whatever it is that you
need to do.
Get out to the gym, make sureyou stay healthy.
What's the point of you having$2 million in the bank if your
heart's failing you right?
(31:37):
So don't ignore that as well.
And then the third person Imean the third thing is be and
have an attitude of beinggrateful, because if you get up
with that attitude and begrateful about the things, they,
or at least say thanks for thethings that you appreciate, that
(31:57):
day Could be your wife, yourhusband, could be kids, whatever
your health.
God, you know, I hope thatyou're appreciative of your
health, and if that's not thecase, you know there's always
going to be something that youare grateful about and then work
towards achieving those goals.
But don't ignore the attitude ofgratitude that is out there,
(32:20):
because that's going to feedyour soul.
Don't ignore your body, youknow.
Make sure that you're eatingright, you're exercising.
And then, lastly, you know,when it comes to your mind, make
sure that you're focusing onthe right tasks, you know, and
goals that you're trying to do,and you know that should be able
to, you know, because, again,lack of control is what gives
(32:44):
you this lack of motivation.
That don't think aboutmotivation, think about
discipline.
Push through and if you're notwriting your goals, that's
discipline, that's lack ofdiscipline.
Write them down.
You know where am I lackingdiscipline in what I'm doing?
Speaker 1 (33:01):
That is probably one of the most powerful things I've
heard all year is the worddiscipline.
Even the shark tank people sayyou want to know what separates
the 1% action, and it doesn'tmean that we want to take action
every day there.
I don't want to get up everyday and go run, I don't want to
go do this and make phone callsand fly across the country, but
(33:23):
I do.
That's the only thing thatseparates.
So it's discipline.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Yeah that's it, that's the.
That's the key word.
If you're thinking about a, uh,a magic potion, that's it,
that's the word.
Um, that's not motivation, it'sdiscipline.
Um, and anybody that'saccomplished anything at all is
because they push through.
On those days they do not feellike doing it.
So, yeah, lack of motivation isgoing to happen, but it doesn't
(33:50):
have to be lack of discipline.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Absolutely so.
You've probably piqued someinterest from others wanting to
follow you or get in touch withyou.
What's the best way to do that?
Speaker 2 (34:01):
with you what's the best way to do that.
So my website again.
What we do is we helpself-employed individuals and
small businesses become aware ofhealth plans that are available
out there for you.
They can save you a lot ofmoney and also give you great
tax advantages.
My company is Better CoversConsultant, so my domain is
bettercov, that's bettercovcom,and there is ways for you to set
(34:27):
up a call with me so we cantalk and, I'm happy to you know,
even give you advice in regardsto your business.
I am tied in with a lot ofnetworking groups because I'm
actually licensed in 34 states,and so if it's something that
you can offer nationally, I cantie you in for those.
If it's something that you canoffer nationally, I can tie you
in for those.
If it's something locally herein Oklahoma, I'd love to have a
cup of coffee with you and seeif I can help.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
So what's the ideal small business for you that this
program could help?
Speaker 2 (34:56):
It could be self-employed, and so I have
about 4,000 companies that Ihelp and one-third of them are
just self-employed individualsand their spouses.
The rest of that that'stwo-thirds can have anywhere
between five employees and onlyhave 38 employees.
Where things change is whenyou've got more than 50
employees, because now you haveto offer an ACA plan or at least
(35:19):
give them an option.
Then we can still work throughthat as well.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Fantastic.
Well, if there is one lastpiece of advice to business
owners, no matter what industry,what size of business, two
employees, 2000 employees whatwould that be that could help
someone today?
Could be a quote, an insight, abook or whatever.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
I think.
Remember that you were.
You were meant for greatness.
Okay, you were meant forgreatness, so don't give up on
that goal.
However, remember where thatsource comes from.
It's not from within, it isfrom God.
So if you are God-centered,have an attitude of being
grateful about what you've got,you will succeed.
(36:01):
And even if I don't care whatsuccess looks like to you,
whether it's a million dollarsin the bank or $50,000 in the
bank, it doesn't really matter.
It's your dream, it's your goal.
But also remember the source.
The source is God, and if youdo not forget that, you can't
fail.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Amen.
Well said, appreciate your timetoday.
You've helped a lot of people.
Wish you continued success andwe'll see you around.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Thank you, Michael.
I appreciate you inviting meand I really enjoyed this my
pleasure.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Thank you for listening to Small Business
Pivots.
This podcast is created andproduced by my company, boss.
Our business is growing yours.
Boss, offers flexible businessloans with business coaching
support.
Apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
as 24 to 48 hours atbusinessownershipsimplifiedcom.
(36:55):
If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the
subscribe button and share it aswell.
If you need help growing yourbusiness, email me at michael at
michaeldmorrisoncom.
We'll see you next time onSmall Business Pivots.
All right, welcome to another Small Business, pivots,
where we have special guestsfrom around the world.
This one isn't too far awayfrom me, here in Oklahoma City,
but, as you know, I let ourguests introduce themselves
because only they can do thatthemselves and their business.
So I'm going to let you havethe floor and tell us a little
bit about what you do.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
My name is Ernest Diaz.
I own Better CoverageConsultants and what we do is we
specialize in private plansthat are designed for small
businesses and self-employedindividuals.
They're not available throughthe marketplace and a lot of
people actually don't know theyexist.
They're 40 to 50 percent lessand the tax advantages are far
(00:42):
better and fully tax deductiblewith national PPO coverage
through UnitedHealthcare.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Well, fantastic.
So you've been an entrepreneurfor a majority of your life, I
believe, and so how do you thinkwe're going to help our
listeners today?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
So I mean I can share some of my experiences.
I've actually built fourseparate businesses and I have
been self-employed since I was23 years old, grew up in
California, actually in LosAngeles or a suburb of Los
Angeles and went to Loma LindaUniversity, became a respiratory
therapist and I'm a chemist bytrade as well, but through
(01:23):
respiratory therapy I becameintrigued with sleep and the
first business to spend off wasapnea monitors and got involved
with SIDS and some of theresearch with that.
So I started training parentswith the apnea monitors and
tried to help them understandhow.
(01:43):
I mean, we don't really knowwhat causes SIDS, but at least
some of the warning things thatthey want to look at.
In regards to babies havingdifficulty breathing, but most
SIDS cases occur between the ageof four to six months, so even
the little babies are not theones that are affected, but
obviously we don't know why thathappens.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, you've got a journey toshare and I'm sure you've got
lots of insights, so let'sintroduce the show real quick
and we'll be right back.
Welcome to Small BusinessPivots, a podcast produced for
small business owners.
I'm your host, Michael Morrison, founder and CEO of BOSS, where
we make business ownershipsimplified for success.
(02:27):
Our business is helping yoursgrow.
Boss offers business loans withbusiness coaching support.
Apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
as 24 to 48 hours atbusinessownershipsimplifiedcom.
All right, welcome back toSmall Business Pivots.
(02:50):
My friend, you started yourentrepreneur journey at 23 years
old.
A lot of people like to knowwhy.
You know, when we work withbusiness owners as business
coaches myself we find thatthey're either running from
something or running tosomething.
They usually have some kind ofsomething internally that drives
(03:11):
them to that, Because noteverybody's equipped to be an
entrepreneur.
So kind of, catch us up to whatgot you down that path.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
That's an interesting question If I were to do some
soul searching and share thatwith the audience.
I think for me it was the waythat I grew up.
My father was for lack of abetter word somewhat harsh, but
he was also an entrepreneurhimself, and I think I grew up
just trying to prove myself tohim to the point where, though,
(03:44):
didn't measure up, and so someof the um guides that that drove
me to.
At first, it was more aboutseeking his approval, seeking
his, you know, wanting him to beproud of me.
Later on, it that became moreof a I'm going to prove you
wrong, I can't do this.
(04:07):
And then, essentially, I mean myfather.
Never really he was not thetype of guy that told you hey,
I'm proud of you, and so youkind of emulate some of the
things that he did.
He was a self-made man in thatregards, and his standards were
very, very high.
So that was my, my initialdesire of doing that.
(04:29):
The other part of that isobviously I don't, I don't do
very well people telling me whatto do, and I can see a good
thing and a bad thing.
You know, I've been uh, I'vebeen divorced twice, and and
that affects some of thoserelationships as well, not
willing to listen.
You're very stubborn, butyou're also very focused and it
(04:49):
leads you to grow in certainways but also ignore parts of
your life that, as you mature,you begin to think, okay, you
need to try and rekindle andrebuild that as well.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah.
So all you entrepreneurs outthere listening, there was
nothing wrong with you, we'reall in the same boat.
Mine was trying to prove myself-worth to myself, no, no one
else.
So we're, you know.
I find it kind of interestingwhat led us down that path.
So how did you get into thefirst business?
What were your aha moments?
What was the wins, the uglies,the losses?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
So the motivation itself was to, I guess, emulate
what my father was doing, whichhe was an accountant, so he had
been self-employed since I was akid.
I actually grew up in Nicaraguaand my dad was very wealthy
back then and he had a lot ofhardware stores throughout the
(05:46):
country.
But when the company theSandinistas happened there so
I'm actually 60 years old, soyou guys know we actually got
out of there.
The whole economy imploded andmy father, my father's family,
was from here, from the US, sowe had already come here when we
were just kids and gotten greencards, residence, permanent
(06:10):
residency so it was pretty easyto come into the United States
and reside here thereafter.
So to answer your point in thatregards is I think I was also
programmed to be self-employed.
It was never something that Iever doubted myself and it was
just.
It's just a matter of figuringout how, what to do and, through
(06:34):
me, loving working with babies,because as a respiratory
therapist I was involved in theNICU and seeing babies and I saw
a lot of birth that haddifficulties from that
perspective.
That's what our startups do.
We only deal with the criticalside of things, then moving into
the SIDS and apnea monitors andthen eventually developing a
(06:55):
respiratory company.
It was kind of like it justkind of evolved itself, you know
, from that perspective, youstarted at such a young age.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
What were some of those things that you learned
you wish you would have donedifferently, and what are some
of the things that you learnedthat you still use today?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
So I at a young age, you don't know what you don't
know.
I think as you grow and there'sbeen four companies that I
built I think, thinking back,you're so focused on what you're
doing that you know.
Everybody talks about life-workbalance.
I don't believe that exists.
(07:37):
I think that if you are at home, you should be 100% engaged
there.
If you're at work, you shouldbe 100% engaged there.
If you're at work, you shouldbe 100% engaged there.
And it could be 80%, meaning80% business and 20% of family,
or 90-10.
And if you're buildingsomething that's substantial, it
could be 95-5.
So your family is alwaysinvolved when you're building
(07:59):
anything, because they'resacrificing even the time that
you have with you.
But we're so tunnel vision, youknow, as entrepreneurs, and you
know, going back to you don'tknow what you don't know.
My first company, which I soldoff.
It made a lot of money.
One of the things that I lackedwas the accounting part of it,
the financial part of it, whichended up costing me a lot, and
(08:21):
so I learned through thatexperience that you've got to
make sure that you have a solidCEO and I'm sorry, cfo that is
going to take care of thosethings, because I hate numbers.
I'm all about sales.
I'm business development thatis where I thrive and even
management of people.
I don't really, you know, enjoy.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Interesting how some of us follow in our parents'
footsteps and others of us don't.
You knew numbers were important, but you still didn't heed your
parents' advice.
And for me it was the same too,because my dad was in the
mechanic world auto mechanic.
To this day, I refuse to workon cars.
(09:00):
I hate it.
He was a great guy I loved,just I'm.
It just wasn't for me.
You know that profession, so sowhat?
You sold that company and youwent right back into another one
.
What happened there?
Speaker 2 (09:16):
so it appeared into sleep apnea and built a sleep
apnea company, uh, where we hadas well as uh the apnea, uh
diagnostics part of it and intoum supplies as well, ended up
establishing centers withphysicians doing partnerships
(09:37):
with them, and established about16 centers throughout eight
different states.
And then somebody came over tome and said, hey, let's take
this company public.
So we had enough of a top lineto even consider that In
retrospective one of the biggestmistakes I've ever made.
One of the things that you know.
I don't know how you feel aboutDonald Trump, but one of the
(09:59):
statements that he's always madeis you can't do good business
with bad partners, and that wasmy experience through that
company.
It took about nine years tobuild and as we were progressing
and finally got it into thestock market, which is really
it's just penny stocks at thispoint.
(10:19):
So I would not advise anybodyto even do anything with it.
But it was.
You know the movies that showyou an entrepreneur building a
business and taking it publicand then getting fired.
That was me.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
So that was you in the movie.
I know a movie star now yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And you know it always comes down to
communication, it always comesout communication.
But, um, I learned a big lessonabout that.
Um, it's.
It's not just about buildingsomething, it's about making
sure that you fit in with thepeople that you're doing
business with.
Um, and you know in retrospect,maybe I was the back partner in
(11:02):
that regards and so that cameabout, you know, from from there
, and I had to walk away fromthat, leave it alone and then
build something different herein Oklahoma.
So that transition there tookme to Colorado, from Colorado
now into here in Oklahoma now.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Well, let's talk about the partnership, because
there's a lot of partnershipsout there and they say that the
only ships that don't sell is apartnership.
So what are some things thatyou learned from that that could
have maybe gone differently hadyou done something.
Is there anything that you canhelp other partnerships with in
(11:40):
that regard?
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Yeah, yeah, partnerships are delicate, you
know.
A lot of times we get involvedwith people that we love and
that gets sour.
Relationship ones woulddisagree on the direction that
we want to go.
So it's you know.
Then attorneys get involved andit can get pretty messy.
(12:05):
So if you are going to do apartnership, remember that as
you continue to grow, the moneycomes in, the conflicts are
coming to play to try anddetermine how things you got to
define who is going to deal withwhat.
I think that's the best adviceI can give you.
But also be prepared for thefact that you're not always
going to agree regardless, andso you have to define who is
(12:28):
going to make the final decision.
You know what's happening Now.
When it comes down to apartnership in business, having
a 50-50 split many times cancome back and bite you in the
butt and so somebody has to have51%, somebody has to have 49%.
But it's tough when you'redoing it from the very beginning
.
I never had to experience that.
(12:50):
I always had something and thensomebody came in to play.
But taking a company publicchanges the complete landscape
of that.
But if you have a private entityand you're trying to build it
on your own.
My advice to you is alwaysretain majority of that so that
if things don't go the way thatyou planned, you can definitely
either buy somebody out or saywell, you know, I'm the majority
(13:12):
owner, so I'm going to make thedecisions which may not
sometimes also be beneficial tothe business in the long run.
But you know, when you're anentrepreneur you have that
tunnel vision which is it'sactually can be detrimental to
you.
You know, make sure you're opento other people's advice and
(13:32):
try to figure out, obviously,your intentions.
But if somebody is really trulygiving you advice because they
want to help sit down, analyzeit, take the time to listen and
never think that you can't learn, regardless of how long you've
been in.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
You mentioned how delicate they are and I want to
share with our listeners aboutpartnerships, because we've all
heard the statistics thatmarriages end in divorce 50% of
the time.
Right, so that's a pretty highnumber.
Well, in the business world,partnerships divorce over 70% of
the time.
So when you say delicate, Iwanted to put that into
(14:10):
perspective for our listeners ofhow delicate it really is.
And in a marriage, what I foundbecause we coach on business
partnerships in a marriage Ifound it's emotional, right,
there's emotional things that goon In a business partnership.
It's money.
We're fighting about money here.
(14:31):
So you know and you're sayingcommunication is key, like
understanding your role andthings like that.
Anything else you would add tothat Because it is very delicate
.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
The other expression that I've heard is it's business
.
But you got to understandbusiness is personal.
There is no such thing asseparating one from the other,
and so the emotions come intoplay, because it's your baby,
it's your ownership.
In a relationship like that,you gotta be willing to put in
(15:05):
writing who's gonna make thefinal decision.
And then there has to be an outright, because if you totally
disagree with what's happening,then something has to be written
where you can walk away if youreally do not agree with that
individual.
And I've seen that over and overJust somebody just digs their
heels in, regardless of thebenefit as a whole, or they just
(15:28):
get in themselves becausesomebody's not doing what they
want them to do, that they'renot working with them.
So you got to prepare for theworst and hope for the best.
And, like you said, thestatistic is it's a little bit
dark, but when you're in themiddle of it, always check your
motivation.
Why are you doing what you'reabout to do?
(15:48):
And is a partnership really?
You know a good way to do it.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
Yeah, you mentioned the key word and that's
communicate.
But I want to share also wherethe communication should start,
and that's before thepartnership evolves.
Because in the partnership wehave found through our research
and studies that people datelonger, you know, in a
(16:13):
relationship than they date in abusiness partnership.
Business partnership, let's go.
We got ideas, we're fresh, wegot money, let's go.
And they don't really talkabout those things that need to
be talked about the exits andwho's going to do what and who
makes that final decision.
So those are all key nuggetsfor our listeners.
(16:34):
So you moved to Oklahoma anddid what you just.
You're just like glutton forpunishment.
Right, like one goes down,let's go for another one.
You're like getting back in thering here.
What'd you do next?
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I built another sleep company here and we were doing
very, very well.
It was just me, no partnerships.
We had.
Lsd was set up from the centers, the sleep centers with the
doctors, but the core companywas just mine.
And the affordable care actcame into play and that actually
(17:12):
cut our reimbursement by 84.
A lot of people don't know thatthe other part of the
affordable care wasn't justabout health insurance, it was
also uh, you know, obamabelieved that doctors should not
have a business where theyserve as their own clients,
because it posed a conflict ofinterest.
But if you actually look at thestatistics, physician-owned
facilities do much better carethan something that's corporate
(17:35):
run.
So, besides the point, ourreimbursement was cut 86% and I
ended up shutting that down.
For about three years, I thought, because I ever thought that I
could fail and I figured I'mgoing to figure it out.
But, man, you just can'tovercome something like that,
(17:55):
and that was part of me also notbeing willing to listen, you
know, to some people that gaveme some advice about when to
shut that down or at least moveit on, move on from it, and that
was a very expensive lesson,because I ended up to file
bankruptcy on that particularcompany and went through some
(18:15):
times where I've trulyexperienced loss and went
through a divorce as well,through it as well.
So it cost me a lot, but at thesame time, it helped me
appreciate money.
Up until that moment, yeah, uh,money was there.
It's always.
You know, it was just somethingthat I I always saw myself as
(18:36):
creating it regardless, I'lljust make more.
And there was a lot of wastegoing on and, uh, it was a
period of about six or sevenmonths where it really sucked,
for lack of a better word.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah.
Yeah, it is not for the week,that is for sure.
And now you've moved on andyou're doing well, so we're
we're going to talk about whatare those things you've carried
with you the, the good and theand the ugly, what not to do,
what to do's in this newbusiness venture that you're in
(19:10):
now, and you shared what it wasearlier.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
I think you know, in effect, that your life is
somewhat outlined.
As you get close to God and asyou start doing the things that
you do, I mean you can talkyourself into anything,
regardless of what's going onaround you.
My advice to you is just lookat the things that are going
(19:34):
around you.
You know what otherrelationships around you doing.
Are you sacrificing what'sgoing on around you because of
the sake of what you're tryingto achieve?
And sometimes giving up alittle bit can actually come
back to you tenfold, and what Imean by that.
If you're spending a lot oftime trying to build this
(19:55):
business and ignoring yourfamily, my advice is take a look
at that and see in the endresult.
You know, maybe you back off alittle bit and and spend more
time with your family trying tobuild that and make sure that
your kids are going to be therewhen things are flourishing and
doing well.
I know a lot of entrepreneursthink that they're going to pass
(20:17):
on their businesses to theirchildren, but if you mess this
up, your children are not goingto want anything to do with the
business.
Good point.
So if that is something thatyou focus on, make sure they're
involved, but don't be a boss,right, be a mentor, and if
they're not wanting to beinvolved, that's okay.
You shouldn't put that burdenon them, you know, based on what
(20:39):
you're trying to achieve,because that's very, very
selfish.
So, you know, always, alwaysstand.
I think the biggest advice Ican give you is you know, start
with the end in mind, and that'sFranklin Covey Write down what
is your goal for your business.
You know, wherever you are today, maybe you've been on it for 10
years, you're just gettingstarted, or is this something
that you're having an idea ofwhat you want to do?
(21:00):
Write down what is your goal,why are you doing what you're
about to do?
And why are you doing whatyou're about to do and are you
really loving it?
Because I've been there.
I worked 16-hour days for yearsand it sucks, because you wake
up one day and you're likewhere's all the relationships?
Where did everything go?
And, yeah, you may be lookingat a pile of money, or maybe not
, because you didn't havecontrol over that, and still it
(21:27):
was.
You know, was it all well worthit?
Make sure you do not ignoreyour spirituality.
Make sure you stay connected toyou know a church or you know
some spiritual friends and tomake sure that you stay
connected to your family andlisten to what they're saying.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
A few of our episodes recently have been on the topic
of mindset, and for someonelike you, it's evident that you
have a growth mindset.
You're listening to SmallBusiness Pivots.
This podcast is produced by mycompany, boss.
Our business is helping yoursgrow.
Boss offers business loans withbusiness coaching support.
(21:59):
Apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
as 24 to 48 hours atbusinessownershipsimplifiedcom.
If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the
subscribe button and share it aswell.
Now let's get back to ourspecial guest.
A few of our episodes recentlyhave been on the topic of
(22:21):
mindset, and for someone likeyou, it's evident that you have
a growth mindset, in other words, a mind of abundance, a mind of
keep going.
Can you help the rest of ourlisteners, because most people
over two-thirds of people don'thave that kind of mindset.
Can you help us with, like,what are some daily routines you
(22:43):
do through?
You know, obviously God isimportant, spirituality is
important, family is important,but what are some of those
things that keep you just goingafter it?
Speaker 2 (22:55):
What I have learned through my failures is that you
got to be God-centered, theabundance.
If you believe that it is Godwho's giving you this
opportunity, then competitionshould not come into your
mindset, you know, I mean it isGod who is in control of it.
So if he's giving you thisbusiness to grow, obviously you
(23:19):
know there's purpose to it, anda lot of times we think that God
is with us when we're beingsuccessful and when we're down
we think that god is not thereor he's punishing us, which is
not true, not at all.
Um, be, be careful with thatmindset.
Be careful and always remembergod did bring you this blessing,
did not allow that blessing tobecome a curse.
(23:41):
The other part of this, when itcomes to be careful, with a lot
of teachings out there thattell you that you can do
anything you want, that all youneed is yourself, all you need
is to do more, et cetera, etcetera, because and I don't know
if you guys know this, butthere's a Gnostic teaching that
(24:02):
that's what it's about.
You know even from the verybeginning, what they're teaching
you is that you are God, youare your own God, and it'll work
for a while, trust me, it'llwork for a while.
But when you look back and youlook in front of you and see
what you've done to your ownrelationships, you'll understand
why that's not the right way toapproach things, because if you
(24:25):
are God-centered, then yourfamily will also be important
and it'll be hard for you toignore that piece and in the end
result it'll save you a lot ofgrief because you're no longer
putting it all on yourself.
You're reaching out to a higherpower to make sure that that is
accomplished the way it needsto be.
God knows your needs from thevery beginning and so if you
(24:48):
recognize that and you do it forhim, then competition is not
going to be a big issue.
If somebody does you wrong,it's not going to be hard to
recover from that because you'regoing to have some grace.
Recover from that becauseyou're going to have some grace
for lack of a better word andguess what?
You know the forgiveness partof it will help you then focus,
(25:10):
to move forward and you knowthen you know God will bless
that.
So I don't know, you know,answers your question in that
regards.
But that's one thing that Ilearned even through my darkest
times understanding that myfocus was myself instead of
recognizing that it was Godwho's actually given me this and
I messed it up.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yeah, amen.
You mention often either quotesor books, things like that what
is a business book that everybusiness owner should read, and
why, and what has it done foryou?
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Okay.
So 10X is a great book, butremember 1-10X, grant Cardone
it's agnostic-based, meaning youcan do anything you can't you
want if you set your mind to itand then just give it more time,
more time.
So always keep that inperspective.
There are great things aboutwanting to create and be focused
(26:09):
on what you want to do, but donot be God out of it.
But 10X is one of the booksthat helped me remind myself
that I need to get off my buttand get it done.
Remind myself that I need toget off my butt and get it done.
And the other one that I wouldrecommend is StoryBrand 2.0, and
that's by Donald Miller, andStoryBrand addresses the issues
(26:33):
of how to properly marketyourself through social media.
I believe that you don't reallyneed to read any other book
except for StoryBrand if youwant to learn how to properly do
that, and once you startreading it, you'll understand
that.
And then the other one that Iwould highly recommend is Atomic
Habits.
Many times we focus on revenue,which is basically an end result
(26:57):
, and I understand.
You know you have bills to pay.
You have a minimum amount ofmoney that you got to make in
order to keep afloat.
However, many times you can'tcontrol outcome, but you can
control activity.
So focus on the things that aregoing to create that money and
the revenue itself, and controlthose things.
(27:19):
So let me give you an example.
So if you're doing calls, howmany calls can you do on a daily
basis to create the type ofrevenue as you build it back?
If you last year, it took youand I'm going to throw this
number a hundred calls to create$30,000 that week, well, if you
are going to do 60,000, or ifyou need 45,000, you can think
(27:41):
well, it's going to.
You know, you got to do doublethe amount of calls.
You can control the number ofcalls you make.
However, be careful with thatexpectation, but consistency
will overcome anything.
So maybe you do double thecalls this week and you're
discouraged because you didn'thit the goal that you needed.
That's okay.
(28:02):
Make sure that you don't giveup on that and keep doing that,
week after week after week, andeventually it'll catch up with
you.
But if you are focusedspecifically on the outcome, you
will become discouraged andyou'll think well, you know I
did all this for nothing.
No, no, stay consistent, stayconsistent.
Now, obviously, you know thedefinition of insanity right.
(28:23):
It's making a different resultwith the same income.
I mean the same input.
So make sure you assess whatyou're doing, make sure you're
always a student of your tasks.
So if it's the phones, if it'snetworking, if social media,
make sure you're always trainingyourself to be better.
And the old saying you don'tknow what you don't know.
(28:43):
Find a mentor that has donewhat you're trying to achieve
and latch onto that person youknow, serve them and, and, and
trust me, that will save youmore, more, um, I guess I can
say money, because time is money.
More time to be able to achieveyour goals by learning from
somebody that's willing to teach.
And that can be a little trickybecause, you know, a lot of
(29:08):
people have that competitivementality, but you'll find that,
you know, if you pray about it,you'll find somebody that's
going to be willing to.
And I find that a lot ofentrepreneurs are willing to
teach you what they know if theyhave the right mindset
themselves as well.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Absolutely so.
You're a great salesperson.
You have systems in place.
Most business owners don'tbelieve it or not.
Most business owners don't Mostof the ones that come to us.
They don't have a system at all.
They don't even have a CRM.
They wonder why sales aren'tgoing as well as they want.
Have a CRM and wonder why salesaren't going as well as they
(29:45):
want.
So what are the top threethings that you feel, being an
established salesperson, thatevery business owner should at
least be doing these things toincrease their revenue.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
So write your goals on a monthly I would say yearly,
quarterly, monthly, weekly anddaily, and so, whatever your
revenue goal is for the year,you break it down into four
specific goals that you have forthat and then break it down all
the way down to the day.
But remember what I just saidyou focus on activity.
(30:15):
The activity is what's gonnaget you to the revenue and those
are the things that you cancontrol.
That's where Atomic Habits toteach you uh as well and um, you
know.
So, developing the tasks is isgoing to be the the best thing
for you guys to to to achieve,because you can't control that.
You can't control your ownactivity.
(30:36):
Um, you know and I'm justtrying to think of anything else
that I can give you advice inthat regards but there's no such
thing as motivation, right?
The one word that I want you toreally, really, I guess, tattoo
in your mind as you're buildinga business is discipline.
Nothing is achieved withoutdiscipline.
(30:57):
You know you won't be motivatedall the time.
Discipline is what's going toget you and carry you over.
But that's where you know youhave to outline the task that
you need to achieve and then yougot to develop the discipline
to do it when you don't want todo it.
Because if you don't want to goto that networking meeting
because you want to talk topeople and you actually do it,
(31:17):
you'll find that you will beable to accomplish a lot more by
pushing yourself through, andthen you'll be glad that you did
it.
You know you get up at 6 am or 5am, whatever it is that you
need to do.
Get out to the gym, make sureyou stay healthy.
What's the point of you having$2 million in the bank if your
heart's failing you right?
(31:37):
So don't ignore that as well.
And then the third person Imean the third thing is be and
have an attitude of beinggrateful, because if you get up
with that attitude and begrateful about the things, they,
or at least say thanks for thethings that you appreciate, that
(31:57):
day Could be your wife, yourhusband, could be kids, whatever
your health.
God, you know, I hope thatyou're appreciative of your
health, and if that's not thecase, you know there's always
going to be something that youare grateful about and then work
towards achieving those goals.
But don't ignore the attitude ofgratitude that is out there,
(32:20):
because that's going to feedyour soul.
Don't ignore your body, youknow.
Make sure that you're eatingright, you're exercising.
And then, lastly, you know,when it comes to your mind, make
sure that you're focusing onthe right tasks, you know, and
goals that you're trying to do,and you know that should be able
to, you know, because, again,lack of control is what gives
(32:44):
you this lack of motivation.
That don't think aboutmotivation, think about
discipline.
Push through and if you're notwriting your goals, that's
discipline, that's lack ofdiscipline.
Write them down.
You know where am I lackingdiscipline in what I'm doing?
Speaker 1 (33:01):
That is probably one of the most powerful things I've
heard all year is the worddiscipline.
Even the shark tank people sayyou want to know what separates
the 1% action, and it doesn'tmean that we want to take action
every day there.
I don't want to get up everyday and go run, I don't want to
go do this and make phone callsand fly across the country, but
(33:23):
I do.
That's the only thing thatseparates.
So it's discipline.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Yeah that's it, that's the.
That's the key word.
If you're thinking about a, uh,a magic potion, that's it,
that's the word.
Um, that's not motivation, it'sdiscipline.
Um, and anybody that'saccomplished anything at all is
because they push through.
On those days they do not feellike doing it.
So, yeah, lack of motivation isgoing to happen, but it doesn't
(33:50):
have to be lack of discipline.
Speaker 1 (33:52):
Absolutely so.
You've probably piqued someinterest from others wanting to
follow you or get in touch withyou.
What's the best way to do that?
Speaker 2 (34:01):
with you what's the best way to do that.
So my website again.
What we do is we helpself-employed individuals and
small businesses become aware ofhealth plans that are available
out there for you.
They can save you a lot ofmoney and also give you great
tax advantages.
My company is Better CoversConsultant, so my domain is
bettercov, that's bettercovcom,and there is ways for you to set
(34:27):
up a call with me so we cantalk and, I'm happy to you know,
even give you advice in regardsto your business.
I am tied in with a lot ofnetworking groups because I'm
actually licensed in 34 states,and so if it's something that
you can offer nationally, I cantie you in for those.
If it's something that you canoffer nationally, I can tie you
in for those.
If it's something locally herein Oklahoma, I'd love to have a
cup of coffee with you and seeif I can help.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
So what's the ideal small business for you that this
program could help?
Speaker 2 (34:56):
It could be self-employed, and so I have
about 4,000 companies that Ihelp and one-third of them are
just self-employed individualsand their spouses.
The rest of that that'stwo-thirds can have anywhere
between five employees and onlyhave 38 employees.
Where things change is whenyou've got more than 50
employees, because now you haveto offer an ACA plan or at least
(35:19):
give them an option.
Then we can still work throughthat as well.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Fantastic.
Well, if there is one lastpiece of advice to business
owners, no matter what industry,what size of business, two
employees, 2000 employees whatwould that be that could help
someone today?
Could be a quote, an insight, abook or whatever.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
I think.
Remember that you were.
You were meant for greatness.
Okay, you were meant forgreatness, so don't give up on
that goal.
However, remember where thatsource comes from.
It's not from within, it isfrom God.
So if you are God-centered,have an attitude of being
grateful about what you've got,you will succeed.
(36:01):
And even if I don't care whatsuccess looks like to you,
whether it's a million dollarsin the bank or $50,000 in the
bank, it doesn't really matter.
It's your dream, it's your goal.
But also remember the source.
The source is God, and if youdo not forget that, you can't
fail.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Amen.
Well said, appreciate your timetoday.
You've helped a lot of people.
Wish you continued success andwe'll see you around.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Thank you, Michael.
I appreciate you inviting meand I really enjoyed this my
pleasure.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Thank you for listening to Small Business
Pivots.
This podcast is created andproduced by my company, boss.
Our business is growing yours.
Boss, offers flexible businessloans with business coaching
support.
Apply in minutes and getapproved and funded in as little
as 24 to 48 hours atbusinessownershipsimplifiedcom.
(36:55):
If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to hit the
subscribe button and share it aswell.
If you need help growing yourbusiness, email me at michael at
michaeldmorrisoncom.
We'll see you next time onSmall Business Pivots.
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